Gaming PlayStation 5

I've played and finished Dark Souls and have barely any idea what the story was, I aint got time for the obscure placing of lore in wherever they hide it.
I agree. While there may be a story there, the way the Soulborne games tell it, for me, is not very interesting and engrossing. I absolutely love these games but it's mainly for the challenge, gameplay, mood, bosses etc Sekiro is one of the best games of this past generation and IMO the absolute pinnacle of mele combat in gaming. The story... is.. alright.. whatever. Cool custcenes, good lore but it's the gameplay that was phenomenal. I know many people do dig the story or something but it's not for me.

Yeah but you have your own stories about the hours and hours you spent fighting Ornstein and Smough, complete with Rocky training montages when you leveled up or upgraded some weapons. About seeing Queelag the first time, about how much you hate blightown and how anor londo archers can go feck themselves.
I mean the basic outline of the game is you're the prophesised undead, there to relink the fire.
That's not narrative or story for me. That's gaming experiences. Like the chilling yet beautiful feeling in Subnautica where you enter a new biome. I agree that it can be more powerful than a narrative. But the story or narrative, it's not. For Sunbautica that is the events that are, did or will occur in the plot.
 
And you don't need cutscenes per say for a great story. I'd argue that Outer Wilds has a brilliant story and it's told very differently. Anyone who has played it will understand. But not felt that personally about FS games ever.

Then again Outer Wilds is among the greatest games ever made IMO
 
I agree. While there may be a story there, the way the Soulborne games tell it, for me, is not very interesting and engrossing. I absolutely love these games but it's mainly for the challenge, gameplay, mood, bosses etc Sekiro is one of the best games of this past generation and IMO the absolute pinnacle of mele combat in gaming. The story... is.. alright.. whatever. Cool custcenes, good lore but it's the gameplay that was phenomenal. I know many people do dig the story or something but it's not for me.


That's not narrative or story for me. That's gaming experiences. Like the chilling yet beautiful feeling in Subnautica where you enter a new biome. I agree that it can be more powerful than a narrative. But the story or narrative, it's not. For Sunbautica that is the events that are, did or will occur in the plot.
Its definitely not narrative no, I'll go back to saying they have their own shortcomings. I think part of the mood they create and the experience is kind of informed by the mystery, obscurity and weirdness though. I think it'd be a terrible mistake on their part to fill in the blanks with long cutscenes around bosses.

And you don't need cutscenes per say for a great story. I'd argue that Outer Wilds has a brilliant story and it's told very differently. Anyone who has played it will understand. But not felt that personally about FS games ever.

Then again Outer Wilds is among the greatest games ever made IMO
Outer Wilds is probably a much better example of what im trying to say than From. Its cinematic storytelling I'm trying to criticise.
 
And you don't need cutscenes per say for a great story. I'd argue that Outer Wilds has a brilliant story and it's told very differently. Anyone who has played it will understand. But not felt that personally about FS games ever.

Then again Outer Wilds is among the greatest games ever made IMO
Firewatch is a great example of a fantastic story told without cutscenes. Everybody’s gone to the rapture too.
 
It wouldn’t be for everyone but personally a dream game for me would be Souls/Elden ring style gameplay with Bethesda/Skyrim like narrative and world building. That’s kind of what I hoped they would do with Elden ring with it being a new IP and all that but really it should be called Dark Souls 4 because it’s clearly the exact same premise. For me it’s too obscure and I think then ultimately leads me to lose interest in the rest of the world, battles etc. Hell even in a game like Returnal I think they did a better job of the whole, weird obscure story thing, I actually did want to find out what was happening there.
 
I think Skyrim had its day 15 years ago and just wouldn't be good enough today. I think if their next game is a minor upgrade on Skyrim it'll get panned. The voice acting, animations and characters were clunky and a bit cheap and dead inside even then. I think a lot of the stories were buried in scraps of paper in a cave in a random corner of the map (almost like elden ring :)). I loved the game 15 years ago enough to play it for about 500 hours or something crazy but it's been surpassed by huge distances in the mean time. Witcher 3 being the most obvious case.

I adored Elden Rings world. Honestly i've probably watched 30+ hours of youtube or reddit rabbit holes associated with it. I've probably spent an hour or two scrolling through my inventory to read item descriptions semi often when playing the game. Its a terrible way of delivering a story but my god is it an interesting world. Its dense and honestly a lot of it requires you to fill in the blanks yourself, it can be interpreted very differently depending on your view. But i think thats kind of interesting. You kind of piece together a narrative yourself and then you hear how someone else interpreted different parts and find 'oh thats quite an interesting way to look at it, i didn't think of that' and you kind of stitch together this weird quilt out of the bits the game gives you, how you want to view it yourself and other bits you steal from other people. And lots of guessing based on being familiar with GRRM and Miyazaki.

I kind of like the consistency of from's worlds too. Like they have in an universe explanation for how you can die and come back to life at a nearby bonfire or site of grace for instance and that kind of extends out to every element of the game. So secrets of the gameworld are secret and are buried at the bottom of an optional crypt miles out of the way, they're not hand delivered to you. Random townsfolk miles from the capital have no opinion on the King, they've never seen the king, they've never seen the capital for that matter in a lot of cases. The only people who know anything about the king have an in universe reason to know about him.
I guess i'm overlooking that his hat knows quite a bit about him and has a long message attached to it. Thats a definite weakness, its basically the elder scrolls book in a cave with a diary of the vampires plan to takeover nearby town. I dont know, beating them in a boss fight feels like a good time to reveal a few bits of lore from a gamey point of view and their weapons or armor telling you something about them feels a passable explanation.
 
I think Skyrim had its day 15 years ago and just wouldn't be good enough today. I think if their next game is a minor upgrade on Skyrim it'll get panned. The voice acting, animations and characters were clunky and a bit cheap and dead inside even then. I think a lot of the stories were buried in scraps of paper in a cave in a random corner of the map (almost like elden ring :)). I loved the game 15 years ago enough to play it for about 500 hours or something crazy but it's been surpassed by huge distances in the mean time. Witcher 3 being the most obvious case.

I adored Elden Rings world. Honestly i've probably watched 30+ hours of youtube or reddit rabbit holes associated with it. I've probably spent an hour or two scrolling through my inventory to read item descriptions semi often when playing the game. Its a terrible way of delivering a story but my god is it an interesting world. Its dense and honestly a lot of it requires you to fill in the blanks yourself, it can be interpreted very differently depending on your view. But i think thats kind of interesting. You kind of piece together a narrative yourself and then you hear how someone else interpreted different parts and find 'oh thats quite an interesting way to look at it, i didn't think of that' and you kind of stitch together this weird quilt out of the bits the game gives you, how you want to view it yourself and other bits you steal from other people. And lots of guessing based on being familiar with GRRM and Miyazaki.

I kind of like the consistency of from's worlds too. Like they have in an universe explanation for how you can die and come back to life at a nearby bonfire or site of grace for instance and that kind of extends out to every element of the game. So secrets of the gameworld are secret and are buried at the bottom of an optional crypt miles out of the way, they're not hand delivered to you. Random townsfolk miles from the capital have no opinion on the King, they've never seen the king, they've never seen the capital for that matter in a lot of cases. The only people who know anything about the king have an in universe reason to know about him.
I guess i'm overlooking that his hat knows quite a bit about him and has a long message attached to it. Thats a definite weakness, its basically the elder scrolls book in a cave with a diary of the vampires plan to takeover nearby town. I dont know, beating them in a boss fight feels like a good time to reveal a few bits of lore from a gamey point of view and their weapons or armor telling you something about them feels a passable explanation.
Most games become obsolete. That's just how it goes. I find Skyrim a bit overrated (albeit was excellent for its time) but eventually someone will do that much better owing to standards in technology and progression in the medium. That's why the context of when a game released is important.
 
Its definitely not narrative no, I'll go back to saying they have their own shortcomings. I think part of the mood they create and the experience is kind of informed by the mystery, obscurity and weirdness though. I think it'd be a terrible mistake on their part to fill in the blanks with long cutscenes around bosses.
It would just be a different kind of game. For Dark Souls or Bloodborne, yes, longer cutscenes wouldn't work, and their vague / straight to business system works.

Outer Wilds is probably a much better example of what im trying to say than From. Its cinematic storytelling I'm trying to criticise.
Fair enough. I think it has an important place in gaming now.

A game like Snake Eater was one of the most incredible experiences as a young gamer for me.
 
Most games become obsolete. That's just how it goes. I find Skyrim a bit overrated (albeit was excellent for its time) but eventually someone will do that much better owing to standards in technology and progression in the medium. That's why the context of when a game released is important.
Yeah i agree with the context being important. Skyrim was a great game and I think its place in the history of gaming is kind of guaranteed to a certain extent. I'm sceptical about the next one is all. It'll need to be a pretty significant leap forward just to be good and I'm not convinced Bethesda have it in them to make a great game at the moment.
 
It’s only 09:09 and I’ve had my surprise of the day already! Guardians of the Galaxy is actually good fun. Not groundbreaking in any way but fun nonetheless.

I downloaded it a couple of days ago (and was initially apprehensive) and one of the first chapters had a cutscene with "Every1's A Winner" by Hot Chocolate blaring as you hurtle through space ... Loved it ever since. Great Fun.
 
I think you're taking it a bit too far saying there's a lack of actual content. There's a legitimate criticism to be made about lacking enemy variety and certainly a lack of memorable boss fights, but the content itself is fine. It's a lengthy title with loads of interesting areas.

Meanwhile, I don't remember the amount and frequency of cutscenes being an issue. It's been a while since I've played it, so I'm not sure, but it didn't stand out to me. It clearly took a more cinematic approach than the previous titles, but nothing excessive. It still felt like a game with a strong combat gameplay foundation first and narrative focus second. It was never going to stack up to FromSoft titles in the gameplay department though.
Yeah the reason it's so beloved is because it has both. I loved the gameplay / combat / exploration and the story and characters were also excellent.
 
I think Skyrim had its day 15 years ago and just wouldn't be good enough today. I think if their next game is a minor upgrade on Skyrim it'll get panned. The voice acting, animations and characters were clunky and a bit cheap and dead inside even then. I think a lot of the stories were buried in scraps of paper in a cave in a random corner of the map (almost like elden ring :)). I loved the game 15 years ago enough to play it for about 500 hours or something crazy but it's been surpassed by huge distances in the mean time. Witcher 3 being the most obvious case.

I adored Elden Rings world. Honestly i've probably watched 30+ hours of youtube or reddit rabbit holes associated with it. I've probably spent an hour or two scrolling through my inventory to read item descriptions semi often when playing the game. Its a terrible way of delivering a story but my god is it an interesting world. Its dense and honestly a lot of it requires you to fill in the blanks yourself, it can be interpreted very differently depending on your view. But i think thats kind of interesting. You kind of piece together a narrative yourself and then you hear how someone else interpreted different parts and find 'oh thats quite an interesting way to look at it, i didn't think of that' and you kind of stitch together this weird quilt out of the bits the game gives you, how you want to view it yourself and other bits you steal from other people. And lots of guessing based on being familiar with GRRM and Miyazaki.

I kind of like the consistency of from's worlds too. Like they have in an universe explanation for how you can die and come back to life at a nearby bonfire or site of grace for instance and that kind of extends out to every element of the game. So secrets of the gameworld are secret and are buried at the bottom of an optional crypt miles out of the way, they're not hand delivered to you. Random townsfolk miles from the capital have no opinion on the King, they've never seen the king, they've never seen the capital for that matter in a lot of cases. The only people who know anything about the king have an in universe reason to know about him.
I guess i'm overlooking that his hat knows quite a bit about him and has a long message attached to it. Thats a definite weakness, its basically the elder scrolls book in a cave with a diary of the vampires plan to takeover nearby town. I dont know, beating them in a boss fight feels like a good time to reveal a few bits of lore from a gamey point of view and their weapons or armor telling you something about them feels a passable explanation.
For me and many others Skyrim is absolutely timeless. I love Witcher, but Skyrim is still better . It’s the one game that over a 15 year stretch I still have downloaded and still play. The world and lore in that game is truly unrivalled for me.

Anyway glad you enjoyed Elden rings lore and world. I found it way too abstract and it’s all getting abit “games of thrones theories” for me which I’ve never been a fan of.
 
Skyrim is literally the daddy of action adventure rpgs. Unashamedly bought so many different versions over the years to play on ps3,, ps4 and ps5. I still love dipping into it and the lore is almost perfect. Any weaknesses the game has is by far overshadowed by the feeling immersion in the world.
 
The game they're working on is described as a AAA multiplayer that brings players together in new and meaningful ways.
All for PS acquisitions, just don't forget about us single players too.
 
I've been getting a lot out of my PS Plus premium sub. I only intended to play Miles Morales but have played through a number of games including a replay of Bioshock, and Infinite.

The latest game I played is Shadow of Colossus. Here is my review -

I enjoyed it less than The Last Guardian but still an excellent and beautiful game. Like it's successor, it's mechanically a very simple game, but it does a lot with a little.

The controls turned out to be frustrating but nothing like the problems I would have with TLG.

It really did try it's best at mixing up the fights even though, they all came down to the same basic premise.

It was the Perfect length. I never felt got bored in any the 16 battles.

The story was ok, but like the gameplay, very minimalist.

For a PS4 game, the graphics, are at times, breathtaking. The only downside to them, was in performance mode, the image was very soft. It looked like 1080p to me? And probably even worse than that, the pop in with the grass was ridiculous. A real shame they could not improve that with a patch.

Overall, a adventure worth going on. 8/10
 
Has anybody tried EA play before?

A friend wants to try the new f1 2022 game, I see it's available on there. They don't have PS plus though and mainly just play offline single player games.

Will they need to get PS plus to use EA Play?
 
Has anybody tried EA play before?

A friend wants to try the new f1 2022 game, I see it's available on there. They don't have PS plus though and mainly just play offline single player games.

Will they need to get PS plus to use EA Play?
This says they need it for multiplayer games. Guessing single player is fine but for F1 2022 specifically it is probably best to message the EA Support and see if it is possible to play that without PS+
 
This says they need it for multiplayer games. Guessing single player is fine but for F1 2022 specifically it is probably best to message the EA Support and see if it is possible to play that without PS+
Yeah it's a bit confusing whether you only require it to login to online lobbies, or just play the base game in general. Thanks bud.
 
The game they're working on is described as a AAA multiplayer that brings players together in new and meaningful ways.
All for PS acquisitions, just don't forget about us single players too.

My eyes roll out of my head every time I see this phrase used in game marketing.
 
I assume the answer is no, but can you transfer subscriptions to another person?
 


July 19 games

Extra tier
  • Stray | PS4, PS5
  • Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (InterMISSION DLC included) | PS5
  • Marvel's Avengers | PS4, PS5
  • Assassin’s Creed Unity | PS4
  • Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag | PS4
  • Assassin’s Creed Rogue Remastered | PS4
  • Assassin’s Creed Freedom Cry | PS4
  • Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection | PS4
  • Saints Row IV: Re-Elected | PS4
  • Saints Row Gat out of Hell | PS4
  • Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition | PS5
  • Ice Age: Scrat’s Nutty Adventure | PS4
  • Jumanji The Video Game | PS4
  • Paw Patrol on a Roll! | PS4
  • ReadySet Heroes | PS4
Premium tier
  • No Heroes Allowed! (PSP)
  • LocoRoco Midnight Carnival (PSP)