Playstation 5 Console Discussion

[drahkon]

Just now, Hero-of-Time said:

What's the deal with us the respec option?

You can refund all your spent gold and use it to buy other upgrades.

[Glen-i]

Keep in mind, that the refund doesn't apply to characters you've unlocked. Once you buy a character, that's it.

[Hero-of-Time]

15 minutes ago, drahkon said:

You can refund all your spent gold and use it to buy other upgrades.

With the way you said it I thought there was some advantage to it or something. I'm happy enough just grinding the gold and buying them all.  

 

[drahkon]

3 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

With the way you said it I thought there was some advantage to it or something. I'm happy enough just grinding the gold and buying them all.  

 

I see
Well, there could be an advantage for example when you eventually have enough total gold to invest in revive, growth and might but you spread some of the upgrades out.

But yeah, the grind is what it's all about.

[Hero-of-Time]

1 minute ago, drahkon said:

But yeah, the grind is what it's all about.

 

[drahkon]

When Pentragram is the first weapon you upgrade in a run.

[Hero-of-Time]

1 minute ago, drahkon said:

When Pentragram is the first weapon you upgrade in a run.

I hate that thing. I unlocked it yesterday evening and just don't understand it. Yeah, it wipes out everything but it's hard to know when it's gonna fire off. Plus, the early versions of it wipe out items. 

I'm kinda reluctant to unlock any more weapons/items. The ones I have were working well for me on my sessions last night and I figure that adding more into the mix will just dilute the pool.

[Glen-i]

4 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I hate that thing. I unlocked it yesterday evening and just don't understand it. Yeah, it wipes out everything but it's hard to know when it's gonna fire off. Plus, the early versions of it wipe out items. 

I'm kinda reluctant to unlock any more weapons/items. The ones I have were working well for me on my sessions last night and I figure that adding more into the mix will just dilute the pool.

You're using garlic, you have no leg to stand on with criticising pentagram.

The absolute pinnacle of early game hell, late game awsomeness!

Edited August 30 by Glen-i

[drahkon]

Just now, Hero-of-Time said:

I hate that thing. I unlocked it yesterday evening and just don't understand it. Yeah, it wipes out everything but it's hard to know when it's gonna fire off. Plus, the early versions of it wipe out items. 

I had the same sentiment when I found it for the first time back then

It's a terrible late game pickup, but if you get it very early it can easily win you the run. The wipes don't matter that much during the first few minutes as you don't lose a lot of xp.
And if you level it up enough to evolve it pretty quickly after the 10 minute mark, you're golden.

3 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I'm kinda reluctant to unlock any more weapons/items. The ones I have were working well for me on my sessions last night and I figure that adding more into the mix will just dilute the pool.

Yeah, that's something to be wary of. But there are certain unlocks to mitigate the increasing weapon/item pool.

[Hero-of-Time]

Didn't realise I had to open a coffin and not just find it. It took a while to do because I had to power everything up again as if doing a normal run.

Think that's everything done on the first stage. Time to finish the second.

[Glen-i]

2 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Didn't realise I had to open a coffin and not just find it. It took a while to do because I had to power everything up again as if doing a normal run.

Think that's everything done on the first stage. Time to finish the second.

The thing you get from the first coffin is totally worth it, BTW. Definitely spend money on that.
My favourite character in the base game!

[Hero-of-Time]

14 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

The thing you get from the first coffin is totally worth it, BTW. Definitely spend money on that.
My favourite character in the base game!

What makes them so great? I'm pretty attached to the knife guy at the moment.

[Glen-i]

3 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

What makes them so great? I'm pretty attached to the knife guy at the moment.

They get an extra 1% strength every level. Also, they start with two weapons that are way more effective then the knife.
They make surviving Dairy Plant far more feasible on a first attempt.

[Dcubed]

14 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I hate that thing. I unlocked it yesterday evening and just don't understand it. Yeah, it wipes out everything but it's hard to know when it's gonna fire off. Plus, the early versions of it wipe out items. 

I'm kinda reluctant to unlock any more weapons/items. The ones I have were working well for me on my sessions last night and I figure that adding more into the mix will just dilute the pool.

Pentagram eventually becomes one of the very best weapons in the game…

Don’t go discounting weapons until you have a chance to properly try them out.  The game really rewards experimentation, especially as the available gameplay mechanics continue to open up.

Also @Glen-i is totes right about that first coffin… make getting it priority number 1!

Edited August 30 by Dcubed

[drahkon]

@Hero-of-Time will be happy to find this item/unlock this achievement:

Speaking of bangers, while the soundtrack is pretty good I turned off the ingame music and put on Spotify. Nothing better than wrecking stuff while Enter Shikari is blasting through the speakers

Just completed the 4th stage with Antonio. Once again, evolved Pentagram made this a cakewalk
On to stage 5

Edited August 31 by drahkon

[Hero-of-Time]

15 hours ago, Glen-i said:

The thing you get from the first coffin is totally worth it, BTW. Definitely spend money on that.
My favourite character in the base game!

Gave the character a whirl. Not bad but I still like the knife dude. Is the character supposed to be Bayonetta? 

36 minutes ago, drahkon said:

@Hero-of-Time will be happy to find this item/unlock this achievement:

Speaking of bangers, while the soundtrack is pretty good I turned off the ingame music and put on Spotify. Nothing better than wrecking stuff while Enter Shikari is blasting through the speakers

Just completed the 4th stage with Antonio. Once again, evolved Pentagram made this a cakewalk
On to stage 5

Yeah, I thought of our conversion when I see the trophy.

Just finished level 4 myself. Decided to give the Pentagram a whirl. It certainly comes in handy in the final few minutes when most weapons have trouble clearing the field. Still not huge on it though.

[Hero-of-Time]

To the surprise of nobody, it looks like Concord was a massive flop. From IGN...

Quote

Analysts were able to share a bit of insight on the PlayStation side with me. Per Circana analyst Mat Piscatella citing Circana's Player Engagement Tracker, on Monday August 26, "Concord ranked 147th in US PS5 daily active players across all titles, with fewer than 0.2% of Monday's active PS5 players playing the game." And analyst Simon Carless, who authors the GameDiscover.co newsletter, estimated that Concord's total sales are sitting around 10,000 units on Steam, and around 15,000 on PlayStation (he responded to my email Wednesday, August 28, 2024).

Absolutely nuts if it has sold that little.

[Glen-i]

3 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Gave the character a whirl. Not bad but I still like the knife dude. Is the character supposed to be Bayonetta?

WHAAAAA!? What would ever make you think that!?

...Yeah, she is. Vampire Survivors is absolutely jam packed with references to games that aren't Castlevania. From Final Fantasy XIII, to Ultima.

Knife guy is decent, 1 extra projectile is a solid benefit, but it doesn't scale, which can become a problem later on.
Anyway, nothing stopping you from giving "Not-Bayonetta" Knives, she actually utilises them better, get to a high enough level, and she just melts through enemies like a... well, you know the saying.

[Jimbob]

Hardly a surprise with Concord.  It looked good, but comments i read on a State of Play showcasing this turned sour as soon as it was shown as a paid GaaS.  Has to be one of, if not the biggest software flop from Sony.

Not looking good for Firewalk Studios.

[Hero-of-Time]

16 minutes ago, Jimbob said:

Hardly a surprise with Concord.  It looked good, but comments i read on a State of Play showcasing this turned sour as soon as it was shown as a paid GaaS.  Has to be one of, if not the biggest software flop from Sony.

Not looking good for Firewalk Studios.

I was reading that they've pretty much gone dark on X/Twitter since the launch of the game. With the way cuts and layoffs are being made in the industry, it must be scary times over there. 8 years in development and then a financial bomb of epic proportions.

[Julius]

An important update on Concord from Firewalk Studios

The game is going offline September 6th while they figure things out, sales to cease immediately and full refunds will be offered for the game. 

Quote

Concord fans — we’ve been listening closely to your feedback since the launch of Concord on PlayStation 5 and PC and want to thank everyone who has joined the journey aboard the Northstar. Your support and the passionate community that has grown around the game has meant the world to us.

However, while many qualities of the experience resonated with players, we also recognize that other aspects of the game and our initial launch didn’t land the way we’d intended. Therefore, at this time, we have decided to take the game offline beginning September 6, 2024, and explore options, including those that will better reach our players.

While we determine the best path ahead, Concord sales will cease immediately and we will begin to offer a full refund for all gamers who have purchased the game for PS5 or PC. If you purchased the game for PlayStation 5 from the PlayStation Store or PlayStation Direct, a refund will be issued back to your original payment method.

Customers who purchased from other digital storefronts will also be refunded. More information about refunds from Steam and Epic can be found below:

Steam Store – Steam Store will refund players who bought the game over the coming days. Steam will send confirmation of the refund once it has been processed.

Epic Games Store – Epic Games Store will refund players who bought the game over the coming days and will contact each customer directly to confirm that the refund has been processed.

Other retailer refunds – For customers who have purchased a physical copy at a retailer location outside of PlayStation directly, please refer to the refund process of the retailer you purchased it from to obtain your refund.   

Once refunded, players will no longer have access to the game. 

We’ll keep you updated and thank you again to all the Freegunners who have joined us in the Concord galaxy.

Holy damn. 

Assuming that this doesn't mean Firewalk gets straight up closed by PlayStation, I'm guessing this means a transition to free-to-play and microtransactions?

Edited September 3 by Julius

[drahkon]

It's a really good game, but people decided it was doomed from the beginning. What a weird situation.

[Julius]

23 minutes ago, drahkon said:

It's a really good game, but people decided it was doomed from the beginning. What a weird situation.

It's definitely an odd one, and I think is really just another example of PlayStation not understanding this GAAS market they've seemed so desperate to break into. I can't imagine that anyone with their head screwed on even slightly at Firewalk would've thought that the way this game was being released and marketed was a strong sell. 

Funnily enough, I was listening to a podcast just earlier day from Easy Allies all the way back from April 2016 and they were talking about Paragon, and obviously at the time of recording this being not too far out from Overwatch's release at the time, they rightly said the pitch just wasn't enough of a differentiator from other MOBAs like Overwatch, which did do such a strong job in gameplay but also how easily readable those differences were to people who had only seen gameplay and not got their hands on the game.

I think it's applicable here too: these games simply aren't for me and a lot of other people - and I'd argue that the people that it is for are probably already off fully cemented in some other such game anyways - but from the outside looking in, I just don't think that it did a good enough job of showcasing why it was different and, to quote Ben Moore from EZA [again, 2016, talking about Paragon], "you are justifying your existence to me"; it might be incredibly reductive and unfair to the devs to say this, but the general audience reaction when this turned up was "oh, hey, PlayStation are trying to make Overwatch", and so I'm not at all surprised that things have gone the way they have. 

That the game is then a paid-for product and not free-to-play when Overwatch 2 is? It's asking for trouble. And again, I'm not really convinced that was Firewalk's call to make. I mean, just look at PUBG - it's maybe still a pretty big game these days, but Fortnite dwarfed it in so many ways with its Battle Royale and how it evolved and adapted so quickly, but a very strong and compelling reason for that was the fact that it was F2P whereas PUBG was not. Hell, I'm pretty sure that to this day PUBG is still paid-for? 

I'm very interested to see what PlayStation's take away is from this year, if there even is one. 

I'm a little scared for Astro Bot, because some corners of the internet are treating it like the game and poster child which is going to make a statement and singlehandedly force PlayStation's hand to rethink their stance on Japanese studios and smaller games, but it's been a year with a monumental GAAS success in the form of Helldivers 2 which absolutely no-one saw coming, and the unfortunately disappointing reception to and sales of Concord. It has been a very light year for PlayStation otherwise, with no major AAA effort from their own studios - Stellar Blade and Rise of the Ronin being published partnerships on their end - besides The Last of Us Part II Remastered at the very start of the year, to the point I'm honestly not really sure what PlayStation is supposed to take away from this year when it comes to SIE published games? Besides the already widely agreed upon "man, this GAAS initiative needs another look and some serious consideration"? 

Edited September 3 by Julius

[Dcubed]

On 8/24/2024 at 10:21 AM, Dcubed said:

Sure, it would’ve been publicly embarrassing, but the game really should’ve been cancelled the moment it was clear how tepid the public reaction was.

To put this into perspective, even SEGA had the foresight and good sense to cancel the release of Hyenas when it was clear that it was doomed to failure.  SEGA.  Yes, that SEGA; a company run by literal morons.

Blooming ‘eck! I wasn’t expecting Sony to actually listen to me!

Probably should do the same with Fairgame Dollar Sign before it’s too late as well.

Then dump Bungie, end this failed GAAS initiative and double down on the actual strengths of your development studios.  High quality single player focused titles.

Pray that Astro Bot does well, because that is exactly the kind of game that PlayStation should be making as a platform holder!

Edited September 3 by Dcubed

[Hero-of-Time]

Insane that they had the balls to do this. The numbers must have been absolutely dire.