Ralizah

Nothing really distinguished it.

Also, the title is hard to even remember.

TNO by a pretty wide margin. Fantastic shooter.

@Ricky-Spanish I've heard you can automate stuff if you're casual and aren't looking for a more realistic simulation. At least with older entries, but I don't see why they'd change that. Most people aren't looking to get into the nitty gritty of how to fly airplanes and just want to see the sights.

Genshin Impact is a huge game in general now. It's not surprising it'd take up a lot of space.

@Titntin I was just thinking that. PS5 Pro is an amazing deal compared to that 1TB Series X considering the much stronger GPU, new AI upscaling tech, etc. That's a lot for $100 more than what Microsoft is offering.

I was gonna laugh my butt off if they announced it for Playstation.

It's still on the same platforms. Just supporting a new service/launcher.

Put your games on other ecosystems.

Raise prices on subs.

Barely market your own games, which inevitably turn out disappointing anyway. When they occasionally turn out well, destroy the studio that made said acclaimed game.

Advertise heavily that people already own Xboxes, nullifying the need for a console.

It's actually impressive they've sold as many Xboxes as they have this gen.

@Elbow RE: Texas Roadhouse... hadn't heard about that, but that's awesome! Makes me feel even better about eating there fairly often.

Bad sales are Ubisoft's own fault due to the way they price their games.

This sucks. Guess that means no more excellent 2D Rayman games, either. Mario + Rabbids guy is gone, too.

Really is just nothing left at Ubisoft for me.

@NEStalgia I mean, the traditional way in Nocturne was going all in on Physical and turning Demi-Fiend into One Punch Man.

@NEStalgia You can only really build the protagonist, and unless you do something weird like pump all his optional points into luck or something, you'll still be fine.

As for game length, howlongtobeat.com clocks it at 90 Hours to do absolutely everything, and around 70 hours for a normal playthrough. Still long, but even base P5 took nearly 100 hours just for basic story mode completion, let alone all the extra stuff in Royal.

@NEStalgia That's largely because the boosted damage from hitting weaknesses doesn't apply in that fight, so with the time limits and defense boost, the Okumura fight just became a slog.

Fight was actually way better in OG P5.

@NEStalgia Oh yeah, that boss sucked. Just more demonstrative of that obscenely poor balancing in that game.

Sega went nuts this year!

Only purchased this and SMT V: Vengeance at launch this year, and both were worth it.

I'm SO glad they balanced the difficulty versus Persona 5 Royal, where the combat was ridiculously easy even on the highest difficulty setting.

This might be my GOTY.

It has all the strengths of a Studio Zero game (except maybe dating, lol) and combines those with the more punishing and tactical combat of SMT (it's huge that this game punishes a character when their attack is dodged or blocked, and even on Normal, it can be a little challenging). Plus, it's a fresh, new IP, which is not something you get very often out of Atlus for big releases.

I didn't think anything could top SMT V: Vengeance for me, but that demo makes a VERY convincing case for the quality of this game.

That Zenimax acquisition is looking worse and worse by the day. BGS turning out duds since Fallout 4. Arkane Austin was closed after the disaster that was Redfall. Tango was sold off for... god knows what reason.

At least id is still goated, and MachineGames' new Indiana Jones title looks pretty fun.

@NEStalgia My ex was an Apple guy. I'm on Android. We videocalled using WhatsApp. It worked so much better than Zoom.

@NEStalgia True, but since the PlayStation buttons are all shapes, I can keep Cross and X separated mentally. The cruel irony of being a PC/Nintendo gamer is that, since PC tends to favor the Xbox setup, I'm kept in a state of perpetual frustration unless I remap buttons. Had to do that on my Steam Deck lol. Mirrored the face button functions in the system so that my finger automatically goes to the position it'd be in on a Ninty pad.

As a Nintendo main, X only looks normal as the top face button to me.

Glad they're basing this on the superior PS1 versions of the games.

God, I love these games.

@NEStalgia I'm imagining a Yakuza-style twist to all this where the heads of the Sony and Microsoft clans are revealed to have been agents of destruction working for the Nintendo clan all along.

The ruthless gangster era Nintendo never actually changed. They just began playing the long game.

I'll buy the Ultimate Gold Deluxe edition for $10 on Black Friday if I want it.

Crazy price for a controller.

All I want is that upcoming revision with gyro compatibility. That's the only major downside of the existing first-party controller to me.

@NEStalgia I'd say Xbox's fate as a brand was sealed the moment Uncle Phil assumed his throne. The man worked as a mascot, but his leadership has been absolutely disastrous.

Back in the day, Microsoft would work with Japanese creators to release exclusive games on their console to help account for the lacking Japanese support, for example. But they don't do that now, because countless billions were spent re-inventing Xbox into a streaming service. The complete lack of oversight with their developers is also remarkable.

Final Fantasy just isn't THAT big of a brand anymore, and S-E's lacking support isn't going to tank a major console line. What will is having almost nothing else of note releasing on the platform for years at a time.

@NEStalgia

"If they'd done this years ago Xbox might be in another place today."

Eh, no. The lack of a few big FF games didn't help Xbox, of course, but their damage is mostly self-inflicted. They've perfected the art of self-sabotage.

@eduscxbox

"TOTK runs at 720p. Avowed at 4K.
How is that even comparable?
How is that not using Xbox power?"

Of course the more powerful device renders games at a higher resolution. But that's all. Games like Hellblade 2 and Starfield feel dated at release because they don't use the greater mechanical grunt of the Series X to meaningfully expand gameplay possibilities or smooth out performance in addition to boosting the presentation. There's a reason these releases are failing to make a splash in the same way that major releases from the competition are.

"Zelda BOTW and TOTK has lots of pop in all the time, you can see enemies appearing out of nothing, don't know how that is seamless, that doesn't make it a bad game tho, and as I've said before, 30fps is just fine for Zelda, Starfield or Avowed."

So we're saying there's not a meaningful difference between a dense and fully seamless open world and an "open world" that's riddled with loading screens every time a door is opened because the former features pop in of enemy character models? Deeply disingenuous.

The issue isn't 30fps being unplayable for those games. The issue is that the performance metrics are disappointing for the hardware they're on. Compare what Sony's developers are achieving on similar hardware with their own first-party games. Heck, many developers now are able to provide stable and comparatively visually impressive AAA experiences.

"What you're doing is trying to find ways to keep using your double standards."

There are no double standards here. There's an obvious context you refuse to acknowledge because it would require acknowledging that Microsoft's developers are failing to properly optimize their games for the Series X in order to get the most out of the hardware.

@eduscxbox You don't need to mansplain the concept of graphical fidelity to me, hon.

My point is simply this: TotK is a miracle on the technology it's operating on, whereas XSX is capable of so much more than Microsoft's developers are getting out of it. Consider also how the comparatively powerful PS5's first-party games almost all have higher performance options, yet are still fairly industry-leading in terms of their presentation for major AAA titles.

Of the three big manufacturers, Microsoft is the one doing the least in terms of fully harnessing its own hardware with the games it publishes.

Also: "So is Starfield (in a way bigger scale) , but I haven't seem the same standards being applied there"

No, no it isn't. Starfield is a game filled with many, many loading screens. I used the word "seamless" very specifically: TotK is a dense open world composed of three different layered maps that never seems to force loading, no matter where you go. Like, literally, you can start on a sky island, dive toward the surface, target one of the entrances to the Depths, and dive down to the bottom of that, all in real time. On a Switch.

@NEStalgia A lot of AAA developers have abandoned interactivity and physics simulations for their worlds in general, which is disappointing. Most of the industry is using supercomputers to churn out games that feel like strolls through a museum, where you're not allowed to touch anything; Nintendo is going nuts on hardware that might as well be powered by hamsters running on wheels.

@eduscxbox Xbox Series X is the "world's most powerful console," yet it can't run fairly run-of-the-mill games from first-party developers at higher framerates, so some reason.

Tears of the Kingdom has a seamless open world and tons of complex physics systems running all the time and is running on, let's face it, hardware that would have been considered weak a decade ago.

Context is everything.

They're all looking for areas of growth, but Microsoft is the only one aggressively doing so at the expense of their own base. Sony is still being cautious with their PC approach, and I'm convinced Nintendo would sooner go bankrupt than start releasing internally developed games on competing platforms.

I've heard Xbox stans go on ad-nauseum about how bad and anti-consumer software exclusivity is for ages, and how they're such a nice, good company because they want you to be able to play their games across a range of devices.

Well, here you go, the logical end result of that. Microsoft is a third-party publisher with a console option. The only actual draw to their platform is an unsustainable subscription service that is escalating in price now that the corpos want to see returns on their considerable investments in the gaming sector sooner than later, regardless of what that ends up doing to the brand's ability to compete in the home console space.

Or, more likely, they've realized the people who were managing the brand don't know how to run a successful console gaming business and have decided to fundamentally alter the trajectory of the Xbox brand.

It's going to be incredibly funny once people start inevitably waxing nostalgic about the comparatively brighter days of the early Xbox One era.

I might snag it on Steam if it goes on sale again for a properly steep price.

Never played one of these games, and am not a racing sim fan, so I'm not sure how I'll feel about it.

Seems insane to me they keep getting delisted.

At least this is more consistent with their previous messaging. It was annoying seeing Phil "Two-Face" Spencer simultaneously talk about the issues with platform exclusivity, how games should be available to all gamers, etc. while simultaneously canceling the PS5 versions of games from studios Microsoft bought, paying for temporary console exclusivity, paying companies to restrict their announcements to just Xbox for a period of time, etc.

@Techno92LFC

"Why should we be happy for people that play on another console?"

Perhaps some Xbox owners enjoy the feelings associated with seeing their console maker of choice prioritize gamers on other platforms? Like, maybe a perverse thrill runs up their spines when they realize the PS5 runs Starfield better than their Xbox ever could.

Christ, that's tacky. Being a primarily Nintendo person thankfully shields me from a lot of this.

@Mustoe I could see it going either way. They clearly have a good thing going with the Switch concept, and there's a lot of potential in a more powerful hybrid device that isn't missing out on 90% of modern AAA games from third-party developers.

That said, the concept itself doesn't have the same wow factor anymore, and Switch has sold SO well that I could see it maintaining some level of momentum into next gen, potentially competing with Switch 2, depending on games and pricing.

Ultimately, it all comes down to the games. Switch wouldn't have exploded quite as violently that first year without classics like Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey. If Nintendo can load up the first year with exclusive killer apps again, there's no reason it shouldn't be able to inherit Nintendo's current brand momentum.

As far as console purchases go, only Switch 2 is of interest to me, and I'm still leaning away from getting one at launch due to the sheer number of games I already own and still need to play (plus, the Steam Deck fills the 'more powerful Switch' niche for me almost perfectly). That said, if the Switch 2 drops with unmissable bangers and costs $400 or less, I'll probably still be there day one.

@NEStalgia

"they do so by introducing a lot of very small "filler" projects, which are of a level of simplicity that would not pass on any other platform but theirs"

They're not filler, though. They're just not AAA. This mindset that first-party publishers only pump out BIG games is relatively new, and why delightful developers like Japan Studio were shuttered. And, frankly, it's probably why indies and smaller Jp devs thrive on Switch, as opposed to rival console platforms. A fun game is a fun game, even if the development budget doesn't compete with the GDP of a small country. Nintendo is the only one of the big three that really, deeply understands that fundamental truth.

"Nintendo doesn't buy and close developers all the time -DIRECTLY, but the implication they simply never cancel projects or teams that suggests isn't true. "

Never implied anything of the sort. Nintendo probably cancels projects all the time. What I said is they're not snapping up and shutting down entire development studios like other publishers. And they don't. Trying to equate that to the Mario & Luigi developer shuttering because of a run of bad game sales on 3DS is disingenuous, and you know it. There's a difference between snapping up developers only to close them down en masse like Microsoft or Embracer vs. not propping up failing studios that you're not responsible for.

"True about hardware prices, though a difference is Sony/MS generally subsidize hardware at launch and make thin margins, while Nintendo charges for profit from the start"

Agreed! Nintendo makes hardware that's affordable to begin with. Their business model is sustainable from the very beginning. I'm sure they're all very glad they didn't get sucked into the power console arms race that is skyrocketing prices for the competition's hardware.

"They get led by the bubbles too, they just hold back a generation before doing it to let everyone else take the falls first and use the lessons so they don't have to."

Well, that's the thing: not getting sucked in during a gold rush means not getting led by market bubbles. I don't mean they'll never go anywhere near new industry trends. They're already dipping their toes in the live service waters with the way they're releasing and persistently updating games now, and I fully expect a full-on live service title next gen. Done in their own Nintendo way.

"NINTENDO isn't laying off hundreds or thousands because they never bothered hiring them to begin with."

Yup. Responsible business choices lead to more ethical outcomes overall, it seems. Nintendo has no obligations to employees working for a third-party studio that they happen to have a contract with.

Although it's worth mentioning that Japanese business culture is more ethical in certain respects in general. Which is why, during the Wii U fiasco, Nintendo's top brass took severe pay cuts to avoid layoffs.

@NEStalgia Nintendo DOESN'T have these kinds of problems, though, lol, which is why people keep saying stuff like that.

Time for me to fangirl a bit.

Nintendo maintains a consistent schedule of exclusive releases for their base.

Nintendo isn't snapping up developers and then shuttering them.

Nintendo isn't pumping up their hardware prices in certain markets and being led astray by industry trends like the live service bubble.

Nintendo isn't laying off hundreds or thousands of employees because of poor choices made by the top brass.

Nintendo internally delays games all the time, but is typically smart enough to keep these delays internal, so consumers aren't gobsmacked with eleventh hour delays (Zelda games are a notable exception).

And yes, Nintendo is smart and maintains a high level of content publishing by working with other companies to develop exclusives for them and assist with development of key games. Nothing is stopping Microsoft from contracting skilled third-parties to help them develop new games, or to utilize their IPs in interesting ways. They prefer to simply buy companies and then give them free rein to make whatever they want, which has been mostly turning out disappointing products, because EVERYONE at a development studio needs to do their job, including the higher management.

The results speak for themselves, frankly. This generation is a new golden age for Nintendo, whereas the competition is floundering.

Ouch.

Not surprising, though. Microsoft is methodically dis-incentivizing console purchases at every turn. I'm not sure why anyone would buy an Xbox in 2024.

If the Xbox division was being run by someone who was deliberately trying to lose the company as much money, mind share, and good will as possible, I think they'd still struggle to outperform the people currently calling the shots.

It was genuinely really good. Enjoyed every single episode.

At this point I'm more excited for new seasons of this TV show than new Fallout games potentially developed by Bethesda, lol

@NEStalgia Truth. I see Playstation and Nintendo adverts on TV all the time, and I rarely watch TV. All over the internet, too.

Don't recall seeing an Xbox ad any time this gen, though.

@IOI So the plan is to complete whatever games you've purchased on the platform and then divest yourself from the ecosystem going forward?

@PsBoxSwitchOwner One thing I've learned in recent years: no matter how deep the hole one is in, they can always keep digging.

Very rarely. Although I'll preorder a game on PC if the price is below MSRP. That's how I snagged a pre-purchase of Metaphor: ReFantazio for $40.

Don't play on Xbox, but if I did, I wouldn't be disappointed this year, since every game I really dig has released on Xbox as well thus far.

@anoyonmus Oh, totally. Late 2025 would be my guess. Why not? From Sony's thinking, everyone who bought a PS5 for SM2 has already bought in, and the game doesn't sell millions for years on end without really steep discounts, so it gives them a second shot at a full price release.

@anoyonmus I heard the "hook em on the first game, then tempt them to play the sequel on PS5" theory before. But... like... Horizon Forbidden West and GoW Ragnarok are going to PC now. There's legitimately no incentive for a PC gamer to get a PS5 for Playstation sequels when they inevitably release in a superior state on PC anyway. And the whole PC initiative is still pretty new, so I expect the wait time between PC ports to go down as well.

Sony is spending too much money on these games, and their bet is that there's enough of a difference between console and PC gamers to not damage their hardware sales momentum with ports that aren't day and date.

We'll see how that works out. On my end, it just means Playstation-branded hardware is no longer an investment worth making to me. Particularly since they killed Japan Studio, anyway. I bought a PS4 for Gravity Rush 2, after all.

@InterceptorAlpha Microsoft NEEDS to release a gyro-enabled controller for the sake of parity between the platforms. I know at least one developer said they didn't enable gyro aiming in their console game because that would benefit Playstation users but not Xbox ones.

Oh, hey, another one of the twelve people who bought a Steam Controller! I've yet to get comfortable with the thing, unfortunately, although the ideas born from it have paid off elsewhere (LOVE the trackpads on my Steam Deck, which feel much more responsive).

@anoyonmus Don't all Microsoft games already come to PC? There's already no need for an Xbox console if you own one for exclusives.

Sony's working on this as well.

That's why PC + Nintendo is the way of the future, my friend.

@anoyonmus When it comes to Microsoft, the notion of exclusivity being a factor is increasingly going by the wayside. It's pretty clear they eventually want to have all their games on as many platforms as possible.

The Microsoft show didn't do much for me apart from the new DOOM, which wasn't a surprise at all, but at least they delivered for their fans. Nintendo DEFINITELY delivered, especially this late in the generation. The Switch era is the golden age of Nintendo by pretty much all metrics.

PS5 started strong this gen, but has been running on fumes. They're very lucky they have some decent third-party exclusives to drive interest in the hardware.

Nice to see Xbox included in the DQ party on time for once.