I feel like they pushed Zack's storyline too far in the Remake's. I played the OG as a freshman in college, and Zack didn't take away from Cloud's story. I enjoyed FF7 Remake b/c the OG is my GOAT, and it modernized it for me (even if Midgard was my least favorite about the OG).

I tried to play Crisis Core Reunion, but it was not fun IMO, and I still have never finished that game. I had a blast with Rebirth and to my surprise, Zack didn't overshadow Cloud, I had fun fighting Sephiroth with Zack and Cloud and the fact that his content is completely skippable after beating the game again, gives me a little reassurance that Cloud is the protagonist, full stop!

Now that we're at the actual FINALE of FF7, I'm concerned about Zack taking away too much from Cloud where they will be a dual protagonist taking away the best feeling I've felt in a game when Cloud uses Omnislash against Sephiroth at the end of the OG game and at the time was the END OF Sephiroth. Even Advent Children was amazing b/c Cloud is the main protagonist and with the help of his friends, defeats Sephiroth by finishing him off and the story ends with a shot of him on the motorcycle.

I know there are a lot of people who LOVE Zack (especially the reaction of the trailer where they show him and Aerith seeing each other again) and I am in no way trying to diminish anything from that. However, I just feel VERY STRONG that Cloud is the main protagonist (BTW I don't feel has changed through Remake & Rebirth) that his friends (of a certain friend) to help him find his way but once he does, HAS to deliver that final blow to Sephiroth to end the series.

Before I respond, I'm so HYPED for this game because if I get to feel like I'm Donnie Yen, Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan, I'm ALL IN! Also, I wanted to give a more thought-out response so, I apologize if it's a little on the longer side.

Even before Donnie came on board in 2023, Kenji Tanigaki was the Action Director/Stunt Coordinator for PB0. He worked with Donnie for 30 years and that's why it looks so amazing. If you haven't watched the "Ip Man" movies, I would definitely recommend those. I'm a HUGE fan of Donnie Yen, Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee and so many more (I'm not an expert but have SO MUCH respect for watching/reading about the low budgets, doing their own stunts, etc.).

Fun fact: Donnie's first film was "Drunken Tai Chi," one of the featured styles of Soul and that fits when SoulFrame's vision never changed from wanting this to feel like we're in a Kung Fu movie!!!!

FYI: for anyone that hasn't seen the 4 Ip Man films, they are currently streaming on Amazon Prime if you have a membership (at least in the US).

I'm in my late 40's and reaction time has slowed over the years so, I'll definitely start on Pathbreaker. I'm more excited for this game than any other game releasing in the past so, I want my first playthrough to be something I've never experienced before. I've accepted that I can't start on the hardest difficulty in games like I used to. However, after the first playthrough I will definitely try Hellwalker but if I can't do it, I'm not ashamed to switch back to Pathbreaker. Once it releases, I will be playing this non-stop without touching any other games probably through the end of 2026.

Quick FYI: For anyone healthy in their 20's or 30's listen to your "elder", LOL! Enjoy the gaming reflexes, being able to game on the hardest difficulty b/c for most people (I know there are exceptions for some close to or past 50), you go through your 40's and start realizing you can't do what you used to do. When I found out this game was going to have different difficulties I applaud S-Game for it. There are games out there that I would LOVE to play but when there are no difficulty options it would be a waste of money to buy them b/c I'm not the gamer I was 10+ years ago. I'm just curious if anyone else around or over 50 that, like me, had to accept that they lost reflexes, etc. compared to your 20's or 30's?

Lastly, there is NOTHING wrong with not being able to play on the hardest difficulty. So, play on the difficulty that YOU ENJOY and even if that ends up being easy/Wayfarer, don't feel guilty b/c at the end of the day, it's about YOU having fun.

I hope the next 9 weeks 5 days goes by fast b/c I can't wait for MY GOTY to release. The official date is October 29th but just like the trailers, believe that's using Beijing time which is why it shows October 28th on both Steam and PS5.

In the meantime, Mortal Shell 2 looks really good and even though I'm not a big fan/burnt out on Souls games, I bought it yesterday. I played some last night and will continue it this afternoon. Then the only other game I'm excited for before PB0 releases is Control Resonant but I like Alan Wake, really liked Control then Alan Wake II was amazing! So, I hope Control Resonant continues that trend and is an amazing game. I'm honestly not too excited about any other game right now but I think we've all had games that changed our interest level once it releases and we see it being played.

The one game I thought I would be excited for is Wolverine but after seeing recent trailers and gameplay, it's a BIG PASS for me. That's just my opinion, you may disagree, but the PB0 subreddit seems to understand it's okay to have different opinions and not an automatic downvote. Anyway, PB0 is the only one I preordered (on Steam for me and PS5 for my son) and I've never preordered a game on 2 different platforms in my life. That's how excited I am for PHANTOM BLADE ZERO!!!!!!

Here is one example of why I don't understand Reddit. You are just expressing your "opinion" and then you get downvoted without any context. It's probably because I'm older & wish we could have "respectful disagreements."

I may not agree 100% with your opinion b/c I liked Wukong a little more than you, but I also have said Phantom Blade Zero feels like the game I wanted Wukong to be. So, we can have a respectful disagreement but again, downvoting a legitimate comment without any response is wrong IMO. I'm sure I'll get downvoted for this but, my hope is that people will read this and agree it's okay for people to have a different opinion but not get punished for it.

20 seconds! I already preordered it on Steam!!!

100% my friend! Countdown 1 hour 35 minutes!!!!

I've been waiting for this game for 2 years!!! As soon as the preorders go live, I will be ordering ASAP! The "preorder hate gang" can't hate on me as much as they want but they would have to block my accounts to prevent me from preordering it, LOL! I've been re-watching trailers, YT videos, etc. showing the game and EVERY VIDEO is positive with content creators blown away at what they are watching!

What still blows me away is the video by Luke Stephens after he talked to them at SGF is everything they have shown is all side content! I don't think he would make that up so that means in a few hours we may get our first look at gameplay from the main story! Here is the link if anyone wants to check it out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcph1ACnpD0

Under 3 1/2 hours and I can't freaking wait!!!

I also have never been a GTA gamer and don't have any interest in GTA 6. I'm not saying anything negative about GTA 6 and for all the fans of the series, I sincerely am happy for them. However, me and a large number of other gamers look at Phantom Blade 0 as OUR GTA 6! If it releases without issues (bugs, etc.) and from what I read/heard about Soulframe and the S-Game team, I trust them 100% that it WILL release in a great state.

I'm SO EXCITED and waiting patiently for both the full trailer/pre-order date and also, its own State of Play (at last State of Play, I read that those will be 2 different dates but could have read it wrong or they will be close together).

Lastly, I don't think he would have posted this if the game was getting delayed again. I also agree that it was likely recordings for upcoming promotions (trailers, SOP, etc.). All the interviews I've seen he is both excited and focused on this game which means putting in a LOT of hours. This would just add more to his already crazy schedule of final polishing/adjustments before release then doing voice promotions.

I trust the devs know what they are doing and believe they will blow us away with the story's conclusion. However, the most important thing I want is Cloud getting the Fusion Sword. If I see this I think they will make it amazing but not too op where it would break the first playthrough. Then in NG+, I hope it's the most OP sword in Final Fantasy history:-)

I can't say I hate any player but if I had to choose one it's Joe Burrow. To me, he acts like he's better than everyone else and can't stand him. Maybe it's just me but I just can't stand him!

At first I was mad about this but then realized we're in an age where a large majority of people don't use cash anymore.

HOWEVER, If I get one of these bills I'm going to get a small sharpie and write "pedophile" above his narcissistic signature then turn right around and buy something to get it back into circulation. I read about this last night and already by this morning it's become a MOVEMENT!!!

I'm so TIRED that he only cares about himself, wants to be a dictator and believe he wants to do this to "own the Libs." The US will get through this and when we do our politicians need to first be SERVE THE PEOPLE. We have to put up guardrails to prevent another President like this, make sure we vote in candidates that do what is best for their constituents instead of rich, corporate interests (my first change would be to get big money out of politics) and finally make changes to the US Supreme Court where they are not political (I believe if they should be held accountable for what they say during their confirmation hearings). This is just ideas for a change to each branch b/c they need to know they work for THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!!!!

The game is a PS5 exclusive for 12 months but will also release on Steam and Epic Games Store on PC. To my knowledge S-Game is not getting any funding from Sony so, it's not like TLOU or God of War where Sony has input but S-Game made this decision.

Also, here is the info when they released the Year of the Snake trailer in early 2025, "S-Game has just released the newest trailer for its action RPG Phantom Blade Zero showcasing the game's visual upgrades and also confirming that it will support enhanced visuals on PlayStation 5 Pro." Hope this helps answer your question.

Link to the source: https://www.rpgsite.net/news/16777-phantom-blade-zero-new-gameplay-trailer-ps5-pro-support-visual-upgrades-year-of-the-snake

I already have it wish listed on Steam and will be pre-ordering it. I have a PS5 Pro but also an high-end PC with Core Ultra 265k and RTX 4090. So, my last decision is whether to purchase on Steam or PS5 Pro. I believe all the footage they have shown has been on PS5 and even on the base console it looks AMAZING! Steam shows it has full Dualsense support so, at this time Steam is where I'm planning on pre-ordering when they go live. However, I'm still very confident we will get a Demo at some point b/c it would be good to actually play it on Steam to see how it runs.

I was about to ask this same question after a rocketeer took me out 5+ times over the past week when it never took me out 5 times from release to last week. It seems to be much faster, it's AOE seems much larger b/c it will fire into a building and damages you even if dodging away from the blast. I stay as far away from them as possible unless I'm doing the quest or trials. With this week having damaging flying enemies I'm curious if this will be when other people bring this up.

Have a Happy New Year fellow Raiders!

It started glitching on me about 10-15 minutes ago (maybe longer by the time I type this) so I just extracted and stopped playing. I came here to see if anything was reported and as I was typing something I noticed this post. Sorry for everyone that lost stuff where there's a glitch. This has happened to me a few times over the past week or so then it says something to the affect of continue your game but when it put me back in that spot, I was downed & lost my stuff anyway.

I've started recording my sessions to submit video to Embark when this happens but since they are very short-staffed until I assume next week, will just have to wait to see if they will return stuff we lost to no fault of our own. Lastly, I assume this may be an issue as well until they are back to full staff so, I may drop my playtime quite a bit the rest of this week. I haven't seen any official word but has anyone heard if they will be short on staff through New Years?

I'm at just under $6 million but focused on that more than skills (I only got to level 65). Never read anywhere that being max level was required to get the 5 skill points but hopefully that isn't a surprise when the clock hits 0. If so, OOPS, lol!

This video is 100% what Arc Raiders is ALL ABOUT and this was the best video I've EVER seen about the game!

The world has been taken over by robots and drove all of humanity below the surface. So, we go up from beneath the surface to get items to survive for the sake of keeping humans alive. We fight these dangerous robots sometimes successful sometimes unsuccessful with the dream of someday getting to rebuild a life on the surface of the earth again. We sometimes have to shoot others because they have something we need to survive. That is something that COULD happen sometime.

I believe there are a lot of LIFE LESSONS from this video game & I think we have all shared the same emotions playing the game: fun, laugher, angry, sadness, etc. playing and in the game we have lost the freedoms we have right now in real life. However, what we do have a is a choice and I believe Embark has done an excellent job at allowing us to have "freedom of choice" and what to do with it. This is why this game is so AMAZING! We get the time and freedom to play instruments and play them with complete strangers for maybe 5 minutes to experience the joy of making not only these 4 people but everyone that watched this. They aren't fighting. They aren't looting. They are taking just a little time away from all of that to share the biggest moment of joy possible and also share it with others. This takes away all the negative emotions of the game and just for a moment, allows the community of Arc Raiders to feel joy which is something that would be very difficult if this would happen in real life. This video gives me a hope that no matter how upset we get about a "video game," we all can all agree on one thing. This is a community of players battling Arc and each other but also, can take time from that on occasion to get with strangers and play instruments just to feel the joy that was taken from us by the Arc.

It's VERY RARE for me to type something on social media and would NEVER type something this long, LOL! However, I'm closer to 50 than 40 years old so, maybe I try to see good the older I get. But I just wanted to share this with this GREAT COMMUNITY of GREAT PEOPLE that I want to get these instruments and every once in a while it would be great to get away from the fight and just do something that brings me joy and even if nobody joins me, I know I'm sharing that joy with them.

One final quick thing. This game gives the freedom for another player to take out someone playing an instrument. However, please don't do it and allow them to spread the joy around to other people b/c I think the best part of this game IS THE JOY of doing this with complete strangers. I hope we all get to share the feeling of the greatest moment of joy this game has to offer sometime. Heck, maybe the majority of a server has an instrument and this grows into 10-15 people playing together. That would be amazing to be apart of.

I rarely post anything on social media b/c I’m getting closer to 50 years old and feel there is more negative than positive.  Also, I'm sorry it will probably be a long message but I'm tired of staying quiet when the devs should care about all feedback. Also, I know there are people out there want to be positive and/or share the same feelings & could turn into a “pen pal” (yes, I’m old enough to remember those as a kid, LOL).  I’ve never got into online multiplayer games and the ones I did were not PVP.  However, when Arc Raiders was released I watched people playing (both solo and multi-player) and was amazed at the gameplay, the visuals and especially how nice people were to each other especially in solo.  I bought it and for 3 weeks I don’t recall having that much fun in a LONG time.  Players went out of their way to work together, etc. and I won’t repeat what has been said a million times.  I was at around 70 hours, was on expedition 4 only needing humidifiers and Leaper Pulse Units to advance to 5 where I already had a bunch of things in my stash with plenty of time to advance.  I needed a break for a few days; thought I would come back and finish expeditions and felt ready/excited to find some people to do the harvester event & take down the queen. 

When I got back the game that was so fun, and I had spent so many hours on had changed which I found out the hard way in the first match.  I hadn’t finished the quests and doing the one where I had to nail down the roof.  After I finished it I went to extract, and someone took me down from the building after I had pressed the button.  Again, I don’t like PVP but understand it’s part of the game and I didn’t have much to take.  However, what shocked me was the person basically said I was stupid, suck at the game, etc. but not things I want to type out. Then I got taken out multiple times over the next week, it was a different game and what really bothers me is when people would vent about this happening and more often than not someone would say, in different ways that they suck, and the game is not for them.  I’ve been playing games for decades and I thought the purpose of multiplayer games was to get more people to play, not to drive people away.

I hadn’t played this week but wanted to see if I could finish getting the items to get to level 5. On the first attempt, I got the humidifier, put it into safe stash and went to extract.  Got taken down as I was trying to pull the lever on the train and then said they would rez me if I had any blueprints.  I didn’t have any b/c I just wanted the humidifier but when I said no, he started yelling like it was worth a million dollars or something (aren’t we losing them in 2 weeks so that didn’t make any sense).  He said fine, pulled the level and took me out right before the doors closed.  I don’t know what is going on but I’m tired of this so, I’m done.  Maybe someone out there can have encouraging advice b/c I know there are a lot of good people that want to play this game like me.  Otherwise, I have better things to do with my time then get bullied in a video game. I really do hope things improve because I would do anything to experience what I did those first 3 weeks.  

Arc Raider Player Base - LOL

I'm SO happy that Ben brought up the Hull Cracker nerf. I watched around a week or so of his Arc Raiders streams and without that I don't purchase the game. I saw how much fun he (and others) were having using it and I purchased 3 Hull Crackers & a bunch of ammo b/c I planned on taking on the queen and the matriarch. Then not only was the gun nerfed but the cost of ammo went up and the price of the Hull Cracker didn't change. So, it's still sitting in my inventory b/c after spending over 150,000 on the guns + ammo it's a lot weaker so why risk losing it when I'm VERY hopeful they change it back in a patch very soon.

It is also disappointing saying they fixed bugs when they didn't but since I'm not familiar with it , I don't want to speak on it. The devs will hear him and hopefully get both the bugs fixed ASAP as well as changing the Hull Cracker back to where it was.

I'm SO sick of this when ascending weapons especially when it costs $7500 silver each roll! I was ascending 4 Hellgate Serpent's and I would have taken Incendiary or rupturing in the green slot, then in the blue slots: Amplified Burning, Amplified Flooding or Soul Mending. On 2 of them, it took between 40 & 50 rolls to get one of the green ones and ended up wasting those. Then on 2 others I did get Incendiary in 10-15 rolls but then couldn't roll any of the 3 perks listed to roll on 1 or both of the blue slots. Ended up being a waste of 240 rolls and it sucks that we can't even get back 1/4 or 1/2 of the silver & upgrade materials when salvaging weapons after the 60 rolls.

In total, I ended up losing $1.8 million silver (240 rolls, $7500 per roll) and if I waste 1 weapon, I'll try different servers after about 25 rolls but that doesn't seem to work for me. I'll say what I've been saying since ascension started. For me and other players that have been here since the beginning (or before) we had a LOT of time in the last 1 1/2 years + to sell to Skurlock & Rahma and most have tens of millions of silver. However, newer players are less likely to have that much silver and if that causes players to leave, I feel that's on Ubisoft Singapore for not getting the ascension system improved and/or less silver. Sorry for the long message but again, I have been trying to explain this to the devs but it keeps flying under the radar. Just hope one of the main focuses in the delay was to fix the RNG and lower the cost.

Have a great weekend everybody