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Comment by deafpolygon | Hacker News Reader

It’s amazing how valuable of an IP Sonic is. It still sells consistently well after all those years.

I’m surprised even more at the P5R sales! I might actually have to give it a real try— tried it a couple years ago (P5 non-R) and didn’t really take to it, but I was put off by the whole anime vibe.

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If you don't like the anime style, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is directly inspired by Persona's combat system but has a more mature tone. I liked it a lot, and it's 97% positive reviews on Steam, so you're likely to enjoy it too.

> directly inspired by Persona's combat system

That means they're both QTE based?

Turn based but with QTE elements

And you can even parry! In terms of parrying, for me it is harder and more satisfying than Sekiro's parry system(which was my number one game in terms of combat, now Clair Obscur has taken it's place).

How is it turn based when you get timed prompts to "press button not to die"?

How is hamburger not a salad when there are veggies in it?

Proportions matter.

When you select what action you want to do, the combat is paused and the game displays a menu.

Executing the action, dodging and parrying, and shooting ranged weapons all happen in real time.

It works really well in practice, combining both strategic and twitch gameplay.

Of course, if you like twitch gameplay, and if you can stomach twitch gameplay being labeled as "turn based".

I might agree with the former but I don't like false advertising.

I think the false advertising does great disservice to Clair Obscur. It turns off people who don’t like turn-based combat and ends up disappointing people who do like turn based combat. I very nearly bounced from what is a great game because it was not at all what I was expecting with respect to combat.

Clair Obscur’s combat would be better described as dodge and parry based as that is the primary mechanic. In terms of lineage, the combat is much closer to PunchOut than Final Fantasy 6.

It’s really fun if that is what you are expecting though.

Yes but their Steam page says:

"Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a ground-breaking turn-based RPG with unique real-time mechanics, making battles more immersive and addictive than ever."

Turns out the real time mechanics aren't unique. Not sure I want "addictive" battles or "addictive" gameplay either. Isn't that the realm of free to play?

The game is only about 30 hours and has no micro transactions. It is addictive until you beat it. Easily game of the year.

I know what it is, i read the reviews and decided to skip based on QTEs [1] :)

I still don't understand how "addictive" is a positive term.

[1] To preempt some complaining, I haven't touched an Ubisoft or EA title in at least 10 years. So it's not like I'm an AAA "consumer" that skips the darling indies.

If I had to defend the term addictive- presumably the addiction goes away when you beat the 30 hour game.

So it's not addictive in the ongoing, problematic way that cocaine would be.

Sounds a bit like Legend of Dragoon. I should play that game again some time, leaving it unfinished is a shame.

Oh wow thanks for the trip down memory lane. I guess some of the QTE elements do remind me of that and FF VIII limit breaks

You do not have to Parry. You do not have to dodge. Most od the game you can tank and heal or resurect.

I don't think that's true. I played the game and without doing some serious level grinding, you take too much damage for it to be viable to ignore the dodge/parry mechanic.

There are multiple guides on Youtube for both normal and expert. In practice some grinding in the first area is helpful and some fights are RNG heavy, but the majority of the game is actually really well balanced for it, especially since you get Pictos/Luminas and weapons specifically designed for that playstyle.

Personally, I killed Simon on my second try by rebuilding my party to intentionally die to his attacks, proc some key Luminas and trigger the start of a high damage combo. The game rewards creative builds and lateral thinking.

I played the game twice. First on normal then normal on NG+. I suck at both, parry and dodge and was able to do beat everything beside simon. So I think it is not necessary but game is much easier if you can counter.

Setting aside the big argument on whether Clair Obscur counts as turn-based, Persona 5 definitely does: it's more classically/rigidly turn-based than even the Final Fantasy games that use ATB.

>It’s amazing how valuable of an IP Sonic is. It still sells consistently well after all those years.

There have been ongoing movies and tv shows so each generation of kids grows up with Sonic.

Growing up I never had exposure to video games, so I didn't really know about Sonic until my son saw his face on some toy and IMMEDIATELY had questions. Who is that, what's his name, what does he do, ....

I think there's something about Sonic's face that is timeless, innate, prehistoric even.

It’s just cool. Cooler than Mario which is a fat plumber. Think of it as the difference between a Lamborghini (sonic) vs. VW beetle (Mario)

Sonic wins on aesthetics and style while Mario is popular entirely because of the quality of the games that have cemented Mario as timeless.

If you're put off by the anime vibe then there's no point trying it at all, you won't like it. It is a very anime game

Sega is one of those companies quietly pumping out content for a loyal fan base. They don’t get as much limelight as Nintendo do with their IP, which is a shame because Sega’s games are definitely on a par with the stuff Nintendo release.

> It’s amazing how valuable of an IP Sonic is. It still sells consistently well after all those years.

It’s not as surprising when you consider Sonic is also mascot who they’ve ploughed millions into.

The movies will have definitely reignited some interest into Sonic too

> Sega is one of those companies quietly milking IP dry for a loyal fan base

That's more like it

When you look at pretty much every other brand out there, Sega aren’t nearly as aggressively milking their IPs.

They’re not even in the same league as Nintendo, Disney, Lego, etc. And when you look at other games companies from the same era (Capcom, Atari, etc) then you’d see that Sega are still releasing original content too vs the same rehashed shit that people buy purely because of the name.

Then on the other end of the spectrum you have companies buying studios and letting those games rot (like EA). Studios encouraging micro-transactions (Microsoft with Minecraft, EA, Roblox, Epic, etc) and even underage gambling with loot boxes. Shit that has no place in gaming. It’s Also Sega are one of the least aggressive companies out there “defending” their IP against fan-made content.

Sega are a massively underrated brand in today’s gaming landscape.

Look, as far as I'm concerned the continued existence of Atari is worth it solely because they keep on giving money to Jeff Minter to reinterpret their eighties coin-ops as weird psychedelic trips, not all of them work but they keep him and Giles and his sheep fed and give him time to tinker with his own weird games.

Any other decent Atari rehashes are pure lagniappe.

I didnt understand anything of what you said

Play Polybius, the recent I, Robot remake, and TxK/Tempest 4000 and my meaning will become clear. For extra credit also play the original 80's I, Robot and Tempest.

I have an incomplete P5R playthrough languishing somewhere, and I really should admit that I'm too old to care about playing a game that's focused on teenagers dealing with common teenage interpersonal problems and growing up from them for 90+ hours.

I felt that way about the setting but once I got into it, it's possible to play and enjoy it as a variation of the card combat/collecting mechanics of Pokemon and that opens one to try Shin Megami Tensei V and maybe min maxing the other stuff in the game.

SMT is more my speed as I hate the sluggish pace of the lifesim stuff. As Atlus games go, Catherine got it right. Perfect pacing throughout.

it sold well because i've bought a copy on every console. i'd play for 30 mins, get bored, and quit. it finally took after i played for 5 hours straight. i finally got 'it'. try playing it on break at work. you've really got to get a few hours in because the game's first level is basically a huge tutorial.

Power of the brand! I wonder how that (change) reflected on FIFA / FC for Electronic Arts.

EA is still doing fine financially, despite some duds. It turns out people buy fun, not names.

I've been under the impression that EA keeps selling football games, and the more lucrative microtransactions, pretty much the same as ever. Meanwhile FIFA has no games out on the market at the moment, with 2K Sports reportedly having the license at the moment with no games out.

People always bought FIFA for the EA brand rather than the other way around.

Much as I dislike the modern era EA, it’s hard to argue that their Football / Soccer games are duds. And EA have always been liberal about their branding so everyone knew that FIFA was an EA game.

Those numbers are for both original and remaster.

Sonic fans spend money regardless of game quality.

It's the same reason for the decade-long glut of capeshit. Hollywood found that (people who were then) teenage boys could be relied upon to show up for a superhero film, no matter how bad, provided it starred their favourite characters.

To be fair there were very few misses in Marvel until covid.

Same is true for most big games franchises though.

People continually buy the next EA sports game even though it’s basically just the old game but with the year incremented.

People still spend £50 on new copies of 10 year old Nintendo games like Mario Kart 8. And let’s be honest, the last great Mario game released was Super Mario Galaxy.

If there’s one thing you can guarantee, it’s that people will waste their money on stuff they like. And if there is one truism that HN commentators forget, it’s that software doesn’t need to be academically perfect to be good software for their particular target audience. In the case of games, it’s being more enjoyable than the alternative of not playing that game. Which, frankly, is a pretty low bar a lot of the time.

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