Video: Starfield Analysis Breaks Down Xbox Games Showcase Demo

Totally what I’ve said since the showcase
Environmentally outside poor no environmental life within trees, foliage and weather systems etc.

Is this truly a top end AAA after all these years in development and new generation only.
I don’t think so Xbox.

The PS4 does a better job outside with HFW
The Xbox one does a better job with far cry 6.

Xbox have Playground games, Turn 10 and the Coalition that are capable of true AAA in all areas.
Though Playground games with FH5 are the only ones to show this with a game so far.

The out come will be the same as last generation when all said and done third place 🥉, maybe with some minor gains.

The only way to make massive gains will be to release true all round top end AAA games that the general public want and also make COD Xbox exclusive.

God, I can't wait for this. I'm gonna sink so much time into this game. Gonna truly be a defining moment in gaming just like oblivion and skyrim was. In an industry with so much repetition and same-y games year after year, except in the indie scene, a game like this will be a welcomed site!

This is a fantastic technical look at the game from Michael, who is one of the brightest technical minds analysing game engines today. Every bit as informed as any of them at Digital Foundry, and I say that with huge respect having worked and talked game tech with Richard Leadbetter when we both worked for EA in the late 90s. If you utube, you might want to see his home channel 'nx gamer'.
Im going to admit im dissapointed, but not surprised they are sticking with their creation engine, as its not as technically proficient as many other modern engines, and im convinced we wont even get a 60fps option on that engine (hope im wrong) . However, it is optimised for the kind of branching story naritive system that will be the main draw of this title, and is already full of great tools a modding community can really get creative with, so I can see why they went with it.
In common with many long term developed game engines, code is often built on what went before, so some engine foibles are sometimes through older gen hardware having helped guide the code. I suspect this is why Micheal mentions Xbox one. I worked with a fifa engine which still had sega megadrive code in it 10 years after that gen. You took that code out and the animation system didnt work any more for any target platform! 😂 Obviously, the fifa engine has had at least 2 rewrites since then.

I cant pretend I wasn't dissapointed with what we saw of starfield, in that I dont think they have been very ambitious in many areas (no aliens, janky combat with ballistics only etc). But... now Im more comfortable with what it is, rather than what I wanted it to be, I still think we could get a great adventure with good writting, and im hopeful for improvements in other areas too. Id rather be optomistic than pessimistic for this title now I have more of an idea what it will be! I really hope they deliver..

@SplooshDmg Castlevania SOTN is one of my favorite games of all time, and I LOVE metroidvania type games. I always see people rave about Hollow Knight, but I have never played it. I'm wondering if I should give it a go.

@SplooshDmg I HAVE played many of Team Ladybugs games, Record of Lodoss War and Luna Nights to name a few.

Can't really blame Xbox one for the game not looking or running great when it's not even being developed for it lol then you look at games like tlou2 & hfw that released on PS4 & still look stunning

what is the point in doing a performance preview of an unfinished game ? just for more click bait

you cant judge a book by its cover and you cant judge a game by its graphics

@Dezzy70

Have you ever played a Bethesda game?

Not a single game they have ever released has been AAA in terms of graphics, performance, etc.

Every single one has always been dwarfed int his departments by other studios.

To add, they are always so far behind that they're a literal meme, especially Gamebryo.

The closest to techbically impressive they ever were was with Arena and Daggerfall where it would literally take days and weeks of real life time to traverse. And even that was ruined because it was all randomly generates stuff and mostly empty.

So in short, your bothered that Bethesda is doing what Bethesda does? Are you going to be surprised when it launches buggy, like all Bethesda games before?

@InterceptorAlpha
I guess not but expected better for a new generation game and time has moved on for Bethesda and this game has been in development for a long time.
Another big Xbox AAA let down like Halo Infinite then AAA graphically wise, especially environmentally etc.

@Titntin What possible relevance and connection could the 2d MegaDrive animation system have to later 3d entries? Was it essentially an abstract controller that was left over from the MegaDrive days?

@SplooshDmg
I’m do not disagree with the type of game it is or what it sets out to give gamers gameplay wise, that maybe be very good.
But just if HFW and Far cry 6 and ACV can be open world with some outstanding amazing interaction environments and environmentally beauty and effectS and foliage wind, weather effects, stunning water etc, the list goes on.
They why can’t Starfield look that why in its own right with its own type of game and gameplay.

It just a poor excuse, to look last generation and bland outside environments and effect wise. This is supposed to be a new generation game only.

It can still be a role playing game and look new generation with all the bells and whistles.

@Raffles Ill be honest, Im not at all sure.. I was only doing a technical animators job getting some motion sets into the engine, but I obviously conversed with the coders regularly and we discussed the engines issues. I was advised that the code base was like a tangled ball of string, and if you pulled at the bit you wanted to clip out, it affected things elsewhere in the code that you had no idea were connected..

@SplooshDmg
I get what you are saying.
Guess I just have expectations when it comes to moving forward with each big AAA game and how they should impress and improve visually be it environmentally, effects wise and weather systems etc.
Even if one game is a different type to another.
FH5 has set the benchmark for me open world racer wise I will not accept nothing less the same HFW has open world game wise.
All others including Starfield and Redfall should be there or dam close environmentally and effects wise etc. I want the best environmentally to explore be it driving or on foot or third person or fps.
I don’t expect the next god of war or the next gears of war to look sub par and they both won’t for sure as those studios know how to do it right.
The same with FM from Turn 10.
The same with next far cry the list goes on.
Halo Infinite so disappointed in that environment graphical department it was sad.
I did enjoy a bit but it should have been so much more being open world and six years in development.
It should have been ion par with HFW open world wise and graphically and diversity and biomes in the open world.
Instead it was bland and dull to explore after the initial hour in the open world.

@Dezzy70 Mostly I just keep hearing that you really dislike Bethesda games, and wanted it to be not a Bethesda game and therefore Xbox is ruined because the promised Bethesda game is indeed a Bethesda game after all Meanwhile everyone that likes bethesda games is foaming at the mouth waiting for the first new one since FO4. (We don't talk about 76.)

Ubisoft open worlds for example don't let you move, pick up and interact with almost every single object in the game including stealing it, with NPC reactions to that going on. The world itself is bigger and more animated but you can interact with it far less. They don't have physics systems applying to almost every object in the game. That massively bogs down memory, CPU, etc. It's just a really different kind of game.

You envy a more realistic LOOKING world that you can interact with in a less realistic, more spectator way. Bethesda games tend to forego LOOKING as realistic as possible, while focusing on interaction with the world being ever more realistic.

@Titntin I think Bethesda is just permanently stuck on Gamebryo/Creation. If they were ever going to change that time was between Morrowind and Oblivion. Not changing then, pretty much tied them to the tech since they're dependent on their internal tools to deal with the scope they work with and that's all tied to Gamebryo/Creation. Sucks, but it's just what we have to expect with Bethesda. At least visually they have id helping out on the engine tech now, and it's their own engine now, but I don't think they can ever escape the inefficiency of Gamebryo, really. It'll always be brute forced. But if they had to redo the engine we'd get TESVI on Windows 19

@NEStalgia
Well I just think it could look a whole lot better environmental wise. Halo Infinite was the same and everyone made silly excuses in my own opinion.
They just need to get more graphically involved and intense environments and effects wise.
There is no excuse in my opinion be it Bethesda or not.
You can see in the game internal environments and near the outside of the space stations etc that the graphical ability and programming is there and capable. But outside environmentally the effort has not been put in. So there is no excuse.
They need to improve there game engine probably tweaking towards environmental effects, foliage weather interaction etc.
How many years have they been making this game.

@SplooshDmg
Ok maybe a bit harsh comparing 343i with Bethesda.
I just wanted the game to be the gameplay it will probably be but have the graphical environments wow factor that is always amazing to explore and drives me to discover new areas and be wowed in every AAA graphical way.
This is what I wanted from my Starfield and my Xbox Series x, remembering this is a new generation game only, no last generation to deal with. I just thought it would look better.
If I have to wonder around in a stagnant un remarkable, still and boring environment I will have no wish to explore.

@Dezzy70 Halo Infinite is a let down not because of the graphics, but because the base game is broken.

I'm just confused why you would think Bethesda would ever go for graphics. Starfield has been in development for ages for multiple platforms. Just because a couple of last gen platforms were removed doesn't mean the game isn't still held back by them.

That was the goal post to aim for and everything after will experience the effects of that.

It sounds like your issue lies more in the fact that you don't understand how the videogame development process works.

On top of that, your argument heavily leans on the fact that your opinion is that a desert planet should be covered in foliage, which is strange to say the least.

Of the total 5 seconds we've seen of any planets with vegetation, it looks about why I'd expect for something that was held back by initial plans for last gen support.

Man, as a predominantly PC Gamer, I'd miss out on so many good games if I was as picky on graphics as you are. The the lions share of game releases do not look good. 😂

@SplooshDmg
I actually do like the idea of Starfield and love exploring, but I want to explore and discover in beautiful looking planets with gorgeous effects that’s all and environmental wonder.
I was genuinely looking forward to that.

As for Xbox year, I’m not sure they will have a year for me, they have the odd game now FH5 and will have the odd future game gears of war, but what I was hoping for was more, like the Starfield graphical wise I wanted or the Halo environment graphically I wanted.
Let’s hope fable and perfect dark come up to my graphical expectations, else Xbox are slowly losing it for me.
Which is cool it leaves me with PS5 and Switch BOTW2.

@Dezzy70 Bethesda games are not about graphics, full stop. They never have been. They never will be. Their budget and time go into other aspects of the game, and a lot of what they do isn't done by any other studio, save, maybe CDPR (and we know how that turns out, lol.)

I just think you have a predermined idea of what you think a game is about, and it mostly comes down to graphics. But then you consider Switch titles AAA, so IDK....

@SplooshDmg hit it right, most would call Spiderman "AAA" because of the visuals and animations, but honestly it's a small, stagnant environment with repetitive activities and is rediculously non-interactive. It's a painted backdrop and little more. Skyrim is a decade older and 1000x more interactive with infinite (albeit wonky) physics while Spiderman is pretty much glued together set pieces. So a prettier Skyrim? What's not next gen about that?

Even in Sonyland, I'd say their best games have not been their graphical showpieces that market well.

Your TL;DR is you're a graphics snob and equate visuals with quality....which makes you normal....mainstream......casual

(But then you follow it up with BOTW2.... I mean even Starfield looks visually 100x better than BOTW and I'm a guy with a Zelda avatar...... )

@InterceptorAlpha
See the desert in HFW the odd plant but sand swirling round, mini tornados sweeping stand.
Sand deformation on impact.
Massive robots Dinosaurs with detail giving it large. 😂😂😂
It’s the whole thing in the environment and how you make the most of effects that go with that environment and your actions that take some impact on the environment, even if it is a desert.

They need to do better and that’s is that for me.
And sales will show that, but there won’t be many sales because of game pass and no games charts will show it on line or in the shops game charts and no average gamer and general public will ever know about Starfield as Xbox won’t have much PR behind it anyway.

@NEStalgia
Switch is a strange beast for me
Now if Xbox studios delivers a game of BOTW, Mario Odyssey and MK8 quality game play wise that grabs you buy the balls and makes you wanna play and explore and has those pure game mechanics and persistent urge to see what’s next or what new play mechanics are next that are produced second to none then I will make love to my Series x 😂😂😂 because they have no chance of pulling that off for sure.
Also Nintendo graphically do the best they can with the power they have.
Xbox studios don’t apart from FH5 for the time of release.

@SplooshDmg
Always had a pro controller for switch would not play any other way.

@SplooshDmg
Yes it is good to have. I don’t think I would have enjoyed say BOTW or Mario Odyssey as much without a pro controller.

@SplooshDmg
Just to show I am not all mean about Xbox.

I think they made the best console design wise and customer focused wise and form factor wise and a bit more powerful is good as well for full multiplatform games native 4K wise.

Even though the duel sense features are good fun sometimes, I think the Xbox controller is better and suits me with the thumb sticks off set and the triggers are better and it’s just ergonomically laid out better.

The console features GUI wise, like quick resume etc are brilliant.

Better VRR enabled at lower fresh rate.

Dolby vision and atmos and I find 4k blu ray player better play back wise.

Game pass is great in its own way.

But we all know my but, new big AAA games the only thing for me that lets the whole Xbox game eco system down.

@SplooshDmg indeed. My top 3 games this year are Triangle Strategy, Tunic, and TMNT Shredder’s Revenge. All amazing games, vastly different, and have small budgets. Kudos to those devs!

@SplooshDmg
One day I will have my dream all games on one device, then we will live as one 😊

@SplooshDmg absolute classic. You’ll enjoy it. The foliage isn’t really life-like, and the next-gen weather systems aren’t anything to write home about, but the gameplay is top notch, even without the triple-double A budget. 👍

@Dezzy70 You’re looking at things from a pretty closed minded point of view and not taking into account the life this will have outside of its initial release too - the modding.

Tbh other than a couple of NPC faces I don’t really get the concerns over the graphics. I personally think it looks great and is a clear step up over bethesdas previous games. Particularly animation.
I dig the sterile 70’s sci-fi look…I did with Mass effect too.
I have zero doubts that the vast majority of main quest rout will have you visiting plenty of life-rich detail filled planets/environments. That will easily match their previous out put. I don’t really know why this would be a concern.

The optional planets will be…optional. There to add a sense of scale, wonder, and add hugely to the setting and atmosphere of the game as a whole…regardless of if there’s very little on those planets.

The weather effects I don’t know why you’d be concerned about. Fallout 4 has some great weather effects.

We already see we’ll go up against alien creatures. I’m sure they’ll be intelligent alien races along the way too.

And the thought of what the modders could bring to the game has plenty of potential. I just hope the Xbox version gets full mod support. Try playing fallout 4 with mods…it’s pretty transformative. They’ve improved visuals. Sound. Even weather effects. Imagine what they could do with those empty planets. This is the reason why Starfield is using an updated version of that engine…and not a completely new one. We will be reaping rewards for that choice for years to come

@SplooshDmg haha that's awesome that you're starting to get along with switch. Avoid Falcom and rune factory 5 and the fps shouldn't be too bad!

Meanwhile I got my kishi2 and a used phone to make an Xbox/PS4 streaming switch and it's working pretty well! Almost got a switch lite just for the smaller form factor but went with the kishi 2 setup for now.

@Dezzy70 That's a mental image I didn't need

With Bethesda I've always felt they're more cpu bound. They're just managing so many world objects with physics and npc reaction and hidden metrics etc. Their games are world simulations more than just pretty games. That's why they're so long lived with so much modding.

@Dezzy70 Ah. I thought I was talking to someone that was actually criticizing the game. In which point you have no ground to stand as very frequently there are amazing sellers with poor graphics. Geeze, Skyrim still rakes in money despite not even looking good for a 2011 game.

The latter part of your comments shows instead you're simply criticizing the fact that this is an Xbox game

In that point, there's no reason to continue talking. Thankfully the ignore button is easily accessible.

@SplooshDmg Yeah departure r is really good!

Omg, age of calamity is awful. Nintendo stans will defend it to no end but it's just sooo bad! I also thought the demo was promising but the game is just so awful....

I do have to say fe warriors 1 was the best musou I've played to date. I only tried the demo for 2, so many other games right now but it seemed good. I'm all in on xc3 at the moment though. Followed by Splatoon 3. Where the splooshes are. And bayo3. And live a live....

@SplooshDmg I'm a fool believing in star ocean after the travesty that came before. It's like Sonic fans,I know....

The thing with the XC series is that each game is totally stand alone, but also plugs into a central connected story. I'm not nearly far enough into 3 yet to know how it connects, but I know it does.

The way 1 and 2 work, they are totally different places, with totally different casts. Both events are actually occurring in parallel at the same time. There's a moment at the end of 2 that you actually hear Shulks final battle beginning, but can't see it. The events are connected in the larger meta story very deeply and yet that connection affects none of the individual story of 2 itself.

In 1 you don't actually find out the plot twist of the meta story until the "true ending", it's a post credits omgwtf event. But that event is a big part of what's going on in 2 long before you know it is and that last 1/4 of 2 directly relates to it, but you don't need to have played 1 to enjoy that part either. 3 definitely opens with strong hints at a connection. The starting base is called "colony 9" a direct reference to shulks starting town in 1, that the mobile platform, Feronis, bears more than a passing resemblance to the Mechon of Mechonis in 1.... There's clearly some big tie in going on. But if you play them out if order 1 and 2 should be fine. Not sure about 3 yet but probably true.

It's fun when you understand the references and how the affect the meta story and reveal answers to questions in prior games, yet still enjoyable without knowing that. Could be spoilers for prior games though.

@InterceptorAlpha
I’m criticising the game I don’t care who owns or makes the game or what company it is just like I criticised Sony and Nintendo games before and other studio games.

@Bleachedsmiles
I’m just gonna what and see when it releases
Have game pass so will get to play on my series x with a 65” tv and Dolby Atmos Sound system.
So that should show it at its best visual and sound wise for me.
I believe it will be running at native 4K at 30fps.

@Dezzy70 Sounds like you’ve a sweet setup. And that’s the best thing isn’t it, it will be part of your gamepass sub… the option to try it without having to spend £70 is there.

@Bleachedsmiles
Of course game pass is great for that type of thing and other things.
Me set up is good, I’m finding having real rear speakers, that the sound makes the game a lot more engaging and I could not live without the rear sounds, it would take away from the full gaming experience.

@Dezzy70 Yeah sound adds so much. That’s why I’ve invested in some decent headphones this gen.

@themightyant I think it's still on game pass so maybe I'll have to check it out.

@SplooshDmg I mean just because Sonic Boom, Sonic Forces, Sonic Fire & Ice, Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Lost World, and Sonic '06 were bad, doesn't mean Sonic Frontiers might not be the game we've been waiting for, right?! I believe in Star Ocean!

Yeah XC....it's not Legend of Heroes, it's not like it's a congruent story where one leads into the next, it's separate isolated stories that are all connected by a central set of events, and while that set of events is actually the foundation upon which all of the different locations and events are built, none of the individual stories depend on knowledge of that event, I'd say "lore" but it's more than lore, in the first one it's an answer to questions that raises tons of new questions after the credits roll. In the second one it's a significant quarter of the game that retroactively explains other things in both the second and first game, however if you never played the first game, it wouldn't matter, and if you played the first game I don't think it would affect it beyond the sudden post credits twist not having impact beyond "aha, now I see how that fits in there."

Oh and there's Torna (DLC for 2 that's also sold separately, that's a prequel, it tells the story of a few characters in 2 and the events that happened 200 years before that they talk heavily about.) It, by itself is a full JRPG, just more of a 60+ hour RPG rather than a 120+ hour RPG, so arguably XC3 is XC4. And supposedly it will also get a huge DLC that may or may not be as big as Torna, but that's not until December 2023 (it's included in the DLC bundle now like how FH does it.)

Poor XCX is forgotten on the WiiU, probably never to be revived. It's a spinoff.

One thing I'll say with 1: The remake is great, it makes it look and handle largely like 2. But not matter what you do to it, it's still a Wii era game that plays like a PS360 era game. Meaning the map and navigation can be AWFUL, you can spend an hour trying to find a spot that the map says should be "RIGHT FREAKING HERE!?!" and it's not because you missed that there's some tunnel somewhere that went under to a lower layer somewhere and there's no way to notice the little ledge that can't be seen from above. And side quests is 100% just MMO fetch quests in an empty server (offline.)

2 OTOH has the stupid Pokemon HM system on the gatcha blades which they never tell you! I got ability-gated in a cave mid-way through and had to go back and grind up Pokeblades because I had no idea the "HM" abilities existed. And the side quests while much improved from 1 are infuriating because they don't tell you where they are, what to do, or that you need to complete 1, or more to unlock the conditions for another one, and quests you pick up in chapter 2 might not even be completable until chapter 12. And many side quests are locked behind picking up specific Pokeblades. Combat in 2 is the best in the series (so far) but they don't explain it. At all. There's one tutorial where they charge up the full burst, tell you to push the button and that's it....they explain nothing about the very complicated battle system. But don't get me wrong, I adore the game. (FYI the "Pokeblades" gatcha system is kind of a monster collecting/demon fusion side thing that turns out it's not a side thing it's integral to the game, and the game never tells you.)

3 so far has normal navigation, normal questing, and the tutorials tried to fix telling you NOTHING in 2 by telling you at a per-button-push-level how to buy gear. How to equip gear. How to open your map. How to attack from behind. How to open a treasure container. How to follow the waypoint. How to set abilities. Though the combat tutorial is welcome after playing 40 hours of XC2 having no idea most of the battle system, and gatcha system even existed.

Don't get me wrong, I adore the whole series, but those are the annoyances to be wary of going in. The first game has the most left turn plot twists, and tightest main cast, but the worst combat and navigation. The second game has the best battle system (once you learn it exists), and less plot twists but a few awesome ones. The third one, I"m really feeling it. But it's too soon to compare, there's like 110 hours to go.

@themightyant @SplooshDmg You power washing people are nuts....I finished the van out of curiosity, mostly to test my Kishi 2, and thought "what am I DOING with my time?!"

I know its fashionable to hate Bethesda now days but personally i like alot of their games and am looking forward to Starfield

@themightyant I have a whole world of VR chores just waiting for you guys to "play"

The overarching link in XB is kind of brilliant though, because it's a minimal part of the story, technically, and yet it informs 100% of them, actually, so when you know it, you see everything differently, and it's all designed well so it all makes sense within that larger arc. Even X, the spinoff fits nicely in that arc. It's minimal while being quietly maximal. It's always there as part of all aspects of the games, but not knowing it is doesn't affect the face-value of the story. I can't think of any other series that has a meaningful metaplot that allows each game to have both a face-value story, and the full story under the surface, without actually creating plot holes in the process. Shockingly good planning at Monolith.

@SplooshDmg Yeah I played the first one on 3DS (because, of course the Wii version was limited print in the US, and GameStop upped the price as used, so it basically never existed here.) It was.....ok?....on N3DS. It definitely would have been more enjoyable in the definitive edition. I have that too, and it's so much nicer, but I couldn't get myself to play through the whole game again just after 2 and Torna, and now 3 is out.

I'm the minority opinion on Metroid Dread. Most people seem to loooove it. And don't get me wrong, it's great to have a proper 2D metroid again, I love 2D more than Prime. But I think the game is too short, too linear, too few things to find other than rocket capacity increases, and has way too many miniboss fights where the end of the game is all boss battles and little exploration. And the Dread/Emmi gimmick, while cool, wears itself out very quickly and breaks the flow of the actual gameplay where it's mostly "run through room, avoid OHKO from hidden enemy until you memorize layout, still OHKO die to RNG deaths, then squeak through". Half the game's length is just doing that.

I know Super is the standard, and it's only a few hours at best, but somehow I expected more exploration and a bigger adventure from Dread. It's well made, it's good, but it's smaller than hoped, shorter than hoped, and way too boss-combat focused for Metroid. I'd give it a 7 which becomes an 8 due to "first new Metroid in 100 years." Also that final boss is one of the worst BS fights I've ever played in a video game, and I will never replay the game for that reason alone.

Mercury Steam said Nintendo cut content from the game. I assume it must not have been great content, but I can't help feel that the game is just "too streamlined" for its own good and would have felt like a much more satisfying game with that missing content.

@SplooshDmg Yeah it's not that it's bad, but it's less than it could or should have been. Not even because it fails at anything because it's just too safe and not as explorative is it probably should have been. And all those bosses.

The last boss is just bad though. Incredibly bad.

But yeah this weeb year is insane. I've never seen so many JRPGs launching all within months like this, combined with so many in the backlog from the past. It's unreal!

@SplooshDmg I'm dumber, I bought P5 TYH collectors, then bought P5R, and have still not PLAYED P5 yet! So I'll be playing that for the first time on GP (not giving them $60 again for the same freaking game.)

The good news is when the game market crashes and PS6 costs $1000 I'll have endless stuff to play on my old consoles.

Heck, now that I built that Kishi setup, I set one of my old PS4's up and realized the huge collection of games I've yet to play on there! Detroit, yes, but also, Tokyo Xanada, TCS4 (might play Switch or PS, not sure yet), TCS2 (jumped into 3 because Switch), Ys9 (bought on Switch, runs HORRIBLY bad), Dark cloud 2 (never got back to that), Last Remnant, Fist of the Northstar, Medievil remake I have to finish, one of the Star oceans, can't remember which one. My old launch PS4 is going to get 4x the use of my PS5 just due to streaming to Kishi. I finally found Switch Pro!

But...then Switch is hitting me over the head with so many exclusive must plays. And Soul Hackers 2 is definitely a "stream from XSS game" along with the new Star Ocean. There is not enough time in life for all these video games! And then P3 and P4or drop in winter or so. Never played 3...4 I wouldn't mind playing again. And that doesn't include ANY of the western games. Starfield I'm going to lose my mind, I still have to finsish HzD before HFW...not super worried about GoWR. Still haven't finished 1, it got boring, and it's so far back on my backlog PS6 will be out and it'll be free on Essentials by the time I play it. Oh shoot I forgot Stray. And that doesn't even cover the FF releases, though I'm worried about 16. And AI som 2 once it gets good sales.

@SplooshDmg Ubisoft is such a sad tale. They were once at the top of the creativity list, and went in every crazy direction. Now Michel Ancel ran off to live in the woods and talk to his space monkeys.

I still think it was the attempted Vivendi hostile takeover that ruined them and they never recovered. They restructured everything to fend that bid off and what came out of it was one giant cookie cutter game and chasing every business trend that arrived. They didn't really survive going public. So many companies it's lousy leaders, but Ubi's the one company that benefits from it's original founder and lead dev still running the company....but...so much business necessity got in the way of being a good studio, and it ruined them. I'd like to think they can fix that, but the hole they dug is just so huge. And they spent so much money on doomed projects.

I'm the same with Sony's output. I like much of it, but I end up backlogging all of it and never playing it behind other 3rd party stuff most of the time. Although, I really do like Horizon, that one got backlogged mostly because it's a huge game and there's either something I'm super hyped for, or I just don't have time to truly sink into it. GoW....I honestly just feel it's overhyped. It's good, but it has huge problems that nobody talks about. The old GoW games were more fun to me. We'll see with Ragnarok. And...well I just don't care about Marvel anything, like at all. Guardians was amazing, but anything else is bland.

I'm ok with 7R, it's not what I wanted, but it's ok at what it is all the same. But FF16....I know we haven't seen a lot of it, and I know a lot of people put a lot of faith in Yoshi P, but everything I've seen of 16 so far looks not just bland but outright bad. Every time I see 16 I want to go play 13 and 15 again. A fairly linear, western-dark/Witcher, single character partyless DMC-like action slasher called FF? From what little we know so far on it, I'd frankly have to give it a long and deep thought if I'd actually start it up if it were free on Game Pass. I'm hoping it's better in reality than the pre-hype seems, because that's just....not good looking. It might be cool as a new IP, but not an FF mainline game. I doubt it will be a better DMC than DMCv or Bayo3. Or Nier Automata for that matter. FF with copious amounts of blood is just....wrong.

And yeah, I'm worried about DQ....really worried about DQ. DQ has always been quietly really dark, though, but also cheerful. Going "more adult" just sounds like a bad idea.

Kind of like in XC, the Noppon (furries) have always been extra-cute and "annoying", but that's the whole charm of them. Rikki is a total weeb in the worst ways in XC2, and that's what's great about him. But in XC3, in the west we now get Noppon that sound like serious humans because westerners just hatted the "annoying" "cringe" Noppon.... bah! It's only at that time that I consider turning Japanese audio on.

SE is just so unpredictable. What they do is never what you think is sane to do, and it usually blows up on them, and then they do it again. People say they want Sony to buy them....but imagine how bad they'd be just cranking out the blockbusters and cutting the actual good games out?

@NEStalgia I've said it once and I'll say it again, Square Enix was the Pinnacle of JRPGs when they were just Square and Sakaguchi was there. Square in the 90s was unmatched, and put out bangers in extremely quick succession (Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, and FF6 were 18 months apart between the 3 of them). That is insane. Sakaguchi leaving and Enix merging with them in 2003, and the first game with the name on it being FFX-2 ... it's been all down hill since.

@J_Mo_Money Yep, that's pretty much everything right there.

What I don't get is how they managed to go downhill like that. I get that Sakaguchi was FF, but it's not like nobody else was involved. You had Sugiura and Takahashi, Nomura (still there), how could they possibly get it all so wrong? You had FFXIII where they couldn't even agree on what FF was, and said it wasn't an RPG and they tried to make a "new type of game." More recently you had Nomura saying KH wasn't about Disney + FF and that was just for building the brand. You had Yoshi P defining what FF was as basically "the best visuals and sound and highest quality production" or something like that. How can the former top of the line JRPG studio not even be able to agree that their flagship JRPG brand is a JRPG?!

Meanwhile Sakaguchi's stuck on Apple, and Sugiura & Takahashi are rolling out their 5th Xeno game in 7 years while also working on Zelda, Mario, and Kirby, and each one keeps getting better.....

@SplooshDmg Yeah. Well, not even "exclusive to Sony", it's the big ones in general I think. There aren't that many exclusive and even the very questionable Forespoken isn't a permanent exclusive. And that weird FF spinoff thing was on Xb too. But you're right the big ones fit the "sony image" Or is it that Sony games try to fit the '00's Square image which kind of created the Sony image? IDK, to me Japan Studio was the Sony image and that's long gone thanks to Ol' Scotchy.

And there's no question that if Sony were to buy Square that weird Nintendo content, their best stuff, gets canned in favor of even more blockbuster FF. FF would become Sony's CoD. And it would all look like Dissidia NT.

But I don't see that buyout happening because of that. All Sony really wants is FF, and they already have that with exclusivity contracts. They probably don't care about DQ anymore since that's not as big outside Japan and Sony isn't all that interested in Japan. Maybe they care about KH. But no reason to buy the whole companies for a few IPs they practically already own. It would be like Nintendo buying Game Freak...just....there's no point.

That said, if the alternative is Tencent and netease.....I think I'd rather have Sony buy it and make it an FF factory. At least I'd get occasional games I might play with on Plus rather than whatever Tencent/Netease will reach into my pocket for. I'm sure FF running at 15fps with no actual towns for $150 on a $1500 PS7 will be a fun time waster and impulse buy.

@NEStalgia because it wasnt so much a merger as Square bleeding money from Spirits within and Enix essentially took the reigns. Gimme back the old Square, yo!

@SplooshDmg SoP will be on GP, guaranteed, IMO.

I can't tell how much of it is Sony pulling them in as second party and how much of it is just palm rubbing. Forespoken feels Sony in every way to the point that I never remember it's Square. But the FF games and the limited timed kinda until the better version is on Nintendo DQ? IDK. I think Sony just wants FF because so much of their legacy is built on FF. They don't really seem to care about much else. And not even all FF, just the biggest ones (otherwise SoP and Crisis Core wouldn't be multiplat.)

I suspect KH4 will be PS exclusive. I also suspect it will be total garbage like 3.... I'm not sure it will sell well. A lot of fans seem jaded after 3. And Nomura seems to think it's just a Disney game without any FF in it (Which I've translated as meaning Disney told them to take their weeb trash and keep it to themselves if they want the license.) If I were Jim, I'd save my money for a few more bottles of Glen. It'll be worth more in a few years .

I can't imagine "new Adult" DQ12 is being built for Nintendo. Just the whole conversation around it has Sony "Sam Eagle" tentacles all over it to me. It would be interesting if it were Nintendo though.

If FFXVII is a Switch 2 game that looks like a launch PS4 game and was co-developed with Monolith, the people that actually know WTF FF actually is supposed to be, I will pay the $125 asking price on launch day! Actually X and XII were co-developed with Monolith before Nintendo bought them. We can tell right about when they and Sakaguchi stopped, can't we?

INB4 Reggie joins SE's board.

@SplooshDmg Are -=NEW=- FF players weebs though? Seems like they're making it a "cool" series for dude bros like the 360 all over again AI som is for weebs. Persona is for weebs. Anything Falcom is for alpha weebs. FFXVI is for bros that hang out at the hoops. IDK that they're really locking anyone to their platform with that. Ff7 is for old people who liked ps1. But ps5 isn't for old people that liked ps1.

Nomura is a character designer. Idk how he ended up producing anything. Though he's an amazing designer. Monolith actually hired him to design the xc2 Torna organization characters, and I don't doubt he actually designed the xc1 cast uncredited. There's a lot of belts and buckles. Those guys are all friends. But hesa designer. An artist. Not a game producer, it makes no sense. Twewy is amazing though and that's his...

Sakaguchi did xii for sure. That was his swan song. And that's what's wrong with ff. No sakaguchi. I just don't know how the other guys get it so wrong. It has to be management and not the creatives. They only get it THAT wrong with ff. I think it's not a game anymore, it's a brand to fill a market gap wherever that trend goes.

@SplooshDmg I love yo picture man where'd it from lol every other comment aside... hahaha

@SplooshDmg after spirits within in sakaguchi pretty much distanced himself from the remaining games. They put his name on things for honorable purposes but ff9 was the last one he REALLY had a hand in, and that was a masterpiece. He was still technically there when ffx was made but didnt have much involvement, and left fully in 2003. I love ff9 with a passion. SUCH a great game.

@NEStalgia all i want are the classic final fantasy pixel remasters on xbox. Give me 1-6 and ill be a happy man.

@SplooshDmg vi is your favorite? Now i know we are a lot alike. Vi is my favorite game of all time. Cant tell you how many times ive beaten that game. Shadow is so bad azz, but sabin is god tier when you get the bum rush!

@SplooshDmg ff tactics is awesome, i hope that leak of a remaster is true. 6,7, and 9 are my top 3. FF4 is sneaky underrated too, i rented it so many times as a kid. I hated 8 and 12 tho lol i didnt like the extreme change, i was all about the active time battle system so 12 and the junctioning system of 8 and drawing cards turned me off. Still beat both of them multiple times tho, because it was still FF!

@SplooshDmg kefka all day tho brother. The mad clown that actually succeeds and screws the world forever. Sephiroth tries so hard to be a kefka bootleg with his “angel” gimmick. KEFKA DID IT FIRST!

@J_Mo_Money No can do. But would you like a remake of 5 on mobile with NFTs instead? I promise it's just as good!

Also FFIX is my favorite. And Sakaguchis. Any other answer is factually incorrect!

@SplooshDmg well Sakaguchi did take inspiration from star wars, hence why biggs and wedge are in a bunch of games (vicks and wedge in ff6!)

@NEStalgia ahh a man of class i see. And ff5 is also a lowkey great title, but since it never came to the west until ps1 with the origins or chronicles, whichever game that was, it isnt as hyped. Love the story in that game although i didnt care much for ex-death.

@SplooshDmg indeed. 2 and 3 i dont care to ever play again. 2 because of its ridiculous battle system and 3 because the job system wasnt very good and the grinding required at the very end was insane. I still enjoy the original NES Final Fantasy 1 however, my first FF back in the 80s when i was a wee little lad!

@SplooshDmg yup, thats the one i played, the 3d one. I had to level for awhile to get through the final dungeon and then when that became easy the cloud of darkness was still hard as hell and when id get close to beating it and lose having to go through that large dungeon was indeed a drag. Hence why ill never play it again.

Hyped very much, was a bit bummed when it got delayed but we'll be patient. It'll be Bethesda's first release since being acquired by MSXB, so it's gonna be interesting to see how it pans out.

@SplooshDmg LMAO..... Pretty much that, yep! 🤣

I say this as I'm thoroughly hooked on 3 non stop... I think this might be the best one yet! The story isn't as twisty as 1 but everything about it is amazing and slick.

And while others said you can play them in any order, 1 and 2 are independent but there's a ton of "lore" (to quote souls fans) and environmental storytelling in 3 that requires having played 1 and 2 to mean anything. It's just brilliant!

After xc you really just look at the dmc FFXIV and laugh.... Or cry...

@SplooshDmg 1 and 2 really can be played in any order because they narratively occur simultaneously so neither place is aware of the other. There's one or two points at the end where you think "ooohhh so this is how they connect", but otherwise they're two separate stories connected by a common origin.

But 3 is brilliant. It's the trilogy finale and right at the start binds the first two tightly. You'd miss most of the environmental storytelling without playing the other two. The fighting factions have similarities to mechon design for one, and the actual rusting mechon hand is looming over the land on one side and the Urayan Titan is over the skyline on the other with a huge hole through it.... And that's just the box art/opening. It adds up from there. Everywhere you go, you've been there before in both other games but it's clear centuries have passed. So much detail! It's so brilliant.

Final Fantasy XVI: You May Cry isn't even on my shopping list anymore. It seems so dreadful. And yoship confirmed it. It's a mass market game to get cod/Fortnite players, not an FF game. And ff isn't about being an rpg it's about being a sight and sound spectacle. Square should buy naughty dog confirmed.

@SplooshDmg I have physical 2 and physical torna, but digital xc 1 and 3.

I wouldn't skip torna. It's a prequel to 2 set 100 years prior featuring what happened with certain key characters that set the stage for 2. It mostly answers some dangling questions from 3 and adds new ones. I can't say it's essential for 3 at all, but I'd consider it a meaningful epilogue flashback where 2 isn't truly complete without it. You don't truly understand pyra, jin (torna organization) and various important blades otherwise. Not mandatory but meaningful for the full story.

Lol you finally became a switch fan! I did not see that coming! Xenoblade will do that though 😂

@SplooshDmg keep in mind torna physical was kind of a limited run thing, so idk how hard it will be to find. Also remember it's really part of the dlc and was therefore cheaper if you just get the xc2 dlc than buy it stand alone. That was mostly done for collectors. I got the stand alone at the time but for 3 I'll probably get the dlc version for less (there's going to be a torna style expansion for 3 in December 2023, and it's included with the current dlc again, like how Forza horizon dlc works )

@SplooshDmg Nice! Yeah for the size of the expansion it's really a steal. I'd say torna is maybe 1/3 a full game which is amazing.... And arguably better paced than the main game since it's not padded by pokeblade gatcha.

@SplooshDmg Lol the best part of xc2 is the pure Internet vitriol triggering the kiddos over the waifus. To be fair, why is the super powerful aegis dressed like a hooker to begin with? Torna does not answer that question.....

Yeah I got sh2 but I'm still in the first hour due to my xc3 bender as well. Probably not fair to comment so early in but so far I'm liking it and it feels more soul hackers then it looked. It's just soul hackers with waifus. Kinetic combat with stacks is a lot like smt#fe. Pure dungeon crawler.

Idk I might change my mind after hours of it but do far I think the middling reviews are just "it's 2022 and what's a dungeon crawler? Not persona -2."

@SplooshDmg LOL, yeah...there's something about these Japanese game devs, lol. Yeah, KOS-MOS is in there I think as a gatcha character, though I don't think the boob-cannons make an appearance, lol.

I'm still getting a feel for SH2. So far I've barely spent time in it, and much of what I've hit is cutscenes. It's not quite that gritty cyberpunk detective noire environment as SH1, but it somehow still fits the overall theme of a Devil Summoner game more than I expected despite it's colorful appearance. I do miss 90's grit, but it's hitting right notes so far....but I still haven't been able to dive straight through a non-training dungeon yet. It's a true dungeon crawler with "job boards" for doing dungeon runs for side quests, etc, and I think reviews reflect that it's not a striaght-through Xenoblade/Persona style adventure covering vast unique terrain etc. Ringo's a fun protag though.