wildcat_kickz

@Oram77 Joel was right. Abby was right. Neither were right.

To me, that's the whole point. From each of their perspectives, they have valid justification, but from a dispassionate observer, violence solves nothing; "dispassionate" being the key word.

Live action Zelda just seems so weird to me and Avi Arad doesn't exactly have a stellar film record.

I expect something super weird like having Mark Wahlberg being cast as Ganon or something...

Edo Period, let's goooooooo! Rise of the Ronin, AC Shadows, GoY. Fans of this setting are eating good,

So, does this mean that Ubisoft will try to sell the remaining properties?

@Johnnycide Fair deal. Sarcasm is pretty hard to discern in comments. And I've seen wayyy wilder takes made in earnest on this website.

@Johnnycide I don't buy the "laziness" argument. This is Naughty Dog. If they wanted hair on the protagonist, that's what they would have done. This is an artistic choice.

If you don't like playing video games with bald protagonists, that's your choice. Seems a bit silly to me, though - like saying "I don't talk to people who wear red shoes."

Developers are only as good as their last game, so Rocksteady has a lot to prove with this one.

@Khayl Genuine question: Is Neowiz the developer or the publisher? I was under the impression that Round8 was the dev team, but I may be wrong.

@AhmadSumadi hot damn! Hail to the king!

@AhmadSumadi I can't overstate how much I love that game. I think I've put over 500 hours into it over the years... 2 platinums and working on a third. 😁

Despite the rough 2077 launch, CDPR remains my favorite developer. Witcher 3 is the GOAT and 2077 is a close runner-up.

Very happy to hear that they're sticking with what they know best.

We all knew the reports of Japanese outrage were way overblown. I'm sure there are inaccuracies (the same as literally every other AC game), but nothing egregious. Japanese gamers just want a fun game to play. The same as the rest of us.

Blood boil, indeed!

A-holes really do ruin everything for the rest of us. It takes a serious amount of egotism and selfishness to do something like this.

Oof. Well, at least we get a trophy called "Dead Don't Ride." Never understood why the went with "Days Gone." The working title "Dead Don't Ride" was sooooo much better and original.

@breakneck I wonder how much of the story has been written with clear expectations of wins/losses. I have a suspicion that it is all too easy for Arrowhead to crunch numbers based on active users to calculate exactly how hard/easy to make objectives to create the outcomes they want for the narrative.

@OldGamer999 I have a suspicion it will be a month or two before we see that patch come through.

I've only played Shadow Fall, but had a great time playing through the campaign. Remasters would be very welcome, though if I had to choose one, I'd rather a Resistance collection.

I've been consistently impressed by how this game looks, but will this game be a banger or a glorified tech demo? I'm keeping a close eye on this one, but until people get their hands on it, I will remain cautious.

Just checking in again to say how pleased I am that the votes are edging towards the (correct) opinion that this is From Software's best game. 😜

Top 3 GOAT, best From Soft, give me a sequel. Easy answers, all.

Edit: I think I've beaten this game at least 6 times and have put hundreds of hours in. Bar none, it is the best setting From Soft has ever created, best lore, best combat, etc., etc.

Elden Ring doesn't hold a candle to Bloodborne. Sorry, not sorry.

Not that I have any investment in their relationship, but glad to see these two on screen together again. I heard they had a falling out when they tried doing a YouTube show. Maybe this is just professionally burying the hatchet, but nice to see either way.

Oh, right. They're talking about a video game. Yeah, I'm buying it for sure. All 3 Indiana Jones movies are amazing, so it's nice to see the franchise get some love.

Well deserved! Shadows is an amazing game. Easily, the most stunning open world I've seen since RDR2 and maybe even surpasses it. I've spent so much time just wandering around the landscape, taking in the sights.

Naoe's move set is also the best that AC has had since Unity. So effing good.

While I don't mind Yasuke in the game at all, I haven't seen any narrative beats that really justify his place in the game. It's a small complaint from my perspective, but I'm sure no one will make a big deal out of it....

This will have to wait, as I begin my descent into AC Shadows, but this has intrigued me for a while. As an American, I'm really happy to see a game like this take place outside of the US.

I'm also super stoked that Rebellion continues to be a shining light in the increasing shrinking independent developer scene.

@Cornpop76 I totally get what you're saying - if you're gonna do it, do it for real. That said, I just don't really understand people being put out by a completely optional feature, as if it's mere inclusion is an affront to their existance. It's kind of like real life: if you're heterosexual and don't approve of homosexuality, you still could technically choose to be in a homosexual relationship. You just choose not to. People can do the same in this game.

@MrPeanutbutterz This is actually my mentality, too. I played TLoU2 for the first time when the remaster came out. I was absolutely blown away, but it was just so emotionally draining that I don't know if I'll ever play it again. I think watching the next few seasons of the HBO show is the closest I'm gonna get.

@PuppetMaster The romance options in the latest Assassin's Creed games are largely superficial, regardless of whether the relationship is hetero or homosexual. They don't really add to the story, as a whole, but may deepen your connection to the characters within, as you have more agency over who you want to spend time with. It's just flavoring on top. It may not be transformative, but in conjunction with a bunch of other smaller touches, it adds up to a more immersive experience. Either engage with the mechanic or don't. It won't really change anything.

I don't think you were intending it this way, but the way you phrased your initial question felt like it was insinuating that a homosexual relationship's inclusion in a game was something that needed to be defended, as opposed to a heterosexual relationship, which wouldn't even be a blip on anyone's radar.

Is the entire relationship mechanic just flavor text to the game that can be largely ignored? Certainly. I just don't think it would be any different, whether the relationship is homosexual, heterosexual, or something in between.

@Hoodie718 You're comment (#55) is spot on, especially given what is considered "appropriate" for the game is being dictated by modern, Western values. I'm on record being rather critical of DA: Veilguard and I stand by it, mostly because of the bad writing, but the idea that nonheteronormative individuals didn't exist in the past or can't exist in a work of fiction is laughable. This is brought even more to light due to the fact that (while I haven't played Shadows yet at the time of writing this comment), I'm assuming this "non-binary" character (which is a modern term), is probably a wakashu, a "third" gender in Japanese culture during the Edo period.

@DennisReynolds To be honest, I don't remember that quest 😂I totally believe you though. That game was so huge, more than half has been completely flushed from my brain.

@Icey664 Not really, actually. Feudal Japan had a sort of third gender, usually reserved for young boys, but it wasn't that simple. That third option was called Wakashu. I won't go into great detail, but this third gender had a sociological role and wasn't restricted to heterosexuality.

@heavyartillery56 They only said that Yasuke was a real historical figure, not a samurai. Their games are always based around history, but they've always taken incredible liberties with history. This has been true since the series' inception. The Assassin and Templar feud is not real. They have never claimed it's real.

If you're going out of your way to distort reality to defend online trolls, then that's your choice, but, dude... come on.

@heavyartillery56 Dude, what? They never claimed that. PSA: the Animus doesn't exist.

People are so effing stupid online and so eager to be upset about something. The outrage economy is the absolute scum of online culture.

@DennisReynolds The biggest red flag in Odyssey that I saw early on suggesting that Cassandra was the intended protagonist was that Alexios' run/walk cycle was the same as Cassandra. It looked really weird that his animations were all designed for a female rig. The only "male" animations I saw in that game were taken straight from Origins, which seemed only to trigger when holding a torch. Hopefully, they haven't been that lazy this time, though first impressions look promising. I suppose I'll find out for myself, this evening.

Yeah, this AI Slop is out of hand on the PS store. Sony may claim a position that they're just enabling more creators to get their products to market, but these AI titles are predatory and damage the reputation/sales of legitimate, hard-working creators.

Sony should be ashamed.

Very excited to play this tomorrow. By far, the best looking AC game to date.

I am curious if it's a typo that 40fps only has standard RT. If extended RT is only available for 30fps, why would anyone bother with the 40fps mode, even if your TV supports it?

@lazarus11 @AhmadSumadi I don't consider myself a sensationalist, but I was supremely disappointed in Veilguard and not really for those "pressure point" issues. People have different thresholds for what they can stomach, in terms of groan-worthy dialog. I have a relatively low threshold for that, which is why I typically don't like JRPGs either. Veilguard, to me, felt like a Western JRPG, if that makes sense.

@reddevilcat Yeah, I suspect Veilguard was just targeting a younger audience, which didn't include us. It definitely has the "Saturday Morning Cartoon" kinda vibe.

Regarding Shadows, I'm more optimistic. Given the fact that you can still play as a native Japanese women, you can still have that experience. For me, I think I'll enjoy playing as Yasuke just fine and will relate to his experience as a stranger in a strange land.

@Uromastryx @breakneck @Frmknst BG3 requires a little more imagination on the part of the player than most video games. I think it's better to think of BG3 as a digital manifestation of D&D, rather than a standard video game. The fact that they translated almost all of the ruleset from 5th Edition into the game is really impressive and the amount of branching narratives, secrets, and optional content is staggering.

From a video game perspective, yeah the gameplay isn't that great. But from a playground for the mind perspective, it's peerless.

@reddevilcat I also didn't really care for Veilguard, but I can sort of see why reviewers were kind to it. Devoid of all context, it's a technically sound and beautiful game. But I found the writing terrible and tonally just completely different from the previous games.

If someone was just jumping into Dragon Age with Veilguard, I can see them liking it. But for fans of the series, like us, it felt like a total disappointment.

At the end of the day, reviews are just opinions and you're being very pragmatic to wait for audience reactions. Nothing wrong with that!

@AdamNovice There's room in my heart for both <3

@Northern_munkey I'm very curious what you'll have to say about Berserker. I tried the demo and it didn't quite click with me, but the art style is super cool, especially for a Soulslike. Hopefully, the combat has been tuned a little from the demo and there's a new Soulslike for me to dive into in the future!

@Pyronation_87 I guess I just don't understand why you think that reviewers wouldn't give this game a fair critique when they were, by and large, pretty critical of Outlaws and Skull and Bones, two examples you provided. You can feel like Odyssey and Valhalla are by-the-numbers, something I would actually agree with, but neither were bombs. They were both commercial hits. The team that made Shadows made Odyssey and Syndicate before that. They didn't make Outlaws or Skull and Bones. Just about every review I've seen of this game has compared it to Origins, which is my personal favorite AC game.

I've seen some of the articles talking up your perspective on the legal task force, but none I've seen have had any real sources on how the task force isn't doing what they're supposed to be doing. It's all conjecture to suit the narrative of "Ubisoft is against free speech/critiques of their games," which just isn't true. Would they prefer that people only say nice things about their games? Sure. But they're not silencing negative feedback. It's just not true.

@Pyronation_87 Bro, that's the classic "I'm just asking questions" response. He asked where you got your info on Ubisoft suing people who don't like their games and you responded by making him defend other Ubisoft titles. That's classic straw-manning. By the way, you still haven't said what source you pulled that claim from. Not only that, I told you what was actually happening and, again, without any evidence, just put forth a wild claim. There is a very clear distinction between criticism and harassment. Ubisoft will not tolerate the latter, and neither should anyone else.

Quick edit: here is my source for the task force: https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2025/03/ubisoft-will-reportedly-fight-for-assassins-creed-shadows-anti-harassment-plan-in-place

I've seen a few YouTube videos where they try to spin this as an attack on critics, but that's really not what's going on. This is a very clear defense on unhinged internet trolls who think that verbally abusing, threatening, doxing, and harassing in other forms is a valid way to show disapproval of a commercial product. If you don't like the game, don't buy it, say why you don't like it, and recommend to others that they don't buy it. What you DON'T do is threaten the people who make the game. Pretty easy distinction.

@Pyronation_87 Why are you straw-manning @AhmadSumadi's argument? He's not talking about other Ubisoft games, he's talking about this one. And Ubisoft isn't preparing to sue anyone who doesn't like the game, they're preparing for legal action against people who threaten their staff! Huge difference.

@Orpheus79V Totally agree. Would be awesome if you could dictate how long the seasons last through a slider in the Options menu, too.

@ShogunRok Can you disable the stylized black and white kill cam? In Valhalla, you could disable something similar, so wondering if they've followed suit.

Valhalla's super stilted cutscenes and dialog were huge turnoffs for me, so I'm really happy they've put the work into that. Was basically just waiting on reviews to make sure it wasn't a broken mess. Just pre-ordered!

About time they announced this studio! I'm personally hoping for an FPS or tactical shooter, a la CoD or Siege. Maybe a SOCOM reboot?

@nessisonett Very interesting insight. I hadn't even considered that as a possibility. I just thought the site lacked editors to clean up weird language, like the subtitle of this very article.

I wonder if this is a good time for new players to jump in? I've always been very curious about Siege, but intimidated to jump into such an established, coordinated multiplayer game. Since the chances of us getting a new Vegas game are pretty slim, I wager, I feel like this is the closest I'm going to get when chasing that dragon.

This must be a hiring ad, right? Doesn’t make a ton of sense to announce so early into development. Once we see gameplay, I’m sure I’ll get hyped though.