The Thursday letters page isn’t too happy to hear of a Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 sequel, as one reader hopes for a VR mode in Resident Evil Requiem.
Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk
Change of plans
Very nice to hear the Final Fantasy guy saying that a new generation is pointless, although I’m not sure that Square Enix will be all that happy when they find out. He’s only saying what all of us are thinking though, even if we all know Sony won’t listen.
They really should though. If I were them, I’d just cancel the PlayStation 6 and stick with what they’ve got. It’s still selling and if they ever got around to releasing a new game, I’m sure they’d sell more than ever. After all, you’ve got to start from scratch with a new console, so sales will immediately dip for any games on that.
Sony are copying Microsoft’s approach to multiformat games, but I don’t see any reason why they should react to the plans for a next gen Xbox. Nobody’s going to buy it, especially if it’s filled with AI junk, so just sit back, maybe lower the price of the PS5 Pro and make that the one and only model, and they can easily keep going for at least another five years. Why isn’t that the plan?
Rinks
Second wave
As a long term Nintendo fan I’m not sure how I feel about the Nintendo Switch 2 doing so well. I should be happy but I don’t really like to see them being rewarded for what I consider to be a pretty flawed launch. I don’t know why things have gone the way they have anymore than anyone else does, but if they keep getting rewarded for making sub-par games then that is not a good habit to start.
I do agree with the reader who said that probably not much will change next year but that only makes it more important that the B-tier games should be better. Instead, they’re worse than they usually are at the moment, which is kind of upsetting.
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We’ll see what happens next, although I don’t really expect to hear anything much this year. I hate to say it, but I think what Nintendo needs is an unexpected flop. But the problem is I don’t think it matters to them, financially, if any of these smaller games don’t sell. Which is only going to enforce the idea that they don’t have to be good.
Pinky
New Expedition
Although I completely understand why, I am disappointed to find there’s going to be a sequel to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. I would much rather the same team had made something else new, even if it was relatively similar. Now they’re stuck doing the same thing again for three or four years and then who knows what.
A new original game would’ve been best, but I would also have preferred if they’d made Final Fantasy 16 for Square Enix or at least acted as advisors on it. They might still be doing that, because they have met up, but the benefit of Final Fantasy games is that each sequel is unconnected and basically a brand new game. Maybe Clair Obscur will be like that.
Royston
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Flat screen only
The ninth mainline entry in the Resident Evil series is looking immensely harrowing and heavenly and all, but I dearly hope Sony are in the process of ponying up for a requiem for big budget PlayStation VR2 games, by facilitating yet another Capcom VR exclusive.
Resident Evil Village and Resident Evil 4 Remake in VR have been some of the most enrapturing experiences I’ve had this generation. The dynamic verisimilitudes and physicality of the weapons handling and amplification of the action and horror is extraordinarily effective in VR. The encounters with Village’s Lady Dimitrescu and the monstrous foetus, and the Regenerators and Salazer’s right hand apex, xeno-predator, Verdugo, were just… chef’s kiss moments that had my heart racing like a Formula 1 car!
Galvanized Gamer
PS: Inbox magic for Resident Evil 7 to also be bestowed with a majestic PlayStation VR2 robe.
Consumer power
Interesting to see Activision backing down over the Call Of Duty skin controversy. £20 for a stupid Beavis and Butt-Head skin must be virtually pure profit, so I can’t imagine they’d want to give that up easily, unless they thought things were getting really serious amongst fans complaining.
I know it’s impossible for Call Of Duty to be an actual flop at this point, but it’s not long since Modern Warfare 3, so they’re really racking up the losses at the moment. A couple more, especially if they’re all in a row, and you could finally start to see the COD empire collapse. And all because fans were complaining and then got their way. Remember, your wallet talks!
Focus
Come back later
It seems that the Switch 2 Editions from Nintendo have been generally a success. Super Mario Party Jamboree seems to be the only one that was criticised and mostly just on value for money. It makes me wonder if there will be others in the future, especially given the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 rumours.
The obvious guess is that Nintendo is using them as the equivalent of this gen’s Wii U ports, which could work if they keep adding new content. I’d pay £17 for an expansion to Luigi’s Mansion 3 or Super Mario Odyssey, as long as they were up to the same standards.
It’s unusual to get DLC that late after the game’s release but I don’t see why that should be. The only difficultly is getting the right people back together to make them, but I imagine that’s less of a problem for Nintendo than most developers.
It’d be like a special edition for a movie, where you know you already like it but are looking for a new way to appreciate it, with a remaster and maybe a couple of new documentaries. Seems to me that works perfectly for video games, especially when there’s so little difference between one generation and another now.
Making DLC so soon after a game’s launch doesn’t really make much sense if you think about it, because at that point you’re probably burned out on it all. But come back a few years later and maybe you’ve got some ideas about what you could’ve done differently. I’d like to see it happen more anyway.
Hammeriron
Gambling with fate
So what is the bet that Double Fine will be shut down the second Keeper is released? 50/50 I’d say. But if they do somehow survive that’s going to make it look even more unreasonable that they shut down Tango Gameworks.
I’m willing to bet Hi-Fi Rush has a lot wider appeal than Keeper, regardless of whether it’s a better game or not, so it would be hypocritical to keep one and not the other. I’m sure Time Schafer is aware of this though and has a contingency plan for when the Microsoft bean counters come for him.
Bosco
Creative changes
Skyrim adorer here, might be able to clear some things up for Rich’s inbox message.
There is one other Tamriel-sized continent in Elder Scrolls’ planet of Nirn; it’s called Akavir. But Sir Todd of Howard has indicated they prefer to keep it for its mysterious qualities. Between Oblivion and Skyrim, the Empire invaded it. But it didn’t end well.
If Bethesda use any of the fan spotted Pinterest boards – that they hid when discovered – then for an arid dessert setting of Hammerfell, there should be some lovely colourful bunting and stuff about.
Fans have a few well-meaning concerns though. Unfortunately, the composer of Skyrim did some not-nice things and hasn’t worked for Bethesda since Skyrim. So whether the soundtrack will be as amazing as Skyrim’s is up for grabs.
Starfield wasn’t great by any stretch, let’s be frank.
A lot of the key leads have gone.
But in a positive hopeful mindset, the engine is vastly better. Sir Todd has indicated it will be on the yet unreleased next gen consoles, so all that headroom gives the devs more to play with, hopefully.
Plus – like it or loathe it – the Creation stores (to me) are an awesome way of new paid fan content that’s quality assured by Bethesda. And all the extra RAM and stuff could mean that would give The Elder Scrolls 6 a lovely long lifetime and variety. So can change those gloomy looking forests and snowy mountains, maybe!
Tundrastrider
GC: Starfield’s soundtrack was the only good thing about it.
Inbox also-rans
Which modern Shinobi game would you say is better out of the recent Art Of Vengeance or the 3DS one?
LeighDappa
GC: Art Of Vengeance, easily. The 3DS game was pretty bad even at the time.
A pretty good deal on Mario Kart World at Very for those who didn’t get the bundle.
Mark Matthews
GC: That is a surprisingly big discount.
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