The Sony news and discussion thread

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Simonsloth
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Simonsloth »

Alex79uk wrote: May 1st, 2019, 4:35 pm May PS+ games are:

What Remains Of Edith Finch
Overcooked

Both good. One incredible.

Shame I already own both :(
I’d argue both are incredible. I also own both.
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Magical_Isopod
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Magical_Isopod »

Considering we used to get four games every month, and at least one of them would be a somewhat major release from recent memory, this May offering is downright pathetic. Possibly even worse than April. Only two games, both of them budget releases from 2+ years ago? I am absolutely not getting my money's worth with PS+ anymore.

I'll qualify my bias here - I actually quite like walking simulators, but I have a very low opinion on Edith Finch (not a fan of emotionally saccharine, manipulative fare as such). But even if it were SOMA or Albino Lullaby - games I love - it would still feel like a bloody scam. Though maybe getting Albino Lullaby on PS+ would get chapters 2 and 3 out the door, finally! XD
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by ratsoalbion »

I can’t see how two multi-award winning games with an average review score of 85% between them and an average (non sale) price of £22 the pair for £4 (and that’s disregarding all the other parts of the + service) constitutes a ripoff.

Problem for me - and I guess a lot of others - is that I already have both of them. Some sort of credit system would be welcome in this situation.

It definitely feels like a downgrade from the bundle we were getting though - and that people signed up for - so that’s Sony’s perception problem.

They did give a full year’s warning that PS3 and Vita games were stopping, however I think it would be a sensible move to match Microsoft’s four games per month at this point (though it should be noted that half of their offerings are previous gen, albeit playable on current hardware).
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Magical_Isopod »

I'm a really big fan of the Steam queue thing, I'll spend a few hours on there every few months or so just to try and identify development trends, dig for hidden gems, and take mental notes on what differentiates a good game from a bad one.

So I've noticed a few things about these games:
- There's a lot of crap that should be on itch.io, or even Newgrounds.
- There's a lot of really cool passion projects that just aren't good games.
- Most of these junk games are made by amateurs, or by devs who lack the budget or resources to solo a project.
- There's some really interesting *concepts* in this space that would probably never leave paper (one great example is Tyr Wag Ver Niemand) without the lax quality controls.
- Steam has a ludicrous amount on anime porn, and it seems to be selling well based on the number of reviews.

In a way, I don't think the flood gates are *bad*, these storefronts just need better stratification. Porn games should probably be in their own section. Low-budget stuff should maybe work similarly to English soccer - games from known quantities will get premier real estate (EPL), and everything else is automatically in the lower leagues -- but can upgrade with enough positive reception.

Greenlight was a similar system... The early days of Greenlight were *awesome*, the community had a great eye for up-and-comers, and was generally good for burying the crap. Then Steam basically destroyed their own system by approving tons of games that didn't even meet their own success threshold. I have no idea why - my best guess is that games like Day One: Garry's Incident got sales boosts from negative reception, so they intentionally let garbage on their storefront? Who knows.

But I should mention - hot garbage on console digital stores is nothing new. The 360's early days saw tons of junk, most of which is essentially gone forever since Microsoft closed their indie game storefront (I forget what it was called). But again, there was some really interesting experimental stuff in that space - makes me wonder how many devs active today started their careers on there?
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Scrustle »

I think I have to agree that this month's PS+ offering is a bit weak, even if the games are critically praised. There only being two of them, and the lack of a larger scale game does make it seem less appealing, I have to admit. At least it's better than the GwG offering, even with half the games.

But it does bring up a weird problem I tend to have with PS+, in that I actually sort of want to play one of these games, but I'm not sure if I want to enough to actually put the money down. Edith Finch has been something I've wanted to try out for a while. I've heard a lot of good stuff about it and I enjoyed the previous game from that studio too. But I don't know if I want it that much. It's in that weird bracket which a lot of games on these types of services fall in to. If I really want to play a game, I would have already bought it. If I haven't already, then it's not enticing enough for me to want to sign up for it, even if I am somewhat interested. Recent PS+ track record has shown there's unlikely to be many other games in future months that I will want, and I don't have any desire right now for online play on the PS4 either.
Magical_Isopod wrote: May 2nd, 2019, 7:20 am But I should mention - hot garbage on console digital stores is nothing new. The 360's early days saw tons of junk, most of which is essentially gone forever since Microsoft closed their indie game storefront (I forget what it was called). But again, there was some really interesting experimental stuff in that space - makes me wonder how many devs active today started their careers on there?
Ah yes, Xbox Live Indie Games. In a way that does count as putting games in different leagues like you suggested. It was separate from Xbox Live Arcade games and other stuff. A couple of things on there were good. Any fan of Chet and Jon will be familiar with Silver Dollar Games, who were a little studio who put out a ton of games on that, including One Finger Death Punch. They've continued to have success since. Ska Studios, who later went on to make Salt and Sanctuary, got their start there too, with "I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MBIES 1N IT!!!1", as well as having the Dishwasher games on XBLA. Also, Dust: An Elysian Tail was originally supposed to be an XBLIG game, but it moved over to XBLA during development as the project became more ambitious.
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Alex79 »

For what it's worth Edith Finch was easily one of the best games I played last year. It's truly remarkable.
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by JaySevenZero »

Hey Alex, not sure if you've noticed or are even bothered now, but Nioh is back on sale (Big in Japan sale) £11.99 for based and £15.99 for the complete edition.

Having just finished the main campaign myself, with well over 100 hours of play, I'd definitely recommend it and the co-op can be useful to avoid getting stuck on boss fights too.
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Alex79 »

Ah thanks yeah I am interested, may well jump on that, cheers :)
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by dezm0nd »

Any thoughts on state of play #2?

I thought it could've used more time on their biggest games. Medievil looks good but it was on for 2 minutes!
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Alex79 »

Bit underwhelming really. FFVII still looks interesting, but it's just all a bit Last Guardian at this point.
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Sinclair Gregstrum »

Underwhelmed to be honest.

Have no love for Medievil - not saying it's bad but have simply never played a Medievil game. Was the same with the Crash and Spyro do-overs.

FF7 looks weird. I don't have much more to say on it than that!

Riverbond was really the only thing that peaked my interest. Love the isometric-3D-meets-pixel-art aesthetic!
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

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The first Medievil game on PS1 was fairly fun, although not sure I'd ever want to play it again. I'm wondering who will be next for this treatment - I wouldn't bet against Gex.
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Sinclair Gregstrum »

Give me a new James Pond, Cool Spot, or Aero The Acrobat and I’m in :D
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Magical_Isopod »

FF7R looks mostly fantastic. The colour palette is dead-on, which is one of the most important things about that game. I really like the look of most of the art, except maybe Barrett's design which feels a little off to me. I love the character swapping mechanic, something I've been loving to bits in Ys VIII. I'm hoping they've nixed that episodic bullshit, and I'm hoping they don't integrate all that Crisis Core / Dirge of Cerberus / Advent Children fan fiction hippo vomit. But I'm happy with the direction it's going right now.
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by dezm0nd »

FF7R is still episodic
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Joshihatsumitsu »

Magical_Isopod wrote: May 10th, 2019, 11:58 am FF7R looks mostly fantastic. The colour palette is dead-on, which is one of the most important things about that game. I really like the look of most of the art, except maybe Barrett's design which feels a little off to me. I love the character swapping mechanic, something I've been loving to bits in Ys VIII. I'm hoping they've nixed that episodic bullshit, and I'm hoping they don't integrate all that Crisis Core / Dirge of Cerberus / Advent Children fan fiction hippo vomit. But I'm happy with the direction it's going right now.
I am totally onboard with FF7R!
dezm0nd wrote: May 10th, 2019, 3:03 pm FF7R is still episodic
...and I'm back over board. Swimming back to shore.
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Alex79 »

I think I'm almost certain that the episodic comment was either a misunderstanding or mistranslation or something. I'm sure FFVII remake, as we know it, will be a full remake of FFVII. I think the episodic nature will either be additional side content or other games under the FFVII banner (eg. Crisis Core or Dirge of Cerberus etc). I can't see them chopping up the core game.
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by KSubzero1000 »

https://www.siliconera.com/2019/05/10/t ... ple-parts/

Doesn't seem like a mistranslation to me considering they just doubled down on this. More like Square Enix shamelessly cashing in.
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by ratsoalbion »

It is going to be episodic: http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2019/05/ ... ic_release

I don't understand why this seems to change whether or not some people are interested in the game (personally, based on the footage we've seen my own jury is out - regardless of the delivery model), but it does seem to have a bearing for many.
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by ratsoalbion »

KSubzero1000 wrote: May 11th, 2019, 12:35 am https://www.siliconera.com/2019/05/10/t ... ple-parts/

Doesn't seem like a mistranslation to me considering they just doubled down on this. More like Square Enix shamelessly cashing in.
But we don't know the pricing. What if it's six $10, 10 hour episodes rather than a $60, 60 hour game?
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