JPDunks4

6 minutes ago, CastletonSnob said:

What do you mean?

You don't need to buy their console at all to enjoy their games.  You don't even really need a PC.

They make a console and they will always make a console I think in order to get the 30% cut they can and appease people that prefer their ecosystem, but owning an Xbox is completely optional and they give gamers the choice on how to consume their content.

Nintendo very much still has the core console business model, where you need their hardware to consume their content.  (Unless you play on Emulators)

35 minutes ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

Oh, well if that’s the case I take it back. I can’t roll my eyes hard enough at using known OP stuff and saying something is too easy, because the game lets them do it. 
 

I love that I can make the game easier. I love that I can over level. I love there’s weapons and pets that feel OP. A game feeling punishing for even daring to turn it on is why I didn’t play the previous games beyond a couple hours of DS2. 

I'm not a Souls expert by any means either.  I didn't use any magic at all, no items.  I really enjoyed the entire playthough.  I do understand the idea that you can get OP very easily by being thorough, but isnt that basically the case for any RPG without a scaling mechanic?

I do think an optional scaling mechanic could have benefited this game as Open World games do progress a lot differently than most, but I don't think it would have made bosses too much harder if someone was using the more OP builds. 

The game remained pretty difficult to me throughout and I explored pretty much everything.  I just didn't use any of the more well known OP builds.  No blood damage, no mimic.  I felt it was just as or more difficult than any of the other souls games personally.

They gave people so many options in how to play this game, and that's the beauty of it.  So much variety and player choice to have the game be as easy or hard as you want it to be. 

Microsoft has left the console market more than Nintendo in many ways.

A good site for this

Can filter for couch co-op.

Not sure about the audio stuff, may depend on the game.

Radahn fight cheese

Really liked this 

And God of War is probably next for me, to be ready for Ragnarok later this year.

8 hours ago, stepee said:

 

I think I’ll give it a shot, but when I see it for like $20 then :P

 

It being designed around dodge and parrying is more my speed than blocking so that’s good at least.

Recently playing all the Souls games, Sekiro is probably my least favorite, and really isn't a traditional Souls game.  All it really shares is the Bonfire checkpoint system with the Souls games. 

Combat is completely different, you don't have different armors and weapons, you don't have attribute points to upgrade.  You do level up but that just gives you new skills or perks to choose from, which are very helpful, but nothing like grinding 10 levels to up your Vigor.  You find items to upgrade health and stamina, of which there are a finite number.  You do have some items you can upgrade to use to help as well.

It's still a great game that I enjoyed, but comparing it to the rest of the Souls games, just didn't hit with me quite as much.  Even the world itself I just didn't find as interesting overall as most of the other Souls games.

RDR2 is probably in my top 5 most disappointing games.  I played through all of it, but it felt like a chore the entire way though, I never can really say I was having "fun" doing it.

I'd assume early June.  MS was always a big supporter of E3 so I'm sure they will still do a big showcase around that same time.

I was really ready for a 2nd playthrough as soon as I finished but taking a bit of a break for now playing some other stuff.

The game is so huge I really dont know if I want to restart another playthrough until maybe an expansion or somethig, even though I enjoy playing it so much.

There were reports if a huge supply hitting retailers last week for Xbox.  Hopefully we are starting to see the end of supply constraints and Playststion follows suite soon after.

44 minutes ago, chakoo said:

Locked and loaded for a year (I want to give this service a try for a year for the classics). Yet i'm curious how they will stack/merge this with my current PSN subscription (guessing my new one will just be till the end of my now subscription and ignore what remains in my PSN subscription but that was only till september anyways).

-edit-

Sounds like online my normal plus subscription will be ignored and I'll just be premium till april 2023. I think i'm ok with that (my previous subscription was at a discounted rate anyways). Seems it will be cheaper than just upgrading to the premium service anyways.

Ya I just got like 5 years worth, figured I'll prob end up keeping PS+ subbed not matter what, so might as well lock in the same price with all the added perks of Premium.  Xbox limits you to 3 years unfortunately, but did the same for them.

For everyone that did this for Xbox, and got Game Pass Ultimate for $60 a year for multiple years.  You can buy PSNow for $60 a year for multiple years which will convert to the $120 a year PS+ Premium version.  Basically if you were gonna subscribe to PS+ anyway for multiple years, might as well get the added benefits.

I guess my point wasn't so much about what Sony is doing, but more about me thinking that a Game Pass model seems totally viable financially to me.  But it would all depend on how much they need to spend on the big 3rd party deals, and what subscribers are actually paying.

The rumor is they paid $5-$10 million for GotG, which was a well received few month old game.  That seems pretty cheap to me if your service is possibly pulling in $150-$200 million a month.  Now if MLB The Show cost $250+ million to get Day 1, then of course that changes the conversation. 

But if Microsoft can get to the point where Game Pass is pulling in consistent recurring revenue each month whether a big AAA 1st Party is dropping or not, I don't see how that's worse than getting a big payout a few times each year when you drop a big AAA game.

Let's not forget Halo was still #2 on NPD for December, and Forza Horizon 5 was #4th in November and Top 20 the next 2 months, on top of the subscription revenue coming in each month.  Microsoft 1st party also had multiple games on Steams top sellers for the year.  They now have multiple revenue streams for their games, between Game Pass, regular retail/digital, and Steam.

Without knowing more details though, its impossible to really comment on.  And of course, this all becomes more moot with scale.  If they continue growing at a healthy rate, it's healthier and healthier.  My guess is if Sony had a real Game Pass equivalent, they'd easily surpass Game Pass numbers quickly and be closer to 40 million subs.

26 minutes ago, Paperclyp said:

Ah yes the racing game that they release every seven years that is distinctly different from most of the games their studios release and had absolutely no clue how to monetize its shit is not a weird exception but proof that everything I said (which is based on stuff straight from the horse’s mouth) is invalid. 

Naughty Dog's last 2 games with multiplayer also had Microtransactions, which is arguably their biggest studio.  Last of Us 2 probably would have had them had they not split out Factions to be a stand alone release. 

Factions I'm sure will have Microtransactions, and I doubt it'll be F2P, but maybe. 

But yea you are right they suck at Microtransactions, not that Microsoft hasn't been plenty bad as well.  Last of Us had pay to win MTX, and Halo 5 essentially did too for the Warzone mode.

The Last of Us microtransactions still suck in 2019 - GameRevolution

WWW.GAMEREVOLUTION.COM

---

The Last of Us' microtransactions are still a cause for concern in 2019. While the game is currently available for free through PS Plus, its pay-to-win features remain locked.

2 hours ago, Paperclyp said:

It does make sense though that they can’t / aren’t willing to do that. The budget of their biggest games compares to MS’s is larger, and then the point was made on nextlander was that Sony’s big games typically aren’t made to make money past the initial sale of the game, aka they aren’t going to sell you a Nathan drake skin. Which I appreciate. 
 

As they just released GT7 which is getting crucified for microtransactions.

Without knowing the details on the 3rd party deals for Game Pass, or the actual avg price people are paying for subs, I don't know how anyone can really say what's feasible and isn't from a business perspective.  

As I thought when it was initially announced, it was a rebranding of PSNow because even with some of the recent deals they offered to try to get people on the service, it seemed to see no growth.  Now they can tag it onto PS+ and will probably see a higher uptake on it.  I'm sure it's much easier to get people to pay a little more to "upgrade" a current service than it is to get them to sign up for 2 completely separate services.

No Ratchet and Clank though almost a year later is a bit disappointing.  It'd be nice to get an idea of how long it'll take before 1st party games land.  If it were 6 months I think it'd still be an attractive idea, but 1 year or more wouldn't be.

On 3/29/2022 at 10:59 PM, Dodger said:

If any of you Chads want to carry me let me know. I never even beat Phrike.

Did you try much?  I'd be down to coop.

On 3/25/2022 at 3:37 PM, silentbob said:

My PS+ subscription ended a few months ago. I liked the games they offered but what a bunch of assholes for locking the games on me now. They gave it out for free, it should stay fucking free. If it weren’t for the few exclusives they have (Ratchet and Clank and God of War in particular) I would be more then happy with my Series X/PC with gamepass. It’s kinda sad seeing PS5 getting all the hype because the Xbox with gamepass kicks ass of anything Sony is offering.

Hopefully you aren't reliant on your Cloud Saves either, because as soon as your PS+ expires, can't access those either.  Not sure if they are still there when you resub or not.

I've still got it, ran through 1st 3 Biomes first try again, and got through 4th Biome and beat boss, onto the Snow area. 

I think I'm ready to tackle the Tower soon.

I'd assume you just get invited in and join someone on their run.  The new Tower thing you can access right from the starting area, which I think is what most people would run co-op in.

Well I was really rusty, and when I jumped back in, it was the 4th Biome, not the 1st.  Died twice pretty quickly as the update reset my controls without me realizing it, and I was missing my dashes.  Went back to Biome 1 though and it is much gentler in easing you in.  Stopped when I hit the 3rd Biome again. 

Def looking forward to trying the Tower and some co-op though.  I def don't feel like I'm nearly as good as I was when it first launched though, gotta get used to the mechanics a bit more as I was getting hit way too much by the boss's.

One of my biggest pieces of advice, is to always rest til night when you hit a Grace.  The number of nighttime only bosses is quite large, and I missed a ton on my regular but extensively thorough playthrough.

Anyone try this yet?  I havent played since a week or two after launch, may need to do a regular run before jumping into this DLC.