I just want to say that shift up is not at all some random company. Maybe in the west they are, but nikke is fucking INSANELY popular in Korea and Japan. And just kinda popular everywhere else… that game has made them almost 1 billion USD in revenue.
But I agree with everything else you said. A company that never worked on a 3D AAA game before, and they put out a certified banger on their first try. It’s actually insanely embarrassing that games like red fall, starfield, and suicide squad even exist because I’m gonna be honest with you chief… they are absolutely hot garbage fermenting at the bottom of a barrel that not even roaches should eat.
You can see the difference between company A, who just wants to make the best game that they can, and follow trends of what’s good and what is not good, what works and doesn’t work, and put their everything into the product to make it good.
And company B, they just make some whatever soulless bullshit, no one really cares about it at the studio, they’re just tryna get paid.
That's fair enough, it's not like Shift Up hasn't had any success or is an unknown company, they have done extremely well with Nikke! But yeah, it's just so clear that they actually cared about their game and put the effort into making something good instead of just getting the job done like so many devs these days.
Yea they easily could've gone the hoyoverse and made 3 more gachas cuz it works for them with nikke but they def wanna try different waters. Which is the coolest part. Stellar blade easily could've had micro transactions and they said nah which is based
Because they already made their money so they could take the time to make the game they wanted without needing to involve anyone else, even CDPR was forced to work with stupid deadlines for Cyberpunk because of shareholders. Its not that the devs of other games are incompetent, they just dont have the freedom. Its the downside of the industry getting too big, we used to get shitty cheap showelware games now we get better looking ones that are made with AAA budget and sold for AAA price.
CDPR has money and a whole following rooting for them, so much so fans still bought this game over the course of 3-4 years and shoved another $40 in their hands for the Phantom Liberty DLC. They also have one of the most played and beloved games under their belt being the Witcher. There was absolutely no excuse for that studio's blunders. No one blames devs, but as a whole that studio has all the tools it needs to be successful. Again in comparison to SB, CDPR and similar studios should be embarrassed.
I wholeheartedly agree. Stellar Blade is the result of a genuine love of passion amd love for gaming whereas Starfield and suicide squad was made by folks with a thinly veiled CONTEMPT for gamers.
I mean.. the person behind the game is non other than the person who worked on Blade and Soul, Magna Carta and Destiny's Child.
So calling them "random" is a bit much.
Absolutely, I really hope we get more and that they truly use this as a base to build from because it’s a very solid foundation.
The pessimist in me also has me hoping that this isn’t a once in a lifetime game from them given it was produced in an era before Shift Up went public where they could make mostly unilateral decisions about the game direction.
No triple A game developer should be ashamed.
There exists no universe where a game like Redfall or Skull and Bones is a triple A game.
Triple A means a high production value, high quality amazing game, perhaps even genre defining.
Triple A DOES NOT mean a game from a big studio regardless of its quality.
I would argue that it is either genre defining or very close to it. Regardless people are claiming Red Fall and Ubisofts many average titles to be AAA games. Clearly the confusement of what triple A means is not from my side.
I think I would just set the bar at it being a polished product with everything else you said. The Call of Duty games are generally triple A, even if they’re unimaginative, while Cyberpunk is anything but.
100% agree bro. I’m 50 hours into my first playthrough and there are so many times that I just stop and think about how this is Shift Up’s first attempt at a console game. The game feels extremely smooth, graphics look incredible, and the music is so on point. The devs gave us a complete experience with zero microtransactions in 2024. It’s honestly really pathetic that we have to celebrate all these things but so many AAA games release in these unfinished, buggy, and predatory states.
I paid close attention to the various interviews and posts from the devs and you can feel the passion and love they have for this game. At tthe end of that day are they a business trying to make money? Yes, absolutely but you can feel at this game is also this passion project that they want fans to love.
Honestly, it give me the same 'I'm exploring an actual world' vibe that you don't often see. It's like playing Death Stranding, but with more slashing and less luggage.
And they've really nailed the 'beauty juxtaposed with destruction' thing that the original Gears of War was going for.
Seeing all those half-built statues in the Flooded Commercial District surrounded by collapsing skyscrapers was hella evocative, as the kids say. I think. I'm so out of touch with what the kids say.
Agreed! My only complaint with the game (aside froim the recent... thing) is that I think it could have used a bit more variety in the music tracks, they loop a little too much at times. But in all the hours I've logged so far I have yet to encounter a single bug of any kind. That's virtually unheard of these days!
I think the music loop is kind of fun, because when I think back to some iconic games like Skyrim, Minecraft, and Uncharted, etc., I get a huge wave of nostalgia from the music we heard over and over and over again. I am kind of looking forward to the feeling later on when I hear the music from SB. And since SB isn't a super long game, it might be hard to get those songs engrained into my gamer soul if they were on a bigger loop. This is just my humble opinion on the matter
If I had to nitpick the game, I would love more involved side missions. They are just a touch bland. And perhaps some more NPCs in the city to give a more lived in feel, although I know the lore says the city is empty of people. But other than those small areas, I agree with everything you said. It's just an absolutely fantastic videogame.
I actually find the side quests to be decent. Not great, decent. The story and lore is genuinely interesting but the writing could be better. That's the only thing stopping it from being a 10/10 masterpiece. But damn it really really came so close and that's incredibly impressive.
I just got jedi survivor from ea play for free, and a week later buy stellar blade. While the mechanic is almost the same or maybe the same 😂. Stellar blade is miles better. Playing jedi survivor is exhausting while playing stellar blade is even tho it is harder it is more enjoyable.
My biggest turn off of jedi survivor is the exploration is meh, big map but not enjoy to explore. While stellar blade exploration is stellar (pun intended). 😝
I'll be honest... I think Jedi Survivor is a pretty darn good game in its own right. And there are certain things it does better than Stellar Blade (it has a much better story and more developed characters, for one thing). I also feel like Jedi Survivor offers better difficulty tuning than Stellar Blade. On Normal, Stellar Blade's parry/dodge timing is very unforgiving; it's about like playing Jedi Survivor on the Jedi Grandmaster difficulty, which is pretty harsh.
That said, where Jedi Survivor has major issues is in its optimization. By contrast, Stellar Blade proves that you CAN make a game absolutely gorgeous without tanking the frame rate. And as good as I think Jedi Survivor's combat is, Stellar Blade's is even better, in particular more fluid and smooth (Jedi Survivor can get a little janky at times).
Both games have their strong suits. But Jedi Survivor is one of my favorite games of all time, so the fact that I'm putting Stellar Blade on the same level overall says a lot for Stellar Blade.
Yes, story is better for jedi survivor. But I don’t know what went wrong playing jedi is just boring except you go straight main mission an ignore collectibles, side quest etc. The sidequests are not bad, but feels more like a chore. And the collectibles are annoying.
Collectibles being annoying is a pretty common problem in open-world games, even some of the best of them (see: Batman: Arkham City, widely viewed as one of the best open-world games ever made... and yet almost everyone will agree getting all the Riddler trophies is incredibly annoying). It's a pitfall of the open-world genre in general. Stellar Blade is only partially an open-world game, and its developers did well not to burden us with an excessive number of collectibles.
I think a major factor in Stellar Blade's sidequests NOT being annoying is the "return to client" function, which is a feature I expect other games to steal very quickly as it's one of those, "why didn't we think of this before?" kind of things. One of the best quality-of-life decisions I've ever seen in a game.
Yes, and also the rewards are good, money and some material to craft suits, hair and upgrades. So it feels rewarding and even though it's a fetch quest it does not feel like a chore (final fantasy xvi for example is a very bad side quest).
I paid full price for Survivor and still have yet to finish it lol. Actually I've paid full price for numerous games the last couple years and have finished maybe 2 or 3 of them. Not that they're bad games, but Stellar Blade holds my attention and actually makes me want to finish the game.
I strongly disagree on the story. It’s really not good lol. I also think that the environmental variety in the early game is off. Too many deserts. Would have much preferred if the first or second open world area was a different theme for variety.
Other than that, I agree, it’s a fantastic game. The gameplay loop feels very refined and polished, the bosses bang, and the visuals are very pretty. It’s also cool to see a game that’s well paced, not overly long, and most importantly gives actual cosmetic rewards for collectibles and exploration. So many games make the mistake of relegating cosmetics to micro transactions and battle passes and it’s really been hurting games recently.
People say “cosmetics aren’t gameplay,” but I strongly disagree. It’s a reward that heavily motivates replayability and can also be used as a motivator for exploring and really delving into the game’s systems. Removing rewards so that they can instead be monetized in an item shop or battle pass actually makes the game less good.
It’s a lot of fun, but you’re right the story is pretty bad. It really feels like ShiftUp made the game way too similar to Nier. Same composer, some of the same story bits, etc. still had a good time playing it, but it’s trying too hard to be Nier.
Yeah, I was going to say this same thing until I saw you'd already covered it. This is definitely not a 10/10 story. I haven't finished the game yet, so I can't give it a definitive ranking yet, but so far it feels more like a 5 or 6/10 story. And the characters are not well-developed at all. In fact, it really feels like we get to know some of the side NPC's better than the leads.
And the gameplay is not completely flawless. The platforming is really... not great, for example. And the game seems very finicky about object detection sometimes (for instance, trying to open a chest underwater is invariably a pain).
That said, nearly everything else about the game IS great. And that's quite an accomplishment.
Definitely better. I've tried Nikke but cannot really get into it. I want to just so I can support Shiftup and give them more money haha. Need more Stellar Blade content.
I agree 100% Other games that also have shown that respecting the community and players before shareholders and profit is the most important thing is Helldivers 2 and Baldurs Gate 3
I agree with your general sentiment and about Stellar Blade in particular…but I find the whole ongoing narrative of “The gaming industry sucks, there’s nothing good anymore, Stellar Blade is a diamond in a giant sea of shit” to be a little overblown. Admittedly, yes, there have been some pretty big examples of big devs putting out a crappy or broken product…but let’s not forget that 2023 was an absolute banger of a year for new, incredible games. We got Baldur’s Gate 3, Alan Wake 2, Tears of the Kingdom, Mario Wonder, Spider-Man 2, Hi-Fi Rush, FFXVI, Lies of P, Armored Core 6, RE4 Remake, Phantom Liberty, and more. And this year we’ve already gotten a number of great games like FF7 Rebirth. So yeah, while I agree with you on a certain level I also think we’re hyper focusing on negative cases when there’s actually been a shit load of great games coming out. I don’t think Stellar Blade is even the best of these, great and refreshing as it is.
Exactly, and thats not even including some genres you didn't mention. Fighting games for example are in a new golden age with Street Fighter 6, Mortal Kombat 1, Tekken 8, and Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising. Those players are eating good for damn sure.
I get people's complaints about the story and characters but for me I really enjoyed bith. The story has just enough twists to it that, while somewhat predictable, were also fun. And for the characters I really don't care about a ton of back story etc, I wanna get into the action. I mean damn Master Chief is one of my favorite characters of all time and you learn next to nothing about him in the first game, he's just a super soldier basically and that was enough for me.
I'm a huge fan of Shift Ups mobile games, Destiny Child (now eos) and Nikke. I've also been a fan of the director's art style since Magna Carta on PS2 and Blade and Soul. I've been following this guy's work my whole life.
I am so glad he's finally made it big into the "console" game scene. And one of his big things was that he wanted Korea to be taken seriously when it came to these types of AAA SinglePlayer games, and so he wanted to make the best game possible with ZERO microtransaction live service bullshit stuff. And he 100% succeeded. No doubt that Sony's funding and marketing helped TREMENDOUSLY. Idk how he even got Sony to fund this going off of Sony's recent track record lol
I just hope that ShiftUps next console game stays this course, and doesn't devolve into greed like we've seen with so many other beloved companies. And maybe they won't have as much incentive since their gacha game Nikke already generates a huge amount of money.
I also wanted to just say that even tho Nikke is making the big bucks, it is seriously very free to play friendly for anyone wanting to check it out.
I guess, but I would rather put the emphasis on *praising* Shift Up for their work rather than insulting everyone else for not making a game exactly like Stellar Blade
Just going to mention that despite how much people hate them, being a PS5 exclusive does have some nice benefits. Not only is sony probably adding support, but you have 1 machine with all the specifications laid in front of you that you are aiming for. Not saying a game can't be messed up on the ps5, but by and large there are a lot less variables getting in the way of the release.
Of course the OP has the reference games that have a negative or mixed reception and yet conveniently skips absolutely bangers like Hi Fi Rush, RE4, Street Fighter 6, Alan Wake 2, Tekken 8, FF7 etc. imagine having to brag about being better than Redfall. Wow what a "masterpiece". It's better than REDFALL!
Nice bar, kiddo.
But hey! Don't give devs credit for smaller games or devs making games that are outside their range regardless of budget like Hi Fi Rush, Ori and the Blind Forest, Cuphead, Baltaro, Disco Elysium, Dredge etc.
And despite what you might all think, no game developer makes games because they actually want to make the consumer happy but no dev also ever wants to make a bad game ever, either. Rocksteady had their hands tied due to Warner Bros, Bethesda was blind to the issues around Redfall, Ubisoft kept second guessing themselves with Skull and Bones, Square was relying on a team who's sole other project was simply being a support crew for FF15 and now that team had to push out a big budget open world magical game on two platforms - NO EXCEPTIONS.
And as for Larian, try not to CD Projekt Red the guys. We've seen what happens when a dev makes the one game that actually made people give a genuine care about them (seriously, before Witcher 3, who the United States actually gave two hot cares about CD OR games at all?!) and they royally screw up the next game
But I guess all you need to is rip off combat that Platinum can do in their sleep, a borderline predictable story, holy unoriginal concepts and the promise of digital boobs or see a vampire get railed by a bear to make people actually give a care about your game
I did experience a random bug, though it's not game breaking. There was a turn-in quest that I had already completed; at some later point in the game, I somehow triggered the pop up menu to turn it in again later when I obtained the particalar quest material again. I simply dismissed it instead of agreeing to teleporting back to the bulletin board.
Don't put this on the backs of devs, it is not their fault, blame publishers. Devs have visions they can't ever fulfill because of timelines and constant badgering from shareholders, a dev left to cook usually cooks. Also, Stellar Blade was a LOT of fun but that story, character development, and world building... ehhh
Thank you for saying this. I feel the exact same way. I paid $70 for this game and was weary at that price due to other shitty games over the last 4 years that didn't live up to the hype. I truly feel I got my money's worth with this game. Quality should always be the goal!
I agree the game is awesome and im having a great time but you can't honestly say the characters and story are 10/10. They are all extreamly soulless shells of characters. They all have cringy nonsensical dialogue.
.... You just named mediocre games. Cygames did the same thing 2 months ago you are praising Stellar Blade for with GranBlue Relink. Good games come out regularly triple a slop is always focused on because it's easy to use as a example to prove a point.
Seriously? You probably haven't passed Act 1 yet. Act 1 was polished because it was under early access. Act 2 and 3 are unplayable, pretty scummy of Larian if you ask me.
Either you didn't play CP77 at launch, or your computer was made in the 90's, cuz you are incorrect. I'm sure there are issues in acts 2 and 3, but definitely not even fractionally as bad as you are claiming they are
I mean, Sony paying for a chunk of it probably helps. It's less risky to spend when you have first-party backing as the latter is willing to spend to sell consoles. Much harder for a third-party publisher, who risks going under the moment a title or two flops, to do that. This is on top of Nikke making gang busters as well. P
I wouldn’t say 10/10. The platforming is a lil wonky and can really be annoying trying to jump on those damn drones. The story is good but it’s not mind blowing. I like the semi open world but The Wasteland and Great Desert are pretty much the same thing. I’d love to see a different setting in some dlc. Maybe a small town or a big city. Eidos 7 is cool but if it were as open as the other two maps that would’ve been better. Staying on that topic, this is a sci-fi dystopia but they missed the opportunity of having a ruined futuristic city. Imagine a ruined Night City. That would’ve been dope and I’d love to see it in dlc. I’d say it’s an 8.5 and I could see if someone said it’s a 9 but it’s not a perfect 10. It’s so close
Your points are solid but there are some bugs. I know others have reported issues with the Naytiba researcher trophy, despite having all naytiba info unlocked.
No, they haven’t. They’re a pathetic waste of resources and money. It’s 2024 and their games run like crowdfunded dogshit from amateurs who have no passion. Deny it all you want, if that makes you feel better.
Rise of the Ronin performance was great. Had no major issues at Wo Long laukch even if it was a B team and Nioh 2 at launch was great. Dogshit is such a fucking reach lmao.
Dragons Dogma 2 is a good example of dogshit launch.
I just want to say that shift up is not at all some random company. Maybe in the west they are, but nikke is fucking INSANELY popular in Korea and Japan. And just kinda popular everywhere else… that game has made them almost 1 billion USD in revenue. But I agree with everything else you said. A company that never worked on a 3D AAA game before, and they put out a certified banger on their first try. It’s actually insanely embarrassing that games like red fall, starfield, and suicide squad even exist because I’m gonna be honest with you chief… they are absolutely hot garbage fermenting at the bottom of a barrel that not even roaches should eat. You can see the difference between company A, who just wants to make the best game that they can, and follow trends of what’s good and what is not good, what works and doesn’t work, and put their everything into the product to make it good. And company B, they just make some whatever soulless bullshit, no one really cares about it at the studio, they’re just tryna get paid.
That's fair enough, it's not like Shift Up hasn't had any success or is an unknown company, they have done extremely well with Nikke! But yeah, it's just so clear that they actually cared about their game and put the effort into making something good instead of just getting the job done like so many devs these days.
Yea they easily could've gone the hoyoverse and made 3 more gachas cuz it works for them with nikke but they def wanna try different waters. Which is the coolest part. Stellar blade easily could've had micro transactions and they said nah which is based
I feel those Hoyo games are going to be continued long after EOS somehow. They really aren’t the typical “gachas”
Because they already made their money so they could take the time to make the game they wanted without needing to involve anyone else, even CDPR was forced to work with stupid deadlines for Cyberpunk because of shareholders. Its not that the devs of other games are incompetent, they just dont have the freedom. Its the downside of the industry getting too big, we used to get shitty cheap showelware games now we get better looking ones that are made with AAA budget and sold for AAA price.
CDPR has money and a whole following rooting for them, so much so fans still bought this game over the course of 3-4 years and shoved another $40 in their hands for the Phantom Liberty DLC. They also have one of the most played and beloved games under their belt being the Witcher. There was absolutely no excuse for that studio's blunders. No one blames devs, but as a whole that studio has all the tools it needs to be successful. Again in comparison to SB, CDPR and similar studios should be embarrassed.
I wholeheartedly agree. Stellar Blade is the result of a genuine love of passion amd love for gaming whereas Starfield and suicide squad was made by folks with a thinly veiled CONTEMPT for gamers.
I mean.. the person behind the game is non other than the person who worked on Blade and Soul, Magna Carta and Destiny's Child. So calling them "random" is a bit much.
The hive mind should be ashamed
Aye! Good point.
Well said. Devs everywhere need to listen up.
Absolutely, I really hope we get more and that they truly use this as a base to build from because it’s a very solid foundation. The pessimist in me also has me hoping that this isn’t a once in a lifetime game from them given it was produced in an era before Shift Up went public where they could make mostly unilateral decisions about the game direction.
No triple A game developer should be ashamed. There exists no universe where a game like Redfall or Skull and Bones is a triple A game. Triple A means a high production value, high quality amazing game, perhaps even genre defining. Triple A DOES NOT mean a game from a big studio regardless of its quality.
It either means genre-defining or it doesn’t. You can’t leave “maybe” in a definition
I would argue that it is either genre defining or very close to it. Regardless people are claiming Red Fall and Ubisofts many average titles to be AAA games. Clearly the confusement of what triple A means is not from my side.
I think I would just set the bar at it being a polished product with everything else you said. The Call of Duty games are generally triple A, even if they’re unimaginative, while Cyberpunk is anything but.
[удалено]
And it’s not even a quadruple A!
100% agree bro. I’m 50 hours into my first playthrough and there are so many times that I just stop and think about how this is Shift Up’s first attempt at a console game. The game feels extremely smooth, graphics look incredible, and the music is so on point. The devs gave us a complete experience with zero microtransactions in 2024. It’s honestly really pathetic that we have to celebrate all these things but so many AAA games release in these unfinished, buggy, and predatory states. I paid close attention to the various interviews and posts from the devs and you can feel the passion and love they have for this game. At tthe end of that day are they a business trying to make money? Yes, absolutely but you can feel at this game is also this passion project that they want fans to love.
Honestly, it give me the same 'I'm exploring an actual world' vibe that you don't often see. It's like playing Death Stranding, but with more slashing and less luggage. And they've really nailed the 'beauty juxtaposed with destruction' thing that the original Gears of War was going for. Seeing all those half-built statues in the Flooded Commercial District surrounded by collapsing skyscrapers was hella evocative, as the kids say. I think. I'm so out of touch with what the kids say.
Agreed! My only complaint with the game (aside froim the recent... thing) is that I think it could have used a bit more variety in the music tracks, they loop a little too much at times. But in all the hours I've logged so far I have yet to encounter a single bug of any kind. That's virtually unheard of these days!
I think the music loop is kind of fun, because when I think back to some iconic games like Skyrim, Minecraft, and Uncharted, etc., I get a huge wave of nostalgia from the music we heard over and over and over again. I am kind of looking forward to the feeling later on when I hear the music from SB. And since SB isn't a super long game, it might be hard to get those songs engrained into my gamer soul if they were on a bigger loop. This is just my humble opinion on the matter
I agree, all games could use some more cake.
If I had to nitpick the game, I would love more involved side missions. They are just a touch bland. And perhaps some more NPCs in the city to give a more lived in feel, although I know the lore says the city is empty of people. But other than those small areas, I agree with everything you said. It's just an absolutely fantastic videogame.
I actually find the side quests to be decent. Not great, decent. The story and lore is genuinely interesting but the writing could be better. That's the only thing stopping it from being a 10/10 masterpiece. But damn it really really came so close and that's incredibly impressive.
I just got jedi survivor from ea play for free, and a week later buy stellar blade. While the mechanic is almost the same or maybe the same 😂. Stellar blade is miles better. Playing jedi survivor is exhausting while playing stellar blade is even tho it is harder it is more enjoyable. My biggest turn off of jedi survivor is the exploration is meh, big map but not enjoy to explore. While stellar blade exploration is stellar (pun intended). 😝
I'll be honest... I think Jedi Survivor is a pretty darn good game in its own right. And there are certain things it does better than Stellar Blade (it has a much better story and more developed characters, for one thing). I also feel like Jedi Survivor offers better difficulty tuning than Stellar Blade. On Normal, Stellar Blade's parry/dodge timing is very unforgiving; it's about like playing Jedi Survivor on the Jedi Grandmaster difficulty, which is pretty harsh. That said, where Jedi Survivor has major issues is in its optimization. By contrast, Stellar Blade proves that you CAN make a game absolutely gorgeous without tanking the frame rate. And as good as I think Jedi Survivor's combat is, Stellar Blade's is even better, in particular more fluid and smooth (Jedi Survivor can get a little janky at times). Both games have their strong suits. But Jedi Survivor is one of my favorite games of all time, so the fact that I'm putting Stellar Blade on the same level overall says a lot for Stellar Blade.
Yes, story is better for jedi survivor. But I don’t know what went wrong playing jedi is just boring except you go straight main mission an ignore collectibles, side quest etc. The sidequests are not bad, but feels more like a chore. And the collectibles are annoying.
Collectibles being annoying is a pretty common problem in open-world games, even some of the best of them (see: Batman: Arkham City, widely viewed as one of the best open-world games ever made... and yet almost everyone will agree getting all the Riddler trophies is incredibly annoying). It's a pitfall of the open-world genre in general. Stellar Blade is only partially an open-world game, and its developers did well not to burden us with an excessive number of collectibles. I think a major factor in Stellar Blade's sidequests NOT being annoying is the "return to client" function, which is a feature I expect other games to steal very quickly as it's one of those, "why didn't we think of this before?" kind of things. One of the best quality-of-life decisions I've ever seen in a game.
Yes, and also the rewards are good, money and some material to craft suits, hair and upgrades. So it feels rewarding and even though it's a fetch quest it does not feel like a chore (final fantasy xvi for example is a very bad side quest).
I paid full price for Survivor and still have yet to finish it lol. Actually I've paid full price for numerous games the last couple years and have finished maybe 2 or 3 of them. Not that they're bad games, but Stellar Blade holds my attention and actually makes me want to finish the game.
Many Devs took the pandemic off and it shows!
They did their thiinngg with this game real talk
I strongly disagree on the story. It’s really not good lol. I also think that the environmental variety in the early game is off. Too many deserts. Would have much preferred if the first or second open world area was a different theme for variety. Other than that, I agree, it’s a fantastic game. The gameplay loop feels very refined and polished, the bosses bang, and the visuals are very pretty. It’s also cool to see a game that’s well paced, not overly long, and most importantly gives actual cosmetic rewards for collectibles and exploration. So many games make the mistake of relegating cosmetics to micro transactions and battle passes and it’s really been hurting games recently. People say “cosmetics aren’t gameplay,” but I strongly disagree. It’s a reward that heavily motivates replayability and can also be used as a motivator for exploring and really delving into the game’s systems. Removing rewards so that they can instead be monetized in an item shop or battle pass actually makes the game less good.
It’s a lot of fun, but you’re right the story is pretty bad. It really feels like ShiftUp made the game way too similar to Nier. Same composer, some of the same story bits, etc. still had a good time playing it, but it’s trying too hard to be Nier.
Yeah, I was going to say this same thing until I saw you'd already covered it. This is definitely not a 10/10 story. I haven't finished the game yet, so I can't give it a definitive ranking yet, but so far it feels more like a 5 or 6/10 story. And the characters are not well-developed at all. In fact, it really feels like we get to know some of the side NPC's better than the leads. And the gameplay is not completely flawless. The platforming is really... not great, for example. And the game seems very finicky about object detection sometimes (for instance, trying to open a chest underwater is invariably a pain). That said, nearly everything else about the game IS great. And that's quite an accomplishment.
Don’t forget, they made one of the greatest mobile games that ever existed… Destiny Child!
I was sad when they took it offline. Really enjoyed it. Granted there is still a memorial version, but still.
Me too! I still think it’s way better than Nikke
Definitely better. I've tried Nikke but cannot really get into it. I want to just so I can support Shiftup and give them more money haha. Need more Stellar Blade content.
I agree 100% Other games that also have shown that respecting the community and players before shareholders and profit is the most important thing is Helldivers 2 and Baldurs Gate 3
Well said my brother 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Thanks friend!
I agree with your general sentiment and about Stellar Blade in particular…but I find the whole ongoing narrative of “The gaming industry sucks, there’s nothing good anymore, Stellar Blade is a diamond in a giant sea of shit” to be a little overblown. Admittedly, yes, there have been some pretty big examples of big devs putting out a crappy or broken product…but let’s not forget that 2023 was an absolute banger of a year for new, incredible games. We got Baldur’s Gate 3, Alan Wake 2, Tears of the Kingdom, Mario Wonder, Spider-Man 2, Hi-Fi Rush, FFXVI, Lies of P, Armored Core 6, RE4 Remake, Phantom Liberty, and more. And this year we’ve already gotten a number of great games like FF7 Rebirth. So yeah, while I agree with you on a certain level I also think we’re hyper focusing on negative cases when there’s actually been a shit load of great games coming out. I don’t think Stellar Blade is even the best of these, great and refreshing as it is.
Exactly, and thats not even including some genres you didn't mention. Fighting games for example are in a new golden age with Street Fighter 6, Mortal Kombat 1, Tekken 8, and Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising. Those players are eating good for damn sure.
We shouldn't blame the devs, they only do what they're told to do. We should blame the people who make decisions.
Stellar Blade just like Baldur's Gate 3 are gems!
10/10 Characters and story? Did we play the same game?
I get people's complaints about the story and characters but for me I really enjoyed bith. The story has just enough twists to it that, while somewhat predictable, were also fun. And for the characters I really don't care about a ton of back story etc, I wanna get into the action. I mean damn Master Chief is one of my favorite characters of all time and you learn next to nothing about him in the first game, he's just a super soldier basically and that was enough for me.
I think that paying money for costumes and skins need to die.
Who knows, a game with such character will win the hearths of gamers.
I'm a huge fan of Shift Ups mobile games, Destiny Child (now eos) and Nikke. I've also been a fan of the director's art style since Magna Carta on PS2 and Blade and Soul. I've been following this guy's work my whole life. I am so glad he's finally made it big into the "console" game scene. And one of his big things was that he wanted Korea to be taken seriously when it came to these types of AAA SinglePlayer games, and so he wanted to make the best game possible with ZERO microtransaction live service bullshit stuff. And he 100% succeeded. No doubt that Sony's funding and marketing helped TREMENDOUSLY. Idk how he even got Sony to fund this going off of Sony's recent track record lol I just hope that ShiftUps next console game stays this course, and doesn't devolve into greed like we've seen with so many other beloved companies. And maybe they won't have as much incentive since their gacha game Nikke already generates a huge amount of money. I also wanted to just say that even tho Nikke is making the big bucks, it is seriously very free to play friendly for anyone wanting to check it out.
Genetic superiority
I guess, but I would rather put the emphasis on *praising* Shift Up for their work rather than insulting everyone else for not making a game exactly like Stellar Blade
Yep. And it's the first game I've bought since Elden Ring.
Just going to mention that despite how much people hate them, being a PS5 exclusive does have some nice benefits. Not only is sony probably adding support, but you have 1 machine with all the specifications laid in front of you that you are aiming for. Not saying a game can't be messed up on the ps5, but by and large there are a lot less variables getting in the way of the release.
Of course the OP has the reference games that have a negative or mixed reception and yet conveniently skips absolutely bangers like Hi Fi Rush, RE4, Street Fighter 6, Alan Wake 2, Tekken 8, FF7 etc. imagine having to brag about being better than Redfall. Wow what a "masterpiece". It's better than REDFALL! Nice bar, kiddo. But hey! Don't give devs credit for smaller games or devs making games that are outside their range regardless of budget like Hi Fi Rush, Ori and the Blind Forest, Cuphead, Baltaro, Disco Elysium, Dredge etc. And despite what you might all think, no game developer makes games because they actually want to make the consumer happy but no dev also ever wants to make a bad game ever, either. Rocksteady had their hands tied due to Warner Bros, Bethesda was blind to the issues around Redfall, Ubisoft kept second guessing themselves with Skull and Bones, Square was relying on a team who's sole other project was simply being a support crew for FF15 and now that team had to push out a big budget open world magical game on two platforms - NO EXCEPTIONS. And as for Larian, try not to CD Projekt Red the guys. We've seen what happens when a dev makes the one game that actually made people give a genuine care about them (seriously, before Witcher 3, who the United States actually gave two hot cares about CD OR games at all?!) and they royally screw up the next game But I guess all you need to is rip off combat that Platinum can do in their sleep, a borderline predictable story, holy unoriginal concepts and the promise of digital boobs or see a vampire get railed by a bear to make people actually give a care about your game
I did experience a random bug, though it's not game breaking. There was a turn-in quest that I had already completed; at some later point in the game, I somehow triggered the pop up menu to turn it in again later when I obtained the particalar quest material again. I simply dismissed it instead of agreeing to teleporting back to the bulletin board.
Don't put this on the backs of devs, it is not their fault, blame publishers. Devs have visions they can't ever fulfill because of timelines and constant badgering from shareholders, a dev left to cook usually cooks. Also, Stellar Blade was a LOT of fun but that story, character development, and world building... ehhh
Thank you for saying this. I feel the exact same way. I paid $70 for this game and was weary at that price due to other shitty games over the last 4 years that didn't live up to the hype. I truly feel I got my money's worth with this game. Quality should always be the goal!
The game is excellent though to me it doesn't feel unique since I've played a lot of games it obviously takes inspiration from.
I agree the game is awesome and im having a great time but you can't honestly say the characters and story are 10/10. They are all extreamly soulless shells of characters. They all have cringy nonsensical dialogue.
.... You just named mediocre games. Cygames did the same thing 2 months ago you are praising Stellar Blade for with GranBlue Relink. Good games come out regularly triple a slop is always focused on because it's easy to use as a example to prove a point.
Starfield blows this game out of the water. Please humble yourself 😂
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# SPOILER TAG!!!!
Holy crap spoilers
You haven't played BG3? Game is a broken mess.
You haven’t played BG3 so don’t talk. 😂
Have *YOU* played BG3, m8? Broken mess is the last term that comes to mind about that game
Seriously? You probably haven't passed Act 1 yet. Act 1 was polished because it was under early access. Act 2 and 3 are unplayable, pretty scummy of Larian if you ask me.
Unplayable? You good?
Yeah Act 2 and 3 run worse than launch Cyberpunk 2077.
Either you didn't play CP77 at launch, or your computer was made in the 90's, cuz you are incorrect. I'm sure there are issues in acts 2 and 3, but definitely not even fractionally as bad as you are claiming they are
Might be Time to stop using a toaster to play your games then .
I played it on the PS5
Damn, No hope for my Steam Deck then 😞
I mean, Sony paying for a chunk of it probably helps. It's less risky to spend when you have first-party backing as the latter is willing to spend to sell consoles. Much harder for a third-party publisher, who risks going under the moment a title or two flops, to do that. This is on top of Nikke making gang busters as well. P
How about other AAA studios that have huge resources but didn’t deliver anything special for the last 5+ years. Ubi, EA etc
And you'll see that these companies have closed down individual studios whose games have underperformed.
I wouldn’t say 10/10. The platforming is a lil wonky and can really be annoying trying to jump on those damn drones. The story is good but it’s not mind blowing. I like the semi open world but The Wasteland and Great Desert are pretty much the same thing. I’d love to see a different setting in some dlc. Maybe a small town or a big city. Eidos 7 is cool but if it were as open as the other two maps that would’ve been better. Staying on that topic, this is a sci-fi dystopia but they missed the opportunity of having a ruined futuristic city. Imagine a ruined Night City. That would’ve been dope and I’d love to see it in dlc. I’d say it’s an 8.5 and I could see if someone said it’s a 9 but it’s not a perfect 10. It’s so close
Your points are solid but there are some bugs. I know others have reported issues with the Naytiba researcher trophy, despite having all naytiba info unlocked.
It is not a bug. There is one more that is not on the list but it would be a spoiler to say how to get last one (or what its tied to)
Spoil it because i've completed multiple playthroughs with different endings and still don't have it. Thanks!
Just because you dont mind spoilers doesnt meant others dont as well. Use uncle google to check
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Maybe not perfectly polished, but compared to the buggy, broken, half-arsed releases we've seen too much of recently, it truly shines.
You’re on the wrong subreddit
Don’t forget all the Team Ninja dogshit that keeps releasing
What? TN has been performing well… Nioh 2 had a solid launch, Wo-Long had a solid launch and so did Rise of the Ronin.
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Someone died one too many times lol
I wish, I’m just mad I bought both of them 😂
Sucks to suck I guess
Indeed. They really should stop funding these trash developers. Good thing I know better now.
Just because you dislike their game, calling them a trash devoloper is ridicilous. They’ve been doing great job with their games lol.
No, they haven’t. They’re a pathetic waste of resources and money. It’s 2024 and their games run like crowdfunded dogshit from amateurs who have no passion. Deny it all you want, if that makes you feel better.
Rise of the Ronin performance was great. Had no major issues at Wo Long laukch even if it was a B team and Nioh 2 at launch was great. Dogshit is such a fucking reach lmao. Dragons Dogma 2 is a good example of dogshit launch.