themcnoisy

@HonestHick I dunno man, I'm on xbox and all of their games are built as a 'platform' to sell additional crap. It doesn't work for me and (this is a big assumption) doesn't work for most of the community here.

I've been eagerly awaiting each release and they are nerfed and built for addons aka Minecraft. Age of empires 2 remastered as an example, had dlc. It just boggles my mind. I would much rather they concentrated on big fulfilling games than soulless service games but here we are.

@ChrisDeku The pushup comparison is one of the worst examples I have ever heard.

Possibly cars, fishing gear, football boots etc. But 47 pushups? Outside of the military I have never heard anyone talk about how many they do outside of a set of excersises which includes other excersises. You don't need competition to perform press ups.

Trying to woo us with paid dlc hey starbreeze?

There really is no shame in this industry.

March 2024?

Isn't that when Bobby Kotick becomes available?

As for everyone saying about the live service adjustment. From a personal perspective for many of us, it was a sad realisation and disappointment from the single player golden age. But speaking to my kids and younger gamers in work (18-30 year olds) they solely play gaas. It's already here, we are old skool. Soon to be relics of the past.

@LifeGirl that's not necessarily true. A couple of negative experiences and most people learn their lesson.

Cyberpunk is the poster boy for not preordering. And unlike cyberpunk some games never improve, in some instances, getting worse.

@Darude84 I need to elaborate on this point;

"for a problem most users won’t even come across."

I'm sorry D but I can't enjoy sports games anymore. All the focus is put into the cash cow sections and the previous core game aspects are left to rot or removed entirely. I won't pay microtransactions, but it's pretty much essential in modern day sports games if you want to enjoy the game.

Of course a 1 v 1 on the couch with your mate is still a laugh. Throwing down a great play feels great in isolation. But when the games are centered around monetisation, it effects everybody. Even you.

@AK4tywill that's a fair comment, although what your describing is something that the editors and paid contributers can write in an article. We have the games rating system going on in the background (worth having a poke around with that AK4 it's somewhere on your profile) so it's kind of already available.

What KF has done, is a fanatstic project. It keeps us all engaged and you look forward to the weekly poke. A lot of people have contributed. And the overall list of games is compelling.

@Shigurui thanks Shig. That's a great seal of approval. Both the review and your good self.

I'm currently enamoured by Diablo 2 remastered of all things. So don't have much time but if it's worth a punt, I will stick it on my November must play list.

Upvote for the tag line.

Glad to see JSR getting a 2023 makeover. Quite intrigued by the rep system. Not so much the falling through the floor.

@Cashews it's arguable switch has the best games. Maybe better for you or my nephew who loves it.

The library is sweet 😋 it's especially lovely to see Celeste, Ori, Disgaea 5 and Mario Kart on the same system.

Not so great if you want real world simulators, crpgs, immersive management sims or real time strategy games. It also struggles with frame rates and high resolution on the TV. And the joy con's are fragile.

I see my switch as a nice accompanying console to my xbox. It does have some positives namely the portability, unique experiments (labo / switch adventures) and great exclusives. But switch doesnt house all the games I want to play. I'm a bit long in the tooth to enjoy Mario Bros like I used too, playing Kirby is only slightly favourable to catching a cold. And as I game on a TV to relax its not god-tier in that regard.

@Th3solution which ones Sol?

I think Hades is overrated and Street Fighter 6 although fun, isn't the undisputed king we have all been led to believe (still good tbf). But the other games look about right score / position wise based on the general consensus.

I hope Immortality comes over to the PS5, alongside chained echoes they are the only games I would award a full phat seal of approval 👍 then you may see a switch at the top.

@Cashews "god-tier Switch"

Get a grip Cashew. Nintendo got it right because the price point and focus is on kids. Perfect Christmas and Birthday presents. I have a switch and it's great. But god-tier?

Also, what's wrong with games releasing on multiple systems? I would love to play super mario world on my xbox. But I've got more chance of playing on Paul McCartneys missing bass guitar than ever seeing that.

@Reptilio @suur unlucky lads, I have a similar wall when playing real time strategy games. I love chess, enjoy action and am strategically minded in my profession. Yet I haven't found an RTS in 35 years gaming, that I've enjoyed passed the first mission.

Life's like that.

If you are short on time due to other commitments, super immersive games can actually come at the wrong time. Maybe a couple of short games without the initial stress would be a better shout, until a rainy day in February when you go again.

@Shigurui thanks bro. I can't wait to hurtle amongst the stars. We'll I can, like 5 days rofl 🤣

One of the only games, which has creeped me out so I couldn't sleep.

Initially I was honestly bored. Just clicking through objects to knock off a few achievements.

Then I found her, I was like wow a weird hidden scene. And then the rabbit hole opened up. And I was petrified.

@Shigurui I don't want to get into an argument with you, I know you are a good guy and decent person. But I'm massively pro consumer when it comes to gaming.

A proper use of Early access is a game part way through development. It helps fund the game, pick up bugs and creates a ground swell of fans. Wherever that's worth it or not is up to the individual.

Star Citizens early access is just a paid early launch. And guess what? It's happening to forza motorsport with increased xp buffs alongside early access and a couple of exclusive cars. Wonderful. I love forza and that leaves me cold.

So that's why I'm against it.

1) it's clearly not day 1 on gamepass
2) it creates an expectation that other early access games will be of a similar standard
3) it encourages developers to add xp boosters and other such shenanigans into the early bird package

@Shigurui well thanks for insulting my intelligence.

I game on xbox. Just because other companies offer early access doesn't mean xbox get a free pass. Especially when Phil Spencer loves his 'day 1 on gamepass' soundbite. As mentioned above its penny pinching off streamers and impulsive / inpatient people.

I'm not buying the early access so will start it 5 days after everyone else.

@GeeForce there will be a patch, of stuff they already know about and are working on.

Whats worse is, as you have alluded to, we can't do anything about it.

I seriously believe gamers would have a great case in court. But getting there? It's more likely we will have 2 weeks early access.

@GeeForce come on bro. 5 days early access isn't the same as playing a beta build. It's penny pinching, just how many bugs can you fix in T minus zero days? If a bug gets found on day 4 or 5 there is no way it will be buffed out in time for the 'real' launch. I hear what you are saying but it's typical of gaming and Microsoft inparticular. It's a ploy to make money off streamers and impulsive people. (I'm with you, I'm not paying the £25 or £5 a day for waiting)

So the actually launch is 5 days prior. Its false advertising in as much as Phil Spencer shouting 'day 1 on gamepass' at the big xbox conferences. That's a lie and a big one.

A verbal contract is legally binding in the UK.

@Pranwell thank you for including me in your comment. It's great to talk. Some people could learn a lesson from your proactive approach to encourage communication. I like it. Let the haters wallow in self angridisation.

And I agree the PS5 is ugly. Still a good console though. As for fomo having planet of lana, quake 2 and sea of stars around launch does help with all the online chatter.

@Shigurui because false advertising. 'Day 1 on Gamepass' is now actually day 6. If you or I let that continue it will soon be 2 weeks early access, 1 month early access, 6 months early access. That's how it works. Death by a thousand cuts.

@General_Disarray There are around 320 games on GP Ultimate. Today Sea of Stars, then Starfield, lies of P, forza Motorsport, cities Skylines 2, the next payday and persona strikers. There are a ton of backlogged games on the service. It's actually insane value as a new customer. I've had coming up 18 months of amazing gaming!

The issue is the biggest and best retail games dont come to the service. So you will have to buy them anyway. In many ways browsing the remaining games, is like cable or sky back in the day. Rolling through a list of channels and not being in the mood to start something up. Luckily the back end of this year is full of belters. I would happily buy cities skyline 2 and forza so it makes sense. But after that - I can always let my sub lapse, buy retail games for a bit, the resub when enough new games are on the service 6-12 months later.

It's no surprise. Gamepass had a big drop in content and quality earlier this year (much improved recently). Combined with the price increase, duds such as Redfall and the best games of the year Street Fighter 6, Diablo 4, Baldurs Gate 3, Dead Space remake, FF16 all falling outside of the subscription models.

Now M$ is charging for early access so one of the unique selling points of gamepass is void. The subscription model has taken a big fat self inflicted wound. I'm subbed until early next year and would happily let it lapse.

@tabris95 woah, don't be doing my boy chained echoes like that. If sea of stars reaches half as many highs it will still be a boss game. I think everyone should play both!

Great review @Quintumply I was planninv finishing a couple of ongoing games. Not any more, sea of stars is getting installed tonight!

@XboxTheBestBox "I get that my username might make people think I’m a fanboy but let’s be honest: if I said these things under a generic username I’d still get hate. The community is beyond reasoning."

It's a PlayStation fan site. Your username literally says xbox is the best box.

No one would you pick your username or a variation, if they wanted a reasonable argument would they?

It's like me going on to mums net and calling myself dad's are the best parents. Or a ferrari fansite and calling myself Mercedes are the best cars.

To compound your username you then purposefully comment in industrywide articles. Shocked face, from an xbox is the best angle.

The crazier things are people empathising with you, when you are clearly trolling. If someone is calling you an xbot or other console war term, you must expect it. Otherwise your username would be less confrontational.

And for information, I'm gaming on a series x this gen but love the writing team and community here. So please stop with the trolling, it's beneath most people here.

I mirror a lot of the comments above about remedies games. Recently playing Quantum Break, reaching level 3, having zero fun gameplaywise and because the story wasn't engaging in my opinion, I uninstalled.

I just don't like the worlds they create, clearly a personal decision as other players love them. If the story and characters are weak, the gameplay won't carry you through as that's usually the worst part.

Will everyone just pipe down with the score chatter. It's nauseating.

None of you have played the game, so how do you know the reviewer is right, wrong or completely bonkers?

I want to go for the latter. But I won't know until I'm sat up at midnight kicking myself for buying a 7/10 game. Which has never happened, as its a flipping computer game. And kicking myself hurts.

@twitchtvpat don't forget MGS1 and 2 were predominantly played on CRT TVs. It why a straight port of old games look worse than you remember. The natural scan lines, curve of the screen and brilliant colours are way better for og versions of old games. Flat screen panels have caught up now in their own right with oled, hdr and of course the size.

So when an old game is ported without any tlc, then it looks worse than the old versions. The blurriness is a real issue, it off putting and causes you to strain your eyes. I wear glasses and replaying some old ports it's like I haven't bothered to put them on. 😅

@Cutmastavictory . 'I respect developers that respect my desire to play other games in addition to theirs.'

Dude this is some marketing double speak. Developers have to respect our desire to play other games when it's not 'seasonal' updates. As we just play what we want.

@species apologies man, I went for a low blow and was rightly called out. I play more games than anyone I know. More of a personal preference. I am absolutely hating this unstoppable onward March with games as a service. To me these publishers are reaching for our wallets repeatedly shortly after we buy the games near to release. A lot of the content is temporary so if you hit a bump in the road (work commitments / kids / holidays etc) away from your usual schedule you miss a heap of stuff. I'm probably giving d4 a miss for the foreseeable which is unfortunate as I loved d3 and am currently enjoying d2 remastered.

These 'seasonal games' are rubbish for someone like me. I've finally got time to become invested in a few big games and due to time constraints, my backlog and other commitments I have missed out on the release stuff (which is to be expected) and now season 1.

It's why the likes of Baldurs Gate 3 and FF16 will always have an audience. These seasonal games are marketed at people who clearly don't work.

@JB_Whiting I think everyone would agree the price is great. The game is definitely playable and fun. The graphics are amazing for the time, truly outstanding that it was being played in 1997 at this speed. I truly do understand why it's held in such high regard.

But coming on to it now having never played it prior (I have played Doom and a plethora if other ids stuff) the level design isn't great. Some of the locations are sweet, the map screen has alien vibes (always a good thing), the enemies are serviceable, more sci fi generic than unique imo.

But the gameplay, and you may argue with this, isn't engaging. You need to use the same tactics to overcome every fight and I've tried it on all the different difficulties. The pistol is useless, the shotgun is useless once you have the super shotgun, so each new weapon is better than the last which lacks the nuance of other fps since Halo. The gimmicks are predictable (enemy placement, clicking switches, grabbing key cards). But it's still a lot of fun and like an earlier comparison - comparing this remaster to the recently released goldeneye port, is night and day.

In 97 this would have been right up there with Final Fantasy 7 and Super Mario 64. Those games have aged too. Anyone brand new to either of those games, as good as they are, would find issues with how they play. We could argue all day, but if the reviewer doesn't have the nostalgia - the games a slog at times. The new compass is a god send, as without it, it really does feel bogged down (I finished about 3 levels and they all took hours until I found out about the compass). Some of the necessary passageways around the levels are acute and easily missable. Some of the deaths feel cheap (missile launching enemy camped under and behind you when you drop in to a room).

But credit has to be given for the buttery smooth frame rate. It's so good. We need more of this going forward.

So at this price of under a tenner, it's a massive recommend for sure. Weirdly, I've just finished the OG campaign after writing my earlier comment and my 6 or 7 initial score was misguided. It's a solid 8 out of 10.

Seeing everyone banging on about scores. The reviewer gets it wrong wah wah wah.

I'm currently playing quake 2, it's solid, fun and a decent time waster. But it has aged. Not as much as goldeneye tbf but it's definitely aged. The action is fast but the enemies leave a lot to be desired. The level layouts are sub par, gruelling and tiresome.

I honestly understand why any retro heads with nostalgia are happy to pass a 10. The remaster and additions are ace. For me, it's a 6 or 7 compared to current games. I never played quake 2 back in the day (my first foray into pc shooters was unreal tournament) so I'm glad I've had the opportunity to play it, the price is simply perfect. So weighing up the price and accounting for my own ignorance I would plump for an 8/10.

@Gamer_Guy @PsBoxSwitchOwner I wouldn't be so quick to castigate the reviewers.

One Disco Elysium review out of the hundreds out there, rated it average due to a game breaking oversight on a critical role. It was the eurogamer review. And do you know what's weird? It happened to me and absolutely ruined the experience. Disco Elysium is clearly fabulous but I can't dare replay, as playing the role of recovering alcoholic cop the way I wanted to, is broken. You can snag an auto win roll (which was placed in the game for this exact instance) but I had used it frivolously as I wasn't aware. Running around the map multiple times, clicking on everything, I must have spent 3-4 hours desperately trying to find a way through. I agreed with the eurogamer review.

I read the BG3 review, strangely, It has a few spelling mistakes and gramatical errors unlike their usual crew. Anyway, I strongly believe the major save error they encountered (and pointed out to larian) has compromised the final act of the playthrough. It's instances like this and the above mentioned Disco Elysium review, bugs and glitches do happen. In an 100 hour rpg it's soul destroying. The reality is larian have patched the issue, however the damage is done. And potentially top score across the aggregation sites.

@MikeOrator lego skywalker saga has the basis to be an outstanding and huge game. The space stuff could be good as it controls well, the graphics are brilliant (less demanding due to the character models but those hdr neons and locations rock), the gimmicks make sense and you have hundreds of characters. It's just too repetitive with its side content and the constant back and forth across the galaxy late game is brain numbing.

@Cashews do you trade?

We are just over a month into the quarter and in general they blab to control the share price on the regular, most of the day to day chat is nonsense. The yearly share holder information on the otherhand is actually well laid out. You could buy shares for about £20 a pop when covid hit, its double that now. So I don't know why you think they are on the slide, corrections happen all the time.

@StrawberryTurtle @Sakai @Splat I jumped on gamepass the last 18 months and love it. Been a blessing for me, hundreds of games and I've been earning with MS rewards and have earned £150 in store credit and 4 free months of ultimate. As well as having played 140 games and given a bit of money to charity.

But

They are scaling back the rewards and more importantly. Almost every big game is launching with paid early access, extra items, fast progression, character / car packs etc. The games are designed with nerfed levelling in mind too. I am worried where we are headed. This monetisation is kicking back on the value proposition now prices have increased to £17 per month for ultimate.

With Actibkizz Is this malicious or incompetence? I think it's the former, that takeover money clearly isn't enough for these greedy people.

@Czar_Khastik I buy loads of retro games on modern consoles. Most recently completing every contra game in the contra collection! You don't necessarily need all the old gear to play retro games.

Antstream arcade has just launched on console too. 1300 games for £79.99.

A single player game which is feature complete and if you are into the humour is great. (The first few hours do drag though with limited abilities)

But we want it for £20.

No wonder Sony is full speed ahead gaas. Current gen gamers are for too tight except for gacha and fifa players.

I loved high on life.

Especially when chatting to an NPC and he stopped halfway through a sentence to tell me he was sorry for peeing his pants. If that's not your humour, don't play it. If you don't mind it, the games great.

I have sons who are call of duty players. And they play literally Fifa, Cod and maybe 1 other game if its in vogue with their mates. I honestly don't know how they have turned out like this 😕.

Anyways my point being is that market of cod and fifa players, although lucrative. Wouldnt be my main priority if I was xbox or ps. Outside of £££ for microtransactions and regular top selling games, they offer limited engagement to the broader library and platform. My mates who used to play cod 15 years ago don't game anymore (mostly preferring golf or netflix). Where as I'm still buying games regularly.

I love how almost everyone is now situated in the pro microtransactions camp.

You payed full whack at release, and are happy to pay more. I was considering picking up sf6 when I have some time off at the end of the month, honestly this mobile gaming bs leaves me cold. It just leads to predatory monetary practices within full price games.

I disagree a little with the review. But it's unlikely Steve has played past ng+2. Initially RL2 is amazing but that flame diminishes with each run.

If you play without cheats (house rules) the way old Rogue Legacy fans will, the games far too difficult. I got upto and quit on ng+3 as you need to max the skill trees and use particular runes and skills, else you are massively underpowered. Ridiculous mixes of uber tough platforming and one shot enemies. Certain characters are way preferable at this point. House rules ruin the game and become too much of a crutch. A Platinum in RL1, you are a legend of the game. A Plat in RL2, you used cheats.

It's similar to spelunky 2 in this regard. The first game although smaller, was a tough but fair challenge. Its now bloated and flipping nails. Probably why house rules are an option.

Gaming is turning into a microtransaction filled, compulsion based grind fest. The majority of the biggest games come with stores, add ons, dlc, season passes and tat. Buy a game day 1, season pass and still they want more. (Digital art book anyone?)

We may as well get value as consumers whilst we still can. The publishers are all greedy. Gamepass and the PS plus tiers clearly cost xbox and Sony, and that can only be a good thing for us as sub holders as everything else during the maturing of gaming capitalism is getting worse.

@C25CLOUD ff12 for all it does well, does split fans. If 4 reviewers were scoring it out of 10, I would certainly expect it to hit under max score. Same with 13-2, I mean come on. I quite enjoyed it but a perfect score? No way.

The reality is famitsu reviews are clearly leaned on by Japanese publishers.

We've been on a slippery slope for a while now. We used to buy one game which had the full game and everything you could unlock was all included in the price.

I understand people need to make a living but stripping content and selling it piecemeal like with seemingly everything these days , It just makes me wait for whichever game to go on sale with the extras.

Ride out the fomo and you will save £30-£50 each time with the prices of the special editions. It's a no brainer in a single player game.

@GymratAmarillo @ztpayne7 I had a few trophies missing for the plat with RL1 but enjoyed my time with it so bought RL2 near to release.

It's great although some of the new additions left me scratching my head to be honest.

in many ways it is better than the first. However the achievements on xbox are about running the game multiple times to completion, and each subsequent run gets harder.

Each time you complete a run, you have the option to up the next run difficulty and to include one of the six bosses as a buffed version (theres an achievement for beating each buffed boss). You also have an unlock tree to spend gold on. The bosses initially are no joke, the buffed versions are ridiculous. The game is real tough.

As the games longer and bigger, it's also much harder to learn the boss movesets the next time you reach them. The size of the RL1 map was perfect, RL2 is too big imo. I would be interested in hearing what you think. It's a must buy for you both, that first run completion was one of my biggest achievements of last year but I put the game down after my 3rd completion as it was too difficult and I had almost maxed the skill tree! Good luck 👍

'Implementing a centralized and standardized, more data-driven and precise approach to game forecasting'

And this here folks is why all their games are crap. You want to copy current trends, expect to be severely compromised in any artistic pursuit.

Game publishers are towing an immoral line here. I don't mind battle passes in comparison to say loot boxes or time saving microtransactions. In fact on Rocket League it was a lot of fun when I was skint and couldn't do much for a month. Had a boss time playing with @kyroki and it was great unlocking stuff as we went.

However they really need to have a game release, let it settle for a few months. Then release a battle pass a while later. The reality is, it's cut content to be sold piecemeal.

It doesn't matter if every game does it. I'm not happy and never have been, with day 1 dlc whichever form it takes. Especially if you have supported the game at release and are then locked behind another pay wall.

I love the subscription models. You can cancel if you want and rejoin when something good comes up, usually on a deal price.

I'm currently playing SD gundam on the xbox and it's fun. Never would have played it other than this type of model.

I also agree that day 1 sales are still important. Both can co-exist.

I'm a huge single player FF fan, but since ff10 (which is great) my hype has dwindled with each release. 12 was good but lacked the urgency and thought provoking story. 13 was boring and terribly paced. 15 I personally enjoyed but looking back, it has no redeemable features other than the cooking.

I know FF games are known for moving with the times. But it's lost all focus. Like Doom becoming a point and click adventure or Megaman becoming a god sim. I don't know what final fantasy is anymore. And have even less reason to care.