Comments 326

Re: Video: Is Fallout 76 Worth Playing in 2024?

wildcat_kickz

@kirkn For clarification, if you're referring to Wolfenstein: The New Order or The New Colossus, those were published by Bethesda, but actually developed by MachineGames, the folks making the new Indiana Jones game. Totally agree, though - incredible games that don't get their flowers nearly enough.

Re: Interview: Final Fantasy 16's DLC Director on The Rising Tide, 16's Success, and What Makes a Great Expansion

wildcat_kickz

@DaniPooo I think the reasoning is just financial returns. I just don't think traditional JRPGs bring in the revenue that would justify the production budget of a modern AAA game. I think they're seeing that right now with Rebirth (not a traditional JRPG, but you get my meaning).

That said, I would love for them to make a more traditional FF game in the AA space, so all the old-school fans could feel satiated. Maybe something akin to their HD-2D games, but an original FF story, rather than a remake of 1-6? Of course, if they made that game a numbered entry, that would cause a commotion, in and of itself.

Re: Interview: Final Fantasy 16's DLC Director on The Rising Tide, 16's Success, and What Makes a Great Expansion

wildcat_kickz

@NEStalgia @DaniPooo I understand where you're coming from, though I don't agree that 16 is a such a genre-bending, tradition-breaking entry. I would argue that 16 is an RPG - a very casual, action-driven RPG with relatively minimal stat systems, but an RPG, nonetheless. Is it for everyone? No. But neither are any of the prior entries.

The entire series is rife with fans decrying changes made, whether it was 15's change to real-time combat, 7's change to 3D, 11's take on an MMO, etc.

I suppose the point I'm trying to make is: even if you're not a fan of how 16 took their shot, I wouldn't worry too much about it. There will no doubt be another entry for you in the future.

Re: Interview: Final Fantasy 16's DLC Director on The Rising Tide, 16's Success, and What Makes a Great Expansion

wildcat_kickz

@DaniPooo Because you can't play the DLC without playing the main game. You can; however, play Final Fantasy 16 without having played any previous entries and new players should feel very welcome to do so, especially since there's no narrative threads that link the games together.

If you have prerequisites to jump into a new entry, then you'll just have diminishing returns on your player base, as old players would fall off with each subsequent game and new players would feel prohibitively overwhelmed when jumping in.

This is a problem, broadly speaking; not just in this franchise or gaming as a whole. If you only appeal to a hardcore base, then you alienate everyone else and forego any opportunities to expand your pool. Since each "hardcore" fan has a different opinion of what makes their favorite games great, it's impossible to please them all. It's better business sense to seek new fans and not only try to appease those who are already here.

Re: Interview: Final Fantasy 16's DLC Director on The Rising Tide, 16's Success, and What Makes a Great Expansion

wildcat_kickz

@NEStalgia As a slight counterpoint - with 16 numbered entries, I think there's room for one of the games to be an action game and not an RPG. Since Final Fantasy is an anthology series, I don't think there's any huge need for the games to be consistent from one entry to the next (unless you're staying within the same number, such as X or XIII). I would actually hope they branch out even further with genre experimentation. They may find the next big hook to get in a whole new swath of fans!

Re: Bungie Might Be Making Destiny 3, Its Fanbase Speculates

wildcat_kickz

@Mostik Yeah I put probably 1000 hours into D1 and was probably the most fun I've had playing a video game with others. Those D1 raids = chef's kiss. I played D2 through the first year, but fell off after that and just could never get back into it. When Sony started giving some of the expansions out as monthly PS+ games, I tried to give it another go and just got soooo overwhelmed. That said, I might just be too old for those grindy lifestyle games now, but would absolutely give D3 a go if they ever made it.

Re: Talking Point: What's Your Favourite PS5 Game of 2024 So Far?

wildcat_kickz

Dragon's Dogma 2 has definitely captured me since it released a couple weeks ago. I can't get enough of just wandering the landscape looking for new caves or secrets to uncover.

That said, the best game so far can't be anything but Helldivers 2. Just too much fun blasting communist robots and anarchist bugs. For Democracy™!

Re: Dragon's Dogma 2 PS5 Patch 1.060 Isn't the Update You're Waiting For

wildcat_kickz

@Uromastryx Respectfully, toxicity often comes down to language and not necessarily the information behind it. Hyperbole often leads to toxicity because you're diluting your argument with deliberately inflammatory statements; statements like, "The game is junk" or "if this was a new IP it'd be forgotten already."

This game obviously isn't for you and that's totally fine, but you seem hellbent on making sure everyone else thinks the game sucks too - even to the point of calling out @Silenos for enjoying the game and asking for details, as if he's somehow lying about his enjoyment?

Re: Dragon's Dogma 2 PS5 Patch 1.060 Isn't the Update You're Waiting For

wildcat_kickz

To the folks complaining about fast travel - this game hands out so many ferrystones and portcrystals that you can pretty much fast travel to anywhere of import. You can even decide where you think is the most optimal spot to place a fast travel point. No, you cannot fast travel willynilly, but that is the point. It's a more deliberate act and you can find some pretty hilarious solutions to quests via fast travel. There was a quest where I needed to deliver an item to someone, but couldn't fast travel while holding the item. Instead, I went to the person, picked them up and fast travelled back to the item! Hilarious!

Re: Most PS5 Players Say 60fps Is a Must

wildcat_kickz

@Anke @ILikeStake I was one of the 19%. I prefer 60fps, but 30fps really isn't a huge deal for me. Your eyes/brain can adjust to either pretty quickly if you're not putting up mental roadblocks for yourself. Been playing Dragon's Dogma 2 at 30fps and I love that game. Would I like 60fps? Sure. But honestly, not at the expense of the ray tracing they implemented. Seriously, some of the best lighting in an open world game I've seen and it adds a TON of visual depth to the world. While I think most visual garnishments can be a bit superfluous, especially overall resolution, some really do add a ton to the overall experience, just as much as increased framerate.

Re: Helldivers 2 Is Selling at a Faster Rate Than Spider-Man 2 in the UK

wildcat_kickz

@JohntheRaptor People just love to bash things, especially something popular, like SM2. I haven't played SM2 myself, but I can't fathom it being anything less than great. Also, don't really understand why normal-looking people in video games is considered a bad thing? Just cuz MJ doesn't look like a supermodel doesn't make her unattractive. And even if she was, who cares? Peter Parker is in a relationship with her, not us.

Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Dragon's Dogma 2?

wildcat_kickz

I think a solid 8 is fair. I love the exploration and combat - one of the most open-ended games I've played recently. This is a lot of what I wanted out of BotW. That said, the story is (so far) seriously forgettable and I don't think any of the characters are memorable. Very Skyrim-esque in that way.

Re: Not Everyone Is in Love with Dragon's Dogma 2 on PS5

wildcat_kickz

@get2sammyb I feel like getting an accurate read on player sentiment online is so unreliable these days. Sure, there are plenty of valid criticisms leveled at every game, which should be taken seriously, but so much of the oxygen is taken up by trolls and (let's be honest) emotional/intellectual babies throwing temper tantrums (i.e. puddle-gate). What can we do to filter out the nonsense and make sure that developers/media are putting their focus where it really matters?

Re: Talking Point: How Do You Feel About the PS5 Pro?

wildcat_kickz

Honestly, I think it's pretty unnecessary, but for enthusiasts, like me, I'll still pick one up. I can't resist a shiny new toy, particularly one that can stabilize the fidelity-to-frame-rates ratio and maybe make ray-tracing a more utilized feature in future games. I have a big ol' LG OLED, so would love some more games to pop.

As mentioned before, though, for a typical gamer, this is a completely unnecessary upgrade. Save your money for the PS6 or... ya know... the games.

Re: PS5 Pro's Rumoured Spectral Super Resolution Tech Could Be Transformative

wildcat_kickz

@Neither_scene I appreciate the apology, thank you. I think we both know our stuff, but are just coming to different conclusions.

I think it's understood that, as a hardware manufacturer, Sony has a pretty robust R&D department, which is built in and pre-budgeted for. No doubt, they are prototyping not only a PS6, but also a handheld, controllers, TVs, media players, cloud server infrastructure etc. Most of these will never come to market, but innovation requires investment and I think that, broadly, Sony shareholders and leadership accept this as a cost of business.

I also just don't think I agree with the zero sum angle. Sure there's always an opportunity cost for everything, but I don't think it's a fair argument to say "if they didn't do the PS5 Pro, then normal PS5 games would be better." We went through that same argument when the PS4 Pro came out and it just didn't manifest in that way.

I'm in complete agreement that the average gamer couldn't care less about 8K and 120fps. I don't even care about 8K and 120fps. Each resolution and fps bump has diminishing returns and I think 4K 60 fps is pretty much the sweet spot. Any additional GPU headroom should be put towards fundamental gameplay advancements, not how sharp a blade of grass looks on my TV. I have a TV that runs 120hz and I honestly can't really tell the difference, though I do appreciate the 40fps option.

Regarding the economy, sure, world economics are in a different place now, but I'm not convinced that this would really impact PS5 Pro sales. People who can afford a PS5 Pro aren't the ones really hurting from the economy at the moment.

To me, this all is a bunch'o nothing. It's like the MacBook and the MacBook Pro. They both broadly do the same things, but one does them better and costs more. If you want the incremental improvements and can afford it, then have at it!

Re: PS5 Pro's Rumoured Spectral Super Resolution Tech Could Be Transformative

wildcat_kickz

@Neither_scene Ignoring your blatant condescension, let me break down my perspective as someone who literally works in finance and accounting (I guess I don't understand my profession, though):

Corporations of this size do not operate based on short-term gains. They play the long game. Sony is not operating paycheck to paycheck and is firmly in the black. Therefore, investing into R&D on products (something they are always doing) does not take away from budgets allotted to game devs. These budgets are often determined independently, based on the performance of said teams. 900 canned employees does not manifestly alter Sony's future hardware ambitions.

Regarding dev teams utilizing the capabilities of the PS5 Pro, no, it's not "free," but I also didn't claim it was. But it also does not add a substantial amount of work to the teams when they are optimizing. Games are constantly being tweaked to get the most out of their respective hardware and are typically designed to take advantage of multiple hardware parameters (virtually every PC game ever). If Sony is expecting to bring more of their games to PC anyway, this is something they are already doing. Additionally, the PS5 was designed to be more PC-like in its both its hardware and operating system, making modular changes like frame rate caps and resolution bumps easier to achieve. They already do this to their games! If you have a 120hz TV, a lot of PS5 games will offer additional graphical options that don't even show up in the menus for 60hz TVs.

Hopefully, you can accept this quite obvious rebuttal.

Re: PS5 Pro's Rumoured Spectral Super Resolution Tech Could Be Transformative

wildcat_kickz

@Neither_scene I think you're missing some points, yourself. Sony has no interest in losing money. Sure, they've invested R&D, manufacturing, and marketing costs into the PS5 Pro, but they fully expect to make that money back and then some. Quite literally, this revenue can help fund the games development you think has been sacrificed to bring this machine about. In addition, claiming a Pro model makes it harder for developers is old hat. We've heard this already when the PS4 Pro came out. Wasn't true then, isn't true now.

Re: PS5 Pro's Rumoured Spectral Super Resolution Tech Could Be Transformative

wildcat_kickz

@LifeGirl If it's not jealousy driving your distaste for a PS5 Pro, than what is it? Surely, you're not here just to rain on someone else's parade. What about a Pro version is so egregious? Phones and computers do it all the time. Hell, Xbox already has one with the Series X. If a small section of your audience wants a premium version of the console to take advantage of more modern tech, in what universe does that affect someone who doesn't want to buy it?