Playstation 4 Games Catch-All

Apparently God of War is very, very easy to spoil by visual means. If you care about such things be careful when watching video reviews, etc.

Whoops, forgot this is a separate thread from the general system thread. Mah bad.

Higgledy wrote:

Apparently God of War is very, very easy to spoil by visual means. If you care about such things be careful when watching video reviews, etc.

It's really funny that everyone's producing a bunch of God of War related content this week (it seems like everyone's talking about a semi-lengthy bit on their podcasts), but also saying "watch out, this is easy to spoil." Since I'd rather go in fresh, it basically means that I'm gonna be skipping a week's worth of podcasts, and all the reviews. I kind of wish they'd hold these kinds of things until at least release day, if not a little after. I know damn well I won't be going back to catch up. But I also know not everyone's me.

I'm staying away from YouTube because you just know some numpty is going to use a super spoilery pic in their title image.

I'm amazed there's really that many people psyched for it.

Speaking of being excited for something that's probably not worth being excited about, My Hero One's Justice is coming West in 2018.

ccesarano wrote:

Whoops, forgot this is a separate thread from the general system thread. Mah bad.

I still can't reconcile the thread name change. It's been how many months now? lol

ccesarano wrote:

I'm amazed there's really that many people psyched for it.

Why surprised? I was interested in the reimagining after the reveal, but not psyched for it. Now that reviews are pretty universally positive about it, I'm psyched. The first two God of War games were solid, if problematic and kinda one-note, spectacle action games, and they went downhill after that. It sounds like this one approaches the series with an awareness of what it has been in the past, and directly addresses that, and I'm all for that kind of thing, especially if it's attached to a solid-playing game.

I don't really have any attachment to the franchise itself, so it's mostly my on principals that have me kind of "meh" on it. While I have little interest in the franchise as a whole or its revival/reinvention, I at least have respect for the first game based on the run-down Extra Credits did on it. The first game, as violent and bloody as it is, has all the necessary elements for a Greek tragedy, right down to Kratos realizing that he is essentially the master of his own misery. I like that! Naturally, whoever was in charge of the sequels and spin-offs completely didn't catch that and just made Kratos and unrepentant murder machine.

So rather than an actual reboot or course-correction, they... move Kratos out of Greece, make him a Dad, and change the combat to be over-the-shoulder camera. Now, the latter move I'm not necessarily against, though a lot of other action game aficionados have done a good job of pin-pointing why this is actually an awful move for lovers of action games. Less environmental awareness, for example. It's pretty clear this was a move to try and make the gameplay appeal to a broad audience that's probably not as used to proper action-based combat. That, or the devs themselves are not experienced enough to handle it themselves. Regardless, it doesn't help in the generic presentation. The gameplay looks alright but nothing worth $60.

Meaning if the game wants to sell me, it's purely on concept, and that's what kills my interest completely. Firstly, if you're moving it out of Greece, then either make it a new IP or make it a new God of War. You're shifting cultures, and I'm sure just about every ancient culture has some God you can claim represents War. So do that instead. Do like the first God of War game and write a story that follows the tropes of that culture's myths and stories. Don't take an existing character and completely pulverize them until they're in the shape necessary for the story you want to tell... which is yet another Dad game. I'm sorry, aren't we sick of this by now?

Everything about it just stinks of false sophistication to me. "Look! Kratos is somber now and he has to teach his (new) kid about how to be a man!" or something. Hey, didn't Kratos have, like, a lot of sex in those games? Can't we play as an illegitimate daughter that happened to inherit his Godness somehow and continue that Greek myth streak rather than just commandeering names and visuals? There's an awful lot of illegitimate demi-Gods out there that did some incredible stuff, after all. Or maybe, if we're jumping cultures, have some Eastern female God of War that has to exist somewhere in ancient history. Like, why is it Kratos again? Why do we gotta hijack this character to make what plays to the latest fads of supposedly "meaningful story-telling"?

It's such a trend-chaser guised as something meaningful. And y'know what? Maybe I'm all wrong and the story is actually really good. But it looks so much like the video game equivalent of Oscar Bait. Which, whatever, okay, but rather than returning the game to what made it really interesting narratively – a Greek tragedy in game form – and removing some of the David Jaffiness from it, you completely rewrote its identity into something else.

That's downright offensive to me, truth told.

But hey! Maybe this'll be like Ninja Theory's DmC. A product that's at least a good version of playing to trends even if the story and direction take some really stupid "Hey guys, we're adults now!" turns. It's just stunning that the usurping of God of War has had so many people psyched.

Regardless, for the sake of all buying it, I hope it's a game you really enjoy and that the press don't deceive you. It may not be where I think the franchise should go, but if I were running Sony's games division they'd probably have to close up shop in months due to profit loss, so...

That's an awful lot of feels for an entry in a series you haven't played. I get that it's not flying for you, but I've always been into the idea of "what happens in the aftermath of massive, world shaking events", and it seems like that's what they're doing here. Yeah, it's another dad story, and that's a knock against it, though a well-told story in a worn area is still valid. But the bottom line is that it's got me interested enough to try it.

I do want to push back against the over the shoulder thing being the "wrong" approach.

ess environmental awareness, for example. It's pretty clear this was a move to try and make the gameplay appeal to a broad audience that's probably not as used to proper action-based combat.

That's fairly dismissive, both to the audience and to the developers. "Proper action-based combat" implies that there's a single right way to do it, and that seems like a fairly limiting statement. Any perspective is going to introduce problems that have to be solved. A third-person game with a pulled back camera can have situational awareness problems. A first-person game has an even more limited view than a third person game, but we seem to deal okay with that. Hell, Hellblade had the same camera that God of War will, and they used audio cues to deal with the situational awareness problems well enough for me.

Again, I haven't played God of War yet, and it's totally fair that you're not interested. You could turn out to be totally right about it being another rote dad story that totally didn't have to be Kratos, and with gameplay that's bad because it's over the shoulder. But if that turns out to be the case, I'm gonna be real curious to see how it's getting such unanimous praise from basically everyone that's played it so far.

Chaz wrote:

But if that turns out to be the case, I'm gonna be real curious to see how it's getting such unanimous praise from basically everyone that's played it so far.

Same way as Uncharted 2?

I deleted a bunch of stuff here, because while there's stuff I could still argue, it comes down to personal perspective regarding the industry, medium, and what you want out of games, and for me there's a bit of... I guess grand standing is one way to put it, if I'm going to be self-deprecating? If I were a fan of the older God of War games for their action combat, then this move would disappoint me because it's effectively turning action melee into a third-person shooter, just without the guns. I feel like everything about the game is a cynical move and just encourages the industry into pushing a certain type of game. While this does not kill the game's value itself, nor does it put other games at risk, it does make me feel like any idea, gone popular enough, is bound to lose its individuality so that it can be reinvented for as wide an audience as possible.

But if I remove all that pretension and approach it as a consumer... yeah, I guess it looks pretty fun. Just nothing that truly excites me, and perhaps that's because of where my tastes are, perhaps it is due to all the surrounding baggage I have towards it, or maybe because it really does look like white bread to me. So even on a pure consumer level I guess I just don't get the hype.

Was there really that much hype before the game started to review well.

Seems to me like it is a Sony (tm) game. They have turned most of their games into variations of the same template (copying Naughty Dogs - including Naughty Dogs copying themselves forever after). But if the games they make using that template continues to be really good, there doesn't seem to be much of a problem.
I can understand if fans of the old GoW games might be disappointed by the changes, but then the fanbase of those games never seemed particularly large to begin with. It seems very unlikely the alternative to this GoW game would have been a more faithful sequel.

I never really enjoyed the original GoW games, but this one has me interested, but I also like uncharted games so what do I know.

Fastmav347 wrote:

I never really enjoyed the original GoW games, but this one has me interested, but I also like uncharted games so what do I know.

You're own tastes?

Nice shot!

I loved the first two God of War games. The combat was sharp, visceral, engaging, and frenetic. The visuals, more so the art, were breathtakingly sublime. Good weapons. Good upgrades. Good bosses. The story moved things from A to B relatively well without being a hindrance. It being the least important part, as with many a video game. Kratos as character? A visually imposing bad ass who wrecked Gods. Was there more?

I'm not interested at all by the new direction. Not the tale being offered. Nor the change in gameplay. No worries. Plenty else to play. If the praise holds up after the launch hype, I may become interested as to why. Curiosity!

Shenmue 1&2 announced for PS4. This was one of the worst keep secrets recently. Makes too much sense.

I never checked out Shenmue 1&2 back in the day so I'm glad that they're getting rereleased on current systems.

garion333 wrote:

Shenmue 1&2 announced for PS4. This was one of the worst keep secrets recently. Makes too much sense.

PC and Xbox One I believe, too.

Switch is the only one getting the shaft.

I'm really enjoying Mad Max. Great free game this month.

EverythingsTentative wrote:

I'm really enjoying Mad Max. Great free game this month.

RAGE 2: MAD MAX .. I'm not hating it?

EDIT: That sound snarkier than I mean it. I am enjoying it, but it really does seem like a RAGE clone. It's not really my type of game, I never finished RAGE either. Probably it's a great game for people who love this style of game

So I don't know what I was thinking. Maybe it was God of War excitement, maybe I just wanted something new after a pretty long 6 weeks.

But I bought a PS4 Pro for some reason.

I saw there's a way to copy over everything on my old PS4. How seamless is that process? And no, I don't have a 4k or HDR capable TV yet. Leave me and my bad decisions alone tyvm.

You can back up your PS4 to an external hard drive, then restore it to your PS4 Pro. From what I recall when I did it, it was a lengthy but relatively simple process.

It's also possible to do a copy directly between the systems if they're on the same LAN. If memory serves, we were prompted to do this when starting up the new system. Everything stays on the old system as well, which worked well for us since we are still using the first. The copy process can take a couple hours depending on how much you have to copy - just kick it off and wander away.

Dakuna wrote:
EverythingsTentative wrote:

I'm really enjoying Mad Max. Great free game this month.

RAGE 2: MAD MAX .. I'm not hating it?

EDIT: That sound snarkier than I mean it. I am enjoying it, but it really does seem like a RAGE clone. It's not really my type of game, I never finished RAGE either. Probably it's a great game for people who love this style of game :)

I never played Rage, but based on what I know I can see the comparison. I'm probably like 15 hours in and it's wearing its welcome a bit. There are four areas and you do the same things over and over in each area to build up that areas base. But I'm enjoying doing those things enough to keep going for now.

ActualDragon wrote:

It's also possible to do a copy directly between the systems if they're on the same LAN. If memory serves, we were prompted to do this when starting up the new system. Everything stays on the old system as well, which worked well for us since we are still using the first. The copy process can take a couple hours depending on how much you have to copy - just kick it off and wander away.

This. I did it when I got my Pro. It worked well, but did take a few hours. Probably a good idea to get rid of anything you're not playing/going back to just to speed things up.

My plan was do do that system to system copy, yes.

Gotta move PT.

ActualDragon wrote:

It's also possible to do a copy directly between the systems if they're on the same LAN. If memory serves, we were prompted to do this when starting up the new system. Everything stays on the old system as well, which worked well for us since we are still using the first. The copy process can take a couple hours depending on how much you have to copy - just kick it off and wander away.

Yep, this is the easiest way to do it; worked great for me.

Does anyone else find the control mapping on Mad Max super unintuitive?

It seems like one of those games that remaps the punch button just to be cool.

oilypenguin wrote:

My plan was do do that system to system copy, yes.

Gotta move PT.

The proxy trick worked when I tried it a while back, but yeah, will be doing a system transfer for it from now on.

Happy Dave wrote:

Does anyone else find the control mapping on Mad Max super unintuitive?

It seems like one of those games that remaps the punch button just to be cool.

Y / triangle is always jump in every game!

Except Mad Max, apparently.

Dakuna wrote:
Happy Dave wrote:

Does anyone else find the control mapping on Mad Max super unintuitive?

It seems like one of those games that remaps the punch button just to be cool.

Y / triangle is always jump in every game!

Except Mad Max, apparently.

I'm not sure if your being sarcastic, I though X is the normal jump, circle dodge, square punch.

Hmm, naw, probably I'm used to Bethesda games I was being sarcastic, but probably I'm also just wrong.