@SplooshDmg Xenoblade 3 exhibited a similar level of technical improvement compared to its predecessor. Granted, its scope isn't nearly as vast, and you don't have the complex physics systems at play, but it's definitely at the top of the list when it comes to the most visually stunning games on the system. Monolith Soft and EPD have really mastered the hardware.
This is on a downclocked mobile SoC from 2015, lol.
What truly amazes me is that TotK is a gigantic game in everything but file size. About 2.5x the size of BotW if you factor in all three layers of the world. And it's still... what, 16GB? It's mind-boggling.
@S1ayeR74 Agreed. I was telling people we wouldn't get anything this year. Historically, the gap between the announcement/reveal and release is fairly lengthy: on average nine months to a year.
I think they'll likely announce it this year, and drop it mid 2024.
A ton of Switch games would just benefit automatically from new hardware. Especially the ones with wildly variable uncapped framerates like MH Stories 2 and dynamic resolutions like Xenoblade 2.
Nobody in their right mind expects a Tears of the Kingdom-level product from BGS, lol.
The true rout would be stealing Spider-Man 2's thunder, since both will likely release near the end of the year.
@101Force Totally agree. Switch enjoys a constant influx of interesting exclusives primarily because they collaborate with other companies to utilize their IPs in interesting ways, giving them a level of published output that wouldn't be possible if they were simply relying on first-party developers.
Even Capcom and a prominent indie developer have made games for the Zelda franchise, for example!
Microsoft is everywhere and have more money than God. There's zero reason they shouldn't have a consistent conveyor belt of exclusive releases on their platform.
@S1ayeR74 Q3/Q4 is weirdly vacant on Switch, and they're piling up a bunch of first-party launches in the first half of the year instead of spacing them out more. I think we'll be hearing something before the year is up.
@SplooshDmg lol I'll probably just end up waiting for the next Switch as well. Hopefully it's fully b/c. So many Switch games would run beautifully on hardware with just a tad more ooomph to it.
@ycshinobi Mass Effect wasn't b/c on Playstation. The older entries also didn't enjoy updates on more powerful hardware. And had aged more poorly in general.
shrug
I'm not saying you're not allowed to enjoy it, but I genuinely don't understand the appeal.
I'm remembering the expectations of Cyberpunk prior to release, and how drastically they differed from the final project. I don't think Starfield will be as unfinished as that was at launch, but I do feel like going in expecting some 11/10 game that will be the savior of the Xbox brand is just setting yourself up for disappointment.
That's not because I think Bethesda will do a poor job. I think it'll be great, and I'm excited to play it. But the reality is never going to live up to unlimited expectations.
@SplooshDmg You know, I've heard those complaints about AMD cards, and was nervous about going that route. But so far, I've not experienced any driver issues, my PC seems to be running cool, etc. Maybe I won the GPU lottery, idk. My luck tends to be pretty good with gaming hardware. My 360 was also fine, and I got it when everyone else's was RRODing. My launch Switch joycons have experienced a bit of drift, but it took years, and a bit of alcohol on a cotton swab clears up the issue for months, etc.
Haven't messed with Adrenaline yet, but the GeForce Experience software is hot garbage as well.
@SplooshDmg I actually just transitioned to an AMD GPU and am pretty happy with it so far. I know it's no good for anything involving ray-tracing and that DLSS is a superior image scaling tech to FSR, but for my purposes (gaming at med/high settings at 1080p/60), I think my card will work out fine for the foreseeable.
In my mind, my computer is a Series S that'll actually hold up to the rigors of modern gaming.
Usually go NVIDIA, but I had no interest in paying almost $100 more for a similarly powerful card. They've completely messed up lower-mid-range pricing this gen, IMO.
But yes, Switch 2 really would benefit dramatically from DLSS.
@NEStalgia Series S was never going to be a 60fps standard console. Not with that GPU.
We're starting to see more 30fps only experiences this gen. I'm not convinced that's not going to become increasingly common over time.
Also, Redfall is a shooter, so the framerate is especially crucial there. But when The Last of Us Part III drops at a glorious, cinematic 30fps, people are going to fall over themselves to praise it, and Sony's base will fall in line with the messaging that 30fps is OK for action-adventure type games, the same way they fell in line with other talking points from the top.
@Sakai Pretty much. Developers are going to start pushing more demanding tech in their upcoming games, and it's going to tank performance at higher resolutions. This gen has barely started in terms of seeing how modern titles are going to push the hardware.
@SplooshDmg Always expect 30fps on consoles. I know this cross-gen period has lulled gamers into a false sense of security on that front, but console builds will always prioritize image quality, and we're going to see them re-normalize it more and more as next-gen AAA titles continue to dribble out.
@anoyonmus Difference is that the Switch port has a concrete launch date target, not just a vague assurance that it's totally, definitely coming. Also, they've already demonstrated competence with downscaling the experience to the last gen home consoles.
@SplooshDmg Definitely. The level of care they're showing for the different platforms in terms of delivering a strong, optimized product is impressive.
Especially considering the PS4/Xbone builds are unlikely to pull a ton of sales, with most core gamer types having moved on to the newer devices by now.
If Hogwarts Legacy is decent on Switch, I might buy it just out of a show of support. It's the sort of care I want to see with more ports.
And here's why I prefer PC over consoles for AAA stuff. User control.
I'm playing this at 60fps. Might have to lower all the settings and use FSR, but with my hardware, it should be doable. Probably won't be a smooth 60fps (cuz, y'know, Bethesda), but I'll make do.
@SplooshDmg Technically better than an MMO sub in some ways, since you get to keep your gacha loot. Whereas, if you pay for an MMO sub and don't use it, that's just wasted money.
I'm a thoroughly single-player gamer, but even if I wasn't, the notion of paying a sub for a game I bought offends my sensibilities.
@mousieone Genshin won't be finished for a loooooong time, assuming the developer sticks with it (but why wouldn't they? It's a veritable gold mine). I'm not too worried about that aspect, tbh. It's the sort of game you'd play off and on over years.
@SplooshDmg Good thing is that it'll likely eventually improve. Playstation consoles pretty much always do in their latter years. Hopefully they revise it into something a little less unsightly looking.
tbh I might have already considered getting one to fully experience Horizon Forbidden West if they weren't porting their games to PC. As it stands, though, you just know a HFW Complete Edition is coming to Steam in a year or two.
I liked what I played of Genshin (just enough so I could unlock Aloy during her availability window), but I feel like, as good as it is, I'm only experiencing half a game, since I refuse on principle to feed money into the gacha machine. That keeps me from fully investing myself into playing it. Same reason I haven't touched their new sci-fi RPG, either.
@NEStalgia I don't generally buy third-party games where there's a massive disparity in terms of the experience, like the recent DOOM games. Almost everything on my Switch is either exclusive or feels at home on the platform.
I can't stand streaming. Even Xcloud is a laggy, choppy mess for me. Everywhere, too, not just at home. I'm all aboard with video streaming, but game streaming just sucks.
@SplooshDmg I have an extremely similar setup, except's it a PC, Switch, and PS4 that all feed into the same monitor.
Sony hasn't done a good job of convincing me to upgrade on their end. No themes and no exclusives I care about.
@SplooshDmg I'm weird with PC. I don't play games on it super often, but I also just sort of... can't imagine being without a gaming PC? It's not like a console for me where it needs to justify its existence.
@NEStalgia I mean, I waited until Metroid Dread was $40 in a sale. I'm not generally one to spend full price on a 10 - 20 hour 2D game. Even one as good as Dread was.
Switch is looking pretty packed me this year so far (granted, I'm not hung up on first party v third party concerns at all). Started with FE Engage, which was quite fun. March had Fatal Frame IV and Paranormasight. April, of course, had Advance Wars, which is always incredibly fun. May has TotK, the game I've been waiting an increasingly large chunk of my life for. June has Rain Code, the spiritual successor to the Danganronpa series. July is Pikmin, of course.
I'm sure Nintendo will have other stuff for the next half of the year, but, honestly, my Switch is so stuffed with unplayed and half-played games now that I think I'm going to semi-retire when it comes to new purchases. At least for a bit. The backlog needs love.
@mousieone Agreed. Which lowers their review average on Metacritic a lot, since certain types of games just don't review as well as your Zeldas and God of Wars, but I love that they publish games belonging to almost every genre. How many other companies say
Frankly, even Microsoft has Sony beat in the software diversity game. I think people would be a lot more tolerant of their smaller/less mainstream stuff like Grounded and Pentiment if they seemed to have less trouble with their AAA bangers.
@UltimateOtaku91 I doubt it'll happen, but I'd love to see the division of Monolith Soft that helped build the open worlds of BotW and TotK help Game Freak. If only so their open worlds had more of a natural feel to them.
Don't get me wrong: there's a massive improvement on that front from the Wild Areas of Sword/Shield to the environments of Scarlet/Violet. But they could be a lot better as well.
Although without longer dev cycles, I don't know that it matters too much.
@NEStalgia Eh. Of the big three, Nintendo is the only one consistently releasing games I'm excited for. Some of them are misses, but that's going to happen when your published output (both first-party, like Pikmin, and second-party like Pokemon and Kirby) dwarfs that of the competition. Not to mention they've been instrumental in making the Switch a safe haven for classic-style JRPGs and more niche Japanese content in general.
I've never been happier with a platform than I am with the Switch. Even with their issues.
@SplooshDmg Hi-Fi Rush looks interesting, but I doubt MS execs saw it as something worth expending a significant advertising budget on. I feel like Redfall probably wouldn't have been touted as heavily if they weren't desperate for something exclusive with perceived sales potential to push GP subs with.
Legends: Arceus is neat, btw. Still sort of ugly for a modern game (this IS Game Freak we're talking about), but the framerate, if not locked, is extremely stable, I don't recall running into even a single bug, and it rethinks almost every aspect of the Pokemon RPG formula.
Not a masterpiece, by any means, but a breath of fresh air for the franchise nonetheless.
@UltimateOtaku91 Have you seen Tears of the Kingdom and Xenoblade Chronicles 3? Nintendo's hardware, limiting though it is, is NOT the issue here.
@Tharsman Xbox definitely isn't in the regular habit of publishing bad games. One other factor I think matters is the level of perceived quality of their output. Even if Nintendo missteps more often (which they probably do irrespective of Pokemon tbh), they also have a reputation for developing some of the best games each generation. Ditto with Sony.
Ask the average core gamer to give you a shortlist of the best games ever made, and names like Mario, Zelda, God of War, and The Last of Us are likely to be thrown around a lot. Xbox used to have this with Halo, but they apparently fumbled that ball with Infinite.
It matters less if Nintendo stumbles, because we know generation-defining games will release, alongside a consistent slate of high-quality exclusives each year. The same can't be said for Microsoft. And as long as that's true, the significance of something like Redfall sucking will matter more than something like Mario Tennis being vaguely disappointing at launch.
On the topic of people not wanting the same games over and over, while it is true Nintendo rarely branches out with new IPs, they do significantly experiment within their respective IPs. Arguably moreso in terms of gameplay diversity than Sony does with a hundred different IPs that all also happen to be third-person action-adventure games with crafting systems.
@UltimateOtaku91 Well, like I said before, I don't think it's a matter of not having the resources. Pokemon is an industry unto itself, and the consistent roll-out of new-gen games is an integral aspect of that. So I think GF is HEAVILY encouraged to stick to certain timelines.
If you mean they should opt for an Ubisoft/Activision approach of massively expanding the development pool to the point where AAA-quality games can be churned out on the regular... well, maybe, but this is easier to say than to do, and who knows if GF's culture would even be compatible with this approach.
Either way, Nintendo would have some say, but I doubt they could unilaterally affect massive structural changes like this. And with sales being the way they are, people are probably just content to leave well enough alone.
@SplooshDmg To add to this, the gulf in quality between their main gen games, which likely need to be coordinated with the rollout of anime, merchandise, etc. and something like PLA which can probably just sort of... drop whenever... tells me that it's not unlikely that Game Freak IS capable of doing better, but is on a timeline that it would be a gigantic hassle to deviate from.
3D open world games are vastly more complex than what they were making on the Game Boy, but I feel like their development timelines per generation haven't changed all that much.
@mousieone If you want to make the argument that Nintendo should intervene because it reflects poorly on their brand, whether it's made by them or not, I think that's a much more coherent position to stake out. And one I have conflicted feelings about. But it's a logical opinion nonetheless.
@SplooshDmg Pokemon is fascinating. Not only is the brand too big and iconic to fail, but sometimes it feels like sales are inversely proportional to the quality of the game itself.
The highest selling games from this generation will likely be Sword/Shield and Scarlet/Violet, and the lowest will probably be Legends: Arceus.
There really is no incentive whatsoever to improve.
@Tharsman Nintendo's version of the "live service" model, where they take a presumably already complete game and just release the content over the course of a year or so, is hideous.
It arguably contributed to New Horizons being one of the worst Animal Crossing games as well.
And, in general, they're becoming far too comfortable designing games around the inclusion of DLC for my liking.
While I do think Nintendo's output is fantastic overall, there are definitely aspects that I disagree with.
@mousieone As much on? Eh... no. A manufacterer with a partial stake in the company that manages the brand is not as responsible as the actual developer of the game itself.
Nintendo could probably exert pressure on TPC and GF to manage timeframes and quality control better if they wanted, especially since they're the ones who publish the games, but why would they if they're meeting sales expectations? Should Nintendo police the quality control of every company they have a close relationship with?
Ultimately, Nintendo likely has much stricter standards for games developed by their own people than games they merely publish from a second-party partner. Whereas Bethesda's mess is ENTIRELY on Microsoft's head.
Nintendo does not own Game Freak. They're closely associated, but are different companies. Which is likely why some of their non-Pokemon games have appeared on rival hardware.
@SplooshDmg I'll never understand developers that don't give proper settings menus for PC games. It's not like this is the developer's first rodeo in that regard, either.
@SplooshDmg I mean, discussions of political themes are going to be inherently political by default.
Fair enough, although I do think the narrative balances its populist sentiments somewhat by acknowledging the shared humanity between all people, including members of Moebius. The 'bad guy' in XC3 doesn't end up being 'the elite,' but rather the shared human instincts that underpin much human suffering, including the systems of oppression and exploitation established by Moebius.
But yeah, if you heavily disagree with the form of social analysis employed by a work of fiction, it's going to be hard for it to resonate with you.
I loved this game to death, but tbh, I think it's time for Monolith to branch out from Xenoblade and explore other ideas. As early as 2017, people were reporting on a medieval fantasy-themed action RPG they were developing, so I'd be curious to know if that's still a thing.
@SplooshDmg It hits the right marks for me as satire. Socially, there's a pretty clear parallel between how Moebius perpetuates an eternal war in Aionios and how powerful forces IRL perpetuate social discontent between different factions of citizens while they consolidate their own power at our expense. In both cases, the system is structurally designed to promote the status quo of suffering and exploitation of the many in service of the privileged few.
This, on its own, is a pretty standard observation, but Xenoblade 3 works so well for me primarily because it also expands its focus and explains why this is happening, ending with a distinctly Buddhistic analysis of human life and how structural evil is seated in the same sort of distinctly human tendencies that motivate most of our behaviors. This is explicitly highlighted with characters like N, Shania, and Joran, whose insecurities and traumas form the basis for their radicalization and transformation into Moebius.
The Buddhistic parallels become even more explicit when you consider the cyclical state of rebirth and suffering the people of Aionios exist within.
Sometimes this approach risks becoming too preachy/obvious in its messaging, but, crucially, Xenoblade 3 also works well as a dark science-fiction war story also. Of all the Xenoblade games to date, this one feels the most tonally similar to Takahashi's 90s JRPG classic Xenogears.
The game melds an interesting and cohesive nest of themes with a well-developed cast of flawed personalities, fixes the structural/gameplay issues from previous entries, and, crucially, improves performance, so that's gorgeous on as well as off the TV. It's everything I could possibly want from a JRPG.
I actually thought the twist with Mio was ingenious, since the game drops several hints about what's happening, and it's already explained that M is able to transfer her consciousness into the bodies of others. The biggest problem with it is that Monolith had already done something similar twice before: first with Fiora near the beginning of XC1, and with Pneuma at the end of XC2. So the shock of the moment is undermined by the fact that seasoned XC players already know a twist of some sort is coming. At some point, Monolith is going to need to kill the waifu for real.
@SplooshDmg I love XC3. One of the best JRPGs I've ever played. Especially the way it centers human experience at every level of the writing, with even the rather dramatic final revelations working well on the level of analogy. Which is, IMO, the highest possible function of fantasy writing, because otherwise you're literally just making stuff up for no reason.
It also fixed nearly every structural issue that cropped up in previous games.
No game is perfect, but it's easy top ten of all time material for me. It really blew me away.
If you liked XC1's habit of characters babbling on about arcane fantasy metaphysics and/or wanted XC3 to be a comic book-style crossover event instead of the thoughtful fable it wound up being, you might like it. It's intended to wrap up the inane Klaus mythology from the first two games.
Although Moebius are still in it. This IS set in Aionios, after all.
So, on a writing level, I'm deeply disappointed with it so far. Thankfully, the gameplay is still pretty much perfect, so I think I'm going to take it slow and enjoy the exploration/side-questing/battles before pressing the story onward.
I don't blame them for 'remaining committed' during the appeals process. You don't spend this long working out a deal and then just abandon it without going through the processes available to you.
Once the acquisition has formally crashed and burned, though, Microsoft seriously needs to re-evaluate its strategy with Xbox, because what they're doing isn't working. Especially not when their primary competitor will use every dirty trick in the book to remain dominant.
Among other things:
Work out smaller-scale acquisitions that'll slip under the radar.
Form partnerships with other companies to supplement their published output, like Nintendo does.
Whip their existing developers into shape instead of allowing them to waste years on weird non-starters like Everwild, even if that means replacing them with more productive talent.
And, crucially, actually fight for their share of the market like Sony does, even if that means engaging in underhanded deals to achieve that goal. Phil Spencer keeps bringing friendship bracelets to gun fights.
Microsoft has all the money in the world, but if the people leading the Xbox division don't have fire in their bellies, nothing will change.
@NEStalgia He does indeed give me strong westaboo vibes. I'll almost be disappointed if he doesn't wear a cowboy hat and interject random English words into his otherwise fluent string of Japanese in his personal life.
Well, Platinum and Capcom know what they want their games to be. They don't need to wildly flail around and change the genre of their flagship series with new entries.
Some amount of change is expected from entry to entry in Final Fantasy. Some are more story-heavy, some are more linear, etc. But they all feel like JRPGs. Yet people who just want [insert brand name] to succeed feel the need to gaslight naysayers and act like mainline single-player Final Fantasy titles being grimdark character action games is within the expected level of change for this series.
A weird rhythm platformer/Dreamcast throwback that dropped day one on a popular subscription service didn't sell well? Color me shocked.
@Snake_V5 I won't even buy Game Pass titles on other platforms. There have been at least a few indies that I didn't buy simply because they went to Game Pass at launch.
I'm a person who follows incentives. Same reason I don't buy Playstation games at launch anymore: I know they'll go down to $10 in a sale before too long.
@SplooshDmg I modded out the energy requirements for the power cores pretty quickly, but I just kept finding aspects of the game I wanted to change via mods, and eventually realized I'd destroyed all semblance of game balance in the process. At that point, you have to ask yourself hard questions about why you're even playing the game in the first place.
Skyrim was heavily modded as well, but I wasn't messing with the core mechanics and balancing of the game, so it turned out fine. It was mostly adding on extreme content to accompany my evil edgelord of a character, anyway. Like, the game allows you to purchase a torture chamber, but doesn't give you all that much to do in it.
@NEStalgia Yoshi-P would agree. He feels very uncomfortable with 'Japanese-ness' being identified with his games, and calling something a JRPG is taken as a slur. If you think about it from that direction, Final Fantasy XVI really is the perfect Playstation exclusive.
@mousieone Watching sports, in any capacity, confuses me. If you don't have some sort of vested interest in one side winning (via betting, being related to someone on the team, etc.), why would you care who wins at all? As far as I can tell, the proper response is to tribalistically cheer for whichever team is representing your state, college, etc., but it's not like you're personally getting anything out of it.
There's also so much downtime in professional sports. Particularly football. Every time the channel would flash past an event, the players would all just be standing around, and announcers would talk in the background. I'd watch for a moment, grow deeply bored, and change the channel. Turn it back an hour later, and the players are in a different position on the field, still just standing around not doing anything. I made the joke to a sports-appreciating family member that it was like an activity populated entirely by Weeping Angels, who would do stuff when you happened to be on another station, but they didn't appreciate what I was trying to say.
@SplooshDmg I could understand getting invested in sports if you enjoy playing them, but sports CULTURE and fandom absolutely baffle me. And not in a "I don't get the appeal" sort of way, but more in a "I feel like I'm surrounded by aliens" sort of way.
Tbh, I never played Fallout 76, as I couldn't get on board with the idea of an online Fallout game. But yeah, FO4 comes out, and, like, despite being vastly more demanding, it doesn't really look all that much better than the previous games, and power armor is suddenly mecha that requires power, and everyone wants you to run around crafting stuff all the time, and I just couldn't do it, man.
I know there's some crafting in Starfield, but I'm hoping it's less intrusive and more intuitive.
Comments 587
Re: We're 'Probably' Getting Mid-Gen Xbox & PlayStation Consoles, Says Take-Two CEO
Waiting for the Xbox Series XXX, personally.
Re: Microsoft Rewards Giving Away 100s Of Easy Points With New 'Edge' Browser Update
Nice. Literally only use Edge for the Rewards points, so I don't mind activating nonsense like this.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (May 13-14)
Tears of the Kingdom, of course. I'll be playing this for a good, long time.
My sister and her husband are on Diablo 4, though. Whatever Server Slam thing is happening.
Re: Xbox Congratulates Nintendo On The Release Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
Even Playstation posted a positive/nice tweet about TotK. Kinda surprised by that, considering their hyper-competitive image/tactics.
Re: Review: ASUS ROG Ally - The Xbox Handheld We've Been Waiting For?
@SplooshDmg Xenoblade 3 exhibited a similar level of technical improvement compared to its predecessor. Granted, its scope isn't nearly as vast, and you don't have the complex physics systems at play, but it's definitely at the top of the list when it comes to the most visually stunning games on the system. Monolith Soft and EPD have really mastered the hardware.
This is on a downclocked mobile SoC from 2015, lol.
What truly amazes me is that TotK is a gigantic game in everything but file size. About 2.5x the size of BotW if you factor in all three layers of the world. And it's still... what, 16GB? It's mind-boggling.
@S1ayeR74 Agreed. I was telling people we wouldn't get anything this year. Historically, the gap between the announcement/reveal and release is fairly lengthy: on average nine months to a year.
I think they'll likely announce it this year, and drop it mid 2024.
Re: Review: ASUS ROG Ally - The Xbox Handheld We've Been Waiting For?
@SplooshDmg LOL
A ton of Switch games would just benefit automatically from new hardware. Especially the ones with wildly variable uncapped framerates like MH Stories 2 and dynamic resolutions like Xenoblade 2.
Imagine XC2 handheld at 720p instead of 360p.
Re: Reaction: Zelda Reviews & Redfall Woes Put The Pressure On Xbox Exclusive Starfield
@UltimateOtaku91
"Starfield not being game of the year does not mean failure."
EXACTLY
This is BGS we're talking about here. Anything better than Fallout 4 should be celebrated.
Re: Reaction: Zelda Reviews & Redfall Woes Put The Pressure On Xbox Exclusive Starfield
Nobody in their right mind expects a Tears of the Kingdom-level product from BGS, lol.
The true rout would be stealing Spider-Man 2's thunder, since both will likely release near the end of the year.
@101Force Totally agree. Switch enjoys a constant influx of interesting exclusives primarily because they collaborate with other companies to utilize their IPs in interesting ways, giving them a level of published output that wouldn't be possible if they were simply relying on first-party developers.
Even Capcom and a prominent indie developer have made games for the Zelda franchise, for example!
Microsoft is everywhere and have more money than God. There's zero reason they shouldn't have a consistent conveyor belt of exclusive releases on their platform.
Re: Review: ASUS ROG Ally - The Xbox Handheld We've Been Waiting For?
@S1ayeR74 Q3/Q4 is weirdly vacant on Switch, and they're piling up a bunch of first-party launches in the first half of the year instead of spacing them out more. I think we'll be hearing something before the year is up.
@SplooshDmg lol I'll probably just end up waiting for the next Switch as well. Hopefully it's fully b/c. So many Switch games would run beautifully on hardware with just a tad more ooomph to it.
Re: Review: ASUS ROG Ally - The Xbox Handheld We've Been Waiting For?
Native GP integration is very attractive. It's my biggest gripe with the Steam Deck, tbh.
Another handheld without an OLED screen, though.
@SplooshDmg Depends on the battery life in silent mode for me. Most games I'd be playing would be far less demanding than something like Gears 5.
Re: Video: Digital Foundry Compares Last-Gen Hogwarts Legacy To Xbox Series S
720p/30 with frequent drops on Xbone, lol. Will be interesting to see how they squeeze it down even more on Switch.
I'll be impressed if they can get it running at 540p undocked/720p docked on Switch at a decent framerate.
Re: Talking Point: Are You Hoping Xbox's 'Gears Collection' Is Real?
@ycshinobi Mass Effect wasn't b/c on Playstation. The older entries also didn't enjoy updates on more powerful hardware. And had aged more poorly in general.
shrug
I'm not saying you're not allowed to enjoy it, but I genuinely don't understand the appeal.
Re: Talking Point: Are You Hoping Xbox's 'Gears Collection' Is Real?
Aren't the Gears games all playable on Xbox One/Series consoles as is, though?
This seems sort of pointless to me.
Re: Starfield's ESRB Rating Appears To Have Been Revealed By Bethesda
I'm remembering the expectations of Cyberpunk prior to release, and how drastically they differed from the final project. I don't think Starfield will be as unfinished as that was at launch, but I do feel like going in expecting some 11/10 game that will be the savior of the Xbox brand is just setting yourself up for disappointment.
That's not because I think Bethesda will do a poor job. I think it'll be great, and I'm excited to play it. But the reality is never going to live up to unlimited expectations.
Re: Xbox To Provide Update On Starfield's Frame Rate Ahead Of September Launch
@SplooshDmg You know, I've heard those complaints about AMD cards, and was nervous about going that route. But so far, I've not experienced any driver issues, my PC seems to be running cool, etc. Maybe I won the GPU lottery, idk. My luck tends to be pretty good with gaming hardware. My 360 was also fine, and I got it when everyone else's was RRODing. My launch Switch joycons have experienced a bit of drift, but it took years, and a bit of alcohol on a cotton swab clears up the issue for months, etc.
Haven't messed with Adrenaline yet, but the GeForce Experience software is hot garbage as well.
Re: Xbox To Provide Update On Starfield's Frame Rate Ahead Of September Launch
@SplooshDmg I actually just transitioned to an AMD GPU and am pretty happy with it so far. I know it's no good for anything involving ray-tracing and that DLSS is a superior image scaling tech to FSR, but for my purposes (gaming at med/high settings at 1080p/60), I think my card will work out fine for the foreseeable.
In my mind, my computer is a Series S that'll actually hold up to the rigors of modern gaming.
Usually go NVIDIA, but I had no interest in paying almost $100 more for a similarly powerful card. They've completely messed up lower-mid-range pricing this gen, IMO.
But yes, Switch 2 really would benefit dramatically from DLSS.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (May 6-7)
I'll try to log some time into the Splatfest.
Also continue on with Persona 3 Portable.
Re: Xbox To Provide Update On Starfield's Frame Rate Ahead Of September Launch
@NEStalgia Series S was never going to be a 60fps standard console. Not with that GPU.
We're starting to see more 30fps only experiences this gen. I'm not convinced that's not going to become increasingly common over time.
Also, Redfall is a shooter, so the framerate is especially crucial there. But when The Last of Us Part III drops at a glorious, cinematic 30fps, people are going to fall over themselves to praise it, and Sony's base will fall in line with the messaging that 30fps is OK for action-adventure type games, the same way they fell in line with other talking points from the top.
@Sakai Pretty much. Developers are going to start pushing more demanding tech in their upcoming games, and it's going to tank performance at higher resolutions. This gen has barely started in terms of seeing how modern titles are going to push the hardware.
Re: Xbox To Provide Update On Starfield's Frame Rate Ahead Of September Launch
@SplooshDmg Always expect 30fps on consoles. I know this cross-gen period has lulled gamers into a false sense of security on that front, but console builds will always prioritize image quality, and we're going to see them re-normalize it more and more as next-gen AAA titles continue to dribble out.
Re: Hogwarts Legacy Looks Surprisingly Good On Xbox One
@anoyonmus Difference is that the Switch port has a concrete launch date target, not just a vague assurance that it's totally, definitely coming. Also, they've already demonstrated competence with downscaling the experience to the last gen home consoles.
@SplooshDmg Definitely. The level of care they're showing for the different platforms in terms of delivering a strong, optimized product is impressive.
Especially considering the PS4/Xbone builds are unlikely to pull a ton of sales, with most core gamer types having moved on to the newer devices by now.
If Hogwarts Legacy is decent on Switch, I might buy it just out of a show of support. It's the sort of care I want to see with more ports.
Re: Xbox Announces Permanent Price Cut For Series X|S Storage Expansion Cards
Better, but still overpriced.
Re: Hogwarts Legacy Looks Surprisingly Good On Xbox One
The real final boss will be the Switch port.
Re: Xbox To Provide Update On Starfield's Frame Rate Ahead Of September Launch
And here's why I prefer PC over consoles for AAA stuff. User control.
I'm playing this at 60fps. Might have to lower all the settings and use FSR, but with my hardware, it should be doable. Probably won't be a smooth 60fps (cuz, y'know, Bethesda), but I'll make do.
Re: Phil Spencer Says Xbox 'Needs To Improve' Its Development Process
@SplooshDmg Technically better than an MMO sub in some ways, since you get to keep your gacha loot. Whereas, if you pay for an MMO sub and don't use it, that's just wasted money.
I'm a thoroughly single-player gamer, but even if I wasn't, the notion of paying a sub for a game I bought offends my sensibilities.
@mousieone Genshin won't be finished for a loooooong time, assuming the developer sticks with it (but why wouldn't they? It's a veritable gold mine). I'm not too worried about that aspect, tbh. It's the sort of game you'd play off and on over years.
Re: Phil Spencer Says Xbox 'Needs To Improve' Its Development Process
@SplooshDmg Good thing is that it'll likely eventually improve. Playstation consoles pretty much always do in their latter years. Hopefully they revise it into something a little less unsightly looking.
tbh I might have already considered getting one to fully experience Horizon Forbidden West if they weren't porting their games to PC. As it stands, though, you just know a HFW Complete Edition is coming to Steam in a year or two.
I liked what I played of Genshin (just enough so I could unlock Aloy during her availability window), but I feel like, as good as it is, I'm only experiencing half a game, since I refuse on principle to feed money into the gacha machine. That keeps me from fully investing myself into playing it. Same reason I haven't touched their new sci-fi RPG, either.
Re: Phil Spencer Says Xbox 'Needs To Improve' Its Development Process
@NEStalgia I don't generally buy third-party games where there's a massive disparity in terms of the experience, like the recent DOOM games. Almost everything on my Switch is either exclusive or feels at home on the platform.
I can't stand streaming. Even Xcloud is a laggy, choppy mess for me. Everywhere, too, not just at home. I'm all aboard with video streaming, but game streaming just sucks.
@SplooshDmg I have an extremely similar setup, except's it a PC, Switch, and PS4 that all feed into the same monitor.
Sony hasn't done a good job of convincing me to upgrade on their end. No themes and no exclusives I care about.
Re: Phil Spencer Says Xbox 'Needs To Improve' Its Development Process
@SplooshDmg I'm weird with PC. I don't play games on it super often, but I also just sort of... can't imagine being without a gaming PC? It's not like a console for me where it needs to justify its existence.
@NEStalgia I mean, I waited until Metroid Dread was $40 in a sale. I'm not generally one to spend full price on a 10 - 20 hour 2D game. Even one as good as Dread was.
Switch is looking pretty packed me this year so far (granted, I'm not hung up on first party v third party concerns at all). Started with FE Engage, which was quite fun. March had Fatal Frame IV and Paranormasight. April, of course, had Advance Wars, which is always incredibly fun. May has TotK, the game I've been waiting an increasingly large chunk of my life for. June has Rain Code, the spiritual successor to the Danganronpa series. July is Pikmin, of course.
I'm sure Nintendo will have other stuff for the next half of the year, but, honestly, my Switch is so stuffed with unplayed and half-played games now that I think I'm going to semi-retire when it comes to new purchases. At least for a bit. The backlog needs love.
Re: Phil Spencer Says Xbox 'Needs To Improve' Its Development Process
@mousieone Agreed. Which lowers their review average on Metacritic a lot, since certain types of games just don't review as well as your Zeldas and God of Wars, but I love that they publish games belonging to almost every genre. How many other companies say
Frankly, even Microsoft has Sony beat in the software diversity game. I think people would be a lot more tolerant of their smaller/less mainstream stuff like Grounded and Pentiment if they seemed to have less trouble with their AAA bangers.
@UltimateOtaku91 I doubt it'll happen, but I'd love to see the division of Monolith Soft that helped build the open worlds of BotW and TotK help Game Freak. If only so their open worlds had more of a natural feel to them.
Don't get me wrong: there's a massive improvement on that front from the Wild Areas of Sword/Shield to the environments of Scarlet/Violet. But they could be a lot better as well.
Although without longer dev cycles, I don't know that it matters too much.
@NEStalgia Eh. Of the big three, Nintendo is the only one consistently releasing games I'm excited for. Some of them are misses, but that's going to happen when your published output (both first-party, like Pikmin, and second-party like Pokemon and Kirby) dwarfs that of the competition. Not to mention they've been instrumental in making the Switch a safe haven for classic-style JRPGs and more niche Japanese content in general.
I've never been happier with a platform than I am with the Switch. Even with their issues.
Re: Phil Spencer Says Xbox 'Needs To Improve' Its Development Process
@SplooshDmg Hi-Fi Rush looks interesting, but I doubt MS execs saw it as something worth expending a significant advertising budget on. I feel like Redfall probably wouldn't have been touted as heavily if they weren't desperate for something exclusive with perceived sales potential to push GP subs with.
Legends: Arceus is neat, btw. Still sort of ugly for a modern game (this IS Game Freak we're talking about), but the framerate, if not locked, is extremely stable, I don't recall running into even a single bug, and it rethinks almost every aspect of the Pokemon RPG formula.
Not a masterpiece, by any means, but a breath of fresh air for the franchise nonetheless.
@UltimateOtaku91 Have you seen Tears of the Kingdom and Xenoblade Chronicles 3? Nintendo's hardware, limiting though it is, is NOT the issue here.
@Tharsman Xbox definitely isn't in the regular habit of publishing bad games. One other factor I think matters is the level of perceived quality of their output. Even if Nintendo missteps more often (which they probably do irrespective of Pokemon tbh), they also have a reputation for developing some of the best games each generation. Ditto with Sony.
Ask the average core gamer to give you a shortlist of the best games ever made, and names like Mario, Zelda, God of War, and The Last of Us are likely to be thrown around a lot. Xbox used to have this with Halo, but they apparently fumbled that ball with Infinite.
It matters less if Nintendo stumbles, because we know generation-defining games will release, alongside a consistent slate of high-quality exclusives each year. The same can't be said for Microsoft. And as long as that's true, the significance of something like Redfall sucking will matter more than something like Mario Tennis being vaguely disappointing at launch.
On the topic of people not wanting the same games over and over, while it is true Nintendo rarely branches out with new IPs, they do significantly experiment within their respective IPs. Arguably moreso in terms of gameplay diversity than Sony does with a hundred different IPs that all also happen to be third-person action-adventure games with crafting systems.
Re: Phil Spencer Says Xbox 'Needs To Improve' Its Development Process
@UltimateOtaku91 Well, like I said before, I don't think it's a matter of not having the resources. Pokemon is an industry unto itself, and the consistent roll-out of new-gen games is an integral aspect of that. So I think GF is HEAVILY encouraged to stick to certain timelines.
If you mean they should opt for an Ubisoft/Activision approach of massively expanding the development pool to the point where AAA-quality games can be churned out on the regular... well, maybe, but this is easier to say than to do, and who knows if GF's culture would even be compatible with this approach.
Either way, Nintendo would have some say, but I doubt they could unilaterally affect massive structural changes like this. And with sales being the way they are, people are probably just content to leave well enough alone.
Re: Phil Spencer Says Xbox 'Needs To Improve' Its Development Process
@SplooshDmg To add to this, the gulf in quality between their main gen games, which likely need to be coordinated with the rollout of anime, merchandise, etc. and something like PLA which can probably just sort of... drop whenever... tells me that it's not unlikely that Game Freak IS capable of doing better, but is on a timeline that it would be a gigantic hassle to deviate from.
3D open world games are vastly more complex than what they were making on the Game Boy, but I feel like their development timelines per generation haven't changed all that much.
Re: Phil Spencer Says Xbox 'Needs To Improve' Its Development Process
@mousieone If you want to make the argument that Nintendo should intervene because it reflects poorly on their brand, whether it's made by them or not, I think that's a much more coherent position to stake out. And one I have conflicted feelings about. But it's a logical opinion nonetheless.
@SplooshDmg Pokemon is fascinating. Not only is the brand too big and iconic to fail, but sometimes it feels like sales are inversely proportional to the quality of the game itself.
The highest selling games from this generation will likely be Sword/Shield and Scarlet/Violet, and the lowest will probably be Legends: Arceus.
There really is no incentive whatsoever to improve.
Re: Phil Spencer Says Xbox 'Needs To Improve' Its Development Process
@Tharsman Nintendo's version of the "live service" model, where they take a presumably already complete game and just release the content over the course of a year or so, is hideous.
It arguably contributed to New Horizons being one of the worst Animal Crossing games as well.
And, in general, they're becoming far too comfortable designing games around the inclusion of DLC for my liking.
While I do think Nintendo's output is fantastic overall, there are definitely aspects that I disagree with.
Re: Phil Spencer Says Xbox 'Needs To Improve' Its Development Process
@mousieone As much on? Eh... no. A manufacterer with a partial stake in the company that manages the brand is not as responsible as the actual developer of the game itself.
Nintendo could probably exert pressure on TPC and GF to manage timeframes and quality control better if they wanted, especially since they're the ones who publish the games, but why would they if they're meeting sales expectations? Should Nintendo police the quality control of every company they have a close relationship with?
Ultimately, Nintendo likely has much stricter standards for games developed by their own people than games they merely publish from a second-party partner. Whereas Bethesda's mess is ENTIRELY on Microsoft's head.
Re: Phil Spencer Says Xbox 'Needs To Improve' Its Development Process
@UltimateOtaku91 @mousieone @Sebatrox
Nintendo does not own Game Freak. They're closely associated, but are different companies. Which is likely why some of their non-Pokemon games have appeared on rival hardware.
Microsoft owns Bethesda.
Re: Redfall Dev Says The Team Is 'Continuing To Improve' The Xbox Title
You can only make a first impression once. Should have waited until the game was actually finished to release it.
Re: New Xbox Game Pass Ad Reminds Us Of What's Coming In 2023 And Beyond
Starfield is the only game on that list I care about.
Not first-party, but Hollow Knight: Silksong is a day one GP addition, right? I think I'll play that as well.
Re: Redfall Is Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (May 2)
"Included with your subscription"
Well, there is that at least.
Re: These Five Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass (May 2-11)
Weird West is pretty cool, although I wonder what they added to the "Definitive Edition"?
Re: Review: Redfall - Arkane's Undead Experiment Brings Mixed Results To Xbox Game Pass
@SplooshDmg Oof.
Really makes me wonder if Microsoft made them rush this out. Are Arkane games usually this poorly optimized on release?
In fairness, this will be just one in a long string of poorly optimized AAA releases this year.
Re: Review: Redfall - Arkane's Undead Experiment Brings Mixed Results To Xbox Game Pass
@SplooshDmg I'll never understand developers that don't give proper settings menus for PC games. It's not like this is the developer's first rodeo in that regard, either.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (April 29-30)
@SplooshDmg I mean, discussions of political themes are going to be inherently political by default.
Fair enough, although I do think the narrative balances its populist sentiments somewhat by acknowledging the shared humanity between all people, including members of Moebius. The 'bad guy' in XC3 doesn't end up being 'the elite,' but rather the shared human instincts that underpin much human suffering, including the systems of oppression and exploitation established by Moebius.
But yeah, if you heavily disagree with the form of social analysis employed by a work of fiction, it's going to be hard for it to resonate with you.
I loved this game to death, but tbh, I think it's time for Monolith to branch out from Xenoblade and explore other ideas. As early as 2017, people were reporting on a medieval fantasy-themed action RPG they were developing, so I'd be curious to know if that's still a thing.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (April 29-30)
@SplooshDmg It hits the right marks for me as satire. Socially, there's a pretty clear parallel between how Moebius perpetuates an eternal war in Aionios and how powerful forces IRL perpetuate social discontent between different factions of citizens while they consolidate their own power at our expense. In both cases, the system is structurally designed to promote the status quo of suffering and exploitation of the many in service of the privileged few.
This, on its own, is a pretty standard observation, but Xenoblade 3 works so well for me primarily because it also expands its focus and explains why this is happening, ending with a distinctly Buddhistic analysis of human life and how structural evil is seated in the same sort of distinctly human tendencies that motivate most of our behaviors. This is explicitly highlighted with characters like N, Shania, and Joran, whose insecurities and traumas form the basis for their radicalization and transformation into Moebius.
The Buddhistic parallels become even more explicit when you consider the cyclical state of rebirth and suffering the people of Aionios exist within.
Sometimes this approach risks becoming too preachy/obvious in its messaging, but, crucially, Xenoblade 3 also works well as a dark science-fiction war story also. Of all the Xenoblade games to date, this one feels the most tonally similar to Takahashi's 90s JRPG classic Xenogears.
The game melds an interesting and cohesive nest of themes with a well-developed cast of flawed personalities, fixes the structural/gameplay issues from previous entries, and, crucially, improves performance, so that's gorgeous on as well as off the TV. It's everything I could possibly want from a JRPG.
I actually thought the twist with Mio was ingenious, since the game drops several hints about what's happening, and it's already explained that M is able to transfer her consciousness into the bodies of others. The biggest problem with it is that Monolith had already done something similar twice before: first with Fiora near the beginning of XC1, and with Pneuma at the end of XC2. So the shock of the moment is undermined by the fact that seasoned XC players already know a twist of some sort is coming. At some point, Monolith is going to need to kill the waifu for real.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (April 29-30)
@SplooshDmg I love XC3. One of the best JRPGs I've ever played. Especially the way it centers human experience at every level of the writing, with even the rather dramatic final revelations working well on the level of analogy. Which is, IMO, the highest possible function of fantasy writing, because otherwise you're literally just making stuff up for no reason.
It also fixed nearly every structural issue that cropped up in previous games.
No game is perfect, but it's easy top ten of all time material for me. It really blew me away.
If you liked XC1's habit of characters babbling on about arcane fantasy metaphysics and/or wanted XC3 to be a comic book-style crossover event instead of the thoughtful fable it wound up being, you might like it. It's intended to wrap up the inane Klaus mythology from the first two games.
Although Moebius are still in it. This IS set in Aionios, after all.
So, on a writing level, I'm deeply disappointed with it so far. Thankfully, the gameplay is still pretty much perfect, so I think I'm going to take it slow and enjoy the exploration/side-questing/battles before pressing the story onward.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (April 29-30)
Persona 3 Portable tonight. Will probably also dip into Splatoon 3 and Advance Wars as well. Maybe a bit of XC3: Future Redeemed on the side.
Re: Microsoft Will Appeal UK Decision To Block Activision Blizzard Purchase
I don't blame them for 'remaining committed' during the appeals process. You don't spend this long working out a deal and then just abandon it without going through the processes available to you.
Once the acquisition has formally crashed and burned, though, Microsoft seriously needs to re-evaluate its strategy with Xbox, because what they're doing isn't working. Especially not when their primary competitor will use every dirty trick in the book to remain dominant.
Among other things:
Microsoft has all the money in the world, but if the people leading the Xbox division don't have fire in their bellies, nothing will change.
Re: 'No Xbox' Begins Trending On Twitter As Another Game Skips The Platform At Launch
@NEStalgia He does indeed give me strong westaboo vibes. I'll almost be disappointed if he doesn't wear a cowboy hat and interject random English words into his otherwise fluent string of Japanese in his personal life.
Well, Platinum and Capcom know what they want their games to be. They don't need to wildly flail around and change the genre of their flagship series with new entries.
Some amount of change is expected from entry to entry in Final Fantasy. Some are more story-heavy, some are more linear, etc. But they all feel like JRPGs. Yet people who just want [insert brand name] to succeed feel the need to gaslight naysayers and act like mainline single-player Final Fantasy titles being grimdark character action games is within the expected level of change for this series.
At least the FF7 Remake series is still a thing.
Re: Rumour: Xbox Exclusive Hi-Fi RUSH 'Didn't Make The Money It Needed To Make'
A weird rhythm platformer/Dreamcast throwback that dropped day one on a popular subscription service didn't sell well? Color me shocked.
@Snake_V5 I won't even buy Game Pass titles on other platforms. There have been at least a few indies that I didn't buy simply because they went to Game Pass at launch.
I'm a person who follows incentives. Same reason I don't buy Playstation games at launch anymore: I know they'll go down to $10 in a sale before too long.
Re: 'No Xbox' Begins Trending On Twitter As Another Game Skips The Platform At Launch
@SplooshDmg I modded out the energy requirements for the power cores pretty quickly, but I just kept finding aspects of the game I wanted to change via mods, and eventually realized I'd destroyed all semblance of game balance in the process. At that point, you have to ask yourself hard questions about why you're even playing the game in the first place.
Skyrim was heavily modded as well, but I wasn't messing with the core mechanics and balancing of the game, so it turned out fine. It was mostly adding on extreme content to accompany my evil edgelord of a character, anyway. Like, the game allows you to purchase a torture chamber, but doesn't give you all that much to do in it.
@NEStalgia Yoshi-P would agree. He feels very uncomfortable with 'Japanese-ness' being identified with his games, and calling something a JRPG is taken as a slur. If you think about it from that direction, Final Fantasy XVI really is the perfect Playstation exclusive.
@mousieone Watching sports, in any capacity, confuses me. If you don't have some sort of vested interest in one side winning (via betting, being related to someone on the team, etc.), why would you care who wins at all? As far as I can tell, the proper response is to tribalistically cheer for whichever team is representing your state, college, etc., but it's not like you're personally getting anything out of it.
There's also so much downtime in professional sports. Particularly football. Every time the channel would flash past an event, the players would all just be standing around, and announcers would talk in the background. I'd watch for a moment, grow deeply bored, and change the channel. Turn it back an hour later, and the players are in a different position on the field, still just standing around not doing anything. I made the joke to a sports-appreciating family member that it was like an activity populated entirely by Weeping Angels, who would do stuff when you happened to be on another station, but they didn't appreciate what I was trying to say.
Re: 'No Xbox' Begins Trending On Twitter As Another Game Skips The Platform At Launch
@SplooshDmg I could understand getting invested in sports if you enjoy playing them, but sports CULTURE and fandom absolutely baffle me. And not in a "I don't get the appeal" sort of way, but more in a "I feel like I'm surrounded by aliens" sort of way.
Tbh, I never played Fallout 76, as I couldn't get on board with the idea of an online Fallout game. But yeah, FO4 comes out, and, like, despite being vastly more demanding, it doesn't really look all that much better than the previous games, and power armor is suddenly mecha that requires power, and everyone wants you to run around crafting stuff all the time, and I just couldn't do it, man.
I know there's some crafting in Starfield, but I'm hoping it's less intrusive and more intuitive.