Sheikah

Quit yo jibber jabber. Build a simple flying device with a giant bright seed on it, then get back to me. You'll never go through the depths any other way after trying it.

Why wouldn't you risk making a vehicle down there? It's the best place to build a vehicle. And throwing a giant bright seed on it makes it much easier to see where you're going at all times. You want it to be a flying vehicle, mind.

You don't need arrows to launch bright seeds, just throw them. But as mentioned, throwing a giant one on a vehicle is the best way.

That glow spreads out as long a gnat's leg, though.

Can we get a hell yes for Dragon's Dogma 2? What a game the first one was.

Hey now, I saw the edit too. And I'm as old as you.

Hi ReZ, been a while since the days of annual meets!

Not that I know of.

It's good that the CMA doubled down though, makes me think that they're very likely to stick to their guns.

Is it just me or do the enemies hit really hard? I started out on the main island with 4 hearts and it feels like pretty much everything hits you for at least 3.

Good work!

Rotating does leave a little something to be desired, it doesn't feel that intuitive to get things in the orientation you want.

My copy has also arrived, from ShopTo.

It's Zelda, there's barely a story anyway. I'm going to hedge my bets here and say the new game might involve you beating Ganon.

I mean, you're not right though are you. Given that Microsoft own them they can cancel whatever they like, and that's exactly what they should have done to this game. I sort of get why you're suggesting that because things didn't go well for them last time they got involved then they felt cautious to do the same thing again. But that doesn't mean they couldn't get involved, nor that they should avoid doing something that needs to be done just because it went badly before. Sometimes you have to use judgement rather than rely on precedent.

Final Fantasy XV has a Metacritic score of 81 and sold over 10 million copies. Sure Square Enix said it didn't live up to sales expectations at some point, but they always say that. Given this, it's extremely likely (and particularly due to the timing) that Forspoken led to their merge. You mention about Arkane's score sheet but in reality that means nothing. It's all about the here and now. Microsoft will look a this game now and wonder how the hell this happened. In fact if they do nothing at all that would show a fundamental inability to manage the studio. This game didn't come about by luck - something is clearly wrong here for the studio to have put out this game. Possibly Arkane's management, possibly some key talent has left, who knows. Either way, I would expect Microsoft to do something, which could very well include downsizing the studio or switching people about.

Everyone making this game must have known it was a stinker, it's not a labour of love like previous Arkane games. I think you are massively overestimating the impact on morale of cancelling this game - I can only speak from my own (unrelated) job that it's a blessing if a project I really dislike gets cancelled. You're saying cancelling the game could have destroyed the entire studio but the chance of that happening now after its release to terrible reviews is much higher. For instance, Forspoken's developer has been merged, and that's actually a considerably better game than Redfall. The release of this game has also damaged the brand, and Microsoft should have known that would happen.

You didn't reply to the rest though... So you're saying because, years ago, they did a bad job, they should just allow any old crap to be released and damage their brand? Not manage in a positive way at all...not get better at management? They should absolutely have either cancelled this after seeing it, or send in external support to get it working. They've had years to help them at least get this running competently on their flagship console.

You're making it sound like some complex puzzle but it really isn't. Playing Redfall for the smallest amount of time is very revealing - it is garbage. And Microsoft signed off on this; not just on releasing a bad game, but not allowing this to be further delayed at the very least to sort out the basics like getting 60 FPS on Xbox Series X (as well as addressing the litany of bugs). Talking about past studios (where you don't even know the specifics of Microsoft's involvement) is a weird thing to start doing, especially because they should be getting involved but in a positive way. You're basically saying that Microsoft are bad at managing studios and therefore...shouldn't manage the studio meaingfully at all? That's from one bad extreme to another. How about getting better at managing? Microsoft should be stepping in when a game they plan to release is in a terrible state to sort it out - whether that means sending in external support or making the tough decision to cancel it, that's something they needed to do. And put it this way - the fact Microsoft didn't shut this down has now reflected very, very badly on them and Game Pass too - so yes, absolutely they should have been doing their job to either cancel or significantly delay this game! You mentioned the morale at Arkane if they cancelled there and then - what do you reckon their morale is like right now, after releasing this game to a scathing critical reception? Pretty terrible, I'd bet. They might even be wondering whether they'll get to make another game. I think the damage to morale in the here and now is far worse than if they cancelled it back then - this game feels like little love went into it, certainly not like previous Arkane games. It almost feels like a reworked live service game they may have been forced to make. I don't think they'd have been as beat up about its cancellation as you're suggesting. The team must have known from playing it that this wasn't a good game - its cancellation may have even been a blessing.

This is definitely their fault, they own them. They should either have cancelled the game entirely after seeing it or delayed it substantially for it to be reworked/remade. They allowed it to ship in this sorry state. Saying that another of their studios released a good game doesn't change the situation, and especially not when this isn't the first game they've screwed up recently. Microsoft have a reputation now for terrible studio mismanagement.

It's crazy isn't it, the Microsoft kiss of death again (yeah, ultimately this released on their watch). You can see why Microsoft were desperate to get hold of COD now.

You're dead right about their attitude. Disgusting bile they're coming out with because they've been denied, threatening the UK and mouthing off against the CMA. Makes them look completely dense, in all honesty.

Given that when I was a teenager we used to connect to internet via dialup, and now we can stream in 4K, I think you are drastically underestimating what will be achieved in our lifetimes.

Well that's the thing, the way internet is going, connectivity will eventually not be a problem.

Are you really going to compare 3DTVs to cloud gaming? Cloud gaming has continuously improved and will take over once the technology reaches a certain point. It's also dependent on internet connection speeds, which have improved dramatically over the last 10 years, and continue to improve. Once you can stream games with negligible input lag there will basically be no reason for expensive dedicated hardware boxes anymore. It's inevitable we will reach that point given how technology continues to progress. To return to your point - 3DTVs were a realised technology, it's not like they needed refining. People just didn't care for them. But cloud gaming, when it reaches a technological point where it's sufficiently indistinguishable from regular gaming, will be the superior option. You just ignored the whole point that there are multiple other (non COD) series that Microsoft would acquire that will almost certainly be ringfenced...just as Microsoft have already done with Bethesda content. So this is BAD for gamers. The COD deal is also only 10 years (yes, only; or 1.3 generations). After which they are free to ringfence that too. Meanwhile if ABK remained unacquired then COD plus other ABK titles would continue to be multiplatform anyway. And to hell with Switch to be honest, it's a garbage console in terms of hardware that nobody actually wanting a good experience would even consider playing COD on. Needs to be said. Microsoft would have absolutely no intention of releasing COD on Switch had they not been trying to make a case about expanding access. So I'd have expected any releases to be serviceable box tickers at best. Many people with a Switch also have another console so it's not like the hundred odd million extra Switch gamers being quoted is even accurate. Many could easily access COD already if they choose to, and let's be honest, if they're into COD they will already be playing it on a PS4/5 or Xbox. Those Switch gamers who have a PS4/5 losing access to COD would not suddenly be happy they can play it instead on Switch. And as popular as COD is, ABK have a lot of other hugely popular titles that all add up, like Overwatch and Diablo that could have sequels pulled away from multiple consoles including Switch (which OW2 is currently on).