Playstation 5 Console Discussion

[drahkon]

6 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Hey, those are some very sophisticated and well made games!

Well, I never played 'em so...I trust your word on that

[Hero-of-Time]

6 hours ago, Jimbob said:

Hour or so wait in a queue, but i also managed to get myself a 30th Anniversary DualSense.

Have noticed the usual scalpers trying their luck on eBay with some quite extraordinary pricing strategies.  Boy, i hate scalpers.

Just reading now how PS1 style Pros are selling for £4000. It's insane. 

I don't understand the logic behind limiting the release of these. There are many gamers who are willing to give Sony their money but can't because they've made it super limited. I suppose it's the same as any limited edition item but in the age of Bots and scalpers, the whole thing becomes a mess.

I pray that Nintendo have enough stock for the Switch 2. I really don't want to be jumping through online hoops just to get one.

[Jimbob]

On 9/26/2024 at 7:13 PM, Hero-of-Time said:

Just reading now how PS1 style Pros are selling for £4000. It's insane. 

I don't understand the logic behind limiting the release of these. There are many gamers who are willing to give Sony their money but can't because they've made it super limited. I suppose it's the same as any limited edition item but in the age of Bots and scalpers, the whole thing becomes a mess.

I pray that Nintendo have enough stock for the Switch 2. I really don't want to be jumping through online hoops just to get one.

Same here.  Worst case scenario, i'll wait until they're readily available before purchasing.  I'm pretty sure i read somewhere that Nintendo are literally mass producing to prevent such an occurrence.

But going back to the topic, the logic Sony had with getting pre-orders live for the 30th Anniversary collection on the same day as pre-orders went live for the PS5 Pro is bizarre.  Could have alleviated traffic a bit by doing the Pro last week and the 30th Collection this week

[Julius]

So, what's tickling everyone's fancy to pick up for their PlayStation this October? 

For me, I think this might be the first month in a little while where I don't pick anything up at release.

Metaphor ReFantazio I'm saving for Christmas as my big time sink during my time off, whereas for Silent Hill 2 I'm waiting to see how the reviews turn out – and even then I'm weighing up whether I want to play the remake or the original. Maybe Neva? But then there are other indies I want to catch up on which are on sale, too 

Yeah, between my planned Halloween games and potential going back to indies or making use of PS+, probably a quiet month for me on the pick-ups front! 

[Hero-of-Time]

Sod all from that list. Final Fantasy Pixel Collection is getting bought though. I've got a bunch of October/Halloween games planned and so everything else is taking a back seat.

[Hero-of-Time]

Something similar should have been implemented over here. People with the most platinum trophies should have been first in the queue.

[Jimbob]

4 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Something similar should have been implemented over here. People with the most platinum trophies should have been first in the queue.

Platinums might be a little tough for some people (i know there's some easy as pie plats out there), but certainly number of hours played or a minimum length of time the PSN account has been active might have helped.

[drahkon]

1 hour ago, Julius said:

So, what's tickling everyone's fancy to pick up for their PlayStation this October? 

You all know what I pre-ordered.

[Julius]

1 hour ago, drahkon said:

You all know what I pre-ordered.

Yeah, yeah, Call of Duty, we know 

[Hero-of-Time]

For those wanting one, 30th Anniversary PS5 digital console is now up for preorder at Argos.

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/4370004?_gl=1*r2n130*_up*MQ..&dclid=CMnMrdypg4kDFXEyVQgdEVsstg

[Julius]

PlayStation The Concert – World Tour 2025-2026 announced! 

Quote

PlayStation The Concert transports fans into the epic worlds of God of War, The Last of Us, Ghost of Tsushima, and Horizon franchises amongst many others that reflect our 30 years of making games that have not only captivated players but are celebrated for their breathtaking and immersive soundtracks too.  

With innovative technology and world-class production, fans will experience a stunning fusion of multi-layered visuals, immersive surround sound, and an all-star ensemble blending classical and modern instruments. The legendary scores from composers like Gustavo Santaolalla (The Last of Us), Joris De Man (Horizon), Ilan Eshkeri (Ghost of Tsushima), and Bear McCreary (God of War) will reach new heights, offering fans a unique, deeply immersive live concert experience. 

With video game music stepping into the global spotlight, PlayStation: The Concert is poised to redefine what a music experience can be. This is more than just a show; it’s the ultimate video game concert experience, embodying PlayStation’s innovative spirit and pushing the limits of what’s possible; from your console to stages around the world. 

The global tour launches with a world premiere on April 15, 2025, in Dublin, Ireland, before heading to more than 200 cities across Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States, and beyond. Whilst we are only announcing European dates at this time, be assured we’ll be announcing other world locations very soon.  

The 2025 tour schedule so far includes: Dublin, Ireland – Glasgow, Scotland, London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, UK – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paris, Amnéville, France – Antwerp, Belgium – Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Berlin, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Leipzig, Munich, Oberhausen, Germany – Zurich, Switzerland – Bologna, Italy – Budapest, Hungary – Sofia, Bulgaria – Vienna, Austria – Bratislava, Slovakia – Prague, Czech Republic – Lodz, Poland – Copenhagen, Denmark – Gotenburg, Sweden – Oslo, Norway – Tampere, Finland.

We don’t want you to miss out on this extraordinary event so our partners are giving the PlayStation community first opportunity to score tickets through the early access code PLAYCONCERT24 which will be usable from 7am PT tomorrow Wednesday, October 16 2024. Tickets are expected to go fast! 

No dates/costs up yet, but it's hitting Birmingham so I'm going for sure 

Edited October 15 by Julius

[Julius]

Huh, they've just moved the start date in Dublin back to April 19th and removed Antwerp, Belgium and Tampere, Finland. 

Very strange. Hope there aren't any other concerts cancelled! 

[Dcubed]

Pretty neat.  Nice to see Sony doing something like this

[Julius]

UK concert dates and locations – Birmingham is up first! 

 

[Ike]

Nice of them to acknowledge venues exist outside of London.

[Hero-of-Time]

6 minutes ago, Ike said:

Nice of them to acknowledge venues exist outside of London.

Yup. Was very surprised to see one up here in the Toon.

[Hero-of-Time]

I see the dashboard update has finally been rolled out. Not a huge fan of it to be honest. I'm happy that I can put my trophies as one of the widgets but I don't really have any use for any others and you have to use 3. I settled on this layout...

How you enjoying Persona 3, @Julius?

[Julius]

4 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

How you enjoying Persona 3, @Julius?

I'm loving it  at the point where the party just returned to school following summer vacation, which wasn't nearly as much of a vacation as it was in 5, I swear I ended up busy more often than not 

Though, I've definitely got some issues with Persona 3 Reload, but the fastest way to sum a lot of them up is just to shrug my shoulders and say that playing Persona 5 first - which would have learned from P3 in its various forms as well as P4 - is why they're pretty front and centre.

I mean, straight up, I think Tartarus just kind of sucks, I know P5 had Mementos which is similar, but having the main source of dungeon-crawling (up to this point at least) be this one location we keep returning to, which feels so disconnected from the main story for so long, and knowing P5 had Palaces which were themed and also tied into the story so strongly (relating to a party member or just some evil dude we wanted to take down), it just takes some of the sting and immediacy out of things, especially with how aimless and optional it seems until the countdown in the top right to the next Full Moon is added a few months in. It's September in-game and it's only really since the start of July I'd say that the story has picked up, so it takes a good while to get going, compared to Persona 5 just coming out of the gate with an excellent action sequence – again, lessons learned and all that. Oh, and S.E.E.S just isn't at the same level as the Phantom Thieves. 

I experienced something similar when I played Dragon Quest VIII for the first time a few years ago after playing XI first, where I loved my time with VIII, but I just think what XI learns and does differently to VIII makes it the clearly stronger game for me with only a few points I'd consider exceptions. Whereas I view XI as virtually perfect, though, as much as I love Persona 5, I think it overstays its welcome just a tad by the time credits roll, and I also think the story just kind of falls apart and goes off the rails too – it's a JRPG though, so obviously sticking the landing is oftentimes the exception more than it is the rule  so being in the middle of P3R and not knowing where it's going to get to by the end or if it sticks the landing, and being ostensibly in the thick of it, I'm loving it and can't hold an ending against it that I haven't seen played out. Fingers crossed, eh? 

To praise some things though, the game is dripping in style from its music to its UI (I spent like 15 minutes at the start of the game just opening and closing menus haha), the turn-based combat is that typical snappy Persona/Atlus combat which is to say that solving the puzzle that is an encounter is one of the best in the biz for JRPGs, and when you're in the mood for a calendar-heavy, social-link-having JRPG like I am right now, there's simply nothing better. I could - and I'm sure will at some point - go off for a chunky paragraph about the absolute brilliance that is Shuffle Time, too, for all of my problems with Tartarus I think that's got to be one of my favourite reward loops in a JRPG.

With no Platinum burden on me because of the rules I've placed on myself this year, I'm going with the flow of the calendar and social links as much as I can (P5's "Take Your Time" is constantly on my mind) and trying to avoid guides outside of times I feel like I messed up or misinterpreted a situation (sorry Yuko, I didn't know you wanted to go to the café so much more than you did a restaurant), and I'm also just avoiding the grind and rushing through Tartarus blocks in a day like I did with the Palaces in P5, which I probably average doing over 2 days up to this point (having learned from P5 the importance and rarity of SP-replenishing items). Bit annoying when I get the call from Elizabeth that some dumb local has wandered into Tartarus and needs saving, and even more so in August when I waited to visit Tartarus until someone wandered in to save them while doing going through a new clock for the first time and some even dumber local walked in after I'd saved the other guy, a cat, and had completed that month's block to feel like I was being a little more time-efficient. 

So yeah, that's my mini review after 35-ish hours of Persona 3 Reload in the completely wrong thread which you didn't ask for  no idea where it's going to go (one particular shot in the OP has me guessing a certain thing but I'll just see how that plays out), and right now with where it's at I'd be lying if I said it's hitting the heights of what I've played of this year's GOTY contenders, but I'd also be lying if I didn't say it's not really that far off.

I also kind of hate that it makes me want to wait for what feels like an inevitable Persona 4 remake (inevitable but also obviously probably not coming until after 6) despite already owning Golden on two different platforms, but you'll need to strong-arm me into playing with those chibi-esque models after experiencing the beauty of P3R and P5 

Edited October 16 by Julius

[Julius]

On 10/15/2024 at 3:03 PM, Julius said:

No dates/costs up yet, but it's hitting Birmingham so I'm going for sure 

Tickets got, can't wait  crossing my fingers for some Shadow of the Colossus and Bloodborne in the unannounced games they pull music from! 

[Hero-of-Time]

Shawn Layden once again speaks out about the state of the industry.

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2024/10/ex-playstation-exec-shawn-layden-says-theres-been-a-collapse-in-gaming-creativity

I agree with most of his points. It's no wonder a lot of creativity has gone down the pan when a single failure could mean the closure of your studio. Again, this all comes back to the ballooning gaming development costs, something that Shawn warned about years ago, as did Iwata.

Edited October 17 by Hero-of-Time

[Julius]

Ben Hanson of MinnMax has come out of nowhere and said a little something about Naughty Dog's new IP:

Quote

I heard from somebody very in the know who worked on the game that they're like Jesus Christ... the tone was like you are all not ready for how amazing this is going to be... and the tone was - I'm not going to say the game that they referenced to compare it to cuz I don't want people to be like "Minnmax..." - ... but they compared to a game with a lot of player freedom…"

I've been listening to Ben for close to a decade now since the GI Show days, and let me tell you: he NEVER speaks out of turn like this. 

Very, very curious what this means. I feel like it's either an open world-ish "you can climb anything/go anywhere/find our lore!" game like Breath of the Wild or Elden Ring (I would assume not as large in scale or scope with more of a focus on story and interaction so it can still be of that high ND fidelity, but that's just me), or something very systems-driven like a Deus Ex. 

There have been rumours for a while that the new game would be sci-fi/space, but I feel like that's some Savage Starlight projection for the latter. 

Personally, I've wondered for a while if ND might do something in a medieval fantasy setting, just a linear game in a setting like that, but I actually wonder if what they're making might be something closer to my absolute dream game? 

I think Neil has mentioned being a Princess Mononoke fan before and I've always thought that film is an exact template of what a modern take on something like Ocarina of Time could be. A relatively small world - open because of today's technology allowing it to be that way - where maybe you have one or two or three smaller villages which are like factions you can interact and team up with against some larger threat that they're absolutely not equipped to deal with, and so the focus would be less on the exploration of the world and much more focused on your interactions with characters, with the decisions you make helping to form the narrative somewhat -- for instance, in Princess Mononoke, imagine if Ashitaka could choose between siding with Iron Town or the Imperial forces? Or if there were a small refugee camp which was against Iron Town's ideals you could side with? And then it all hurtles towards a final act where those characters from separate factions are constantly interacting due to the story forcing things to spiral towards the end, which is of course when your relationships that you've built up with them by this point comes into play. I think I remember some people pointing out the potential concept art tease for the new IP in Part I looked Mononoke-esque...man, I'd kill for a game like that. 

Sounds like there's a good chance that whatever this is, we'll be getting it before The Last of Us Part III. Find myself getting very excited about it all of a sudden 

Edited October 19 by Julius

[Happenstance]

 

[Hero-of-Time]

It has to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, flop in the industry. Again, I have no idea how Sony didn't see this coming. It was absolutely baffling.

[Dcubed]

1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said:

It has to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, flop in the industry. Again, I have no idea how Sony didn't see this coming. It was absolutely baffling.

It's crazy isn't it? Literally everyone knew it was going to be a massive bomb from the moment it was announced, literally everyone straight up told Sony online that it was going to be a massive bomb.

It boggles my mind how utterly out of touch the Playstation execs were on this one.  Surely someone at the top of Sony must've seen this coming?  Even your average joe schmoe mouthbreathing online idiot has more sense than the top brass responsible for this mess.

It was an out of control train that had long gone off the rails and was heading straight for a brick wall with puppies attached to it.  Outrageous that it was ever allowed to reach completion.

Edited Tuesday at 08:30 PM by Dcubed

[Hero-of-Time]

1 minute ago, Dcubed said:

It's crazy isn't it? Literally everyone knew it was going to be a massive bomb from the moment it was announced, literally everyone straight up told Sony online that it was going to be a massive bomb.

It boggles my mind how utterly out of touch the Playstation execs were on this one.  Surely someone at the top of Sony must've seen this coming?

It was an out of control train that had long gone off the rails and was heading straight for a brick wall with puppies attached to it.  Outrageous that it was ever allowed to reach completion.

Even preorder numbers and beta participation were stupidly low and yet they still kept on pushing forward with it. Someone at the top of Sony should be held responsible but once again it's workers who are thrown under the bus.