Comments 844

Re: UK CMA Places Further Restrictions On Microsoft And Activision Blizzard

Darylb88

As a UK resident that lives with the impact of CMA's previous decisions to allow large UK chains to merge (Thus affecting thousands of jobs at companies like Argos, O2, Vodafone and Carphone Warehouse to name a few) I see the real impact of their bad sessions in the past and have little trust in them.

Mass closure of Argos and Carphone Warehouse stores in the last few years is something I'm sure many UK residents can resnonte with. Remember the CMA passed those mergers.

Re: Redfall Dev Reveals Sadness Over 'Mean Spirited' Feedback From Peers

Darylb88

@Moby Yes I played it for several hours and I stand by my comment that is is currently fundamentally broken. It goes way beyond bugs. The core loop of the game is structured around the AI and the AI is broken right now. To top it off I had 2 crashes back to the dashboard in 2 hours. If you enjoyed the game I am glad.

Re: Redfall Dev Reveals Sadness Over 'Mean Spirited' Feedback From Peers

Darylb88

Redfall is honestly one of the worst games I have played in 30 years. I struggle to think of a game that has left me that shocked with the lack of quality and depth.

It is currently fundamentally broken and what makes this worse is that it is meant to be a "next gen" game. It looks like an early Xbox one indie game I could have played a decade a go, but with worse AI.

Abuse or laughing at someone's sadness or suffering is never acceptable and I am surprised/sad to hear Xbox colleagues or gaming industry peers would be like that.

The harsh criticism was warranted on a game wide level and the studio leads and management team should be held accountable for a product which is borderline theft for whoever purchased it.

P.S: I am happy for whoever enjoyed it but also understand that other people had a very bad experience which is also valid.

Re: Phil Spencer Says Xbox 'Needs To Improve' Its Development Process

Darylb88

I would recommend watching the full show in context before passing comment. The quotes here are just a small snippet of an hour long conversation. To be fair to Phil he was very honest and blunt about the situation and the questions were great too. He also has something in the background of the actual video that looks like a switch, but not sure if it is?

Re: Redfall Is Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (May 2)

Darylb88

Probably the worst game I have played this year. And I have played about 25 so far. I wouldn't say it is inherently a bad game, but it sure isn't inherently good either. Performance on Series S is poor, I don't even care about 30fps, but those textures, the AI and the pretty but overall empty world meant I just did not have any fun after 2-3 hours.

Thankfully there is usually at least 1 game per month that keeps me subscribed.

Re: New Xbox Game Pass Ad Reminds Us Of What's Coming In 2023 And Beyond

Darylb88

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is my most anticipated gamepass game of this year (If it actually launches this year). I am also pretty keen on Starfield, Replaced and Forza when they drop this autumn/winter. I shall check out Redfall tomorrow.

The MS marketing can be quite fun when it is funny and meme based, but ads like this are a bit more on the cheesy cringe side. Too many MS ads with voice narration and vocalised backing tracks that add noise.

Re: Talking Point: Have You Been Enjoying 'Star Wars Jedi: Survivor' On Xbox?

Darylb88

Playing on Series S and weirdly enough looks to be the most stable performer of the consoles and PC. Respawn are hardly R* when it comes to game engine optimisation but this launch has come in pretty hot with EA likely rushing this one. I'm about 10 hours in and really enjoying the game so far. The Qol features are significant enough over the first game that I am happy with the £52 I paid online. The content upgrade and expansion of features and character interaction is quite significant too. I have had a couple of crashes to the dashboard and some pop in on texture streaming in Koboh but the fps has been solid and I have not noticed any drops.

I can see why some players may want to wait for patches or a sale, for me it's more about time than money. If I buy things at launch I usually finish the game in 2-6 weeks and it keeps my backlog down, freeing up precious time. The exception to the 2-6 week rule is games like Persona or Xenoblade because they are 100+ campaigns.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (April 29-30)

Darylb88

Just finished up Dead Island 2 which I really enjoyed, and just started playing Jedi Survivor. I have to say over Fallen Order this a significant upgrade with really impactful quality of life improvements like better map navigation, fast travel, more accessibility customisation, characters more integral to missions including the puzzles, all your learned skills in fallen order carried over, much more interesting and larger open worlds.. the list goes on. I am also on Series S and its running nice and smooth so far 5 hours in.

Re: Roundup: Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Seriously Impresses In Early Reviews

Darylb88

@TheGrizMan Guessing each organisation (Hookshot Media in this case) only gets 1 code for this particular game and PushSquare is likely to have a bigger audience, being the more established site, plus PS is a bigger install base. But it is a shame 2 codes were not given.

I just pray the puzzle design has significantly improved.. it blew my mind how many people had to watch a YouTube video on how to just get back to the ship. If you combined all the views.. over a million!

Re: Talking Point: Next Month, It'll Be 10 Years Since The Xbox One Reveal Event

Darylb88

I'd say Matrick's time as Xbox head was pretty commercially successful until this showcase. He got Netflix to offer streaming services on a console for the first time ever when streaming was primitive, he pushed the very successful connect device and the kept a good stream of first party and third party games coming in following on from Peter Moore. The Xbox one itself was a decent console. The problem was Matrick was thinking way too far into the future and got wrapped up in all the things this machine could do beyond gaming. The worst part was that his exec team (including Phil Spencer) and the marketing team let him push forward with awful messaging. In the end it lead to his demise. Since Phil Spencer has taken over his a done a good job of rebuilding positive mindshare from a hardware and consumer practice point of view.. but the gaming side.. he and Matt Booty have not been great at all.. Moore and Matrick delivered far better output in their tenures. The next head of Xbox needs to focus on game output - and the effective management of studios and deadlines.