thedarkstark

13 minutes ago, Bacon said:

Is that an FF7R boss? I have no interest in ever playing FF7R as I have said numerous times. I'm sure the boss is hard, but D1P isn't always the best at games.

Nah dude it's hard. You have to both micro-manage your actions (block, dodge, be positioned correctly) and macro-manage your health/MP and plan several steps ahead. And it's not a short fight either, it's like 10 minutes long. If you legitimately have zero interest in ever playing it you should watch a video of the fight on youtube.

4 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

You said dead genre not $70 game.

Relative to other games in the same genre (action RPG as opposed to turn-based) yeah they're pretty dead.

Persona 5's 7.5 million to Witcher 3's 50 million. As much as I hate it these companies only exist to make money, why would a studio as big as Squenix dump the kind of budget into a game with an almost 10x smaller player base?

8 minutes ago, Bacon said:

I mean, they are now made in-engine, like with GoW or TLOU. Sure it costs money, but not to the extent of actual CGI cutscenes like they used to be. FF16 won't have a bunch of cutscenes of the same visual quality as an FF14 trailer.

Final Fantasy 16 Cutscenes Longer Than Entire Lord of the Rings Trilogy Runtime

GAMERANT.COM

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Square Enix producer Naoki Yoshida reveals that the upcoming Final Fantasy 16 will have several hours of cutscenes.

Even if it's all rendered in-engine that's a lot of time & a lot of dialogue

1 hour ago, Xbob42 said:

...Dragon Quest XI sold 6 million copies.

 

Persona 5 sold 7.2 million copies.

 

Civ 5 sold 8 million, although I'd understand that being different enough to not count.

 

Darkest Dungeon sold 6 million, and according to this Google blurb, if you count DLC it sold "16 million" whatever the hell that means.

 

Mario + Rabbids 7.5 million.

 

Pixel Remasters 2 million (way more than I would've guessed)

 

Yakuza 7 was "the most successful Yakuza game internationally" whatever that means.

 

I know the devs for Baldur's Gate 3 have said the early access sales numbers have been "insane," again, whatever that means. Sales are currently estimated between 2-5 million.

 

 

So here's the thing if we're talking about a mainline FF game, we know they're spending tens of millions if not hundreds of millions on CGI sequences alone, it's just what they do and it's part of what makes Final Fantasy unique. How many copies would a game with that type of budget need to sell to break even? 5 million? 8 million? I know it's a fucking lot.

DQ11 - a little surprised by those numbers but I know it's way more popular in the East so not shocked but again miniscule budget.

Persona 5 - Does that number include all 13 different versions that they've released? Again definitely way lower budget than FF17 would be.

Yakuza - I think this is the one that comes closest in budget, but no actual numbers would definitely be curious.

The rest don't count, either totally different genre or not a full priced game.

It's not that I think there's zero interest in a turn-based game, but they don't really have the casual gamer appeal that action RPGs have garnered (Witcher 3 hit 50 million, Elden Ring is at 20). Again the main thing that would keep a true turn-based mainline game from being viable is cost/sales ratio. I'd love to be wrong but as long as they keep pumping out lower budget bangers like Bravely Default I'll be happy.

14 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

P
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Of course there's always some dumbass excuse, but the truth is turn-based doesn't sell poorly, Square Enix just doesn't make big budget turn-based games, and big budget games with big marketing campaigns sell more than their titles almost no one hears about like Octopath.

Pokemon is such an outlier though, it's one of the most recognizable things in pop culture period. Like you could ask 10 random people on the street and 9/10 would be able to name at least 1 pokemon. No other RPG of any kind has ever or will ever have that type of mainstream appeal. It was already very popular but the cartoons and trading cards vaulted it into the stratosphere.

I definitely agree budget & marketing have a lot to do with how successful a game would or could be but like the most successful turn-based game I can think of in the last 15 years is Fire Emblem 3 houses sold 4 million copies and then the very next entry in the series (Engage) is right back to normal sales (1.5 mill)

With how bloated production costs on a massive mainline FF game I don't really see them being able to generate a profit on a turn-based game anymore but I'd love to see it happen.

5 minutes ago, Bacon said:

Turned-based FF's should be made with a smaller budget. I'm not a fan of the Octopath games including their art style, but Bravely Default is pretty much there, but it could be more of what I wanted. FF hasn't shied away from spin-offs in the past. Some of those FFs were great games enjoyed by plenty. I don't get why they have stopped making them.

I really like the bravely games and I agree it'd be great if they made more but like octopath BD2 only sold just over a million copies. I'm sure with the much lower budget they're still getting nice profit but they may not see it as priority because they can make some shitty mobile game with 99% reused assets for 1/10th the cost and get the same or better ROI.

11 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

 

The billions of people playing Honkai says otherwise.

Not a full price  $70 game, nowhere remotely close to a billion people playing.

5 minutes ago, eventide11 said:

But I agree, I am getting old. I'm not the pulse of gaming anymore. I have specific tastes and things that make me keep playing a game unlike what the 'kids' care about. The things I like in games are dying a slow death. I'm just hanging on as long as I can 

Same, and yeah I agree 15 wasn't a good game and 12 also had my favorite battle system but that's just not what big budget rpgs are anymore and I've come to terms with that. I'm just glad they finally have a director with a vision that they stuck to and they hired very competent people to work on the battle system. We'll see how it turns out soon.

56 minutes ago, eventide11 said:

Well Squeenix should stop making FFs that they want us to play and start making FFs gamers want to play. IMHO they've lost touch with what gamers want in a story driven RPG

Except you're wrong.

I prefer the turn-based games better but it's pretty much a dead genre that mostly only older gamers play. Final Fantasy 15 sold nearly 11 million copies, 2nd only to FF7. FF11 & 14 also sold extremely well and are the most profitable.

Obviously it doesnt have the same budget or name recognition but compare that to the paltry 1 million units Octopath 2 sold it's pretty obvious what the majority of gamers want in 2023.

We're just old. I think 99% of new music especially mumble rap is dogshit, but that's what sells. Yelling at clouds ain't going to change that.

1 hour ago, Bacon said:

Yeah, ultimately, how good the game is for me is based on how much I enjoy the plot. I can forgive a lot with a fantastic story.

I think like 95% of video game stories range between horrendously bad & corny but entertaining. Ocassionally there are some gems like the Last of Us but I don't really understand the "play video games for the story" crowd. Netflix originals wouldn't even throw money at this garbage 😴

It seems like they put a heavy focus on the story in this one but I have very low expectations.

like 1-2 days a week, unless I get really invested in something then it's like 24/7 for a bit.

1 hour ago, Bacon said:

Isn't Chipotle food poisoning central?  Never gonna go there.

Any place that has food that sits out in those little tin pans for hours, or has 16 years olds working in the kitchen is a major food poisoning risk, chipotle has both soooo yeah.

5 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

 

Is it on your chin in the place of facial hair?

No it's on my wrist but now that you mention it I am considering getting a 2nd...

10 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

I made a douchebag with a barcode tattoo on his chin, like a little goatee patch. I only hope to be as cool as him someday.

Hey man... don't be rude to those of us who actually have a barcode tattoo  and no it has nothing to do with Hitman or Idiocracy, it's on my wrist, I got it when I was 18 it's the only tattoo I have and I don't regret it at all other than the stupid questions I occasionally get.

1 hour ago, Bacon said:

FF14 doesn't have anything like that tho.

I haven't played but there's like no chance it doesn't have RNG loot drops (some with exceptionally low %) and paid cosmetics. When I played WoW I was obsessed with getting all the mounts, I spent an ungodly amount of time running dungeons/raids and staking out the ultra-rare spawning ones (time-lost proto-drake, phosphorescent stone drake). And this was all before games were intentionally malicious.

Just because you personally aren't susceptible to the fomo doesnt mean it doesn't exist. That's why damn near every game now has a battle pass, they want your $10 but what they really want is your time because studies have shown the more time you play the more likely you are to spend money on things like cosmetics.

I want to go back to the days where people were outraged at horse armor.

Sorry for ranting I'm sure ff14 is one of the least egregious offenders. I'm just really annoyed at the state of gaming and late-stage capitalism.

17 hours ago, Bacon said:

 People use live service games just as an excuse, IMO. That's fine, but it is misplaced fomo.

Yes, that's exactly the issue. These games are intentionally designed to prey on people with addictive tendencies and monopolize their time with fomo. Like they literally have conferences on the human psyche and how to prey upon it which again the loot box games are even worse because they're looking for "whales" who might be spending every dime they have.

Gambling addiction is a very real thing that runs a lot if lives. I've never gambled in my life because I know what type of personality I have, but I've played a few of the "ultimate team" modes in sports games and ended up spending hundreds of dollars I wont buy another. The daily login and fomo stuff scratches a similar itch for me and many others, but it eventually just becomes literally a job that is not fun but you do it because sunk cost.

I'm not going to judge anyone who plays these games maybe they have more restraint than I do but again they're intentionally designed to target people who don't.

16 minutes ago, stepee said:

 

You don’t need an invite, just search for “dayone” and it will show up and you can join. 

 

Also omg it has rotating Capcom arcade games you can play in the lobby that is so damn cool

 

Also Lilly rules 

I'm a blue-chip recruit, I need to be wooed and you're out here trying to make me do searches? 

I will do it next time I log in 

On 6/2/2023 at 7:23 AM, Keyser_Soze said:

I made a d1p club, you should join

 

Send me an invite breh

Neither. Wired headset in 2023 is laughable and Meta is a steaming pile of shit.

Forget about the privacy stuff don't really care about that, but needing to login/update every god damn time I use the headset is the most annoying thing in the world and much like the facebook interface it just gets more and more bloated and slow with every update. The actual hardware is great but fuck Meta, fuck DRM.

Live service games are a 2nd job, I'll never play one ever again. They can be fun but because there are so many people who no-life it, they have to pad out content by making things extremely grindy, and by having daily login rewards etc.

"F2P games" like Genshin are even worse because they're loaded with micro-transactions and lootboxes, which is going to cost the average person $100's of dollars a month to keep up. Meanwhile people will defend it being like "I'm F2P and I have everything bro!" while they sit in their mom's basement playing 80 hours a week. Yeah no shit you have everything, you haven't had a job in 10 years Travis and please wash your Hatsune Miku body pillow it fucking stinks!

7 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

It's because ever since FFXV when they switched to active battles, they keep the other systems the same. So you're hacking away like an action game, where an enemy should have some hit stun, react and go down fairly easily but the game is like a Final Fantasy game that you mash on the enemy that has no reaction and soaks up the damage till you deplete some huge life bar.

Yeah I know about stagger, it works fine in FF13, & 7 Remake (Xenoblade 2 had a similar system aslo), but it works in those games because they aren't pure action games,. They don't require you to be on your toes and have nearly perfect reactions for such an extended period of time. DMC3 is probably my favorite action game and boss battles are like 3 minutes max and almost every action game I can think of falls relatively in line with that. Maybe it works great, all the previews have been gushing about it, so I'm still hyped until I have a reason not to be.

44 minutes ago, Bacon said:

Man, that is some major particle vomit. And that precision dodge mechanic/animation that happens every time will get annoying very quickly. Can't say I like fire hurting fire either. Fight overall reminds more of, well, not DMC from what little I have seen of DMC5. Maybe more like KH or GoW+GoWR. I mean, sure, that kind of makes it like DMC, but I really feel more like I'm watching an anime version of GoWR than DMC. Which, again, sounds like DMC but whatever. Or like Code Vein but with more jumping.

If I have a complaint/worry, it's that enemies seem a bit spongy. If it's a full on action game battles shouldn't be lasting 6-7 minutes. Other than that everything I've seen looks fantastic.

Haters:

Seriously if you think it's going to suck so much why are you wasting your time talking about a bad game? If it sucks everyone will find out in like 2 weeks, and nobody is going to give you a cookie for "calling it." Like it's actually kind of getting a bit sad. 

People who participate in the culture war bullshit are just the lowest IQ clowns who live in completely insular communities.

They're not even worth arguing with or trying to rehabilitate, just ignore them & let them live in their miserable little existence of their own making.

3 minutes ago, Bacon said:

Rated M for Blood and Gore

The People's Mario

WWW.NEWGROUNDS.COM

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Communist Propaganda-styled Mario

 

 

Mario is Liam Neeson, change my mind.