Comments 1,538

Re: Song in the Smoke: Rekindled (PSVR2) - VR's Best Survival Sim Is Even Better with PSVR2

thedevilsjester

@Toypop You call it a good system demonstrator, but not a good system seller; however for many these are one and the same.

It all depends on the type of gamer you are. If you are the type that wants to wait until there are enough great experiences out there for the purchase to be worth it right now, then you shouldn't really get any hardware platform in the first year or two. For those gamers, there is a big difference between a system demonstrator and a seller; but if you are the type that sees it more as an investment it the future of a platform you enjoy then they are one and the same.

You seem to be in the former camp, and there is nothing wrong with that outlook; but know that it will only get there, like any and all new platform launches, if there are enough of the other gamer type to support a platform in its early days so it can grow into the platform that you want.

Re: Poll: Are You Playing Octopath Traveler 2?

thedevilsjester

@OnceaThief It doesn't matter to me if there is, or isn't. If a game is a numbered game in a series, I wont play it unless I have played the previous numbered titles. I know I am not alone in this; but I also know that it doesn't matter to everyone. It does mean that I occasionally miss out on an amazing title; however there are more great games already released than I could finish in a lifetime, so its not a void that's empty long.

Re: Mini Review: Demeo (PSVR2) - Dungeons and Dragons Experience Is One Roll Away from Perfection

thedevilsjester

@Simon_Fitzgerald While I think it is fun to play with a group of friends (like any tabletop game), I would say that solo play easily beats playing with randos online.

@Perturbator I love Demeo; (and will often sing its praises to new VR adopters); and while I mostly agree with the 9/10 score, I would easily drop it by 2+ points on a flat screen. If you take away the sense of immersion and presence by not being in VR; you are left with a fun, but average, turn based tactics game. Its like taking your favorite IMAX movie and watching it on a 20 inch TV. Its the same thing more-or-less; but it loses some of that magic.

Re: Out Today: PSVR2 Brings Next-Gen VR to the Masses

thedevilsjester

@Friendly Thats a different question and has many different answers depending on your budget.

Today its just another VR headset that has a few exclusives and a lot of cross platform titles. No different than most platforms at launch. Its the possibilities that it brings. The PSVR released years before the Quest 2, and when it did it sold more than any other headset at the time (combined iirc); helping to push VR into the mainstream despite its many flaws. The PSVR2, not hobbled by dated tech like its predecessor, has the potential to be a device that truly brings VR to the masses, not just in mobile form.

If your budget doesn't allow you to support that yet, then by all means wait until it has that value for you; but don't settle on a Quest 2 thinking you will get the same or close-enough experience.

Re: Out Today: PSVR2 Brings Next-Gen VR to the Masses

thedevilsjester

@Friendly While appreciated, I don't need a comparison, I have a Quest 2, I know its capabilities and what it can and cannot do. Its no more a replacement for a PS VR2 (or any PC VR headset for that matter) than a Switch is a replacement for a PS5/PC. They can co-exist, and sometimes have overlapping experiences, but unless mobility is your primary concern, those experiences will be generations ahead on the more powerful platform (and you will be able to play for longer than 2 hours at a time). Unfortunately unlike the Switch, which has an amazing lineup of first-party titles, the Quest 2 lacks any real first party exclusive system sellers. Oculus' own big budget VR titles (like Lone Echo and Lone Echo II) are not available on their Quest platform, and the ones that are (like Robo Recall), are a large visual downgrade.

Re: PSVR2 Review: Is It Worth It?

thedevilsjester

@thefourfoldroot1 Demeo is a blast single player (its one of the few mainstays in my VR library, and I will be getting it again for PSVR2), its the same game as multiplayer except you control the whole team (like a tactics game) rather than just your individual character.

Lots of games can be enhanced by the social aspect of friends, and sure Demeo is one of them; but the social aspect is really the only thing you miss out on solo. The game scales based on the number of characters (not players) so doesn't get harder or easier with friends.

As for hard, you can get overwhelmed easily until you learn how the game operates (don't try and spread out and explore!). Each "session" is a series of 3 randomly generated boards/dungeons, that culminates in a boss battle. If you lose, you can just jump right back in with a new session, learning lessons from the previous losses. Its almost rouge-like in that way.

Re: State of Play Confirmed for Thursday with PSVR2, Indies, Third-Party Games, and Suicide Squad

thedevilsjester

@NEStalgia I can assure you, they are most certainly compatible! (although I meant to write a half dozen headsets, not a dozen) What ends up happening is that something (new hardware, new software, etc...) renews my interest in VR, and then a few months later I realize that 99% of my time is just playing more Beat Saber because the market hasn't created those meaty titles I crave yet, and I go back to those 30-60 hour adventures that I can get elsewhere and my VR collects dust until something new starts the cycle over again. I have high hopes for what the PSVR2 can do to push the industry forward though; it has the potential to break that cycle.

@Suda51ueda there are certainly a few meaty titles out there; just not very many (and nothing that compares to say a 60hr RPG). Unfortunately I am still a ways out from completing the previous RE titles, so 7 & 8 are not in the near future.

Re: State of Play Confirmed for Thursday with PSVR2, Indies, Third-Party Games, and Suicide Squad

thedevilsjester

@NEStalgia You jest; but as much as I love VR (I have spent many hundreds of hours in a dozen different headsets), it always ends up on my shelf collecting dust (with the occasional jaunt in BeatSaber) because there isn't much that is meaty; just ~2 hour experiences. They don't need to be AAA; huge budget titles; but I would love for more games that are not over by the time you really start to enjoy them!

Re: Diablo 4 Open Beta Dated for March on PS5, PS4, Pre-Orders Get Early Access

thedevilsjester

@Totheteeth What happens when the servers are no longer being supported? The game becomes a paperweight. Many (many) people love to play (and replay) games years later; but as a general rule, if its online only, then it has a finite life. (Even an end-of-life patch doesn't solve the issue; because the patch servers need to be up to get said patch).

The reasons that always-online is so hated are going to vary; but this is mine.

Re: PSVR2 Review: Is It Worth It?

thedevilsjester

@NEStalgia I don't know what those reviews could be referring to. Single player is just the same game but you control 3 characters, rather than split that control with other players. There are a couple of minor limitations, like you cant have all 4 characters; but not much else. Of course it is a blast if you have some friends to play it with; but it is great solo too.

Re: PSVR2 Review: Is It Worth It?

thedevilsjester

@NEStalgia Its great single player. The only difference is that instead of each of you controlling a single character, you control 3 characters so its more similar to a tactics game where you control the whole party.

@FuriousMachine You can play with the obstacles on, and not move your feet at all, so you dont have to disable them to play in a tiny space. Just make sure you have room to swing your arms.

Re: PSVR2 Review: Is It Worth It?

thedevilsjester

@FuriousMachine
Beat Saber is technically possible to play seated; but would be a pretty terrible experience for a number of reasons. It can, however, be played standing (stationary) with absolutely no issues.

This is true because you never need to move your feet. When you have to duck or move side to side for the obstacles, it is your only your head that needs to move. (With the obvious exception of the optional 360 degree mode on some songs).

Additionally, if you dont want the obstacles for some reason (maybe you cant fight the natural urge to move your whole body side to side) you can just turn them off.

There are some really great seated experiences though (and not just racing or flight sims). I played many, many, hours of Demeo (one of the best VR games) sitting in a chair.

Re: Microsoft Admits Xbox Game Pass Is Harming Software Sales After All

thedevilsjester

@Bagwag82 I think its more of a public consciousness; not necessarily looking at those sites/services specifically. The more people that are playing a game, the more that game is talked about, written about, and just generally everywhere. People that were on the fence would likely be convinced to try it, and people that never heard of it, might want to see what all the talk is about. Its a real phenomenon. There are enough gamers that just try and play whatever is popular at the moment; however I don't think it can come close to making up the lost sales unless the game is littered with micro-transactions.

Re: Microsoft Admits Xbox Game Pass Is Harming Software Sales After All

thedevilsjester

@K1LLEGAL For first party? They don't have a choice. For third? Its not exactly Disney Land; developers are not lined up waiting for their ticket to be pulled; so whatever they are offering, only appeals to certain developers, or certain games. Without looking at their contracts, I couldn't say.

@NEStalgia I don't really see the value in PS+; even in the best of months when there are great games being released on the service. If its a great game, chances are that most have already played it; and if its a turd, no one wants to. Conversely, Gamepass actually seems to provide a lot of value (too much, in fact), I don't play digital titles (free or otherwise) so I don't have a horse in this race, I only worry about the long term impacts it would have on the developers.

Re: Hogwarts Legacy Breaks Livestreaming Record, Tops 1.3 Million Viewers

thedevilsjester

I wonder if the sales and stream numbers would have been this high without the campaign against it? The Streisand effect?

I am excited to play this game, and glad to see that its getting 8/10 and 9/10 scores. I was worried that it would just be another bin-worthy IP adaptation. After the disappointment that was the Forsaken reviews, I needed a good Q1 game.

Re: Horizon Call of the Mountain Goes Gold Two Weeks Before PSVR2 Launch

thedevilsjester

I had hoped it had gone gold already, since two weeks before launch means that a physical copy wont be ready for launch; which makes it less likely that it will exist at all, and that was one of the games I really wanted to play.

I know there was no announcement or information about there being a physical copy at all; but I was holding out hope. Oh well, I am sure there will be other titles to play!

Re: Final Fantasy 14 World First Raiders Stripped of Achievement, Naoki Yoshida 'Extremely Disappointed'

thedevilsjester

@Toypop Please do not misrepresent what I wrote. It does happen to me (as I have a stated multiple times), it has also happened to my immediate family and to friends (which I have seen, first hand). Additionally I have seen it happen to many individuals that are not associated with me at all. There is no friend of a friend or indirection.

I like to assume positive intent, and prefer to think that you have honestly never encountered the issue, and that's great, maybe it's a difference in game (I didn't play WoW long enough to get into the raids and dungeons) but I have played many MMOs where I have seen and personally experienced this (FFXIV being a prime example) so it does exist and it ruins an otherwise enjoyable experience in a game.

To be clear, my experience (and my frame of reference) is with normal dungeons (main story) and with (normal) side dungeons/raids. I get the impression that you might be playing in the challenge/extreme/ultimate raids. I can't speak to those, and wonder if the type of player that enjoys that type of challenge has a more mature approach to dealing with under performing teammates.

Re: Final Fantasy 14 World First Raiders Stripped of Achievement, Naoki Yoshida 'Extremely Disappointed'

thedevilsjester

@Toypop Its not "me specifically" though I do have those experiences, I have seen it with friends, family, and even been witness to it often enough when its a complete stranger thats the target of the vitriol. I have seen it enough to know that a lot of those complaining about this online are legitimate complaints (though not all of them). Its great that you haven't encountered the issue; but that doesn't mean that its not a legitimate problem for others.

Re: Final Fantasy 14 World First Raiders Stripped of Achievement, Naoki Yoshida 'Extremely Disappointed'

thedevilsjester

@Toypop Again, disagree. I have had situations where I (and others I know and play with) get bullied within a couple mins in a dungeon or raid (within the first few mindless mob fights) when its obvious that they are not doing the exact perfect rotation with perfect timing and maximum DPS.

This happens regularly enough that it sucks the enjoyment out of the game. It doesn't matter if they play well and and know the mechanics (and have a great item level). Maybe you don't see it as much, not being on the receiving end; but its so bad that even playing normal difficulty main story dungeons, my wife refuses to play with a group that doesnt consist of friends/family. We have had people drop the party (after waiting 30-60 mins for it to form) when they see a skill or rotation in use that isnt the current meta, or vote to kick, or just be incredibly toxic.

None of these are cases of a player going AFK, having poor gear, or causing wipes because of the inability to follow the mechanics. And none of these are on high end/extreme/ultimate fights.

It doesn't happen as often; but I have even had people be incredibly toxic after the fight is already won; in fights where we had no trouble (an no wipes); if my damage output didnt match some min/max value.

Re: Final Fantasy 14 World First Raiders Stripped of Achievement, Naoki Yoshida 'Extremely Disappointed'

thedevilsjester

@Toypop As someone that has played these games for about two decades (including FFXIV since the Beta launch of 1.0) and been on the receiving end of said bullying (almost always from users with rotation and damage output mods) nearly every time I group up for anything more serious than a daily roulette; I disagree with your opinion that bullying isn't a MAJOR factor in the disallowment of mods.

Re: Preview: Why Horizon Call of the Mountain Is a PSVR2 Showpiece

thedevilsjester

@neonpizza There is no actual solid information on this as far as I can tell; just speculation based on the limited experience, of an early build during trade shows.

In VR we are very sensitive to framerate variations. What would only cause tearing on a monitor/TV, will instead make you nauseous. To this end, it is incredibly important to always hit the frame target.

What headsets do (all of them), to "solve" this problem, is attempt to render at the panel frequency (90, 144, etc...) and if there are any dips below that (even by a few frames) then it immediately cuts the frame rate in half and uses reprojection techniques (that resample the head position) to double the framerate.

This could result in some awkwardness if you are not careful. For example if your rig is capable of 120 FPS in a particular game, and you set your headset to 144, you will get 72, reprojected to 144. But if you set your headset to 90, you will get a true 90.

It is entirely possible for a game to be perpetually in this state (which, presumably, is what people are thinking that Horizon does), if the developers decided that the reprojection artifacts are worth the trade off of having a larger performance budget.

Re: Poll: Did You Buy a DualSense Edge?

thedevilsjester

I don't normally have a problem paying a higher price, for a higher quality product; but the price difference from a regular DualSense controller just doesn't make much sense to me. I am not a competitive gamer though; so maybe it makes enough of a difference at that level?

Re: Preview: Why Horizon Call of the Mountain Is a PSVR2 Showpiece

thedevilsjester

@themightyant Yeah, the loss is likely in the 100 USD or so range, able to be made up with the royalties on 3-4 game purchases. There is no way that they would turn a profit if it was much higher.

The VR ports of existing games are just bad though. These games were not designed with VR in mind, and it shows. With enough Mods Skryim VR is...decent; but it still feels more like a flat pancake game that lets you use the VR headset as a HMD. The menus are atrocious, the mechanics awkward, and the world was clearly not designed for you to be as close to it as you are in VR.

If there is enough uptake, and Sony pushes enough money at it, we might see, if not a lot of VR exclusive titles, then at least AAA games designed for both, with VR in mind throughout development

Re: Preview: Why Horizon Call of the Mountain Is a PSVR2 Showpiece

thedevilsjester

@themightyant
Half-Life: Alyx would be amazing if they could convince Valve. It would be in Valves best interest. The PSVR2 in Sony's hands, could bring the quantity of AAA titles that many are all waiting for (that Valve will most certainly benefit from, after all, a rising tide lifts all boats).

As for PC support, I suspect we will get that unofficially via clever hackers and developers at some point. It is possible that Sony enables it, much in the same way that they do for the controllers; but I doubt it, its likely that Sony is selling the PSVR2 at a loss (and they would want to make up for it in software), considering any other device even close is 2-3x the price point. The closest device, and the one that many compare it to (Valve Index) is $999 for the full package (tracking + controllers + headset); and that doesn't include the haptics, eye tracking, foviated rendering, and an OLED HDR screen. At the current PSVR2 price point, it would be an easy replacement for most sub $1500 wired PC headsets, and they would likely get a lot of sales from PC VR users that dont buy games from Sony.

As for games, I just want a big RPG; a Skyrim or Final Fantasy but made for VR.

Re: Preview: Why Horizon Call of the Mountain Is a PSVR2 Showpiece

thedevilsjester

@Slug_full_of_metal
While the Quest 2 is a fun little device, comparing it to the PSVR2 is disingenuous. They are on opposite ends of the spectrum.

The Quest 2 is and Android Mobile device (very power constrained) that is not very comfortable (without the deluxe strap for an additional cost), and has about 2 hours of battery life (without the extended battery, for another additional cost). At this point, that $200 cheaper price tag has already evaporated. It also lacks the ability to play any high end VR games (unless you want to add latency and compression artifacts by streaming from a PC). It also lacks many of the high end features like a larger FOV, Eye Tracking, and Haptics that the PSVR2 have.

The Quest 2 has its place (and I love it as a portable Beat Saber machine) but it is not even remotely comparable to the PSVR2.

Re: Hands On: PSVR2 Represents the Next Big Step for VR

thedevilsjester

@Greger22 For the most part you are still going to need glasses or contacts in VR if you need them in the real world. The good news is that you can wear glasses just fine in most headsets. They are designed to accommodate that use case.

Some VR headsets have diopter adjustment, to alleviate the need for glasses; but those headsets all tend to be in the $1500+ price range.

Re: Poll: Did You Buy Forspoken?

thedevilsjester

I pre-ordered it awhile back; the teasers intrigued me. After all of the reviews and analysis though I don't expect it to win any awards or be on any top ten lists; but I suspect that its more enjoyable than the click bait headlines make it out to be.

Re: 37 PSVR2 Games Confirmed for Launch Window as Sony Posts Full List

thedevilsjester

@InternetUser Someones opinion and speculation (and its almost all speculation) about the future state of a device that no one has yet, isn't an absolute truth; though it is always good to be realistic and you shouldn't order a PSVR2 based on the hopes of a future, unknown feature.

Either way though, at the end of the day, I don't care that much. It would be nice if the two converged; but without integrated audio and wireless; I doubt a PSVR2 would replace my PCVR anyway; I am happy to have them co-exist.

Re: 37 PSVR2 Games Confirmed for Launch Window as Sony Posts Full List

thedevilsjester

@InternetUser The original PSVR didn't work that great on the PC for many because the requirement for external cameras due to the light tracking system. You could get it working pretty decently, I had five PS3 Eye Toys (very cheap at GameStop) and a Kinect that tracked my PSVR on PC, but at the end of the day it wasn't worth the effort when you could more easily just get an Oculus Rift and not have to deal with the poor tracking that the light based system provided (even in ideal situations).

I don't think the PSVR2 will suffer the same fate, since it has a more industry standard inside-out tracking system now, and it might turn out to be a great PC VR headset. Fingers Crossed.

Re: Hogwarts Legacy on PS5 Supports 30fps, 60fps, and VRR

thedevilsjester

Its always an easy choice for me, fidelity mode over performance. I don't really notice much of a difference between 30 and 60 (as long as its stable), but I can certainly tell the difference between screen space effects (reflection, shadows, etc...) and their more costly alternatives.