LtSarge

@Clankylad Almost like you shouldn't base your opinion of a game on a two minute CGI trailer. A lot of people definitely jumped the gun on this one, which is so sad to see. Definitely goes to show how negative the gaming community is in general. Common sense doesn't exist, people are ready to hate on anything given the opportunity.

Anyway, after watching the gameplay trailer, the game looks much better than I thought. It looks much bigger than any other Saints Row game, it almost seems like a similar size to GTA V with a huge city and open rural areas. I'm very stoked to play this game now!

@themightyant Maybe the thing that will make Starfield stand out is that you'll be able to actually travel from planet to planet in real-time, sort of like in No Man's Sky? That way it will actually be true open world in contrast to Mass Effect where you just select a destination and go there. Perhaps there will be other smaller planets to land on and explore, kind of like in Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time.

@DrJamesOxford "It has to do with the hippy, try to be cool, cringe, poor writing, lets try to be like fortnite game design that gamers that support these intellectual properties are tired of seeing."

You literally just described the Saints Row series in a nutshell. For example, I was just talking with some people who are currently playing Saints Row 3 and they aren't liking the shallow humour of the game. Which is totally fine, but to say that the reboot started this trend cannot be further from the truth. It's been like this for numerous games. If you don't like it, then Saints Row just isn't for you.

@Chaudy It feels like that's how it is for most people, i.e. they've only played the first two games and think that's how the series has been until this game. But it hasn't, ever since SR3 the characters have always been tongue-in-cheek and never like gangsters. I mean, in SR3 you literally have a former FBI agent with hacking expertise join the Saints. How is that gangster? Then there's this Russian brute, Mexican wrestler and even a pimp. None feel like gangsters at all.

The idea that it all started with the reboot couldn't be further from the truth. It has been like this for a very long time and the characters in the reboot look just as tongue-in-cheek as the ones in SR3. The only difference is that they're younger, maybe that's why people don't like them.

@abe_hikura I understand that, but is he genuinely that important to the overall franchise? I've played SR3 and SR4 and while I think he's a cool character, I don't find him that important that I wouldn't play the next SR game just because he isn't in it.

I just don't like how people are responding to this game simply based on a 2 minute cinematic trailer. It could be the best game ever but people have already made up their mind that they aren't going to play it. It just feels incredibly impulsive, almost like they are just trying to find ways to hate on this game when they know very little about it.

I just don't understand the obsession with Johnny Gat. He wasn't even in Saints Row 3, he appeared in the opening level and then he was missing for the entire game. It was still one of the best SR games even without him.

I for one am excited for this reboot because we haven't had a new Saints Row game in seven years. Sure all the characters are new, but as long as they're likeable then that won't be an issue for me. Not to mention that if they keep making sequels then there will be a new set of characters to like across these games instead of having the same ones appear over and over. Maybe this new game will have its own version of Johnny Gat, who knows. There's still so much we don't know about the game. So put down your pitchforks and have some patience before passing judgment.

Once again, I'm just happy to have another open world GTA-style game.

@mousieone Alright, I'll give you that. But I still found it boring due to all the talking. It definitely could've been presented better, most of it just felt like filler. Do we really need to know how a trebuchet works? Is it really necessary to announce on a Gamescom showcase that Sea of Thieves is getting a Borderlands-themed ship? Stuff like that. It's just not fitting for a huge event like this and like I said previously, the mistake they made was to have this show go for 1.5 hours. 30 minutes, Direct-style, that would've made it so much better.

@mousieone Well that's your interpretation of what they said and I have my interpretation of what they said. "No major gameplay reveals" would've made it more clear. Like I said though, it doesn't matter if they tell you beforehand that the show is going to be poor. If you don't have anything worth showing, then don't show it at all, especially not at a huge event like Gamescom. I mean for crying out loud, they decided to spend 5-10 minutes telling us how a trebuchet works.

@oconnoclast Haha yeah, that was what I was referring to! I can't believe they decided to include that, lol.

@The_New_Butler Here's the thing, they should delay the game again in order to make sure the campaign will turn out great but I'm fairly certain upper management isn't going to allow another delay at this point. So either the devs crunch like hell until it feels right to release the full game, or the game is going to release anyway but the campaign might be riddled with bugs or just not be up to speed as what we have hoped it to be. Either way, I'm just not confident in this game anymore.

@mousieone They could've shown off Halo Infinite, Fable, State of Decay 3, Avowed, The Outer Worlds 2, Scorn, CrossfireX, Hellblade 2, Perfect Dark basically a bunch of already announced Xbox titles. They aren't new reveals, we already know about these games.

Also, the fact that they've stated beforehand what the show is going to be like doesn't justify how poor it was. It's like saying "Well our show is going to be an absolute turd, so just keep that in mind", lol. At the end of the day, this was an unnecessarily long showcase that they could've compiled better.

@The_New_Butler I'd totally believe that. I mean, they keep showing off gameplay for Forza Horizon 5 but nothing for Halo Infinite and not even a release date, which FH5 has also gotten. People should be worried at this rate.

Absolutely terrible showcase, barely passable. No Halo Infinite, no Scorn, but at least they showed The Gunk (and it's apparently coming in December according to a blog post). Too much talking. They could've easily just made this into a Nintendo Direct-style presentation that went on for 30 minutes with all the trailers instead of having us go through 1.5 hours of people talking and history lessons. This is the reason why Sony doesn't even attend E3 and Gamescom anymore because they've adopted a different style through their State of Play. At least Microsoft's E3 was great, but this one was truly awful.

It still amazes me how Obsidian is able to work on so many projects at the same time. They're truly an exceptional developer.

Will be playing Resident Evil 0 on PS4, Forza Motorsport 5 on Xbox One and Remember Me on PS3.

I feel like I'm really starting to get into the Resi games now. I'm actually enjoying RE0 a lot and it's such a fun game. On the side though, I've been listening to the Rooster Teeth podcast and so the Forza Motorsport games have been very fitting titles to play while I'm listening to the podcast since they're so relaxing to play. I'm also trying to finish up Remember Me and so far it's been a fairly mixed experience. Sometimes I'm enjoying the game, sometimes it's just frustrating. But overall, it's a decent title and I hope I can finish it during the coming days.

Might also check out some games on Game Pass considering so many have been added the past few weeks that I'm interested in. Would love to try out Quake for example, I've never played that series before.

I think it's great to see another Saints Row game considering we aren't getting many GTA-like games these days, especially not from Rockstar. Hopefully though it's more like the older games and not like SR4 where you play as a superhero. Even though I enjoyed that game, I just want to have a new GTA-like title to play.

Will be playing Resident Evil 3 (PS1) on Vita, Forza Motorsport 4 on 360 and Remember Me on PS3.

I'm really enjoying the original RE3, it's way more intense than the previous two games. The fact that you have to revisit areas and new enemies will show up, as well as Nemesis constantly chasing you, is absolutely terrifying. Really good game so far! I'm also trying to finish up Forza 4's world tour mode and right now I'm on the eighth year out of ten so I'm getting pretty close to the end. I absolutely love playing this game while listening to the Rooster Teeth podcast in the background, it's such a great way to relax even while gaming.

Great article, I'm glad to hear that you're feeling much better now Daniel.

I agree that 100 hour games like this is just what you need in order to combat anxiety. Just getting lost in a world for that long will make you care more about it, the story and the characters. Playing a 10 hour game just doesn't compare to the 100 hour stories. The more you play, the more immersed you become and the more you start caring about the game.

It does feel though that you never know beforehand when a game is going to click with you. It all depends on the timing and it was the same case with me as I've been in a similar situation back in 2016 when I was studying at uni. All I did from morning to evening was study in order to get good grades and please my parents. I got so burned out after all that studying that it made me very depressed. In between studying though I started playing JRPGs like Persona 4 Golden on the Vita and that game truly helped me through that time. The game's concept of hanging out with friends and experiencing fun interactions with them helped me forget about real life. It also helped that the game was very lengthy as well, so I pretty much spent 1.5 actual semesters playing through it.

Ever since then, my love for video games has been revitalised and I've been enjoying so many games for these past five years. I'm actually 140 hours into Persona 5 Royal right now and it's also helping me out a lot. These games will always have a special place in my heart.

Library of Ruina looks very interesting, didn't know it's available now on Game Pass. Must've missed that in the showcase. Will definitely have to give that a go later!

@SithThanos It's actually the same case if you're playing on Xbox One and use rest mode (power save mode or whatever it's called). I was playing through it last year and decided to utilise the system's rest mode and when I resumed, achievements weren't popping up for me.

So yeah, whichever system you own, just make sure to not use rest mode/quick resume and you should be good.

@uptownsoul I don't see this as bad news personally. Considering he was a "senior" gameplay designer, it wouldn't surprise me if he worked on Witcher 3 as well and that's one of the best games from last generation. Not to mention that the issue regarding Cyberpunk 2077 was with the poor management, not the actual developers.

Although granted, while I haven't played Witcher 3, I have heard that the game didn't have great combat and that's apparently what he worked on previously. But that's assuming that he did work on Witcher 3.

I just want to see some updates for The Gunk and Scorn, both Xbox exclusives coming this year that Microsoft didn't even touch upon at E3.

You know, some companies take way too long to make remasters/remakes that a lot of people, including me, are playing the originals since we believe they won't be bringing them back. I personally finished GTA 3 a couple of months ago, and I bought Vice City and San Andreas on the original Xbox that I'm planning to play eventually. So it sucks to hear this news now. Really hope that it's remakes of GTA 1 and 2 or something like that. Not only would it be amazing to experience the original GTA games, but it would also be nice if the remasters were games that I don't have yet, lol.

@SplooshDmg I'd definitely love to see a AAA title based on Hindu mythology. Although at this point I feel like only God of War would be able to tackle something like that. We've already seen Greek and Norse mythology, so the only ones left are Egypt and Hindu for that franchise I guess. Maybe Microsoft could find a studio to make a game like that.

Will be playing Persona 5 Royal on PS4, Forza Motorsport 4 on 360, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time on Wii U and Corpse Party on 3DS. These next couple of days are gonna go slow for me so I decided to resume some games that are long and also "slow".

I've been playing P5R for over 110 hours and I'm nearing the end of the main story before the third semester. With FM4 I'm halfway through the career mode and it's been relaxing to play this game while listening to the Rooster Teeth podcast in the background. And if I want to play something while I'm in my bed, I'll be playing M&L and Corpse Party. Honestly getting quite tired of M&L even though it's the second game in the series, lol. It just gets too repetitive very quickly. Which is why I decided to start up Corpse Party (in order to switch between these two titles) and so far I'm absolutely loving it. I find Japanese high school horror to be an interesting theme and something I've not experienced much of thus far.

@Dezzy70 It depends on which series that decides to focus on realism. Forza and other racing simulators tend to focus on showcasing exceptional graphics with a high level of detail. But not all FPS games are known for that. I never recall Halo being a graphical showcase, but Crysis for example is an FPS series that is known for just that. So it entirely depends on the series as well as which games it makes sense to focus on the details. The Last of Us is a perfect example of a game that focuses a lot on the details and it makes sense for that game because you're walking around a lot and looking at the environments. When you're playing Halo though, you're running around trying to find your opponents, not taking a break and enjoying the scenery. It doesn't need a high level of detail because the focus is elsewhere.

Simply put, you have to have a more flexible mindset when it comes to these kinds of things. You can't just say that all games need perfect 1:1 realistic details. Some games benefit more from them, while others it matters less.

Is it really that surprising anymore? We're at a point where people are obsessed with details in video games that developers will have to work countless hours just to make things more realistic. That's precious time that could've gone towards improving other, more important aspects of a game. I just don't like this direction the gaming industry is heading. Of course it's nice to be able to play a detailed game. But at the same time, will it really detract from your enjoyment of the game if it has less details? If the gameplay is solid, the story is captivating, does it matter then how fruits blow up when you shoot them? I just think this is an unhealthy obsession and as technology advances, this issue is just going to get even worse.

@Richnj Great, so you just confirmed to me that you lack any social skills whatsoever and will go to any length to annoy people just to prove them wrong when in actuality, it literally doesn't matter one way or the other. You just feel a need to correct people on insignificant things. The discussion wasn't pushed forward when you corrected me. You didn't contribute with any additional useful information. You just wanted the satisfaction of correcting someone regardless if it makes them upset or not.

Let me tell you something, because you obviously don't seem to understand people. Just because you can say something doesn't mean that you should. If I wrote something wrong, and it doesn't matter in the overall discussion, then you don't say anything in order to avoid ruining the mood. The goal in a healthy discussion is to keep the discussion moving forward without getting hung up on pointless details. That's what you don't seem to understand. So when you start correcting me about Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary and Gears of War Ultimate Edition not being remakes, but remasters, then you're missing the point with my comment that, as a new studio, it's obviously good to work on revitalising older games before you tackle sequels. It didn't matter if my examples were wrong, what mattered was the point of my overall comment. In other words, if you had an ounce of common sense in your head, you would've realised my point and just moved on without stirring up a heated debate about something completely irrelevant and pointless. But as I've already realised now, you lack any social skills whatsoever and have no understanding on how to respond to different situations.

This will be my last post addressed to you because like others have mentioned, people like you don't seem to change nor do you seem to be willing to listen to reason. I'm the third person today to put you on the ignore list. If that doesn't signal anything to you, then you truly lack self-awareness.

@Richnj You just admitted that you were lazy and didn't want to write your entire thoughts in order to avoid being repetitive. If you've already written your thoughts in the past, then don't write them again in a vaguely manner that upsets people. Right now you're just being extremely oblivious and unaware of your own actions.

And for the record, you asked @Doctorwhoooourgh which past arguments you could reflect on, I can tell you one and that's the argument we had regarding remasters/remakes in that Dead Space remake article. I kept telling you that you were just being extremely nitpicky, yet you didn't listen to me and decided to start an argument just for the sake of having an argument. It literally didn't contribute to anything but you still kept pestering me about it.

For the love of god man, stop being so self-absorbed and start taking other people's thoughts into consideration!

@Richnj Oh look, we got another one of those "but muh opinion" people. You clearly wrote a provocative comment stating an unpopular opinion using vague expressions like "toned down Halo 5" instead of explaining what you mean. If you write something like that, then of course you're going to get people riled up. Have some common sense.

Next time, play the game first before writing your opinion about it. That will strengthen your arguments rather than saying "I've seen gameplay footage and it doesn't look good". Second, don't say stuff like "toned down Halo 5" among other things if you don't want to provoke people and instead provide some well-written arguments. Only then will people take you seriously and give you a decent discussion. The only thing you did now was anger people and you think you did nothing wrong? Wow, how naive can you get.

@SplooshDmg Yeah I mean, the older Halo games didn't even focus that much on Sci-Fi until Halo 4 came out. It was mostly natural/urban environments until then, so the maps definitely feel more fitting for the series this time around.

@antstephenson I mean that's how most of the classic Halo maps are. Just look at the Halo 3 multiplayer maps: https://halo.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Halo_3_Multiplayer_Maps

Some of my favourite Halo 3 maps are The Pit, Valhalla and Last Resort. Yet they look like pretty normal-looking maps, just like the one in Halo Infinite. I think it's more important to have maps with good level design rather than interesting environments. Variety is important as well and I have no doubt that there will be a lot of maps with varied environments. But level design comes first in my opinion and the one in Halo Infinite nails it from what I've seen.

Hard choice between 3 and Reach. Halo 3 definitely had the best multiplayer imo, while Reach had the best campaign (but the worst multiplayer due to all the generic customisation maps and loadouts).

I'm interested to try out Lost Planet 3 since I've never played this series before. Apparently the game is a prequel to the first one and has a stronger emphasis on story-telling so this seems like a good place to start despite it being the third game.

@SplooshDmg @Richnj Pure speculation but maybe it was because of the delay? I can imagine a lot of people being disgruntled if they found out that a game they've been working on for five years, which was ready to come out in just a couple of months, had been delayed by an entire year. Having to go through the entire game and making improvements right when it was supposed to be done would surely upset a good amount of employees.

Just like most people, I have so many games to play on Game Pass now. Last Stop, Omno, Crimson Skies, The Ascent and also A Plague Tale now that we're playing it on Game Club. On top of that, I'm also playing through Little Nightmares on Switch and Wolfenstein 2 on PS4. There's certainly no shortage of games to play this weekend!

@SplooshDmg That's good to hear! It does seem that people are having different experiences, as @MattWithoutFear points out he's had numerous bugs on his playthrough of the game. I do wonder if the developer released a day one patch to fix a lot of the bugs and the reviewers simply had to experience a game that hadn't been patched yet.

@Fenbops But it's not like developers can choose whether to release their games or not on Game Pass. It's Microsoft that chooses the games that are being added to the service and it's they who approve each title before it's released on Game Pass. Which means that if a game turns out to have technical issues then both the developer and Microsoft will be held accountable because Microsoft accepted the game and is offering it as part of a paid service.

@SplooshDmg Yeah I guess that's one approach to take. I mean, Microsoft is paying developers to have their games on Game Pass and if they deliver faulty products then they've obviously not lived up on their end of the deal. But the damage will still have been done to the service's reputation, you know?

I don't think there will be any issues with first-party games though. After the Halo Infinite fiasco last year, Microsoft isn't taking any chances with their studios. I'm fairly certain they've had to undergo a new standard procedure for quality assurance behind the scenes. Would also explain why these games are taking so long to be made, Microsoft can't have their own games release in a poor state if they want Game Pass to keep growing.

@SplooshDmg It's true. I mean, there's a difference between adding a game on Game Pass that's already come out and that's launching day one on the service. The former Microsoft will already know if it's acceptable to add to the service, while the latter is a gamble. So while it's cool to see games launch day one on the service, if Microsoft has no way of receiving quality assurance from third-party developers that their games are launching in a good state then that's a serious issue.

But like I said, I haven't played The Ascent yet so I wouldn't know how bad it actually is. I'm just pointing this out in general, it doesn't have to be the case with this specific game.

I obviously haven't played the game yet, but if it's indeed as buggy as some of the reviews are saying then, in my honest opinion, that's very disappointing. I've said this before, when games come out on Game Pass I expect them to be high quality titles because they've gone through a process at Microsoft and been accepted as titles on the service. So to see this happen, it really isn't acceptable. It's one thing if it was a purchase-only game because you could then just decide to not buy it. But if a consumer wanted to play it on Game Pass along with other titles, then you risk ruining your trust with that customer and ultimately end up damaging the service's reputation. Imagine if Netflix suddenly added a movie where it included a bunch of deleted scenes that shouldn't be in the movie. People wouldn't accept that at all and it's the same thing with a game service. So I'm hoping that we won't see more of this because if Microsoft wants to attract more subscribers, they can't be adding faulty games to Game Pass.

Like at this point, they should've just invested in Death's Door instead of The Ascent, if they had the opportunity that is.

I gave Omno a go earlier and this game is actually pretty fun. It's kinda like a 3D platformer with lite collectathon elements. Definitely going to continue playing it later.

Will also be checking out The Ascent later today. Looks to be a good time!

More horror games is always good! Never played the Fatal Frame series before so I'm hoping to give one of these games a shot.

Speaking of which, @BlueOcean you mention the remake of the second game. Are you referring to the Wii game? There's a game called "Project Zero 2" on Wii U eShop and I've been very tempted to pick it up, especially since it's only €20 and retro physical copies of these games seem to have a very high price point. Do you think it's a good starting point?

@SplooshDmg Haha sounds like an awesome guy! I think whether it's through meeting new people or just experiencing through video games, it's so interesting to learn more about other cultures. I mean, I can just imagine how much people from this site have learned about the Japanese culture after playing the Yakuza games. Going forward I really hope to see more games based on different cultures like Raji.

I just finished the game and overall I thought it was a great experience! It's a breath of fresh air compared to other games we see today. Really liked learning more about Hindu mythology as well. Definitely go check it out if you haven't!

I remember back when Hollow Knight came out on Switch in 2018 and everyone was raving about it like they're doing now with Death's Door. Definitely want to check this game out eventually but right now I'm playing way too many games!

One question: does anyone if the game runs well on base Xbox One?

@BAMozzy First-party games won't be releasing every week, right? So what will you be playing when you have to wait 3-4 months between each first-party title? That's what I'm trying to get at, Microsoft realises that in order to make Game Pass more attractive and keep people continuously subscribed to the service, it's literally impossible to only rely on first-party releases because they can only release so many per year. After a first-party title has come out, then it's up them to provide us with indie games (as well as other AAA games of course) to keep us busy while we wait for the next first-party game. Otherwise people will start unsubscribing from Game Pass and only subscribe whenever a new first-party title is released. Their whole strategy is to keep people subscribed and in order to do that, other games will need to come out in the meantime.

I personally think that indie games are important for Game Pass because there will always be more indie games coming out than AAA/first-party titles. By securing more indie games, Game Pass will have more games in general and therefore customer satisfaction will increase, which means more people staying subscribed to the service.

I think Microsoft realises that going forward, it's important for them to attract as many indie games to Game Pass as possible in order to fill out the gaps between first-party releases. So in contrast to Sony abandoning indie devs after a generation, I think Microsoft will keep supporting them as long as Game Pass is still here and we know that it won't be going away anytime soon.

@Spiders Agreed. I honestly didn't even know that you could make a call during critical moments of the game, lol. I got the first possible ending you could get because of that and when I got back to the point where I was at, I realised that the game has a symbol at the end of the sentence whenever you can make a call.

But yeah, I'm trying to get all the endings and getting the true ending really requires a guide, so I agree that it's pretty much the only flaw with the game.

I actually have 13 Sentinels in my backlog so I'm happy to hear the comparison to Steins;Gate! This is actually the first game I'm playing in the Science Adventure series and I didn't even know this was a thing to begin with. I have Chaos;Child in my backlog and apparently that game is part of the series as well. Not to mention the Robotics;Notes games which I definitely have to get if they are good as well.

Looking to finish up The Medium and Steins;Gate this weekend, so will be mostly playing those. I have to say that Steins;Gate is one of the best games I've ever played and it's been a very long time since I've come across a title as phenomenal as this. If this were to come to Xbox one day, I think it would be a huge deal. Definitely one of the best visual novels ever made in my opinion.

The Medium is an excellent horror title as well. I think it's the culmination of everything Bloober Team has done so far. The previous games like Layers of Fear and Observer were mostly walking sims but The Medium actually has a lot of puzzle-solving sort of like the Resident Evil/Silent Hill games. I've been enjoying it a lot so far and it's definitely one of the best horror games I've experienced along with Dead Space and Resident Evil Remake.

@Richnj Okay, there are differences between remasters and remakes. Does that change the fact that tackling these projects means you'll get more experience than you had before? No, it doesn't. So yes, you are nitpicking because you keep dissecting each and every example I give. I don't care that Halo or Gears were bad examples, my point at the end still stands, which is that these projects in general are good because they contribute to more experience in some way or another. And some experience is better than none.