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@Fiendish-Beaver If you are a fan of souls like games then you need to play them as they are probably the second best series out there. The combat is miles ahead of anything Fromsoft and is also easily the best combat from KT have in any of their games. What I like is that each game also adds enough to refresh the system.

Not sure if you played Wo Long but that was a good game and Nioh is much much better. Its just so good.

@rhyno_888 Exactly they always list any exclusivity deals on the advert and when it is currently set to end. None of this stops the deal being extended or means its a 100% port once the deal ends.

@fatpunkslim The IP has been multiplatform since 2017 when it released on PC, the same year the original game released on console.

@Weebleman I spent the entire time during my playthrough going WTF is happening? Its proper weird and then just ends.

I agree its something everyone should try tho just to see if it clicks.

@Fiendish-Beaver They have a link, but its honestly not critical to enjoying the games at all. They did release a PS5 collection for the originals so I imagine they could port them easily enough if they wanted to.

The question would obviously be is it worth it as the original games have been available for a while (2017/2020) and are on PC, which could limit sales a bit for the older titles if people played them elsewhere.

@Fiendish-Beaver Did you delete the profile on your PS5 before you tried moving it over? I did mine on Saturday morning with zero issues, but I used the transfer method where you have both consoles on and it just copies everything from one to the other, and makes the PRO your main console account.

@Fiendish-Beaver I did end up treating myself and ordered one with a drive. Used the Very Pay new customer trick along with top cashback brought the price down to about £560 all in, and I can trade my original ps5 in for another £200 so it was a decent saving all round.

@Fiendish-Beaver I have been thinking about replacing my base PS5 with the Pro because I highly suspect we are not going to see either side release anything for a while due to the ram issues. I also feel I deserve a treat after Dry January 😂

@Fiendish-Beaver Thats some crazy money right there.

To your other point regarding the PCBox, I think another success point hinges on how MS handles the console mode part of Windows 11 and if its also made available to all PC users. If they make it a windows feature so you can apply Xbox console mode on any PC then I think it would take away some sales from people willing to build their own more powerful rig, for a better price.

There are just so many what ifs? that will heavily affect everything and at present there is no real info outside of wishful thinking and sales talk.

@Fiendish-Beaver I have to ask do you keep a spreadsheet of all your gaming purchases

Its impressive that you track how much you spend on all this stuff.

@Tasuki Your comment is utter nonsense, its just console warring guff. They will have done the workings at high level and simply decided that the sales will outweight the lump sum offer from MS. Its the exact same decision every single publisher has to make in the same situation. For some the sales will win out, for others the GP offer.. its that simple.

@OldGamer999 I saw a great example a few years back that showed how much difference polgon counts made of character models. The leap from PS1 > PS2 > PS3 era was huge and really noticeable as the original polygon counts where so low that just doubling them made such a difference. Since the PS3 era the visuals are clearly still improving but the difference is much less despite talking more time to achieve.

@OldGamer999 Its nothing to do with working from home, or reduced hours as most studies have shown that people fit the exact same amount of work in the reduced hours. Its just a scapegoat to make out that the younger generation is somehow lazier than the older generation.

The reason games take longer is just that dev cycles have increased in line with technical improvements in gaming. Go back to the days of the C64 and games where made by max 5 people in 3-12m depending on complexity. It was nothing to do with working harder, its just games take much much longer to make now.

C for me. Fable was the only game of any interest and they didn't really show very much of it and what they did show looked a bit off. I'm willing to keep an open mind but they need to show more to get me properly interested in it

@FraserG Ahh that makes more sense, I did have a glance but missed that.

FF2 is a bit of a weird one as you think they would pay for the entire set of Pixel Remasters rather than choose the least popular and wierdest entry in the series.

Fable is the only one I have any interest in, but It will take a lot to reel me in as the originals were maybe 6/10 games for me personaly that promised loads but never really delivered outside of gimmicks.

@Toot1st I suspect you are in the minority there as the majority of gamers are not ready for, or simply do not want streaming only. Innovation is great but only if you take the consumer along on the journey with you. As long as there remains a demand for a plastic box then which ever companies offer one will continue to see results.

@dskatter the film it's never coming is my bet and I'm not convinced by this either. Blade is just not that popular compared to other Marvel characters. It doesn't help that to do a good Blade project you also need to target adults and not kids as no one wants Blade: The Twilight Saga

I don't think they will because of GTA, that's probably the safe bet for 2026

@Fiendish-Beaver The game they really need to get on Gamepass is Warcraft 3 Reforged. The remaster did get some stick compared to the original but the game is still a brilliant story driven strategy that more people need to experience. They have also done Warcraft 1 and 2 remastered but 3 was the real goat.

@Fiendish-Beaver @themightyant Another thing I feel steam does well on reviews, is recent reviews, and allowing you to see how popular a game is at various points in time on a graph. Its a great way to gauge how changes made to the game in patches can effect it over time. Its also a good way to see consumer sentiment when companies have made questionable decisions against community wishes.

@Fiendish-Beaver I can't see WoW standard making its way to console at any point in near future. It would need so much work to make it happen when they are already incredibly busy as a team working on expansions 4-6 years in advance. They are also just about to launch part 2 of a trilogy of expansions so I think the soonest they will jump to console woud be 4 years when they start a new story. Ofc at that point if the PCbox is a reality then whats the point.

As for adding it to GP I just can't see it happening without another price rise or it being a GP bolt on. They already get £8.99 a month from people so I can't see them giving that income up.

I bet the Blizz news will just be the launch of Midnight in March and the D4 expansion looking like it will add a decent amount more to endgame as they will want to keep on POE2's toes.

@Fiendish-Beaver I also though this and I think it would have been had Shattered Space had been better received. The Expansion falling a bit flat probably led to them waiting for something that could be launched with around more positive press.

I hope I am wrong and the game is great, but I am not convinced Betheda know how to make a good game anymore. They get distracted with nonsense engine physics that does not transfer into good gameplay. I don't care how many sandwiches can fill a room and spill out of a doorway, I want gameplay and story not a tech demo.

I enjoyed the game but it was in the category of good not great for me. I enjoyed the setting and the general weirdness but found the gunplay got a bit tedious so played it on a lower setting for the story.

It could be definately be improved upon in certain areas.

• The refelcted looping corridor at the start area added mystery and confusion, but was quickly dropped in further areas.
• The motel sections really wanted fleshing out
• The weapon / skill mods pre expansion were to generic

@themightyant Did you find you had to really dial down the stick sensitivity on the PS5 version. That was the main thing I took issue with from a technical standpoint. It set to so damn sensitive that it really highlights any stickdrift to a ridiculous degree, on the plus side it doubles as a great testing tool.

@Fiendish-Beaver I think even users with a large library (regardless of platform) would really think long and hard if their platform suddenly jumped up in price compared to the competition.

Backwards Compatability is very much a nice to have feature but its just not that important to the majority of gamers. As you say its certainly not important enough that its would be worth an extra $500, especially when you can just keep your old consoles if you are that invested in older games. I have a PS 2, 3, 4 and 5 for that exact reason (I don't really need the PS4 but it does have PT on it).

Also I love the assumptions people have that the PCbox will have zero BC issues when PC's are notorious for requiring tweaks to make older games work.

@Romans12 That was the Kotor remake that hit roadblocks but is still underway according to the studio.

@rhyno_888 why wouldn't Sony do the same? Xbox is no longer direct competitor

Because Xbox still is and always will be direct competition for as long as they exist as a hardware manufacturer. Regardless of how great a lead Sony currently has Xbox is still the competition, and they retain that lead by holding onto all their cards.

If roles were reversed it would be exactly the same with Xbox holing back everything to GP or PC only. Whilst Sony would be launching everywhere to keep their strongest footing.

I have no issue with the idea of games being classed as 1st party if published, providing the rules are applied to all three main players. My biggest issue irk is when fanboi logic is used to make out that Ninja Gaiden 4 counts, but Death Stranding 2 doesn't, or vice versa.

@themightyant Its even worse when you factor in that you can get the PS5 Digital with Fifa for that £285 price. Xbox really need to improve the sales proposition if they want to shift more units.

Never seen the point in it personally as I have been console / PC for years so just buy each game where I feel it plays best. Being able to play the same game using the sub par option just seems pointless.

E for me, main reason being that nothing caught my eye and got me excited or wanting to know more. I was looking forward to Tides but that trailer has wilted my interest somewhat.

Longer Games, Sub Services, Increasing prices, Day 1 jank... all these things play a part. Pick you reason as they can all apply depending on your situation.

Also there is just way more choice now and its not all about the next big AAA game. Palworld, Valhalla, Blue Prince, Vampire Survivors and many other indies have done well over recent years because they provide the same lenght of entertainment for half the price, or less.

@Fiendish-Beaver I have always felt that the "largest technological leap" was just marketting hyperbole that they can spin to mean whatever they like.

4k60 console with RT / Frame gen and AI then they could make the arguement that they have done it from one generation to the next as a "Leap". Compare that to Sony where the Pro is still part of the PS5 generation so the step up to the PS6 will be smaller as its just the second or third iteration of PSSR.

PC box and again its an easy claim to make if they sell the hybrid angle, whilst it could mean nothing at all for traditional technology leaps of resolution / fps.

I agree that its certainly going to be over £1000 as they can't compete in the £500 market and the more i think about it the more I think it will creep up. I can still see it landing around £1200 if current prices remain as they are and its not subsidised.

@Fiendish-Beaver See I think they get around the price increase with the fact that the device will be closer to a PC than a traditional console (if the rumours pan out). That becomes the major selling point as the premium device gives you access to multiple stores and doubles as a windows PC.

I think they could easily make it more powerful, but by the time you factor everything in I think it will be scaled back to keep it at a somewhat realistic price point. When that happens I think it will be like the SX / PS5 again where better on paper never really plays out in any meaningful way.

I get your point that a £1000 console surely can't just be SX+ but when looking at the current prices unless they drastically subsidise the machine then I fear thats exactly what it will be. I do also think that could be fine providing everything plays at 4k60

@Fiendish-Beaver I don't think the PC box will actually be significantly better than the SX either as I could see it needing all the extra overhead to just perform as a hybrid machine. In reality I imagine that once again both devices will end up performing a similar powerlevel with the difference being feature based. (console vs PC)

The device has been mostly positive with just a few issues along the way, and for those issues they probably should have relaxed the parity to get the game on the SX with an SS version later.

It was a decent device for its price back in 2020/21. The device is still an alright machine now, but the 2025 price has lowered its value substantially.

@Decimateh I am surprised they didn't bring Warcaft 1 and 2 to consoles when they remastered recently. Warcraft 3 is also one of the best games of the genre imo as the story was incredible.

I really want them to do a Warcraft 4 but it would likely need a reboot to seperate it from the WoW storylines.

@Dreamcaster-X FF14 Is a completely different game that was built from the ground up with console in mind from the start. The raid encounters / GCD and gameplay in WoW would not suit a console at all.

The only way to create WoW console would be to start again at classic and tweak it as they go to work for consoles, but I doubt the juice would be worth the squeeze.

@Cakefish I would honestly be amazed if the machine comes in at £800. I personally think as a bare minimum it will have to be around the £1000 mark if they want it to be even somewhat competant as a console and Windows machine.

I would suspect MS are even aware of that which is why they are already seeding the idea of High End, Super Premium and Bespoke when talking about it.

It died around 3:50pm as Business Central went down at work with users unable to get past the login. Fortunately I finished at 4:00pm and am hoping its fixed by morning

@Fiendish-Beaver I was mistaken thinking the PC had gone. I was looking at the gamepass website and they hide the PC only tier, whilst Essential, Premium and Ultimate are all clearly visible and specify that they include PC games. I suppose this is another example of just how poor their messaging is as it feels like its almost intended to be difficult or confusing.

I agree with you on everything you say above in regards that it would make no sense and alienate customers. Unfortunately I think its a big enough rake that MS will jump all over as the bean counters will not want to give up that revenue stream.

@Fiendish-Beaver I though the whole point of the recent changes was that Gamepass PC no longer exists, as all three tiers include PC.

As I understood it the tiers now just reflect how many games you have access to, and if you have access to day 1

EDIT: I should add I expect they would keep those tiers the same but remove online play from them and add it as a supplemental for older devices.

Once again the utter twaddle that is the Xbox tax is being rolled out to add imaginary points to a score so people can feel validation in their favorite colored box.

It's not a thing, had never been a thing, and different reviewers will give different scores on their scale.

@GeeEssEff The diehards here will defend anything and bend over backwards to out that MS has actually been playing 6D chess all along. If you don't agree they will write an essay in the hope that you will get bored or just agree.

The Ally X has turned out to be a great little device, if somewhat pricey, but the marketting has been terrible. Xbox is the primarily the console brand... because that is what the consumer associates with Xbox. They don't think its a windows feature, games studios or anything else, its a line of consoles, and console accessories. Six diehard fans defending MS on a forum is not representative of the average consumer and all that matters for brand awareness is what the mass market thinks. MS need to understand that and they need to learn it fast because outside of America the brand is suffering.

I really enjoyed the remakes of 2, 3 and 4 so more of these is always welcome. RE4 was obviously the best of the 3, especially for the inclusion of VR, but I also enjoyed 2 & 3 being brought up to a modern third person over the shoulder style of game. Its a shame they have not remade the original in that style also as the tank controls are meh in 2025 regardless of the remaster or OG version.

@Lrapsody I think it depends where you play it. PC is likely more favorable where as the PlayStation version apparently has awful optimisation. For example they note single figure frame rate drops n the review and clarify that if fixed it could be a 5 or 6 score instead.

Another round of meaningless PR mumbo jumbo because like any business they measure success by profit. I understand that engagement figures have some value as everyone is competing for each players time, but its not the measure of success. Like I said on the rumours thread the other day MS need to stop making these pointless and stupid statements as it always backfires and will lead to even more doubt and rumours.

I replay a fair amount of games when I just get that itch to go back and play the series. Its normally tied to something else like recently I did Rangnarok with the Valhalla DLC so that made me go back and do the entire greek saga of GOW.

I watched Josh Strife Hayes attempting a permadeath Hardcore run of Baldurs Gate the other day so I have booted BG1 back up and am running through that again.

Other games I will replay are classic shooters like Borderlands if something just scratches that itch. Unfortunately modern games can be to long or feature to much bloat / annoying mechanics which can put me off replaying them no matter how good they are.