The evening Inbox worries what influence the success of Black Ops 4 will have, as another reader admits hes scared of Resident Evil 7.
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King of the Monsters
Like many reading this I was keenly watching for all the news and trailers from Comic-Con at the weekend, although I was a little underwhelmed by the selection to be honest. But I started thinking which, if any, of them might end up getting a video game version.
Its still hard to say what Warners plans might be with DC but so far it seems to be nothing but wall-to-wall Batman and I cant believe well ever see a standalone Aquaman or Shazam game. Apparently Wonder Woman 1984 was also there, in secret, but while shes a bit more likely Id still bet against it.
The Clone Wars revival already seems to have had an effect on Star Wars: Battlefield II, although I cant quite work out if that was coincidence or just good timing.
Fantastic Beasts could tie into the general upsurge in Harry Potter games at the moment, although Im in the camp that would prefer a focus on a proper interactive, open world Hogwarts.
Glass doesnt seem an easy or obvious thing to turn into a game which leaves us with… Godzilla. It was a great trailer, probably the best of the bunch, but there have been so many Godzilla games over the years, most of them awful, I cant see them making the effort. It could work though. The old PlayStation 2 era fighting games were good or you could get a good Earth Defense Force style game going out of it. But it would take a lot of effort and money, and well… you know.
Clifton
Multiplayer reward
On the question of multiplayer vs. story games I wonder what influence the success of Black Ops 4 is going to have on that? I think its more than likely that its even more successful than WWII, which had a very involved story campaign, and I can only imagine what sort of message thats going to send to Activision and beyond.
I know the next game is allegedly going to go back to having a story campaign, but well just have to see whether that actually pans out. Plus that doesnt mean that wont be the last one, a decision made before it was realised how unnecessary story campaigns are.
What concerns me is that Call Of Duty always used to be known as the complete package. It had single-player, it had multiplayer, it had co-op. Everyone was happy. Now its dropping one of those and its probably going to be rewarded for it. To me thats a worry, especially when its a series as big as Call Of Duty.
Johnson
Super happy fun time
Great interview with Sohei Niikawa about Disgaea. I played Disgaea 5 recently, the first Ive played. Plenty to get your head around, the right level of complexity for me – I like challenging games and will definitely be getting the Disgaea 1 remake.
Im not sure about the humour though. I wouldnt say Im an otaku but I enjoy manga and anime, with Tekkonkinkreet being one of my faves (amazing soundtrack by Plaid). I just thought Killia was a boring, predictable protagonist and the other characters ranged from mildly amusing to downright annoying.
Im not sure what Niikawa-san means by making people happy, the happiest Ive ever been as a gamer was when I finally beat Bloodborne, or any of the Dark Souls trilogy. So many conflicting emotions, happiness? More like anger, frustration, euphoria and blessed relief.
StealthReaper
GC: Unlike Disgaea, Bloodborne is not exactly a comedy.
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Nothing new under the sun
Gotta say I must disagree with the letter earlier from Raglan. There is nothing wrong with replaying games from the past. Take films for example. People watch their favourite films over and over again, why should games be any different? You can see why some gamers may choose Xbox over PlayStation when they may have titles from previous years they may have spent a good deal of time and money collecting that would be otherwise unplayable if not for backwards compatibility.
Also new and original IPs are good but its nice to revisit characters and worlds from previous games. Indeed, many franchises improve over time. Many sequels such as Uncharted 2, GTA V, Super Mario 64, Resident Evil 4, Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, and the recent God of War are widely considered to be superior to the original games in their respective series.
We all want to experience something unique and original but it gets harder and harder as technology reaches a plateau. Games have progressed to such an extent that developers must struggle to do anything new or ground-breaking. Take the recent God Of War, a fantastic game and many would agree the best of the year so far and perhaps one of the best of generation. However, its not really doing anything that hasnt been done before.
The over the shoulder camera angle has been done by countless games, most notably with Gears Of War and Resident Evil 4. Its fantasy elements and Viking mythology influenced world reminds me of Skyrim, The Witcher, and even Breath Of The Wild.
This doesnt mean Im been negative it just means that I feel by taking influence from a broad range of different genres and by constantly honing their trade developers can make amazing games but I think we have reached the point where it will be very difficult to create an experience that is truly unique to any other.
matc7884
GC: That is a depressingly pessimistic view to take.
Non-disposable entertainment
More people are wanting access to older games because they value them and dont see them
as just being disposable (well some do obviously) and with so many past classics why wouldnt you want the option to return to classics that have held up so well? And especially with great games that werent hits, so never got the deserved follow-up. Just because games are older doesnt mean they automatically lack innovation. And there is a reason why retro gaming keeps growing in popularity (and cost).
As long as this doesnt come at cost of new games (and Microsoft have a separate team for backwards compatibility) I dont see why people have such an issue with backwards compatibility. No one is forcing any one to play old(er) games. Its all about consumer choice and having options.
I can say that Ive found it personally rather liberating to able to return to titles like Panzer Dragoon Orta and Crimson Skies, amongst many others.
Also space: I know all the room next to and around my TV is taken up now and I can imagine its the same for other folks too. My AV amp has eight HDMI sockets and theyre all taken up by various devices.
But the most important for me personally is the preservation of our beloved hobby and backwards compatibility only helps this situation, in my humble opinion.
Chaosphere616 (gamertag)
Correct prediction
I completely agree with Raglan about the strange obsession with retro gaming. I also predict that youre going to get lots of emails in about people who love backwards compatibility and saying that you shouldnt argue against it.
Ive seen it happen multiple times on the Inbox, and elsewhere, and I think its just a reflection that despite what many people say they dont really want innovation or anything new. They just want the familiar and the predictable.
As I understood it Raglan wasnt arguing against backwards compatibility, he was asking why some people seem to think the most important thing about a new console is playing games from an old console on it.
You can see this obsession with looking backwards in all forms of pop culture, from endless movie sequels and reboots to the obsession with remasters and backwards compatibility in gaming.
Of course its good to be able to play your old games on your new console, but if thats your number one priority Ive got to question why you bought the new console at all.
Bestos
Baby steps
Have to agree with Plas letter this morning. Having extolled the virtues of VR previously, Id swore off Resident Evil 7 for the same reasons.
However, once that initial thrill wears of and you get your sea legs you start jonesing for that buzz and it seems horror titles are the way to do it. Ive not even left the kitchen yet and at this rate itll last me longer than Skyrim.
The_Deleted
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Stair lift
The other reader was right about The Order Of The Phoenix being the best of all the Harry Potter games. I remember the ability to explore a fully recreated Hogwarts was a genuinely great feature to the game and they got the look and feel of it spot on. If I remember correctly you could also unlock character bios, spells, and other trivia bits and pieces, a bit like the Batman: Arkham games.
The spell combat was a bit clunky but it was serviceable. Weirdly though, the thing I remember most about the game was the stair character animations. It might not have been the first game to do it, but it was the first game I had played where the characters feet moved in sync with each step rather than the character just seeming to float up them, as seen in other games at the time. I remember being impressed anyway.
I really hope a good studio is working on a Harry Potter role-playing game, I think it makes sense to as J. K. Rowling seems to like expanding the franchise in different ways with new books that expand the universe, it has the potential to be a great game in the right hands.
Angry_Kurt (Twitter)
Inbox also-rans
For all fellow Ni No Kuni II fans Bandai Namco has just announced that the season pass DLC is still coming and will include a major story update. Although theyre sill vague about the dates and It sounds like its not even this year.
Groc
A strong PS5 conceal would begerate!!!! For video gaming players!!!! And theps5asahol!!!! That wouldbeawwssumm!!!! I cant wait for the new biggerps5!!!!!q With Updated Graphics!!!
Anon
GC: Are you okay?
This weeks Hot Topic
The subject for this weekends Inbox was suggested by reader Wormwood and asks how often do you play video games?
On average, how many hours a week do you play games? Is it a fairly regular pattern and are there particular days or times you almost always play? Do you play roughly the same amount all the time or is it entirely dependent on what new games you have or some other factor, such as the weather? What formats do you play on and does your total include mobile games?
Do you play more or less now than in previous years and do you worry that its too much (or too little)? If it was possible, how long would you ideally play for each day or week?
E-mail your comments to: [email protected]
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