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Syne

Member
Feb 5, 2023
5,709
UK
Finished off The Forgotten City last night (shout out to Bopp for being the reason I was up late 2 nights in a row ;)

Great game, the writing is phenomenal and the situation you're put in actually forces you to think about the consequences of what you say to someone, lest you accidentally mess up. Sure it has some jank but it was made by a really small team so all things considered it turned out extremely well and I enjoyed my time with it.

I was planning on copying Bopp and moving onto Monster Boy next but with Star Wars looming over me next week I think I'll have to finish off a couple of the bigger games I have installed just so I can delete them for space! Probably finish off the last 2 DLC trophies for ghostwire and then mop up the FF7R Intermission trophies.
 

Moobabe

Member
Nov 7, 2017
918
Finished off The Forgotten City last night (shout out to Bopp for being the reason I was up late 2 nights in a row ;)

Great game, the writing is phenomenal and the situation you're put in actually forces you to think about the consequences of what you say to someone, lest you accidentally mess up. Sure it has some jank but it was made by a really small team so all things considered it turned out extremely well and I enjoyed my time with it.

I was planning on copying Bopp and moving onto Monster Boy next but with Star Wars looming over me next week I think I'll have to finish off a couple of the bigger games I have installed just so I can delete them for space! Probably finish off the last 2 DLC trophies for ghostwire and then mop up the FF7R Intermission trophies.

I also loved Forgotten City -- a +1 recommendation for anyone on the fence.
 

shadowman16

Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,993
What's everyone playing this weekend?
Well Im basically at the point of no return for Mass Effect 2, done everything else up to that point, so I'll be finishing that game for sure.
More SFVI no doubt, booted the demo for some CPU Vs stuff and quickly remember why I loved the beta so much, its going to be amazing.
Plus RE4 REmake, MH Rise and maybe start Tchia as well. So much to play!
 

Arn

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,744
I definitely agree that it's smart for them to "over invest" in live service gaming, because, yeah, the returns on a ultra-successful one will more than make up for that investment. An ultra successful live service game could pretty much bankroll the rest of your production studios. It's like when a movie studio releases a billion dollar hit at the box office. Production costs are recouped, sure, but the rest of that revenue can go right back into producing more billion dollar grossing projects, and everything in between.

As I've said in other OT's, I don't believe that Sony is expecting every single one of the 10 or so live service games they're investing in to become hits. I think they're hoping that one of them will become a mega-hit, and perhaps the others will do well enough to keep running for a few years, even if they aren't bringing in billions a year they're still making a profit, and they expect others still to simply fall off and not perform to expectations.

The point is, and I think it's implied in your comment, that you can't predict what is going to be a hit or not. As a developer, you just make the best game you possibly can. A game that you're passionate about and would love to play. On the studio end, your job is to get that project out there for the masses, and let the chips fall where they may, because no matter how much marketing you throw behind it, you can't 100% predict how the market is going to react. Your game could be delightful (see, Gravity Rush 1 and 2), but if gamers aren't interested in giving it a shot, well... *shrugs* What can you do?

I truly believe that at least 1 of the live service projects is cooking up will do well. I don't think they're going to shut down the studios that don't produce an ultra hit, but I imagine they'll just move on to their next project. Any studio worth a damn already has other concepts/projects in incubation, or in various stages of production, so if the worst happens, and the studio is still financially strong (one of the benefits of being owned by a larger entity with billions of dollars at their disposal is that you have a chance for some stability in spite of a set back), the team can roll on to a new project, which will hopefully perform better in the market.

It's one of the most stressful and anxiety inducing aspects of working in the industry; not knowing if the game you've put so much blood, sweat, tears, and work life balance into, will actually be received well enough for you to keep coming in to work and doing what you love. Even at my current studio, where things have been wonderful, I still wrestle with that, "Welp, what if this bombs and the money dries up?" fear that loves to creep in from the sides from time to time.

Oh yeah, I wouldn't say that Sony was bad at MP, just that there seemed to be this kind of self-fulfilling prophecy among the community of gamers in relation to Sony MP. To be fair, Killzone 2, Resistance 1 and 2, Warhawk, and Uncharted 2, for example, had some pretty excellent MP. It's just that, because a lot of people bought into the idea that Sony's MP efforts weren't that great, a lot of those games didn't reach the heights that they could have, which in turn, fed the perception that their efforts were poor, rinse and repeat. I'm not even a big MP fan, but I was addicted to aforementioned games for ages, and I think what they needed more than anything was a change in perception, not necessarily a rework of their MP offerings (I'd kill to have Warhawk revived, for example. Or a Killzone 2 Remaster/Remake with MP intact).

But with the success of the PS4 and PS5, on top of the strength of Sony's 1st party output, largely due to their "prestige" titles coming from ND, SP, GG, Insomniac, etc, I think audiences might be more inclined to give their new MP offerings a shot, and as a result, I think at least one of them will ultimately do very, very well for them.
A great post, I agree with most of it. What's interesting is that Naughty Dog are likely to be first out of the gate on their live service titles and with the studio's pedigree, plus the overall IP strength, I wouldn't be surprised if that becomes the multiplayer hit that lands in a big way. It's certainly a lot to follow for new studios and teams developing original IP in a crowded FPS market.

Despite that, sometimes having established IP can be a hindrance. Look at what happened with Battlefield, where the developers (some of which are on this forum) delivered a unique vision for a Battlefield that a lot of core fans didn't enjoy (me included). Developers work on these projects for many years and it's a hard ask to expect them to churn out incredibly similar products creatively. So sometimes these creative minds need to stretch their wings and do something different, which on existing IP can cause huge amounts of negativity and ultimately financial loss for publishers. I understand why the mental health of developers and pressure to crunch is as bad as it is.

On your final point about perception, that's where I really don't agree. The PS3 era was my most plugged in generation for multiplayer because of my age and life commitments, as well as the number of friends I had who'd actively play those types of games. It's an incredibly crowded space and the likes of Killzone and Resistance just weren't at the standard to succeed. If you only owned a PS3 then yes, Killzone 2 was great. If you owned a 360 then why would you play Killzone 2 over Halo 3? And that's not factoring in the general strength of titles like Modern Warfare, Team Fortress 2, Counter Strike, Gears of War. There were just so many excellent, industry changing PVP titles and the stuff Sony released was interesting, quirky, but never mainstream for a reason. My two favourite attempts were Warhawk and Socom Confrontation, the former genuinely unique and used the controller well, the latter just a solid attempt at reviving some of the Socom 2 magic. It was never as good, but it hit the nostalgia in my brain well enough to keep me playing.
 

boltz

Banned
Feb 15, 2023
2,483
Hoping to beat Horizon Forbidden West (main game.) Might also socialize IRL (oh no /o\ .)

It's gonna be Ghostwire Tokyo and/or GT7.

Hopefully gonna finish the behemoth that is Persona 5 Royal. The last palace feels really long

Final Fantasy VI, Forspoken, Burning Shores, Wonder Boy aka way too many games lol

I hope I can finish off Mass Effect 2. There is still the Arrival DLC left.

Well Im basically at the point of no return for Mass Effect 2, done everything else up to that point, so I'll be finishing that game for sure.
More SFVI no doubt, booted the demo for some CPU Vs stuff and quickly remember why I loved the beta so much, its going to be amazing.
Plus RE4 REmake, MH Rise and maybe start Tchia as well. So much to play!
Great taste in video games guys.
 

J 0 E

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,275
I could be imagining things but I can't shake the feeling that Final Fantasy's classic theme is low key playing during the intro of YoshiP before the show begins.

youtu.be

Final Fantasy XVI - State of Play 4K | PS5 Games

State of Play returns with an extended look at Final Fantasy XVI, the highly anticipated action-RPG arriving on PS5 June 22. Check out the all-new gameplay, ...
 

SuperBoss

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,531

tok9

Prophet of Truth
Member
Nov 2, 2017
1,995
Its not a complete gamble considering Herman and co. have been seeing this game for a while and must feel like its shaping up well. Though obviously its not a complete slam dunk like buying CoD.

I wouldn't call it a gamble to acquire a studio they've been partnering with for years, Sony clearly likes how their game is coming along and how the studio operates, otherwise they wouldn't do this. Really the only gamble would be to found a new studio from scratch, but it appears that Sony lets studios do that independently and then makes the acquisition. They did that with Haven, Savage (although Sony didn't announce a partnership with them before the acquisition) and now Firewalk.

Sorry was real busy yesterday and couldn't get back to this. I agree it is not a total gamble at all, obviously there are relations and check ins on these things.

However you're still talking about brand new studios who have never released something and their games are live service, something Sony has not really been involved or had a great track record in so far. For the relatively small investment and potential benefits of just one of these pulling off, it'll be worth it but if I was working at one of these studios, I just think I'd be feeling the pressure as 1-2 duds and I don't think they'll be sticking around too long in that space unfortunately.
 

BoJack

Banned
Apr 4, 2018
3,502
Do you think the upcoming showcase has the chance to top the 2016 E3 conference? I honestly do. Obviously not in terms of presentation. Nothing will beat that opening. I'm talking about the content and games that are going to be in the showcase
 

SuperBoss

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,531
Random HelloFresh ad with a PS5 in the background for some reason lmao

Screenshot-20230417-211521-Reddit.jpg
 

jroc74

Member
Oct 27, 2017
28,997
What's everyone playing this weekend?
Finally going to finish Forbidden West to play Burning Shores.

Glad I did it this way because I have to re-learn most of the controls, lol.

But...I was not expecting to get the flying mount and basically uncover all undiscovered areas of the map. I spent most of last night looking for undiscovered camp fires.
 

modiz

Member
Oct 8, 2018
17,845
Around 2 hours into the Burning Shores expansion, and it is excellent. It gives the sense of a blockbuster film, and it's by far the best thing I've seen on console yet, and I was catching up to some side FW content for the past week ahead of the expansion to prepare, so I had a visual point of reference.
 

jroc74

Member
Oct 27, 2017
28,997
IDK why studios engage with people like this.

Clearly 0 critical thinking, concern trolling, or something in between.

Agree. At a glance you cant tell if its concern trolling or actual fans. Then fanboyism for or against gets so extreme....

Around 2 hours into the Burning Shores expansion, and it is excellent. It gives the sense of a blockbuster film, and it's by far the best thing I've seen on console yet, and I was catching up to some side FW content for the past week ahead of the expansion to prepare, so I had a visual point of reference.
This is another reason why I'm glad I waited.
 

Angie

Best Avatar Thread Ever!
Member
Nov 20, 2017
39,487
Kingdom of Corona
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Capture_decran_2023-04-21_a_12.png



Yeah i think we could see their games this year
Seems like it.

I had the opportunity to spend a week at the studio back in 2020 just days before the pandemic started recording some videos for their website, i got to see the game in it's early stages too, pretty cool team of very talented people working there, can't wait to see how the game is looking now, must be really close to be announced.
 
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