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[James Sawyer Ford]

The amount of goalpost moving and hypocrites in this thread is unreal especially after the whole MS buying Activision drama

All acquisitions aren’t equal

There are far more Pros in this, especially from a technical and IP growth point of view, than MS spending $70B on a publisher they can’t improve

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

sony, the same company that played demon souls back in the day, prior to release, and said it was total garbage.

having sony get involved and nesting with all their things is likely a horrible idea. end of an era perhaps.

You mean Shu?

I bet had you played DS back in the day you’d call it garbage too

 

[kevboard]

it would be a disaster for the DEI bullshit Sony is paddling alone.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

They also bought Insomniac Games for 229M.

Are we just going to leave that one out?

Wow, they bought Insomniac so they could crank out safe, crowd pleasing, increasingly DEI-infested sequels to their most popular franchises.

Absolute visionaries, can’t wait to see how they handle From.

 

[MagnesD3]

sony, the same company that played demon souls back in the day, prior to release, and said it was total garbage.

having sony get involved and nesting with all their things is likely a horrible idea. end of an era perhaps.

Im tired of having to see great things die through corruption, this is what getting old means I guess sadly....

Wow, they bought Insomniac so they could crank out safe, crowd pleasing, increasingly DEI-infested sequels to their most popular franchises.

Absolute visionaries, can’t wait to see how they handle From.

Cleanse out the soul, accept this calibrated homogenous blob.

 

[sachos]

The Pros i can think about are increased technical performance and finally getting a Bloodborne Remaster, but if we dont like MS aquisitions we shouldnt like this either.

 

[NeverYouMind]

Lacking discovery? Not at all. Did you even play it?

There’s huge optional side dungeons that are better designed than main dungeons in Elden Ring

Best combat, best level design, best bosses before they started just making them hyper aggro, and amazing art design

-Yes, I played it a lot. The best things in the main game are often bought or require a tedious quest to acquire. The stuff lying about is mostly trash surrounded by a group of cannon fodder in a dump of a locale.

-Many Elden Ring dungeons are overdesigned so that is not saying much. Elden Ring's strength is a steed that can smoothly do double jumps and run fast. It is a shame they lock him away for most of the game as it is fun to use him in every context (when modded in).

-The combat is a mixed bag. The fully charged heavies and dodge attacks are often amazing but the regular attacks are like swinging a foam sword through molasses. The dodging and attacks are delayed so everything is overtelegraphed to compensate for it. The level design has too much verticality and locks off too many traversal options to force doing runarounds though corridors. The bosses are a mixed bag. Blood-Starved Beast, Martyr Logarius, Lady Maria, and Gehrman are good ones. However, Micolash, Witch of Hemwick, One Reborn, Shadow of Yharnam, Mergo's Wet Nurse, and Amygdala are some of the worst. The art design is just gothic horror ad nauseam. It lacks sound design, color, and variety relative to even other interpretations of the same theme.

 

[XXL]

All acquisitions aren’t equal

There are far more Pros in this, especially from a technical and IP growth point of view, than MS spending $70B on a publisher they can’t improve

Who gives a shit who buys who?

I never cared about Xbox buying Activision, I don't care about Playstation buying From Software and I don't care that Nintendo bought Bayonetta.

The only issue with the Xbox purchase is they run their division like Kamala ran her presidential campaign.

 

[Davesky]

It would rip the heart right out of the company and any future games. I imagine it would be like replacing the original Demons Souls soundtrack on the remake, but now for every single creative direction on any future game.

 

[MagnesD3]

It would rip the heart right out of the company and any future games. I imagine it would be like replacing the original Demons Souls soundtrack on the remake, but now for every single creative direction on any future game.

Keep the business devils out of the visionaries hands, some people are still trying to keep this artform alive..

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

The only issue with the Xbox purchase is they run their division like Kamala ran her presidential campaign.

That’s why you should care about acquisitions

Its contextual. Some have more pros than cons and others vice versa

 

[XXL]

Wow, they bought Insomniac so they could crank out safe, crowd pleasing, increasingly DEI-infested sequels to their most popular franchises.

Absolute visionaries, can’t wait to see how they handle From.

Again PC has the wokest games, by a wide margin.

If you are an LGBTQ+ gamer PC is the best platform for that, not Playstation.....and that's just a fact.

 

[XXL]

That’s why you should care about acquisitions

Its contextual. Some have more pros than cons and others vice versa

Let the markets decide.

Xbox bought Activision and sold less consoles and ended up putting all their games on PlayStation.

The market spoke.

 

[Pejo]

Sony will do nothing good for FROM. After the success of Elden Ring, I don't think there were any budget concerns, Miyazaki already was growing his team, promoting people, giving raises, and hiring during the games layoff/budget tightening era.

Sony's western-focus can only taint FROM's games at best, and completely ruin them at worst. I also said this in one of the 200 other threads, but I think Sony owning Kadokawa is even worse for the anime/manga/light novel market. With the recent problems they have had with payment processors and forced western-focused censorship, I think this could be the final nail in the coffin for true freedom in that market. You're about to see stuff like DEI and neutered narratives hit one of the last fully open and creative platforms for fiction. It'll become the current western comic book industry, in a nutshell.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Let the markets decide.

Xbox bought Activision and sold less consoles and ended up putting all their games on PlayStation.

The market spoke.

Yeah but Activision games could get worse in the future

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

You're about to see stuff like DEI and neutered narratives hit one of the last fully open and creative platforms for fiction. It'll become the current western comic book industry, in a nutshell.

This is all some fantasy you’ve conjured in y’all’s mind

There is no “woke” agenda across Sony

There IS a “woke” culture at specific studios in California

Last I checked, Japan is not California

 

[XXL]

Yeah but Activision games could get worse in the future

And no one will buy them and new competent developers will emerge.

Look at Bethesda, Larian is the new king of the RPG genre and no one gives a shit about Bethesda.

Things change.

 

[Fake]

There is no “woke” agenda across Sony

You must missed Spider-Man 2.

 

[Pejo]

There is no “woke” agenda across Sony

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

You must missed Spider-Man 2.

You must have missed reading my post where I discussed Sony mandates, they don’t. The studios dictate their culture

Firstly the DEI stuff doesn’t make SM2 a bad game, it’s still excellent

Secondly insomniac games is in California, their employees are Californian, and generally you have a certain ideology if you choose to live there more often than not

Japan is not California and their employers won’t be Californian, their studio culture therefore won’t be Californian

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Again PC has the wokest games, by a wide margin.

If you are an LGBTQ+ gamer PC is the best platform for that, not Playstation.....and that's just a fact.

are you arguing with someone else? I never said anything about which platform has the wokest games or is the preferred choice for LGBTQ+ gamers. I don’t know what that has to do with Sony’s handling of their recently acquired studios. I’m so confused.

 

[mayham2199]

Sony buying From Software would be like Bungie. Nothing will change guys. It's not Playstation that's buying FromSoftware. It's Playstation's parent company buying From's parent company. They will still release their games everywhere.

People keep saying this but I don't think it's a guarantee. Can you really say there's no chance of timed exclusive or releasing everywhere but Xbox? I do agree with you that it will most likely be multiplat but I don't think it's insane for them to make it all exclusive.

 

[XXL]

are you arguing with someone else? I never said anything about which platform has the wokest games or is the preferred choice foe
LGBTQ+ gamers. I don’t know what that has to do with Sony’s handling of their recently acquired studios. I’m so confused.

I'm saying Playstation and Nintendo are the least woke platforms in gaming and Steam has the most woke content so its a weird accusation to throw out there constantly regarding Playstation, it's just not true.

Spider Man 2 has a few woke missions, the whole game isn't fucking woke.

Even most of the publishers like Ubisoft or EA are waaaay more woke than Playstation.

And like James Sawyer Ford said (regarding Playstation), it's because they're not from California.

 

[Fake]

You must have missed reading my post where I discussed Sony mandates, they don’t. The studios dictate their culture

Firstly the DEI stuff doesn’t make SM2 a bad game, it’s still excellent

Secondly insomniac games is in California, their employees are Californian, and generally you have a certain ideology if you choose to live there more often than not

Japan is not California and their employers won’t be Californian

So, is not Sony doing DEI stuff, rather studios Sony have?

What are you even arguing dude? The end results will be the same shit.

 

[DeepEnigma]

So, is not Sony doing DEI stuff, rather studios Sony have?

What are you even arguing dude? The end results will be the same shit.

Words have meaning. There is no company wide mandate, culturally things can and will course correct to a degree. Ebb and flow. We are already seeing it happen in real time since Nov 5th in many facets already, and it's not even Jan 20th yet.

 

[XXL]

So, is not Sony doing DEI stuff, rather studios Sony have?

What are you even arguing dude? The end results will be the same shit.

No what he's saying is the woke shit (which is pretty minimal) coming from Sony is mainly from their California based studios.

From Software is Japanese there are big differences between Japan and California culturally.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

So, is not Sony doing DEI stuff, rather studios Sony have?

What are you even arguing dude? The end results will be the same shit.

The Woke crap is due to studios and people being in California and Seattle. They lean in that direction. It has ZERO to do with Sony HQ telling their studios to make their games woke, the individual studio culture is doing that

If you don’t work in that location, unlikely you haven’t same culture

There’s nothing woke about Stellar Blade or AstroBot and those studios and culture are in Japan and SK

 

[sainraja]

1. Souls games getting way too narrative driven.
2. Hulst.

Everything else is a plus.

If done properly, with a balanced approach, it wouldn't really be a bad thing. Having a good narrative does not mean gameplay has to suffer and gamers also exaggerate how much that happens with terms like "walking simulators" "movie games"; granted there are some games that have leaned a little too much in that direction but we need to ask for both, a good narrative that supports the gameplay mechanics, etc.

 

[Mr.ODST]

All acquisitions aren’t equal

There are far more Pros in this, especially from a technical and IP growth point of view, than MS spending $70B on a publisher they can’t improve

Yeah cause Bungie and Firewalk arn't also indicators of incompetence and vision from Sony

 

[V1LÆM]

They’ll ruin it. Hope they don’t buy it.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Yeah cause Bungie and Firewalk arn't also indicators of incompetence and vision from Sony

Bungie released their best expansion this year, they’re a quality studio

Concord was a new studio in GaaS and didn’t work out.

Is FromSoft a new studio making a GaaS game?

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

I'm saying Playstation and Nintendo are the least woke platforms in gaming and Steam has the most woke content so its a weird accusation to throw out there constantly regarding Playstation, it's just not true.

Spider Man 2 has a few woke missions, the whole game isn't fucking woke.

Even most of the publishers like Ubisoft or EA are waaaay more woke than Playstation.

And like James Sawyer Ford said (regarding Playstation), it's because they're not from California.

Wait, you mean Steam, the open platform that literally anyone can publish a game on, has SOME games that are more woke than the stuff Sony’s studios put out this gen? And that’s somehow supposed to be a defense of how Sony has handled Bungie, Firewalk, and Insomniac?

What the hell kind of argument is that? I’m getting brain damage trying to follow your twisted fanboy logic here.

 

[Mr.ODST]

Wait, you mean Steam, the open platform that literally anyone can publish a game on, has SOME games that are more woke than the stuff Sony’s studios put out this gen? And that’s somehow supposed to be a defense of how Sony has handled Bungie, Firewalk, and Insomniac?

What the hell kind of argument is that? I’m getting brain damage trying to follow your twisted fanboy logic here.

XXL comparing an open platform to set games that were developed by Sony Studios completely Woke, what an argument to defend Sony

 

[intheinbetween]

Lets buy a japanese studio/developer to kill it, makes sense

 

[Salty Pickle]

Yay maybe we’ll get Lego Bloodborne.

 

[XXL]

.

 

[XXL]

Wait, you mean Steam, the open platform that literally anyone can publish a game on, has SOME games that are more woke than the stuff Sony’s studios put out this gen? And that’s somehow supposed to be a defense of how Sony has handled Bungie, Firewalk, and Insomniac?

What the hell kind of argument is that? I’m getting brain damage trying to follow your twisted fanboy logic here.

XXL comparing an open platform to set games that were developed by Sony Studios completely Woke, what an argument to defend Sony

Since you guys are so sensitive.

I have a great PC.

PC has the best....

VR support
Backwards Compatibility
Indie Games
Mod Support
Modulation

Along with many other things.

PC also has the most woke games and puts a spotlight on them way more than Playstation.

So centering out Playstation for being so woke to the point they're going to ruin Fromsoft is strange.

You guys are literally talking about a few missions in a few games.

Is Astro woke? Is Helldivers 2 woke? Is Rise of Ronin woke? Is Final Fantasy Rebirth woke? Is Stellar Blade woke? Is Final Fantasy 16 woke?

Acting like that's all they do is disingenuous.

It's a California problem, not Playstation.

 

[Perrott]

Possible pro - they make fromsoft make bloodborne 2

Possible con - Miyazaki doesn’t want to, so quits in protest

Miyazaki would literally be buried in money with a multi-year talent retention bonus of likely tens of millions of dollars.

If he were to turn down all that generational wealth, he'd be instantly murdered by his own family.

 

[yurinka]

Yeah cause Bungie and Firewalk arn't also indicators of incompetence and vision from Sony

True, Bungie and Firewalk aren't indicators of incompetence and vision.

Sony needed to improve in GaaS, MP and FPS games, since their 1st party games were weak in these arease, which keep getting more and more important in the gaming market.

They have top tier devs who created/worked on Halo or Destiny plus other top shooters and GaaS, and Destiny 2 must be the most successful game Sony had outside mobile. The Final Shape and Marathon's teaser were huge successes, and helped other GaaS like GT7, MLB or Helldivers 2 to be that successful (plus to stop Concord asap).

Yes, Concord didn't work but failures and games canned happen from time to time. They did shut down Firewalk and part of the great talent they had there who worked on Halo, Destiny or CoD will be moved to other Sony stuidos who may need them. And well, hopefully they learned that must stop forcing the woke / DEI stuff in games.

 

[jm89]

Sonys Japanese studios and marketing/exclusivity deals in the Asian region is proof there won't be any meddling from the California lot.

 

[Rentahamster]

It's entirely possible that Sony wants to make Bloodborne 2 a PS6 launch title, but FS doesn't want to, so this is the only way they can make that happen.

 

[Topher]

Since you guys are so sensitive.

I have a great PC.

PC has the best....

VR support
Backwards Compatibility
Indie Games
Mod Support
Modulation

Along with many other things.

PC also has the most woke games and puts a spotlight on them way more than Playstation.

So centering out Playstation for being so woke to the point they're going to ruin Fromsoft is strange.

You guys are literally talking about a few missions in a few games.

Is Astro woke? Is Helldivers 2 woke? Is Rise of Ronin woke? Is Final Fantasy Rebirth woke? Is Stellar Blade woke? Is Final Fantasy 16 woke?

Acting like that's all they do is disingenuous.

It's a California problem, not Playstation.

I think suggesting the issue isn't very widespread as some believe is a better argument than pointing at Steam. That's kind of like blaming Sony for Dragon Age Veilguard having all its transgender crap. Doesn't really work since Sony doesn't have any control over that. Neither does Steam. But Sony does have control over their own studios.

 

[Banjo64]

I *really* don't want it to happen

Plausible pros:
1. Increased technical performance support for future FROM games

We’ve seen how long Sony’s games take to make, 6 years plus. For extra graphical fidelity and smoother frame rate, less frame tears etc I’d rather we just got From games as they are now (a new amazing release every 2-3 years).

2. Increased (and consistent) funding for development, marketing, etc

3. Operational stability means any potential experimental games would more likely be approved

They did just release AC. I think they’ve put themselves in a position where they can experiment and let’s be honest, Sony shut down creativity as soon as a project flops.

4. Creative interference+ (cinematic presentation support, accessibility/ui support, etc)

FFS!

5. Spinoff media ventures (more adaptations (even though elden ring adaptations are already in talks), toys)

6. Job security (assuming no concord-level failures, most FROM developers would be more secure in their jobs)

In my opinion that just breads complacency and worse product 9 times out of 10.

There’s simply no pro to this. From are fine as they are. Sony’s vision for video games is no where near aligned with my own, and From’s is (fun games, fun combat, endless replay-ability, minimal story with endless lore that you can explore, no cinematics, no amateur film scripts and wannabe directors). To put it bluntly this would be an absolute disaster. At least with ABK I didn’t give a toss about any of their games and even BGS I had already accepted that their best days were behind them. This is MS acquiring Nintendo levels of bad.

 

[XXL]

I think suggesting the issue isn't very widespread as some believe is a better argument than pointing at Steam. That's kind of like blaming Sony for Dragon Age Veilguard having all its transgender crap. Doesn't really work since Sony doesn't have any control over that. Neither does Steam. But Sony does have control over their own studios.

You're probably right.

My main point is it's a California problem and thinking From Software is going to be woke now because of Playstation is ridiculous.

There is definitely some woke shit going on in some areas of Playstation, but is kind of disingenuous to center them out like it's not going on other places.

Recently since Concord (which is crazy woke) they shut the game down, shut the studio down and haven't talked about it or accused people of being bigots (to my knowledge, Im sure FW studio employees have). So give them some credit and let's hope that phase is over.

 

[Mr.ODST]

Since you guys are so sensitive.

I have a great PC.

PC has the best....

VR support
Backwards Compatibility
Indie Games
Mod Support
Modulation

Along with many other things.

PC also has the most woke games and puts a spotlight on them way more than Playstation.

So centering out Playstation for being so woke to the point they're going to ruin Fromsoft is strange.

You guys are literally talking about a few missions in a few games.

Is Astro woke? Is Helldivers 2 woke? Is Rise of Ronin woke? Is Final Fantasy Rebirth woke? Is Stellar Blade woke? Is Final Fantasy 16 woke?

Acting like that's all they do is disingenuous.

It's a California problem, not Playstation.

Good for you having a PC but still not made a point trying to use an open platform where anybody can post games compared to a locked system

 

[midnightAI]

Yay maybe we’ll get Lego Bloodborne.

That would be pretty sick actually if it's done with dark humour

 

[Arachnid]

Pros: Bloodborne 2 confirmed

Cons: Doesn't matter, have Bloodborne 2

 

[Newuserdontflame]

I can think of at least two cons:

Is the guy on the right a real man?

 

[FrankWza]

it would be a disaster for the DEI bullshit Sony is paddling alone.

Who put it in Call of Duty? Is that the beginning of a disaster?

 

[Melchiah]

it would be a disaster for the DEI bullshit Sony is paddling alone.

Now I really want DEImon's Souls just to see people like you cry.