Hero-of-Time

Don't listen to Julius...

Exactly how I feel. Still, it looks more exciting than anything slated by Marvel at the moment. Also... It's such a nice change from the dark DC stuff we've seen in the past.

Awful classic game selection. Where the hell are the GoW games or Ratchet or Jak or any number of high profiles titles? Disney seem to be doing the heavy lifting when it comes to supporting the service. Solid line up of other games though. Sand Land is a game I bought in Nov but still have yet to play. Happy with Soul Hackers though. Always been intrigued by it but never enough to buy it.

Glad to see you enjoyed both games, @Dufniall. If you enjoyed Little Nightmares I highly recommend the sequel as well. Resident Evil 3 gets hard done by a lot of people. I loved it. Sure, it has some areas cut from the original but it was still a blast to play. @RedShell also enjoyed his time with it.

That's true. I haven't seen any reports on Cyberpunk and just assumed it was looking like a good port.

With the Switch 2 being as powerful as it is, more 3rd party games will be jumping on that platform and porting games that otherwise would have stayed on the PS platform or PC. I can see it eating into Sony's share on the market in the West.

Amy Hennig has wrote some great narratives for games (Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and Uncharted trilogy) but it's been a long time since she's done anything noteworthy. I'm completely forgot this game was a thing and don't have high hopes for it.

A man of good taste.

Sales figures have dropped today. Launch aligned, it's only 1.4 million behind the PS4, which is crazy when you look at the supply constraints it had, the price of the console (PS4 was pretty cheap at this point, whereas the PS5 continues to go up in price) and an arguably weaker software line up. I wonder if it will manage to pass 100 million?

Indeed. It's the same amongst my group of mates. All of them are big MH fans and have been playing the series since the original game and they've all pretty much dropped it as well.

I think that is one of the points the article is making. It's getting harder and harder for publishers to justify their rising prices and try to get away with it when there are a sea of games to be played on various subscriptions or that are simply far cheaper due to sales or just releasing at a lower price. Some high profile games will get away with a higher price but many will try it and no doubt fail.

Another 3rd party/Disney game has had trophies added. Don't worry, @drahkon, it's not a Star Wars game. https://psnprofiles.com/trophies/33847-up

For your stats, I'd avoid putting anything into luck because you get a lot of Pictos that boost that for you. The only exception to this is Luna. She has a few spells that really benefit from critical hits. Agility is a strong stat to raise for any character. It means you will have more turns before the enemy. More turns = more damage. Yeah, the round enemies are kinda like puzzles. You have to chase them back to a coloured spot that is usually near them. This gets them stuck and then you can fight it. The fight is also a bit of a puzzle, with each of them being different. You have to kill it in 3 turns or it will sod off. You don't get a huge amount of exp and the items it drops aren't great either. Not really worth faffing on with. As for the Mime enemy, you would know if you seen one. They are scattered around the place and all look unique. It's worth fighting one once just for the comical value.

Screw the Japanese market. On the flipside...

The move in question is still pretty OP and can still wreck enemies. They just scaled it back a little. I kept cancelling the update as I didn't want it nerfed. I've still yet to update the game.

Crazy. I paid £39.99 on Amazon. I think they jacked up the price though once stock got low. It's £42.99 at Argos if you can find stock.

Who are you using in your party, @RedShell Mine wasn't really set in stone and I kept chopping and changing depending on what the situation called for. However, once I prepped Maelle to be an absolute beast, the other two party members didn't really matter. 😛 That's very true and I think that's why the game has been as successful as it has been. Plus, I think the more realistic aesthetics, rather than an anime look, have helped give the game more appeal to a wider audience. Have you fought many of the Mime enemies? I thought those battles were hilarious, mainly due to the very French theme that plays during the battle.

I loved Doshin the Giant. It's a bit rough around the edges and clunky to control but it was such a chill game to play. When I traded my copy in at CEX they had to test it due to it being over the price threshold and the lad who had to play it was like "What the hell is this?" Clearly the game didn't have mass market appeal.

Yeah, this was something very special. Fantastic set of characters, gripping narrative, phenomenal soundtrack, amazing voice acting and a awesome battle system. If I had to criticise anything it would be that the game could do with a mini map when in dungeons and the world map. Other than that... What's crazy about all of this is how such a game has been created. It was done by a very small team and for many of them it was their first job in the industry. It's a prime example of what can be achieved when a development team are allowed to create what their vision is, without the focus testing and interference from big publishers. These are the kinds of games that are needed more than ever in this industry, which IMO, has become very stale. I'm thrilled that the game didn't get buried and has found success, both critically and financially. It's funny when you look at what the game was released with. The Oblivion remaster was dropped alongside this and yet this is the game that is on people's minds. Oblivion may have sold more but look at the state of the thing. Again, it's a good comparison between a game that has been created with care by a small team and one that has been pushed out the door for a quick buck by a large publisher. The battle system in the game is something very special. Every character brings something unique to the table and I had a blast with playing around with different abilities and team selections. The creative director of the game has said that FFVIII is his favourite Final Fantasy game (a man of good taste and Ben Starr must have loved him) and this kinda comes through in a few places. The Expedition uniforms are very SeeD like, one of the later bosses reminds me very much of a FFVIII boss fight, and the battle system in this game can be busted wide open early on, just like FFVIII. Due to the amount of customisable load outs, you can decimate enemies. I took on the game's super boss with a single character and killed it in a single hit. I wasn't even max level at that point but the game rewards you for smart use of ability stacking. @Glen-i you would love it. The game feels very much like a PS1 era JRPG but with modern designs. The game has 3 acts and each of them end as if the disc is finished and the next needs to be inserted. I loved this feeling when playing those games as a teenager and this game recaptures that feeling at the end of each act. The third act certainly feels like the final disc of FFVII or FFVIII, where all that's left in the main story is to take on the end boss but the whole world is open for you to explore. You end up losing yourself hours upon end in side quests, super bosses and general exploration. Like I used to do on those games, I made sure to do everything and reach the max level, before taking on the final boss. I won't go into the narrative but all I will say is that it gripped me from start to finish. The English VA cast done an amazing job and really brought the characters and story to life. It's another example of good VAs really elevating a game to another level. Usually in JRPGs I can't be bothered with reading logs or listening to random dialogue but that wasn't the case here. I was listening to every conversation by the fire at the campsite and reading every log that I came across. I was so engrossed in the world. Once in a while a game like this comes along and reminds me why I love gaming. These experiences seem few and far between these days but this has been a light in what has been a very dark year for the majority of the industry. What made this even better was how it just kinda came out of nowhere. What a marvelous surprise it has been. If you have any love for the RPG genre then you owe it to yourself to play this game.

More thoughts on it will come tomorrow. All I can say at the moment is this is one of the best games I've played in a long time.

Indeed...

Microsoft's handling of their physical releases is just ridiculous. Indiana Jones was the same. Like, whats the point of even release the game physically when there is sod all on the disc? No doubt Gears of War will be the same.

*adds to 2025 Gaming Pledge list* Nah, I've not played any of them. I think I have all 3 though in my PS+ library.