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[Fabieter]

Playing a well made platformer is pure joy while playing a even well made copycat gaas feels like work.

 

[hinch7]

I think a lot are craving a good ol', highly polished platformer made by a decent studio and not just from Nintendo. Which brings some quirkiness and fun back to Sony first party, and not just your standard gritty action adventure game.

GaaS hero shooters are a dime in a dozen and done to death. Which is why a lot are negatively received, because no one wants to see any more of those. Maybe if its made by someone like Bungie or Blizzard it could fair better since they are top tier devs and studios.

 

[Fabieter]

I would be ok with that being a pack in demo or something on a subscription service. But a $70 title like this sounds weird to me.

I would rather have an original world with actual characters and this gameplay.

But its just me.

Sounds to me like Harmen wrote an email to Team Asobi that got lost in multiple translation. They wanted a game to push ps5 hardware in Japan.

Team Asobi ended up putting actual ps5 hardware in the game.

We dont even know if its 70 bucks but even if it is when it has content compared to nintendo 3d platform than what's the problem? I have a bigger problem not having their hero shooter for free than paying money for Astro bot.

 

[Madflavor]

The cast of Concord literally looks like Guardians of the Galaxy: Short Bus Edition.

 

[zokie]

i got limited gaming fund to spend , so if i got a PS5 .... i will buy only Astro Bot instead of Concord as Astro Bot has many cute sony ip characters in robot form that i love
and also i tend not to buy 3rd person shooting based games unless its ARPG or MMO

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

I dunno about soulless. I’m sure it’s well-made. The issue is no one wants what they’re making so it’s a non-starter, and then PS management will wonder why it’s not selling.

It looks generic and completely uninspired and I don’t know who it’s for or why anyone would switch over from a current 5v5 game to it. While at the same time it literally has 0 appeal to fans of single-player immersive PS games.

 

[Griffon]

I don't understand why Astro Bot not only gets a pass for being derivative and unambitious, but people will actually it creative, inspired, and it's devs are allegedly passionate.

That makes no sense. If one is derivative then the other is too.

While I think your defense of Concord is ridiculous. Not gonna lie: I absolutely agree with you about Astro Bot.

On the day of reveal, all I could see was "Sony Product Placement: The Game", and I honestly don't get why people are so excited about it. I'm sure the gameplay is pretty good at what it does, but this doesn't warrant the overreaction and shower of praise some people are doing. I'd rather take the same gameplay in a less sterile and marketing-ridden game world.

It sure as hell wont make me buy a PS5.

 

[Bring Back Scalebound]

One plays on nostalgic heart strings

Here's your answer, MiB.
The people that are popping diamond hard boners over Astro Boy, are no different then Pokémon fans.

They want safe. They want their hit of boring nostalgia.

(This is an advertisement)

They want this too. Perfect for the safe crowd that wants to go "Look at the thing!", look is the dollar store version of Kratos, from the dollar store, oscar bait version of God of War.

Everything about Concord makes me fall asleep, but at least is not going for something as vapid and uninspired as Nostalgia.

Concord is like the GG Allin of games (I'm not being ironic). I would rather listen to literally anything else. But I can respect the fact that it takes enough risks to be unsafe. Even calling on Sweet Baby to make it even more unappealing. Just like GG used to literally shit on stage.
And just like GG Allin, it will get it's crowd that unironically likes it.

Astro Boy is just every artist you ever heard, making a cover of Nirvana.

What song you may ask?

Well, it Smells like something... I don't know, it was so boring that I forgot the whole title.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Not a fan of Astro bot, but at the very least it looks like a fun little game where you can enjoy your time properly.

Concord on the other hand makes you feel depressed just by looking at it. A blatant obvious copy of popular IPs and genres not out of inspiration or respect, but as a bad attempt to create some cashcow. Riddled with all the telltale signs of a corporate slop, from marvel's empty banter to DEI score catering.

 

[ManaByte]

Concord is soulless because Firewalk was founded by a former Activision publishing exec who oversaw Destiny and thought that gave them what they needed to know to make a GaaS FPS. It's following a corporate checklist as a method of development.

 

[ZehDon]

If you sat down 100 gamers and asked them what kind of game they'd love for Sony to make, I imagine you might get some answers that resemble Astrobot amongst them, whereas I really can't imagine anyone honestly answering "A worse Overwatch with more pronouns". One game reads like something the developers made to bring joy to their players, whereas the other reads like a game the developers hope is retweeted.

 

[SportsFan581]

Can't one argue that there have been far more basic 3D platformers over the last 30 years than there have been Overwatch/Valorant style games? Why is the 2,435th platformer fresh and exciting while the 12th hero based shooter is stale?

Because some of us live in reality where traditional platformers have barely existed from PS360 onward. That doesn't make anything that gets released good, but it certainly helps the well crafted efforts stand out. A second point would be that people play a platformer and then move on, while the games that new GaaS games copy are alive and well.

 

[llLeonhart]

I wouldn't say creativity, but more so fresh air.

I legit thought Concord was a Guardians of the Galaxy Game. And it is pretty much that. Alien dude is Quill, Asian Lady is Ghamora, Buff Alien dude is Drax, Robot is Rocket, so on and so forth. That screamed generic to me. To top it off is a hero shooter. And feels like the marked is already way too oversaturated with those.
Plus I got the sense that the hot sauce thing was supposed to be a joke. I just cringed.

 

[NahaNago]

Because Concord looks fairly generic and like it should have come out of an Ubisoft conference.

 

[SpokkX]

Well for starters Concord looks like Overwatch, Valorant, the new Marvel pvo, Destiny PVP, that new Steam game etc

With a guardians of the galaxy skin

It has nothing that feels original

Astro is original and how many 3d platforns of AAA qualiyy even exist besides Mario

 

[poppabk]

The Concord characters all give off that Poochie vibe.

 

[Flabagast]

Both look very generic and bring nothing new to the table.

However people trying to defend Concord are really really embarrassing. It reminds me of the stupid gaffers who were trying to hype up Suicide squad

 

[Punished Miku]

Astrobot is a market tested, made in a lab mascot used to sell merchandise (PlayStation branded product). "Let's make a cute robot, because kids like cute, and make him do the Minions sounds. Kids will like that!" It's the Cool Spot corpo trash from the mid 90's.... Its gameplay does nothing new, or interesting. It's a near copycat of the Crash Bandicoot formula with some Mario 3D Land influence. Those 3D platformers had dozens of clones released in the late 90s and 00s.

(This is an advertisement)

The new Astrobot looks identical (BUT MORE!) to the previous two games. It's more gimmick platforming using the unique functions of the PS5 controller...blow in the mic everyone

I gotta admit you make some solid points. The PS mascot robots bothered me too. I compared it to PS All Stars art design. I think the flying systems and controllers also look cheesy. It was fine for a free demo but I figured they'd do something else on this one. A lot of the other art design elements seem lifted directly from Mario but not as good. Nothing about the gameplay stood out in this trailer either, which I did point out. Simple jump, hover jump, punch, boxing gloves power up. The creative gameplay is there in 50 levels Im sure, but this specific trailer didnt showcase it imho.

I still think its an interesting product and I dont blame people for getting excited about it. Its very rare that we get 3D platformers and it seems to have a joyous and happy vibe that I think PS gamers are starving for with a lot of darker tone games usually being the norm. And it has more of a nostalgic gameplay 1st vibe which I also think PS fans are deeply hungry for. Personally, I think the praise for the trailer is over the top but it'll almost surely be an overall good game worth playing. I plan on picking it up on sale.

Concord looked like it had very little going on in the gameplay department that stood out but has pretty solid graphics. The main thing that turned me off was the dialogue and vibes. I wouldnt be shocked if people play Concord and end up enjoying it. I didnt see enough to warrant a purchase.

 

[Kilau]

 

[PixelatedBeast]

I dunno about soulless. I’m sure it’s well-made. The issue is no one wants what they’re making so it’s a non-starter, and then PS management will wonder why it’s not selling.

It looks generic and completely uninspired and I don’t know who it’s for or why anyone would switch over from a current 5v5 game to it. While at the same time it literally has 0 appeal to fans of single-player immersive PS games.

Im sure Sony knows the risk of failure is very high, but GAF really underestimates how important they are to Playstation. At their recent business strategy meeting, Sony showed a slide that said 50% of their revenue comes from just 10 live service games, while the other 9k+ games published bring in the other 50%.

With such a massive disparity, Sony could probably be sued by their share holders if they didnt invest in their own GAAS games. So although we love the single player games, there are more people who enjoy the GAAS games.

 

[ManaByte]

there are more people who enjoy the GAAS games.

 

[Fabieter]

Im sure Sony knows the risk of failure is very high, but GAF really underestimates how important they are to Playstation. At their recent business strategy meeting, Sony showed a slide that said 50% of their revenue comes from just 10 live service games, while the other 9k+ games published bring in the other 50%.

With such a massive disparity, Sony could probably be sued by their share holders if they didnt invest in their own GAAS games. So although we love the single player games, there are more people who enjoy the GAAS games.

Maybe some new gaas concepts would help instead of chasing trends.

 

[diffusionx]

OP, have you played Astro's Playroom on PS5?

 

[ReBurn]

I thought the opening cinematics in the Concord trailer were somewhat derivative of Guadiana of the Galaxy and when it came to the gameplay portion it turned out to be just another zoomer shooter. It didn't seem to have any originality to speak of In story, characters or gameplay. I thought Astro Bot exuded every bit of the character and whimsy that made Astro's Playroom so charming. That's the difference to me. One seems meant to meant to whittle into Fortnite and Overwatch revenue and the other seems meant to appeal to fans of the Astrobot character and the platforming genre.

 

[Killer8]

The knee-jerk labeling of anything that celebrates a brand's identity as 'propaganda' or 'advertising' is ridiculous. When you have close to 30 years of history to dip into, it can be fun to revisit and explore the brand's heritage. Nintendo do it in a sense with Super Smash Bros. and nobody seems to bat an eyelid. I don't see any other game in Sony's library celebrating their own brand in this way, so I don't see any problem. It also helps that, like SSB, it's attached to an extremely good platforming game series (which itself is a breed of games on life support).

 

[Sgt.Asher]

So what stage of grief is this? Bargaining?

 

[Chukhopops]

All the world over I'm hearing the same thing. Concord is a soulless, market tested, Gaurdians of the Galaxy rip off while Astrobot is a breath of fresh air that exudes creativity and passion.

Um, what?

Astrobot is a market tested, made in a lab mascot used to sell merchandise (PlayStation branded product). "Let's make a cute robot, because kids like cute, and make him do the Minions sounds. Kids will like that!" It's the Cool Spot corpo trash from the mid 90's.... Its gameplay does nothing new, or interesting. It's a near copycat of the Crash Bandicoot formula with some Mario 3D Land influence. Those 3D platformers had dozens of clones released in the late 90s and 00s.

(This is an advertisement)

The new Astrobot looks identical (BUT MORE!) to the previous two games. It's more gimmick platforming using the unique functions of the PS5 controller...blow in the mic everyone!

Concord may deserve much of its criticism but at least it's a new IP that's trying some new things in a space where there's not very many peers. Why is Firewalk soulless and Team Asobi avant guard again? Make it make sense people?!

It’s true that there is some « Funko Pop » vibe about this Astro thing. I also found Playroom short and incredibly boring from a level design perspective but that’s just me.

On the other hand there are so few 3D platformers that any new one will feel new and interesting, while there are dozens of hero shooters so what will this one add? Why not play Overwatch instead?

I hope this Astro can at least land somewhere between a Kirby game and A Hat in Time. That would make it already quite worth it.

 

[Aenima]

Concord is a copy paste of many other GAAS games. Astro Bot is the only interesting platformer coming to Playstation in a genre that pretty much only Nintendo cares about.

Concord may deserve much of its criticism but at least it's a new IP that's trying some new things in a space where there's not very many peers.

 

[MiguelItUp]

With what came with the PS5, Astro Bot felt solid, nostalgic, fun, and genuine. Add the fact that it's a solid platformer and it makes a great combo. Having a new game with more of it just sounds like nothing but an absolutely great thing. Concord honestly just resembles a run of the mill hero shooter that we've seen pretty often, and a lot of people either aren't into it, or they're just tired of it.

 

[diffusionx]

Concord rips off GOTG in its premise, except I missed the part of GOTG where they all go into an arena and fight clones of themselves to grind for new weapon skins.

 

[RoadHazard]

One screams FUN, the other screams cash grab.

 

[pasterpl]

Great games on Xbox?

spent 100s of hours playing likes of Forza horizon, starfield, flight sim is my go to game when I want to relax , now I am in enjoying best graphics showcase this gen with hellblade 2 etc. + lots of 3rd parties and Gamepass is still in class of it’s own, I still prefer CoD on Xbox vs my PC etc.

funny enough PS5 is first playstation i didn’t buy as I didn’t see anything interesting for me on this platform (most games so far are remakes, remasters, DLCs sold as games, enhanced versions or cross gen Games), and at the end of the day if something will catch my eye that is true ps5 exclusive I can wait 1-2 year to play in better quality on my pc (Didn’t happen yet).

it always baffles me that some people cannot understand that each of us got a bit different taste. Eg. I have loved original GtA games With top down view, and hated each reales since they have got into 3d. I know I am minority but it is what it is.

So you have no idea of what you are talking about and LOL out of ignorance.

Just FYG, Astrobot Rescue Mission is better than any platformer since Mario 64, these guys have that kind of genius, Nintendo doesn't own any special magic that makes them the sole creators of good platformers. Media Molecule with Little Big Planet or Tearaway existed before Asobi, but Asobi definitely is on another level.

You must have missed that metacritic ratings for all super Mario games, and sales charts from all over the world.

 

[Aldric]

Astrobot feels like old school Sony when they were unironically the number one publisher of 3D platformers (Jumping Flash, Ape Escape, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Jak and Daxter, Sly Cooper etc). Whatever the fuck Concord is feels indistinguishable from the dozens of designed by comittee GaaS cynical cashgrabs this accursed industry is churning out. Sony would be in much better shape if it had more of the former and less of the latter.

 

[MadchesterManc]

Do we even know if Sony actually have a gun to Firewalks head on this? How does GAF know Concord isn't what the dev wants to do? Genuinely curious as its been mentioned several times already.

 

[touchfuzzy]

If you can’t tell yourself, then you’re already lost I’m afraid.

 

[ViciousAgenda]

Do we even know if Sony actually have a gun to Firewalks head on this? How does GAF know Concord isn't what the dev wants to do? Genuinely curious as its been mentioned several times already.

It might be what they wanted but it's obviously not what the majority of players want. A quick scan of any comments section will tell you as much.

 

[Truthtellers]

W thread

 

[diffusionx]

If you can’t tell yourself, then you’re already lost I’m afraid.

First Men_in_Boxes thread?

 

[Dutchy]

OP def did not make this post out of spite and frustration

he is truly looking for answers ...

 

[Robb]

Do we even know if Sony actually have a gun to Firewalks head on this? How does GAF know Concord isn't what the dev wants to do? Genuinely curious as its been mentioned several times already.

One can only hope I guess.. It seems worse if this is what the studio actually want to do because then they definitely come off as creatively bankrupt.. and it leaves very little hope for any of their future titles.

But yeah, could just be a poor studio purchase on Sony’s part I guess.

 

[splattered]

Tbh id probably rather play concord than this new astrobot. Astrobot still looks like a glorified tech demo. Kind of crazy to me that Sony had absolutely nothing to show of value 1st party at this show. Some 3rd party stuff looked decent but nothing Sony had to show was of note.

 

[Moriarty1889]

Astrobot looks like it oozes both creativity and variety. Loads of content, no microtransactions, no storefronts, no DEI b/s etc. etc.

Concord is on the exact opposite of the spectrum.

And no pronouns either. Keep that shite out of gaming.

 

[Fabieter]

Tbh id probably rather play concord than this new astrobot. Astrobot still looks like a glorified tech demo. Kind of crazy to me that Sony had absolutely nothing to show of value 1st party at this show. Some 3rd party stuff looked decent but nothing Sony had to show was of note.

Dont like concord at all but it actually makes sense considering those two games have a release date before the Pro comes out.

 

[Yoboman]

I don't think Concord looks soulless

The setting looks fantastic

However the character designs are absolute bottom tier consultancy tested crap

 

[Boss Mog]

Astro Bot is joy because it's pure gaming goodness devoid of all the garbage that makes modern games like Concord, well, garbage. This includes DEI woke bullshit, microtransactions up the wazoo and GaaS. Astro Bot is a traditional experience with actual thought put into level design to make the gameplay fun and challenging. It's not gonna have some shitty generic 3-lane e-sports arena levels.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

OP, have you played Astro's Playroom on PS5?

I could only stomach about 30 minutes before turning it off.

Jumping on goombas, jumping over flame ropes, waiting for floating platforms to come to the ledge was really interesting in 1996. Legitimately exciting gameplay design back then.

Doing that same stuff with a Dual Sense themed mascot in 2024? Kill me now.

 

[LordCBH]

I knew exactly who was defending the GaaS trash without even seeing the username before clicking the topic.

 

[Gambit2483]

One is a corporate DEI box ticker designed solely to suck as much of your time and money as possible.

The other is just pure FUN with inventive worlds to explore with simple but fun gameplay mechanics all while sending a love letter to everything Playstation.

 

[LordCBH]

Concord is 100% soulless. They even decided to put character pronouns in the character select screen. This is garbage.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Concord is 100% soulless. They even decided to put character pronouns in the character select screen. This is garbage.

Realistically though, who tf pays attention to that when gaming?