ShreddieMercury

I bought this and played a few hours, and so far it's really enjoyable. I think the criticisms about it being bland gameplay-wise aren't off-base - it's definitely a typical open-world game - but the setting and combat really elevate it and keep it engaging. It feels to me like a super-polished last gen game, if that makes sense. It has prestige visuals attached to AA everything else. Honestly the gamey-ness is a breath of fresh air compared to lots of Sony's other first party stuff. One thing is for sure though, it's far better than Horizon through the same number of hours in my experience.

I can't stop thinking about this game. After turning it over in my mind, I feel like this has to be the most accomplished and incredible narrative game ever released, and I don't think it's crazy to assume that it might end up as my favorite ever video game. The way the story is constructed, the performances, the amount of pure jaw-dropping set pieces and the incredibly dynamic gameplay all combined to make this feel so radically different and superior to most games I've played that I'm having trouble playing anything else. I know that it's doing a specific thing, and the world of games in general is incredibly diverse, but this feels like something from the future. As I browse the "discourse" around this game online, it's become abundantly clear that video games might just not be ready for something like this. The game is certainly flawed, but the criticism that I've read has either been laughably immature and clueless ("the writing is bad"/"feminism!"), or alternatively full of bizarre misreadings of the theme and narrative (Vice, Polygon). @Kal-El814 had a more succinct and accurate interpretation of the game's successes and failures in this thread than anything else I've seen online. I think it's emblematic of both the intellectual unraveling and tribalism of our culture, but also of where games are right now. I don't know why I expected this to be received (and thoughtfully criticized) as the ambitious and boundary pushing piece of art that it is when games are by and large filled to the brim with happy meal bullshit. This isn't a great comparison, but it's like if when film was invented, we got 30 straight years of nothing but Rob Schneider comedies and then out of nowhere came The Godfather. This game is not The Godfather, and there are loads of other games of this caliber, but the point is that "gamers" seemingly lack the ability to appropriately process something that doesn't spoon-feed exactly what they want and expect, and anything remotely challenging is met with confusion, disdain, and outright hatred. This might be an awful description of my thought process, but I was very moved by this game, and have since been continually stunned and appalled by the various reactions to it.

From what I can tell, the influence is felt in the various ways that you're guided to explore certain parts of the world, e.g. the wind direction, where animals go, etc. So it's seemingly more organic and dynamic than a quest marker or a way point arrow. What blows me away is how so many people still seem to misinterpret the defining aspects of BotW. In my view, what makes Zelda such a shock to the system in our current era of games is the fact that it's almost entirely focused on intrinsic rather than extrinsic rewards. You don't decide to climb a mountain because it has a stat-boosting piece of armor or a new sword, or because you were told to - the world is so intoxicating to explore that you climb the mountain because it feels adventurous to do so, and it satisfies a goal that you yourself created rather than one that the game told you was important. I really want Ghosts of Tsushima to be awesome, and it certainly seems to fill a niche, but it sure sounds like another checklisted chore simulator ala Assassins Creed or Horizon Zero Dawn.

Lol. I understand these things are subjective, but Zelda has wiped the floor with any and all "open-world" games, probably continuing into the near future.

It's really good. It's a highly atmospheric and very tight third-person shooter in the vein of Remedy's other games (Max Payne, Alan Wake, Quantum Break). It's potentially Remedy's best game, though I might ultimately give that to Max Payne 2 or Alan Wake. It has light metroidvania elements, and sees you exploring a vast, surreal government building that houses the government's supernatural investigations and experiments. Think a supernatural Max Payne mixed with the X-Files & Twin Peaks. It's catnip for a whole lot of people, including myself. Probably GOTY for me last year along with Outer Wilds.

2005 - Shadow of the Colossus & Resident Evil 4. That's also the year I bought a PS2 slim to play those games.

Yeah I'm gonna cave and get this as well. Sekiro wasn't for me, so I'm hoping that this scratches the historical Japan itch that I have within me at all times. Did you play on Survivor or Grounded? I'm thinking about playing through it again and trying to decide which difficulty I should go with. I beat it on Hard last time.

I just finished the game, and my criticism is minimal. The only true fault that I see with the narrative is due to the limitations of current game design, but certainly not with the characterization and honestly brilliant structure of the story. Not sure if any of this is really a spoiler, but I tagged it just in case. There is so much to say about this game, much of which has already been explored in this thread. Just, wow.

Have a great holiday weekend everyone!

The fan on my PS4 Pro kicks up sometimes but it's nowhere near the sound that my OG PS4 made.

I'm really trying to temper myself, and maybe it's just recency bias since I tend to get really excited about good games while I'm playing them, but for me this is easily a generational best, and far and away my favorite game on PS4.

You guys rule, thanks so much. This is super helpful. I'm thinking about getting the Philips SHP9500S, but also wondering if there's a next tier up that I should go? I have a bit of money saved for this so I can go a bit more expensive, but if these are more than adequate I'll just go with that. I would also ideally use them for music, since I need to replace my old Sennheisers that I use for recording. Also, my TV does have a 3.5mm audio out, so I can probably just wire into that, but is that ideal or should I still get the Fosi Audio Box to improve the quality of the sound? I've never had any sort of real audio setup for games, sorry for all of the questions. @Bloodporne I didn't know you were into making music! What kind of stuff do/did you like to record?

I appreciate all of these suggestions. How do you route the sound? Right now I just use the controller, but in most games the audio sounds really compressed coming out of the dualshock. Should I get a converter so I can plug directly into the console?

I was thinking about that too. I'll likely try to get a PS5 at launch so maybe it's worth waiting.

I've been considering getting some nicer headphones for gaming and was curious what people here like to use. I would primarily use them with my PS4, so I was looking into the Sony Gold or Platinum headphones, but it would also be nice to be able to use them for general listening on other devices as well. Right now I use some Bose headphones connected to the controller's 3.5mm jack, and I know that's sub-optimal. What do you all recommend?

I don't think this is a spoiler per se, but I just go to: ...and I'm loving this game. I'm going slowly and soaking up all of the atmosphere that the game has to offer. It's astounding how much is suggested by the game's environmental design. Each time you walk into a new area, it feels like you can piece together what happened there. It's unlike any game I've played in this regard, except perhaps the first one. After being somewhat skeptical of The Last of Us but really warming to it upon replay, I'm completely blown away by the huge swings that this game is taking and how it's responding to the first game's story. I'm struggling to think of another sequel that feels this essential. I'm guessing that I've played about 15 or so hours so far but I can't be sure. Despite the oppressive atmosphere and dark tone, I'm already excited to replay the game.

Xbox Live Gold only lets you keep the 360 games, right? I know they used to let you keep the XB1 and 360 games, but I believe the XB1 games are now tied to your Live subscription.

Part II is so amazing that it makes me want to go back and play through Part I again, which I just did last week. I also loved playing The Last of Us and am incredibly invested in the story despite complaining about how I hated it for years. So I'm with you, and I don't know what's happening to me.

This is interesting. I might just be bad at games, but I keep finding myself unable to completely stealth areas, and things tend to break out into a brawl or a firefight more often than not. I'm playing on Hard and although it seems like I'm getting too many upgrades too early, I've had to survive really dynamic encounters that do not play out anything like the first game, where I felt like the enemy paths were more rigid and stealth was easier. While I've seen some AI missteps, my impression is that things are playing out more randomly and forcing me to use items that I otherwise would avoid. I wonder how Survivor changes this - I look forward to replaying at some point to see how much harder it is. Great point about the audio in your post too, it's brilliant. I love that you have the ability to change how dynamic it is. Playing with headphones, you can tell how much work went into it.

Yes, this seems to be the most common complaint about the game, and it definitely does get better pretty soon. The game should stop tutorializing pretty quickly based on where you are, so stick with it. Once you get to the first "dungeon", you've pretty much cleared the long intro part of the game. While it never really gets hard, the items and brush techniques that you unlock keep the combat fun throughout the length of the game imo. The levels and environments are also all pretty clever and interesting, so it's rewarding to push through the early tedium. Issun remains pretty annoying, but he stops bothering you incessantly once you are past the first couple sections of the game. I also think that despite its length, Okami is a game that gets better and better the further you get. There is some padding and some tedious stuff in there, but overall each act of the game is better than the last.

The Polygon one is a great example, because what they're failing to recognize is that humanity IS that bad in the world of this fictional game. It's a bizarre reading of the story that tries to transpose its themes onto what's currently happening in our world. The parallels are certainly alarming, but criticizing fiction for not representing reality is bonkers. Unless the game ends with text on the screen saying "only through the elimination of violence can we achieve world peace" (like in Miami Connection), I won't believe that it's trying to "say something" about humanity.

Great points, and I think you're getting to the heart of why "fandom" is such a toxic force - there is an entitlement that stories need to be "fan-driven" and meet the expectations of the audience, rather than adhere to the vision of the artist/creator. If I don't like something, it's not because I didn't get what I want. I want to consume things that artists want to make, not what they think their audience wants. However, as you point out, I realize that we are the in the minority in this regard. You're also correct about the critical reception, but the negative reviews I've read (notably Vice, Kotaku, Polygon) have been pretty scathing, without recognizing any of the game's achievements. Likewise, some of the positive reception is exaggerated to such a degree that it's difficult to take most of it seriously. If something is excellent, it's either a "masterpiece" or my personal least favorite, "masterclass". It just seems to have devolved into some sort of side-taking that makes no sense to me.

Okami is incredible, and it has one of my all-time favorite soundtracks. Enjoy! I can thank @Brick for my copy. Thanks again!!

The absolutely insane outrage over this game on all sides really just highlights how far video games still have to go, and how meaningless modern games (and to an extent film) criticism is. The internet, and the way that we consume media in particular seems to have rewired our brains to the point that people are completely incapable of thinking critically or understanding any sort of nuance. Someone told me once that wisdom is being able to hold in your mind two contradictory or paradoxical ideas. It's possible that The Last of Us II is a brilliant video game with a simple or underdeveloped story, or that it is a thoughtful depiction of queer romance in some respects but a poor one in others. Or that Neil Druckmann has good intentions but is a bad project manager, or is a bad writer but a good creative director, and on and on and on (these are random examples). But in the "take" economy, one aspect of a work must account for all other aspects, and it seems more and more that people are incapable of anything but the polar extremes of thought. I'm delighted that this game is selling so well, rendering the repulsive hate campaign meaningless. My early impression is that this is my favorite game from the past several years. But it's exhausting to love video games and realize that the culture surrounding them is for the most part just absolute and embarrassing garbage.