Stamnoso

Agree with the value of it being subjective and I'm not subscribed to GP anymore after the last increase. That said, this type of release was always something I liked about GP, gave me the chance to try "less known" games. Many I have enjoyed quite a lot like Dungeons of Hinterberg, When the Past was Around, Little kitty big City, Donut County, The Gunk, Chants of Sennaar just to name a few.

If I was still subscribed I'd probably give this one a try, seems cozy and nice enough. I guess these won't always be everybodies cup of tea. If game pass had only been AAA, I don't think I would have ever subscribed, since I tend to enjoy indies more than AAA nowadays. So, a matter of preference not quality of service imo; that said all opinions are valid.

I couldn't quite get myself to enjoy DQVII on 3DS, but I love how this one looks like XD. Coffee talk I loved 1, 2 was all right, so maybe will give a try to the other one too.

I quite like my series X. A few years back I bought it in place of a ps5 because of the stock shortages and it's been my main system since then. Runs nicely and smoothly, plenty of great games to play.

We'll see how it goes, Octo 0 interests me, but also have some doubts from it moving away from its core concept. The Elliot game sounds cool, DQ is cool, but I have mixed experiences with the few games I played in the series. Precisely VII I found extremely boring in 3ds, I liked the concept, but I found the story to have an uninteresting pace and loads of pointless backtracking.

Only played 1 and 2, need to catch-up at some point! but within my limited experience yeah, I remember 1 having more tense moments of like "oh *****, one of those dudes".

@Kezelpaso Yeah, this is great, I usually keep an eye out for those you guys do a good job. That said, not all sites are equally diligent, but it can get confusing like you say, both for us readers and you guys xD.

Interesting games, but on premium now, so I don't think I'll be able to play these, I find all the news in many places quite confusing now being in a middle tier.

Anyway, for me I'm gonna "take a break" from GP once I complete Octopath 2. The only reason I got another month was because it was cheaper than buying the game and I got a couple of weeks worth of playtime left probably. After that, it's gonna be back to the olde "bought games" backlog for a while at least.

Things in life change, I will enjoy gaming regardless of this. Hope the PS5 people who haven't played Halo before enjoy it. Other than that, I will keep on enjoying my own gaming, be that on my xbox, switch, 3ds, pc or whatever I decide using in the future.

I love gaming since I was 6 and started on an Atari 2600. It's been 30+ years, but you know what? at the end of the day it's just gaming, I ain't gonna get upset over behemoth companies and their strategies. I got more important things to worry about quite honestly.

I'd suggest the same to you all, enjoy gaming, ask yourself how important really are some of these things if they are truly upsetting you? Would you get upset if you favourite local food joint started growing and they sold the same in the neighbouring town too? Would you get upset if your favourite "streamer" (if you got one") changed platforms? Would you really get upset if your local supermarket stopped selling your favourite drink, but you could still buy it somewhere else (even if a it further away)? etc. etc. I mean, in some of these nope and in others, more than the initial annoyed sigh and rant, I wouldn't truly get upset.

Lifes goes on, gamer fellows...life goes on.

@Meehanuk_1987 I haven't used it on my Series X, but I'm pretty sure cloud gaming is integrated into both current consoles (wiser people on this site can contradict me if I'm wrong).

I think if you go onto gamepass and you find a "streamable" game with the little cloud icon you can select it and choose "play" directly without installing it.

So, you'd think it should be possible to stream next gen games into the Series consoles. To be 100% sure I guess we'll have to wait and see, but I don't see why not (in principle)

@Banjo- Fair enough, I hadn't necessarily noticed that until you mentioned it, but I think you're right. I guess the point is if we end up in a place where there is no "series S" equivalent, I guess they think they still have mechanisms to allow people to jump and play "xbox" without the front cost of the premium hardware. Whether people will like it or not, I guess is a different thing and we will see.

@Meehanuk_1987 The thing is according to them everything is (or will be an xbox) so this new device is probably seen by them as just one way of gaming. You don't have the money for it? no problem use cloud gaming on a phone or a tablet or whatever.

Do I like it? No xDDD, but this is how I suspect, they'll defend themselves cause this "everything is an xbox" thing is a mantra they have been repeating a lot lately.

Return to Monkey Island is decent, but also felt kinda disappointing at the same time, that said worth a try if you like monkey island.

Shame about Jusant, was in my backlog for a while guess will keep an eye out for a good sale.

@IronMan30 haunted chocolatier? XD

Hardly ever, I would love to replay games and "savour" others more, but as a busy parent who works a full time job doing so it's not a luxury I can afford at the moment (unfortunately).

Still enjoy the gaming time I have anyways

Day of the tentacle, I love that game!

I don't know, I think this might be it for me too. I've been on current ultimate for a while, and quite like it cause I try and complete all sorts of games I might not buy, but 23 quid a month, seems excessive.

Could still do premium etc., but it feels like a significant step down for the same money ish I pay now, so I don't like that.

Been thinking of making the jump to PC for a while, and this might be it to be honest. That said, to start with I don't think I'm renewing anymore, I got a backlog of bought games to deal with anyway.

Pity this is where we ended up with GP, I guess all that noise about it not being profitable enough was true in the end (be that because of corporate greed or whatever). I guess it was nice while it lasted.

I guess for the JRPG lovers, Sea of Stars is a must try, It dissapointed me, but plenty of others seem to love it, so I'd say try it if you haven't done so yet.

I think the option should be there, but they should include the rechargeable battery pack when buying a controller and with the one that comes with the console.

Personally, I had rechargeable AA batteries and it was great.

The Ascent is pretty cool game, I would recommend too. Give it a try fellas!

I think this is likely to happen, I agree. At the end of the day, these companies want to keep growing and I think the "exclusive/closed" strategy that has been followed for a long time now is close to not being able to support the business expectations the likes of MS and Sony have.

I think this won't be a bad thing when/if it happens.

@Phil-Spencer-Gate I agree as long as MS's objective is to expand/maintain production outputs, which I think it's a fair assumption to make as today's business is all about growth growth growth.

I think in cases like the initiative and these massive long developments (i.e. due to constant restarts of dev etc.), for me the big questions is why? Why are some of these studios struggling to deliver?

My point being, you can close a studio, sack people, open a new one, hire new people; but if the problem has a root in things that are outside the studio jurisdiction (e.g. wider MS business processes hindering development), then there is a decent chance some of these new studios would find themselves fighting the same fights again.

Man, PD cancellation is a real pity, but I'm sure it'll come back eventually at some point.

Sorry for the people who lost their jobs of course, but The Initiative was hyped as @@@@ and was founded in what 2018? never released a single game. I'm not defending big corporations, but from an internal point of view I think it's easily justifiable, you can't have 7+ (probably was going to be close to 10) years development cycles. They just don't allow that kinda thing anymore on the big companies.

@Kaloudz I wonder that too, I mean when they release so much later than in PS5 and PC, I think there is a good chance a lot of people who own an XBox have already played it on one of the other platforms. I might be wrong, but seeing the sales it seems game pass would be a good way to ensure decent revenue equivalent to reasonable sales.

Steamworld ones are pretty good, worth a try if you haven't.

I played P4G last year, not sure I wanna play a new remake now, kinda a pity, maybe should have waited, but I enjoyed it anyway so XD

It's quite easy to be honest, don't lie or say things open to interpretation; show things contextualising them properly with language that all types of users can understand. Basically, just let people know if what is shown is what they can expect to see when the game runs in its device (console of PC with X specs. + settings)

Then, the second part is no more messes like the Cyberpunk one please, that was an embarrasment for CDPR, a very good reputation damaged. I still remember that teaser where they said "It'll come out when it's ready" and then it was a mess, so that came back to bite them in the ass big time.

@Tomato_Goose Thanks!, I got it, willprobably give it a go onceI complete the stuff I'm playing now, but very much looking forward to it.

Been wanting to play the Robocop game for a while! This is the perfect change, buying tonight 100%

I find this a bit ridiculous, of course it runs substantially worse than in series X, it's an inferior machine compared to it. Does it run well enough is the real point? locked 30 FPS etc. (plus comments from others) seem to suggest the answer is yes. This is like comparing performance in widely different PCs.

I mean, if you're the type of gamer that wants or values above else crystal clear image etc. you don't buy a series S, is pretty obvious.

I also find the comment of "possibly substantially finding the game more challenging in series X". I keep saying I doubt FPS is a key variable in this compared to just player skill and basically the difficulty of the game itself. I'm pretty certain that if we were to do a proper statistical analysis of this, in this kinda game the outcome would be that the impact of 30 vs 60 is negligible in most cases.

I mean as if nobody had ever completed a "hard" game in history whilst running at 30 fps (or less!), Bloodborne in ps4 to mention one. I don't recall anybody going "crap, if only this game run at 60 fps I could have killed the Orphan of Kos".

Of course, better graphics and performance they are always welcome, but I think having hardware options for a variety of people and budgets is a good thing and of course, there will be trade offs.

@JoyfulFire this is a very fair point, I thing the long term access to the library is probably a key concern for me and anybody who's been invested for long enough really.

@LaurenceJ1987 yeah, I agree with this, it's got its charm, I did enjoy it too.

More FFXIV and Control. Just completed Tails of Arise!

I got it in Sep 2022, cause I was struggling to find a PS5, but I like my Series X and is my main system now, I think it's a great machine and good services. I'm not planning to go back to PS5 as my main system at least, got other consoles, so don't discard buying a cheap one someday to play some exclusives (or might just finally upgrade my PC)

@FraserG Really? I mean crash 2 and 3 weren't particularly difficult in general I think, but crash 1 had some interesting difficulty spikes.

Well, this is quite vague in my opinion, not necessarily untrue I don't know.

I think there are more relevant metrics here, cause like others in this thread have pointed out, companies obviously get paid when they release in game pass, so (one of) the real question is how much is the money difference between what they get to publish in GP + 20% of expected sales vs 100% expected sales + no GP.

Also, percetanges are quite vague since 80% of something that is expected to sell 50,000 copies (e.g. a relatively unknown indie) vs 80% of something that is expected to sell on the millions, is obviously quite different. Obs, the money they would get paid for releasing in GP is different, but the comparisons might also be.

Finally, there is also the question of 80% loss when; at day one if you release on GP or at different points in the life cycle of the game. Again, games typically drop in price pretty quickly nowadays and expected sales are different at different points in the life cycle so how significant that 80% is is quite different depending on these and other points.

BTW this is not a defence nor the opposite for GP model, it's just that I find these kind of comments (from analysts or whatever) completely useless because they paint a very vague picture of reality that is easily misinterpreted by the "everyday" reader like us. Now, interesting to spark debate, but that's kind of it imo.

@Ricky-Spanish Yeh, did play it too. I think it's decent, wasn't excellent, but it's nice and short. The story was interesting with some reasonably charismatic characters. The other good fella described it quite nicely, the problem with its system is that there are portions that can get a bit repetitive and you might miss interesting stuff (or character background) in a single playthorugh since there isn't a "try again" kind of thing; that's good and bad in some ways.

Sounds like you're into this type of game, so I think it's worth you give it a try.

Have a good one all, hope you have time to relax and game a bit.

There are many good games here. Chants of Sennaar was a little game I enjoyed a lot. Also, I feel Immortals of Aveum deserves a lot more love that it has received, I though it was a pretty solid and fun game overall (only thing I found problematic was the M&K mapping implementation and they should fix it...)

Some pretty nice games, might go a pick up stray, but already got too much to play.

It's always amazing to see how GTAV keeps showing up in all (or most) these kind of lists.

@Fishysensei pooh! Sounds good might give this a try soon.

Done with Harold Halibut, so I started Control and carrying on with ffxiv too. Have a good Xmas period if you're celebrating and if not, doesn't matter, happy gaming anyway!!

Personally, if you compared the campaign with others from older games, then it isn't that brilliant, but it's decent. It's free and I would try it if I were you guys. Also the multiplayer angle, which was obviously the focus of this game is pretty fun.

@TeiGekiLord Sorry, but you're overinterpreting things. I'm not rewriting history, I haven't said people were not saying that sort of stuff, many were. Neither I'm going into the details about why people are relieved, I'm sure many are just relieved out of "in your face, Sony" (which is wrong and sad, really), others simply are happy they might still be able to play certain games. Regardless of what people's reasons are, I'm sure most will fill in the latter category, and I feel this is a very natural reaction. The comment is made in reply to the other user messages and the context of this piece of news, let's not generalise, but I'm gonna try to clarify my position, so hopefully it's not misleading.

Now, that said, people will then split based on a variety of opinions, both good and bad. There is absolutely no doubt there are plenty of the "bad" on the Xbox community side; my point is Fraser mentioned earlier that "it wasn't fair to tar everybody with that same brush" (the brush of "foaming at the mouth" and so on) and I don't think it's fair to come in and make those sort of statements. I don't think a few people "foaming at the mouth" in the various pages necessarily represent the whole community, and even if they did; my main point is that I don't believe this article is written in a particularly incediary kind of way in this sense. Therefore, I don't understand why certain people have decided to sign up on the page yesterday to start throwing these negative general comments and picking fights with various people.

Now, if you want to "put me in the same room" as the "foaming" people and the "rewriting history" kind of people, be my guest. I truly don't mind, you are entitled to your opinions regardless of how accurate or not they are (and that is a different debate again); but I personally think your generalisation of "Xbox gamers" isn't fair, nor necessarily right either. Same applies to any other "faction" in these pointless console wars things.

@PSDeckSwitchOwner Of course for those people (i.e. Xbox players/fans or whatever you wanna call it) the Bethesda and so aquisition was fine. They knew it was not going to lock any game out of their ecosystem.

You're reading in between lines when there is nothing to read. The article doesn't talk about Sony or MS and whether it's good or bad for them to buy other studios/publishers or whatever. It is also not discussing whether this is good or bad for industry; it's just saying that Xbox players are relieved and they should be cause Sony not buying these people means that, in principle, no FromSoftware games should be made exclusive. So yeah, people are happy that it looks like they're gonna be able to still play games they like in their console; is that really that surprising or evil? (I'm sure the same could be said about PS community if the ABK deal hadn't come through, regardless of what the reality of Xbox and exclusive games is at the moment) People not feeling excluded are relieved and happy, it's basic human nature.

I think you clearly have strong opinions about this kinda stuff and you are very much entitled to that, but you clearly came into this thread wanting to stir the plot and create some negative environment, essentially looking for a "fight".

Personally, in my view you're more than welcome to create healthy debate on topics on the periphery of this piece of news (e.g. is this good for industry whatever), but I find it quite sad to see people act in this sort of way, seeking conflict.

Man, I miss the days when the gaming community wasn't so stuck in pointless conflict, rudeness and brand brainwashing (I'm not directing that at you personally, just speaking generally)

Hey all more FFXIV for me and also Harold Halibut. Quite liking the slow pace and wholesomeness of the latter!!

Yeah, interesting the Purexbox review, but all opinions are valid. The 3 gaming sitesI follow in Spain, two have given a 9/10 and 87/100. One still pending, but overall it seems pretty good generally.

@Deckard85 Yeah, agree hope to see you around in Eorzea. I've been listening to the music on YouTube while working too xD, even gave a try to a couple of "lofi" mixes that were pretty good.

Pity I didn't find the time to try Humankind, but oh well. There's too many games to try. Will go to the list and we'll see in the future.

@Deckard85 Yeah, I feel the same about FF. I always say "X" was the last great one for me. Many people love XII, but I just couldn't get into it (and left it 1/3 into the game ish), then XIII had some good things, but nowhere near the level of the "classics". Can't say about XV and XVI cause I haven't played them yet (XV has been collecting dust on a shelf in my gaming room for the last 1+ year -.-U)

Anyway, on FXIV I'm a white mage too!! for some reason I love healing people, but yeah the "solo" part is a bit less involved. It's essentially "stoning" enemies right? haha I got an AoE now too, which is cool. In the long run, I might go with tank too, I like the idea, but got a bit worried about having too much of a "lead" role from the beginning.

I was on the free trial until a couple of days back, I see myself playing the game in the long run so decided to invest and get the full version to lift some of the limitations that were starting to bother me (e.g. gil limit, market board, socials) At the end of the day, here in the UK the subcription is like the price of a pint and a half in the pub, so it's not really that much in the whole scheme of things.

@Deckard85 Nice! feel the same, I'm starting to understand why some people keep saying is the best FF in the last 10+ years and apparently it only gets better. I agree with music and world building! beautiful world, I unlocked the "sighseeing log" the other day and I'm excited to complete it.

I think I'm close ish to completing MSQ chain for the base game. What class did you go for?