somnambulance

I always really enjoyed Destiny, though I wasn’t one of those guys that is hardcore on the lore like others I know. As a casual experience, it can be a gameplay marvel. But the meta is so intimidating and grind focused that I bounce off it every time. I’d give Destiny 3 (and Marathon, as mortified as I am about it turning into a hero shooter) a chance.

I’m looking forward to Zau and Dave the Diver. Day 1 games are a huge plus for me.

Don’t sleep on Nour, by the way. The game is wonderful if you enjoy the oddball games Sony used to make. It’s definitely something that benefits from being in a sub as it’s sort of an artsy thing rather than a typical game. Try it though. It’s different and honestly, with the current state of the industry, it’s so refreshing to play something that leans into PS1 era weirdness with modern production values.

Ready to preorder Judas, Silksong, and Dragon Ball if they happen. I might not be financially ready, but I’m spiritually ready.

And since it’s Geoff, I need to see Kojima.

Rebirth hands down. It’s utterly fantastic. There nothing that even comes close to it.

Balatro is in second place for me and Prince of Persia is in third. I need to spend more time with Helldivers and I’m aware of that, but outside that, I’ve played a lot of games so far this year and right now, I sort of feel like that top 3 is locked til Erdtree drops unless we get some big surprises coming to the release schedule. Certainly there must be some surprises the second half of the year…. right? ….Right!?

@Specky I think you’ve got a point with that. It’s like physics peaked when Valve was regularly making games.

Also, I’m one of the people that voted for not caring about framerates. Just make a solid game. I’d ask for consistency, but Elden Ring was all over the place and I’d say it’s better than nearly everything released this generation. Alan Wake 2 is 30 fps and is better than most games this generation. If you’re only into fighters, racers, and shooters, I can see where the 60+ fps enthusiasm comes from, but otherwise it’s not as big a deal as people make it out to be.

Well, it’s a better game, so that does help, I suppose.

That’s a “these games are currently on sale and there’s otherwise nothing new” list if I’ve ever seen one.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 perhaps. I want to start Banishers. Will be going to the Midwest Gaming Expo, so we’ll see l if I pick something up there too.

The lack of Balatro is baffling. I do feel Pacific Drive and Dragon’s Dogma are overrated. Pacific Drive just has a lot of bugs for me and I do enjoy DD2, but it’s like an 8/10 so far rather than GotY contender.

Don’t have much opinion on Helldivers yet.

For me, personally, I’d put Rebirth in first. Lost Crown and Rebirth seem underrated already 3 months in. Glad to see people still talking about Tekken though. Probably my favorite fighter in a good, long while from a gameplay perspective

@species Hey, I get it for FPS, fighting games, or racing games, and even retro style titles, but, with those big budget, filmic experiences, give me a detailed world over a smoother frame rate every time. I already played through the PS3 and PS4 eras, I want a visual leap.

@Shepherd_Tallon I agree. I watched a video about the Hellblade 2 event this week and they made it sound like a 3/10 game over fps.

@JB_Whiting Exactly. It’s how it feels. 30 fps doesn’t feel juddery to me. As long as frames are consistent, I’m good.

@Shepherd_Tallon In all honesty too, I feel like some games run better at 30 fps. It’s almost like some developers and publishers would prefer making visually intensive games as well. It’s a shame that the community at large is ready to grab torches and pitchforks at the sight of “digital” or “30 fps” when we all know that doesn’t stop people from playing or enjoying the games at the end of the day.

I don’t give a damn about frame rates!

I usually play in quality mode over performance mode. It’s more cinematic. I get what the developers are saying.

But seriously, a good game is a good game.

Just give me Legends instead, Capcom! Please!

This isn’t the return of the Blue Bomber we want!

With Toriyama’s passing too, DQ12 will be something different regardless of anything. I trust Square to treat DQ with respect. It typically has done so and I don’t see why they’d change now.

I hope we get a new Astro Bot game like the PS5 title. Day 1 for me and the family with that. I want flat media.

If it’s VR, I’ll be disappointed, 0% chance I buy it, and, worst of all, my son will no doubt find out about it and be gutted when I say, “No, we’re not getting that.” He’s put 80 hours into the tech demo…

Also, I’m totally ok with this year having some smaller scale exclusives. I’ve practically wanted smaller scale exclusives to pad out things since the start of the generation. It’s sort of weird we haven’t really had any of those from Sony. It’s sort of a Sony thing to release tiny and/or artsy projects to flesh out the line-up. Was a characteristic of every generation til now and it’s probably a big part of the reason I personally feel the PS5 exclusive line-up feels severely off when, in fact, they have been releasing AAA things in relatively quick succession.

Agent 47 and Lara Croft for Smash, apparently.

@Ralizah You never know. We could have another Sea of Stars moment where it lands on PS+ simultaneously with Gamepass… and still gets played most on Switch.

Wasn’t a fan of the demo either, but I wish the estate of Toriyama much success!

Looking forward to Sparking Zero either way!

If it’s as good as the Lost Crown, I’m all for it.

Just give us a road map for the rest of 2024 and 2025 with some real release dates, so I can budget and preorder a few games I like and I’ll be happy. I’m more than happy if we don’t get any huge games in 2024, but some smaller titles. I’m a little burnt out of RPGs, open worlds, and the like anyway because man… the time sink.

Whether I want the games or not, I just like to plan ahead. If I buy more games, great. If not, then not.

Cool. This makes it much more likely I’ll play it. Prince of Persia sort of scratched my itch for the genre, but I’ll definitely try this out while I’m still subbed. Day 1s are incentive to sub for me

8/10 so far. The combat is fun, exploration is fun, it’s pretty, the pawns are nice to hang out with, but let’s be real… the story is paper and so are the other characters. It’s a great time waster and I enjoy it a lot as that, but I definitely don’t know where the GotY talk for it comes in at this point. I think there’s maybe three or four games I’ve liked more than this one this year so far.

Eh, sort of a crap selection. Not sure if I’ll even redeem them

Going to start Banishers if there’s any time for it and perhaps some Dragon’s Dogma 2. That’ll likely be the story for me for the majority of April.

It’s been a busy week for me the last week in gaming. Finished Rebirth, “beat” Balatro, and enjoyed the Stellar Blade demo all in one week.

Played the demo last night and it was really solid. Loved how well they utilized the Dualsense.

That said, I think I’m still going to wait for the reviews on it. I really enjoyed my time with the game, but the demo was also the length it was taking for me to get to where I needed to take a break because the parries and dodges were starting to frustrate me, especially in boss mode. Provided we get reviews ahead of launch though, I’m definitely down to order it if I like what I read and, of course, depending on where I’m at with Banishers and Dragon’s Dogma 2.

I’ll play it today and the demo will decide if I buy it

It’s rare when the patches a game gets makes it worse. Bravo, Bamco!

Let’s just face it. The subscription bubble has popped and services like Gamepass are just going to continuously get worse just like they have for TV show adjacent services. The corporations got too greedy the last two years and the economy has been rough so people are cancelling their subs for services that are arguably decreasing their value. It’s simple economics, but the corporations are hoping they can gaslight their consumers, employees, and affiliates into believing they’re hard up for cash, when they’re only hard up for breaking their previous profit record.

After pulling 12 hours at a trade show today, I’ll be trying this out tonight, I believe.

Can’t wait to see some showcase waste time on this instead of something new!

I can totally see where this game has a mixed reception. The story and characters are sort of weak so far for me. The game plays basically like a series of side quests from the Witcher series. It’s definitely not for everyone, but let’s be real: neither was Elden Ring or Baldur’s Gate 3. I was surprised neither of those games were as divisive as this one, but I think the microtransactions readied the blade for people to flip on it. I dunno. I like the gameplay, pawns, and world quite a bit. It’s a fun world to play in for me and I love that Capcom clearly blew lots of money on a niche title. I’ll endorse it for those reasons, though I don’t think it’s the GotY some people say it is. I like it better than Baldur’s Gate 3, but it certainly doesn’t hit Elden Ring’s heights.

The six people still playing this are going to be thrilled!

Awaiting your valuable wisdom on this matter, @Czar_Khastik

@UltimateOtaku91 I beat Rebirth and started Dragon’s Dogma 2 yesterday. I think I agree that Rebirth is easily sitting above Dragon’s Dogma 2 so far. The MTX controversy doesn’t help DD2, but also, as great as the gameplay is in DD2, FF7 also has fantastic gameplay and better storytelling. There’s aspects of DD2 that are straight up PS3 era too. Lol. The lip syncing actually made me laugh the first time I saw it. I love it in a retro kind of way, but it’s definitely not in the same tier as FF7. The gameplay carries the game and the pawns.

Just finished it yesterday. It’s honestly the best game I’ve played on PS5, I think, edging just above Elden Ring, Alan Wake 2, and FF16. I absolutely loved it. There’s moments where Rebirth is absolutely the best looking game yet this generation thus far. I can’t wait to see where they take the trilogy. I was really impressed with how they recontextualized a lot of OG FF7. Early on, I questioned some parts, only to be impressed they revisited what I questioned and then did more than I would’ve expected. Truly a remarkable remake.

Really looking forward to Lost Records as a huge LiS fan. It’s one of my most anticipated titles this year, in fact. I’ve got Banishers downloaded as well and I suppose I’m just waiting for the right moment to start it up. It had the misfortune of releasing when I was quite sick, sick enough to be unable to play games, and by the time I was better, I kept it off with Rebirth being on the way. I’ve finished Rebirth today, so maybe I’ll balance it with Dragon’s Dogma 2. The wife and I have played most of Dontnod’s games together and they’re one of those studios that I practically purchase everything they do. Glad they’re having such strides of success.

Another whale economy game. Fantastic step forward for the two hundred gamers that are excited to pay to win!

Looking forward to the demo. I really want to try this one out after middling previews for Ronin, it’s refreshing to see positive opinions early on for Stellar Blade.

@shonenjump86 I’ve taken a personal day from work tomorrow after sort of being stuck in a crunch culture routine due to a managerial shift at my job and the wife promised me she’d take the kids out of the house for the day, so I’m honestly thrilled to boot up Rebirth tomorrow and potentially wrap it up before lunch. Lol. Tomorrow is going to be the first time I’ve played games all day since Hogwarts Legacy came out. I can’t wait. Unicorn is definitely getting booted for the first time tomorrow!

I’ve not yet gotten a chance to play it due to Rebirth and now Dragon’s Dogma. I’m hoping to take a crack at it and Dragon’s Dogma after I finish Rebirth… which’ll probably be tomorrow.

Just going to guess that Dragon’s Dogma 2’s sales may have slowed down because of the whole MTX controversy. It went from being the next Baldur’s Gate/Elden Ring to absolutely reviled by the internet community. I’m not surprised Peach’s just ok on the sales charts. I don’t recall where the last Yoshi game landed or Captain Toad, but this is a game of a similar scope for the Nintendo fanbase. I bought the both of them anyway.

Pretty sure Alone in the Dark was already a questionable and niche title for most people before it launched to generally mixed reviews, so that one’s not a surprise, though I was rooting for it.

I would hazard to guess Rise of the Ronin’s sales will be viewed as a flop though. Sony sort of made this one look like “the next PlayStation game” when it looked more like a cross-section of Souls and Ubisoft and drew immediate comparisons to Ghost of Tsushima. It was a questionable one to slap the Sony budget on, in my opinion. I dunno.

Does Geoff have an event tomorrow? This is the second announcement he’s teased for tomorrow.

Personally, I have less than zero interest in this as I can’t stand Marvel or hero shooters since Overwatch imploded itself, but hey I’d like a surprise gaming showcase!

The Pro is verbatim for GTA6. Plain and simple. Sony has said this in a roundabout way, but that’s the point of it

I can’t wait to see more. Sounds great to me!

Excited to play the demo. I’ll be wrapping up Rebirth this week for sure, starting Dragon’s Dogma 2, and will be hoping this could be what’s after that. We shall see. It’s fun to plan ahead. If this isn’t my cup of tea, I suppose I’ve got Banishers to start up and DD2 to drag out. No loss either way, but I hope, for Sony’s sake and our sake as the PS fans, this one is worth being an exclusive.

I’ve always felt Team Ninja games were sort of just ok, you know? This one looked more interesting to me than their typical stuff, but everything I saw since the Game Awards looked sort of backwards facing as a Sony exclusive. The visuals in that TGA trailer, I remember thinking, “this looks older than Sekiro and Ghost.” And then, as we got more about the game, and it started getting compared to Ubisoft, I was like, “Ok, this could be different, but I hope it’s not a checkmark game, but more a mix of gameplay.” But I just never saw something that was actually promising about the game beyond Sony publishing it. I was hoping I was wrong about how it looked to me, but seems my instincts were right, given the reviews. I think I’ll pass on it for now and hope Sony’s publishing a more interesting title later this year. If the second half of the year doesn’t pick up, I might get it down the road. I mean, we don’t know if ANY big games are coming to PS5 (or Switch, for that matter) in the second half of the year. Right now, it’s looking like Wukong, Avowed, and Indiana Jones (and potentially Dreadwolf after years of troubled development) are the only big releases the second half of the year. If that doesn’t bulk up, yeah, that could work in Ronin’s favor. That line-up is a bunch of question marks to me, outside Indy, which may or may not actually land this year, given what we know, What a weird year in gaming to follow the heavy 2023. Smallest wishlist I’ve perhaps ever had in a year as of right now.

@get2sammyb Whoa! The Rugrats game has a real release date? When did that happen? I feel like I’ve been waiting for it to be announced and I totally missed it.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. This is all until it is finished.

I think, once I wrap up with Rebirth, I might still be hungry for FF, so I may decide to pick up the DLC. Does anyone know if it’s like 15’s DLC where it’s just like “episodes” or do you interact with it in the main game somehow? I’m just curious as I’d like to go back to the game, but not badly enough to replay it start to… where I need to be to initiate the DLC.