RalphMoustaccio

@bigsocrates: I don't doubt that there are developers who take presentation on streaming platforms into consideration when designing games, but I do doubt that it's a large percentage of them. What I suspect is driving a reduction in truly high quality surround sound mixes in games is the transition to flat-screen televisions (which wouldn't have been nearly as common when Sly 2 came out in 2006) and the associated push toward things like soundbars as the most prevalent external sound source. Keep in mind that in 2006 you were much more likely to see "home theater in a box" setups being marketed, which included a receiver (often a DVD player combo) with some cheap 5.1 speakers, so more people had dedicated surround systems. Those made more sense when the TV was a large box unable to be hung on a wall, so there would more likely be space in a TV stand for a receiver that could process surround signals. With a push toward less intrusive entertainment installations, there is naturally less space for that kind of thing. Soundbars that can be wall-mounted make more aesthetic sense, and are good enough for most people.

An additional factor is that both Xbox and Playstation controllers now have built-in headphone jacks, so the frequency of players using headphones instead of dedicated sound systems or TV speakers is likely much higher. I almost exclusively use headphones these days since I don't want to disturb other people in my house, despite having a very capable dedicated surround setup. Virtual surround sound codecs, while not great, are substantially better than they used to be, so convincing surround sound is possible with headphones even with a stereo signal.

Sound will just never be as big a focus as visuals, because it's not as obvious and true surround sound is too cumbersome for mass-market saturation. Most people will default to the simplest option that is good enough, and that is what's going to drive content development.

For those looking for GPU, your best bet will be a Microcenter, if you're lucky enough to live close to one. They theoretically have a one card per household limit, though when I got my 3070 there, they didn't specifically ask for that information. That said, I was already in their system from past purchases, my purchase (and thus the limit) may have been flagged in their system without me having to do anything. When I was finally able to get one, there was a line when I arrived before opening, but it was handled in an orderly and calm manner.

If you live close to one, check their website daily. I found it worked best in private mode on mobile, because that would prevent anything from being accidentally left in the browser cache, and because on mobile it will actually tell you the quantity in stock which isn't consistent on desktop browsers. To get this to work (on Safari, at least), once you're on the page for the card you're looking for, if any are in stock, click on the product link, then go back to the overall product page. It usually initially loads as saying "limited quantity," but upon returning it will change to a stock count. It's best to do this early in the morning before they open, for obvious reasons.

@efesell: Daaaaaaamn. I liked this better when OP was just Fourthline's alt account.

@ghost_cat: To be fair, it's not every day that we get to interact with one of the developers* of noted "masterpiece" video game Tenchu Z on these forums.

*the only logical explanation for the devotion

@rikimaruu: I mean, you are the one who seems to have created your account solely to make this thread, so if my focus is on that and not the incredibly inaccurate criticisms you're leveling against the game, you'll have to forgive me.

Do you want some valid criticism, here you go:

• The camera: Not great! I've lost a few fights because I got stuck on geometry because the camera obscured it while I was trying to maintain focus on an enemy. It is not, however, anywhere near as bad as you suggest, and generally needs to be anchored on the character's back when squaring off against enemies so that the timing windows for the parrying system work consistently.
• Grabs: As previously mentioned by others, most of the grab hitboxes are bad. This should have been improved, but it is by no mean insurmountable, because not that many characters have grabs in the grand scheme of things.
• Dragonrot: This system could have been very cool, but the implementation is lazy. While it is true that you can dead end some side quests by leaving NPCs in a state of Dragonrot for too long, my understanding is that such consequences are few and far between and most don't make any significant impact to the game. There are also too many dragon blood droplets made available, so it sucks any risk out of the system associated with repeated death. Just get to a boss (or several), and make repeated runs at them until they're defeated, then pop a droplet and negate the system entirely. They should have made characters die (including merchants!) from Dragonrot based on a real-time clock, and limited the droplets more significantly if they wanted to make a system that truly makes repeated death have a negative impact on the player.
• The Headless: The reward for beating these mini-bosses is really not worth the effort, in my opinion. By the time you're really ready to face them, you don't need what you get from defeating them, especially after unlocking the unlimited stock of consumables from merchants.
• Shinobi tools/upgrades: Most of these aren't super useful, and can largely be ignored. I basically just roll with the shuriken and firecrackers to use as a way to keep enemies' timing off balance occasionally so I can heal mid-fight. There are definitely cases when certain ones are helpful, but I'm not sure they're ever helpful enough to push players in a direction to explore their use. The mist raven seems cool, but I never really needed it, so I didn't use it.

Anyway, I could keep going, but I think you get the point. I do very much like and enjoy Sekiro. It's easily the FromSoft game that feels and plays the best, though Bloodborne is still my personal favorite of theirs.

@mezza: Pretty sure the only part of any of this that is true is that OP "puffed one," as they said in a post about midway through page two. They then proceeded to watch a bunch of videos of people playing Sekiro--seemingly skipping some required boss fights in the viewings--and posting what cumulatively amounts to the worst term paper ever written about anything. It's incredible.

My dude, these two posts are completely contradictory.

You literally can't beat the game without getting to the ape. Try harder.

I'm literally sitting here drinking my tea like Kermit reading this shit. It's great.

And @efesell, your Fourthline comment almost made me spit said tea on my monitor.

An early contender for thread of the year, here. This is performance art.