Comments 584

Re: Random: Lara Croft Tops Mario as the Most Iconic Video Game Character of All Time, Apparently

theSpectre

I can see Lara Croft as number 1. She's one of the few video game characters that people who don't play games can probably name. Agent 47 at third though is just crazy. Baldur's Gate 3 characters shouldn't be on this list. True video game icons are missing: Donkey Kong, Samus Aran, Ganondorf, Bowser, Batman, Spider-Man, Commander Shepard, Luigi, Revan, Kirby just to name a few.

Re: Poll: Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Essential Games for April 2024?

theSpectre

Nah, I've got really no interest in any of these games. But that's okay, between Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Rise of the Ronin, South Park Snow Day!, Stellar Blade, Helldivers II, and Alone in the Dark, I've got more than enough to play right now. There's also NG+ in Spider-Man 2 and Alan Wake II for when I'm done with those.

Re: Game Pass Woes for Indie Devs as Microsoft, Epic Funding Reportedly Drying Up

theSpectre

@Jaz007 Xbox has continually promised first party AAA games day 1 and how many of those have actually released? Gears 5, Halo Infinite, Starfield, cough cough Redfall. That's about it. There is no way that Game Pass can pay for all of these massive games. MS would be laughed out of the room if they wanted to launch a game like Spider-Man day 1 on a subscription service.

Re: PS5's Stellar Blade Isn't Out Yet, But There's Already Talk of a Sequel

theSpectre

@pyrrhic_victory Not even that, if one of these anti-wokers don't like anything, they immediately call it woke. Spider-Man 2 is woke all because there is a minor side quest where you help a high school student as his boyfriend to prom. Oh my god, gay people exist. The horror! Horizon Forbidden West is woke because Aloy has the OPTION to kiss a girl. Completely ignoring the fact that you don't have to do that.

Re: The Elder Scrolls Celebrates 30th Anniversary, Gives a Small Update on TES 6

theSpectre

I've never been able to get into any Bethesda game, be it Fallout or Elder Scrolls (and have ZERO interest in Starfield). It seems like every rpg from The Witcher to Final Fantasy to Zelda to even Yakuza/Like a Dragon of all games has left Bethesda games in the dust. I doubt, at this point, after the massive string of disappointments Bethesda has had ever since Skyrim launched, that there is any way TES6 can live up to it.

Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth?

theSpectre

@savarunl I think the side content is intentional to really increase the bond between the characters and specifically the player with the characters. I think, there is the understanding going into the game, that most everyone knows about what is going to happen at the game's climax. So Square Enix devised a new way for that event to be impactful by making us spend countless hours with these characters to increase that bond.

Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth?

theSpectre

I finished this game a few days and I can say, without conviction, it's a 10 out of 10. Everything is damn near perfect. The characters are livelier than ever. Even Cait Sith has been drastically improved. The graphics (even in UE4) are utterly gorgeous. The world feels lived in. The combat is a thing of beauty. I don't really have a bad thing to say about it. Maybe the moogle mini games could have been dropped.

Re: Rise of the Ronin (PS5) - A Safe, Outdated Open World Game

theSpectre

Metacritic score is a bit lower than I expected. But I'll still be picking this one up. I learned a long time ago to basically ignore reviewers, the way they collectively decided Days Gone was trash from the first 5 hours of the game was the last straw for me. Not to mention, how many reviews of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth spent half the time whining about the ending? Play it and form your own opinion.

Re: Japan Sales Charts: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PS5 Sales Slip 91% at Retail

theSpectre

Ugh, why is anybody giving these clickbait articles the time of day? EVERY game's physical sales are down and most games, that aren't GTAV, drop nearly 90% in the second week. On top of that, this is Japan where physical sales are down even further than in other areas. Spider-Man 2, Starfield, Final Fantasy XVI, etc. all experienced higher digital sales than physical and experienced sharp drop off week on week. This is normal and not at an indictment on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth's quality or reception.

Re: Sony Partner Deviation Games Shuttered Before Shipping Its First PS5 Project

theSpectre

@Professor_Niggle I'll get to Helldivers II, but I've just got too much to play at the moment (you can probably figure out from my pic what I'm currently playing). On top of that, over the next 2 months we've got Rise of the Ronin, Stellar Blade, South Park: Snow Day, and Alone in the Dark, all of which are on my radar. From what I've heard, Concord is sort of like Guardians of the Galaxy, whatever that means. Fairgame$ has a lot of potential, I just hope they don't screw it up. As for Bungie, it's probably time to sunset Destiny and move on to Marathon. Though, I hope Sony gets them to make a full single player campaign for Marathon as that would be insane and Bungie is long overdue for new single player content.

Re: Sony Partner Deviation Games Shuttered Before Shipping Its First PS5 Project

theSpectre

@Professor_Niggle My bad, it can be hard to understand intent in these comments sometimes lol. Agreed, though. There are good live service games (I love Final Fantasy XIV and Helldivers II appears to be insane, though I haven't played it). I think the failure comes when studios who don't know how to make them (or don't want to) get forced to do it. That's how we get a Suicide Squad or a Redfall. It's how Deviation Games fails or how we get a Halo Infinite. Hopefully, Concord and Fairgame$ turn out better than most. I still lament the loss of The Last of Us Online, but seeing the falls of Rocksteady and Arkane, it was probably for the best. We don't want to lose Naughty Dog.

Re: Sony Partner Deviation Games Shuttered Before Shipping Its First PS5 Project

theSpectre

@Professor_Niggle I didn't say Sony doesn't work well with studios. I said it was a failure of the live-service push. I think these games are just a massive gamble and so many of them fail. Live-service is a far bigger risk than other games. Every year multiple live-service games shut down (some right after launch). Only a select few are ever successful and rarely immediately. Honestly, (MMORPGs notwithstanding), I think I can count on one hand the number of live service games that have succeeded: Destiny 2, GTA Online, Sea of Thieves, Fortnite, The Division. And even a number of those were disasters at launch. Hell, Red Dead Redemption II has sold over 60 million and yet, Red Dead Online couldn't hold an audience.

Re: Best Final Fantasy Games

theSpectre

My ranking of the top 10 Final Fantasy games:

10. Final Fantasy VIII
9. Final Fantasy XIII
8. Final Fantasy IV
7. Final Fantasy X
6. Final Fantasy Tactics
5. Final Fantasy IX
4. Final Fantasy XVI
3. Final Fantasy VI
2. Final Fantasy XIV
1. Final Fantasy VII/Remake/Rebirth

(I don't count VII and it's remakes separately)