finalstan

@3MonthBeef Long term vision? How about they commit that you will get to keep your games playable through Stadia for the next XY years, lets say 20. Otherwise money back, calculated proportionally somehow, in a transparent way so that you know what you are buying. How about a model that you buy e.g. 20hrs a month and you pay for that as a monthly subscription and if you not use them you get money back minus the minimum required to keep the servers going to keep it viable (you can also buy more time, which will never disappear and roll over to the next month). How about a small flat, monthly fee to play all games as you wish - Netflix of games this is not. This is what it should be for a start. How about bundling it with other services you are/could be already paying for e.g. YouTube. Etc.

@tameshiyaku Daft Punk really should be in this (I bought the Imagine Dragons pack just because it's new and my sister will love it when she comes over to play).

This is an out of touch, extremely poor offering and a little insulting to all those consumers who have at least one functioning brain cell. No problems with the concept, but the execution…. yeah.

@Dellybelly It's a little unfair I think: games like golf, racing etc. you are meant to be playing, replaying and mastering so 'light on content' is a big factor and I certainly want to know about it. Journey is an indie darling (which I didn't enjoy all that much as a side note) that is meant to be exactly what it is, I wouldn't call it light on content in the same way.

Wipeout's on sale so I bought it on a whim remembering that there was the VR patch released a while back. Not a racer fan, not a Wipeout fan but call me a convert, VR is a game changer and I am having an absolute blast with it. Everyone with VR should try it.

I am of the mindset to wait until the whole thing is released - patched up and all. Since I barely have time to game at all and my backlog is not a backlog anymore, just the way I play games now, I might not even notice that it took them THAT LONG to release the complete edition (whenever that ends up being - not going to take a guess, there are plenty of jokes on this thread to fill that gap with).

My first thought: FFVIII. Lost code, huge scope, big demand...

The drifting mechanic is the hook of this game. You drift and build your meter, 3 times if I remember correctly, and the final third boost will be the longest one. In the midst of it all you balance power-ups, overtaking, jumps etc. for a risk-reward system. Holding the drifting longer, until almost the end, gives the biggest boost at the end. I don't remember there being a meter, I remember playing and just listening to the engine to get that last moment. You literally should be drifting is much as possible, whenever you can.

I am pleased. Makes decision-making on what to spend time/money a lot easier - buy games you know you can play when you want, with no worries. Since it goes hand in hand with PS+, I don't have that either.

4.2mil is huge, and Sony knows it. They are winning in this segment and they know growth will come from the symbiosis of PS4/5 and VR, for both platforms. Someone made a comment above about the variety of experiences working for them, I can say the same. For a while I didn't even play any traditional games, just VR, until DMC5 happened. Once I get my fix, I will return to VR. I also have a Switch and guess what, play predominantly in handheld mode. I like where the industry is going with this, but one thing is for sure, VR is here to stay.

If you love PSVR, this was very good. And that is how I voted.

Never thought to get the game, but with all the updates and VR... I might just get this.

This looks pretty awesome, a lot more full on than I expected. They went for that James Bond feel, including the music.

PS4: DMC5
NS: Tales of Vesperia

Hmm, just pre-ordered on a whim. I loved Bayonetta and DMC1 back in the day, but the subsequent releases didn't grab me. I checked out some vids on youtube and like how much heft but also fluidity the combat has to it. I think I will enjoy this.

Great review, BTW.

Yep, I'm totally in.

@Wormold Precisely what I am waiting for to take the plunge. I will wait.

Isn't this because in order to get the game to all regions simultaneously you actually have to start shipping them a lot earlier (whatever 'a lot' could be, weeks, idk) to some regions compared to others? This introduces the risks, and since you are relying on the whole world's honesty, yeah, all you need is one leak and everything starts unravelling. And there's nothing you can do as it's outside your control. So I personally understand the frustration.

It's an awesome game, but for some reason I have 16 songs, was there some kind of bonus for buying early? Even 16 feels like not enough now, I've done the entire campaign (which the review really should have mentioned) and working towards platinum (some trophies require mastery of 15 songs, how could they have launched with 10?). Either way, can't wait for more songs.

@kyleforrester87 I am with you all the way in the debate. Tried to play those games but they bored me to death. It's one thing for the story to be scripted, this is awesome, if it's a good, tight narrative, I don't personally mind linearity here at all.

But with gameplay, if it's too 'scripted' itself it makes you feel like you just play that interactive movie. Give me a tight, linear story but a hundred million ways to tackle gameplay, not two, and I am in. I don't think I can remember a game designed like that I wouldn't like.

@shonenjump86 Astrobot will bring the inner child out of you. I played and grinned like stupid all the way throughout playing. It's just one big surprise after another, start to finish. Yep, it's that good. Simple, but phenomenal.

The original is probably my most played game ever, I would've platinumed it 10 times over. I spent ridiculous hours playing this with a friend, we were equally skilled so it was always a blast. Cannot wait.

@Simon_Fitzgerald Something's up with that, when you go to metacritic very few sites actually reviewed it, which is bizarre. Those that didn't, pretend it doesn't exist.

I enjoyed my PSVR experiences but it was only when I played Astrobot that something happened and it all just clicked. I now love PSVR. Right now, though, I am having a break from Beat Saber, which I can't get enough of and it's exhausting, my poor arms, lol. It is stupid fun. Keep those games coming!

@BAMozzy I've been observing Black Fridays the past few years as I am a savvy shopper and must say this year is the first where one could legitimately call it a scam, after getting progressively worse over the years. People must buy their Xmas gifts, so little incentive to really slash prices, real deals come later, Jan-Feb is usually pretty great for those quiet deals on stuff you may actually want. Won't help with Xmas, but hey, best gifts are those you give to yourself

Beat SAAAABER!!

After reading the article I thought it would go like with Astrobot: that I would have to buy the game based on the recommendation. However, I played the demo and whilst the music and art is great, it is still tetris. If it was a different puzzle game, say, Lumines I'd be all over this. I might buy it one day but heavily discounted.

@naruball Well, they killed the wrong villain, too soon

This will flop I am afraid - look what happened to the Iron Fist for casting the wrong actor and sticking with it.

Edit: even though the second season was actually half-decent.

£35 is not a good price point for this, they are shooting themselves in the foot. I will wait for a price drop.

Sailor Moon and I am in, even though I have 0 interest in fighting games!

There is so much at stake here, it's not like it's just games we're talking about here, but also peripherals. Neolit menitoned VR, it's only just started, they would shoot themselves in the foot if you couldn't connect your set and needed a new one (presumably, VR2 at some point) but also VR games developed for PS4.

Another point: the era of remasters will come to an end, I daresay, and that is because PS4 is the perfect platform to make the jump, and so many games have. What reason would there be to carry on with this (there will be exceptions, of course)? A remaster of a PS4 game on PS5, the difference will be minimal and it will be difficult to justify the purchase to many. This won't be happening.

Finally, the generational leaps won't be so huge anymore, PS4 has the power to generate dazzling, lifelike worlds, 4k and 60fps are all nice but not essential for creating great stories and gameplay, stricly speaking. The generational leap will have to be all about varied experiences: VR being one of them, BC is just something we now expect, social media connectivity, cross-play etc.

I had no plans to buy this. I loved the VR demo but didn't want to get this and look what you've made me do. Pre-ordered just now.

@tomassi It's a gameplay mechanic, nothing more, a framework - there are fans of this as well as those disliking it (I like both approaches, if done well, personally). It's just like a more sophisticated game of chess. I mean, you could take the chess pieces and throw them in real-time at the other player, but that is not what the game is about. If you have a team, managing them in real-time without some kind of A.I. would be extremely difficult. And not everybody likes A.I. in games, even programmable. Diablo works because it is just you.

@tomassi Yeah, let's not talk about the realism of frying enemies with fireballs and drinking potions to replenish mana points and health etc.

@Fight_Teza_Fight The soundtrack is pretty amazing if you ask me.

What I noticed is that some games suddenly became 'currently unavailable' so you can't pre-order them to take advantage of the discount before it's phased out (and you could previously, I know because I have lots on my wishlist).

God is Lumines great, such a timesink, though, I now need to consciously set time aside for 'just a round'. I didn't think I could ever break the ~50 levels, smashed 93 last night, so now I want to see 100, I know I can do it. And that is just the challenge mode, haven't touched others, I'll get a lot more mileage out of this game than I have from some blockbusters.

Lumines! Level 58 so far, I've been progressing from around 35-40, then I was stuck at 50 for a while, last night broke through to 58, need to get better at managing the chaos, when panicking starts it is the worst.

It's not about if, but how for me. If done well, both approaches can work, and any other trying to strike a balance somewhere in between. Control is always an illusion, which the player is fooled to have more or less of. Look at all those guides that come out alongside games, everything's been cracked before anyone had a chance to figure it out, minus some unintended bugs, of course. As a fairly mature player now, with age I find being less and less fooled and more and more... bored by the predictability of games, so am choosing what I spend my time on playing more carefully. Disappointments happen more often, too. So, as a maturing medium it's no surprise to me that developers will try and keep chasing those 'power to the player' moments as the target keeps moving.

How sick is this?

@Paranoimia I agree, the combat struck me as restrained and rather slowish, visuals alone won't cut it for me but we'll see.

Call me lazy, but if I have to project my desires and wishes onto a gameplay trailer to make it something I want it to be, something is not right. I couldn't be less hyped for this if I tried.

Another argument: remasters hit this generation, unlikely we will see that many for PS5. But to counter all that, their current model worked well over the years so it might again and games development takes more time and resources. They probably already started working on the first PS5 games, or will soon anyway. That will help define the next generation, I just really hope that the lines are more blurred and we get a smoother transition, everyone could benefit from that.

@ShogunRok I kind of imagined that PS5 would be a generational leap BUT incremental at the same time. PS4 Pro proved the concept, why start everything from scratch, again? So unless the console is ridiculously powerful, backwards compatibility could be an issue if they built from ground up again. If not backwards compatible, I think it will be a much, much harder sell. People have years' worth of games backlogs, support for more and more games spans years as they become more services than products etc. It all makes sense for PS5 to be a PS4 Pro on massive steroids

I would really like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon-style battles.

@FreakerZ RIP Suikoden.

That reminded me how I bought Suikoden 2 just to see what jRPGs were about, I had no idea until that point and wanted to try. Wow. Probably the best gaming memories I have, I'm a huge fan of jRPGs since then. FFVIII was another memorable moment: the production, music, secrets, and the story completely blew my mind. Played this to death, migraines and all.
I regressed to SNES area after that to catch up a bit, and then forward to PS2. The magic of discovery was still there at that point, but then life took over. Skipped PS3 era completely, now on PS4-Switch. The magic is gone but I appreciate that I can make more informed choices how to spend my time and money - you know, what a boring adult would say.

I think most gamers with money are simply casual, and looking for titles, which are easy to just pick up and play. I keep wanting to play more SP games personally, but haven't actually finished one in ages. Because life, and I haven't even got kids. When I get time to play for 1hr before bed, I am tired after a day of work, I just want to chill and have an easier time. Easier on the tired mind, if that makes sense.

I am considering buying the Switch, if only because the majority of my play time could be when I am travelling/on holiday (with the option to play on the TV on occasion for a sit-down session, and that is appealing). That could be a way for me to play more SP titles, paradoxically.

I think they will rush it to complete all 3 in PS4s lifespan, then it will be re-released for PS5, which is probably when I will pick it up - all as one package, patched up, with bonus content and all that.