Speaking seriously, I once read about some folks here in Belarus who set out and invested big sums into building cottages outside Minsk so they could "just drive to work and otherwise live closer to nature, like many people in the civilized west do". Private initiatives for the most part, they kinda overlooked the part where said "civilized west" would tend to the necessary infrastructure from gas and water to communications before building anything, so they ended up with big houses that looked nice but weren't exactly fun to live in.
This is what Stadia and cloud gaming for the most part is to me. A fancy option that, unlike many other gaming schticks, heavily and almost DEBILITATINGLY relies on third party infrastructure to the extent few other projects in the industry do. We might get there in 5-10-15 years, but in this day and age Stadia had all the success odds of a gas station opened circa 1800. Β―(γ)/Β―
Pretty cool stuff. I have Dishonored 2 on Steam (and briefly had a giveaway DotO on Epic before it got force-refundedπ), but as I mentioned elsewhere the other day, I rarely take my laptop downtown these days so PS4 has come to almost match its session times at home (where I can even stream the Catalogue stuff to said laptop of I can't afford enough time to bother hooking the console up), making both games relatively viable here. And I certainly wouldn't expect to run the PC version of Watch Dogs Legion! Much of the rest is available much more portably as it is, but if you don't have a Switch and/or a PSP/Vita, games like RF4, Sakuna, FoMM, Soundfall and Pursuit Force are great additions in their own right. Meanwhile, the Tomb Raider games and Conan Exiles can serve to "recover" another portion of my currently too-costly-to maintain Russian PS+ stash... at least as long as they're around.π
Guess I jinxed them after trying Concrete Genie and finding the studio to be "at least some of the folks to possibly carry on the torch of Japan Studio". Hopefully Media Molecule isn't next.π
I reap my own share of benefits of PS Premium these days, but I can still concur - at least as far as rotational subs go. A library to amass and generally access anytime you have an active sub (PS+ Essential, GWG, NSO) is one thing, but indeed, we only have so much time to cover a game backlog like a sub catalogue - and if it's unpleasant to part with eventually tagged-out licenses for an album you've looped for months, imagine the feeling of parting with a game you never got a chance to play because you were busy with several others in the same lineup. Or even beyond it - we recently got Horizon Forbidden West on Extra, but will it still be there to engage by the time I'm finished with Zero Dawn? And back to the catalogue, will I beat FFXV fast enough for its DLC eps to still be available? Some will chuckle that this may encourage actually tending to backlogs, but backlogs usually don't worry someone like myself with full awareness of being interested in way more games than his lifetime can possibly accommodate anyway. Just like with other Fiction media, part of the gaming hobby's functionality and appeal lies in the ability to meet a given mood, play what you feel like playing. Backlogs are only stressful when they become a second job of sorts, and FWP as it unarguably is, the FOMO factor of sub catalogue rotations can only fan the flames of it. Is it fun to be motivated for one game but play another just because it's leaving the lineup soon? Just buying the latter certainly feels like less headache. Which, of course, is why publishers offer and pull licenses in the first place - it basically works as a longer version of "free weekends" for them, meant to hook once indifferent or hesitant customers on a started playthrough. But that's a long run win for them; will it be one for the sub over a similar term? Or will many subscribers really come to ponder just spending the sub money on sale splurges to gradually tie the same games to their accounts more stably?
Grid Legends with its promised story mode is certainly the highlight of the lineup for me, all the moreso after missing out on NFS Heat last autumn. Descenders is on Switch but Chivalry 2 isn't and sounds interesting as well.
On the contrary here, XIII trilogy is among my top faves in the franchise and I've had a blast with XV as well, not to mention that science fantasy settings score with me more than the comparatively medieval[ish] ones (unless the latter can feel deliciously alien in other aspects like Gaia or Ivalice do). XIII's Paradigm Shift also remains the best Final Fantasy combat system in my book.
Does any of that sour me towards what I've seen of XVI by now? Not in the least. For all the things it's trying to do differently (and not all of them necessarily the franchise's firsts they're painted to be), I can see an unmistakable Final Fantasy experience behind it, the one which has always tried to do something differently and other things in a familiar way. Preferences don't mean I'm allergic to high fantasy and it feels only fair to revisit it again after Eos where people rode chocobos and drove Audis in the same day and age. Action combat is anything but new to the series and looks to be fun - like I said earlier, I only wished it to retain the party aspect (even if AI-controlled one - it's not like the aforementioned FF juggernauts alongside many a Tales or Xenoblade haven't shone like crazy diamonds therein), and this whimsical hope has been met as well. It will be a great ride when I finally get down to it in the future (distant as that future may be for other reasons), and yet my heart will still welcome more Final Technofantasies down the road. Which I don't doubt shall come, too - this series has room for oh so very much under its roof. Here's to what it can offer as of today.π»
@Ralizah am I the only one who didn't spot anything overly "western" in last night's trailer? Especially in the presence of notably more WRPG-influenced JRPGs like Dark Souls and Dragon's Dogma? Then again, not the first time fans and media get wacky with nomenclature. But on that subject, I don't see any "anime openings" here either. Or even an opening for now - a theme song is a theme song. FFXIII's never even played in the game intro.
The game's only current platform remaining outside my scope of reasonable usage as a home console without decent RP options, I don't have much of a stake in the matter (and there is plenty to keep me busy in the franchise for the visible future as it is - continuing XII, Type-0 and XV, finishing Revenant Wings, replaying XIII saga and Dissidia 012, properly starting Crystal Chronicles and restarting Crisis Core on Switch... you name it), but my only personal concern from the early announcements - that the game would end up a solo gig without any semblance of a party - has successfully dissipated at the sight of what evokes various FFXV, Tales and Code Vein vibes at different moments, with some Bayonetta or Warframe tier spectacle mixed in. Although I'm still scratching my head at thr insistent marketing of "first truly ARPG Final Fantasy", especially given the aforementioned XV vibes (and maybe even some from VIIR going over my head because I have yet to play it). In the end, something new, something familiar - which is how Final Fantasy has always grown. There are even apparent aerial combat sections that can vaguely remind you of Drakengard!
The base of operations has a lot of promising stuff as well, including even what seemed like a sort of Xenoblade-esque NPC network at a glance. Between all this, the teased lore (which looks like the most emphasis on eidolons the series has had since IX and X) and the story premise... No telling when I will ever get to play this game, but I certainly expect to enjoy it.
Gotta check if any of them are in Catalogue - the whole list looks like it's on Switch, so I'm afraid you won't catch me investing in respective PS4 ports for a digital collectible. The only exception in this context was that lite Konami baseball for a 50 point reward, but it cost a dollar and my wallet had spare change.π
Another month where most of the catalogue departures are on Switch (and some already in my respective library) regardless, leaving little to feel bummed about. But Spider-man was among the tangible playthroughs I started right after getting my US account subbed, so it sure is a pity to see it go. Might as well delete the game right away until better times, tossing it on the wishlist. And FlatOut 4 being in the roster somehow went over my head; perhaps I'll give it a roll while it's still around.
Fingers crossed that my primary Catalogue focus these days, FFXV, may "survive" the summer and ideally the winter holidays. I'm still weighing up my odds of renting a PS5 to claim the PS+ Collection titles (so I can at least "secure" them for whenever my US sub is active) but, in all irony, already having this game processed among the Extra titles may get in the way for all I know.π Then again, I'm knee-deep enough here that I would probably make it my wishlist priority [at the nearest sale] if I had to.π
@Sam_Atlus as someone unironically amicable towards both games, I can procure Balan Underworld on Switch but Mighty No.9 is sad to see leaving since its proverbially troubled release skipped everything portable in the end and the PS4 version, once a PS+ monthly giveaway, is no longer accessible to me (not without buying 3 months of Essential for the price of 1 year of Premium, at leastπ) - part of the Catalogue's appeal at the time of me deciding on a new sub tier was in at least nominally "returning" a bunch of such titles within my reach. But I knew this wasn't meant to last.
I had Kena wishlisted but hey. Might try Riders Republic and Evil Within, too. The classic Dooms, on the other hand, evoked a chuckle since I just grabbed them on Switch last week.
@Hydra_Spectre ah yes, the company whose console ads showed SNES and Mega Drive thrown out like garbage. Them and Sega both exiting hardware biz in the end can seem borderline karmic at times.
@Keyblade-Dan of course there would be at least one fanhead barking at the game.π But then again, just a couple posts above, another commenter managed to express their lack of interest in the sequels without sounding fanmouthed about it, so I guess the cosmic balance is maintained.π
@KaijuKaiser a JRPG series will be right at home with PlayStation once PlayStation has a portable system once again (and I don't mean streaming). After all the games Square Enix has made properly accessible on Switch over the recent years, hoping for their output to be ball'n'chained to living rooms either sounds counterintuitive or betrays the perspective of someone barely past the college years. Besides, I'm not sure I look forward to what Sony can "do with Japanese franchises" after what they did to Sony Japan Studio. Especially in comparison to all the cain they've been raising about a western FPS franchise.
@NEStalgia huh, I thought XIV was Crystal Tools from the start. Or is it Realm Reborn that went to Luminous afterwards?
There's nothing "reported" or "apparent" from what I've seen so far (outside the typical waste products pretending to be which I do understand remain part of Push Square and other fanblogs' bread and wine), but outside last May and this half year's lucky streak I can never afford to take for granted, Remote Play has always been the pinnacle of my "home" PlayStation experience, at least where control schemes so allowed. Vita, while purchased first and foremost for its own offerings, was the reason I ever came to invest in a PS4 at all whereas PS5 limiting RP to peripheral-crutched third parties single-handedly (or "-footedly"?) kicked me out of the market for it.
When it comes to new PlayStation portables (the likes of which, unless/until proven otherwise, I wouldn't expect until a few years into Gen 10, especially with Sony barely just ending its struggle to produce ONE current console), I've already fantasized that even a "PlayStation Legacy" using a Vita-esque format with more buttons and possibly just enough juice to handle decent PS2 emulation (with PS3-5 left for streaming) and gathering all the libraries (sans the delisted/delicensed stuff, but what will you do) under one roof would be bee's knees. A streaming handheld machine obviously sounds like less than that, but still viable enough to turn my head, hand under chin, towards PS5 again. Of course, I've voted to "at least check it out" here because the resolution options would matter as well - Vita's generally work (once you claw your way past the whimsical connection assessment screen which better have less of a final say on a hypothetical new device in general) but 4G can't even stream 720p under the slightest network strain (read: anywhere urban where it's available in the first place), and 5G largely remains a first world cryptid. But if this were to be solved... again, you'd definitely have my attention. For whenever such a handheld actually shows up where I live, of course.π
@Itachi2099 unless they're already playing the original. The promise of [at least decent] PS3 emulation on the go is arguably one of the biggest things SD can offer, even if it means turning it into an honest Win10 machine with everything that entails.
Don't shoot the messenger, but us having a hard time perceiving Gen 7 consoles as "retro" may well testify that the subsequent generations haven't added THAT much on top, at least when you compare it to the other example at hand. SNES was where 2D graphics truly blossomed; PS3 (especially its later years) was where CGI finally hit a similar stage. SNES and PS3 feel like different eras in the way that PS3 and PS5 ultimately don't quite.
@Stevemalkpus Steam Deck is a handheld micro PC, those come with a bit too much fine print to be the best anything. I'm in the market for it myself (someday when it won't cost me a kidney to import one, not that either of my kidneys might even fetch the needed price by now), but my experience with GPD Win has ensured that I will only use it for games I can't play on Switch and the console handhelds.
@CallMeDuraSouka it's not about gamers alone - excessive attachment to anything can breed this kind of mentality that proceeds to bring out some of the worst in people, be it fiction like games/books/shows/movies or events like sports. The word "fan" itself is traced in equal measure from "fanatic" and "fancy", aka obsessions and whims. When we stop to think about it, what good is expectable to come from blending the two? The examples usually ascribed to fanship to the point of sharing morphology (fanfiction, fanarts etc) are actually instances where the human manages to overpower the unhinged hunger within and, rather than try soiling others' moods/lives with their vocal craving for another dose of what once hooked them hard, convert this energy into creative "self-service" that can fulfil their cravings on the DIY basis and, in uncountable incidents, produce worthwhile results that a whole lot more people around can come to resonate with (sometimes including the original work's creators themselves). Not to mention how many folks eventually find this experience to be a stairway to their very own non-derivative creative endeavours and achievements in the future.
Alas, when centered on just getting new "doses" and left to steer the person's behaviour unchecked, fanship is an innately egocentric destructive force. As, indeed, are a good number of mentalities out there.
From "so-called" fans? Please. This is what we do. Fanship is aggressive, obsessive and possessive by nature - variations only happen based on the amount of control a given fan's human host can exert at a given time. Lose the grip, and this is one of the many ugly consequences. Online disinhibition syndrome only serves to add fuel.
I have yet to see or experience anything that would change my own lukewarm perception of the technology itself. At the end of the day, VR is what you see in fiction like .hack, SAO and BoFuri, not anything this side of the screen yet. Headmounted camera controllers with mini screens perched on your nose can ultimately struggle to live up to the lofty promise of sensory immersion in an interactive fictionverse, and mental/emotional immersion is routinely achieved without paying through the nose for such peripherals.
@Americansamurai1 "universally hated" is yet another fan myth about one of the franchise's biggest-selling flagships that earned itself two whole sequels and whose cast were licensed for commercials even years later. Meanwhile, the "universally loved" VIIR faces its own share of fan barks for things like daring to twist and literally "remake" the original's plot.
@UltimateOtaku91 at least a PC port should be playable on one properly handheld device with proper buttons these days. Being "PlayStation exclusive" in Gen 9 largely means requiring free time to spend in the living room like it's Gen 6 all over again.
@Tharsman Iron Galaxy has also brought Skyrim, Diablo 3, Overwatch and recently Metroid Prime over to Switch, a machine supposedly more constrained in specs. SNAFUs happen.
I already have Tails of Iron on Switch and Meet Your Maker sounds exclusively or at least predominantly multiplayer, but I sure welcome more LBP even if most of my acquaintance with it has been the Vita runner and what I've played of the lovable LBP3 before more or less losing access to it (a past IGC item itself, it's tied to my now epicly overpriced Russian PS+ sub, and doubles as one of those like Onrush and Transformers Devastation that I can no longer even purchase on the US account these days). Good to see the April lineup includes the PS4 version.
When we have actual artificial intelligence with the equivalent of self-awareness, imagination and will to create, then we can talk AI art. Until then, going by that name is the analogue of "incorrect quotes generator" and other toolsets whose ultimate purpose and entertainment value remains in the ease and speed of spontaneous or guided mashups. Which is also what Wada-san appears to be discussing here.
Yes, I'm playing Resident Evil 4 since last week, except not the remake.π At least the second poll has room for me since I naturally can't claim to have ever finished the original yet.
Unless the PS5 version has exclusive content, is "gutted" the proper word here? Why do we even clamour for backward compatibility if a cross-gen title's newer version becomes such an absolute preference regardless?
"Ported to the PS2 shortly after its initial six month run on the PSP, GTA: Liberty City Stories lost a lot of its handheld novelty on Sonyβs ageing home console. The return to Rockstarβs fictional New York City was appreciated, but by 2006 the PS3 was right around the corner, and the multiplayer modes from the portable version were inexplicably stripped from this port"
And yet it not only gets a separate place on the list but ranks ABOVE its handheld original. Same with VCS.π€π€π€
IMHO this makes for an odd list overall, to be honest. Multiple nigh identical versions of the same entries like GTA 5 x3, but still two items short of a round 20 which only accentuates the lack of GTA Advance and - if we go by the list's own logic - the original Chinatown Wars on NDS which barely gets a passing mention despite its own unique gameplay bits that were inevitably lost on PSP.
@Robinsad well, they can always go Bethesda and bundle a "creator club" pack into some anniversary edition for Disney Infinity 4.0... oh wait, wrong universe.π₯
Ghostwire Tokyo being limited to PS5 is a bummer but Rage 2 is a neat option among the ones we didn't know yet (I've been playing the first one on the laptop but it's certainly not guaranteed to handle the sequel), and despite having an active playthrough on PSP, I might even check out Type-0 HD. The rest is mostly on Switch.
Given PS5's specs and price, you'd think they have the main model "proofed" for longer. Besides, didn't PS4 Pro illustrate that a beefier unit is of limited use as long as you still develop games with base specs in mind or forfeit the userbase those have already grown? It's exactly why some devs have voiced skepticism about the "Switch Pro" rumours, too.
Then again, with PS5 sales only picking up steam by now, perhaps Sony doesn't view the OG model's userbase as big enough to have devs worried.π
@Shad361 possibly the most first world comment I'll read this week.π
The elephant in modern Remote Play room is the need to strap a controller on the only handheld devices it now supports, but if the app in question alleviates the issue by running on a gaming Android PC like this, it may certainly alleviate the concern, at least for those who already have the hardware (otherwise, talk about the "pricier" spendings indeedπ ). But what resolution options are available in general? Vita's 360/544p ones have helped ensure relatively stable phone hotspot performance on my side over the years [before the local internet quality became a progressively bigger joke]; connecting is almost always a chore, but the established stream manages to hold up even on 3G (as you'd expect it to, since Vita was designed to run on 3G networks in the first place). But as Switch is my witness, 720p is too generally much for my hotspot so far.
One benefit of currently affording a relative bit of time for living room sessions and keeping my PS4 at home for the time being is that I don't need to tug at my friend's sleeve for such updates.π For the last few years, the console has tended to effectively disable Remote Play (and, contextually, my entire access) before installing them.π
I'm a five star sociopath and my brain still took three seconds to bring up the idea of maybe directing all this stock into charity giveaways instead. Don't tell me that none at Funko ever did.π€π
~95% of my 1200+ item Switch library is third party, so I sure have some biased opinions on what they would need to do for that.π
The best place to play any game is wherever you have some gaming time on your hands. As such, the living room qualifies less and less the older you become. Few debate the nigh supreme advantage of portability in regards to music and movies, so it's time to acknowledge that it's one of the best things to have ever happened to gaming as well.
Even after trying some Tekken 7 last weekend, I can't help associating Jin and Heihachi with Namco x Capcom/Project X Zone first and foremost. Is that how some people feel about Fire Emblem?π
Comments 1,102
Re: PS4 Game Seemingly Removed from May 2023's PS Plus Extra, Premium Refresh
"We're a consumer tech giant, not a web content one" - Sony, probably
Re: Google Stadia's Biggest Exclusive GYLT Is Coming to PS5, PS4
@bpomber the friends we made along the way.
Speaking seriously, I once read about some folks here in Belarus who set out and invested big sums into building cottages outside Minsk so they could "just drive to work and otherwise live closer to nature, like many people in the civilized west do". Private initiatives for the most part, they kinda overlooked the part where said "civilized west" would tend to the necessary infrastructure from gas and water to communications before building anything, so they ended up with big houses that looked nice but weren't exactly fun to live in.
This is what Stadia and cloud gaming for the most part is to me. A fancy option that, unlike many other gaming schticks, heavily and almost DEBILITATINGLY relies on third party infrastructure to the extent few other projects in the industry do. We might get there in 5-10-15 years, but in this day and age Stadia had all the success odds of a gas station opened circa 1800. Β―(γ)/Β―
Re: 23 Games Hit PS Plus Extra, Premium Next Week in Big Update
Pretty cool stuff. I have Dishonored 2 on Steam (and briefly had a giveaway DotO on Epic before it got force-refundedπ), but as I mentioned elsewhere the other day, I rarely take my laptop downtown these days so PS4 has come to almost match its session times at home (where I can even stream the Catalogue stuff to said laptop of I can't afford enough time to bother hooking the console up), making both games relatively viable here. And I certainly wouldn't expect to run the PC version of Watch Dogs Legion! Much of the rest is available much more portably as it is, but if you don't have a Switch and/or a PSP/Vita, games like RF4, Sakuna, FoMM, Soundfall and Pursuit Force are great additions in their own right. Meanwhile, the Tomb Raider games and Conan Exiles can serve to "recover" another portion of my currently too-costly-to maintain Russian PS+ stash... at least as long as they're around.π
Re: Former PlayStation Boss Saddened by PixelOpus Studio Closure
Guess I jinxed them after trying Concrete Genie and finding the studio to be "at least some of the folks to possibly carry on the torch of Japan Studio". Hopefully Media Molecule isn't next.π
Re: Soapbox: I No Longer Think Subscriptions Like PS Plus, Xbox Game Pass Are the Future of Gaming
I reap my own share of benefits of PS Premium these days, but I can still concur - at least as far as rotational subs go. A library to amass and generally access anytime you have an active sub (PS+ Essential, GWG, NSO) is one thing, but indeed, we only have so much time to cover a game backlog like a sub catalogue - and if it's unpleasant to part with eventually tagged-out licenses for an album you've looped for months, imagine the feeling of parting with a game you never got a chance to play because you were busy with several others in the same lineup. Or even beyond it - we recently got Horizon Forbidden West on Extra, but will it still be there to engage by the time I'm finished with Zero Dawn? And back to the catalogue, will I beat FFXV fast enough for its DLC eps to still be available? Some will chuckle that this may encourage actually tending to backlogs, but backlogs usually don't worry someone like myself with full awareness of being interested in way more games than his lifetime can possibly accommodate anyway. Just like with other Fiction media, part of the gaming hobby's functionality and appeal lies in the ability to meet a given mood, play what you feel like playing. Backlogs are only stressful when they become a second job of sorts, and FWP as it unarguably is, the FOMO factor of sub catalogue rotations can only fan the flames of it. Is it fun to be motivated for one game but play another just because it's leaving the lineup soon? Just buying the latter certainly feels like less headache. Which, of course, is why publishers offer and pull licenses in the first place - it basically works as a longer version of "free weekends" for them, meant to hook once indifferent or hesitant customers on a started playthrough. But that's a long run win for them; will it be one for the sub over a similar term? Or will many subscribers really come to ponder just spending the sub money on sale splurges to gradually tie the same games to their accounts more stably?
Re: PS Plus Essential Games for May 2023 Announced
Grid Legends with its promised story mode is certainly the highlight of the lineup for me, all the moreso after missing out on NFS Heat last autumn. Descenders is on Switch but Chivalry 2 isn't and sounds interesting as well.
Re: Star Wars Jedi: Survivor PS5 Physical Copies Require a Download to Play
Nintendo should have stuck with optical storage, they said.
It's higher capacity, cheaper to produce and wouldn't ask for big obligatory downloads, they said.
Re: Scalped PS5 Prices Plummet as Retail Stock Surges
Eight bucks, and I can announce Gravity Rush collection on Switch? Hmmm... hmmmm...
Re: Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster Trophies Revealed, Including a Platinum Trophy for Each
Final Fantasy II platinum trophy: "win the first battle in the game"π
Re: American Senators Continue to Target Sony Over PS5, PS4 Timed Exclusives
Nintendo, Microsoft, Epic Games... wait, do I need multiple puppet glance pics here, or will one suffice?
Re: Soapbox: Final Fantasy 16 Is the Most Excited I've Been for the Series in Almost 20 Years
On the contrary here, XIII trilogy is among my top faves in the franchise and I've had a blast with XV as well, not to mention that science fantasy settings score with me more than the comparatively medieval[ish] ones (unless the latter can feel deliciously alien in other aspects like Gaia or Ivalice do). XIII's Paradigm Shift also remains the best Final Fantasy combat system in my book.
Does any of that sour me towards what I've seen of XVI by now? Not in the least. For all the things it's trying to do differently (and not all of them necessarily the franchise's firsts they're painted to be), I can see an unmistakable Final Fantasy experience behind it, the one which has always tried to do something differently and other things in a familiar way. Preferences don't mean I'm allergic to high fantasy and it feels only fair to revisit it again after Eos where people rode chocobos and drove Audis in the same day and age. Action combat is anything but new to the series and looks to be fun - like I said earlier, I only wished it to retain the party aspect (even if AI-controlled one - it's not like the aforementioned FF juggernauts alongside many a Tales or Xenoblade haven't shone like crazy diamonds therein), and this whimsical hope has been met as well. It will be a great ride when I finally get down to it in the future (distant as that future may be for other reasons), and yet my heart will still welcome more Final Technofantasies down the road. Which I don't doubt shall come, too - this series has room for oh so very much under its roof. Here's to what it can offer as of today.π»
Re: Final Fantasy 16's Theme Song, Performed by Kenshi Yonezu, Is Kind of a Banger
@Ralizah am I the only one who didn't spot anything overly "western" in last night's trailer? Especially in the presence of notably more WRPG-influenced JRPGs like Dark Souls and Dragon's Dogma? Then again, not the first time fans and media get wacky with nomenclature. But on that subject, I don't see any "anime openings" here either. Or even an opening for now - a theme song is a theme song. FFXIII's never even played in the game intro.
Re: Poll: How Was Final Fantasy 16's State of Play Showcase?
The game's only current platform remaining outside my scope of reasonable usage as a home console without decent RP options, I don't have much of a stake in the matter (and there is plenty to keep me busy in the franchise for the visible future as it is - continuing XII, Type-0 and XV, finishing Revenant Wings, replaying XIII saga and Dissidia 012, properly starting Crystal Chronicles and restarting Crisis Core on Switch... you name it), but my only personal concern from the early announcements - that the game would end up a solo gig without any semblance of a party - has successfully dissipated at the sight of what evokes various FFXV, Tales and Code Vein vibes at different moments, with some Bayonetta or Warframe tier spectacle mixed in. Although I'm still scratching my head at thr insistent marketing of "first truly ARPG Final Fantasy", especially given the aforementioned XV vibes (and maybe even some from VIIR going over my head because I have yet to play it). In the end, something new, something familiar - which is how Final Fantasy has always grown. There are even apparent aerial combat sections that can vaguely remind you of Drakengard!
The base of operations has a lot of promising stuff as well, including even what seemed like a sort of Xenoblade-esque NPC network at a glance. Between all this, the teased lore (which looks like the most emphasis on eidolons the series has had since IX and X) and the story premise... No telling when I will ever get to play this game, but I certainly expect to enjoy it.
Re: Become the Proud Owner of a Shuhei Yoshida Bobblehead with PS Stars
Gotta check if any of them are in Catalogue - the whole list looks like it's on Switch, so I'm afraid you won't catch me investing in respective PS4 ports for a digital collectible. The only exception in this context was that lite Konami baseball for a 50 point reward, but it cost a dollar and my wallet had spare change.π
Re: 32 Games Will Be Taken Off PS Plus Extra, Premium Next Month
Another month where most of the catalogue departures are on Switch (and some already in my respective library) regardless, leaving little to feel bummed about. But Spider-man was among the tangible playthroughs I started right after getting my US account subbed, so it sure is a pity to see it go. Might as well delete the game right away until better times, tossing it on the wishlist. And FlatOut 4 being in the roster somehow went over my head; perhaps I'll give it a roll while it's still around.
Fingers crossed that my primary Catalogue focus these days, FFXV, may "survive" the summer and ideally the winter holidays. I'm still weighing up my odds of renting a PS5 to claim the PS+ Collection titles (so I can at least "secure" them for whenever my US sub is active) but, in all irony, already having this game processed among the Extra titles may get in the way for all I know.π Then again, I'm knee-deep enough here that I would probably make it my wishlist priority [at the nearest sale] if I had to.π
@Sam_Atlus as someone unironically amicable towards both games, I can procure Balan Underworld on Switch but Mighty No.9 is sad to see leaving since its proverbially troubled release skipped everything portable in the end and the PS4 version, once a PS+ monthly giveaway, is no longer accessible to me (not without buying 3 months of Essential for the price of 1 year of Premium, at leastπ) - part of the Catalogue's appeal at the time of me deciding on a new sub tier was in at least nominally "returning" a bunch of such titles within my reach. But I knew this wasn't meant to last.
Re: 16 Games Hit PS Plus Extra, Premium Next Week
I had Kena wishlisted but hey. Might try Riders Republic and Evil Within, too. The classic Dooms, on the other hand, evoked a chuckle since I just grabbed them on Switch last week.
Re: This PlayStation Patents Terminology Row Is the Stupidest Story in Games
@Hydra_Spectre ah yes, the company whose console ads showed SNES and Mega Drive thrown out like garbage. Them and Sega both exiting hardware biz in the end can seem borderline karmic at times.
Re: This PlayStation Patents Terminology Row Is the Stupidest Story in Games
"Sony is underfire for insinuating that it makes superior products to its rivals"
Gen 4 Sega:
Re: Almost Every Mainline Final Fantasy Game Will Soon Be Playable on Current PlayStation Consoles
@Keyblade-Dan I know, and I gave an opinion about an opinion. Just another day in the internet.π
Re: Almost Every Mainline Final Fantasy Game Will Soon Be Playable on Current PlayStation Consoles
@Keyblade-Dan of course there would be at least one fanhead barking at the game.π But then again, just a couple posts above, another commenter managed to express their lack of interest in the sequels without sounding fanmouthed about it, so I guess the cosmic balance is maintained.π
Re: Resident Evil 4 Fans Aren't Exactly Thrilled with Microtransactions on PS5, PS4
Fans are thrilled by microtransactions about as often as people notice them.
Re: Final Fantasy 16 Would Still Be in Development Without the PS5
@KaijuKaiser a JRPG series will be right at home with PlayStation once PlayStation has a portable system once again (and I don't mean streaming). After all the games Square Enix has made properly accessible on Switch over the recent years, hoping for their output to be ball'n'chained to living rooms either sounds counterintuitive or betrays the perspective of someone barely past the college years. Besides, I'm not sure I look forward to what Sony can "do with Japanese franchises" after what they did to Sony Japan Studio. Especially in comparison to all the cain they've been raising about a western FPS franchise.
@NEStalgia huh, I thought XIV was Crystal Tools from the start. Or is it Realm Reborn that went to Luminous afterwards?
Re: Talking Point: Would You Care About a PS5 Remote Play Handheld?
There's nothing "reported" or "apparent" from what I've seen so far (outside the typical waste products pretending to be which I do understand remain part of Push Square and other fanblogs' bread and wine), but outside last May and this half year's lucky streak I can never afford to take for granted, Remote Play has always been the pinnacle of my "home" PlayStation experience, at least where control schemes so allowed. Vita, while purchased first and foremost for its own offerings, was the reason I ever came to invest in a PS4 at all whereas PS5 limiting RP to peripheral-crutched third parties single-handedly (or "-footedly"?) kicked me out of the market for it.
When it comes to new PlayStation portables (the likes of which, unless/until proven otherwise, I wouldn't expect until a few years into Gen 10, especially with Sony barely just ending its struggle to produce ONE current console), I've already fantasized that even a "PlayStation Legacy" using a Vita-esque format with more buttons and possibly just enough juice to handle decent PS2 emulation (with PS3-5 left for streaming) and gathering all the libraries (sans the delisted/delicensed stuff, but what will you do) under one roof would be bee's knees. A streaming handheld machine obviously sounds like less than that, but still viable enough to turn my head, hand under chin, towards PS5 again. Of course, I've voted to "at least check it out" here because the resolution options would matter as well - Vita's generally work (once you claw your way past the whimsical connection assessment screen which better have less of a final say on a hypothetical new device in general) but 4G can't even stream 720p under the slightest network strain (read: anywhere urban where it's available in the first place), and 5G largely remains a first world cryptid. But if this were to be solved... again, you'd definitely have my attention. For whenever such a handheld actually shows up where I live, of course.π
Re: Steam Deck Support Not Naughty Dog's Focus as It Fixes The Last of Us
@Itachi2099 unless they're already playing the original. The promise of [at least decent] PS3 emulation on the go is arguably one of the biggest things SD can offer, even if it means turning it into an honest Win10 machine with everything that entails.
Re: Resident Evil 4 Modders Give Leon a Tramp Stamp, Dress Him as Kratos
You call that MORE child-friendly?π¨π
But hey, I guess it's not a modern PC game if it hasn't got a Thomas mod.
Re: Soapbox: Hold On, Is the PS3 a Retro Console?
Don't shoot the messenger, but us having a hard time perceiving Gen 7 consoles as "retro" may well testify that the subsequent generations haven't added THAT much on top, at least when you compare it to the other example at hand. SNES was where 2D graphics truly blossomed; PS3 (especially its later years) was where CGI finally hit a similar stage. SNES and PS3 feel like different eras in the way that PS3 and PS5 ultimately don't quite.
@Stevemalkpus Steam Deck is a handheld micro PC, those come with a bit too much fine print to be the best anything. I'm in the market for it myself (someday when it won't cost me a kidney to import one, not that either of my kidneys might even fetch the needed price by now), but my experience with GPD Win has ensured that I will only use it for games I can't play on Switch and the console handhelds.
Re: Hateful Comments Prompt Resident Evil 4 Remake's Ada Wong to Nuke Instagram Account
@CallMeDuraSouka it's not about gamers alone - excessive attachment to anything can breed this kind of mentality that proceeds to bring out some of the worst in people, be it fiction like games/books/shows/movies or events like sports. The word "fan" itself is traced in equal measure from "fanatic" and "fancy", aka obsessions and whims. When we stop to think about it, what good is expectable to come from blending the two? The examples usually ascribed to fanship to the point of sharing morphology (fanfiction, fanarts etc) are actually instances where the human manages to overpower the unhinged hunger within and, rather than try soiling others' moods/lives with their vocal craving for another dose of what once hooked them hard, convert this energy into creative "self-service" that can fulfil their cravings on the DIY basis and, in uncountable incidents, produce worthwhile results that a whole lot more people around can come to resonate with (sometimes including the original work's creators themselves). Not to mention how many folks eventually find this experience to be a stairway to their very own non-derivative creative endeavours and achievements in the future.
Alas, when centered on just getting new "doses" and left to steer the person's behaviour unchecked, fanship is an innately egocentric destructive force. As, indeed, are a good number of mentalities out there.
Re: Hateful Comments Prompt Resident Evil 4 Remake's Ada Wong to Nuke Instagram Account
From "so-called" fans? Please. This is what we do. Fanship is aggressive, obsessive and possessive by nature - variations only happen based on the amount of control a given fan's human host can exert at a given time. Lose the grip, and this is one of the many ugly consequences. Online disinhibition syndrome only serves to add fuel.
Re: Soapbox: PSVR2 Already Feels Like It's on Course for Failure
I have yet to see or experience anything that would change my own lukewarm perception of the technology itself. At the end of the day, VR is what you see in fiction like .hack, SAO and BoFuri, not anything this side of the screen yet. Headmounted camera controllers with mini screens perched on your nose can ultimately struggle to live up to the lofty promise of sensory immersion in an interactive fictionverse, and mental/emotional immersion is routinely achieved without paying through the nose for such peripherals.
Re: Saints Row Outlines Three Expansions, Three Major Updates Through August 2023
@Americansamurai1 "universally hated" is yet another fan myth about one of the franchise's biggest-selling flagships that earned itself two whole sequels and whose cast were licensed for commercials even years later. Meanwhile, the "universally loved" VIIR faces its own share of fan barks for things like daring to twist and literally "remake" the original's plot.
Re: The Last of Us PC Is Naughty Dog's Worst Ever Reviewed Game by Some Margin
@UltimateOtaku91 at least a PC port should be playable on one properly handheld device with proper buttons these days. Being "PlayStation exclusive" in Gen 9 largely means requiring free time to spend in the living room like it's Gen 6 all over again.
@Tharsman Iron Galaxy has also brought Skyrim, Diablo 3, Overwatch and recently Metroid Prime over to Switch, a machine supposedly more constrained in specs. SNAFUs happen.
Re: Rogue Legacy 2 on PS5, PS4 Still in the Works Almost a Year After Initial Launch
Nintendo fans:
Re: Persona Producer Raises Eyebrows with Comments on AI Art
@Jaz007 then such things will forever be toolsets rather than "competitors".
Re: PS Plus Essential PS5, PS4 Games for April 2023 Announced
I already have Tails of Iron on Switch and Meet Your Maker sounds exclusively or at least predominantly multiplayer, but I sure welcome more LBP even if most of my acquaintance with it has been the Vita runner and what I've played of the lovable LBP3 before more or less losing access to it (a past IGC item itself, it's tied to my now epicly overpriced Russian PS+ sub, and doubles as one of those like Onrush and Transformers Devastation that I can no longer even purchase on the US account these days). Good to see the April lineup includes the PS4 version.
Re: Persona Producer Raises Eyebrows with Comments on AI Art
When we have actual artificial intelligence with the equivalent of self-awareness, imagination and will to create, then we can talk AI art. Until then, going by that name is the analogue of "incorrect quotes generator" and other toolsets whose ultimate purpose and entertainment value remains in the ease and speed of spontaneous or guided mashups. Which is also what Wada-san appears to be discussing here.
Re: Saints Row Outlines Three Expansions, Three Major Updates Through August 2023
Looking forward to playing it one day. Agents of Mayhem was also barked at and has proven to be pretty damn fun.
@Americansamurai1 yeah, like fans said Squeenix "should have just remade FFVII" instead of FFXIII.ππ
If anything, the first game would be arguably more topical as a remake candidate, considering that the original never got anywhere past XB360.
Re: Poll: Are You Playing Resident Evil 4 Remake?
Yes, I'm playing Resident Evil 4 since last week, except not the remake.π At least the second poll has room for me since I naturally can't claim to have ever finished the original yet.
Re: PS Plus Members Are Gutted Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Doesn't Include PS5 Version
Unless the PS5 version has exclusive content, is "gutted" the proper word here? Why do we even clamour for backward compatibility if a cross-gen title's newer version becomes such an absolute preference regardless?
Re: Ubisoft Helps Out Its Writers by Implementing AI Tech to Do Their Job for Them
This better not turn out to be AI's internship period.π
Re: Best GTA Games
"Ported to the PS2 shortly after its initial six month run on the PSP, GTA: Liberty City Stories lost a lot of its handheld novelty on Sonyβs ageing home console. The return to Rockstarβs fictional New York City was appreciated, but by 2006 the PS3 was right around the corner, and the multiplayer modes from the portable version were inexplicably stripped from this port"
And yet it not only gets a separate place on the list but ranks ABOVE its handheld original. Same with VCS.π€π€π€
IMHO this makes for an odd list overall, to be honest. Multiple nigh identical versions of the same entries like GTA 5 x3, but still two items short of a round 20 which only accentuates the lack of GTA Advance and - if we go by the list's own logic - the original Chinatown Wars on NDS which barely gets a passing mention despite its own unique gameplay bits that were inevitably lost on PSP.
Re: Techland Ditches the Zombies, Working on Open World Fantasy Epic Next
To be fair, if it's a fantasy world, I wouldn't rule out zombies here and there anyway.π
Re: Kart Racer Disney Speedstorm Drifts into Early Access on PS5, PS4 Next Month
@Robinsad well, they can always go Bethesda and bundle a "creator club" pack into some anniversary edition for Disney Infinity 4.0... oh wait, wrong universe.π₯
Re: 17 New PS Plus Extra, Premium Games Revealed in Another Huge Update
Ghostwire Tokyo being limited to PS5 is a bummer but Rage 2 is a neat option among the ones we didn't know yet (I've been playing the first one on the laptop but it's certainly not guaranteed to handle the sequel), and despite having an active playthrough on PSP, I might even check out Type-0 HD. The rest is mostly on Switch.
Re: Rumour: PS5 Pro Targeting Potential 2024 Release
Given PS5's specs and price, you'd think they have the main model "proofed" for longer. Besides, didn't PS4 Pro illustrate that a beefier unit is of limited use as long as you still develop games with base specs in mind or forfeit the userbase those have already grown? It's exactly why some devs have voiced skepticism about the "Switch Pro" rumours, too.
Then again, with PS5 sales only picking up steam by now, perhaps Sony doesn't view the OG model's userbase as big enough to have devs worried.π
@Shad361 possibly the most first world comment I'll read this week.π
Re: This Android App Will Transform Your PS5, PS4 Remote Play Experience
The elephant in modern Remote Play room is the need to strap a controller on the only handheld devices it now supports, but if the app in question alleviates the issue by running on a gaming Android PC like this, it may certainly alleviate the concern, at least for those who already have the hardware (otherwise, talk about the "pricier" spendings indeedπ ). But what resolution options are available in general? Vita's 360/544p ones have helped ensure relatively stable phone hotspot performance on my side over the years [before the local internet quality became a progressively bigger joke]; connecting is almost always a chore, but the established stream manages to hold up even on 3G (as you'd expect it to, since Vita was designed to run on 3G networks in the first place). But as Switch is my witness, 720p is too generally much for my hotspot so far.
Re: Hogwarts Legacy's PS5 Platinum Is a Pain in the Ass
Don't most plats tend to be? I still get flashbacks about my FFX one.π
Re: PS4 Firmware Update 10.50 Available to Download Now
One benefit of currently affording a relative bit of time for living room sessions and keeping my PS4 at home for the time being is that I don't need to tug at my friend's sleeve for such updates.π For the last few years, the console has tended to effectively disable Remote Play (and, contextually, my entire access) before installing them.π
Re: Funko Pop Tossing Over $30 Million Worth of Stock into a Landfill
I'm a five star sociopath and my brain still took three seconds to bring up the idea of maybe directing all this stock into charity giveaways instead. Don't tell me that none at Funko ever did.π€π
Re: Sony Wants to Make PlayStation the Best Place to Play Third-Party Games
~95% of my 1200+ item Switch library is third party, so I sure have some biased opinions on what they would need to do for that.π
The best place to play any game is wherever you have some gaming time on your hands. As such, the living room qualifies less and less the older you become. Few debate the nigh supreme advantage of portability in regards to music and movies, so it's time to acknowledge that it's one of the best things to have ever happened to gaming as well.
Re: New Tekken 8 Gameplay Trailer Kills It with Jin Kazama
Even after trying some Tekken 7 last weekend, I can't help associating Jin and Heihachi with Namco x Capcom/Project X Zone first and foremost. Is that how some people feel about Fire Emblem?π