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Are you using potions? Are you studying your enemies weaknesses in the journal before fighting them? Are you using the right sword? Are you utilizing your signs properly? Invest in Quen in the beginning and Ard, its a great combination for giving you space until you master movement, parrying and dodging. I remember playing in the hardest difficulty and when I mastered all these moves it was really like a lethal ballet. Very, very satisfying. Also, if you explore everything in White Orchard you will leave with some good equipment. Still, if something is too difficult, just move on for now.

People who talk about this having shit combat are quite wrong imo. The combat is good enough to support the game for 100+ hours and it becomes quite tactical in the higher difficulties. Are there really many other modern RPGs out with better combat? And no, Elder Ring is not a fair answer - or God of War. Isi t great or even really really good? No, ok. But It is certainly much more enjoyable than Skyrim's, if we are talking about all time classics. Anyways, starting a new game on Series X and the quality difference is so evident. The vegetation, the textures, shadows and RTX really make such a huge difference to the world, bringing so much weight and atmosphere. I really want to fully replay this but I am not sure I have the time anymore. I have already played it three times, the last one fully modded on PC. But man, some minutes back and it draws you in. It is one of the best games ever made.

You don’t need to hope. The release of P6 is a certainty after the huge sales of P5. If not I will infiltrate their palace and change their heart, for all our sake. 😛

I am playing Royal now (I haven’t played it so it’s a great Xmas feeling after finishing the game when it came out, hehe) and I can confirm you are right. You only need Maruki up before a certain date to get to the new semester. You need three more things to get to the new true good ending though (two confidant ranks up and a specific choice).

Sorry for my confusion, but I thought the new semester only needed Kasumi’s rank up. OP says it needs two more, Akechi,s and Maruki’s?

Did the console versions get any updates? It was pretty bad on Series X on RTX mode.

Sony is not freaking out but Game Pass is way more flexible as a main strategy imo. But of course it has to offer important first party games, something that Sony is unable to do from day one. Not that direct comparison matters anyway if both of them are successful, which is what we all want I guess. As for why I am mentioning remakes, that is to show that their reason for raising the prices is not about development costs, because remakes do not cost the same to develop as new games. Which you clearly disagree because you are on those. 😅

I mean that I confused myself due to drunkenness.

Wow. edited after drunken mistype.

Do you mean that the next games from Bungie will be multi platform?

Maybe there are less consoles to buy, so less subscribers?

Yes, but it wasn’t the focus of the entire generation, which is what I am saying. That generation was lost. SX/S and GP are tied together for the success of this generation. They are codependent imo.

I was talking in regards to SX, because that is when GP became the main selling point of the console. No one would buy an Xbox One for GP. Sorry if I wasn’t clear.

Yeah, but reaching a wider gaming audience has a lot to do with branding and generally repositioning themselves after three generations. Not easy and it will certainly take time. But GP is the way to do it, not AAAs.

I think they expected more in the console space, but I don’t think by a lot. For a two year old service, during a hardware shortage and without a surplus of AAA it would be mad to expect a lot more. The service will expand as big games hit and Microsoft takes advantage of the AB buyout. Plus, there will be many more deals centered around GP to make it the “go to” place for gamers. They don’t even have to go after the same demographic as Sony to be a success (Nintendo hasn’t) and that gives them an advantage. If they can pull it off of course. Which is a big IF because we are talking about Microsoft here and their ability to appeal to a broader gaming audience.

Publishers have claimed the need for bigger games, extremely high quality assets, continuous support, 4K fidelity, to name but a few.

Sony said the raise in software prices was due to development costs (as everyone else). You are saying that they raised the prices in games because of inflation?

Well below expectations? It has seen a huge boost on PC and the console subs have reached a limit, as Spencer said. That’s the main negative I’ve read. And that is mostly without first party AAA supply.

Did it in this case? Two years ago? And for remakes as well? It looks more like a strategy than a forced choice by inflation.

Exactly. I was just doing a bit of prose. 😜

I agree. Sony’s raising of game prices had nothing to do with inflation though. They started it two years ago, remakes including. It’s clearly part of their strategy. The console raise, that was partly due to inflation. Partly.

Yeah, I really think Microsoft is playing a long con. Spencer may appear to be all friendly and modern but it looks more and more likely that he may be an evil genius. He is literally going after Sony’s AAA output with the most unconventional methods imaginable. He is making them a really heavy burden to bear. And Sony has no answer except to shift s big portion of their strategy asap.

Yes, I agree. That is why I’m saying that Sony is ill equipped. Their cross media strategy is actually funded from their AAAs success in a big way. They are the company which generates the most software sales revenue by far (the first GoW alone generated over 500m!) and their whole expansion strategy is based on that. The problem is that Game Pass has made that strategy even more cumbersome than it already is, because it gives Microsoft so many weapons that Sony simply doesn’t possess. Hence why they hastily launched PS Plus, raised their console prices and continued fully with cross gen. They simply couldn’t wait for their initial planning to bear fruit, since they over loaded it with more expansion buyouts in e-sports and Bungie - moves that will not beat fruit for at least a couple of years. That is why they are also panicking about CoD, which remains their biggest 3rd party revenue source. They need cash flow and they need it now because the game which they have planned their whole strategy on, is changing before their eyes and they have no answer for it. If you factor in hardware supply problems and inflation, then you get a proper time bomb. I’m fully convinced that internal studios are on fire right now because Sony needs to show everyone very, very soon when they can expect their next gen games. I will not be surprised at all if they actually announce some first party games coming day one on PS Plus (which would create a whole host of financial headaches because their business -as opposed to Microsoft- is not built like that).

There’s no definitive proof that games should cost 70. The idea that they now “cost more” and THAT is the reason they should be more expensive is totally arbitrary because we do not know development costs and because market forces are so difficult to predict. Apart from a couple of games, all games which have cost millions and millions to make have the sales to back up their investment/development cost at 60. And then some. Sony is charging 70 for remakes and their output until now is cross gen. They raised their prices since day one. More expensive development costs have little to do with this raise. Microsoft has found the best way to add more value to game pass and make Sony look like a complete fool by adding their AAA day one, which cost 70, practically free with a subscription. Both of these decisions have little to do with development costs. These are just strategies and Sony is really ill equipped in dealing with what Microsoft is doing. Especially since their main strategy is so top heavy and their new investments will take some time to give a roi.

I never said that CP's world building is better than W3. W3 remains the most accomplished open world ever along with RDR2. And Novigrad is the best city ever, as a whole. Bit NC is more convincing as a real place because of the architecture. Also, I don't get the issue with the NPCs. Bugs aside, they are as stupid as the general NPC in GTAs. RDR2 only wins in this department because of its incredible wildlife simulation.