zupertramp

@NEStalgia I give you credit for the insightful write up. I actually wouldn't disagree with the way you describe this overarching "market" but I'd probably still disagree gaming (or gamers) serve as the lynchpin to that market. "Nerd culture" market seems a more accurate label, whereby gamers are definitely in there but just one piece of a very lucrative pie.

My sense is that other things are like this, though - susceptible to fomo style marketing (guns, cars and their accessories, household tools, other manly stuff) but as those aren't typically products I'm interested in I can't provide examples. But I could be off the mark there. Just seems like I'm sometimes around other people who appear to be constantly buying some particular good (in these other markets) just to have it and not because it's particularly useful.

@NEStalgia right but star wars was just an example. another would be the Harry Potter books. There's some new edition every year it seems like. Same books, new covers/art/binding. And sure overlap there as well but how much really? Or take funkos. There's a Funko for everything. Machine Gun Kelly has a Funko. And often there are several different for the same character. Or artificially scarce limited ones... for really no real reason. Or the way people will buy all 5 different variant covers for the same exact comic.

I mean, I take your point, I do, but a desire for trinkets seems pretty universal. At least for first world folks with nothing better to do with their money (myself included).

@NEStalgia idk, feel like you could release a boxed set of star wars movies every 5 years and people would buy it. think you're making gamers out to be more unique than they actually are.

Bit of a mind at ease development I suppose but I'm surprisingly still good on space at the moment. Probably I'll look out for these come Black Friday.

Kinda curious how much market research went into this because INZONE is a terrible brand name. Like is it (American) football related? Cause that's how it sounds. But visually it evokes generic store brand. And don't even get me started on the all-caps.

Am I the only one?

@kyleforrester87 yes, fair point. Though, to be clear, I wasn't trying to negate or dismiss the value of anyone's relationship with their pet of choice. It was just some light pushback to claims that X pet is better than Y pet.

@nathanSF they're no doubt intelligent. But so are cats, as scientific studies suggest as well. I just mean, do dogs care about you anymore than a cat cares about you? Who knows? Can we quantify that? Will both still eat your corpse if they're starving? Probably, but hell, so will people lol.

Again, just to reiterate my neutrality... I don't have a preference. I see us as stewards and as such have a responsibility to treat all animals with compassion (part of why I'm vegetarian) but tbh I don't like having pets. Cats, dogs, hamsters, birds, turtles... whatever it is, I don't want it. I have kids lol.

@Balosi nah, you just gotta kill the one doctor.

Robert Morrison also said this, fwiw:

"The price of the game is out of my control and worth is subjective to each individual. You can decide for yourself if you want it or not. All I’m saying is I am in awe of the work that an amazing group of people did on the project. A tremendous amount of passion was put into it."

@__jamiie I'm actually in a weird position where I've never actually paid for this game so the $70 isn't a deal killer. Also helps that I don't have any other Day 1 games planned for the year outside of maybe The Callisto Protocol, which may or may not even be out this year.

But its worth will undoubtedly differ from one person to the next.

@__jamiie I'm not entirely convinced any game is worth $70 but there's the world as I'd like it to be and then there's the one I actually live in. And I don't mean that in standoffish way. That's just kinda my general outlook, especially as of late.

@Dudditz09 agreed, a poll is the only way to settle this. @get2sammyb

@Richnj yeah, I mean, it wasn't so much that I didn't believe you. Just surprised. It looks so obviously different to me but then I've played it soo many times I suppose I can't count myself among the average gamer sample.

In the end I'm okay with "painstakingly crafted cash grab" lol.

@nathanSF I don't disagree with your assessment of cats but I don't think dogs are all that different. I mean, it probably comes down to what human traits you're projecting onto either. They're both just animals after all.

I'm ambivalent on both tbh.

@RudeAnimat0r no you have to pick a side and fight to the death defending it lol.

Seriously though you're probably on to something there.

@Richnj "I've seen average people struggle to tell which shot is the new version and which is the old. So it's not about graphics."

Really? I mean they seem night and day to me and I don't even have a great eye for this stuff. To the point that Ray Tracing is completely lost on me. Even Ellie's character model looks less "young Elliot Page" and more "young TLoU 2 Ellie".

Fair point on the TLOU 2 PS5 upgrade though. That could easily serve as a way to familiarize the team with the architecture as well. Far more requests for that in any case.

@Resi32 no worries. Actually considered the possibility that was just a typo. In any case, not out to invalidate your opinion. It's not entirely unfair. But I do think people are dismissing the technological progress made in the time between 2013 to 2014 vs 2014 to 2022.

@pyrrhic_victory yeah I really think $49.99 would have been the sweet spot. Low enough that even some doubters might be swayed to give it another go but not dirt cheap like the recent GTA upgrade.

@Resi32 Remastered came out in 2014.

I personally don't think the first looks or plays as good as some seem to think (even the remaster) so I'm looking forward to playing this back to back with part 2. Still don't love the $70 price tag but eh, it is what it is.

Edit: Also feel the need to point out this is the first time we'll be able to play as Joel with TLoU2-style gameplay mechanics. And I'm fairly stoked about that.

@shadow2k nah, I feel that way a lot when media outlets go on and on about certain anticipated titles. I am curious what you are looking forward to though.

Top 5 games track fairly closely to my own ranking. Kinda expected Gotham Knights to be higher though. It's probably my 6th man, so to speak.

@pip_muzz it's $70 plus somewhere between 8%-10% in tax for us in the states. And true the pound is worth more but all that means is you get paid in money that's worth more.

@GreatAuk I definitely liked 60 more but I'm inclined to agree... 70 isn't that bad comparatively.

Is "gaming spend" some kind of British phrase or what's going there?

Anyway I know I've definitely cut back on game related spending. The free upgrade to Plus Premium for a year or so has definitely helped. I think there might only be like two games for rest of year I'm trying to get at launch.

@UltimateOtaku91 Fandom, across the board, is pretty bizarre.

Eh, idk, seems kinda eye rolling to me. Like the corporation needs me to be more aware of these issues? Lol. Plus like others have said, I kinda play games to escape. Consider myself an empath and honestly there's only so much I can witness/read about/live before I just gotta turn my brain off to reality.

Like all games, it comes out when it comes out. Like do you really need all that much advance notice for a $60-$70 purchase? Really don't get how out of hand this has gotten.

Was still holding out hope it'd be animated cause there's really only a sliver of a chance a live-action adaptation turns out to be any good. Especially on Netflix.

Man of Medan is probably the worst in the series so this makes sense.

Still, having a selection of games on Extra takes some of the sting out of these monthly letdowns. So there's that.

@Dudditz09 why are you working so hard to miss the point?

@lacerz true, if you get that specific with your filtering parameters, it could work. Oor Sony (the billion dollar company) could just address it on their end. Kinda all anyone is saying.

@Northern_munkey it's just that the constant scolding from the "I've never once in my entire life complained about a minor inconvenience" crowd gets old.

@Dudditz09 yeah, everyone should get your bank rather than Sony just addressing a somewhat broken notification system. Didn't think of that.

"Here's the thing: the subject line of these emails has been striking fear into my heart once a month for the past ten years or so."

Yeah as someone who rarely makes ps store purchases, these emails momentarily startle me. I see "thanks for your purchase" in my inbox and immediately think "oh crap."

And suggestions to just filter your inbox really defeats the purpose of purchase notifications.

@Dudditz09 so when your account does get hacked and someone goes on a purchase spree you'll have no idea... genius.

@Nexozi it was more the 'travel to village, have standoff, slash at remaining baddies' cycle that got old. How that's different than the cycle of any other game I'm not sure but idk shrugs I just got bored. And believe me, I didn't want to be bored. Hate spending money on games that don't get completed.

I complained about Plus often and thought Now was trash but honestly the revamp is fairly solid so far. I'm locked into Premium for a year+ but will probably just stick with Extra after remainder of sub runs out because I don't find classics that appealing.

Like others have said though, kinda depends on how often the catalogue gets a refresh.

@themightyant I also fell off this game. Bought the directors cut on sale. Really enjoyed it over a couple weeks, playing here and there when I had time, and basically just dropped it after unlocking 2nd island.

Extremely polished and all but it was just so repetitive. Am I crazy? Feel like everyone not only finished it but wants more and I couldn't even be bothered to get half way through.

@NEStalgia yeah I got the sense it's one of these "selling a feeling" type ads but idk, even in that regard it came across rather lackluster. Maybe I didn't get enough of the references (which then makes me question if this is for hardcores or casuals).

But again, it's gonna be hard for me in just about any context to give praise to an industry dedicated to trying to manipulate our lizard brains for profits. Not to be that guy but advertising (on this level at least) is just kinda gross.

Yeah idk, commercials like these that seem to obfuscate what exactly they are pitching are strange to me but then what do I know, I generally skip or avoid any and all ads I can, whenever possible because I just generally dislike advertising.

I'd like a copy of the comic books as I only have the TPB but if this edition doesn't get a restock then it wasn't meant to be because it was barely worth $100 in the first place.

@ATaco I don't think it has much to do with discounts. I mean, theoretically stores could still sell the ps store credit at a discount too. In any case, I think it's the retailer that eats the cost on a discounted card, not Sony.

Anyone else just waiting for a sale?

@TheCollector316 yeah the grind on Hot Wheels is real. Tbf it's a manageable amount if you begin when the season starts but with only a few weeks left it'd be a ridiculous amount of repetitious single player racing to get the last car.

And I say single player because, as you mentioned, trying to get points from online racing is incredibly inefficient because everyone picks the stupid long custom tracks and it takes forever to load into so even if you get first place every race, which isn't going to happen, you're still better off picking a short single player track and busting 5 of those out in the time it takes to finally finish just one online race.

And honestly, if not for the daily challenges I'd never get anywhere on the season pass because I don't really love sitting there and grinding out the same track for hours.

Also really unhappy that one can buy the Ultimate Stunt Edition but that still somehow doesn't give access to all post-launch content. Like I'm okay paying for season passes but the expansion packs? Like they should all really come with the Ultimate Edition.

@Matroska makes sense I guess. I was under the impression that this was essentially a remake of whatever the original game was, just split into thirds for... reasons. But then I'm unfamiliar with all things Final Fantasy so hardly surprised I'm oblivious.

So everyone's just fine that this is getting split into 3 separate full price games?

Weird.

Really think we'll all have a better idea how comparable the two services are a few months into Sony's revamp. Just hard to say at the moment.

@NEStalgia idk just seems like the (first) world is full-time selling crap no one actually needs. Like yeah, do I absolutely need this? Of course not but I'd love to play it again with improved mechanics and graphics. Because I thought that's what this whole thing was all about. Or why else is half the world clamoring for a PS5? I don't think it's so they can play a decent enough PS3 remaster off their Plus Collection?

But I'm not gonna lie I am a little disappointed they've decided to charge the price of a brand new AAA game. I think 49.99 seems more fair.

@NEStalgia think you're being a tad harsh. This edition specifically does have a set of four comics which some people are in to. And as comics run about 3.99-4.99 a pop these days (that's not even talking limited variants) the added price doesn't seem unreasonable. Plus, the remaster came out in 2014. In 8+ years time you don't think there's not some new players who could benefit from a refresh? I know I look back at some games today I never got into and for some it's just too late; they look and feel too dated. And contrary to what everyone is remembering, TLoU is looking a little rough in comparison to what's on offer now. It's playable but of course it could look and play better.

In any case, I know I don't have too much of a problem buying the standard edition. The only copy of TLOU I ever owned came with my PS4 so actually buying the game outright (especially a greatly improved version) for the first time seems fine to me. I doubt I'm the only one in a similar situation.

Not subtle differences at all and I'm no doubt getting this but was hoping they wouldn't go all in on the next gen prices.

Honestly can't wait! A great game and now better. Really don't see the harm.