Everything Video Games!
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Sir go drop everything and beat it. It’s phenomenal. I think I might actually do Alan Wake 2 next as well
I need to get back to Cyberpunk, I sided with SoMi, but I haven't seen it through to see how it all plays out... I'm over 100 hours on my 2nd playthrough (first on Stadia) and I kind of burnt out in it and have been playing nothing but The Finals for the last couple of weeks.
that said, I think it's a lose/lose choice
Fillip J Phry
Well-Known Member
Finished another game, I'm on a roll! This time it was Ghostwire: Tokyo. Got some mixed feelings about this one.
First off, if you've never played this one, you play a guy who gets in a traffic accident on the way to see his sick sister. An event happens at this time where a fog surrounds the Shibuya area in Tokyo, ripping everyone out of their bodies. A recently passed spirit detective (not sure if that's the best term) is ghostly flying around and finds your mostly dead body. He fuses with you, and you inherit his powers and can talk with him. You get to your sister to find the antagonist has taken her, and plans to use her to open the veil between the living and the dead. You then travel around the area, fighting the cursed sprits and rescuing the souls of those who were taken by the fog, looking for clues and a way to get your sister back. If you've watched Jujitsu Kaisen, similar themes and such here. Each type of cursed spirit comes from a negative emotion within people and manifests as a different enemy.
This is where the game excels - the atmosphere and culture. Everything has story or information about it. You do have to do some reading, but each new thing you discover has a codex tied to it. From the enemies, to the locations, to the food you use for healing. If you're interested in this sort of thing you will love it like I did. It's cool to see and learn some new things about Japan and the culture. The graphics look very nice, and I found myself frequently eschewing my in game goal to just wander around and explore. I'm assuming this is fairly accurately recreated and doesn't lose itself in scope. The area is limited, but comparing this to the Shinjuku arc in Jujitsu Kaisen, it makes sense. That's my only other reference to this sort of thing, apologies if I don't do it justice. The fog is basically a large veil or almost a huge domain, since there are some other things that occur in game that are also like a veil. You start in a small area, but cleansing Torii gates removes some of the fog and allows further exploration. I liked this approach, it gave an authentic feel to it and a lore reason for having to do these - the enemy is also aware and will guard them and even attempt to hide the gates in a couple of instances. There's also collectibles to find throughout the game, these are all tied to the culture. Various toys, antiques, and other interesting items can be found, again with codex's for each giving the background. There are also yokai to track down. These are creatures/spirits/monsters based on folklore, and require unique ways to capture them. For instance the Kappa - you must leave a cucumber on a platform in water and then hide, waiting for it to let down it's guard and accept the offering before you can capture it. You don't fight these in a traditional sense, but sometimes fight curses in order to capture their power, which is used for unlocking upgrade paths.
Speaking of combat, that's as good a segue as any to my negatives. The combat is just fine. You get a couple of elemental abilities that you can power up, as well as a bow and arrow and talismans that have AOE effects. The combat works well enough, you attack and attempt to expose enemy cores, which you can then pull from the body. There's a bit of risk reward there - if other enemies are present, you risk taking damage while pulling a core, or if you try to expose more than one, you risk one or more curses recovering before you can remove it. The combat is fun at times, but becomes tedious over time. Kind of in the middle on this one, as I don't think the upgrades add too much extra to the experience unfortunately. My biggest issue with the game the movement mechanics. You can glide around and mantle, and both can be hit or miss, especially the mantling. It bugs out at times, so you'll keep climbing on the same ledge over and over until it either drops you or finally completes the climb. Can be frustrating at times (more in a sec).
Another place where this game shines is the DLC. This game is supposed to have a horror element, but the only time I was actually creeped out was during the DLC parts. One part of this is a new area that takes place in a school. I won't spoil to much here, but if you're familiar with the weeping angel episode of Doctor Who, get ready for some fun here. The other cool thing here is that the creepy stuff in this area keeps happening long after the mission here is complete. Lights flicker, you'll see figures in the distance, weird noises, and the art department in the school never stops being creepy. Really cool stuff. There's also a Spirit Photo mode where you get these "haunted" pictures that show an area in the game, and you have to recreate the scene to get the specter haunting the photo to appear so that you can cleanse it. Some of these photos have some creepy imagery in them.
The last piece of the DLC is an odd one. It's called The Spider's Thread and is a roguelike game mode where you go through small contained "floors" trying to get to the boss on Floor 30. Has its own ability tree and you get both permanent and temporary beads, which grant various abilities. This game mode had a bell curve of fun for me. Started interesting as I explored the floors and various challenges. Then became frustrating until I maxed my level and got the iron beads. These change the gameplay a bit - your abilities defeat enemies in 1 hit (2 for multi phase bosses) but any damage you take also kills you in 1 hit. This includes enemy hits and hazards in the level. Most of my deaths were due to the clambering being inconsistent, and falling into a hazard. The game then turns into a bit of a speed game, with nothing to collect except in level things that are purely random, you then start to optimize getting through the early stages. If you want to complete all the challenges, you have to rescue cats and capture yokai throughout the levels. There's 30 cats in all and you need 3 of each yokai, but each group of floors only has a couple that will spawn there. Naturally, the last ones you'll probably need are on the late floors, so you have to do several runs to try and even get the chance of them appearing. It was fun routing the levels so that you can quickly get to the exit without having to do much. This was a lot of fun to me, but I like this type of gameplay mode.
That's about it, story was a bit cliched but still solid, gameplay was mostly good with a few blemishes, and the environment was a lot of fun to explore and learn about.
First off, if you've never played this one, you play a guy who gets in a traffic accident on the way to see his sick sister. An event happens at this time where a fog surrounds the Shibuya area in Tokyo, ripping everyone out of their bodies. A recently passed spirit detective (not sure if that's the best term) is ghostly flying around and finds your mostly dead body. He fuses with you, and you inherit his powers and can talk with him. You get to your sister to find the antagonist has taken her, and plans to use her to open the veil between the living and the dead. You then travel around the area, fighting the cursed sprits and rescuing the souls of those who were taken by the fog, looking for clues and a way to get your sister back. If you've watched Jujitsu Kaisen, similar themes and such here. Each type of cursed spirit comes from a negative emotion within people and manifests as a different enemy.
This is where the game excels - the atmosphere and culture. Everything has story or information about it. You do have to do some reading, but each new thing you discover has a codex tied to it. From the enemies, to the locations, to the food you use for healing. If you're interested in this sort of thing you will love it like I did. It's cool to see and learn some new things about Japan and the culture. The graphics look very nice, and I found myself frequently eschewing my in game goal to just wander around and explore. I'm assuming this is fairly accurately recreated and doesn't lose itself in scope. The area is limited, but comparing this to the Shinjuku arc in Jujitsu Kaisen, it makes sense. That's my only other reference to this sort of thing, apologies if I don't do it justice. The fog is basically a large veil or almost a huge domain, since there are some other things that occur in game that are also like a veil. You start in a small area, but cleansing Torii gates removes some of the fog and allows further exploration. I liked this approach, it gave an authentic feel to it and a lore reason for having to do these - the enemy is also aware and will guard them and even attempt to hide the gates in a couple of instances. There's also collectibles to find throughout the game, these are all tied to the culture. Various toys, antiques, and other interesting items can be found, again with codex's for each giving the background. There are also yokai to track down. These are creatures/spirits/monsters based on folklore, and require unique ways to capture them. For instance the Kappa - you must leave a cucumber on a platform in water and then hide, waiting for it to let down it's guard and accept the offering before you can capture it. You don't fight these in a traditional sense, but sometimes fight curses in order to capture their power, which is used for unlocking upgrade paths.
Speaking of combat, that's as good a segue as any to my negatives. The combat is just fine. You get a couple of elemental abilities that you can power up, as well as a bow and arrow and talismans that have AOE effects. The combat works well enough, you attack and attempt to expose enemy cores, which you can then pull from the body. There's a bit of risk reward there - if other enemies are present, you risk taking damage while pulling a core, or if you try to expose more than one, you risk one or more curses recovering before you can remove it. The combat is fun at times, but becomes tedious over time. Kind of in the middle on this one, as I don't think the upgrades add too much extra to the experience unfortunately. My biggest issue with the game the movement mechanics. You can glide around and mantle, and both can be hit or miss, especially the mantling. It bugs out at times, so you'll keep climbing on the same ledge over and over until it either drops you or finally completes the climb. Can be frustrating at times (more in a sec).
Another place where this game shines is the DLC. This game is supposed to have a horror element, but the only time I was actually creeped out was during the DLC parts. One part of this is a new area that takes place in a school. I won't spoil to much here, but if you're familiar with the weeping angel episode of Doctor Who, get ready for some fun here. The other cool thing here is that the creepy stuff in this area keeps happening long after the mission here is complete. Lights flicker, you'll see figures in the distance, weird noises, and the art department in the school never stops being creepy. Really cool stuff. There's also a Spirit Photo mode where you get these "haunted" pictures that show an area in the game, and you have to recreate the scene to get the specter haunting the photo to appear so that you can cleanse it. Some of these photos have some creepy imagery in them.
The last piece of the DLC is an odd one. It's called The Spider's Thread and is a roguelike game mode where you go through small contained "floors" trying to get to the boss on Floor 30. Has its own ability tree and you get both permanent and temporary beads, which grant various abilities. This game mode had a bell curve of fun for me. Started interesting as I explored the floors and various challenges. Then became frustrating until I maxed my level and got the iron beads. These change the gameplay a bit - your abilities defeat enemies in 1 hit (2 for multi phase bosses) but any damage you take also kills you in 1 hit. This includes enemy hits and hazards in the level. Most of my deaths were due to the clambering being inconsistent, and falling into a hazard. The game then turns into a bit of a speed game, with nothing to collect except in level things that are purely random, you then start to optimize getting through the early stages. If you want to complete all the challenges, you have to rescue cats and capture yokai throughout the levels. There's 30 cats in all and you need 3 of each yokai, but each group of floors only has a couple that will spawn there. Naturally, the last ones you'll probably need are on the late floors, so you have to do several runs to try and even get the chance of them appearing. It was fun routing the levels so that you can quickly get to the exit without having to do much. This was a lot of fun to me, but I like this type of gameplay mode.
That's about it, story was a bit cliched but still solid, gameplay was mostly good with a few blemishes, and the environment was a lot of fun to explore and learn about.
Bull Shannon
Well-Known Member
PS5 Entering ‘The Latter Stage of Its Life Cycle’, Sony Says - IGN
After sales of the PlayStation 5 failed to meet expectations, Sony has said the console is entering “the latter stage of its life cycle.”
Ironically this has me wondering if it’s worth holding out and just never getting a ps5.
Hemotep
Well-Known Member
Or hopefully get one cheap(er) soon. That's my plan, unless the next system looks to be a must have. I went with the Series X this last time because they did that deal where, I think it was, for $30 a month you got it with a two year sub to game pass.PS5 Entering ‘The Latter Stage of Its Life Cycle’, Sony Says - IGN
After sales of the PlayStation 5 failed to meet expectations, Sony has said the console is entering “the latter stage of its life cycle.”www.ign.com
Ironically this has me wondering if it’s worth holding out and just never getting a ps5.
Bull Shannon
Well-Known Member
Maybe I can sit tight for that. Though 3 years doesn't sound long anymore, especially as that's less time than I've already been waiting.
I set aside a budget goal to be able to buy a PS5 at the end of the month, so money isn't an issue; it just feels odd to be always caught at the end of the hype cycle. But if the current cycle is anything to judge by, it'd be ~8 years before they stop porting most games to the PS5 as well as the 6.
wokeupnew
Well-Known Member
what can possibly improve with newer systems? better performance and load times obviously but graphics can't possibly get better, can they? It feels like we've hit a peak in technology on that front
(this is famously similar to what people said about technology at the turn of the 20th century)
(this is famously similar to what people said about technology at the turn of the 20th century)
Framerate is a big one. Ps5 struggles to hit 60fps on a lot of stuff. Hell Starfield which honestly looks like a last gen game can only barely hit 30 fps on the more powerful XBox Series X.
With competitive racing and first person shooter games increasingly looking at 120 fps and even higher for better reaction time, I think that's the big one.
I think the pro is set for the fall, honestly that's what I do if I'm you. The last pro was a big bump, if this one is similar, it would be worth it in my books, unless you can wait at least 3 years in which case yeah wait.Maybe I can sit tight for that. Though 3 years doesn't sound long anymore, especially as that's less time than I've already been waiting.
I set aside a budget goal to be able to buy a PS5 at the end of the month, so money isn't an issue; it just feels odd to be always caught at the end of the hype cycle. But if the current cycle is anything to judge by, it'd be ~8 years before they stop porting most games to the PS5 as well as the 6.
Not much out of the Xbox state of business update. They plan to bring 4 Xbox exclusives to switch & ps5 but didn’t announce which, though Spencer says those teams have announcement plans. Seeing rumors suggest Sea of Thieves, Grounded, Hi-Fi Rush, and Pentiment. Whole thing feels like a test run of what is to come, with probably everything going multiplatform, likely with timed exclusivity.
Diablo 4 coming to game pass (think March), and sounds like more titles from the ActivisionBlizzard acquisition. Personally hoping this includes WoW!
Hopefully this becomes the industry standard, exclusivity is antiquated.
www.polygon.com
Diablo 4 coming to game pass (think March), and sounds like more titles from the ActivisionBlizzard acquisition. Personally hoping this includes WoW!
Hopefully this becomes the industry standard, exclusivity is antiquated.
4 Xbox exclusives coming to PS5 and Nintendo Switch
‘Today, big games like Roblox or Fortnite could actually be bigger than any one platform.’
www.polygon.com
lonestarlahr
Well-Known Member
As someone who has been on the outside-looking-in wanting to play Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment and Grounded, I'm stoked that they'll be coming to other consoles. Sure I could have done (or could still do) a month of Game Pass Ultimate and stream them to a laptop or mobile, but having them natively will be great.Not much out of the Xbox state of business update. They plan to bring 4 Xbox exclusives to switch & ps5 but didn’t announce which, though Spencer says those teams have announcement plans. Seeing rumors suggest Sea of Thieves, Grounded, Hi-Fi Rush, and Pentiment. Whole thing feels like a test run of what is to come, with probably everything going multiplatform, likely with timed exclusivity.
Diablo 4 coming to game pass (think March), and sounds like more titles from the ActivisionBlizzard acquisition. Personally hoping this includes WoW!
Hopefully this becomes the industry standard, exclusivity is antiquated.
4 Xbox exclusives coming to PS5 and Nintendo Switch
‘Today, big games like Roblox or Fortnite could actually be bigger than any one platform.’
this is exactly why I don't understand why people are/were mad about this... I'm happy for everyone who wanted to play any of if these games and didn't have an Xbox
wokeupnew
Well-Known Member
But what about Xbox owners who want to play PlayStation exclusives?
mrjoshuamccormack
Active Member
It took me five months, but I finally finished Baldur's Gate 3. Hell of a journey, I think I tied up most of the loose ends that you can on a "good" playthrough. Not sure if I'll ever do another playthrough, but that was an emotional one.
lonestarlahr
Well-Known Member
Maybe a Spider-Man 1/MM/2 collection by 2026?
ayayrawn
Well-Known Member
Starting to look like next year for Switch successor so they can have as much software ready as possible
www.bnnbloomberg.ca
Nintendo Is Telling Game Publishers Switch 2 Will Be Delayed - BNN Bloomberg
Nintendo Co. is advising game publishers that its next-generation console will be delayed until the early months of 2025, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
www.bnnbloomberg.ca
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kvetcha
Well-Known Member
goddammit aggggghStarting to look like next year for Switch successor so they can have as mych software ready as possible
Nintendo Is Telling Game Publishers Switch 2 Will Be Delayed - BNN Bloomberg
Nintendo Co. is advising game publishers that its next-generation console will be delayed until the early months of 2025, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
wokeupnew
Well-Known Member
Starting to look like next year for Switch successor so they can have as mych software ready as possible
Nintendo Is Telling Game Publishers Switch 2 Will Be Delayed - BNN Bloomberg
Nintendo Co. is advising game publishers that its next-generation console will be delayed until the early months of 2025, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
“The company will still try to keep the blockbusters for the next console, so 2024 might see more remakes of old Nintendo hits. In any case, 2024 will be a lot tougher for Nintendo without a new device.”
give us Wind Waker & Twilight Princess PLEASE