@Trmn8r I don't think that will happen because the mainstream gaming media barely cares about Games with Gold to begin with. In fact, if Microsoft made online multiplayer free on Xbox Live, the media would sing praises for them! And on top of that, Ubisoft+, which has 100+ titles including games like AC: Valhalla and Far Cry 6, would be replacing it and that's going to attract a lot of positivity for MS as well. I genuinely believe this would be an absolutely huge power move by them. Like how can any gaming service reach the same value proposition as Game Pass Ultimate if it included Game Pass, EA Access and Ubisoft+? That's just insane.
You know what could make Ubisoft+ work on Game Pass Ultimate? If Microsoft dropped Xbox Live Gold. They'll remove the monthly Games with Gold titles since people tend to not like them anyway, make online multiplayer free as it was rumoured last year, add Ubisoft+ instead and only make the subscription cost a couple of more euros, e.g. €16-17. It could potentially work if they offset the high cost of Ubisoft+ with the cost of Gold and just increase the price of GPU with a slight amount.
Because let's be honest, very few people are going to want to subscribe to Ubisoft+ on top of Game Pass Ultimate and especially when EA Access already comes with GPU. There has to be a reason for why Ubisoft+ is coming to Xbox first and I really hope it's because Microsoft wants to integrate it with GPU.
Yeah I originally thought this meant that we were getting Ubisoft+ added to Game Pass Ultimate but as of right now, it seems that it's going to be released separately. It could be added in the future though, it's certainly more possible now that the service will be available on Xbox.
@FraserG @Cherip-the-Ripper Sorry, I got a little bit excited. I think this only means that the service is coming to Xbox systems while originally I thought this meant it would be added as part of Game Pass Ultimate, which I don't think is the case.
@Cherip-the-Ripper Click on the link to the news.xbox site in the article. It says that Ubisoft+ will be coming to Xbox platforms in the future. It's been confirmed!
This is a huge win because the thing is, the game hasn't been met with that much excitement due to it shifting tone compared to previous entries. But now you can play it with Game Pass for only €10, which means you don't have to risk paying €60 and end up being disappointed. At the €10 price, I can see a lot of people, including me, giving this game a shot even though we weren't planning on doing it.
Short answer: if you have fast internet and a wired connection, I think it's fine to get an Xbox One today thanks to Cloud Gaming. You can play most games, including Series X exclusives, on Game Pass though the cloud. The latency is non-existent but you will get screen refreshes here and there and from my experience, it will happen during cut-scenes. Not to mention that you'll be playing the Series X versions of the games through the cloud, which means you can experience benefits such as fast loading times.
Sadly, I don't think VR will gain momentum anytime soon in the gaming industry. I think Microsoft should continue to invest more in games with cloud tech, i.e. games where the worlds are changing in real time. That's where the future of video games is in my opinion because it doesn't require buying an expensive peripheral and you can still play the games as you've always been doing. The major difference is that these games will offer a completely different experience.
@Royalblues Exactly, I think Microsoft did this because they've been getting pressured by Sony and Nintendo, or at the very least Nintendo because they always come down hard on these things. They're extremely protective of their IPs, so naturally this was going to happen sooner or later.
I really enjoyed the campaign so I would give it a solid B. The open world aspect is great and it was fun to explore the world and clear out bases, targets and so on with the grappling hook. It's a simple addition but it makes the game so much more enjoyable, both when exploring and in combat. I liked the story and the characters a lot, and I feel like Master Chief really got to shine in this game. The chatter from the Banished about him and the way he interacts with people made him so much cooler in this game than in previous titles.
My main gripes with the game are that most of the equipment aren't worth using and the linear levels in the campaign have very repetitive level design, which was a huge issue in the first game as well. But overall, this was a solid Halo game and the best one I've played since Halo Reach.
Saw that Blue Dragon (and also Lost Odyssey) is 75% off, so I think I'll pick that up. I did also see that We Happy Few is 90% off, which is awfully tempting so I might buy it as well.
I think it's because Cloud Gaming is technically still in beta right now. Microsoft hasn't been too vocal about it in general either, probably because they don't want mainstream consumers to start using it and realising it doesn't work that well yet. I've been using Cloud Gaming a lot on Xbox One and while it's been improved since I last tried it last summer, the image still needs to be improved so that you don't constantly get screen refreshes. I've seen this happen to other people as well, so I think Microsoft just doesn't want to introduce this service and making it leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth. For those of us using it now, we know what to expect going into it and honestly, it's pretty good overall right now. There's no latency at all, the only thing that needs to improve is the image quality and I've heard Microsoft is looking into improving that soon.
It's a wonderful game. I never knew delivering mail would be so relaxing and fun. But it's also great that you're able to interact with people during your job in order to spice things up. You can also make plans with them and even romance some of them! The social aspect definitely complements the slow-paced mail delivery gameplay very well. It's also appealing that it takes place in a rural American town during the 80s. It can't get any cozier than that!
@Gamer83 That's true. Maybe Sony told Insomniac that if they want to make more Spider-Man games, they'd have to join them lol. And Spider-Man is probably a big deal for them. Perhaps Microsoft could convince Remedy to be acquired by letting them use some huge IPs, kinda like how Machine Games is working on an Indiana Jones game.
But yeah, Remedy has a lot of good stuff going on, like Control and Alan Wake II. Microsoft needs more single-player action/adventure games.
@Gamer83 I feel like Remedy has been signalling that it doesn't want to be acquired by Microsoft. The fact that they bought back the rights to Alan Wake from MS and then decided to release Control on other platforms are indications to me that they'd rather be independent.
Will be playing The Gunk on Xbox One, Undertale on Switch, Hotline Miami 2 and Steins;Gate 0 on Vita. Coincidentally, Steins;Gate 0 takes place during Christmas, which I hadn't planned for at all, so I guess that's my Christmas game, haha.
I'm not going to count the games I've played this year on Game Pass, but a rough estimate would probably be 90% considering one of the major reasons I'm even using my Xbox One today is because of Game Pass. However, there will be times when I play e.g. Forza Motorsport 5 or Mafia: Definitive Edition that aren't on Game Pass but compared to the amount of GP titles I've played this year, it's a very small share.
@NEStalgia To be clear, I finished the Horizon Adventure story mode after about 15 hours but I'm still doing more races. I'm nearing 20 hours but I'm definitely not planning on smashing every billboard, getting three stars on all PR stunts and so on. I've pretty much experienced all there is to with this game.
Besides, you have to prioritise your gaming time when you have Game Pass. Five hours looking for billboards and finishing PR stunts in FH5 could've instead been used to play and finish The Gunk. So I'm trying to wrap up both FH5 (after I've gotten some more achievements) and Halo Infinite (about an hour away from the ending) and move on to other games.
Bought one month of Game Pass Ultimate two weeks ago and I managed to finish Forza Horizon 5 and I'm also almost done with Halo Infinite while still having a few weeks left to play other titles. Forza and Halo alone would've cost me €120 but I only paid €14. That's just crazy to me.
Gaming is such an expensive hobby and I genuinely don't like having to constantly buy each game individually, which adds up to a lot of money over time. Game Pass is simply an amazing alternative and it saves you so much money in the long run.
The thing about Game Pass is that you don't really realise that you want it until you've tried it. From what I've seen, the majority of people who don't like the service haven't even used it to begin with. You don't even have to fully commit to it, you can still buy games and use Game Pass to check out other games you may be interested in but don't want to buy. Game Pass is genuinely a great complement to any gamer.
Odyssey just brings together the best of AC2 and AC4: a great story with lots of likeable characters and an open world with naval battles, which were so much fun in AC4. So that's my favourite AC game, I really enjoyed it a lot!
@UltimateOtaku91 Have you been playing Aliens and Back 4 Blood alone? I was thinking of playing through those games on my own, so I'm wondering how is the single-player experience like? Is it too hard without human players or are the CPUs good?
Very tough choice between Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite for me. I also really liked Psychonauts 2 but I'm enjoying the other two games way more. If I had to choose one game though, I think I'd go with Forza just because I love this series and it's so much fun driving around in an open world.
@Richnj If a developer intentionally makes an area harder just for the sake of forcing the player to spend money on MTX or NFTs in order to make things easier, then yeah that's bad. But there are games that don't do that and as far as we know, Stalker 2 wasn't like that. Not to mention that it's been in development for half a decade and they were going to implement NFTs now at the tail end of their development. So I don't think it would've had that much of an impact on the core experience.
@themightyant I've played 120 hours of Assassin's Creed Odyssey and not once was I bothered by its MTX. I guess it depends on which game we're talking about, but as long as stuff like MTX and NFTs are optional and unintrusive to the experience, then I'm not bothered by them. I was going to play Stalker 2 regardless if it had NFTs or not.
@Krzzystuff That's actually a good point. I wasn't planning on playing Mortal Kombat since I'm not into 2D fighters, but if the story campaign is good then I might give it a go!
Lots of great games coming out this week and I'm glad that all of them are on Cloud Gaming!
@shamirqushairi The KOTOR remake is a PlayStation console exclusive. Given Quantic Dream's ties to Sony, it wouldn't be out of the question for Eclipse to be exclusive to PS as well.
Got myself a month of Game Pass Ultimate and I've been enjoying so many games through Cloud Gaming. So this weekend I'll be playing Forza Horizon 5, Halo Infinite, Marvel's Avengers, GTA: San Andreas and Serious Sam 4 on Xbox One. I'll probably also continue my playthroughs of Kingdom Hearts 3 and Dante's Inferno.
I downloaded the game on my base Xbox One and encountered an audio game-breaking glitch an hour in which prevented me from loading up the campaign. Then I decided to just play the Cloud Gaming version, i.e. the Series X/S version, and it worked flawlessly. No issues at all. Probably should've just done that to begin with.
Will be playing Kingdom Hearts 3 on PS4 and Dante's Inferno on PS3 as part of Game Club. I'm about halfway through KH3 and so far I'm loving the game. I've only played a bit of Dante's Inferno, but it's looking to be a very promising God of War clone.
@oconnoclast I like how the arguments you used to prove that Odyssey isn't about exploration could also be used against BotW. You aren't required to explore in that game either, you can just follow the story if you want. Not to mention that BotW also starts you off with a narrative in order to establish its premise. All games that have stories will do that.
It honestly just sounds to me that you didn't like the story but instead of just saying that, you replied to me by saying that I didn't understand the main criticism of the game. I've literally heard so many people say that the map is too big, that there's too much padding and so on, but here you are telling me that I didn't hear all of that from those people. Because yes, when someone says that a game is "too big", they mean that the story was too long. Makes sense mate, thanks for this enriching discussion.
@oconnoclast It absolutely is about exploration and once again, you confirmed that you don't understand what the game sets out to do. Yes, it has objectives that you need to clear in order to progress through the story and finish the game, just like with BotW, but the main appeal is exploring the world. You explore the world, find new gear, acquire more skill points, discover secret areas and side quests and so on. You can basically play it however you wish, if you want to only explore you can do that, or if you want to follow the story you can do that. Yes it isn't 100% BotW, it has a stronger emphasis on the narrative, but it still has way more emphasis on exploration than most other open world games.
For some reason, I get the impression that open world exploration games simply don't exist in your mind. You think that there are open world games like Ghost of Tsushima, and then there are games like BotW and AC: Odyssey that are on the extreme end of the spectrum that should be dumbed down to become more like Ghost of Tsushima. That's like saying Metroidvania games are too open to be 2D platformers, they should all be more like 2D Mario instead of their own thing. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
@oconnoclast Again, you're one of those people who don't understand that Odyssey is just a different experience and you confirmed that to me by comparing the game to Ghost of Tsushima, which doesn't set out to be like Odyssey at all. Ghost of Tsushima isn't about primarily exploration, it's about getting from point A to point B. On the other hand, Odyssey is more like Breath of the Wild, i.e. you're thrown in this massive open world and you're free to explore it however you wish. If you remove all of that from Odyssey, then it loses what it sets out to do.
Not every single open world game has to offer the exact same experience and I don't think you get that if you compare a game like Odyssey to Ghost of Tsushima. That's like comparing Breath of the Wild to GTA, they're not the same kind of experiences at all.
@JayJ I think the issue with people in general is that they want franchises like Forza to become more like other franchises that they like. Again with the Assassin's Creed example, one common complaint about AC: Odyssey is that it's too big and that they should've made the game smaller. Why? Not all games need to be a certain size just because those appeal more to you. There should be games with small map sizes like Yakuza, with fairly large sizes like GTA and with huge sizes like AC: Odyssey because they offer different experiences. Yakuza is more about details and immersion, GTA is about creating a sandbox experience, and AC is about exploration and discovery. So why take that away from people who want that?
And imo, I think the Forza Horizon formula is great, there's no need to change it but they are most welcome to introduce new ideas like seasons in FH4 that don't disrupt the core formula. But that might simply not be enough for some people.
@KilloWertz I totally get that, but that kinda ties back in with my point that if you've played so much Forza Horizon before and find the latest one to be boring then that's because you've played them so much that maybe it's time for something else. And I don't know if it's fair to demand that the series should reinvent its formula. There's only so much you can do (especially with racing games) before the franchise loses its identity. Take Assassin's Creed as an example, people got tired of those games that Ubisoft turned the series into an open world action RPG. While some people loved that, there were also a lot of long-time fans who became disgruntled by that change. It's definitely a more complicated topic than we might think, as change could be met with positivity from some but with negativity from others.
@CrazyJF It's the same thing with me. When I was younger, I was able to play games for hours upon hours without any breaks. Now I can barely play for an hour or two before feeling like I need to take a break. Don't know if that's because I'm older now or that I've played so many games that nothing can really capture my interest anymore. Although sometimes I do find one game that I'm able to play for many hours in a row, but it doesn't happen that often.
On a side note, I've watched a couple of episodes of The Expanse and I really liked it! Need to continue watching it one of these days.
@mousieone I don't think there's anything wrong with not finishing games. There's no rule that says you need to see the credits before being able to put a game away. If you've played a game for 10 or 20 or 30 hours and you feel like you're done with it, then by all means move on to another game. I think most people just feel like it's a waste to buy a game and not play through everything, kinda like how your parents told you to always finish your food. If you play these games through Game Pass however, you shouldn't feel required to finish them compared to having bought them. But even then you should just move on to something else if you don't feel like playing it anymore.
Does anyone else find the notion of being bored by video games a bit ironic? Like I get it, I get bored of some games as well but why is that? Games are supposed to be fun, yet nowadays there are so many topics about how X or Y game is so boring.
I feel like we are just so spoiled that we are able to play so many different games to the point that we become bored of them, and that's kinda sad. Like imagine telling an average joe who has zero experience with video games that you are tired of playing games. That person would think you're absolutely mental.
That's why I think it's important with variety, because you can get bored by doing pretty much anything repeatedly over a long period of time. Work tasks, video games, music, TV shows, sports, you name it, if you do too much of the same thing you will get bored of it.
So just to tie this back in with Forza Horizon 5, I think you should just take a break from the game if you're getting bored of it. Because in all honesty, if you're bored from playing video games, then maybe you're playing too many games and need to look for something else to do (not that I'm explicitly telling people this, I'm just sharing my perspective on things). I personally find watching TV shows and movies to be a nice change of pace whenever I'm tired of gaming.
Will be playing a lot of RPGs this weekend. On Switch I'll be continuing my playthrough of Pokémon Shining Pearl, while on PS4 I'll be playing Kingdom Hearts 3 and on 360 Fable Anniversary. It's good that these are all different kinds of RPGs though, otherwise it would be hard to maintain a good focus across these games.
@FraserG Just my two cents: I personally don't really care about the poll but the thing is that hundreds of people who visit the site like to participate in the poll but don't necessarily write a comment. Like there could be 40 comments but 400 votes in a poll, so you kinda miss out on a lot of engagement from your community by not including polls. I do understand that it takes a fair amount of time to make them though!
It's a fantastic game and one of the most creative experiences I've ever had in a 3D platformer. You absolutely need to play this game if you haven't yet!
@Snake_V5 That's why I said that if Microsoft added a Platinum equivalent on Xbox then it would have the perfect achievement system for the same reason you just stated.
@Snake_V5 But nobody cares how many bronze, silver or gold trophies you have, only how many Platinums. In a sense, it kinda makes trophy hunting less appealing to beginners as they really have to do everything the game asks you to do, while there's much more flexibility with achievement hunting. You can play a game and get 200 G, quit it, play something else and get 800 G, and you will still have the same total amount as if you had gotten all 1000 G in the first game. Achievement hunting is just much more accessible than trophy hunting.
I think that if Xbox got the correspondence of a Platinum trophy, then it would be the perfect achievement system. I vastly prefer achievements over trophies because it's actually a numbered system. Trophies aren't assigned any value, you only care about how many you have and the only ones people care about are Platinum trophies. Sure there's a level system but it's just not as impressive as saying that you have 100,000 G for example.
So to have a Platinum trophy equivalent on Xbox would make the system even more appealing. Because like I said, since trophies don't have any value, you need to get all of them in a game in order to get the Platinum trophy that's actually the thing people care about. But I could get 930/1000 G in an Xbox game and that would still be impressive because it adds to a total count. To then have an Xbox Platinum would honestly give me more incentive to try and collect all achievements because right now, it doesn't matter if I get 900 or 1000 as all of that will still get added to my total gamerscore.
I feel like I'm going to be the only one who isn't keeping up with these games, lol. I'm just too busy playing other new releases as well as clearing my backlog to subscribe to Game Pass right now.
Anyway, will be playing Pokémon Shining Pearl on Switch and Secret of Mana on PS4. Absolutely enjoying the former game, while the second one is so far not that good at all. I'm hoping it will get better over time but it just feels so dated on top of being poorly remade.
Comments 962
Re: The Ubisoft+ Subscription Service Is Officially Coming To Xbox
@Trmn8r I don't think that will happen because the mainstream gaming media barely cares about Games with Gold to begin with. In fact, if Microsoft made online multiplayer free on Xbox Live, the media would sing praises for them! And on top of that, Ubisoft+, which has 100+ titles including games like AC: Valhalla and Far Cry 6, would be replacing it and that's going to attract a lot of positivity for MS as well. I genuinely believe this would be an absolutely huge power move by them. Like how can any gaming service reach the same value proposition as Game Pass Ultimate if it included Game Pass, EA Access and Ubisoft+? That's just insane.
Re: The Ubisoft+ Subscription Service Is Officially Coming To Xbox
You know what could make Ubisoft+ work on Game Pass Ultimate? If Microsoft dropped Xbox Live Gold. They'll remove the monthly Games with Gold titles since people tend to not like them anyway, make online multiplayer free as it was rumoured last year, add Ubisoft+ instead and only make the subscription cost a couple of more euros, e.g. €16-17. It could potentially work if they offset the high cost of Ubisoft+ with the cost of Gold and just increase the price of GPU with a slight amount.
Because let's be honest, very few people are going to want to subscribe to Ubisoft+ on top of Game Pass Ultimate and especially when EA Access already comes with GPU. There has to be a reason for why Ubisoft+ is coming to Xbox first and I really hope it's because Microsoft wants to integrate it with GPU.
Re: The Ubisoft+ Subscription Service Is Officially Coming To Xbox
Yeah I originally thought this meant that we were getting Ubisoft+ added to Game Pass Ultimate but as of right now, it seems that it's going to be released separately. It could be added in the future though, it's certainly more possible now that the service will be available on Xbox.
Re: Rainbow Six Extraction Releases Day One With Xbox Game Pass
@FraserG @Cherip-the-Ripper Sorry, I got a little bit excited. I think this only means that the service is coming to Xbox systems while originally I thought this meant it would be added as part of Game Pass Ultimate, which I don't think is the case.
Re: Rainbow Six Extraction Releases Day One With Xbox Game Pass
@Cherip-the-Ripper Click on the link to the news.xbox site in the article. It says that Ubisoft+ will be coming to Xbox platforms in the future. It's been confirmed!
Re: Rainbow Six Extraction Releases Day One With Xbox Game Pass
This is a huge win because the thing is, the game hasn't been met with that much excitement due to it shifting tone compared to previous entries. But now you can play it with Game Pass for only €10, which means you don't have to risk paying €60 and end up being disappointed. At the €10 price, I can see a lot of people, including me, giving this game a shot even though we weren't planning on doing it.
Re: Is It Worth Buying An Xbox One In 2022?
Short answer: if you have fast internet and a wired connection, I think it's fine to get an Xbox One today thanks to Cloud Gaming. You can play most games, including Series X exclusives, on Game Pass though the cloud. The latency is non-existent but you will get screen refreshes here and there and from my experience, it will happen during cut-scenes. Not to mention that you'll be playing the Series X versions of the games through the cloud, which means you can experience benefits such as fast loading times.
Re: Talking Point: With PSVR 2 On The Way, Do You Wish Xbox Also Had A VR Headset?
Sadly, I don't think VR will gain momentum anytime soon in the gaming industry. I think Microsoft should continue to invest more in games with cloud tech, i.e. games where the worlds are changing in real time. That's where the future of video games is in my opinion because it doesn't require buying an expensive peripheral and you can still play the games as you've always been doing. The major difference is that these games will offer a completely different experience.
Re: Xbox Begins Disabling Dev Mode Accounts, Removing Access To Emulators
@Royalblues Exactly, I think Microsoft did this because they've been getting pressured by Sony and Nintendo, or at the very least Nintendo because they always come down hard on these things. They're extremely protective of their IPs, so naturally this was going to happen sooner or later.
Re: Halo Co-Creator Praises Halo Infinite's Campaign, Says It 'Brings Back The Magic'
I really enjoyed the campaign so I would give it a solid B. The open world aspect is great and it was fun to explore the world and clear out bases, targets and so on with the grappling hook. It's a simple addition but it makes the game so much more enjoyable, both when exploring and in combat. I liked the story and the characters a lot, and I feel like Master Chief really got to shine in this game. The chatter from the Banished about him and the way he interacts with people made him so much cooler in this game than in previous titles.
My main gripes with the game are that most of the equipment aren't worth using and the linear levels in the campaign have very repetitive level design, which was a huge issue in the first game as well. But overall, this was a solid Halo game and the best one I've played since Halo Reach.
Re: Deals: 250+ Games Included In This Week's Xbox Sales (January 4-11)
Saw that Blue Dragon (and also Lost Odyssey) is 75% off, so I think I'll pick that up. I did also see that We Happy Few is 90% off, which is awfully tempting so I might buy it as well.
Re: Samsung TV 'Gaming Hub' To Launch In 2022, But No Sign Of Xbox Cloud Support Yet
I think it's because Cloud Gaming is technically still in beta right now. Microsoft hasn't been too vocal about it in general either, probably because they don't want mainstream consumers to start using it and realising it doesn't work that well yet. I've been using Cloud Gaming a lot on Xbox One and while it's been improved since I last tried it last summer, the image still needs to be improved so that you don't constantly get screen refreshes. I've seen this happen to other people as well, so I think Microsoft just doesn't want to introduce this service and making it leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth. For those of us using it now, we know what to expect going into it and honestly, it's pretty good overall right now. There's no latency at all, the only thing that needs to improve is the image quality and I've heard Microsoft is looking into improving that soon.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (January 1-2)
Will be playing Mirror's Edge on 360, Steins;Gate 0 on Vita, Undertale on Switch and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 on PS3. Lots of variety this weekend!
Re: The Relaxing 'Lake' Is Getting A Lot Of Attention On Xbox Game Pass
It's a wonderful game. I never knew delivering mail would be so relaxing and fun. But it's also great that you're able to interact with people during your job in order to spice things up. You can also make plans with them and even romance some of them! The social aspect definitely complements the slow-paced mail delivery gameplay very well. It's also appealing that it takes place in a rural American town during the 80s. It can't get any cozier than that!
Re: Remedy Partners With Tencent For New Free-To-Play Shooter, 'Vanguard'
@Gamer83 That's true. Maybe Sony told Insomniac that if they want to make more Spider-Man games, they'd have to join them lol. And Spider-Man is probably a big deal for them. Perhaps Microsoft could convince Remedy to be acquired by letting them use some huge IPs, kinda like how Machine Games is working on an Indiana Jones game.
But yeah, Remedy has a lot of good stuff going on, like Control and Alan Wake II. Microsoft needs more single-player action/adventure games.
Re: Remedy Partners With Tencent For New Free-To-Play Shooter, 'Vanguard'
@Gamer83 I feel like Remedy has been signalling that it doesn't want to be acquired by Microsoft. The fact that they bought back the rights to Alan Wake from MS and then decided to release Control on other platforms are indications to me that they'd rather be independent.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (December 25-26)
Will be playing The Gunk on Xbox One, Undertale on Switch, Hotline Miami 2 and Steins;Gate 0 on Vita. Coincidentally, Steins;Gate 0 takes place during Christmas, which I hadn't planned for at all, so I guess that's my Christmas game, haha.
Happy holidays everyone!
Re: Xbox Series X And Series S: A Christmas Guide For New Owners
Sarge's personal guide for new Xbox owners:
Step 1: Game Pass
Step 2: Game Pass
Step 3: Game Pass
And you're all set, have fun!
Re: Poll: Of All The Xbox Games You Play, What Percentage Are Game Pass Titles?
I'm not going to count the games I've played this year on Game Pass, but a rough estimate would probably be 90% considering one of the major reasons I'm even using my Xbox One today is because of Game Pass. However, there will be times when I play e.g. Forza Motorsport 5 or Mafia: Definitive Edition that aren't on Game Pass but compared to the amount of GP titles I've played this year, it's a very small share.
Re: Xbox Reportedly Added Over $6000 Of Games To Game Pass In 2021
@NEStalgia To be clear, I finished the Horizon Adventure story mode after about 15 hours but I'm still doing more races. I'm nearing 20 hours but I'm definitely not planning on smashing every billboard, getting three stars on all PR stunts and so on. I've pretty much experienced all there is to with this game.
Besides, you have to prioritise your gaming time when you have Game Pass. Five hours looking for billboards and finishing PR stunts in FH5 could've instead been used to play and finish The Gunk. So I'm trying to wrap up both FH5 (after I've gotten some more achievements) and Halo Infinite (about an hour away from the ending) and move on to other games.
Re: Xbox Reportedly Added Over $6000 Of Games To Game Pass In 2021
Bought one month of Game Pass Ultimate two weeks ago and I managed to finish Forza Horizon 5 and I'm also almost done with Halo Infinite while still having a few weeks left to play other titles. Forza and Halo alone would've cost me €120 but I only paid €14. That's just crazy to me.
Gaming is such an expensive hobby and I genuinely don't like having to constantly buy each game individually, which adds up to a lot of money over time. Game Pass is simply an amazing alternative and it saves you so much money in the long run.
Re: Xbox Is Offering 5 Free Months Of Game Pass To Lucky Gold Members
The thing about Game Pass is that you don't really realise that you want it until you've tried it. From what I've seen, the majority of people who don't like the service haven't even used it to begin with. You don't even have to fully commit to it, you can still buy games and use Game Pass to check out other games you may be interested in but don't want to buy. Game Pass is genuinely a great complement to any gamer.
Re: Pick One: Which Is Your Favourite Assassin's Creed Xbox Game?
Odyssey just brings together the best of AC2 and AC4: a great story with lots of likeable characters and an open world with naval battles, which were so much fun in AC4. So that's my favourite AC game, I really enjoyed it a lot!
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (December 18-19)
@UltimateOtaku91 That's good to know! Aliens definitely sounds more appealing, but I'll still give B4B a go just for the heck of it.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (December 18-19)
@UltimateOtaku91 Have you been playing Aliens and Back 4 Blood alone? I was thinking of playing through those games on my own, so I'm wondering how is the single-player experience like? Is it too hard without human players or are the CPUs good?
Re: Poll: Which Has Been Your Favourite Xbox Game Studios Title In 2021?
Very tough choice between Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite for me. I also really liked Psychonauts 2 but I'm enjoying the other two games way more. If I had to choose one game though, I think I'd go with Forza just because I love this series and it's so much fun driving around in an open world.
Re: Stalker 2 Cancels NFTs, Interests Of Fans And Players Is 'Top Priority' For The Team
@Richnj If a developer intentionally makes an area harder just for the sake of forcing the player to spend money on MTX or NFTs in order to make things easier, then yeah that's bad. But there are games that don't do that and as far as we know, Stalker 2 wasn't like that. Not to mention that it's been in development for half a decade and they were going to implement NFTs now at the tail end of their development. So I don't think it would've had that much of an impact on the core experience.
Re: Stalker 2 Cancels NFTs, Interests Of Fans And Players Is 'Top Priority' For The Team
@themightyant I've played 120 hours of Assassin's Creed Odyssey and not once was I bothered by its MTX. I guess it depends on which game we're talking about, but as long as stuff like MTX and NFTs are optional and unintrusive to the experience, then I'm not bothered by them. I was going to play Stalker 2 regardless if it had NFTs or not.
Re: Deals: Xbox Countdown Sale 2021 Now Live, 700+ Games Discounted
Will probably get Gears Tactics at that price considering it's 20-30 hours long and I don't want to waste most of my Game Pass on one game.
Re: Roundup: Here's What The Critics Are Saying About The Gunk
@themightyant Yep, definitely excited to give this a go soon!
Re: Roundup: Here's What The Critics Are Saying About The Gunk
"It works from a technical standpoint and it isn’t the worst way you can spend about five hours of your time."
It's only five hours long? Didn't think it'd be that short by the looks of it. I might give it a go sooner rather than later then!
Re: Another Five Games Will Leave Xbox Game Pass Soon (December 31)
The first three Yakuza games leaving is a huge loss for the service if you ask me. Hopefully they'll be able to add them back at a later date.
Re: Nine More Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass This Thursday
@Krzzystuff That's actually a good point. I wasn't planning on playing Mortal Kombat since I'm not into 2D fighters, but if the story campaign is good then I might give it a go!
Lots of great games coming out this week and I'm glad that all of them are on Cloud Gaming!
Re: It Sounds Like Quantic Dream's Star Wars Eclipse Is Still Many Years Away
@shamirqushairi The KOTOR remake is a PlayStation console exclusive. Given Quantic Dream's ties to Sony, it wouldn't be out of the question for Eclipse to be exclusive to PS as well.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (December 11-12)
Got myself a month of Game Pass Ultimate and I've been enjoying so many games through Cloud Gaming. So this weekend I'll be playing Forza Horizon 5, Halo Infinite, Marvel's Avengers, GTA: San Andreas and Serious Sam 4 on Xbox One. I'll probably also continue my playthroughs of Kingdom Hearts 3 and Dante's Inferno.
Re: Don't Use Quick Resume With Halo Infinite For Now, Advises 343
@themightyant Are you playing on the Series X?
I downloaded the game on my base Xbox One and encountered an audio game-breaking glitch an hour in which prevented me from loading up the campaign. Then I decided to just play the Cloud Gaming version, i.e. the Series X/S version, and it worked flawlessly. No issues at all. Probably should've just done that to begin with.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (December 4-5)
Will be playing Kingdom Hearts 3 on PS4 and Dante's Inferno on PS3 as part of Game Club. I'm about halfway through KH3 and so far I'm loving the game. I've only played a bit of Dante's Inferno, but it's looking to be a very promising God of War clone.
Re: These 12 Games Are Coming Soon To Xbox Game Pass (December 2-14)
Christmas came early fellas.
Re: Some Forza Fans Say They're Getting 'Bored' With Horizon 5 Already
@oconnoclast I like how the arguments you used to prove that Odyssey isn't about exploration could also be used against BotW. You aren't required to explore in that game either, you can just follow the story if you want. Not to mention that BotW also starts you off with a narrative in order to establish its premise. All games that have stories will do that.
It honestly just sounds to me that you didn't like the story but instead of just saying that, you replied to me by saying that I didn't understand the main criticism of the game. I've literally heard so many people say that the map is too big, that there's too much padding and so on, but here you are telling me that I didn't hear all of that from those people. Because yes, when someone says that a game is "too big", they mean that the story was too long. Makes sense mate, thanks for this enriching discussion.
Re: Some Forza Fans Say They're Getting 'Bored' With Horizon 5 Already
@oconnoclast It absolutely is about exploration and once again, you confirmed that you don't understand what the game sets out to do. Yes, it has objectives that you need to clear in order to progress through the story and finish the game, just like with BotW, but the main appeal is exploring the world. You explore the world, find new gear, acquire more skill points, discover secret areas and side quests and so on. You can basically play it however you wish, if you want to only explore you can do that, or if you want to follow the story you can do that. Yes it isn't 100% BotW, it has a stronger emphasis on the narrative, but it still has way more emphasis on exploration than most other open world games.
For some reason, I get the impression that open world exploration games simply don't exist in your mind. You think that there are open world games like Ghost of Tsushima, and then there are games like BotW and AC: Odyssey that are on the extreme end of the spectrum that should be dumbed down to become more like Ghost of Tsushima. That's like saying Metroidvania games are too open to be 2D platformers, they should all be more like 2D Mario instead of their own thing. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
Re: Some Forza Fans Say They're Getting 'Bored' With Horizon 5 Already
@oconnoclast Again, you're one of those people who don't understand that Odyssey is just a different experience and you confirmed that to me by comparing the game to Ghost of Tsushima, which doesn't set out to be like Odyssey at all. Ghost of Tsushima isn't about primarily exploration, it's about getting from point A to point B. On the other hand, Odyssey is more like Breath of the Wild, i.e. you're thrown in this massive open world and you're free to explore it however you wish. If you remove all of that from Odyssey, then it loses what it sets out to do.
Not every single open world game has to offer the exact same experience and I don't think you get that if you compare a game like Odyssey to Ghost of Tsushima. That's like comparing Breath of the Wild to GTA, they're not the same kind of experiences at all.
Re: Some Forza Fans Say They're Getting 'Bored' With Horizon 5 Already
@JayJ I think the issue with people in general is that they want franchises like Forza to become more like other franchises that they like. Again with the Assassin's Creed example, one common complaint about AC: Odyssey is that it's too big and that they should've made the game smaller. Why? Not all games need to be a certain size just because those appeal more to you. There should be games with small map sizes like Yakuza, with fairly large sizes like GTA and with huge sizes like AC: Odyssey because they offer different experiences. Yakuza is more about details and immersion, GTA is about creating a sandbox experience, and AC is about exploration and discovery. So why take that away from people who want that?
And imo, I think the Forza Horizon formula is great, there's no need to change it but they are most welcome to introduce new ideas like seasons in FH4 that don't disrupt the core formula. But that might simply not be enough for some people.
Re: Some Forza Fans Say They're Getting 'Bored' With Horizon 5 Already
@KilloWertz I totally get that, but that kinda ties back in with my point that if you've played so much Forza Horizon before and find the latest one to be boring then that's because you've played them so much that maybe it's time for something else. And I don't know if it's fair to demand that the series should reinvent its formula. There's only so much you can do (especially with racing games) before the franchise loses its identity. Take Assassin's Creed as an example, people got tired of those games that Ubisoft turned the series into an open world action RPG. While some people loved that, there were also a lot of long-time fans who became disgruntled by that change. It's definitely a more complicated topic than we might think, as change could be met with positivity from some but with negativity from others.
@CrazyJF It's the same thing with me. When I was younger, I was able to play games for hours upon hours without any breaks. Now I can barely play for an hour or two before feeling like I need to take a break. Don't know if that's because I'm older now or that I've played so many games that nothing can really capture my interest anymore. Although sometimes I do find one game that I'm able to play for many hours in a row, but it doesn't happen that often.
On a side note, I've watched a couple of episodes of The Expanse and I really liked it! Need to continue watching it one of these days.
@mousieone I don't think there's anything wrong with not finishing games. There's no rule that says you need to see the credits before being able to put a game away. If you've played a game for 10 or 20 or 30 hours and you feel like you're done with it, then by all means move on to another game. I think most people just feel like it's a waste to buy a game and not play through everything, kinda like how your parents told you to always finish your food. If you play these games through Game Pass however, you shouldn't feel required to finish them compared to having bought them. But even then you should just move on to something else if you don't feel like playing it anymore.
Re: Some Forza Fans Say They're Getting 'Bored' With Horizon 5 Already
Does anyone else find the notion of being bored by video games a bit ironic? Like I get it, I get bored of some games as well but why is that? Games are supposed to be fun, yet nowadays there are so many topics about how X or Y game is so boring.
I feel like we are just so spoiled that we are able to play so many different games to the point that we become bored of them, and that's kinda sad. Like imagine telling an average joe who has zero experience with video games that you are tired of playing games. That person would think you're absolutely mental.
That's why I think it's important with variety, because you can get bored by doing pretty much anything repeatedly over a long period of time. Work tasks, video games, music, TV shows, sports, you name it, if you do too much of the same thing you will get bored of it.
So just to tie this back in with Forza Horizon 5, I think you should just take a break from the game if you're getting bored of it. Because in all honesty, if you're bored from playing video games, then maybe you're playing too many games and need to look for something else to do (not that I'm explicitly telling people this, I'm just sharing my perspective on things). I personally find watching TV shows and movies to be a nice change of pace whenever I'm tired of gaming.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (November 27-28)
Will be playing a lot of RPGs this weekend. On Switch I'll be continuing my playthrough of Pokémon Shining Pearl, while on PS4 I'll be playing Kingdom Hearts 3 and on 360 Fable Anniversary. It's good that these are all different kinds of RPGs though, otherwise it would be hard to maintain a good focus across these games.
@FraserG Just my two cents: I personally don't really care about the poll but the thing is that hundreds of people who visit the site like to participate in the poll but don't necessarily write a comment. Like there could be 40 comments but 400 votes in a poll, so you kinda miss out on a lot of engagement from your community by not including polls. I do understand that it takes a fair amount of time to make them though!
Re: Phil Spencer Says Psychonauts 2 Is Probably His Game Of The Year For 2021
It's a fantastic game and one of the most creative experiences I've ever had in a 3D platformer. You absolutely need to play this game if you haven't yet!
Re: Xbox Responds To Calls To Add 'Platinum Trophy' System For Achievements
@Snake_V5 That's why I said that if Microsoft added a Platinum equivalent on Xbox then it would have the perfect achievement system for the same reason you just stated.
Re: Xbox Responds To Calls To Add 'Platinum Trophy' System For Achievements
@Snake_V5 But nobody cares how many bronze, silver or gold trophies you have, only how many Platinums. In a sense, it kinda makes trophy hunting less appealing to beginners as they really have to do everything the game asks you to do, while there's much more flexibility with achievement hunting. You can play a game and get 200 G, quit it, play something else and get 800 G, and you will still have the same total amount as if you had gotten all 1000 G in the first game. Achievement hunting is just much more accessible than trophy hunting.
Re: Xbox Responds To Calls To Add 'Platinum Trophy' System For Achievements
I think that if Xbox got the correspondence of a Platinum trophy, then it would be the perfect achievement system. I vastly prefer achievements over trophies because it's actually a numbered system. Trophies aren't assigned any value, you only care about how many you have and the only ones people care about are Platinum trophies. Sure there's a level system but it's just not as impressive as saying that you have 100,000 G for example.
So to have a Platinum trophy equivalent on Xbox would make the system even more appealing. Because like I said, since trophies don't have any value, you need to get all of them in a game in order to get the Platinum trophy that's actually the thing people care about. But I could get 930/1000 G in an Xbox game and that would still be impressive because it adds to a total count. To then have an Xbox Platinum would honestly give me more incentive to try and collect all achievements because right now, it doesn't matter if I get 900 or 1000 as all of that will still get added to my total gamerscore.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (November 20-21)
I feel like I'm going to be the only one who isn't keeping up with these games, lol. I'm just too busy playing other new releases as well as clearing my backlog to subscribe to Game Pass right now.
Anyway, will be playing Pokémon Shining Pearl on Switch and Secret of Mana on PS4. Absolutely enjoying the former game, while the second one is so far not that good at all. I'm hoping it will get better over time but it just feels so dated on top of being poorly remade.