Greatoneshere

This could have been the definitive version had it carried the previous PC/PS4/XB1 assets and simply added on all the bells and whistles features-wise of the Switch version. But no, now it's still a choice between graphical bells and whistles vs. features bells and whistles. *sigh* And I don't even care about Dragon Quest, it's just stupid.

It's the same problem with Sony to a degree as well. Of their 15 studios, only 9 could announce any games (which they did), the other 6 just had games released in either 2019 or 2020, so no way those 6 companies can have anything lined up and ready to go yet (or even announce yet). By comparison, at least Microsoft was able to have 12 of their 14 studios to have announced games, which is better than Sony's 9. That indicates Microsoft and their studios' games for the next generation are further along than Sony's, though 9 vs. 12 isn't a huge gap. But Sony having 6 secret games waiting in the wings vs. Microsoft's 2 secret games (from Compulsion and Mojang, unless that 3rd one you mentioned is real from inXile) does give Sony more room for future announcements whereas Microsoft is done until these 12 current games come out. So presumably Sony is just as screwed in the roadmap regard?

Let's just be glad that the entire slate of first party games has finally been announced (except from The Coalition, Mojang, and Compulsion). It's a start. Microsoft hasn't even, had, like, games for awhile now. Not a whole slate/line-up at least like this on Xbox/PC.

I thought the show was about what one could reasonably expect: solidly good. Microsoft owns 14 independent first party studios (Sony has 15), and now we know what all of them but three are making: you really can't expect more than 14 game announcements from Microsoft themselves (for third parties it's entirely up to themselves in regards to what stage(s) their games are in, of course) right? For example: -343 Industries: Halo Infinite -Double Fine: Psychonauts 2 -inXile Entertainment: Wasteland 3 -Ninja Theory: Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II -Obsidian Entertainment: Avowed, Grounded -Playground Games: Fable -Rare: Everwild -Turn 10 Studios: Forza Motorsport -Undead Labs: State of Decay 3 -World’s Edge: Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition (with Tantalus Media) -Relic Entertainment: Age of Empires IV (not a first party studio but counts here kind of) -The Coalition: just made Gears 5 and Gears Tactics (the latter with Splash Works) (presumably making Gears 6) -Mojang Studios: just made Minecraft Dungeons -Compulsion Games: ????? So I'm really not sure what people expected or wanted? A lot of these announcements were expected or already known (for the most part), and the fact Obsidian is working on two games at once (like Insomniac Games for Sony) is a bonus. Personally, I'm only interested in Senua's Saga: Hellblade II from that list, maybe Fable, Everwild, Halo Infinite, and Avowed depending on how they turn out. Psychonauts 2 as well, but first I have to get around to playing the first one still. Edit: By comparison, of Sony's 15 independent first party studios, only 7 of them have anything currently announced. I could easily make guesses as to what two more are working on, making it 9 to Microsoft's 11 (to be fair, Sony's six other studios all get passes for now since all six just released a game within the past year). So in terms of sheer numbers and possibilities, Microsoft technically has more announced at this point from under their umbrella in terms of sheer upcoming games (games, all that matters in the end). And as a PC gamer who will play all of these on PC, I appreciate Microsoft bringing all of their games to all PC players, not just Xbox owners. I look forward to Sony slowly doing the same.

I'm really excited for this game.

I'll wait until both story DLC packs are out to play (similar to Control) but I'll definitely play 'em.

That's because they aren't considered as great, in all honesty. Cronenberg starts getting good with The Brood and Scanners, and then starts getting really good with Videodrome, The Dead Zone, The Fly, Dead Ringers, and Naked Lunch. After that, his good films are M. Butterfly, Existenz, Spider, A History of Violence, and Eastern Promises. He hasn't really made anything good since, unfortunately (A Dangerous Method was fine, Cosmopolis and Maps to the Stars weren't so good).

Pretty much impossible without Itagaki. Let's be glad Nioh 1/2 are as good as they are, and that Team Ninja has somehow kept the reputation intact without him.

Given Nioh is made by Team Ninja (even without Tomonobu Itagaki), you basically got one.

I do when I can, except . . . I can only find them some of the time too, when there's more than enough space for there to be a scripted petting action, I have found. Also, I love how different Nioh 1/2, Sekiro, and Ghost of Tsushima all are from one another. Having played all three now (not Nioh 2 yet), each is very Japanese and very samurai/ninja in their ways, but take very different approaches in style, tone, gameplay, combat, etc. It's been an embarrassment of riches lately for me, a big fan of the setting. I can't wait until Nioh 2 hits PC now. I will say that Ghost of Tsushima's combat is the easiest (though still very satisfying) but it's the most open world, etc. so the tradeoff is worth it. Sekiro is only semi-open world and Nioh 1 wasn't open world at all, you had a world map and picked individual levels that were relatively small. Also nice is that while Sekiro takes place in the late 1500's and Nioh takes place in 1601, Ghost of Tsushima takes place in 1274 which lends some differences as well (300+ years is a big gap). This does cause anachronisms pulled in from Sengoku-era (1500's/1600's) understandings of samurai and ninja and pulls them into 1274 Japan (for instance, ninja didn't exist yet), but it doesn't matter with this more folklore-style take.

That's pretty cool. I have been bombarding enemy encampments usually in stormy rain and knowing this makes it cooler.

Having done a lot of stealth, I will say I have seen more and more rainy weather and storms and was wondering what was up . . . If this is true that's cool as shit.

A lot of white people sympathized so well with Ed Norton's character that they don't see the film as an indictment of hate and hate culture (the film it is) but rather get deeply tribalistic and only reaffirms their casual racism as justified. I agree with you completely, but as people said, Falling Down was pretty overt and people missed the message in that one.

In terms of misinterpreting movies, I think this one is severely underrated and regularly misinterpreted: Bobcat Goldthwaite's God Bless America. Same goes for the aforementioned Fight Club, American History X, American Beauty, Choke, and so forth. People think depiction is endorsement and stop there and embrace (or reject it) outright, and miss the subersive (or not so subversive) satire and indictment underneath. Seems pretty on point now.

I don't know the details myself because I don't want to spoil anything for myself either, but there are only two endings, a good ending and a bad ending, all determined by one important choice made late in the game. So to answer your question, yes, there are multiple endings, but no, being more ninja than samurai will not affect it as I understand it. It's a fair question given the Infamous trilogy did employ a rudimentary morality system.

Same. Just flowed the best. Plus I'm darkening my soul with ninja abilities to win this war, so Kage (Shadow) seemed more appropriate. So very true, I cannot agree with this enough.

I mostly agree with you (in general, and about FF7R's development timetable) but Square Enix is also dealing with a new generation between episodes here, which will affect things. And if episodes take so long it extends to the generation even after this one, that complicates both carrying over saves and timetables as well.

I agree, I think it's more in terms of presentation - to outdo the competition, which entices gamers and they want games pushing things to the max. They arguably don't notice frame rates that much either.

I agree but gamers care about bells and whistles more than 4K/60fps.

I would similarly love a remaster of Digital Devil Saga Vol. 1 + Vol. 2. Emulation is pretty good though.

I mean, as prevalent as 4K has now become, 1080p is still the norm for most average gamers on what they game on. But the only way to forge new standards is to foist them on people, so I'm all for 4K/60fps.

I agree completely that playing closely in front of a monitor makes a game feel much more involving than playing from my couch on a bigger TV. I feel the switch very viscerally when I go from PC gaming on my monitor to PS4 gaming on my TV. I love the much bigger screen, feels much more theatrical, but detail is lost.

I mean, I agree completely, but a man can hope. I'll be primarily gaming on PC anyway, so it's a moot point for me, except where exclusives that never come to PC from PS5 are concerned. In those rare instances, I'll have to suffer accordingly, but I hope 60fps locked becomes an option at least some of the time. Death Stranding being such a good PC port for the most part (except with Kojima's artistic restrictions, not technical ones) is a good sign for the Decima Engine at least.

Yeah, agreed 100%. I think bare minimum should definitely be 4K/60fps. If not 4K, at least 60fps.

I wish 4k/60fps rather than 4k/bells and whistles (but 30fps) was the default - hopefully this is an option with every game going forward.