“If there’s too much exposure, the age rating goes up. It means we won’t be able to sell it as an all-ages product.”
Sounds more like they are self-censoring to reach a lower age rating. Dragon Quest has historically been a rate T franchise by the ESRB, including the re-releases of "Dragon Warrior 3". If that is the case, this ridiculous design and censorship is an internal issue, not a prudish American issue.
It seems like open world fatigue continues to spread amongst large portions of potential video game buyers. For better or worse, Ubisoft has become synonymous with formulaic. A new storyline, setting, and a few new tricks just doesn't entice players the same anymore.
Open world games nowadays need some "hook" to draw in players. Until Ubisoft can come up with one, I predict they will continue to flounder and deliver the equivalent of video game fast food.
"Sadly, because we’re a PlayStation-only site, we’re excluding the exceptional RPG adaptations on Game Boy Color, because it wouldn’t make sense to include them."
BOOOOOOOOOO!
Kidding... but only a bit. These are unironically the best. Simple, but not overly so, turn based RPGs with a really enjoyable progression and theming. Enough content to feel good about too.
But OK, Hogwarts Legacy is otherwise a steep increase in quality video game adaptations for the Harry Potter series. I hope there is a sequel one day that expands on it.
FF13 is the first mainline Final Fantasy I actually beat. It is also by far my least favorite, to the point I have never successfully gone back to it for more than an hour.
FF13 had so much potential. In a perfect world, I would like to see it get redeemed through a remake that completely redesigns much of the game. In a realistic world though, this would be a huge undertaking and I would rather the resources be used for something else. There are plenty of other FF games better deserving of remakes, and plenty of space for completely new games and spin-offs.
FF13 has too much baggage. Better to just leave it be...
I know this is going to make me sound like a huge fanboy, but I really wish that Push Square would stop contributing to the narrative that FF7 Rebirth is/has underperformed. It's purely speculative, based on misleading outside sources.
With the known exclusivity contract for FF16 and FF7 Rebirth long over, I have to wonder why they have yet to even announce PC ports. Perhaps there is not such a dire need to port games and make extra money? I guess it is easy to speculate after all...
Origins was great because although it seemed like a generic dark fantasy story on the surface, it was a proper RPG where you could role play a huge number of things and even influence the character arcs of your party members to an enormous degree. The choices you made in Origins impacted so much of the game. From even the simplest of choices like the sex, race, and background of your created character, the dialogue in scenes and story progression opportunities will vary greatly.
I have zero confidence in their ability to create anything close to that again, but wish them the best of luck anyways. It would be nice to have a good Dragon Age game again.
I don't necessarily disagree with a lot of the content in this review, but it does feel overly harsh. I've played the game for a few days so far and it feels like a 'fine' game. OK, mediocre, average... these are all how I would describe it currently. Feels more like a 5/10 with some potential to get better or worse in the future.
You could certainly play much worse games than this in your free time, and I feel like those games are more deserving of a 3/10. The bottom 3rd of the 1-10 sale should be reserved for games that are fundamentally not fun, have no redeeming qualities, and do not reliably function on the most basic levels.
In a year of great games and stiff competition, it is still easily FF7 Rebirth for me. Game of the Year and comfortably resting in my top games of all time now.
@Zenos Because the game actively had a widespread negative marketing campaign. The great thing about 2024 is the huge amount of quality games that are (finally) releasing on PS5. The less than great things are the flame wars and "pick me" strategies that lesser known games will try to employ.
It is not a coincidence that after initially rave reviews from critics and players, FF7 was suddenly victim to a harsh campaign where people supposedly complained about mini-games and Japanese anime tropes, right when Stellar Blade and Dragons Dogma 2 were releasing. Then, lo and behold, both of those games released to their own controversies...
As players, we should be celebrating these fantastic releases together, not tearing each other down. My 2 cents at least...
Both Astro Bot and Lego Horizon are looking like day 1 pickups. This is absolutely the kind of catalogue I want on a Sony console, in addition to the mature block busters.
That said, I hope the business suits realize that it takes time to cultivate an audience for these kind of games, especially when the Playstation brand has not been associated with them for close to 20 years now. With Lego Horizon also coming out on Switch, it will be interesting to see sales comparisons eventually.
@naruball User mileage may vary, but considering I published almost 20 levels across LBP1 and LBP2 and couldn't complete anything in LBP3 due to technical reasons, I would call it a failure on all counts. Losing work due to game crashes and profile saved data corruption was a constant threat. User generated content for LBP3 never really took off the same way LBP2 did, and its entirely because it wasn't worth the headache of trying to work with a creation suite in an unstable game.
I guess it's more accurate to say; when you release a game in that kind of state, it takes a lot of work to earn back your reputation. Sure Hello Games earned back a lot of goodwill, but that was by constantly improving No Man's Sky for the past... 7 years? Same difference really...
By comparison, LBP3 was never fixed. Since then the series has seen 1 spinoff game that was good, and more recently made headlines for shutting down online servers for the games, killing off a huge legacy. Not exactly a thriving IP that people are confident in.
@naruball If you are/were pretty into the LBP fandom at the time, you’ll likely remember that LBP3 was a catastrophic release that not only caused lasting harm to the reputation of the IP, but was also never fixed. Even at its peak, and despite being cross gen on PS3 and PS4, LBP2 was much more popular than LBP3, simply because the game actually functioned online and in creative mode.
Sackboy’s Adventure is a quality title, but it takes time and often more than one good game to earn your reputation back. And with how they have been treating the LBP games over the years, I doubt they will recover anytime soon.
In a vacuum the best thing they could've done is stay completely true to the original. The original scene in the forgotten capitol is still beautiful, but having it remade in the FF7 Remake style would have been even more breathtaking.
If they had done that in FF7 Rebirth though, it would've made the whispers, the theme of defying destiny, and the meta teasing about this being an unknown journey feel pointless.
I'll admit, when I saw a certain sequence, I was initially floored (in a good way). Then the confusion set in.
Overall, I currently think the endings is "fine". I feel that I mostly understand what their vision is for this FF7 remake series. Seeing as how the other parts of the story that have thus far been changed have all added significant improvement and context, I'm willing to put my faith in Square that the concluding part of this series will have the payoff we expect for everything.
Basically, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt here. It will be tough waiting a few years for these questions to be answered though.
@NEStalgia Your own comparison highlights the differences. Demon's Souls PS5 is a remake of a then 10 year old PS3 game. FF7 Remake is a PS4 remake of a then over 20 year old PS1 game. Remaking FF7 involves remaking nearly everything. The world and environments of the original game are not scaled with realistic proportions due to hardware constraints at the time.
The game's story takes the cast on a trip across and through an entire planet. To make that scale believable a staggering amount of work is required. The team involved clearly understands this, and that you also need to fill your world with content. I don't want FF7 Remake to feel like a series of locations crammed into the size of my neighborhood for the sake of finishing development faster. And neither do I want to simply traverse from story point A to B in a huge empty world. The logical conclusion is to create an ambitious open world JRPG that captures the same feeling that was created in 1997, but in the 2020s.
I'm confident there will eventually be an all in one package for the entire FF7 Remake series, likely at the same time part 3 releases. Anyone too disturbed by not having the full story now can wait until then. I'll happily play and experience the game in chunks if it means I can do it earlier. See you in 2027.
@NEStalgia This is such a clown take. Anyone that thinks jamming the original FF7 into whatever the newest, shiniest dev engine is, with no other changes to gameplay or script would result in anything other than a laughing stock is deluding themselves. I admit it would be funny to see Cloud and the gang leave Midgar, and then take 30 steps to arrive at the next town though.
Once the remake series is finished, history will be very kind to it. The gameplay, voice acting, and graphics are all phenomenal. The story threads that are added and fully fleshed out are improvements to the original that elevate the characters to being more likable members of the cast than the original. The controversies arise over the unresolved mysteries that, after completing Rebirth, I have full faith Square will stick the landing on in part 3, and deliver a satisfying resolution.
Meh, different strokes for different folks. The original was a divisive hit. Ask any fan and they will tell you DD was a janky game with a great artistic vision and lots of potential. Also can’t really put much stock in user reviews on metacritic. Anything on there could have a score boosted or tanked by bot farming and trolls…
I loved the first game enough to platinum it, but I also got it 90% off a few years after its initial release. DD2 looks like more of the same. While I definitely want to experience more DD in the future, it still isn’t worth full price for me.
Meanwhile FF7 Rebirth has been a breath of air and I can’t put it down. Builds on the original with so much with all new combat systems and tons of gameplay variety to keep things from ever getting too same-y.
As the years go on ignoring digital sales and comparing figures to games from several years ago is becoming more of a logical fallacy.
Digital continues to grow.
FF7 Rebirth has an amazing digital dual pack where you get FF7 Remake, Intermission DLC, and FF7 Rebirth all for the price of just buying Rebirth normally. The only reason someone would not get this version would be if they didn’t know about it, or are dedicated to buying physical games.
Hard to take this anything other than Sony sending Kat out to die. Again...
Gravity Rush is a fantastic series. It deserves more recognition from the wider gaming community. It is just as good as the Insomniac Spider man series.
But if a remaster is only of the the 2nd game, it will do little to draw in a new audience. Something between a remaster and a remake is needed. Both games need to be packed together, or ideally blended together into a seamless narrative. The story, while very good, makes little sense if you're just jumping in at Gravity Rush 2 with no context.
FF7 Remake's trophy list was fun and nothing crazy. Basically a list to see all the content the game had to offer.
Hard mode was a blast and was designed with a level of thoughtfulness to it that surprised me. Very much looking forward to 100% completing FF7 Rebirth too.
@wiiware Take the monster catching genre out of the equation. The relevant point is Pal World directly ripping off Pokémon character designs. Actually, it’s now being found they used ripped models from Pokémon. It’s straight up copyright infringement. Even if they change the designs “later” they are currently profiting by using illegal assets.
Pokemon has been utter trite for nearly a decade now. The IP definitely needs serious competition, if such a thing even exists.
But this... is just not how to do it. This game is obviously made with generative AI doing most of the character designs. Too many monsters rocket way past the sense of being inspired by Pokemon to being downright ripoffs. From the proportions, eye shapes, fur, and details, the plagiarism is obvious. This game is disgraceful, full stop.
P4 Golden is one of my least favorite, because it just seems like TV show intro. All it does is introduce the main cast. Gives me Full House vibes.
Persona 3 Reload and 5 Royal look stunning visually and give a good feeling for the game they're covering.
Persona 5 (original) though, is just perfect. Great visuals, amazing theme song, and the choreography of it all just seals it. The characters sliding along makes it seem like the game is beckoning you to start playing. It says so much, without really giving anything away about the game.
It's a "filler" patch intended to tie us over until THE filler patch for lunar new year. In all honesty, it looks fun. The new event gameplay looks interesting and the returning beetle fights have been fun in the past.
That said I am disappointed we are not getting a winter themed event to enjoy around the holidays. This will be the 2nd year in a row, after we got the tone deaf spooky Yokai event around Christmas last year. Bringing back some of the Dragonspine activities from version 2.3 "Shadows Amidst Snowstorms" and giving players a permanent Dragonspine themed teapot setting would've been "peak". At least we're getting the Fontaine theme.
As much as I love the P5 cast, and as much as I want to like this, it just doesn't do it for me. This review helpfully cemented that feeling, for better or worse.
Can it be called a series if it is comprised of only 1 game (and a re-release)? I kid, but only because I would've liked this IP to have had the chance to grow into an actual series.
As it stands my take-away from Tearaway was that is was fun, charming, but not ground breaking. Good but not great. A solid entry that deserved another chance or two in the spot light before being locked away like most of Sony's IPs now...
@nessisonett Unfortunately, everything can eventually fall victim to inflation. There are a lot of complexities in a large market, but any economist worth their salt will tell you that inflation is ultimately because all across the board people want more money. That's all there is to it. Calling it greed may make it sound insidious, but it's simply human nature.
What do most working people want/expect at around a yearly interval? A wage raise.
In a competitive environment, people will naturally use the leverage they have to negotiate for more money. In many cases, the leverage is simply time invested. Businesses will renegotiate contracts knowing that it is easier to pay out more than it is to start over and find a new partner.
People and businesses will continue to push the envelope and ask for more money.
Another nod for Dragon Star Varnir. Game is very solid once it get's going. Legitimately good story and combat.
Also recommend the following: Shining Resonance Refrain Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online
Very obviously lower budget games when you look at graphics and overall production value (Shining Resonance is a remaster too), but they are solid mechanically, with good controls and gameplay.
You know what Sony IPs would make even more sense to promote along side the new Spider Man 2 release and are actually genre adjacent open world super hero games?
OK so some of the difficulty concerns I get, but not around the platforming specifically. The game isn't built around precision platforming (whatever that means) nor does it expect it from the player. Even in the video clips shown above, all I see are mistakes on the player part, and failure to correct and save themselves at every opportunity.
I really hate to oversimply something as just get good, but seriously... as someone who does not play a lot of platformers, Frontiers' platforming is not difficult.
Looks like a knockoff and mashup of other western open world RPGs, from the mechanics down to creature designs. Does not inspire confidence but would love for it to turn out decent.
Lumping Dragon Quest 11 with One Piece Odyssey and this game as a ILCA game seems ingenuine. DQ11 is game developed and published by Square Enix. I could only find a few vague notes online about ILCA contributing to the game. Granted all 3 games look visually similar, but all 3 are going very much for a manga inspired look, with Toriyama being directly behind 2 of the 3.
All that to say, I think this looks like it could be quite good.
While I have little faith in it, I am nonetheless still excited for this game's eventual release.
Dragon Age is a special series that started with so much heart put into it. A return to form would be great to see and even better to play through. The game releasing in a state similar to the train wreck that was Mass Effect Andromeda would also be hilarious. I think I'd be fine with either.
@Sam_ATLUS Lunar New Year is a major holiday in Asia. Releasing big Japanese games in February is akin to Western games releasing right around Black Friday and Christmas. This has historically worked out well in the West too, as by the time February and March come around even the Westerner's wallets have recovered enough. And if you were fortunate enough to get a new console, you may be ready for the latest hot new game a few months later in late Winter.
At the risk of sounding too political, as income inequality continues to grow in nearly every developed country in the world, it will become harder to nickel and dime consumers successfully. So, I think we are heading for a fallout for these live service type games, if we aren't there already.
There aren't enough high spending players for all these games to be successful long-term. As others have pointed out, we are seeing many games which focus on online multiplayer have support dropped in a few years or less, which is absurd.
It's not even that I'm opposed to these types of games, I just realistically don't see a market that can support many co-existing. The only way I can see the majority of these games being successful is if they're more traditional single-player games, with an added multiplayer component, or a live-service type model that adds events or content regularly.
Despite not owning the game, I'm glad Square has seemingly not given up on this IP. After initial shaky impressions, the more I see of this, the better it looks. Gameplay looks solid, even if the premise seems cringey.
Unfortunately, there will always be people who dislike it purely for other reasons...
I really hope Disgaea 7 has some legs. I love the series too much to see it wither away and die, especially on what seems to be a quality release. The low numbers are somewhat baffling given the explicit Japan theming of this entry.
In the West at least, marketing for the game has been slim so far. I don't think this is something they can afford to slack on.
In any case, it's a game I'm massively looking forward to for an international release. Been far too long for the next proper Disgaea. D5 was nearly 8 years ago.
@nomither6 The best I can gather from all that is you're a lifelong Sonic fan and don't want him in an open world game.
Sonic Frontiers doesn't need to be coddled to be considered a good game. It isn't my favorite 3D Sonic game, but I also don't see Adventure 1 & 2, Heroes, Unleashed, Generations, and Colors as being on a much higher level. In fact, I'd rate several of those lower than Frontiers.
The constant irrational hatred and meme-ing of Sonic is just exhausting at this point.
Sonic Frontiers is a good, solid, and fun game with a unique spin on open world design. That's more than a lot of games that released in 2022 can say.
It definitely deserves it place in a top 10 of 2022 list. The fact that any write-up on it has to effectively walk on eggshells and mention for the upteenth time that the game isn't perfect and Sonic team has had serious blunders in the past is cringeworthy. Just let the game exist.
People keep saying JRPGs have become niche without expanding on why though...
Many of them, especially during the PS3 era, were low budget, low effort, and low fun.
FF7 had a huge part in catapulting JRPGs to success in the West.
How? It had great production value, and a huge marketing campaign showing how it was the coolest game in recent memory.
Even when Sony did put out good Japanese content, too often did they squander it or hide it. Gravity Rush 2 is a great example of an incredible, open world, action game. Anyone that liked the new Spider Man games would probably enjoy Gravity Rush.
But whereas Western games get big ad campaigns, Gravity Rush 2 was kept hidden, and the online features were axed incredibly soon.
Point being, it isn't enough to make good content. You have to support it, and believe in it, and perhaps most important, you have to be proud of it. The last point is what I feel went first.
Sony doesn't want to show their Japanese roots. They don't want to be the "weebstation".
Why isn't there an option for "Outrageous, even though I don't play CoD?".
This is anti-consumer, there's no other way to slice it. I'd have the same opinion if Sony were to suddenly acquire Square Enix, even though that would have much less of an immediate impact just going by console demographics.
Microsoft buying a huge company in a market they are already competing in is a step towards monopoly. The only reason we are still even having these discussions is because of blatant corruption and bribery in the legal system. Nothing new, but still a shame to see.
@TheDudeElDuderino That's kind of an oversimplification of the economics though. For one, physically manufacturing games is cheaper than 30 years ago. Not every game has a huge budget for development either.
People are free to spend their money on whatever they think is worth it, but the notion that video games are so expensive to make that companies can't survive on just selling $60 copies is a complete lie.
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Re: Dragon Quest Veterans on Dealing with 'Ridiculous Country' USA Amid Censorship Row
“If there’s too much exposure, the age rating goes up. It means we won’t be able to sell it as an all-ages product.”
Sounds more like they are self-censoring to reach a lower age rating. Dragon Quest has historically been a rate T franchise by the ESRB, including the re-releases of "Dragon Warrior 3". If that is the case, this ridiculous design and censorship is an internal issue, not a prudish American issue.
Re: Ubisoft Board Orders Internal Investigation and Review into Company's Financial Woes
It seems like open world fatigue continues to spread amongst large portions of potential video game buyers. For better or worse, Ubisoft has become synonymous with formulaic. A new storyline, setting, and a few new tricks just doesn't entice players the same anymore.
Open world games nowadays need some "hook" to draw in players. Until Ubisoft can come up with one, I predict they will continue to flounder and deliver the equivalent of video game fast food.
Re: Poll: What's Your Favourite Harry Potter Game?
"Sadly, because we’re a PlayStation-only site, we’re excluding the exceptional RPG adaptations on Game Boy Color, because it wouldn’t make sense to include them."
BOOOOOOOOOO!
Kidding... but only a bit. These are unironically the best. Simple, but not overly so, turn based RPGs with a really enjoyable progression and theming. Enough content to feel good about too.
But OK, Hogwarts Legacy is otherwise a steep increase in quality video game adaptations for the Harry Potter series. I hope there is a sequel one day that expands on it.
Re: Square Enix Has Got Fans Talking About a Final Fantasy 13 Remake, Not a Remaster
FF13 is the first mainline Final Fantasy I actually beat.
It is also by far my least favorite, to the point I have never successfully gone back to it for more than an hour.
FF13 had so much potential. In a perfect world, I would like to see it get redeemed through a remake that completely redesigns much of the game. In a realistic world though, this would be a huge undertaking and I would rather the resources be used for something else. There are plenty of other FF games better deserving of remakes, and plenty of space for completely new games and spin-offs.
FF13 has too much baggage. Better to just leave it be...
Re: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PS5 Sales Still a Secret as Square Enix Reports Year-on-Year Decline
I know this is going to make me sound like a huge fanboy, but I really wish that Push Square would stop contributing to the narrative that FF7 Rebirth is/has underperformed. It's purely speculative, based on misleading outside sources.
With the known exclusivity contract for FF16 and FF7 Rebirth long over, I have to wonder why they have yet to even announce PC ports. Perhaps there is not such a dire need to port games and make extra money? I guess it is easy to speculate after all...
Re: BioWare Will 'Finally' Return to Its Roots with Dragon Age: The Veilguard's Storytelling
Origins was great because although it seemed like a generic dark fantasy story on the surface, it was a proper RPG where you could role play a huge number of things and even influence the character arcs of your party members to an enormous degree. The choices you made in Origins impacted so much of the game. From even the simplest of choices like the sex, race, and background of your created character, the dialogue in scenes and story progression opportunities will vary greatly.
I have zero confidence in their ability to create anything close to that again, but wish them the best of luck anyways. It would be nice to have a good Dragon Age game again.
Re: The First Descendant (PS5) - A Mindless and Repetitive Grind
I don't necessarily disagree with a lot of the content in this review, but it does feel overly harsh. I've played the game for a few days so far and it feels like a 'fine' game. OK, mediocre, average... these are all how I would describe it currently. Feels more like a 5/10 with some potential to get better or worse in the future.
You could certainly play much worse games than this in your free time, and I feel like those games are more deserving of a 3/10. The bottom 3rd of the 1-10 sale should be reserved for games that are fundamentally not fun, have no redeeming qualities, and do not reliably function on the most basic levels.
Re: Nudity Confirmed for Dragon Age: The Veilguard: 'This is a Mature RPG'
A bit ironic that the first Dragon Age with nudity will be the one with the ugliest art style yet.
Re: Talking Point: What's Your PS5 Game of the Year for 2024 So Far?
In a year of great games and stiff competition, it is still easily FF7 Rebirth for me. Game of the Year and comfortably resting in my top games of all time now.
@Zenos Because the game actively had a widespread negative marketing campaign. The great thing about 2024 is the huge amount of quality games that are (finally) releasing on PS5. The less than great things are the flame wars and "pick me" strategies that lesser known games will try to employ.
It is not a coincidence that after initially rave reviews from critics and players, FF7 was suddenly victim to a harsh campaign where people supposedly complained about mini-games and Japanese anime tropes, right when Stellar Blade and Dragons Dogma 2 were releasing. Then, lo and behold, both of those games released to their own controversies...
As players, we should be celebrating these fantastic releases together, not tearing each other down. My 2 cents at least...
Re: Reaction: You Said You Were Sick of PS5's Sad Dad Sims, So You Better Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
Both Astro Bot and Lego Horizon are looking like day 1 pickups. This is absolutely the kind of catalogue I want on a Sony console, in addition to the mature block busters.
That said, I hope the business suits realize that it takes time to cultivate an audience for these kind of games, especially when the Playstation brand has not been associated with them for close to 20 years now. With Lego Horizon also coming out on Switch, it will be interesting to see sales comparisons eventually.
Re: Media Molecule's New Project Is 'More of a Game Than a Creative Tool' Says Co-Founder
@naruball User mileage may vary, but considering I published almost 20 levels across LBP1 and LBP2 and couldn't complete anything in LBP3 due to technical reasons, I would call it a failure on all counts. Losing work due to game crashes and profile saved data corruption was a constant threat. User generated content for LBP3 never really took off the same way LBP2 did, and its entirely because it wasn't worth the headache of trying to work with a creation suite in an unstable game.
I guess it's more accurate to say; when you release a game in that kind of state, it takes a lot of work to earn back your reputation. Sure Hello Games earned back a lot of goodwill, but that was by constantly improving No Man's Sky for the past... 7 years? Same difference really...
By comparison, LBP3 was never fixed. Since then the series has seen 1 spinoff game that was good, and more recently made headlines for shutting down online servers for the games, killing off a huge legacy. Not exactly a thriving IP that people are confident in.
Re: Media Molecule's New Project Is 'More of a Game Than a Creative Tool' Says Co-Founder
@naruball If you are/were pretty into the LBP fandom at the time, you’ll likely remember that LBP3 was a catastrophic release that not only caused lasting harm to the reputation of the IP, but was also never fixed. Even at its peak, and despite being cross gen on PS3 and PS4, LBP2 was much more popular than LBP3, simply because the game actually functioned online and in creative mode.
Sackboy’s Adventure is a quality title, but it takes time and often more than one good game to earn your reputation back. And with how they have been treating the LBP games over the years, I doubt they will recover anytime soon.
Re: Rumour: Next Tomb Raider Said to Be Open World, Set in India
This is a concept that could go great, or horribly wrong.
I found Tomb Raider 2013 to be the best of the reboot trilogy, by far, which is kind of unfortunate as it is the first one released in that group.
My pipe dream for the series is to pivot towards being a dungeon crawler survival game with puzzle elements.
Re: Poll: What Do You Think of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's Ending?
In a vacuum the best thing they could've done is stay completely true to the original. The original scene in the forgotten capitol is still beautiful, but having it remade in the FF7 Remake style would have been even more breathtaking.
If they had done that in FF7 Rebirth though, it would've made the whispers, the theme of defying destiny, and the meta teasing about this being an unknown journey feel pointless.
I'll admit, when I saw a certain sequence, I was initially floored (in a good way). Then the confusion set in.
Overall, I currently think the endings is "fine". I feel that I mostly understand what their vision is for this FF7 remake series. Seeing as how the other parts of the story that have thus far been changed have all added significant improvement and context, I'm willing to put my faith in Square that the concluding part of this series will have the payoff we expect for everything.
Basically, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt here. It will be tough waiting a few years for these questions to be answered though.
Re: Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 Expected to Release Around 2027, Says Square Enix
@NEStalgia Your own comparison highlights the differences. Demon's Souls PS5 is a remake of a then 10 year old PS3 game. FF7 Remake is a PS4 remake of a then over 20 year old PS1 game. Remaking FF7 involves remaking nearly everything. The world and environments of the original game are not scaled with realistic proportions due to hardware constraints at the time.
The game's story takes the cast on a trip across and through an entire planet. To make that scale believable a staggering amount of work is required. The team involved clearly understands this, and that you also need to fill your world with content. I don't want FF7 Remake to feel like a series of locations crammed into the size of my neighborhood for the sake of finishing development faster. And neither do I want to simply traverse from story point A to B in a huge empty world. The logical conclusion is to create an ambitious open world JRPG that captures the same feeling that was created in 1997, but in the 2020s.
I'm confident there will eventually be an all in one package for the entire FF7 Remake series, likely at the same time part 3 releases. Anyone too disturbed by not having the full story now can wait until then. I'll happily play and experience the game in chunks if it means I can do it earlier. See you in 2027.
Re: Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 Expected to Release Around 2027, Says Square Enix
@NEStalgia This is such a clown take. Anyone that thinks jamming the original FF7 into whatever the newest, shiniest dev engine is, with no other changes to gameplay or script would result in anything other than a laughing stock is deluding themselves. I admit it would be funny to see Cloud and the gang leave Midgar, and then take 30 steps to arrive at the next town though.
Once the remake series is finished, history will be very kind to it. The gameplay, voice acting, and graphics are all phenomenal. The story threads that are added and fully fleshed out are improvements to the original that elevate the characters to being more likable members of the cast than the original. The controversies arise over the unresolved mysteries that, after completing Rebirth, I have full faith Square will stick the landing on in part 3, and deliver a satisfying resolution.
Re: Not Everyone Is in Love with Dragon's Dogma 2 on PS5
Meh, different strokes for different folks. The original was a divisive hit. Ask any fan and they will tell you DD was a janky game with a great artistic vision and lots of potential. Also can’t really put much stock in user reviews on metacritic. Anything on there could have a score boosted or tanked by bot farming and trolls…
I loved the first game enough to platinum it, but I also got it 90% off a few years after its initial release. DD2 looks like more of the same. While I definitely want to experience more DD in the future, it still isn’t worth full price for me.
Meanwhile FF7 Rebirth has been a breath of air and I can’t put it down. Builds on the original with so much with all new combat systems and tons of gameplay variety to keep things from ever getting too same-y.
Re: Sony Polls Players on Favourite Games That Aren't Bloodborne
No Sackboy?
No Gravity Rush?
No InFamous?
Major bleh...
Re: Japan Sales Charts: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Tops, But Doesn't Even Come Close to Remake
As the years go on ignoring digital sales and comparing figures to games from several years ago is becoming more of a logical fallacy.
Digital continues to grow.
FF7 Rebirth has an amazing digital dual pack where you get FF7 Remake, Intermission DLC, and FF7 Rebirth all for the price of just buying Rebirth normally. The only reason someone would not get this version would be if they didn’t know about it, or are dedicated to buying physical games.
Re: Rumour: Gravity Rush 2 Remaster Dropping onto PS5, PC, Reveal Coming in May
Hard to take this anything other than Sony sending Kat out to die. Again...
Gravity Rush is a fantastic series. It deserves more recognition from the wider gaming community. It is just as good as the Insomniac Spider man series.
But if a remaster is only of the the 2nd game, it will do little to draw in a new audience. Something between a remaster and a remake is needed. Both games need to be packed together, or ideally blended together into a seamless narrative. The story, while very good, makes little sense if you're just jumping in at Gravity Rush 2 with no context.
Re: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's Long Trophy List Revealed, 61 to Unlock
FF7 Remake's trophy list was fun and nothing crazy. Basically a list to see all the content the game had to offer.
Hard mode was a blast and was designed with a level of thoughtfulness to it that surprised me. Very much looking forward to 100% completing FF7 Rebirth too.
Re: Shuhei Yoshida Eyes 'Pokemon with Guns' Phenomena Palworld for PS5
@wiiware Take the monster catching genre out of the equation. The relevant point is Pal World directly ripping off Pokémon character designs. Actually, it’s now being found they used ripped models from Pokémon. It’s straight up copyright infringement. Even if they change the designs “later” they are currently profiting by using illegal assets.
Re: Shuhei Yoshida Eyes 'Pokemon with Guns' Phenomena Palworld for PS5
Pokemon has been utter trite for nearly a decade now. The IP definitely needs serious competition, if such a thing even exists.
But this... is just not how to do it. This game is obviously made with generative AI doing most of the character designs. Too many monsters rocket way past the sense of being inspired by Pokemon to being downright ripoffs. From the proportions, eye shapes, fur, and details, the plagiarism is obvious. This game is disgraceful, full stop.
Re: Poll: Which Persona Game Has the Best Opening?
P4 Golden is one of my least favorite, because it just seems like TV show intro. All it does is introduce the main cast. Gives me Full House vibes.
Persona 3 Reload and 5 Royal look stunning visually and give a good feeling for the game they're covering.
Persona 5 (original) though, is just perfect. Great visuals, amazing theme song, and the choreography of it all just seals it. The characters sliding along makes it seem like the game is beckoning you to start playing. It says so much, without really giving anything away about the game.
Re: Genshin Impact Settles Down for a Fontaine Festival in 4.3 Update
It's a "filler" patch intended to tie us over until THE filler patch for lunar new year. In all honesty, it looks fun. The new event gameplay looks interesting and the returning beetle fights have been fun in the past.
That said I am disappointed we are not getting a winter themed event to enjoy around the holidays. This will be the 2nd year in a row, after we got the tone deaf spooky Yokai event around Christmas last year. Bringing back some of the Dragonspine activities from version 2.3 "Shadows Amidst Snowstorms" and giving players a permanent Dragonspine themed teapot setting would've been "peak". At least we're getting the Fontaine theme.
Re: Persona 5 Tactica (PS5) - Quality Combat Sends the Phantom Thieves Out in Style... Hopefully
As much as I love the P5 cast, and as much as I want to like this, it just doesn't do it for me. This review helpfully cemented that feeling, for better or worse.
Re: Tearaway's Wonderful Music Coming to Streaming Services as Series Turns 10
Can it be called a series if it is comprised of only 1 game (and a re-release)? I kid, but only because I would've liked this IP to have had the chance to grow into an actual series.
As it stands my take-away from Tearaway was that is was fun, charming, but not ground breaking. Good but not great. A solid entry that deserved another chance or two in the spot light before being locked away like most of Sony's IPs now...
Re: Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 Reveals Its Protagonist
Cautiously optimistic. Face animations during dialogue looks really off and uncanny, so hoping that gets a lot more attention post alpha.
Re: Sony on PS Plus Price Increase: We Want to Make PlayStation Plus Great
@nessisonett Unfortunately, everything can eventually fall victim to inflation. There are a lot of complexities in a large market, but any economist worth their salt will tell you that inflation is ultimately because all across the board people want more money. That's all there is to it. Calling it greed may make it sound insidious, but it's simply human nature.
What do most working people want/expect at around a yearly interval? A wage raise.
In a competitive environment, people will naturally use the leverage they have to negotiate for more money. In many cases, the leverage is simply time invested. Businesses will renegotiate contracts knowing that it is easier to pay out more than it is to start over and find a new partner.
People and businesses will continue to push the envelope and ask for more money.
Re: Mini Review: CRYMACHINA (PS5) - Interesting Worldbuilding Can’t Save This Dull Action RPG
@AndyKazama @Foxhound
Another nod for Dragon Star Varnir.
Game is very solid once it get's going. Legitimately good story and combat.
Also recommend the following:
Shining Resonance Refrain
Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online
Very obviously lower budget games when you look at graphics and overall production value (Shining Resonance is a remaster too), but they are solid mechanically, with good controls and gameplay.
Re: PS Studios Celebrate the Launch of Marvel's Spider-Man 2 with Awesome Art
You know what Sony IPs would make even more sense to promote along side the new Spider Man 2 release and are actually genre adjacent open world super hero games?
InFamous and Gravity Rush.
Why are these never seen anymore?
Re: Sonic Frontiers' Final Horizon DLC Proving to Be Surprisingly Difficult
OK so some of the difficulty concerns I get, but not around the platforming specifically. The game isn't built around precision platforming (whatever that means) nor does it expect it from the player. Even in the video clips shown above, all I see are mistakes on the player part, and failure to correct and save themselves at every opportunity.
I really hate to oversimply something as just get good, but seriously... as someone who does not play a lot of platformers, Frontiers' platforming is not difficult.
Re: Open World Action RPG Tainted Grail Is Adventuring to PS5 Next Year
Looks like a knockoff and mashup of other western open world RPGs, from the mechanics down to creature designs. Does not inspire confidence but would love for it to turn out decent.
Re: Sand Land Story Trailer Sets the Scene For an Unlikely Adventure on PS5, PS4
Lumping Dragon Quest 11 with One Piece Odyssey and this game as a ILCA game seems ingenuine. DQ11 is game developed and published by Square Enix. I could only find a few vague notes online about ILCA contributing to the game. Granted all 3 games look visually similar, but all 3 are going very much for a manga inspired look, with Toriyama being directly behind 2 of the 3.
All that to say, I think this looks like it could be quite good.
Re: Rumour: Dragon Age: Dreadwolf Targeting Summer 2024 Release at the Earliest
While I have little faith in it, I am nonetheless still excited for this game's eventual release.
Dragon Age is a special series that started with so much heart put into it. A return to form would be great to see and even better to play through. The game releasing in a state similar to the train wreck that was Mass Effect Andromeda would also be hilarious. I think I'd be fine with either.
Re: Granblue Fantasy: Relink Release Date Finally Set for February 2024 on PS5, PS4
@Sam_ATLUS Lunar New Year is a major holiday in Asia. Releasing big Japanese games in February is akin to Western games releasing right around Black Friday and Christmas. This has historically worked out well in the West too, as by the time February and March come around even the Westerner's wallets have recovered enough. And if you were fortunate enough to get a new console, you may be ready for the latest hot new game a few months later in late Winter.
Re: Reaction: Sony's PS5, PC Live Service Strategy Won't Work If It's All Samey Shooters
At the risk of sounding too political, as income inequality continues to grow in nearly every developed country in the world, it will become harder to nickel and dime consumers successfully. So, I think we are heading for a fallout for these live service type games, if we aren't there already.
There aren't enough high spending players for all these games to be successful long-term. As others have pointed out, we are seeing many games which focus on online multiplayer have support dropped in a few years or less, which is absurd.
It's not even that I'm opposed to these types of games, I just realistically don't see a market that can support many co-existing. The only way I can see the majority of these games being successful is if they're more traditional single-player games, with an added multiplayer component, or a live-service type model that adds events or content regularly.
Re: Forspoken: In Tanta We Trust (PS5) - Better Than the Main Game
Despite not owning the game, I'm glad Square has seemingly not given up on this IP. After initial shaky impressions, the more I see of this, the better it looks. Gameplay looks solid, even if the premise seems cringey.
Unfortunately, there will always be people who dislike it purely for other reasons...
Re: Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections Confirms New Characters, 'Special' Story Mode
I certainly wouldn't be opposed to more Storm content, but a 10th new Naruto and Sasuke is not compelling enough reason to buy these games again.
Playable Anko and Kurenai should be the starting point. They've been asked for by fans for over a decade.
I would like to see each of the seven mist swordsman realized, with interesting movesets like the sound 4 received.
Re: PS5 Finally Takes Control of Japanese Charts, As Forspoken Flops
I really hope Disgaea 7 has some legs. I love the series too much to see it wither away and die, especially on what seems to be a quality release. The low numbers are somewhat baffling given the explicit Japan theming of this entry.
In the West at least, marketing for the game has been slim so far. I don't think this is something they can afford to slack on.
In any case, it's a game I'm massively looking forward to for an international release. Been far too long for the next proper Disgaea. D5 was nearly 8 years ago.
Re: Game of the Year: #7 - Sonic Frontiers
@nomither6 The best I can gather from all that is you're a lifelong Sonic fan and don't want him in an open world game.
Sonic Frontiers doesn't need to be coddled to be considered a good game. It isn't my favorite 3D Sonic game, but I also don't see Adventure 1 & 2, Heroes, Unleashed, Generations, and Colors as being on a much higher level. In fact, I'd rate several of those lower than Frontiers.
Re: Game of the Year: #7 - Sonic Frontiers
The constant irrational hatred and meme-ing of Sonic is just exhausting at this point.
Sonic Frontiers is a good, solid, and fun game with a unique spin on open world design. That's more than a lot of games that released in 2022 can say.
It definitely deserves it place in a top 10 of 2022 list. The fact that any write-up on it has to effectively walk on eggshells and mention for the upteenth time that the game isn't perfect and Sonic team has had serious blunders in the past is cringeworthy. Just let the game exist.
Re: Soapbox: Help Me! I'm Hooked on Genshin Impact
It's a legitimately good game.
The best experience is enjoying the story and world at your own pace, and playing online with other players.
It is entirely possible to ignore the gacha/gambling and micro-transactions. Of course, getting new characters helps the game stay fresh.
Re: Mini Review: Persona 5 Royal (PS5) - Still One of the Best JRPGs Ever Made, Despite PS4 Disrespect
It's a fantastic game, and while it is mentioned in the review, I feel like the point isn't driven home enough:
Persona 5 Royal is already playable on PS5 via the PS4 version.
What does this version of the game actually give you that is meaningful?
Even for someone who has yet to experience this game at all, just buy P5R for PS4 on sale with all the DLC for around $20.
This version is a 1/10.
Re: Cyberpunk 2077 Just Smashed The Witcher 3's All-Time Concurrent Player Record
Something else to consider though is The Witcher 3 has a separate listing for the game of year edition on Steam...
Re: Sony Wasn't Interested in New JRPG from Ex-Wild Arms Devs
People keep saying JRPGs have become niche without expanding on why though...
Many of them, especially during the PS3 era, were low budget, low effort, and low fun.
FF7 had a huge part in catapulting JRPGs to success in the West.
How? It had great production value, and a huge marketing campaign showing how it was the coolest game in recent memory.
Even when Sony did put out good Japanese content, too often did they squander it or hide it. Gravity Rush 2 is a great example of an incredible, open world, action game. Anyone that liked the new Spider Man games would probably enjoy Gravity Rush.
But whereas Western games get big ad campaigns, Gravity Rush 2 was kept hidden, and the online features were axed incredibly soon.
Point being, it isn't enough to make good content. You have to support it, and believe in it, and perhaps most important, you have to be proud of it. The last point is what I feel went first.
Sony doesn't want to show their Japanese roots. They don't want to be the "weebstation".
Re: Talking Point: What Do You Make of Microsoft and Sony's Call of Duty Quarrel?
Why isn't there an option for "Outrageous, even though I don't play CoD?".
This is anti-consumer, there's no other way to slice it. I'd have the same opinion if Sony were to suddenly acquire Square Enix, even though that would have much less of an immediate impact just going by console demographics.
Microsoft buying a huge company in a market they are already competing in is a step towards monopoly. The only reason we are still even having these discussions is because of blatant corruption and bribery in the legal system. Nothing new, but still a shame to see.
Re: Assassin's Creed Mirage Sneaks to PS5, PS4 in 2023, Priced at $50
@TheDudeElDuderino That's kind of an oversimplification of the economics though. For one, physically manufacturing games is cheaper than 30 years ago. Not every game has a huge budget for development either.
People are free to spend their money on whatever they think is worth it, but the notion that video games are so expensive to make that companies can't survive on just selling $60 copies is a complete lie.
Re: Quirky Dungeon Crawler Monster Menu Gets Cooking on PS5, PS4 Next Year
Always love Nippon Icchi art, and I want them to have creative freedom and try new things.
But I really just want Disgaea on a more regular basis, or more of the older games remade in D5's engine like D1.
Re: Gravity Rush Also Getting a Movie, It's Claimed
Kat could very easily pass as a Marvel super hero.
Out of all Sony's IPs, Gravity Rush is one I think could translate to film very easily.