mfnick

Holy shit this game throws a lot of information at you! Had a million tutorial pop ups in the first hour or 2. Seems fun so far though. The combat is ace! Not sure how much I’ll get through though, im not really a fan of medieval settings - especially the language they use - but mostly the lack of quest way points is already causing me issues. It expects me to have a memory, which I do not. So I just tend to wander about getting myself killed by monsters I’m definitely not ready for. Pawns sometimes help but not always. But so far I seem to be in the right mindset where it’s not bothering me. I’m just having fun throwing anything and everything and seeing the creative ways enemies can kill me while Im climbing them.

Bit late to this and don’t know if it’s been brought up before but there’s talk of Epic store and others coming to Xbox. https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/phil-spencer-says-hes-open-to-bringing-stores-like-epic-and-steam-to-xbox-consoles/ One thing I can’t get my head around is how would this work? Does that mean that any game available on Xbox I could instead buy on Epic at a cheaper price? How could this ever be a good thing for Xbox? Why would I ever buy a game from them if that was the case? Plus any game I buy on Epic would then be available to me on PC. The Xbox store becomes redundant at that point. So where do they get their cut? Do they add it to the Epic store price - negating the benefit of having it there or what? I can’t get my head around it. The fuck is going off over at Xbox?

Can’t explain it. But 30fps - I can see every frame hitching across the screen. Soap opera effect - nope. Mostly oblivious to it. Actually I can tell a bit of a difference but I much prefer it to stutter & get used to it almost immediately.

Just a PSA too. Not a spoiler but if you die during the final boss encounters select the top option!!! I picked the 2nd and it sent me back 30 minutes! I almost cried. Im definitely not the only one.

Yep. I can’t tell the difference 😂😂

Yea but “normal” people don’t notice the soap opera effect so their opinion doesn’t count in this conversation 😉

I remember a video on Giantbomb back when the Og crew was there. They did a video on old PS2 games on original hardware. & one of the overriding feelings they had was they couldn’t believe how smooth all the games they were playing were. That’s because the games they were playing were mostly around 60fps whereas this was the time when the One and PS4 were about so the majority of games were 30. They felt that smoothness without knowing the franerate details. Now these aren’t the average gamers. So will know about these things more but I still think it calls out the better feeling and image smoothness higher frame rates provide. That I think most people can appreciate.

I almost completely agree with that post. The article is an interesting read too. For the most part I’m on board with them.

Basically everything Dwarf said. Fucker always puts what I’m thinking down so elegantly. Thank you.

So 70 hours later, it’s done. Basically my thoughts are the same as they were last time. I love all the characters, I love exploring the towns and villages, the combat is incredible and still easily the best in all of the action RPG genre, I loved all the story beats and little side stories, I even loved all the little mini games which everyone else seems to have a problem with. Problem is, the downsides really fucked it for me. Every time something exciting or important was happening the pacing would grind to a standstill to explore a shitty, bland open world wasteland with the same handful of open world filler missions in each area. Which only gets worse as things go on and it gets more tedious along with th fact getting around the later maps is a fucking nightmare! Gongaga is particularly terrible which is a shame as it’s probably the best looking one. The next is performance but that’s more of a me issue and I’ve been through it so don’t need to repeat. It was genuinely a big issue personally though. Lastly that ending. While it was interesting I think they fumbled the ball completely. It was so damn confusing! Still a great game but overriding sense of disappointment and normal modern game AAA open world bloat ruins it. 7/10

It did used to get mentioned though. I specifically remember reading PS2 mags & it being a positive when a game was targeting 60fps. They would definitely bring it up and would say it was a shame when certain games were at a lower frame rate. During the 16-32 bit era, in those mags they constantly brought up the difference between PAL 50 and NTSC 60. It was very noticeable if you ever experienced it. Sure it wasn’t such a big deal, but we also didn’t have social media back then but bet it would have been. Especially if games weee giving performance and graphic options back then like they do now on console. Almost every game basically tells you it’s been compromised on start up these days with that option making it more well known. & again it’s not a fair comparison. CRTs and even old HD LCD hid the frame rate issues much better than todays tvs. Especially regards to motion. Which is what I struggle with most. As Dwarf mentioned the extra detail and resolution really make these problems far more pronounced too. 30fps isn’t unplayable but it absolutely hurts the experience for me. And it can make me have to take a break from playing particular games because that stutter is all I can see when moving the camera. Not something I ever experienced with those old 32bit games.

01/03/24 - Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth (XSX) - Complete 04/04/24 - Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth (PS5) - Complete Hmmm, lot to think about with this one. Initial feeling though… 7/10 1 point deducted because performance was a huge issue personally - slightly alleviated after the patch. Fix that a bit more and it’d be an 8. But I still had a lot of issues with it. & much preferred Remake. I know it’s a controversial opinion to like Remake these days but I fucking loved it. This didn’t come close for me. It may be one of those games I look back at more fondly in the coming days/weeks. We’ll see. 1 think I will say though, it’s a game which truly feels like it just had no budget. As in it was an open cheque book. I didn’t think games stuffed with this much unique content could be made anymore. Made in a relatively short time frame too. Soundtrack is A*** too. Where’s Hip Hop De Chocobo though!?

Game of the Year 2024. 1 - Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth 2 - Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth 3 - Dragons Dogma 2 4 - Balatro 5 - Pepper Grinder Game not from 2024 discovered in 2024. 1 - 2 - 3 - Most anticipated game of 2025. 1 - Wolverine 2 - GTA 6 3 -

Roche is top tier.

Supposedly turning off HDCP in the PS5 HDMI settings reduces the input lag in this. Didn’t bother me so not tried it but a FYI for anyone who may be interested.

Just discovered Gamera 2000 thanks to GB. Everything about it rules but the soundtrack is particularly good. One of my faves just as a taster. Check out the rest if you like this type of music though. It’s all great.

Yea to be fair I’m probably mixing up iconic with popular a bit myself so makes a bit more sense then. And like you say, did more for a wider reach when you think back to the time.

Chapter 12 was a lot of fun. Almost made up for that fuck awful Cait Sith wank. Somehow ended up on a God know how that happened when I was doing everything for Tifa. Ah well. Chapter 13 started off good but is really starting to drag.

Lot of recency bias there. Very surprised with 1-3. Especially 2 not being 1. Really didn’t realise 3 was that big either.

It’s been a huge success so I don’t see why not? That part sounds fun as hell. Love it when a game lets me get overpowered.

Just to back Nag up here too as I was under the impression VRR only works above 45ish FPS but I watched a video - think it was Digital Foundry - and they said setting you the SX to 120hz with VRR definitely improved things. Fuck knows how but definitely seen at least one video saying this.

You know, this might be a big part of it. I never used to have a problem with 30fps (visually anyway, always preferred the feel of 60fps) but I think this, combined with the faster response time of modern tvs - especially OLED just makes this an issue I didn’t have before. I keep seeing snarky memes about people complaining about 30fps when back in PS1 days it would barely even hit that. But this detail thing and the fact CRTs hid that motion stuff so much better it makes that point invalid. Not all 30fps games are made equal either. Take Forza Horizon 5 - I can happily play that at 30 without issue. It’s still noticeable but severely reduced. Whereas something like Spiderman 2 I just couldn’t at all. But at the same time I don’t know if it’s something that’s come with age or being more aware of it in general but I’m a lot more sensitive to frame stutter even just during Tv programmes and especially films now. Even on my friends Sky Glass or sisters normal LED TV I can still see severe stutter during panning shots that up until the last 6 years or so I never saw. Maybe a 4k thing with the extra detail still as my old spare room 1080p Samsung looks fine to me during motion? Also maybe a screen size thing - gone from 32” being the biggest screen to 55-65” depending where I am. Anyway, sorry to derail. Just @one-armed dwarfcane up with a really interesting point for me. Going back to the original post, I think it simply comes down to how much you like a game to whether you overlook things which would create issues for you in another game. If the sum of the package of something like DD2 clicks with you more and you’re just more into what it’s doing than Ronin which you may already be bouncing off because it’s just not as much for you then the “smaller” issues like performance can become more frustrating and a far bigger deal. Plus same games different things matter more - 60fps is more important in an action game than a RPG. Graphics matter more in something like a racing game than it does in day a RTS. We all approach different games with different mindsets so parity can’t really ever be a thing unless they’re basically the exact same game and genre to start with. Easier to get parity with GT7 and FM7 for example.

Holy shit!! Fuck this fucking Cait Sith box throwing section!!! 1 part in particular - you’ll know if you’ve done it. Fucking hell, genuinely the most frustrating part I’ve played. No boss or enemy has messed me up like this bit. Genuinely had to turn it off in frustration. Piece of shit game.

I know 😞 I almost downloaded it earlier but don’t want to play anything like that before Stellar Blade now in case I burn out.

Man, I know we’ve been through this before but Sekiro is such a masterpiece IMO. Partly due to the limitations. I much prefer a limited set of tools to perfect rather than a bunch of options I’ll never use or just gives me the constant feeling I’m levelling up wrong and putting my points in the wrong areas. One of the reasons I never got in with the Souls games. Always felt I was partly struggling just because of that. Even if it’s not I still think it. Anyway going to play this again I think. Didn’t know about the beta stun thing.