@Axlroselm Interesting, I really enjoyed FFVII Remake as well. I immersed myself into it for almost 6 days straight and right the next day, I played the demo for Trials of Mana.
For the life of me, I could not stomach it. It just felt too archaic and beyond tedious in about every way imagineable. The contrast was stark to say the least. I'm worried, that I'm really done with this particular subset of jRPGs now and forever. FFVIIR spoiled me for good.
Obviously, the visuals and voice work cannot hold a candle to FFVII Remake. And while -from what I can tell- Trials is a very, very faithful remake, like 20 mins into the game, the difference could not be more drastic. The game starts a glacial pace, and even the action-combat cannot hide the games ancient design roots. Like you have about 2m range on your lock-on, how it all gets started by beating the Mana equivalent of every MMORPG's start-area "rats" ... I had to put it down like an two hours in. By that time I had already done and seen so much in FFVII Remake, that in contrast it felt as if Trials was actively and intentionally trying to annoy me by just draaaggggginngggg it's feet. That is tragic, consindering FVIIR is not free of padding itself, but at least the 1st couple of hours move at an engaging almost breack-neck pace.
I know that it's not the game's fault. It is what it is and it was never meant to be directly compared to FFVIIR, and yes, I am glad that fans are getting such a faithful remake of what is apparently a classic to many jRPG fans, but I am not 100% sure why they had to release it right after FFVIIR thus really INVITING comparison.
Also, it's worth noting, that Trials is really a downgrade in several curious way, like while it was afaik also build on Unreal Engine (THANK GOD Square stopped creating their own engine for every new game ... sinking money into a pithole this way) like FFVIIR, but not only does the game lack HDR support, the glorious particle effects from FFVIIR seem also entriely absent, just as the truly excellent per-object-motion blur seen in FFVIIR.
Besides the visuals, and the -almost charmingly retro- phoned-in over-the-top voices, the animations also just so-and-so. Hitting enemies feels like hitting a plushie with a wooden bat. There is no sensation of weight here or impact, compeletely unlike FFVIIR, which took obvious cues from the techniques used in God of War (most prominently).
It just feels irritatingly dull and lifeless coming off of FFVIIR. The towns are also dead. NPCs just stand around, nobody talks. I get it, it's like in the good old days.
Thing is, I don't think it's "good" anymore, just because it used to be that way 20-odd years ago. People were worried that FFVIIR would be a nostalgia fuelled letdown ... having had zero nostaglia for neither FFVII nor Trials, I kinda feel that Trials is much more reliant on nostalgia for sure.
As a quote-unquote modern action-RPG, I don't really see Trails doing much for anyone. It's pretty sad honestly, I mean, I was really in the mood to jump right into the next Square remake for sure, like itching for it and I do think Square hoped people would move straight from FFVIIR to Traisl. That would have worked supremely well, as it was just what I had in mind downloading the demo the very next day, but ... there is an abyss here, that I would have had a rought time navigating before laying a finger on FFVIIR, but after having gone through that tour-de-france of audio-visual events and truly engaging combat (even if it was really quite a bit to easy in the end, it never felt to entertain) that is not gonna happen for me.
Oh and just to clarify, I'm not generally opposed to traditional design. Instead of Trails, I started playing Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology on my 3DS. Which as it turns out it, is an absolutely fantastic game, with engaging turn-based combat (of all things), an interesting story, a well thought-out timetravel mechanic and - of all things - subjectively better voice-work than 90s-afternoon-shonen'esque delivery of Trials, which I found painful, like actively so - it IS 2020 after all.
That said, the music in Trials was pretty darn sweet. Didn't take me in the same way as FFVIIR, but still something I appreciated right from the starting screen.
I'm very, very, very interested to see the next few weeks and how the different fandoms as well as newcomers react to these very, very, very different games, despite both being remakes of classic Square games, featuring action-combat, released in the same month I wonder how other people will feel coming off FFVIIR going potentially also directly into this.
Last but not least, it also made me realize how deeply I appreciate FFVII not directly going all-out Hero-On-A-Journey on me as a player, throwing an archetypical idealistic good-boy/gal-on-a-quest character at my face. Not every game needs set the same mood as FFVII, but alas, most jRPGs don't anyways, so it IS deeply appreciated. Just another stark contrast, but one I cannot blame the Remake of Trails for at least.
Been playing the remastered for like 2 hours a couple of weeks back on XBX. I thought I might have misjudged the game last time around on last-gen, but honestly ... it looks miles better than Revenge, but even given that, I much rather play Revenge any day of the week. Revenge runs very smoothly on the XBX and still looks alright to this day, the music is still aces obviously and it just plays fantastically. The sense of speed is great and the take-downs are a lot of fun. Hell, there are a bunch of games, like say Split/Second I would absolutely recommend over Paradise.
I for one play BurnOut for the sense of speed, the takedowns and the boost-"management", if you will. I think takedowns and thus boosting really take a back-seat in Paradise compared to Revenge. Personally, I found no joy in plotting my own route to vicotry, esp. not since often, I was on one street and the competition on another. Not much takeing-down going on then obviously ... maybe I was playing wrong, dunno, don't care.
Alas, Revenge is about as likely to come to Switch as FFVII Remake ... so it is kinda of take-it-or-leave-it situation. In that case, I'd leave it and play Mario Kart 8.
@NotoriousWhiz The e-shop is in dire need of some in-depth curating. We also need more filters and a proper review & recommendation system. Why not also employ some basic machine learning to have suggestion pages for people based on the games they've spend the most time with? Seems easy and straightforward enough and would ultimately lead to increased sales. Not sure what's keeping Nintendo, other than being them being all Nintendo about this stuff.
Cyberpunk used to be about alot more than just a general aesthetic of sorts. It's not a big deal, but the term gets - subjectively - thrown around more and more these days. I just don't want it to become one of those hollow marketing phrases that have long since moved beyond any significant meaning.
If a game is urban, night-time'ish, with plenty of neon lights ... it's just that for the time being and nothing more.
To be fair, I have no real idea what this game will ultimately be like, but from the first look provided, it does not seem that it will really tackle any of the themes connected to this (sub)genre.
I quite enjoyed both BMZ games. The 1st one was actually my very 1st Switch game. Not normally my cup of tea, but I came away positively surprised. This though ... I had forgotten it existed. Not saying it's necessarily bad or anything, but it obviously did not strike a nerve with me.
@Atariboy I did read that as well, that is them starting from scratch after getting the rights. It's just odd then that much of the footage I saw, textures and all, look quite alot like a PS3 game actually. Maybe some they could re-use some assets? I dunno, but in the end, it might as well have started as a PS3 project.
Considering this started out as a PS3 game, it is really disheartening to read that even the PS4 version is anything but smooth sailing. Still, the setting is certainly intriguing and it has a certain "zeitgeist" quality to it for sure. Not something high on my list though, esp. when it screams 75% off at Blackfriday. This goes double once I consider that this game IS ugly. That is not crucial to anything, but it is also not something I can flat out ignore. Other companies put a ton off work and passion in making their games treats for all senses, be it visuals, sound, voice acting or music, and some ... well, some don't. It would be unfair to pretend that this should not be factor at all.
I've even only heard of two of these games to be quite honest. Disaster Report ... gotta wait & see some reviews. It might be something unique, but it truly is ugly.
Trials of Mana, I dunno about yet. Looked fun, but probably not really a must-play-right-away kinda game. I'm thinking it'll have a tough time going up against P5 Royal and FFVII Remake. I'm definitely going with the latter. If I hadn't played P5 already, Trials of Mana would probably not be something I would have taken much note of at all this packed month.
@AlexSora89 Not sure what you are saying, but the focus of next-gen certainly ain't graphics. I mean, that is obviously always a part of the appeal and certainly in terms of marketing, as it is by far the aspect that is most straightforward to showcase, but at least on Sony's end, they have made it abundantly clear, that their focus is elsewhere.
Again, though, we are going to get some nice leaps in visuals, for sure, but most of it gonna be more QoL focused I imagine, like finally locking to 60fps, up to 120fps, with VRR inbetween, image quality improvements all-around, extra details thanks to ray-traced shadows, reflections and so on and so forth.
This is not your typical generational leap this time around imho.
@InJeffable I'd be surprised if we spend 3+ years with only cross-gen 3rd-party content. That would be very much unprecedented. I imagine that for a period of up to ~2 years MOST, definitely not all, 3rd-party games will see cross-gen releases, based on a case-by-case basis.
While the underlying SoC-architecture ought to make it easy to upscale projects to next-gen, the other way round, meaning projects conceived from the ground up for next-gen consoles, will be unfeasible to downscale to current-gen devices for the most part.
I cannot imagine that 3rd-parties want to spend the next years, or in other words the 1st half of the entire next generation, being way, way behind the curve.
Having said that, it is quite likely that we are headed for the worst global recession since the 1920s, so in that regard all bets are off anyways. Majority of folks might simple lack the ressources to upgrade at all, devs might have to significantly scale back their productions anyways, so ...
@InJeffable I agree, but I do not think it will be as long for Sony exclusives. Given the advantages Xbox has with Backwardscompability and multiplatform games already and going forward, they are under pressure to either once again offer the better value proposition (be cheaper) or to pull people in with exclusives, at which they excelled last gen.
Cross-gen exclusives won't cut it then. Not just because they'll don't necessitate a PS5, but more importantly because they cannot showcase the power of the system. The gap in some regards, particularly in terms of the SSD and sound engine, is more than just one generational leap, but several. I dunno, I don't see away to showcase these features with anything the base PS4 could run, and you certainly cannot put these features at the core of your design then.
That's probably besides the point though, because those exclusives true to their nature would never have made it to Switch anyways. As for 3rd-party content, I think it will indeed be a good while yet. Still, even if the ports keep coming for another 2 years or so, the gap will turn into an obvious abyss and already there is content we'll never see on Switch as it is.
@NightMiroir I added you PSN and you're welcome to add me on NO as well. How come you have no access to PSN in this day and age? ^^
I'm absolutely with you on SMT V, anxiously awaiting ANY news on the game. I don't think it's canacelled or anything, but going this long with just confirmation that things are progressing is kinda disappointing. I love Peronsa, but the last couple of years, I got the strong impression that Atlus really only cares about Persona anymore, with SMT taking a backseat and then some. THey even removed the "SMT" from Persona altogether, so some people don't even realize that there is such a thing as SMT and that Persona is part of it, furthermore "just" a spin-off if you will.
I really, really hope that this year around E3 or TGS at the latest, we will get SOME news about the game, even if it is just another vague teaser.
As for FFVII I have to say I am excited about the combat. I used to love "classic" turn-based games, but in recent years, I came to crave games that made me forget, that I was playing a turn-based game for the most part. TMS#FE had a really nice flowing presentation, that made the game look very dynamic, alive and action'y, while actually being as turn-based as they come. Dragon Quest though, for all it's glorious beauty, was incredibly slow paced in combat and it also really presented itself that way. I could not stomach it.
This ties in directly with Etrian Odyssey. I have bought several entries for the 3DS and I recently bought a New 3DS as well (cost me a pretty penny, too, importing from the US, got me the Metroid Ediiton^^). THe issue I have, despite finding much to like about the series at it's core, is that the combat looks incredibly static. It's one of the things I really liked about Persona 3 right off the beat over games like SMT V for instance. The way your own actions are animated and you are not just represented with static demon images (although the art on display is always absolutely fantasic), but you see characters moving, casting spells etc. The whole experience just feels so much more engaging that way.
It's also what made games like Resonance of Fate stand out to me. Once you set up your action, the game looked like the sickest John-Woo-action-flick ever. It was bonkers and stand to this day, in my view, as one of the best turn-based systems I ever played as well as the flat-out best presented - period. And yes, I know the game had plenty of flaws outside of combat, sure, but that does not take away from this achievement at all.
I actually bought Blasphemous on Switch the other day, after trying the demo. Haven't played any further so far (sadly the demo state didn't care over), but I am definitely going to. Hollow Knight was insanely good, like one of my favourite games this gen. Super tight gameplay, very strong Soulborne inspired environmental storytelling and atmosphere, just all around virtually perfect. Very much looking forward to Silksong.
Nioh 2's parrying is much closer to traditional Souls from what I can tell, and yes, it's rather optional and in my view not advised since it can be very unreliable and the benefits are not nearly as significant as Sekiro. I think the thing about Sekiro was the game was built around parry in many ways and in that regard, the game was actually more about rythm, yes, like a rythm game, than mere timing. I guess, that made it easier for some that what one would initially expect.
I, too, fund Sekiro ALOT harder than any Souls game that came before, mostly because there was just this one style of play with no customization and no real stat boosting to make things marginally easier for yourself. So, in Demon Souls and in Nioh 2 I am pretty much a caster. In Dark Souls I most played a tanky built with shields.
In Sekiro none of these styles are an option. It's a severe downgrade in that regard, although I get how it came to be and I still love Sekiro too death. Yet, it was and still is a hard game on me, with some bosses pushing me as hard as I have ever been pushed as gamer. I still need to get back to that final boss even. But having not play in like a year, that is a tall order right now.
I didn't have that much trouble with "normal" enemies as far as the faster pacing goes. I played plenty of faster action games before, even Bloodborne was a helluva lot faster than DemonS or DarkS, but like I said, Sekiro is very narrow in what it asks of you, with no room for deviation and rhythm games are not typical my thing at all, making it even more of an adjustment. Some boss fight frustration aside, which comes with the territory, I loved every second of it and the world.
In fact, I was re-reading "Blade of the Immortal", one if not my favourite manga of all time next to Berserk and Dorohedoro, while I was playing Sekiro - it was pure chance actually - and it struck me how much obvious inspiration SEkiro has taken from Blade of the Immortal. Hidetaka Miyazaki is well known to be a bit of "book worm", if you will, you takes inspiration from literature and architecture left and right - which was super obvious already with Dark Souls, which really just copy&pasted (imitation is after all the sincerest form of flattery) whole enemy designs right of the pages of Miura's seminal work on Berserk. Miyazaki was always very open about this, and again, why not steal from the best? It only makes sense. The way in which Bloodborne took more than cue from H.P. Lovecraft is also obvious right away. But I love Miura's work, just I think some, not all, but some of Lovecrafts writing is genius. Yes, there is plenty of sexism and anti-semitism in there, plus a overwhelming sense of general xenophobia, but works like "The Music of Erich Zann" are proper brilliant works still. Generally, the whole cosmic horror genre obviously owes alot to him regardless of his many flaws.
In short, I'd love Bloodborne 2 to happen eventually and build on everything From Software learned since BLoodborne 1, from games like Sekiro and so on, but I'm also okay with Elden Ring for now
@NightMiroir I'm not big on Final Fantasy personally. I was always more into SMT or other niche games like Lost Odyssey, Shadow Hearts, Resonance of Fate and such - generally the more tonally "somber" games, with obvious expections like Persona 3-5 (1+2 were pretty somber though actually ^^) or TMS#FE.
Anyways, I did play some of the earlier FF on NDS as well as VII and XII and as you say, the demo for FF VII Remake was rather glorious. I think the game will be substantial even if it only covers the Midgard section of FFVII. Square said the they significantly expanded upon the original content and that it will be comparable in length to other mainlaine standaline FF games. I do expect and hope to get like 30h out of it, esp. since I'm the kinda of player who meticiously checks ever nook and cranny.
My only concern is that the demo was super easy. But FFVII if I recall startet out rather easy as well, so here is hoping to things picking up later on.
As for Nioh 2 I'll say that it is proper brilliant. There are small design flaws here and there, but overall it's everything you could ask for in a game like this and in my view it is Team Ninja at their absolute best. The most important aspect is that virtually all of the game can be played in co-op (there are some 1-on-1 missions as well as the Dojo missions that afaik you have to play solo, but most other submissions as well as all mainmissions work) and that's really a great deal of fun. The co-op is also straightforward. One player host a match for friends, those can simply join the lobby, a mission is selected and then things get underway. Progress is shared between coop and single-player, which is crucial to me, since I hated how in Bloodborne progress counted only for the "hosting" player and the whole system was super obtuse to initially setup. Be warned though, that currently the PSN is broken during the day, so at least for me an my buds, we can only play after like 11 p.m. at night.
It's basically Sekiro meets Diablo. For many players, that will be a dream come true. I think it's a fair bit easier than Nioh 1 to be honest, but that may be in some part due to me "learning the ropes" in Nioh 1 as well as co-op of course, having played Nioh 1 only solo. Still, even in Solo missions I tend to take bosses within 1-3 attempts, when in Nioh 1 I often took a dozen tries.
I also think the game is ALOT easier than Sekiro in my book. I've beaten all the bosses in Sekiro except the final one since sadly my vacation ran out then, I haven't gotten back to the game since, but I do remember that some fights took me like a whole day to nail down, like the fight against Owl for instance. I think I am 2/3 through Nioh 2 now (the 1st run at least), and none of the bosses took me more than hour, with several of them going down 1st try - definitely in co-op.
Be aware though (although you probably know this already having tried Nioh 1), that Sekiro and Nioh 2 are vastly different games, despite some similiarites. Parrying for instance works entirely different, with completely different timing windows, additional effects skewing these windows even further and in general ... I don't parry in Nioh 2 at all. I dodge or block as the pay-off in Nioh 2 is not worth the risk. It's way more important to get your burst counters in, which more about positioning than timing though (at least with Brutes and Ferals).
In general, I absolutely addored Sekiro, but I also love Nioh 2. Both share a commong setting and some mechanical similarities being both "soulsborne" games, but Nioh 2 in many ways is much closer to Demon Souls than Sekiro actually. Still, some aspects still flat out do not work in Nioh 2. The level design ins subpar compared to Soulsborne. The way the world is split into small areas accessible as missions kinda of kills the sense of place. Both of which makes the environmental storytelling barely existent and really hurts the atmosphere. Nioh 2 is also super grindy compared to your typical Soulsborne. You have not just levels to worry about, but weapon familiarity as well as Skill proficiency for Ninja/Samurai/Shiftling and Magic skills individualls as well as for each weapontype seperately.
THe way way Nioh 2 is structured is more like a game like Diablo. It's "real" meat is the endgame content/ New Game+ where all the real good gear awaits and the game opens up giving you tools for proper builds and min-maxing. That is not everyone's cup of tea and I say as a single-player game, you play only once start to finish to experience the world and the story, Nioh 2 is inferior to Sekiro in many ways.
As an extended experience, where you try dozen of different builds, optimize your gear and play a fair bit of co-op, it is clearly superior to Sekiro, which had no multiplayer and only a very limited NG+, that was - in my view - aimed at hardcore fans, offering little new options over your 1st run expect to experience a tougher challenge (the game was plenty tough already though imho) as well as to experience the other endings.
The story in Nioh 2 is pretty hard to follow if you do not have extensive background knowledge of Japanese history in the Sengoku period. Times, places and famous individuals are heavily referenced and prominently featured in the game, but if you only go by the cutscenes between missions you will have a hard time really "getting it" nor will you be invested in what is happening. Nioh 2's storytelling is entirely unlike Soulsborne, but given the games particular structure I feel the game is poorly severed by this traditional linear cut-scene heavy storytelling.
It's something that did not really work for me in Nioh 1 and it sitll doesn't work here. Given the games qualities, as I elabored above, plus the excellent combat mechanics (allowing like Demon Souls did for ranged combat builds, with magic or Ninja skills for instance as well as very cool melee combat), that is something I can easily forgive though. I don't think people spend 200h with Diablo 3 for the story either ...
Long story short, if you look challenging, fast paced action games, set in the setting of Sekiro, you'll like it. If you liked Nioh 1, you will like it. If you like Team Ninja games, you will like it. If you like loot-and-min-max'ing heavy games like Diablo, you will like it.
I'd say it stands overall toe-to-toe with Sekiro. Both games focus on different aspects on the Soulsborne genre. But both largely succeed in their particular endeavours. Final note: Like I said, if parrying ain't your thing in general, do not worry, blocking, dodging is the name of the game in Nioh 2 and the only areas where parry comes in is burst countering, but that is far, far, far, far, far more forgiveable than Sekiro. If you could handle Sekiro you will be more than fine in Nioh 2, trust me. Compared to that, it's a cakewalk. If you ever want to play Nioh 2 (or just talk trash ^^) feel free to hit me up on PSN (Ralek_US) btw.
As for Caligula, I read as much in other reviews as well, particularly about how long the encounters take and how many there are. I feel like combat is really cool, but from what I've seen and read, it does not evolve all that much and it lacks the "snappiness" and style of, say, Persona 5, which made each fight feel like the coolest thing, and it was very brisk at it as well.
I bought Culdcept already. Not sure when I'll get to it, but it sure looks very much down my alley. I do love deep cardbattling systems and it seems to have that in spades, plus some cool twist to it. Looking forward to immersing myself into it eventually.
@NightMiroir I would too but I've already played and finished P5 with like 120h on the clock, so even given the changes and extra content, it's much fresher in my mind than FFVII and obviously FFVII Remake is a vastly more drastic overhaul than Royal ^^
And yeah, Nioh 2 is absolutely fantastic as well with copious amount of content, not to mention everyone's best friend: the backlog ^^
You're right though, I'll wait for a really good bargain with Caligula. Definitely want to try that combat system myself some day, but that's really no rush. Culdcept I'm going to get though. That intrigued me since the 360 days
@NightMiroir Thanks for the input. I think I'll hold off then and pick it up eventually at a better deal. FFVIIR will keep me plenty busy, I guess, still playing Nioh 2 and actually kinda itching to (re)play Persona 5 Royal come tomorrow
So all of them huh ... yet both Baten Kaitos 1&2 Remastered and FE RoR/RD are too much to ask, Nintendo? Because we lack Mario content on the Switch? Come on!
Gonna get Culdcept. Wanted to try that forever, but never got around to it. Seems like as good an opportunity as I am going to get, given with whats going on.
I'm also curious about Caligula Effect. The combat always looked intriguing but the reviews are so mixed to say the least of it. Anyone tried the Switch version yet?
I have FF VII Remake PO'ed, so I do have most of FF needs covered for now. Thought up finally picking up FF X remastered, but having done a little reading just now, it seems to run in 4K on X1X, where it's also on sale. Going to go with that version then.
I also really enjoyed the Oninaki demo, but given what most reviews said, the game does not evolve much, and I can see the demo gameplay get stale a dozen hours in. I'll wait for hopefully deeper sale.
@retro_player_22 Not sure I get what you are saying. You wouldn't/ don't care because ... it's on Xbox or what are you getting at.
I dunno about the Metacritic score, haven't used Metacritic in years, but given what I saw myself, the issues are real and extend far beyond anything Digital Foundry specializes in.
It's fair to enjoy the game in it's own right. If the developer had intended that though, they'd better had made their own game instead of remaking someone else's creation. I guess, that is oldfashioned thinkin, but I feel that such an effort should always consider the effort made by the people that came before. If you are basically doing a 1:1 remaster, with little to no of your own input, you better make it the best it can reasonably be. Under no circumstances whatsoever can you "invent" problems that the original never had (like those overlapping rectangles or the dragoons weird*** take on head bobbing). That's a big No! to me, and the latter actually messing with the gameplay, is like ... it's kinda disrespectful to the clean arcade-action-orientied design of the original.
Still gonna pick it up at some point, in the hopes of one day getting Saga remastered or even remade. That's what I'm really looking forward to. Personally, I think it doesn't get better than Orta anyways, so all of these are just a bonus, erring heavily on the side of nostalgia.
Having said that, I'm disappointed to see that some issues that seemed odd from the outset, like how the dragoon bobs up down during flight or how the aiming rectangles overlapp with it (what the **** ... I figured this must be some bug, but apparently isn't, never seen anything like that in an on-rails-shooter), were not ironed out.
I'm not a fan of how they turned it into a cartoony game as well, from the basic geometry, to the color choices and lighting. The mood is very different from the original, but that was not necessarily a deal breaker, esp. not to someone who might not even ever have played the original.
Still, a classic game deserved better treatment. Hopefully the attempt for the second game will be vastly more ambitious. I mean, this is out days before Resident Evil 2 remake. No one expected close to that level of commitment, sure, but still, in comparison, this just seems like weaksauce - or just disappointing
@retro_player_22 Orta holds up much better in general. It's a very modern game in comparison and all in all more involved. You are probably aware, but Orta is available on Xbox One, on XBX it even runs in native 4K. Series X will apparently add HDR support by way of machine learning, which given all the effects in the game, will most likely look nothng short of spectacular. Not to trash this "remake", but Orta on XBX is the all-around superior game by miles, plus even more aesthetically pleasing and running way better (silky smooth 60fps).
@Bermanator Have you tried Rez Infinite on PSVR? It's absolutely mindblowing. It's already a crazy good time on a decent TV set, but on PSVR it's really an experience, and that's not hyperbole. Sure, a couple runs in, it does not wow you same as in the beginning, but that 1st run in VR ... nothing too shabby I gotta say
I do really love these shadow drops for games, but with this one, I'll wait for the Xbox One version. I already have Orta on Xbox, which looks amazing in 4K, and with Auto-HDR coming later this year, I've gotten extremely reluctant buying multiplatform games anywhere else. Well, except for games I feel I'd really love to play portable or actually prefer on handheld.
Can't see myself dropping Nioh 2 for this either, so it's probably for the best
Still, quite the nice surprise, and if the situation were different, I'd definitely be picking it up right now! Also, nice "Mini" Direct - did not see that coming at all!
Sounds good, as I generally love sRPGs and card games. It does look horrible though. I mean, the 2D assets look decent enough actually, but the 3D assest? Boy oh boy
Has that "generic middle-of-the-road budget 3D visuals" (quite the mouthful ^^) look to it, that unfortunately has the potential to take you right out of the experience, esp. if the game has a heavy focus on narrativen, setting, atmosphere and such. Less of an issue for a multiplayer game then, but for a story-driven RPG? Kinda a big deal.
Not saying it is a deal breaker, if the gameplay is really good, and maybe some decent voice acting and music, it won't matter that much.
I'm currently playing Operation Darkness on X360. The game features decent music, very strong voice acting und really good 2D character art. Unfortunately, the 3D side of things is butt-ugly, like cheap late-PS2 era ugly. Still, it is an sRPG with a lot of heart and one of the coolest settings out there for RPGs such as this (think basically Hellsing as a jRPG, as you'll be fighting alot of Nazi Vampires and Tiger Tanks among others).
Might be good to have a demo for this then. I'm only playing Operation Darkness because the setting intrigued me enough to try the demo, which in turn - despite some other flaws like a really unwieldy camera for instance - sold me on the entire experience. Also, demos are a good idea in general. Some games might not be ideally suited for being demo'ed, but this, I assume would.
Seeing as it is on Steam though, there is always the option to try it their and return it, if it's not to one's liking. I generally don't bother with that though, hence I'd definitely prefer a demo
@NEStalgia That does sound like a dangerous mix of ignorance and unintended consequences, that rear their ugly head. I do think that the "cosmopolitan generation" probably played a part in spreading the virus, as did the cheapness of going by plane in general (which has been raising questions ever since the word carbon emissions was ... well, a thing), but on the other hand, there is no denying that we live in a globalized world and no virus is going to stay in one place for long in this world. It's not something I can really lament though. It's good that the world is connected. It's our one best shot at not just a peace, but also technological, societal and cultural progress. We are less prone to shot each other, if we know and understand each other, if we learn from each other and if that relationship provides benefits for everyone involved. I'm certainly someone who is glad he gets to enjoy the cultural output of the world at large from Japan to U.S. I cannot imagine a world without all of that.
I think this whole crisis is - like all crisis probably are at heart - a huge opportunity for us. It could be an opportunity to realize that not ALL globalization is necessary or even good. That some trading we do, causes more harm than good (an issue we saw give rise to Trump among others long before this virus struck). But also what work we value in what way.
It is strange but part of the news that break my heart the most is seeing picture of italian nurses collapsed from exhaustion. These people do a rough job EVERY damn DAY of the year. Now, the do an impossible job, but rough? It's always rough. I spend my social year working as a caregiver in an elderly living facility, and that changed my outlook significantly. These people provide essential services, their job puts demands on their body and psyche that are often extreme under normal circumstances, yet they get no respect in society, like zip - definitely outside of Sunday sermons - and they get payed close to nothing as well.
Then there is public service. An area that has been bled dry of personell for years on end now. Local public health deparments were understaffed years before this crisis hit. They were barely able to fulfill their legal obligations as it were. Obviously they are by and large overwhelmed by this stuation.
The idea of a "slims state", not just effective but efficient, less people, doing ever more tasks, has already reached a breaking point, but this crisis works as kind of focus lense to bring into sharp focus the shortcomings of our societies structure. If and when the dying starts for real here, as it sadly has in Italy, this contrast will become even more stark.
Then there is like nature. Amazing pictures of cities free of smog. Wildlife return to Venedig ... Satelite image showing parts of Europe almost free from emissions by comparison with weeks before. People work from home and some might realize that it is not necessary spending two hours a die driving back and forth by car ... It's not all bad, is what I am trying to say.
From what I can tell, most people around here actually adhere to the curfew and restrict themselves to the base necessities. People are barely any more concerened with "personal space" than they were before. There are plenty of examples of individuals that go the extra mile, like providing support to elderly neighbours for instance, but also police reports of "teens" (some of them like laaaaateeee teens sadly) intentionally "coughing" at seniors citizens while screaming Corona. And no, I am not kidding.
I share your anger and in fact, from what I can tell, deep resentment at folks who STILL haven't caught on now. Who still behave as if they are not just invulernable but in fact an island, unable to hurt anyone else. No man or woman is an island though. The lack of empathy and just common decency a part of the population is displaying, and has been displaying for like two weeks now (that made this curfew necessary in the first place) was sadly not surprising, but still very much unsettling. Seeing young police officers being yelled at by citizens because they are told to ... well, get lost, or even worse in a way, seeing supermarket staff being yelled because there is no toilet paper left ... what can I say, I had experience that made me question folks humanity und a very fundamental level. I mean.. don't yell at people that keep your markets stocked, but people who do it these days? How about a "thank you"!!?? I wouldn't want to work in a supermarket, not ever, but defintely not now.
Some people are obviously beyond morally bankrupt. They have zero empathy and no sense of responsibility beyond their immediate social circle. They might still be loving fathers or mothers or whatever, and care for their parents and friends, but boy, anything beyond that circle is apparently barely even human as soon as the going goes even a bit rougher.
It is disgusting, and the fact remains that we might face worse pandemics or other comparable crisis yet to come so.... what to do? What do we do about people that will still ignore all public health advice when the next virus hits, that might not kill 2% of infected, but 40%?
Then these ***holes might quite literally be the death of us all. I have no real answer, but what I said above about the things that are hopeful, makes me think that this might demonstate to a democratic majority of folks that we need to find a different way of dealing with life outside of a crisis, so that we are better prepared for a life within a crisis. Like how we need to foster and train empathy on a daily basis, because it does not just suddenly appear out of thin air, when it is needed most, in times like this, within weeks or even just days.
And I do feel that might have to go down the uncomfortable road of setting examples. Nobody wants to do that. But when I read news about a company like Gamestop ordering their employees to stay open because they "provide essential services", I do feel like action has to be taken. Like severe action, within the legal framework of course. People that make these kind of decisions, putting thousands of lifes at risk for very little reason other than a very shortterm economic gain, need to be REPONSIBLE and in a pubilic manner.
Social control only works, if people have the knowledge to "enforce" it. That at times demands that some examples be made.
As Thomas Mann has once written so famously: "Tolerance becomes a crime once applied to evil".
There gotta be limits to the publics patience, and ignoring all public necessity for ones own selfish enjoyment, is certainly a form of evil. We ought not tolerate that, we really ought not.
@Alpha008 I figure that is only the number of people caught and actually sanctioned not just reprimanded. The dark figure of idiots is like much, much higher. Having said that, "idiots" is not really an approriate term imho. Considering that someone at 31 is hardly the group most at risk (still a risk though), he is mainly potentially endangering third parties. If idiots want to go down Niagra falls in a barrel ... sure, why not. There is a reason we have something like the Darwin Awards after all
There are acurate terms for folks who just don't care or don't bother to stop to consider the well-being of others, much more at risk than themselves. I'm not gonna spell it out, because I'm trying to respect the community rules here.
As it always is in life: The second you or someone close to yo or some close to some close to you ^^ is affected by this, it stop being even one tiny bit funny to "Go catch'em all" consequences be damned. I am not even going to point out, that there is such a thing as setting a bad example for a child. That much ought to be obvious, but then again, there is no one stopping anyone from procreating - it's one of the areas where "anything goes" is still the rule of the land!
@Maxz Isn't it also worth noting that, from what I read, Japan has now tested about the same amount of individuals as South Korea is roughly testing A DAY? In other words, how reliable is any infection rate reported out of Japan really?
From what I understand, it's been just over two weeks since testing in private hospital was even allowed (!?) and the costs were covered by national insurance.
I do hope the rate of infection is actually as low as it is being reported these days. Whether this is more than solemn hope is entirely unclear to me though. Given that Japan has a much higher urban population focus than other major affected areas in Germany, and more so France and Northern Itality I am very curious if early school closures can really account for the vast gulf between the infection rates.
Quite possibly, the numbers are under stated and Japan is just a week or two behind the curve, so to speak. I hope that turns out to be entirely wrong, but given what we know ... it's a worrisome situation if you ask, esp. if life is already going back to normal, as you suggest. Stay safe!
@Peshokinha That would be more amusing, if the mortality rate among the elderly were less devastating than it actually is and if Japan had ... less of an elderly population.
@roboshort It's just not entirely clear to me why Japan would be that much less affected than South Korea. It might be ... but might also not be and just not be aware - as you say - yet. The tragedy here is that by the time this crisis hits local hospital and makes people notice, it'll already be to late to stop this from becoming wide-spread and taking its toll on senior population as well as those vulnerable to it for other reasons.
I'm not expert, but those who are - the WHO chief among them - has consistenly called for PREVENTIVE measures ... Japan seems kinda of in a bubble here from what I can tell. I pray that this is not a miscalculation on their part
@Beetoe I'm neither religious nor one for empty words, but given the times: thoughts and prayers, my friend, and ... stay safe!
Beyond that, I sincerely hope that Abe is above downplaying a serious crisis for sake of the Olympics. I mean, it is not gonna work either way, is it? It's an international mega event, and even with 0 infections in Japan, I can't for the life of me, figure out how it could be considered a reasonable idea to go forward with it under the best of circumstances. I guess in theory, they could test every single individual coming in and going out, but .... no, not worth the risk.
Also, why not just postpone it? I get that this is a severe measure for the people affected and the tradition as well, but in the face of a global pandemic with severe economic implications on top if it, it is hardly beyond the pale.
Seriously, what could be less in taking with the Spirit of the Olympic games than putting business before health and human lifes? It would be an utter travesity, if these games led to but one entirely avoidable death!
These do not look like queues where people keep a distance of 1.5 m to 2 m each ... not all. I live in Bavaria and like an hour ago, we had declared a universal state wide curfew starting at midnight. Point being, it is kinda ... well, creepy to see people huddle together like this for a videogame of all things.
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad people get something they enjoy, and glad for the game's apparent success, but still ... just creepy. I mean Italy runs military transport at nights to get all the bodies that are literally piling up left and right cremated and in Japan, where there is from my understanding very, very little testing done possibly for political reasons, we get pictures of queues like that.
It is simply hard to understand and again: creepy to think about.
@Grumblevolcano I just realized this, my bad, but why are we êven talking "reveal" at all.
We haven't seen the system. It has NOT been revealed. It's existence has been know way beforehand, so has the logo ... we still have no idea what it looks like, or what it costs or when it launches. Makes zero sense to title this a "reveal" event - even if it hadn't been a GDC talk. The system was not revealed. I even checked their twitter feed: "a deep dive into PS5’s system architecture" ... Oo
Sorry, but going through more comments, reading yours, that thought just struck me ^^
@PanurgeJr You can argue whether you or anyone else were the target audience. That is everyone's prerogative, but it still was their GDC talk. I'll grant you that this could have been made much clearer, but I think the issue is (or was) that most people probably did not quite "get" what that actually entailed. So people might have realized on some level, that this was "just" their GDC talk, but still expected a kind of reveal event or something akin to an E3 stage presentation.
Given that this was their GDC talk, broadcasting at the time the GDC would have been held, if it hadn't been cancelled due to the Corona-crisis, this was never going to happen.
I don't think there is any need then for apologists, because what you are talking about is expectations. Sony ought to have known that this would rub people the wrong way, and the least they ought to have done is make an announcement when the "actual" presentation people want to see is coming, but ... rest assured, what folks were expecting (in my view still, without reason) IS still coming.
Having said that, it's not like the public is generally without interest or any access to GDC, even though it is primarily a ... developers conference. There is always some reveal or what not targeted at the gaming audience at large.
I'd also like to point out, that Sony sadly failed to achieve what they set out to do: Make their vision clear.
How do I know? Well, I spend a fair bit amount of time reading comments, analysis (^^) and watching influencer videos and it becomes readily apparent that folks, even those who deal with this kind of news professionally, don't really grasp what Sony was shooting for. The best example is all the talk about loading times, and how Sony might be faster in loading games .... as if that was even remotely the pertinent point they were trying to made.
Just look at the comment right above by @retro_player_22 for one example here (among thousands like it, not meant to throw shade at any one person plz!).
Cerney made it clear, that they aimed to set developers free from a restriction that has been a guiding post for any game made in the last 20 years and that this is a big deal.
Sadly, that kinda got drowned out in the war about teraflops and SSD space and whatnot.
That much was obviously going to happen. I'm gonna come out and say it: Most people are somewhat simple minded with this stuff and are happy to rage and talk **** and most of all: BE TRIBAL.
Yes, people enjoy their Tribalism and having their biases reinforced. That is my main criticism of articles like this one here. It reads like "You made the right choice buying a Switch, and being an Nintendo fanboy. Nintendo gotz the joy, Sony gotz the techno brabble."
Yes, they gotz the techno brabble, but for some games that are not aimed for SNES nostalgia (nothing wrong with that, but it is just one aspect of gaming ^^), that kind of techno brabble is kinda essential to make the kind of things happen, a dev has been desperate to do for decades.
I see how this kind of unprecedented leap is hard to grasp right away, how the implications feel far off and intangible, but I do kinda expect more from fans of a company priding itself for their innovative spirit and for giving developers the tools to make dreams come true.
I look around and I see little to exactly none of that spirit.
Anywho, no, you were obviously not the primary target audience. No hard feelings about it, but it is just the way it is. Sony is not beholden to your or anyone elses expectations. The kind of...
"This is our box, it is $ XXX and launches on XX.11.2020. Now enjoy a sizzle reel of upcoming games ...!"
... presentation is still coming, be patient. Even Microsoft has not gotten to that point yet, so I am not sure why everyone is this angry for no good reason. Disappointment is kinda understandable, but still also kinda everyone's own fault. I too was down for a moment, because I hoped for more, but spending a mere moment to consider what Sony had put forth, I came away deeply impressed.
This is huge deal, like really one of the biggest in the history of these systems. It's far beyond "more powerful". It's a paradigm shift on more than one level - certainly for PS5 exclusive content, which is frankly, why I would buy a PS5. That kind of stuff happens only ever so often in one's entire lifetime.
Don't suck the joy out of this folks, just don't. It's gonna be good, trust me These days we got enough naysayers on every corner just about everything. There is no reason to joy their ranks, because you are ... IMPATIENT.
Maybe they will get the rights to creating games based on those IPs, but I can't see it going any further than that. Still, I'd love to see P. T. become a reality, esp. as a PS5 exclusive. Kojima proved that he and his company are more than capable of taking advantage of a system like that and given Death Stranding success and quality (at least I for one came away impressed and truly moved by the experience) this could potentially turn into another milestone for them.
Bringing P. T. back for PS5 would also be marketing gold. I'm also not opposed to Castlevania. I recently re-played the early parts of Lord of Shadows and while not flawless, I still feel it holds up well and is actually a bit of rough gem, definitely underrated in my book.
I'd be interested to see what they could do with the rights to making games for it.
As for Metal Gear ... I think the series has deserved a rest, at least for now. There will be a time and a place for bringing it back in some form, but for now, let's not beat a dead horse here.
@LUIGITORNADO Thing is, the leap with this gen is not going to be power. I mean, that is there, it's very real, no two ways about it, but given the power budget already available to devs on the Pro and XBX, I have my doubts that people will come away impressed by the significant further gains of PS5 and XSX. Call it diminishing returns if you will, as far as user experience goes.
Now, stuff like the SSD, custom I/O silicon and the Tempest engine ... these are game changers, that will truly show their potential 2 or 3 years down the line, I wager. After that, there is no going back.
I'm sorry, but this article is just plainly written in bad faith: "they're fighting for the title of the most powerful home console and that's why teraflops and compute units in GPUs matter"
Cerney made a big point about how this was not about "teraflops", but their vision for the future of Playstation, and while yes, the talk was stiff and technical (it was GDC talk, aimed at fellow developers for the most part), it worked pretty well in my view to lay out what they figured mattered for the future on a TECHNICAL level.
This was not a piece of MARKETING aimed at CONSUMERS - it simply was not.
And these things do matter, as we are looking at a fundamental shift in how game design will be approached going forward. The reasons are not "teraflops" so much, but those "I/O speeds" the author more or less ridiculed as if they were just arcane numbers without tangible meaning for game design or gamers themselves.
In short, with Sony approach, if it turns out to actually work that way, their SSD will be able to provide data at blistering speeds, roughly 100x of what has been previously possible on the PS4. This means that the entire RAM (basically, a place where data is cached that is currently needed and data that MIGHT be needed at a moments notice) can be replaced within roughly ~2 seconds.
Now this means that much less of that RAM will be wasted on data that one might need in a few moments, but ultimately does not need at all, because the player behaved one way instead of another. It also means that game design has no longer to account for those possibilities, which was way it has been for like ~30 years now, I guess.
In other words, the levels, and really, the worlds we can build now, are no longer restrained by access to the data that makes them up, so to speak. They can be bigger, truly seamless, incredibly dense and accessed at blistering pace. Basically, we could have a much more denser version of Insomniac's Spider-Man, but instead of swinging through it, we could have an F-Zero or Wipe-Out game set within, with hundreds of divering paths, interactive objects, weather and daylight cycles, physics and what have you all "Played through" at speeds that would actually overwhelm us.
The creative vision will no longer be constrained by the dire question of how one makes sure the right data is in the right place at the right time. That is not a small thing, but one of the biggest leaps in technology, enabling new and unrestricted experiences, we've ever seen.
I'm not gonna even get into what they are trying to do for audio, which has seen little to no progress in almost two decades.
Anywho, this write-up is not born out of due dilligence, hardly even an opinion piece ... honestly, I don't know what the point of it is. It comes across plainly ignorant imho - sorry to say.
To the point of ignorance: This will also help make games smaller btw. Why? Because SSDs have no seek times, meaning any particular piece of data can be accessed just like that. Developers will no longer have to restort to creating duplicates grouped together with other data for faster access (to severly oversimplify the issue).
That is also tangible as far as benefits go, just as the fact that games are aimed at loading times of roughly a second, instant respawn, instant fast travel and so on. Having read reviews on that very side, that point to long loading times as a detriment to enjoyment .... whatever, point being: there is more than one approach to gaming hardware and Nintendo is not the only one doing stuff in an innovative manner.
Back-to-business-as-usual is not going to happen by end of July - unfortunately. Things might be less severe, but this kind of big gathering with folks from all over ... nope, can't say I see any way how this could be considered anything but a terrible idea within at the very least the next 6 month, if not significantly longer depending on a number of variables.
I understand how they might not want to make a decision right now, if it's still this long off, but I wager that in the end, it will get cancelled never the less. Not sure what the Olympics are waiting for though, that just strikes be as beyond irresponsible. I get how that is a much bigger "loss", if you will, but still, the notion of the Olympics in Japan of all places, sounds not just insane but downright insidious - different topic though ^^
@RaphaBoss Great to know! Wish it had been available from start, but maybe I'll start over at some point, but as with DLC in general, I rarely get around to enjoy it, because I have sinced moved on to something else
@N64-ROX Precisely! If I remember correctly some of it even tied to weather conditions. It was kinda insane really :-/ Game was great otherwise, but this was a huge chunck of it, as you say, and it was annoying. Therefore never really managed to finish it, sadly
Is there any info on improvements to the game in terms of quest tracking? I found that to become a real chore, to say the least of it, in the original game quite rapidly. It kinda sucked the joy out of it for me tbh. To much stuff to keep track of - at least for me at the time. It came down to it either being a chore or just ignoring a bunch of it altogether. I rarely ask for more "handholding", but as far as this goes ... yeah, more handholding plz.
Bought the game last week to go with my new New3DSXL. Really neat and takes great advantage of the 3D effect. Hence I think I'll definitely stick with the 3DS version!
These middle-of-the-road 3D-on-a-budget graphics without any kind of artistic twist sure are ugly, cheap no doubt, but also ugly. Ugly and blandly generically boring that is ^^
Doesn't sound half bad design-wise, but I'm not sure I can stand looking at it for more than 15 minutes at a time. It's
@SyFyTy I'm currently replaying LO on the X1X on the side. It's a really nice experience. The game overall runs buttery-smooth compared to the 360 version, no tearing, and the load-times are greatly diminished. I still find large parts of it hauntingly beautiful, memorable and often touching. The game had scale AND hearts in spade, without leaning into melodrama. The dream sequences still stand out to me as the most honest and heartfelt writing in a jRPG, even though or because they were ripped out straight of literature. Still they fit percetly with the game's mood.
Have you ever played Crimson Shroud on 3DS or Resonance of Fate btw?
@JR150 If I really don't need the mechanic to succeed, it is definitely not important And yeah, I would say if that goes for me, it goes for anyone.
As for enjoyment, I dunno to be honest, I never thought about whether they were more enjoyable than standard attacks. That consideration never crossed my mind. I think I find them all equally enjoyable. It's not an action game after all, so it's really just me watching play out an animation.
I think I was probably forgoing using these active skills to not completely crush and burn any challenge the game had to offer. But don't quote me on that. I just forgot all about them a couple hours in and since they were not needed to do what you do ... yeah. Don't know what else to say. Hardly an afterthought to me, maybe not to others.
@JR150 I never said it was a waifu sim or just about waifus. It's just that until Awakening waifus were not really a concern in FE games. And I am not just talking about mechanis here, but also simple things as character design. Three Houses in that regard deeply leans on a whole host of anime tropes, to a degree games pre-Awakening really didn''t.
As for the innovations, sure, but I just wish they would have mattered more. Did you continue to use the gambits and combat arts? Becasue frankly, I didn't, I just stopped. I did not see the point outside of rare instances like those beast encounters for instance. Mostly though, it was simply not necessary on hard (haven't really gotten into Maddening yet, so maybe it's a different story there). For everything else there were all kinds of things, but certainly not integral. Active skills are also not that innovative and as far as the tactical deepth goes, certainly the aforementioned challenge, they just did nothing to fill the gap left by the removal of the triangle. I am not hung up on the triangle, but just throwing in a bunch of skills that slightly altered certain attacks did not feel satisfactory to me personally. Again, I stopped using them 95% of the time, and I did just fine. Ignoring the triangle 95% of the time ... that would not have worked out in previous games, I can say that much with absolute confidence. Sure, there were ways late game where the triangle was kinda obsolete or an afterthought, but never even remotely to that degree.
On a more positive note, I did like the battalions. FE games always told you, you were a leader of soldiers ... but there never were any soldiers to be lead on the field of battle. It is neat to see that be visualized for once and I like the idea, that provide bonuses and such. That part I kinda felt was like a big improvement on previous games. Partly due to a more powerful system of course, allowing for such display, but still, they did not have to implement it, but they did.
A change for the better in that regard. I just wished they had done more with them. I did not feel battalions were really integral on a tactical level. Again, they were not really needed from what I can tell from my time with the game. YOu could probably ignore them pretty much entirely if you really wanted to. That to me is always problematic when it comes to these types of games. Systems that are there, but that quickly start to feel optional ... problematic if they are supposed to be the ones to provide deepth to the experience. But so it goes.
@RaphaBoss Through and through? I cannot deny that this is possibl my fault ... but for at least the 1st 20+ hours, the tought that I was playing a "war game through and through" would not ever have crossed my mind. Ther is only so much Hogwarts tea time with cute anime girls I can engage in before my mind set drifts to a kinds of places, none of them are WAR!!!
Also, you guys don't have to "defend" Three Houses or your enjoyment of it. It is a very fine game. As I said, I just don't feel (and doubt I will be convinced otherwise) that it is a particularly fine game by FE series standarts. Taken on it's own, and I say that trying to supplement my whole spin-off point, it stands strong as unique take on the idea of what a game under the FE umbrella can be and do. Much, oh so much, was lost in the translation, but the result is still something very much worthwhile.
If you are ... uhm unburdened by the past, it might be even an incredible experience. I imagine anyone playing a remaster of a cult classic, even if the remastered is incredibly flawed, will have a blast. While a veteran might only be able to see those flaws ... not just different strokes/tastes then, but very much different perspectives.
@JR150 Well, except for the fact, that buying a game and liking a game, not to mention loving a game, are hardly the same. I do like the game, but I do not love it. Also, I like it more for what it is than, as you put it, just the next game in the venerable FE series. As such it is deeply flawed in my eyes. Viewed on its own merits, it's more than fine. Point being though, I bought the game Day 1. And I still feel about it just the way I describe. How many folks bought it and feel exactly the same? I dunno, but how in the hell would I really be disappointed by a game I never even bought and played.
Sure, I could have borrowed it or such, but then I probably never cared all thhhhaaattt much in the 1st place. I want FE to succeed. That is one part why I bought, and why I'll never regret it. What i really want though is for all of FE to succeed. Not just this spin-off, but not a spin-off called THree Houses. I do not want Persona to go away, not in billion years. But I want ALL of SMT to be alive and well, to some degree or another.
Simple as that ... incredibly hard as that Cheers!
@Trajan Outside of combat/dungeon crawling, Persona is much different and those aspects take up a much larger part of the game/are barely existent in classic SMT. That much is true, but still, all these other parts, as I said, are very much informed by SMT and some are straight up carbon copies. That is zero criticism towards either, just an objective observation.
I'm not sure which series I enjoy more. I really loved P3 and P5, but was only lukewarm on P4 Golden, because it no longer felt SMT in terms of the game mood. It was just to light for my taste. Too many jRPGs do that already. Equally SMT Nocturne is still an absolute series high-point, but it lacks many modern conveniences, that made for ultimately a better experience.
SMT V was pretty good, but the combat - due to their 2D nature - felt incredibly stale and static. P5 did a much better job in that regard. I hope SMT V can follow suit here.
I dunno, I love both parts equally I guess. Sometimes I am in the mood for one, something for the other. I also really loved Mirage Sessions which was super goofy for a SMT game, but it just embraced that and rolled with it all the way, why possibly having the best and most entertaining combat in all of the seires so far, certainly the most dynamic presentation.
Hell, in all of jRPG'ism, MIrage Sessions combat might be the most fun I had watching turn-based combat, normally somewhat dull, play out.
THat is outside of Resonance of Fate of course. Nothing will EVER beat Resonance of Fates in terms of flashy and unique turn-based combat. It's godhood in that regard will forever be left untainted
@JR150 As soon as BotW 2 is released, assuming it will follow suit on the design choices of it predecessor, I would definitely consider BotW a spin-off to classic Zelda. That will absolutely hold true, if Nintendo does not abandon the legacy of previous Zelda games and creates more games in the vein of OoT/ALttP. What is the point of calling two games that share a common name, but play utterly different "Zelda", when this clearly refers to a particular "genre" and not just a named franchise.
If I tell someone who liked Ocarina of Time, they should go play BotW because it is a "great modern Zelda game", basically OoT to the Switch, they MIGHT come away super disappointed, because BotW in large part plays very, very little like OoT. It's only a name then, no longer a label.
That has no bearing on the quality of the game. One could argue that SMT Peronsa does alot better (certainly in terms of menu design for instance) than SMT - on a very objective level. Persona still is and always will be a series of spin-off games to SMT, which has strong similarities but also diverges significantly in other areas.
Hell, to me BotW is much more dissimilar from OoT than Persona is dissimilar to SMTV/:A for instance.
You are completely wrong about Persona though. Persona shares alot more than the demons, and many art assests in that regard, particularly the older games with 2D assests. It shares the combat by and large, as well as the elemental weakness system, turn-based combat, the dungeon crawling, 3rd-person perspective, the whole skill/spellcasting library ...
The differences arise in theme, audio-visual design and the whole socializing aspect outside of combat.
I cannot follow your argument, that I devalue anything. I appreciate BotW and Persona very much, maybe in some regards more so than their mainseries counterparts. I certainly love everything about Persoan, besides the potential to narrow SMT down to this one series, and by that virute killing of half a dozen other great series of SMT games/spin-offs. You make it sound like I hated Three Houses. I don't. I just like other FE games vastly better and I dislike the way they gutted many of the games many appeal features.
Also, and that is not meant to sound high-minded, I would highly suggest you try your hand at some FE games of yesteryear. You might just come to love them as well, maybe even more so. You might notice then, that even elements like support conversations have in fact not always been a focus of the series. In fact, they were not even always part of the series at all. That is just ... well, not sure what to tell, other than that is the way it is/was ¯(ツ)/¯
In fact, while the system was mostly present, it was not only Awakening that it even remotely become a strong series focus. Like I alluded to earlier that in itself was already a rather significant shift, but it was not that severly felt, because the underlying mechanics did not really change to accomondate that change - unlike in Three Houses.
It might be the best Thing to happen to FE for a variety of reasons: It not only kept the series - that was pretty much doomed from what I can tell before Awakening alive and well - and beyond that pushed to a level of popularity it had never before seen. It also changed the game up so much, that it could now appeal to folks who previously had zero interest in the game. Other reasons might apply as well. I also think many people never played another FE game or only started with Awakening. That is not a criticism, but from that personal point of view, Three Houses seems like logical progression, bascially an enhanced version. If I liked Awakening for what it was and what previous FE games weren't, I would certainly LOVE Three Houses as it goes all out on those aspects.
Still, the latter in particular is a subjective viewpoint. The changesa are dramatic, that much is clear, but we all can and obviously disagree if the are for the better or the worse.
Lastly, you are wrong in saying, that veterans can simply enjoy the game as it is as well. I already tried to explain that the changes this time around went much, much deeper. The difficulty scaling is just no longer there, the A.I. has been reworked, permadeath has no meaning, as you simply won't die no matter what if you have any experience with series (outside of some random mistakes or intentionally killing yourself off, which is obviously possible).
The moment-to-moment combat dynamic is completely different. That is aggravated for instance also by the new forecasting system in place. All in all, like stated above, it is hard to explain how different even the combat works now, and that is not even accounting for the dramatic removal and simplification of the system itself, aka the Weapons and Magic triangle, which for (most) FE games was an absolute corner stone of the system that very much informed your tactical choices. It's just completely gone.
I dunno .. it's ludicrous to pretend the games still play the same for veterans. Looking at a Youtube video, you might think they largely do, but that is only the most superficial aspects of what USED TO BE a rather deep and challenging game about STRATEGIC and TACTICAL choices.
I only talked about the tactical side of things, but on the ssssRPG (strategic) side many changes were made as well. I won't elaborate, because if you are unfamiliar with the series, I don't think it will really help sell the rift between pre-Awakening games and Three Houeses, but suffice to say that by making the game more welcoming to newcomers and a broader audience, here as well significant changes were employed.
The worst thing I can say about Three HOuses and that is a criticisim I cannot ignore, is that it was made a helluva lot easier. Easier to understand, get into, but also master and ultimately beat. I don't think it was would be objectively wrong to say the game was dumbed down.
And no, the patched in Madness difficutly could not redress all these problems, not in the slightest. I just found it boring to be able - just a couple of hours in - to run through the map with one or two characters, without much of any effort to plan my moves ahead of making them.
It's not what I wanted from FE. That is not really "my issue" though, because that "want" was informed by a dozen previous games. It's not a personal projection. It a core appeal that held true even for Fates still. It just came to me as a surprise, that after more than two decades, the game was a different beast entirely.
I can understand how you would feel calling Three Houses a spin-off was silly elitism on my part as a "veteran", but ... if you look beyond the superficial back-of-the-box blurbs and a screenshot, it must be obvious to anyone, that under the hood much has changed, new parts are there and other crucial parts are entirely gone.
IF you will: It is still a car, sure, but it no longer uses combustion engine but an electric one. It still serves the same purpose, looks the same or similar, but in many aspects, the characterisics are changed all the way and for good. Not sure if that is a better comparison, but it's the best I can think of right off the top of my head
Seriously though, I highly recommend a game like Shadows of Valentia on the 3DS, which is classic in many ways, but also modern and even unique to FE in others (like the 3rd person dungeon "crawling" elements for instance). Or try some of the Virtual Console games available on the WiiU if you have one around. Or just an emulator for some of the GBA titles.
Best of all get your hands on a copy of Path of Radiance for the Gamecube and give that a shoot. It still is my favourite in the series, I feel the world building ,writing and characters, not to mentioned the not (sorry to call it that) "dumbed down systems" plues the console-level presenation, make it easily the best of the bunch. It still is rather accessible with a digestiable difficulty and by the end it will play not unsimilar to THree Houses. Ike will be a one man army. It just won't happen 5 hours in, but rather 25 hours in.
It's also a much shorter, better paced game, with little to no filler content. YOu will never wander around the monastry having - what I felt - rather meaningless chit-chat dialogue with teenagers.
All I'm saying is: Try it, you might quite possibly absolutely adore it! It still is modern enough to not feel retro, while also not having a design compromised by the Must-Appeal-To-Everyone mindset of this day and age. It is very light on anime b**bies though
@Trajan Persona is a SMT spin-off. That has nothing to do with Pokemon or it's mechanics. It was originally part of SMT (just like for instance Digita Devil Saga) and uses not only SMT mechanics, but actual assests and designs.
My point was not that SMT help Persona sell games, but the other way round: SMT is and always was a niche franchise. Persona, having overcome that niche, could help sell SMT games. Maybe people only like SMT Persona, for the specific Persona aspect ... maybe not. I actually know a quite a few people who enjoy a whole lot of SMT games outside of Persona, plus Persona.
Given the similarities that still exist (certainly in terms of underlying mechanics and design/mythology) and the general excellent quality of all SMT games beyond Persona, it would hardly be a surprise for some Persona-fans to find joy in something like Digital Devil Saga or say Devil Survivor.
The latter in particular has a very similar vibe to Persona in many regards (and is incidentially also a sRPG like FE ^^).
I think Persona's underlying theme of non-conformity is well taken, but looking at P5 ... I dunno, it feels a bit done-and-done. SMT games feature a much broader thematic palette, with various religious and philosophic themes through-out, that coudl definitely entice - esp. older - Persona players, who look for something similar, yet different, if you catch my drift
Comments 2,303
Re: Feature: Trials Of Mana Producers On The Challenges Of Remaking A Classic 16-Bit RPG
@Axlroselm Interesting, I really enjoyed FFVII Remake as well. I immersed myself into it for almost 6 days straight and right the next day, I played the demo for Trials of Mana.
For the life of me, I could not stomach it. It just felt too archaic and beyond tedious in about every way imagineable. The contrast was stark to say the least. I'm worried, that I'm really done with this particular subset of jRPGs now and forever. FFVIIR spoiled me for good.
Obviously, the visuals and voice work cannot hold a candle to FFVII Remake. And while -from what I can tell- Trials is a very, very faithful remake, like 20 mins into the game, the difference could not be more drastic. The game starts a glacial pace, and even the action-combat cannot hide the games ancient design roots. Like you have about 2m range on your lock-on, how it all gets started by beating the Mana equivalent of every MMORPG's start-area "rats" ... I had to put it down like an two hours in. By that time I had already done and seen so much in FFVII Remake, that in contrast it felt as if Trials was actively and intentionally trying to annoy me by just draaaggggginngggg it's feet. That is tragic, consindering FVIIR is not free of padding itself, but at least the 1st couple of hours move at an engaging almost breack-neck pace.
I know that it's not the game's fault. It is what it is and it was never meant to be directly compared to FFVIIR, and yes, I am glad that fans are getting such a faithful remake of what is apparently a classic to many jRPG fans, but I am not 100% sure why they had to release it right after FFVIIR thus really INVITING comparison.
Also, it's worth noting, that Trials is really a downgrade in several curious way, like while it was afaik also build on Unreal Engine (THANK GOD Square stopped creating their own engine for every new game ... sinking money into a pithole this way) like FFVIIR, but not only does the game lack HDR support, the glorious particle effects from FFVIIR seem also entriely absent, just as the truly excellent per-object-motion blur seen in FFVIIR.
Besides the visuals, and the -almost charmingly retro- phoned-in over-the-top voices, the animations also just so-and-so. Hitting enemies feels like hitting a plushie with a wooden bat. There is no sensation of weight here or impact, compeletely unlike FFVIIR, which took obvious cues from the techniques used in God of War (most prominently).
It just feels irritatingly dull and lifeless coming off of FFVIIR. The towns are also dead. NPCs just stand around, nobody talks. I get it, it's like in the good old days.
Thing is, I don't think it's "good" anymore, just because it used to be that way 20-odd years ago. People were worried that FFVIIR would be a nostalgia fuelled letdown ... having had zero nostaglia for neither FFVII nor Trials, I kinda feel that Trials is much more reliant on nostalgia for sure.
As a quote-unquote modern action-RPG, I don't really see Trails doing much for anyone. It's pretty sad honestly, I mean, I was really in the mood to jump right into the next Square remake for sure, like itching for it and I do think Square hoped people would move straight from FFVIIR to Traisl. That would have worked supremely well, as it was just what I had in mind downloading the demo the very next day, but ... there is an abyss here, that I would have had a rought time navigating before laying a finger on FFVIIR, but after having gone through that tour-de-france of audio-visual events and truly engaging combat (even if it was really quite a bit to easy in the end, it never felt to entertain) that is not gonna happen for me.
Oh and just to clarify, I'm not generally opposed to traditional design. Instead of Trails, I started playing Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology on my 3DS. Which as it turns out it, is an absolutely fantastic game, with engaging turn-based combat (of all things), an interesting story, a well thought-out timetravel mechanic and - of all things - subjectively better voice-work than 90s-afternoon-shonen'esque delivery of Trials, which I found painful, like actively so - it IS 2020 after all.
That said, the music in Trials was pretty darn sweet. Didn't take me in the same way as FFVIIR, but still something I appreciated right from the starting screen.
I'm very, very, very interested to see the next few weeks and how the different fandoms as well as newcomers react to these very, very, very different games, despite both being remakes of classic Square games, featuring action-combat, released in the same month I wonder how other people will feel coming off FFVIIR going potentially also directly into this.
Last but not least, it also made me realize how deeply I appreciate FFVII not directly going all-out Hero-On-A-Journey on me as a player, throwing an archetypical idealistic good-boy/gal-on-a-quest character at my face. Not every game needs set the same mood as FFVII, but alas, most jRPGs don't anyways, so it IS deeply appreciated. Just another stark contrast, but one I cannot blame the Remake of Trails for at least.
Re: Burnout Paradise Remastered Could Be Speeding Onto The Switch This June
Been playing the remastered for like 2 hours a couple of weeks back on XBX. I thought I might have misjudged the game last time around on last-gen, but honestly ... it looks miles better than Revenge, but even given that, I much rather play Revenge any day of the week. Revenge runs very smoothly on the XBX and still looks alright to this day, the music is still aces obviously and it just plays fantastically. The sense of speed is great and the take-downs are a lot of fun. Hell, there are a bunch of games, like say Split/Second I would absolutely recommend over Paradise.
I for one play BurnOut for the sense of speed, the takedowns and the boost-"management", if you will. I think takedowns and thus boosting really take a back-seat in Paradise compared to Revenge. Personally, I found no joy in plotting my own route to vicotry, esp. not since often, I was on one street and the competition on another. Not much takeing-down going on then obviously ... maybe I was playing wrong, dunno, don't care.
Alas, Revenge is about as likely to come to Switch as FFVII Remake ... so it is kinda of take-it-or-leave-it situation. In that case, I'd leave it and play Mario Kart 8.
Re: Nintendo's Huge Spring Sale Gets Even Bigger, Lots Of Top Switch Games Discounted (Europe)
@NotoriousWhiz The e-shop is in dire need of some in-depth curating. We also need more filters and a proper review & recommendation system. Why not also employ some basic machine learning to have suggestion pages for people based on the games they've spend the most time with? Seems easy and straightforward enough and would ultimately lead to increased sales. Not sure what's keeping Nintendo, other than being them being all Nintendo about this stuff.
Re: "Intense" Cyberpunk Roguelite Danger Scavenger Revealed For Nintendo Switch
Cyberpunk used to be about alot more than just a general aesthetic of sorts. It's not a big deal, but the term gets - subjectively - thrown around more and more these days. I just don't want it to become one of those hollow marketing phrases that have long since moved beyond any significant meaning.
If a game is urban, night-time'ish, with plenty of neon lights ... it's just that for the time being and nothing more.
To be fair, I have no real idea what this game will ultimately be like, but from the first look provided, it does not seem that it will really tackle any of the themes connected to this (sub)genre.
I mean, it IS a cool aesthetic though ...
Re: Dragon Marked For Death Is No Longer Exclusive To The Nintendo Switch
I quite enjoyed both BMZ games. The 1st one was actually my very 1st Switch game. Not normally my cup of tea, but I came away positively surprised. This though ... I had forgotten it existed. Not saying it's necessarily bad or anything, but it obviously did not strike a nerve with me.
Re: Review: Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories - A Totally Unique Experience Marred By Technical Problems
@Atariboy I did read that as well, that is them starting from scratch after getting the rights. It's just odd then that much of the footage I saw, textures and all, look quite alot like a PS3 game actually. Maybe some they could re-use some assets? I dunno, but in the end, it might as well have started as a PS3 project.
Re: Review: Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories - A Totally Unique Experience Marred By Technical Problems
Considering this started out as a PS3 game, it is really disheartening to read that even the PS4 version is anything but smooth sailing. Still, the setting is certainly intriguing and it has a certain "zeitgeist" quality to it for sure. Not something high on my list though, esp. when it screams 75% off at Blackfriday. This goes double once I consider that this game IS ugly. That is not crucial to anything, but it is also not something I can flat out ignore. Other companies put a ton off work and passion in making their games treats for all senses, be it visuals, sound, voice acting or music, and some ... well, some don't. It would be unfair to pretend that this should not be factor at all.
Re: The Multi-Award-Winning Disco Elysium Is Coming To Nintendo Switch
Good news, the game actually proofed much more taxing for my laptop than I had anticipated!
Re: Video: 11 Exciting New Games Coming To Nintendo Switch In April
I've even only heard of two of these games to be quite honest. Disaster Report ... gotta wait & see some reviews. It might be something unique, but it truly is ugly.
Trials of Mana, I dunno about yet. Looked fun, but probably not really a must-play-right-away kinda game. I'm thinking it'll have a tough time going up against P5 Royal and FFVII Remake. I'm definitely going with the latter. If I hadn't played P5 already, Trials of Mana would probably not be something I would have taken much note of at all this packed month.
Re: Port Specialist Virtuos Ready To Help Bring Next-Gen PlayStation And Xbox Titles To Nintendo Switch
@AlexSora89 Not sure what you are saying, but the focus of next-gen certainly ain't graphics. I mean, that is obviously always a part of the appeal and certainly in terms of marketing, as it is by far the aspect that is most straightforward to showcase, but at least on Sony's end, they have made it abundantly clear, that their focus is elsewhere.
Again, though, we are going to get some nice leaps in visuals, for sure, but most of it gonna be more QoL focused I imagine, like finally locking to 60fps, up to 120fps, with VRR inbetween, image quality improvements all-around, extra details thanks to ray-traced shadows, reflections and so on and so forth.
This is not your typical generational leap this time around imho.
Re: Port Specialist Virtuos Ready To Help Bring Next-Gen PlayStation And Xbox Titles To Nintendo Switch
@InJeffable I'd be surprised if we spend 3+ years with only cross-gen 3rd-party content. That would be very much unprecedented. I imagine that for a period of up to ~2 years MOST, definitely not all, 3rd-party games will see cross-gen releases, based on a case-by-case basis.
While the underlying SoC-architecture ought to make it easy to upscale projects to next-gen, the other way round, meaning projects conceived from the ground up for next-gen consoles, will be unfeasible to downscale to current-gen devices for the most part.
I cannot imagine that 3rd-parties want to spend the next years, or in other words the 1st half of the entire next generation, being way, way behind the curve.
Having said that, it is quite likely that we are headed for the worst global recession since the 1920s, so in that regard all bets are off anyways. Majority of folks might simple lack the ressources to upgrade at all, devs might have to significantly scale back their productions anyways, so ...
Re: Port Specialist Virtuos Ready To Help Bring Next-Gen PlayStation And Xbox Titles To Nintendo Switch
@InJeffable I agree, but I do not think it will be as long for Sony exclusives. Given the advantages Xbox has with Backwardscompability and multiplatform games already and going forward, they are under pressure to either once again offer the better value proposition (be cheaper) or to pull people in with exclusives, at which they excelled last gen.
Cross-gen exclusives won't cut it then. Not just because they'll don't necessitate a PS5, but more importantly because they cannot showcase the power of the system. The gap in some regards, particularly in terms of the SSD and sound engine, is more than just one generational leap, but several. I dunno, I don't see away to showcase these features with anything the base PS4 could run, and you certainly cannot put these features at the core of your design then.
That's probably besides the point though, because those exclusives true to their nature would never have made it to Switch anyways. As for 3rd-party content, I think it will indeed be a good while yet. Still, even if the ports keep coming for another 2 years or so, the gap will turn into an obvious abyss and already there is content we'll never see on Switch as it is.
Re: Hideki Kamiya Explains PlatinumGames' Disappointing April Fools' Joke
Whenever you have to explain a joke or prank ... things went horribly wrong.
Re: NIS America Hosts 'Hidden Gems' Switch eShop Sale, Save Up To 60% (North America)
@NightMiroir I added you PSN and you're welcome to add me on NO as well. How come you have no access to PSN in this day and age? ^^
I'm absolutely with you on SMT V, anxiously awaiting ANY news on the game. I don't think it's canacelled or anything, but going this long with just confirmation that things are progressing is kinda disappointing. I love Peronsa, but the last couple of years, I got the strong impression that Atlus really only cares about Persona anymore, with SMT taking a backseat and then some. THey even removed the "SMT" from Persona altogether, so some people don't even realize that there is such a thing as SMT and that Persona is part of it, furthermore "just" a spin-off if you will.
I really, really hope that this year around E3 or TGS at the latest, we will get SOME news about the game, even if it is just another vague teaser.
As for FFVII I have to say I am excited about the combat. I used to love "classic" turn-based games, but in recent years, I came to crave games that made me forget, that I was playing a turn-based game for the most part. TMS#FE had a really nice flowing presentation, that made the game look very dynamic, alive and action'y, while actually being as turn-based as they come. Dragon Quest though, for all it's glorious beauty, was incredibly slow paced in combat and it also really presented itself that way. I could not stomach it.
This ties in directly with Etrian Odyssey. I have bought several entries for the 3DS and I recently bought a New 3DS as well (cost me a pretty penny, too, importing from the US, got me the Metroid Ediiton^^). THe issue I have, despite finding much to like about the series at it's core, is that the combat looks incredibly static. It's one of the things I really liked about Persona 3 right off the beat over games like SMT V for instance. The way your own actions are animated and you are not just represented with static demon images (although the art on display is always absolutely fantasic), but you see characters moving, casting spells etc. The whole experience just feels so much more engaging that way.
It's also what made games like Resonance of Fate stand out to me. Once you set up your action, the game looked like the sickest John-Woo-action-flick ever. It was bonkers and stand to this day, in my view, as one of the best turn-based systems I ever played as well as the flat-out best presented - period. And yes, I know the game had plenty of flaws outside of combat, sure, but that does not take away from this achievement at all.
I actually bought Blasphemous on Switch the other day, after trying the demo. Haven't played any further so far (sadly the demo state didn't care over), but I am definitely going to. Hollow Knight was insanely good, like one of my favourite games this gen. Super tight gameplay, very strong Soulborne inspired environmental storytelling and atmosphere, just all around virtually perfect. Very much looking forward to Silksong.
Nioh 2's parrying is much closer to traditional Souls from what I can tell, and yes, it's rather optional and in my view not advised since it can be very unreliable and the benefits are not nearly as significant as Sekiro. I think the thing about Sekiro was the game was built around parry in many ways and in that regard, the game was actually more about rythm, yes, like a rythm game, than mere timing. I guess, that made it easier for some that what one would initially expect.
I, too, fund Sekiro ALOT harder than any Souls game that came before, mostly because there was just this one style of play with no customization and no real stat boosting to make things marginally easier for yourself. So, in Demon Souls and in Nioh 2 I am pretty much a caster. In Dark Souls I most played a tanky built with shields.
In Sekiro none of these styles are an option. It's a severe downgrade in that regard, although I get how it came to be and I still love Sekiro too death. Yet, it was and still is a hard game on me, with some bosses pushing me as hard as I have ever been pushed as gamer. I still need to get back to that final boss even. But having not play in like a year, that is a tall order right now.
I didn't have that much trouble with "normal" enemies as far as the faster pacing goes. I played plenty of faster action games before, even Bloodborne was a helluva lot faster than DemonS or DarkS, but like I said, Sekiro is very narrow in what it asks of you, with no room for deviation and rhythm games are not typical my thing at all, making it even more of an adjustment. Some boss fight frustration aside, which comes with the territory, I loved every second of it and the world.
In fact, I was re-reading "Blade of the Immortal", one if not my favourite manga of all time next to Berserk and Dorohedoro, while I was playing Sekiro - it was pure chance actually - and it struck me how much obvious inspiration SEkiro has taken from Blade of the Immortal. Hidetaka Miyazaki is well known to be a bit of "book worm", if you will, you takes inspiration from literature and architecture left and right - which was super obvious already with Dark Souls, which really just copy&pasted (imitation is after all the sincerest form of flattery) whole enemy designs right of the pages of Miura's seminal work on Berserk. Miyazaki was always very open about this, and again, why not steal from the best? It only makes sense. The way in which Bloodborne took more than cue from H.P. Lovecraft is also obvious right away. But I love Miura's work, just I think some, not all, but some of Lovecrafts writing is genius. Yes, there is plenty of sexism and anti-semitism in there, plus a overwhelming sense of general xenophobia, but works like "The Music of Erich Zann" are proper brilliant works still. Generally, the whole cosmic horror genre obviously owes alot to him regardless of his many flaws.
In short, I'd love Bloodborne 2 to happen eventually and build on everything From Software learned since BLoodborne 1, from games like Sekiro and so on, but I'm also okay with Elden Ring for now
Re: NIS America Hosts 'Hidden Gems' Switch eShop Sale, Save Up To 60% (North America)
@NightMiroir I'm not big on Final Fantasy personally. I was always more into SMT or other niche games like Lost Odyssey, Shadow Hearts, Resonance of Fate and such - generally the more tonally "somber" games, with obvious expections like Persona 3-5 (1+2 were pretty somber though actually ^^) or TMS#FE.
Anyways, I did play some of the earlier FF on NDS as well as VII and XII and as you say, the demo for FF VII Remake was rather glorious. I think the game will be substantial even if it only covers the Midgard section of FFVII. Square said the they significantly expanded upon the original content and that it will be comparable in length to other mainlaine standaline FF games. I do expect and hope to get like 30h out of it, esp. since I'm the kinda of player who meticiously checks ever nook and cranny.
My only concern is that the demo was super easy. But FFVII if I recall startet out rather easy as well, so here is hoping to things picking up later on.
As for Nioh 2 I'll say that it is proper brilliant. There are small design flaws here and there, but overall it's everything you could ask for in a game like this and in my view it is Team Ninja at their absolute best. The most important aspect is that virtually all of the game can be played in co-op (there are some 1-on-1 missions as well as the Dojo missions that afaik you have to play solo, but most other submissions as well as all mainmissions work) and that's really a great deal of fun. The co-op is also straightforward. One player host a match for friends, those can simply join the lobby, a mission is selected and then things get underway. Progress is shared between coop and single-player, which is crucial to me, since I hated how in Bloodborne progress counted only for the "hosting" player and the whole system was super obtuse to initially setup. Be warned though, that currently the PSN is broken during the day, so at least for me an my buds, we can only play after like 11 p.m. at night.
It's basically Sekiro meets Diablo. For many players, that will be a dream come true. I think it's a fair bit easier than Nioh 1 to be honest, but that may be in some part due to me "learning the ropes" in Nioh 1 as well as co-op of course, having played Nioh 1 only solo. Still, even in Solo missions I tend to take bosses within 1-3 attempts, when in Nioh 1 I often took a dozen tries.
I also think the game is ALOT easier than Sekiro in my book. I've beaten all the bosses in Sekiro except the final one since sadly my vacation ran out then, I haven't gotten back to the game since, but I do remember that some fights took me like a whole day to nail down, like the fight against Owl for instance. I think I am 2/3 through Nioh 2 now (the 1st run at least), and none of the bosses took me more than hour, with several of them going down 1st try - definitely in co-op.
Be aware though (although you probably know this already having tried Nioh 1), that Sekiro and Nioh 2 are vastly different games, despite some similiarites. Parrying for instance works entirely different, with completely different timing windows, additional effects skewing these windows even further and in general ... I don't parry in Nioh 2 at all. I dodge or block as the pay-off in Nioh 2 is not worth the risk. It's way more important to get your burst counters in, which more about positioning than timing though (at least with Brutes and Ferals).
In general, I absolutely addored Sekiro, but I also love Nioh 2. Both share a commong setting and some mechanical similarities being both "soulsborne" games, but Nioh 2 in many ways is much closer to Demon Souls than Sekiro actually. Still, some aspects still flat out do not work in Nioh 2. The level design ins subpar compared to Soulsborne. The way the world is split into small areas accessible as missions kinda of kills the sense of place. Both of which makes the environmental storytelling barely existent and really hurts the atmosphere. Nioh 2 is also super grindy compared to your typical Soulsborne. You have not just levels to worry about, but weapon familiarity as well as Skill proficiency for Ninja/Samurai/Shiftling and Magic skills individualls as well as for each weapontype seperately.
THe way way Nioh 2 is structured is more like a game like Diablo. It's "real" meat is the endgame content/ New Game+ where all the real good gear awaits and the game opens up giving you tools for proper builds and min-maxing. That is not everyone's cup of tea and I say as a single-player game, you play only once start to finish to experience the world and the story, Nioh 2 is inferior to Sekiro in many ways.
As an extended experience, where you try dozen of different builds, optimize your gear and play a fair bit of co-op, it is clearly superior to Sekiro, which had no multiplayer and only a very limited NG+, that was - in my view - aimed at hardcore fans, offering little new options over your 1st run expect to experience a tougher challenge (the game was plenty tough already though imho) as well as to experience the other endings.
The story in Nioh 2 is pretty hard to follow if you do not have extensive background knowledge of Japanese history in the Sengoku period. Times, places and famous individuals are heavily referenced and prominently featured in the game, but if you only go by the cutscenes between missions you will have a hard time really "getting it" nor will you be invested in what is happening. Nioh 2's storytelling is entirely unlike Soulsborne, but given the games particular structure I feel the game is poorly severed by this traditional linear cut-scene heavy storytelling.
It's something that did not really work for me in Nioh 1 and it sitll doesn't work here. Given the games qualities, as I elabored above, plus the excellent combat mechanics (allowing like Demon Souls did for ranged combat builds, with magic or Ninja skills for instance as well as very cool melee combat), that is something I can easily forgive though. I don't think people spend 200h with Diablo 3 for the story either ...
Long story short, if you look challenging, fast paced action games, set in the setting of Sekiro, you'll like it. If you liked Nioh 1, you will like it. If you like Team Ninja games, you will like it. If you like loot-and-min-max'ing heavy games like Diablo, you will like it.
I'd say it stands overall toe-to-toe with Sekiro. Both games focus on different aspects on the Soulsborne genre. But both largely succeed in their particular endeavours. Final note: Like I said, if parrying ain't your thing in general, do not worry, blocking, dodging is the name of the game in Nioh 2 and the only areas where parry comes in is burst countering, but that is far, far, far, far, far more forgiveable than Sekiro. If you could handle Sekiro you will be more than fine in Nioh 2, trust me. Compared to that, it's a cakewalk. If you ever want to play Nioh 2 (or just talk trash ^^) feel free to hit me up on PSN (Ralek_US) btw.
As for Caligula, I read as much in other reviews as well, particularly about how long the encounters take and how many there are. I feel like combat is really cool, but from what I've seen and read, it does not evolve all that much and it lacks the "snappiness" and style of, say, Persona 5, which made each fight feel like the coolest thing, and it was very brisk at it as well.
I bought Culdcept already. Not sure when I'll get to it, but it sure looks very much down my alley. I do love deep cardbattling systems and it seems to have that in spades, plus some cool twist to it. Looking forward to immersing myself into it eventually.
Re: NIS America Hosts 'Hidden Gems' Switch eShop Sale, Save Up To 60% (North America)
@NightMiroir I would too but I've already played and finished P5 with like 120h on the clock, so even given the changes and extra content, it's much fresher in my mind than FFVII and obviously FFVII Remake is a vastly more drastic overhaul than Royal ^^
And yeah, Nioh 2 is absolutely fantastic as well with copious amount of content, not to mention everyone's best friend: the backlog ^^
You're right though, I'll wait for a really good bargain with Caligula. Definitely want to try that combat system myself some day, but that's really no rush. Culdcept I'm going to get though. That intrigued me since the 360 days
Re: NIS America Hosts 'Hidden Gems' Switch eShop Sale, Save Up To 60% (North America)
@NightMiroir Thanks for the input. I think I'll hold off then and pick it up eventually at a better deal. FFVIIR will keep me plenty busy, I guess, still playing Nioh 2 and actually kinda itching to (re)play Persona 5 Royal come tomorrow
Re: Nintendo To Remaster 'Most Of Super Mario’s 35-Year Catalogue' For Switch in 2020, New Report Says
So all of them huh ... yet both Baten Kaitos 1&2 Remastered and FE RoR/RD are too much to ask, Nintendo? Because we lack Mario content on the Switch? Come on!
That aside more classy games are always welcome
Re: NIS America Hosts 'Hidden Gems' Switch eShop Sale, Save Up To 60% (North America)
Gonna get Culdcept. Wanted to try that forever, but never got around to it. Seems like as good an opportunity as I am going to get, given with whats going on.
I'm also curious about Caligula Effect. The combat always looked intriguing but the reviews are so mixed to say the least of it. Anyone tried the Switch version yet?
Re: Reminder: All Final Fantasy Games Reduced On Nintendo Switch, Sale Ends Today
I have FF VII Remake PO'ed, so I do have most of FF needs covered for now. Thought up finally picking up FF X remastered, but having done a little reading just now, it seems to run in 4K on X1X, where it's also on sale. Going to go with that version then.
I also really enjoyed the Oninaki demo, but given what most reviews said, the game does not evolve much, and I can see the demo gameplay get stale a dozen hours in. I'll wait for hopefully deeper sale.
Re: Review: Panzer Dragoon: Remake - Doesn’t Quite Nail The Landing
@retro_player_22 Not sure I get what you are saying. You wouldn't/ don't care because ... it's on Xbox or what are you getting at.
I dunno about the Metacritic score, haven't used Metacritic in years, but given what I saw myself, the issues are real and extend far beyond anything Digital Foundry specializes in.
It's fair to enjoy the game in it's own right. If the developer had intended that though, they'd better had made their own game instead of remaking someone else's creation. I guess, that is oldfashioned thinkin, but I feel that such an effort should always consider the effort made by the people that came before. If you are basically doing a 1:1 remaster, with little to no of your own input, you better make it the best it can reasonably be. Under no circumstances whatsoever can you "invent" problems that the original never had (like those overlapping rectangles or the dragoons weird*** take on head bobbing). That's a big No! to me, and the latter actually messing with the gameplay, is like ... it's kinda disrespectful to the clean arcade-action-orientied design of the original.
Alas, that is just old grumpy me.
Re: Good Job! Is A Brand New Puzzler From Nintendo, And It's Out Now On Switch
Looks cool actually! Love the look of it.
Re: Review: Panzer Dragoon: Remake - Doesn’t Quite Nail The Landing
Still gonna pick it up at some point, in the hopes of one day getting Saga remastered or even remade. That's what I'm really looking forward to. Personally, I think it doesn't get better than Orta anyways, so all of these are just a bonus, erring heavily on the side of nostalgia.
Having said that, I'm disappointed to see that some issues that seemed odd from the outset, like how the dragoon bobs up down during flight or how the aiming rectangles overlapp with it (what the **** ... I figured this must be some bug, but apparently isn't, never seen anything like that in an on-rails-shooter), were not ironed out.
I'm not a fan of how they turned it into a cartoony game as well, from the basic geometry, to the color choices and lighting. The mood is very different from the original, but that was not necessarily a deal breaker, esp. not to someone who might not even ever have played the original.
Still, a classic game deserved better treatment. Hopefully the attempt for the second game will be vastly more ambitious. I mean, this is out days before Resident Evil 2 remake. No one expected close to that level of commitment, sure, but still, in comparison, this just seems like weaksauce - or just disappointing
@retro_player_22 Orta holds up much better in general. It's a very modern game in comparison and all in all more involved. You are probably aware, but Orta is available on Xbox One, on XBX it even runs in native 4K. Series X will apparently add HDR support by way of machine learning, which given all the effects in the game, will most likely look nothng short of spectacular. Not to trash this "remake", but Orta on XBX is the all-around superior game by miles, plus even more aesthetically pleasing and running way better (silky smooth 60fps).
@Bermanator Have you tried Rez Infinite on PSVR? It's absolutely mindblowing. It's already a crazy good time on a decent TV set, but on PSVR it's really an experience, and that's not hyperbole. Sure, a couple runs in, it does not wow you same as in the beginning, but that 1st run in VR ... nothing too shabby I gotta say
Re: Panzer Dragoon: Remake Flies Onto Nintendo Switch Today, Physical Version Coming Soon
I do really love these shadow drops for games, but with this one, I'll wait for the Xbox One version. I already have Orta on Xbox, which looks amazing in 4K, and with Auto-HDR coming later this year, I've gotten extremely reluctant buying multiplatform games anywhere else. Well, except for games I feel I'd really love to play portable or actually prefer on handheld.
Can't see myself dropping Nioh 2 for this either, so it's probably for the best
Still, quite the nice surprise, and if the situation were different, I'd definitely be picking it up right now! Also, nice "Mini" Direct - did not see that coming at all!
Re: Tactical JRPG Grand Guilds Brings Turn-Based Card Combat To Switch This Week
Sounds good, as I generally love sRPGs and card games. It does look horrible though. I mean, the 2D assets look decent enough actually, but the 3D assest? Boy oh boy
Has that "generic middle-of-the-road budget 3D visuals" (quite the mouthful ^^) look to it, that unfortunately has the potential to take you right out of the experience, esp. if the game has a heavy focus on narrativen, setting, atmosphere and such. Less of an issue for a multiplayer game then, but for a story-driven RPG? Kinda a big deal.
Not saying it is a deal breaker, if the gameplay is really good, and maybe some decent voice acting and music, it won't matter that much.
I'm currently playing Operation Darkness on X360. The game features decent music, very strong voice acting und really good 2D character art. Unfortunately, the 3D side of things is butt-ugly, like cheap late-PS2 era ugly. Still, it is an sRPG with a lot of heart and one of the coolest settings out there for RPGs such as this (think basically Hellsing as a jRPG, as you'll be fighting alot of Nazi Vampires and Tiger Tanks among others).
Might be good to have a demo for this then. I'm only playing Operation Darkness because the setting intrigued me enough to try the demo, which in turn - despite some other flaws like a really unwieldy camera for instance - sold me on the entire experience. Also, demos are a good idea in general. Some games might not be ideally suited for being demo'ed, but this, I assume would.
Seeing as it is on Steam though, there is always the option to try it their and return it, if it's not to one's liking. I generally don't bother with that though, hence I'd definitely prefer a demo
Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons Is Already Selling Out In Japanese Stores
@NEStalgia That does sound like a dangerous mix of ignorance and unintended consequences, that rear their ugly head. I do think that the "cosmopolitan generation" probably played a part in spreading the virus, as did the cheapness of going by plane in general (which has been raising questions ever since the word carbon emissions was ... well, a thing), but on the other hand, there is no denying that we live in a globalized world and no virus is going to stay in one place for long in this world. It's not something I can really lament though. It's good that the world is connected. It's our one best shot at not just a peace, but also technological, societal and cultural progress. We are less prone to shot each other, if we know and understand each other, if we learn from each other and if that relationship provides benefits for everyone involved. I'm certainly someone who is glad he gets to enjoy the cultural output of the world at large from Japan to U.S. I cannot imagine a world without all of that.
I think this whole crisis is - like all crisis probably are at heart - a huge opportunity for us. It could be an opportunity to realize that not ALL globalization is necessary or even good. That some trading we do, causes more harm than good (an issue we saw give rise to Trump among others long before this virus struck). But also what work we value in what way.
It is strange but part of the news that break my heart the most is seeing picture of italian nurses collapsed from exhaustion. These people do a rough job EVERY damn DAY of the year. Now, the do an impossible job, but rough? It's always rough. I spend my social year working as a caregiver in an elderly living facility, and that changed my outlook significantly. These people provide essential services, their job puts demands on their body and psyche that are often extreme under normal circumstances, yet they get no respect in society, like zip - definitely outside of Sunday sermons - and they get payed close to nothing as well.
Then there is public service. An area that has been bled dry of personell for years on end now. Local public health deparments were understaffed years before this crisis hit. They were barely able to fulfill their legal obligations as it were. Obviously they are by and large overwhelmed by this stuation.
The idea of a "slims state", not just effective but efficient, less people, doing ever more tasks, has already reached a breaking point, but this crisis works as kind of focus lense to bring into sharp focus the shortcomings of our societies structure. If and when the dying starts for real here, as it sadly has in Italy, this contrast will become even more stark.
Then there is like nature. Amazing pictures of cities free of smog. Wildlife return to Venedig ... Satelite image showing parts of Europe almost free from emissions by comparison with weeks before. People work from home and some might realize that it is not necessary spending two hours a die driving back and forth by car ... It's not all bad, is what I am trying to say.
From what I can tell, most people around here actually adhere to the curfew and restrict themselves to the base necessities. People are barely any more concerened with "personal space" than they were before. There are plenty of examples of individuals that go the extra mile, like providing support to elderly neighbours for instance, but also police reports of "teens" (some of them like laaaaateeee teens sadly) intentionally "coughing" at seniors citizens while screaming Corona. And no, I am not kidding.
I share your anger and in fact, from what I can tell, deep resentment at folks who STILL haven't caught on now. Who still behave as if they are not just invulernable but in fact an island, unable to hurt anyone else. No man or woman is an island though. The lack of empathy and just common decency a part of the population is displaying, and has been displaying for like two weeks now (that made this curfew necessary in the first place) was sadly not surprising, but still very much unsettling. Seeing young police officers being yelled at by citizens because they are told to ... well, get lost, or even worse in a way, seeing supermarket staff being yelled because there is no toilet paper left ... what can I say, I had experience that made me question folks humanity und a very fundamental level. I mean.. don't yell at people that keep your markets stocked, but people who do it these days? How about a "thank you"!!?? I wouldn't want to work in a supermarket, not ever, but defintely not now.
Some people are obviously beyond morally bankrupt. They have zero empathy and no sense of responsibility beyond their immediate social circle. They might still be loving fathers or mothers or whatever, and care for their parents and friends, but boy, anything beyond that circle is apparently barely even human as soon as the going goes even a bit rougher.
It is disgusting, and the fact remains that we might face worse pandemics or other comparable crisis yet to come so.... what to do? What do we do about people that will still ignore all public health advice when the next virus hits, that might not kill 2% of infected, but 40%?
Then these ***holes might quite literally be the death of us all. I have no real answer, but what I said above about the things that are hopeful, makes me think that this might demonstate to a democratic majority of folks that we need to find a different way of dealing with life outside of a crisis, so that we are better prepared for a life within a crisis. Like how we need to foster and train empathy on a daily basis, because it does not just suddenly appear out of thin air, when it is needed most, in times like this, within weeks or even just days.
And I do feel that might have to go down the uncomfortable road of setting examples. Nobody wants to do that. But when I read news about a company like Gamestop ordering their employees to stay open because they "provide essential services", I do feel like action has to be taken. Like severe action, within the legal framework of course. People that make these kind of decisions, putting thousands of lifes at risk for very little reason other than a very shortterm economic gain, need to be REPONSIBLE and in a pubilic manner.
Social control only works, if people have the knowledge to "enforce" it. That at times demands that some examples be made.
As Thomas Mann has once written so famously: "Tolerance becomes a crime once applied to evil".
There gotta be limits to the publics patience, and ignoring all public necessity for ones own selfish enjoyment, is certainly a form of evil. We ought not tolerate that, we really ought not.
Re: Pokémon GO Player Ignores Italy's Coronavirus Lockdown, Tells Police "I Have To Hunt The Pokémon"
@Alpha008 I figure that is only the number of people caught and actually sanctioned not just reprimanded. The dark figure of idiots is like much, much higher. Having said that, "idiots" is not really an approriate term imho. Considering that someone at 31 is hardly the group most at risk (still a risk though), he is mainly potentially endangering third parties. If idiots want to go down Niagra falls in a barrel ... sure, why not. There is a reason we have something like the Darwin Awards after all
There are acurate terms for folks who just don't care or don't bother to stop to consider the well-being of others, much more at risk than themselves. I'm not gonna spell it out, because I'm trying to respect the community rules here.
As it always is in life: The second you or someone close to yo or some close to some close to you ^^ is affected by this, it stop being even one tiny bit funny to "Go catch'em all" consequences be damned. I am not even going to point out, that there is such a thing as setting a bad example for a child. That much ought to be obvious, but then again, there is no one stopping anyone from procreating - it's one of the areas where "anything goes" is still the rule of the land!
Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons Is Already Selling Out In Japanese Stores
@Maxz Isn't it also worth noting that, from what I read, Japan has now tested about the same amount of individuals as South Korea is roughly testing A DAY? In other words, how reliable is any infection rate reported out of Japan really?
From what I understand, it's been just over two weeks since testing in private hospital was even allowed (!?) and the costs were covered by national insurance.
I do hope the rate of infection is actually as low as it is being reported these days. Whether this is more than solemn hope is entirely unclear to me though. Given that Japan has a much higher urban population focus than other major affected areas in Germany, and more so France and Northern Itality I am very curious if early school closures can really account for the vast gulf between the infection rates.
Quite possibly, the numbers are under stated and Japan is just a week or two behind the curve, so to speak. I hope that turns out to be entirely wrong, but given what we know ... it's a worrisome situation if you ask, esp. if life is already going back to normal, as you suggest. Stay safe!
Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons Is Already Selling Out In Japanese Stores
@Peshokinha That would be more amusing, if the mortality rate among the elderly were less devastating than it actually is and if Japan had ... less of an elderly population.
@roboshort It's just not entirely clear to me why Japan would be that much less affected than South Korea. It might be ... but might also not be and just not be aware - as you say - yet. The tragedy here is that by the time this crisis hits local hospital and makes people notice, it'll already be to late to stop this from becoming wide-spread and taking its toll on senior population as well as those vulnerable to it for other reasons.
I'm not expert, but those who are - the WHO chief among them - has consistenly called for PREVENTIVE measures ... Japan seems kinda of in a bubble here from what I can tell. I pray that this is not a miscalculation on their part
@Beetoe I'm neither religious nor one for empty words, but given the times: thoughts and prayers, my friend, and ... stay safe!
Beyond that, I sincerely hope that Abe is above downplaying a serious crisis for sake of the Olympics. I mean, it is not gonna work either way, is it? It's an international mega event, and even with 0 infections in Japan, I can't for the life of me, figure out how it could be considered a reasonable idea to go forward with it under the best of circumstances. I guess in theory, they could test every single individual coming in and going out, but .... no, not worth the risk.
Also, why not just postpone it? I get that this is a severe measure for the people affected and the tradition as well, but in the face of a global pandemic with severe economic implications on top if it, it is hardly beyond the pale.
Seriously, what could be less in taking with the Spirit of the Olympic games than putting business before health and human lifes? It would be an utter travesity, if these games led to but one entirely avoidable death!
Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons Is Already Selling Out In Japanese Stores
These do not look like queues where people keep a distance of 1.5 m to 2 m each ... not all. I live in Bavaria and like an hour ago, we had declared a universal state wide curfew starting at midnight. Point being, it is kinda ... well, creepy to see people huddle together like this for a videogame of all things.
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad people get something they enjoy, and glad for the game's apparent success, but still ... just creepy. I mean Italy runs military transport at nights to get all the bodies that are literally piling up left and right cremated and in Japan, where there is from my understanding very, very little testing done possibly for political reasons, we get pictures of queues like that.
It is simply hard to understand and again: creepy to think about.
Re: Talking Point: Jargon-Heavy Xbox Series X And PS5 Reveals Vindicate Nintendo's Approach
@Grumblevolcano I just realized this, my bad, but why are we êven talking "reveal" at all.
We haven't seen the system. It has NOT been revealed. It's existence has been know way beforehand, so has the logo ... we still have no idea what it looks like, or what it costs or when it launches. Makes zero sense to title this a "reveal" event - even if it hadn't been a GDC talk. The system was not revealed. I even checked their twitter feed: "a deep dive into PS5’s system architecture" ... Oo
Sorry, but going through more comments, reading yours, that thought just struck me ^^
Re: Talking Point: Jargon-Heavy Xbox Series X And PS5 Reveals Vindicate Nintendo's Approach
@PanurgeJr You can argue whether you or anyone else were the target audience. That is everyone's prerogative, but it still was their GDC talk. I'll grant you that this could have been made much clearer, but I think the issue is (or was) that most people probably did not quite "get" what that actually entailed. So people might have realized on some level, that this was "just" their GDC talk, but still expected a kind of reveal event or something akin to an E3 stage presentation.
Given that this was their GDC talk, broadcasting at the time the GDC would have been held, if it hadn't been cancelled due to the Corona-crisis, this was never going to happen.
I don't think there is any need then for apologists, because what you are talking about is expectations. Sony ought to have known that this would rub people the wrong way, and the least they ought to have done is make an announcement when the "actual" presentation people want to see is coming, but ... rest assured, what folks were expecting (in my view still, without reason) IS still coming.
Having said that, it's not like the public is generally without interest or any access to GDC, even though it is primarily a ... developers conference. There is always some reveal or what not targeted at the gaming audience at large.
I'd also like to point out, that Sony sadly failed to achieve what they set out to do: Make their vision clear.
How do I know? Well, I spend a fair bit amount of time reading comments, analysis (^^) and watching influencer videos and it becomes readily apparent that folks, even those who deal with this kind of news professionally, don't really grasp what Sony was shooting for. The best example is all the talk about loading times, and how Sony might be faster in loading games .... as if that was even remotely the pertinent point they were trying to made.
Just look at the comment right above by @retro_player_22 for one example here (among thousands like it, not meant to throw shade at any one person plz!).
Cerney made it clear, that they aimed to set developers free from a restriction that has been a guiding post for any game made in the last 20 years and that this is a big deal.
Sadly, that kinda got drowned out in the war about teraflops and SSD space and whatnot.
That much was obviously going to happen. I'm gonna come out and say it: Most people are somewhat simple minded with this stuff and are happy to rage and talk **** and most of all: BE TRIBAL.
Yes, people enjoy their Tribalism and having their biases reinforced. That is my main criticism of articles like this one here. It reads like "You made the right choice buying a Switch, and being an Nintendo fanboy. Nintendo gotz the joy, Sony gotz the techno brabble."
Yes, they gotz the techno brabble, but for some games that are not aimed for SNES nostalgia (nothing wrong with that, but it is just one aspect of gaming ^^), that kind of techno brabble is kinda essential to make the kind of things happen, a dev has been desperate to do for decades.
I see how this kind of unprecedented leap is hard to grasp right away, how the implications feel far off and intangible, but I do kinda expect more from fans of a company priding itself for their innovative spirit and for giving developers the tools to make dreams come true.
I look around and I see little to exactly none of that spirit.
Anywho, no, you were obviously not the primary target audience. No hard feelings about it, but it is just the way it is. Sony is not beholden to your or anyone elses expectations. The kind of...
"This is our box, it is $ XXX and launches on XX.11.2020. Now enjoy a sizzle reel of upcoming games ...!"
... presentation is still coming, be patient. Even Microsoft has not gotten to that point yet, so I am not sure why everyone is this angry for no good reason. Disappointment is kinda understandable, but still also kinda everyone's own fault. I too was down for a moment, because I hoped for more, but spending a mere moment to consider what Sony had put forth, I came away deeply impressed.
This is huge deal, like really one of the biggest in the history of these systems. It's far beyond "more powerful". It's a paradigm shift on more than one level - certainly for PS5 exclusive content, which is frankly, why I would buy a PS5. That kind of stuff happens only ever so often in one's entire lifetime.
Don't suck the joy out of this folks, just don't. It's gonna be good, trust me These days we got enough naysayers on every corner just about everything. There is no reason to joy their ranks, because you are ... IMPATIENT.
Re: Rumour: Sony Could Be Raiding Konami For Castlevania, Metal Gear And Silent Hill IP
Maybe they will get the rights to creating games based on those IPs, but I can't see it going any further than that. Still, I'd love to see P. T. become a reality, esp. as a PS5 exclusive. Kojima proved that he and his company are more than capable of taking advantage of a system like that and given Death Stranding success and quality (at least I for one came away impressed and truly moved by the experience) this could potentially turn into another milestone for them.
Bringing P. T. back for PS5 would also be marketing gold. I'm also not opposed to Castlevania. I recently re-played the early parts of Lord of Shadows and while not flawless, I still feel it holds up well and is actually a bit of rough gem, definitely underrated in my book.
I'd be interested to see what they could do with the rights to making games for it.
As for Metal Gear ... I think the series has deserved a rest, at least for now. There will be a time and a place for bringing it back in some form, but for now, let's not beat a dead horse here.
Re: Talking Point: Jargon-Heavy Xbox Series X And PS5 Reveals Vindicate Nintendo's Approach
@LUIGITORNADO Thing is, the leap with this gen is not going to be power. I mean, that is there, it's very real, no two ways about it, but given the power budget already available to devs on the Pro and XBX, I have my doubts that people will come away impressed by the significant further gains of PS5 and XSX. Call it diminishing returns if you will, as far as user experience goes.
Now, stuff like the SSD, custom I/O silicon and the Tempest engine ... these are game changers, that will truly show their potential 2 or 3 years down the line, I wager. After that, there is no going back.
Re: Talking Point: Jargon-Heavy Xbox Series X And PS5 Reveals Vindicate Nintendo's Approach
I'm sorry, but this article is just plainly written in bad faith:
"they're fighting for the title of the most powerful home console and that's why teraflops and compute units in GPUs matter"
Cerney made a big point about how this was not about "teraflops", but their vision for the future of Playstation, and while yes, the talk was stiff and technical (it was GDC talk, aimed at fellow developers for the most part), it worked pretty well in my view to lay out what they figured mattered for the future on a TECHNICAL level.
This was not a piece of MARKETING aimed at CONSUMERS - it simply was not.
And these things do matter, as we are looking at a fundamental shift in how game design will be approached going forward. The reasons are not "teraflops" so much, but those "I/O speeds" the author more or less ridiculed as if they were just arcane numbers without tangible meaning for game design or gamers themselves.
In short, with Sony approach, if it turns out to actually work that way, their SSD will be able to provide data at blistering speeds, roughly 100x of what has been previously possible on the PS4. This means that the entire RAM (basically, a place where data is cached that is currently needed and data that MIGHT be needed at a moments notice) can be replaced within roughly ~2 seconds.
Now this means that much less of that RAM will be wasted on data that one might need in a few moments, but ultimately does not need at all, because the player behaved one way instead of another. It also means that game design has no longer to account for those possibilities, which was way it has been for like ~30 years now, I guess.
In other words, the levels, and really, the worlds we can build now, are no longer restrained by access to the data that makes them up, so to speak. They can be bigger, truly seamless, incredibly dense and accessed at blistering pace. Basically, we could have a much more denser version of Insomniac's Spider-Man, but instead of swinging through it, we could have an F-Zero or Wipe-Out game set within, with hundreds of divering paths, interactive objects, weather and daylight cycles, physics and what have you all "Played through" at speeds that would actually overwhelm us.
The creative vision will no longer be constrained by the dire question of how one makes sure the right data is in the right place at the right time. That is not a small thing, but one of the biggest leaps in technology, enabling new and unrestricted experiences, we've ever seen.
I'm not gonna even get into what they are trying to do for audio, which has seen little to no progress in almost two decades.
Anywho, this write-up is not born out of due dilligence, hardly even an opinion piece ... honestly, I don't know what the point of it is. It comes across plainly ignorant imho - sorry to say.
To the point of ignorance: This will also help make games smaller btw. Why? Because SSDs have no seek times, meaning any particular piece of data can be accessed just like that. Developers will no longer have to restort to creating duplicates grouped together with other data for faster access (to severly oversimplify the issue).
That is also tangible as far as benefits go, just as the fact that games are aimed at loading times of roughly a second, instant respawn, instant fast travel and so on. Having read reviews on that very side, that point to long loading times as a detriment to enjoyment .... whatever, point being: there is more than one approach to gaming hardware and Nintendo is not the only one doing stuff in an innovative manner.
Re: EVO 2020 Will "Move Forward" With Its Plans, As It Continues To Monitor COVID-19
Back-to-business-as-usual is not going to happen by end of July - unfortunately. Things might be less severe, but this kind of big gathering with folks from all over ... nope, can't say I see any way how this could be considered anything but a terrible idea within at the very least the next 6 month, if not significantly longer depending on a number of variables.
I understand how they might not want to make a decision right now, if it's still this long off, but I wager that in the end, it will get cancelled never the less. Not sure what the Olympics are waiting for though, that just strikes be as beyond irresponsible. I get how that is a much bigger "loss", if you will, but still, the notion of the Olympics in Japan of all places, sounds not just insane but downright insidious - different topic though ^^
Re: Nintendo Announces Indie World Showcase For Tomorrow
Looking forward to it. I wonder if there will be another stealth drop at the end.
Still hoping for Invisible Inc. on Switch, but most of all I'd love to see more off Sports Story and maybe get a release date.
Re: Fire Emblem's Success Has Helped Intelligent Systems Grow In More Ways Than One
@RaphaBoss Great to know! Wish it had been available from start, but maybe I'll start over at some point, but as with DLC in general, I rarely get around to enjoy it, because I have sinced moved on to something else
Re: Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition Appears On The European Switch eShop
@N64-ROX Precisely! If I remember correctly some of it even tied to weather conditions. It was kinda insane really :-/
Game was great otherwise, but this was a huge chunck of it, as you say, and it was annoying. Therefore never really managed to finish it, sadly
Re: Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition Appears On The European Switch eShop
Is there any info on improvements to the game in terms of quest tracking? I found that to become a real chore, to say the least of it, in the original game quite rapidly. It kinda sucked the joy out of it for me tbh. To much stuff to keep track of - at least for me at the time.
It came down to it either being a chore or just ignoring a bunch of it altogether. I rarely ask for more "handholding", but as far as this goes ... yeah, more handholding plz.
Re: Review: Destiny Connect: Tick-Tock Travelers - A Slow-Paced Starting Point For Genre Newcomers
@Dog Yep, that's true not happy at all and why would I - or anyone for that matter.
Re: 80's Overdrive Is Speeding Onto Switch, If This Cheeky Tease Is To Be Believed
Bought the game last week to go with my new New3DSXL. Really neat and takes great advantage of the 3D effect. Hence I think I'll definitely stick with the 3DS version!
Re: Mini Review: Hero must die. again - A Unique JRPG That's More Than The Sum Of Its Parts
These middle-of-the-road 3D-on-a-budget graphics without any kind of artistic twist sure are ugly, cheap no doubt, but also ugly. Ugly and blandly generically boring that is ^^
Doesn't sound half bad design-wise, but I'm not sure I can stand looking at it for more than 15 minutes at a time. It's
Re: Fire Emblem's Success Has Helped Intelligent Systems Grow In More Ways Than One
@SyFyTy I'm currently replaying LO on the X1X on the side. It's a really nice experience. The game overall runs buttery-smooth compared to the 360 version, no tearing, and the load-times are greatly diminished.
I still find large parts of it hauntingly beautiful, memorable and often touching. The game had scale AND hearts in spade, without leaning into melodrama. The dream sequences still stand out to me as the most honest and heartfelt writing in a jRPG, even though or because they were ripped out straight of literature. Still they fit percetly with the game's mood.
Have you ever played Crimson Shroud on 3DS or Resonance of Fate btw?
Re: Fire Emblem's Success Has Helped Intelligent Systems Grow In More Ways Than One
@JR150 If I really don't need the mechanic to succeed, it is definitely not important And yeah, I would say if that goes for me, it goes for anyone.
As for enjoyment, I dunno to be honest, I never thought about whether they were more enjoyable than standard attacks. That consideration never crossed my mind. I think I find them all equally enjoyable. It's not an action game after all, so it's really just me watching play out an animation.
I think I was probably forgoing using these active skills to not completely crush and burn any challenge the game had to offer. But don't quote me on that. I just forgot all about them a couple hours in and since they were not needed to do what you do ... yeah. Don't know what else to say. Hardly an afterthought to me, maybe not to others.
Objectively necessary they were not though.
Re: Fire Emblem's Success Has Helped Intelligent Systems Grow In More Ways Than One
@JR150 I never said it was a waifu sim or just about waifus. It's just that until Awakening waifus were not really a concern in FE games. And I am not just talking about mechanis here, but also simple things as character design. Three Houses in that regard deeply leans on a whole host of anime tropes, to a degree games pre-Awakening really didn''t.
As for the innovations, sure, but I just wish they would have mattered more. Did you continue to use the gambits and combat arts? Becasue frankly, I didn't, I just stopped. I did not see the point outside of rare instances like those beast encounters for instance. Mostly though, it was simply not necessary on hard (haven't really gotten into Maddening yet, so maybe it's a different story there). For everything else there were all kinds of things, but certainly not integral. Active skills are also not that innovative and as far as the tactical deepth goes, certainly the aforementioned challenge, they just did nothing to fill the gap left by the removal of the triangle. I am not hung up on the triangle, but just throwing in a bunch of skills that slightly altered certain attacks did not feel satisfactory to me personally.
Again, I stopped using them 95% of the time, and I did just fine. Ignoring the triangle 95% of the time ... that would not have worked out in previous games, I can say that much with absolute confidence. Sure, there were ways late game where the triangle was kinda obsolete or an afterthought, but never even remotely to that degree.
On a more positive note, I did like the battalions. FE games always told you, you were a leader of soldiers ... but there never were any soldiers to be lead on the field of battle. It is neat to see that be visualized for once and I like the idea, that provide bonuses and such. That part I kinda felt was like a big improvement on previous games. Partly due to a more powerful system of course, allowing for such display, but still, they did not have to implement it, but they did.
A change for the better in that regard. I just wished they had done more with them. I did not feel battalions were really integral on a tactical level. Again, they were not really needed from what I can tell from my time with the game. YOu could probably ignore them pretty much entirely if you really wanted to. That to me is always problematic when it comes to these types of games. Systems that are there, but that quickly start to feel optional ... problematic if they are supposed to be the ones to provide deepth to the experience. But so it goes.
@RaphaBoss Through and through? I cannot deny that this is possibl my fault ... but for at least the 1st 20+ hours, the tought that I was playing a "war game through and through" would not ever have crossed my mind. Ther is only so much Hogwarts tea time with cute anime girls I can engage in before my mind set drifts to a kinds of places, none of them are WAR!!!
Also, you guys don't have to "defend" Three Houses or your enjoyment of it. It is a very fine game. As I said, I just don't feel (and doubt I will be convinced otherwise) that it is a particularly fine game by FE series standarts. Taken on it's own, and I say that trying to supplement my whole spin-off point, it stands strong as unique take on the idea of what a game under the FE umbrella can be and do. Much, oh so much, was lost in the translation, but the result is still something very much worthwhile.
If you are ... uhm unburdened by the past, it might be even an incredible experience. I imagine anyone playing a remaster of a cult classic, even if the remastered is incredibly flawed, will have a blast. While a veteran might only be able to see those flaws ... not just different strokes/tastes then, but very much different perspectives.
Re: Fire Emblem's Success Has Helped Intelligent Systems Grow In More Ways Than One
@JR150 Well, except for the fact, that buying a game and liking a game, not to mention loving a game, are hardly the same. I do like the game, but I do not love it. Also, I like it more for what it is than, as you put it, just the next game in the venerable FE series. As such it is deeply flawed in my eyes. Viewed on its own merits, it's more than fine.
Point being though, I bought the game Day 1. And I still feel about it just the way I describe. How many folks bought it and feel exactly the same? I dunno, but how in the hell would I really be disappointed by a game I never even bought and played.
Sure, I could have borrowed it or such, but then I probably never cared all thhhhaaattt much in the 1st place. I want FE to succeed. That is one part why I bought, and why I'll never regret it. What i really want though is for all of FE to succeed. Not just this spin-off, but not a spin-off called THree Houses. I do not want Persona to go away, not in billion years. But I want ALL of SMT to be alive and well, to some degree or another.
Simple as that ... incredibly hard as that Cheers!
Re: Fire Emblem's Success Has Helped Intelligent Systems Grow In More Ways Than One
@Trajan Outside of combat/dungeon crawling, Persona is much different and those aspects take up a much larger part of the game/are barely existent in classic SMT. That much is true, but still, all these other parts, as I said, are very much informed by SMT and some are straight up carbon copies. That is zero criticism towards either, just an objective observation.
I'm not sure which series I enjoy more. I really loved P3 and P5, but was only lukewarm on P4 Golden, because it no longer felt SMT in terms of the game mood. It was just to light for my taste. Too many jRPGs do that already. Equally SMT Nocturne is still an absolute series high-point, but it lacks many modern conveniences, that made for ultimately a better experience.
SMT V was pretty good, but the combat - due to their 2D nature - felt incredibly stale and static. P5 did a much better job in that regard. I hope SMT V can follow suit here.
I dunno, I love both parts equally I guess. Sometimes I am in the mood for one, something for the other. I also really loved Mirage Sessions which was super goofy for a SMT game, but it just embraced that and rolled with it all the way, why possibly having the best and most entertaining combat in all of the seires so far, certainly the most dynamic presentation.
Hell, in all of jRPG'ism, MIrage Sessions combat might be the most fun I had watching turn-based combat, normally somewhat dull, play out.
THat is outside of Resonance of Fate of course. Nothing will EVER beat Resonance of Fates in terms of flashy and unique turn-based combat. It's godhood in that regard will forever be left untainted
Re: Fire Emblem's Success Has Helped Intelligent Systems Grow In More Ways Than One
@JR150
As soon as BotW 2 is released, assuming it will follow suit on the design choices of it predecessor, I would definitely consider BotW a spin-off to classic Zelda.
That will absolutely hold true, if Nintendo does not abandon the legacy of previous Zelda games and creates more games in the vein of OoT/ALttP. What is the point of calling two games that share a common name, but play utterly different "Zelda", when this clearly refers to a particular "genre" and not just a named franchise.
If I tell someone who liked Ocarina of Time, they should go play BotW because it is a "great modern Zelda game", basically OoT to the Switch, they MIGHT come away super disappointed, because BotW in large part plays very, very little like OoT. It's only a name then, no longer a label.
That has no bearing on the quality of the game. One could argue that SMT Peronsa does alot better (certainly in terms of menu design for instance) than SMT - on a very objective level. Persona still is and always will be a series of spin-off games to SMT, which has strong similarities but also diverges significantly in other areas.
Hell, to me BotW is much more dissimilar from OoT than Persona is dissimilar to SMTV/:A for instance.
You are completely wrong about Persona though. Persona shares alot more than the demons, and many art assests in that regard, particularly the older games with 2D assests. It shares the combat by and large, as well as the elemental weakness system, turn-based combat, the dungeon crawling, 3rd-person perspective, the whole skill/spellcasting library ...
The differences arise in theme, audio-visual design and the whole socializing aspect outside of combat.
I cannot follow your argument, that I devalue anything. I appreciate BotW and Persona very much, maybe in some regards more so than their mainseries counterparts. I certainly love everything about Persoan, besides the potential to narrow SMT down to this one series, and by that virute killing of half a dozen other great series of SMT games/spin-offs. You make it sound like I hated Three Houses. I don't. I just like other FE games vastly better and I dislike the way they gutted many of the games many appeal features.
Also, and that is not meant to sound high-minded, I would highly suggest you try your hand at some FE games of yesteryear. You might just come to love them as well, maybe even more so. You might notice then, that even elements like support conversations have in fact not always been a focus of the series. In fact, they were not even always part of the series at all. That is just ... well, not sure what to tell, other than that is the way it is/was ¯(ツ)/¯
In fact, while the system was mostly present, it was not only Awakening that it even remotely become a strong series focus. Like I alluded to earlier that in itself was already a rather significant shift, but it was not that severly felt, because the underlying mechanics did not really change to accomondate that change - unlike in Three Houses.
It might be the best Thing to happen to FE for a variety of reasons: It not only kept the series - that was pretty much doomed from what I can tell before Awakening alive and well - and beyond that pushed to a level of popularity it had never before seen. It also changed the game up so much, that it could now appeal to folks who previously had zero interest in the game. Other reasons might apply as well. I also think many people never played another FE game or only started with Awakening. That is not a criticism, but from that personal point of view, Three Houses seems like logical progression, bascially an enhanced version. If I liked Awakening for what it was and what previous FE games weren't, I would certainly LOVE Three Houses as it goes all out on those aspects.
Still, the latter in particular is a subjective viewpoint. The changesa are dramatic, that much is clear, but we all can and obviously disagree if the are for the better or the worse.
Lastly, you are wrong in saying, that veterans can simply enjoy the game as it is as well. I already tried to explain that the changes this time around went much, much deeper. The difficulty scaling is just no longer there, the A.I. has been reworked, permadeath has no meaning, as you simply won't die no matter what if you have any experience with series (outside of some random mistakes or intentionally killing yourself off, which is obviously possible).
The moment-to-moment combat dynamic is completely different. That is aggravated for instance also by the new forecasting system in place. All in all, like stated above, it is hard to explain how different even the combat works now, and that is not even accounting for the dramatic removal and simplification of the system itself, aka the Weapons and Magic triangle, which for (most) FE games was an absolute corner stone of the system that very much informed your tactical choices. It's just completely gone.
I dunno .. it's ludicrous to pretend the games still play the same for veterans. Looking at a Youtube video, you might think they largely do, but that is only the most superficial aspects of what USED TO BE a rather deep and challenging game about STRATEGIC and TACTICAL choices.
I only talked about the tactical side of things, but on the ssssRPG (strategic) side many changes were made as well. I won't elaborate, because if you are unfamiliar with the series, I don't think it will really help sell the rift between pre-Awakening games and Three Houeses, but suffice to say that by making the game more welcoming to newcomers and a broader audience, here as well significant changes were employed.
The worst thing I can say about Three HOuses and that is a criticisim I cannot ignore, is that it was made a helluva lot easier. Easier to understand, get into, but also master and ultimately beat. I don't think it was would be objectively wrong to say the game was dumbed down.
And no, the patched in Madness difficutly could not redress all these problems, not in the slightest. I just found it boring to be able - just a couple of hours in - to run through the map with one or two characters, without much of any effort to plan my moves ahead of making them.
It's not what I wanted from FE. That is not really "my issue" though, because that "want" was informed by a dozen previous games. It's not a personal projection. It a core appeal that held true even for Fates still. It just came to me as a surprise, that after more than two decades, the game was a different beast entirely.
I can understand how you would feel calling Three Houses a spin-off was silly elitism on my part as a "veteran", but ... if you look beyond the superficial back-of-the-box blurbs and a screenshot, it must be obvious to anyone, that under the hood much has changed, new parts are there and other crucial parts are entirely gone.
IF you will: It is still a car, sure, but it no longer uses combustion engine but an electric one. It still serves the same purpose, looks the same or similar, but in many aspects, the characterisics are changed all the way and for good. Not sure if that is a better comparison, but it's the best I can think of right off the top of my head
Seriously though, I highly recommend a game like Shadows of Valentia on the 3DS, which is classic in many ways, but also modern and even unique to FE in others (like the 3rd person dungeon "crawling" elements for instance). Or try some of the Virtual Console games available on the WiiU if you have one around. Or just an emulator for some of the GBA titles.
Best of all get your hands on a copy of Path of Radiance for the Gamecube and give that a shoot. It still is my favourite in the series, I feel the world building ,writing and characters, not to mentioned the not (sorry to call it that) "dumbed down systems" plues the console-level presenation, make it easily the best of the bunch. It still is rather accessible with a digestiable difficulty and by the end it will play not unsimilar to THree Houses. Ike will be a one man army. It just won't happen 5 hours in, but rather 25 hours in.
It's also a much shorter, better paced game, with little to no filler content. YOu will never wander around the monastry having - what I felt - rather meaningless chit-chat dialogue with teenagers.
All I'm saying is: Try it, you might quite possibly absolutely adore it! It still is modern enough to not feel retro, while also not having a design compromised by the Must-Appeal-To-Everyone mindset of this day and age. It is very light on anime b**bies though
Re: Fire Emblem's Success Has Helped Intelligent Systems Grow In More Ways Than One
@Trajan Persona is a SMT spin-off. That has nothing to do with Pokemon or it's mechanics. It was originally part of SMT (just like for instance Digita Devil Saga) and uses not only SMT mechanics, but actual assests and designs.
My point was not that SMT help Persona sell games, but the other way round: SMT is and always was a niche franchise. Persona, having overcome that niche, could help sell SMT games. Maybe people only like SMT Persona, for the specific Persona aspect ... maybe not. I actually know a quite a few people who enjoy a whole lot of SMT games outside of Persona, plus Persona.
Given the similarities that still exist (certainly in terms of underlying mechanics and design/mythology) and the general excellent quality of all SMT games beyond Persona, it would hardly be a surprise for some Persona-fans to find joy in something like Digital Devil Saga or say Devil Survivor.
The latter in particular has a very similar vibe to Persona in many regards (and is incidentially also a sRPG like FE ^^).
I think Persona's underlying theme of non-conformity is well taken, but looking at P5 ... I dunno, it feels a bit done-and-done. SMT games feature a much broader thematic palette, with various religious and philosophic themes through-out, that coudl definitely entice - esp. older - Persona players, who look for something similar, yet different, if you catch my drift