Platinum admits sales are a problem

I highly recommend reading the full article, but the most interesting part of it for me was their admission that sales have been a problem for them, with even the bestselling game not selling as well as they wanted it to.

http://www.polygon.com/features/2013/4/16/4214960/tatsuya-minami-platinum-games#pgh/34/4779

Asked to rate Platinum's progress over the past five years, he gives the developers at the studio an A. "The team has been working really hard," he says. "They've held up their end of the bargain and done a really good job of putting out really high-quality games."

On the business side, he's less enthusiastic. "Whether we've sold as well as we would have liked, or whether the company has the amount of money that everybody would love to have in the company, I think I'd probably rate it as a C or even a D.

Despite their sales troubles, I think Platinum will find work as long as companies farm out development. Of course, based on Capcom's (and no doubt Konami's) troubles, farming out will be less fashionable in the future than it is now but I think Platinum will be the last company standing in that situation (though Ninja Theory might surprise me).

If Platinum gets really despererate, I'm sure there would be no shortage of companies willing to buy them. Nintendo should be first in line, but I could see MS or Sony beating them to the punch.

Here's hoping they keep being awesome for years to come. From what I understand they're rather keen on maintaining their independent status so I wonder how desperate they'd have to get before entertaining seriously the idea of a sale.

[QUOTE="Lulekani"][QUOTE="Ballroompirate"]

People like you are sad and pathetic fanboys, you named only one redeeming quality of platinum games while everything else is mediocre or cheesy at best. It would be the equivalent of telling your GF her only good quality is her eyes (yea that relationship won't last long).

Ballroompirate

Looks like someone is mad.

I don't think having Bayonetta 2 on the Wii U is gonna help them on the sales end. And for all we know Nintendo might have strong-armed the Bayonetta rights from Platinum just by publishing the latest game; happened to Tecmo after Fatal Frame 4.lamprey263

[QUOTE="lamprey263"]I don't think having Bayonetta 2 on the Wii U is gonna help them on the sales end. And for all we know Nintendo might have strong-armed the Bayonetta rights from Platinum just by publishing the latest game; happened to Tecmo after Fatal Frame 4.juradai

Probably few other publishers were willing to invest the money in such a project. It was either them or nothing at all. I don't think their sales are going to be any better for console exclusive niche action title, but I doubt Nintendo expected the Wii U to do so poorly as far as sales go.

If anything, having Bayonetta 2 on their system will at least get me to buy it sometime down the road.

Shame they don't sell as well as they deserve. They have made a lot of excellent games.Legolas_Katarn

Outside of Bayonetta, actually no they don't make excellent games. Vanquish was mediocre at best with a awful story and VA, the only decent thing in that game was the combat (the boss fights were just repetitive though). MGRR was also meh and suffered the same awful story and stereotypical VA Vanquish did, the whole duo personalty or w/e Raiden had was just....W T F (so GD cheesy). I will praise MGRR combat though, so it wasn't a total waste.

In the end, people over hype Platinum games.

[QUOTE="Legolas_Katarn"]Shame they don't sell as well as they deserve. They have made a lot of excellent games.Ballroompirate

Outside of Bayonetta, actually no they don't make excellent games. Vanquish was mediocre at best with a awful story and VA, the only decent thing in that game was the combat (the boss fights were just repetitive though). MGRR was also meh and suffered the same awful story and stereotypical VA Vanquish did, the whole duo personalty or w/e Raiden had was just....W T F (so GD cheesy). I will praise MGRR combat though, so it wasn't a total waste.

In the end, people over hype Platinum games.

You cant release 6 hour games and expect them to sell millions.

They also need to improve the artstyIe in their games and polish up the graphics. Most of their games look terrible. Even Rising looked awful at times.

Also, stop making cheesy games like Bayonetta, Vanquish and MGR. Rising was fun but my god the cheese was just way too much. MGS is already cheesy, you dont have to go make it even more ridiculous.

You cant release 6 hour games and expect them to sell millions.

They also need to improve the artstyIe in their games and polish up the graphics. Most of their games look terrible. Even Rising looked awful at times.

Also, stop making cheesy games like Bayonetta, Vanquish and MGR. Rising was fun but my god the cheese was just way too much. MGS is already cheesy, you dont have to go make it even more ridiculous.

S0lidSnake

I pretty much agree, I love Bayonetta and I understand why people may not like it (it suffers the same cheesy dialogue/VA their other games have). Their games are just filled with stereotypical VA, then the story is just laughable at best with their games.

[QUOTE="S0lidSnake"]

You cant release 6 hour games and expect them to sell millions.

They also need to improve the artstyIe in their games and polish up the graphics. Most of their games look terrible. Even Rising looked awful at times.

Also, stop making cheesy games like Bayonetta, Vanquish and MGR. Rising was fun but my god the cheese was just way too much. MGS is already cheesy, you dont have to go make it even more ridiculous.

Ballroompirate

I pretty much agree, I love Bayonetta and I understand why people may not like it (it suffers the same cheesy dialogue/VA their other games have). Their games are just filled with stereotypical VA, then the story is just laughable at best with their games.

complaining about the stories in platinum games titles is just laughable.  their games are completely about the gameplay, and often feature some of the deepest and most satisfying combat systems in the various genres they have dabbled in.  watch any expert play a bayonetta or a vanquish on youtube (seriously, look up molujpn on youtube NOW!) , and you will appreciate a level of mastery and expertise that is simply unmatched in most other games.  its not platinum games fault that western audiences tend to not get that their games are meant to be played, replayed, and mastered; instead, over here we would rather complain about graphics, voice acting (really?), and story then actually understand what these games are trying to accomplish.

I pretty much agree, I love Bayonetta and I understand why people may not like it (it suffers the same cheesy dialogue/VA their other games have). Their games are just filled with stereotypical VA, then the story is just laughable at best with their games.

Ballroompirate

The narrative in most games is laughable.

What isn't laughable in Platinum software is the top notch gameplay that they manage to infuse within every title they develop.

They also manage to deliver unique experiences, even among genres where stagnation has widely taken hold.

If I want a good story I'll read a book or watch a film. I PLAY games and Platinum titles are among some of the best in their respective genres.

[QUOTE="Ballroompirate"]

[QUOTE="S0lidSnake"]

You cant release 6 hour games and expect them to sell millions.

They also need to improve the artstyIe in their games and polish up the graphics. Most of their games look terrible. Even Rising looked awful at times.

Also, stop making cheesy games like Bayonetta, Vanquish and MGR. Rising was fun but my god the cheese was just way too much. MGS is already cheesy, you dont have to go make it even more ridiculous.

symx8789

I pretty much agree, I love Bayonetta and I understand why people may not like it (it suffers the same cheesy dialogue/VA their other games have). Their games are just filled with stereotypical VA, then the story is just laughable at best with their games.

complaining about the stories in platinum games titles is just laughable.  their games are completely about the gameplay, and often feature some of the deepest and most satisfying combat systems in the various genres they have dabbled in.  watch any expert play a bayonetta or a vanquish on youtube (seriously, look up molujpn on youtube NOW!) , and you will appreciate a level of mastery and expertise that is simply unmatched in most other games.  its not platinum games fault that western audiences tend to not get that their games are meant to be played, replayed, and mastered; instead, over here we would rather complain about graphics, voice acting (really?), and story then actually understand what these games are trying to accomplish.

People like you are sad and pathetic fanboys, you named only one redeeming quality of platinum games while everything else is mediocre or cheesy at best. It would be the equivalent of telling your GF her only good quality is her eyes (yea that relationship won't last long).

[QUOTE="Ballroompirate"]

I pretty much agree, I love Bayonetta and I understand why people may not like it (it suffers the same cheesy dialogue/VA their other games have). Their games are just filled with stereotypical VA, then the story is just laughable at best with their games.

Grammaton-Cleric

The narrative in most games is laughable.

What isn't laughable in Platinum software is the top notch gameplay that they manage to infuse within every title they develop.

They also manage to deliver unique experiences, even among genres where stagnation has widely taken hold.

If I want a good story I'll read a book or watch a film. I PLAY games and Platinum titles are among some of the best in their respective genres.

And that's fine. Your preference of gameplay over story is likely not shared by all. I personally believe that the reason why their games aren't successful at retail is due to the laughable story, terrible artstyIe and lots and lots of cheese.

Most games do have bad plots, but I wouldn't call them laughably bad. Bayonetta and Vanquish are laughably bad. The characters, the artsyIe and the dialogue are pretty freaking terrible. I consider all CoD games to have a terrible story, but at least they try to tell a serious story. Platinum Games tries to tell a Grindhouse styIe story in all of their games and judging from Grindhouse boxoffice receipts, I'd say the audience just isnt there for those kinds of plots anymore.

[QUOTE="Ballroompirate"]

I pretty much agree, I love Bayonetta and I understand why people may not like it (it suffers the same cheesy dialogue/VA their other games have). Their games are just filled with stereotypical VA, then the story is just laughable at best with their games.

Grammaton-Cleric

The narrative in most games is laughable.

What isn't laughable in Platinum software is the top notch gameplay that they manage to infuse within every title they develop.

They also manage to deliver unique experiences, even among genres where stagnation has widely taken hold.

If I want a good story I'll read a book or watch a film. I PLAY games and Platinum titles are among some of the best in their respective genres.

Outside of Bayonetta  which is probably the best of it's genre I've played and this is coming from a DMC fan, I've played better TPS than Vanquish and MGRR didn't "wow" me like Bayonetta did.

[QUOTE="symx8789"]

[QUOTE="Ballroompirate"]

I pretty much agree, I love Bayonetta and I understand why people may not like it (it suffers the same cheesy dialogue/VA their other games have). Their games are just filled with stereotypical VA, then the story is just laughable at best with their games.

Ballroompirate

complaining about the stories in platinum games titles is just laughable.  their games are completely about the gameplay, and often feature some of the deepest and most satisfying combat systems in the various genres they have dabbled in.  watch any expert play a bayonetta or a vanquish on youtube (seriously, look up molujpn on youtube NOW!) , and you will appreciate a level of mastery and expertise that is simply unmatched in most other games.  its not platinum games fault that western audiences tend to not get that their games are meant to be played, replayed, and mastered; instead, over here we would rather complain about graphics, voice acting (really?), and story then actually understand what these games are trying to accomplish.

People like you are sad and pathetic fanboys, you named only one redeeming quality of platinum games while everything else is mediocre or cheesy at best. It would be the equivalent of telling your GF her only good quality is her eyes (yea that relationship won't last long).

[QUOTE="Ballroompirate"]

[QUOTE="symx8789"]

complaining about the stories in platinum games titles is just laughable.  their games are completely about the gameplay, and often feature some of the deepest and most satisfying combat systems in the various genres they have dabbled in.  watch any expert play a bayonetta or a vanquish on youtube (seriously, look up molujpn on youtube NOW!) , and you will appreciate a level of mastery and expertise that is simply unmatched in most other games.  its not platinum games fault that western audiences tend to not get that their games are meant to be played, replayed, and mastered; instead, over here we would rather complain about graphics, voice acting (really?), and story then actually understand what these games are trying to accomplish.

Lulekani

People like you are sad and pathetic fanboys, you named only one redeeming quality of platinum games while everything else is mediocre or cheesy at best. It would be the equivalent of telling your GF her only good quality is her eyes (yea that relationship won't last long).

Looks like someone is mad.

[QUOTE="symx8789"]

[QUOTE="Ballroompirate"]

I pretty much agree, I love Bayonetta and I understand why people may not like it (it suffers the same cheesy dialogue/VA their other games have). Their games are just filled with stereotypical VA, then the story is just laughable at best with their games.

Ballroompirate

complaining about the stories in platinum games titles is just laughable.  their games are completely about the gameplay, and often feature some of the deepest and most satisfying combat systems in the various genres they have dabbled in.  watch any expert play a bayonetta or a vanquish on youtube (seriously, look up molujpn on youtube NOW!) , and you will appreciate a level of mastery and expertise that is simply unmatched in most other games.  its not platinum games fault that western audiences tend to not get that their games are meant to be played, replayed, and mastered; instead, over here we would rather complain about graphics, voice acting (really?), and story then actually understand what these games are trying to accomplish.

People like you are sad and pathetic fanboys, you named only one redeeming quality of platinum games while everything else is mediocre or cheesy at best. It would be the equivalent of telling your GF her only good quality is her eyes (yea that relationship won't last long).

so you are allowed to claim that vanquish only does one thing well (gameplay, which is arguable one of if not the most important aspects of a game) and therefore is mediocre, while simultaneously rating devil may cry 4, a game with arguably as cheesey voice acting and story, a 9.5?  ahh, inconsistency at its finest...

[QUOTE="juradai"][QUOTE="lamprey263"]I don't think having Bayonetta 2 on the Wii U is gonna help them on the sales end. And for all we know Nintendo might have strong-armed the Bayonetta rights from Platinum just by publishing the latest game; happened to Tecmo after Fatal Frame 4._Dez_

Probably few other publishers were willing to invest the money in such a project. It was either them or nothing at all. I don't think their sales are going to be any better for console exclusive niche action title, but I doubt Nintendo expected the Wii U to do so poorly as far as sales go.

If anything, having Bayonetta 2 on their system will at least get me to buy it sometime down the road.

Platinum is one of the most overrated developers on the planet, I can't believe that publishers are still greenlighting games by these hacks. I can't even believe that this company is comprised of people that made Okami.

[QUOTE="Ballroompirate"]

I pretty much agree, I love Bayonetta and I understand why people may not like it (it suffers the same cheesy dialogue/VA their other games have). Their games are just filled with stereotypical VA, then the story is just laughable at best with their games.

Grammaton-Cleric

The narrative in most games is laughable.

What isn't laughable in Platinum software is the top notch gameplay that they manage to infuse within every title they develop.

They also manage to deliver unique experiences, even among genres where stagnation has widely taken hold.

If I want a good story I'll read a book or watch a film. I PLAY games and Platinum titles are among some of the best in their respective genres.

Bayonetta is an all-out butchering of the senses. The horrible horrible art-styIe, characters, effects, music and voice acting all come together to create a maelstrom of horror that made my eyes and ears bleed. You can't seperate that crap from the gameplay, well at least I can't. I literally found it offensive.

[QUOTE="Grammaton-Cleric"]

[QUOTE="Ballroompirate"]

I pretty much agree, I love Bayonetta and I understand why people may not like it (it suffers the same cheesy dialogue/VA their other games have). Their games are just filled with stereotypical VA, then the story is just laughable at best with their games.

UpInFlames

The narrative in most games is laughable.

What isn't laughable in Platinum software is the top notch gameplay that they manage to infuse within every title they develop.

They also manage to deliver unique experiences, even among genres where stagnation has widely taken hold.

If I want a good story I'll read a book or watch a film. I PLAY games and Platinum titles are among some of the best in their respective genres.

Bayonetta is an all-out butchering of the senses. The horrible horrible art-styIe, characters, effects, music and voice acting all come together to create a maelstrom of horror that made my eyes and ears bleed. You can't seperate that crap from the gameplay, well at least I can't. I literally found it offensive.

My problem with Vanquish was that it started heavily recycling content about three hours in. Its ridiculous that the last boss was simply a doubling of a prior boss with no meaningful new powers. I know they put it together in a year and it runs well (especially for a multiplat game) but there should have been a lot more game there.

I got rid of my X360 before Bayonetta hit so I never bothered with it. I suspect that was Platinum's biggest missed opportunity. DMC fans were looking for a game to fill the gap and Bayonetta seemed made to order, but Platinum focused on the X360 game and let Sega's interns code the PS3 version (which even gimped sold the most copies).

Madworld was just painfully stupid. Making an original, M rated game on the Wii was never going to end well.

If a developer has a backer with deep pockets they can afford to say 'Let's not worry about money, we will do whatever we want!' but if game sales are needed to pay salaries and fund future games, they should look at which market will be most receptive to whatever game they are trying to make.

My problem with Vanquish was that it started heavily recycling content about three hours in. Its ridiculous that the last boss was simply a doubling of a prior boss with no meaningful new powers. I know they put it together in a year and it runs well (especially for a multiplat game) but there should have been a lot more game there.

I got rid of my X360 before Bayonetta hit so I never bothered with it. I suspect that was Platinum's biggest missed opportunity. DMC fans were looking for a game to fill the gap and Bayonetta seemed made to order, but Platinum focused on the X360 game and let Sega's interns code the PS3 version (which even gimped sold the most copies).

Madworld was just painfully stupid. Making an original, M rated game on the Wii was never going to end well.

If a developer has a backer with deep pockets they can afford to say 'Let's not worry about money, we will do whatever we want!' but if game sales are needed to pay salaries and fund future games, they should look at which market will be most receptive to whatever game they are trying to make.

CarnageHeart

I'm sure you're aware of this, but Bayonetta has since been patched and runs perfectly fine on the PS3. Definitely worth checking out, and definitely Platinum's most complete game.

I'd like to see them do something Okami-like though.

[QUOTE="CarnageHeart"]

My problem with Vanquish was that it started heavily recycling content about three hours in. Its ridiculous that the last boss was simply a doubling of a prior boss with no meaningful new powers. I know they put it together in a year and it runs well (especially for a multiplat game) but there should have been a lot more game there.

I got rid of my X360 before Bayonetta hit so I never bothered with it. I suspect that was Platinum's biggest missed opportunity. DMC fans were looking for a game to fill the gap and Bayonetta seemed made to order, but Platinum focused on the X360 game and let Sega's interns code the PS3 version (which even gimped sold the most copies).

Madworld was just painfully stupid. Making an original, M rated game on the Wii was never going to end well.

If a developer has a backer with deep pockets they can afford to say 'Let's not worry about money, we will do whatever we want!' but if game sales are needed to pay salaries and fund future games, they should look at which market will be most receptive to whatever game they are trying to make.

IndianaPwns39

I'm sure you're aware of this, but Bayonetta has since been patched and runs perfectly fine on the PS3. Definitely worth checking out, and definitely Platinum's most complete game.

I'd like to see them do something Okami-like though.

I figure there will be some sort of Platinum HD collection next gen. I'll just wait for that.

[QUOTE="Ballroompirate"]

[QUOTE="symx8789"]

complaining about the stories in platinum games titles is just laughable.  their games are completely about the gameplay, and often feature some of the deepest and most satisfying combat systems in the various genres they have dabbled in.  watch any expert play a bayonetta or a vanquish on youtube (seriously, look up molujpn on youtube NOW!) , and you will appreciate a level of mastery and expertise that is simply unmatched in most other games.  its not platinum games fault that western audiences tend to not get that their games are meant to be played, replayed, and mastered; instead, over here we would rather complain about graphics, voice acting (really?), and story then actually understand what these games are trying to accomplish.

symx8789

People like you are sad and pathetic fanboys, you named only one redeeming quality of platinum games while everything else is mediocre or cheesy at best. It would be the equivalent of telling your GF her only good quality is her eyes (yea that relationship won't last long).

so you are allowed to claim that vanquish only does one thing well (gameplay, which is arguable one of if not the most important aspects of a game) and therefore is mediocre, while simultaneously rating devil may cry 4, a game with arguably as cheesey voice acting and story, a 9.5?  ahh, inconsistency at its finest...

Nero alone had a better VA/script than the whole entire script/VA of Vanquish (and Dante was even more of a bad ass in DMC 4). Yea the story of DMC 4 was nothing to write home about, but it wasn't as bad as Vanquishes "Omg gurd space Russians gonna blow up America, while the stereotypical American made by Platinum saves the day", is there anything I said DMC 4 had said amazing story, besides giving it a high score?. Now if you want to talk about giving games a high score I can play that game, coming from you who gave FF13 a 10 (excuse me why I throw up in my mouth).

Seriously, your Platinum fanboy is sticking out, you might want to zip it up.

[QUOTE="symx8789"]

[QUOTE="Ballroompirate"]

People like you are sad and pathetic fanboys, you named only one redeeming quality of platinum games while everything else is mediocre or cheesy at best. It would be the equivalent of telling your GF her only good quality is her eyes (yea that relationship won't last long).

Ballroompirate

so you are allowed to claim that vanquish only does one thing well (gameplay, which is arguable one of if not the most important aspects of a game) and therefore is mediocre, while simultaneously rating devil may cry 4, a game with arguably as cheesey voice acting and story, a 9.5?  ahh, inconsistency at its finest...

Nero alone had a better VA/script than the whole entire script/VA of Vanquish (and Dante was even more of a bad ass in DMC 4). Yea the story of DMC 4 was nothing to write home about, but it wasn't as bad as Vanquishes "Omg gurd space Russians gonna blow up America, while the stereotypical American made by Platinum saves the day", is there anything I said DMC 4 had said amazing story, besides giving it a high score?. Now if you want to talk about giving games a high score I can play that game, coming from you who gave FF13 a 10 (excuse me why I throw up in my mouth).

Seriously, your Platinum fanboy is sticking out, you might want to zip it up.

Outside of Bayonetta, actually no they don't make excellent games. Vanquish was mediocre at best with a awful story and VA, the only decent thing in that game was the combat (the boss fights were just repetitive though). MGRR was also meh and suffered the same awful story and stereotypical VA Vanquish did, the whole duo personalty or w/e Raiden had was just....W T F (so GD cheesy). I will praise MGRR combat though, so it wasn't a total waste.

In the end, people over hype Platinum games.

Ballroompirate

Remember the good ole' days when gamers actually gave a shit about, you know, actual gameplay? I do. Those were good times.

Here's hoping Platinum can keep on being awesome.

Nero alone had a better VA/script than the whole entire script/VA of Vanquish (and Dante was even more of a bad ass in DMC 4). Yea the story of DMC 4 was nothing to write home about, but it wasn't as bad as Vanquishes "Omg gurd space Russians gonna blow up America, while the stereotypical American made by Platinum saves the day", is there anything I said DMC 4 had said amazing story, besides giving it a high score?. Now if you want to talk about giving games a high score I can play that game, coming from you who gave FF13 a 10 (excuse me why I throw up in my mouth).

Seriously, your Platinum fanboy is sticking out, you might want to zip it up.Ballroompirate

Wait wait...are we really arguing about stories in Platinum games vs DMC?

I mean yeah, I'm one of those annoying bastards that likes a good story in my games too, but with PG's games and DMC, it just doesn't matter. The gameplay is strong enough to carry the game. I mean of course I'll bring up the story occassionally, but only to make fun of it. :lol:

The writing and VA in these kinds of games usually end up being sub par to piss poor. Simple as that. Also, I haven't had a chance to play Vanquish yet. But damn, is the voice acting and writing really so bad that DMC4 outclasses it? I mean, yeah DMC4 had Johnny Yong Bosch, but all that screaming and crying he did as Nero was hardly a good use of that man's talent. You'd have to not even be trying to get much worse than DMC's voice acting.

[QUOTE="Ballroompirate"]

Outside of Bayonetta, actually no they don't make excellent games. Vanquish was mediocre at best with a awful story and VA, the only decent thing in that game was the combat (the boss fights were just repetitive though). MGRR was also meh and suffered the same awful story and stereotypical VA Vanquish did, the whole duo personalty or w/e Raiden had was just....W T F (so GD cheesy). I will praise MGRR combat though, so it wasn't a total waste.

In the end, people over hype Platinum games.

Systems_Id

Remember the good ole' when gamers actually gave a shit about, you know, actual gameplay? I do. Those were good times.

Here's hoping Platinum can keep on being awesome.

Remember when games had good gameplay,VA/scripts,music score and story?

Cause Vanquish only has one of those

[QUOTE="Lulekani"][QUOTE="Ballroompirate"]

Remember when games had good gameplay,VA/scripts,music score and story?

Cause Vanquish only has one of those

SupremeAC

Oh my God, it's all about the gameplay! Here's a newsflash, Platinum's gameplay ain't all that either. It's not bad, but it's hardly some kind of a godsend some of you are making it out to be. Half the time spent playing Bayonetta was mashing buttons because I had no idea what the hell was going on thanks to all the s*** onscreen. And I still won without a problem. The combat in Vanquish was pretty fast and tight, I'll give it that, but depth and variety? Forget about it. I flat-out hated the combat system in Metal Gear Rising, clunky and unintuitive as hell.

You know what game has them all beat? PN.03.  Great graphics, great story, great gameplay and not in the least clunky. 

On a more serious note: I don't see why games these days need to offer everything to gamers.  I'll gladly enjoy a game with little or no story, as long as the gameplay is fun.  I can see how you could mock a bad story, but have it put you off from a game?  If that's the case you're taking it all too serious.

[QUOTE="Systems_Id"]

[QUOTE="Ballroompirate"]

Outside of Bayonetta, actually no they don't make excellent games. Vanquish was mediocre at best with a awful story and VA, the only decent thing in that game was the combat (the boss fights were just repetitive though). MGRR was also meh and suffered the same awful story and stereotypical VA Vanquish did, the whole duo personalty or w/e Raiden had was just....W T F (so GD cheesy). I will praise MGRR combat though, so it wasn't a total waste.

In the end, people over hype Platinum games.

Ballroompirate

Remember the good ole' when gamers actually gave a shit about, you know, actual gameplay? I do. Those were good times.

Here's hoping Platinum can keep on being awesome.

Remember when games had good gameplay,VA/scripts,music score and story?

Cause Vanquish only has one of those

[QUOTE="Ballroompirate"]

[QUOTE="Systems_Id"]

Remember the good ole' when gamers actually gave a shit about, you know, actual gameplay? I do. Those were good times.

Here's hoping Platinum can keep on being awesome.

Lulekani

Remember when games had good gameplay,VA/scripts,music score and story?

Cause Vanquish only has one of those

Remember when games had good gameplay,VA/scripts,music score and story?

Cause Vanquish only has one of those

Ballroompirate

Compared to...what exactly? Nearly every video game in existence has terrible writing and a terrible story in general compared to every other story driven medium. At least Platinum has the decency not to force me to sit through unintentionally terrible cutscenes and dialog unlike 99% of all other cinematic games today(sup Tomb Raider?). PG games stories/cutscenes are just intentionally terrible and hilarious.

Yeah the developers themselves do a fantastic job.  Which reminds me I better download all the patches for Bayonetta so it's playable on my PS3, otherwise these guys will go out of business and I'll be SOL.

Making Bayonetta 2 a Wii U exclusive was just brilliant.  Even a ridiculously optimistic sales estimate might put it at half a million, after the first game sold two million on the 360 and PS3.

 I flat-out hated the combat system in Metal Gear Rising, clunky and unintuitive as hell.

UpInFlames

That game is easily one of the best hack-n-slash action games ever made and even after having invested dozens of hours into the game I am still discovering new techniques and strategies.

And when played at higher levels, clunky is the last adjective I'd employ to describe it.

It's easily the closest thing we have to a legitimate Ninja Gaiden successor.

[QUOTE="Ballroompirate"]

I pretty much agree, I love Bayonetta and I understand why people may not like it (it suffers the same cheesy dialogue/VA their other games have). Their games are just filled with stereotypical VA, then the story is just laughable at best with their games.

Grammaton-Cleric

The narrative in most games is laughable.

What isn't laughable in Platinum software is the top notch gameplay that they manage to infuse within every title they develop.

They also manage to deliver unique experiences, even among genres where stagnation has widely taken hold.

If I want a good story I'll read a book or watch a film. I PLAY games and Platinum titles are among some of the best in their respective genres.

I agree with your evaluation of Platinum games, but it would be nice if you and other gameplay snobs would stop acting like people who actually want a good story are somehow in the minority or less important.  I don't tell people, "Well, if you want good graphics, go watch a movie!!" so I would expect the same level of respect for others' preferences from other gamers as well.  You can claim that story is unimportant and that people who care about it should, "Go read a book," but I guarantee you that games without story and lore wouldn't sell for shit, no matter how good or bad it is.

I agree with your evaluation of Platinum games, but it would be nice if you and other gameplay snobs would stop acting like people who actually want a good story are somehow in the minority or less important.  I don't tell people, "Well, if you want good graphics, go watch a movie!!" so I would expect the same level of respect for others' preferences from other gamers as well.  You can claim that story is unimportant and that people who care about it should, "Go read a book," but I guarantee you that games without story and lore wouldn't sell for shit, no matter how good or bad it is.

Greyfeld

The entire crux of gaming is interactivity and what makes it such a compelling medium is that as gamers we get the opportunity to forge our own narrative with actions, choices, and various other components afforded to us by the construct of the software.

Most of the games I have played contained narratives that were, at best, derivative and at worst uninspired and recycled tropes that could have been penned by a dull adolescent. As a lover of film and literature I flatly reject the notion that something as liquid and malleable as gaming should be judged primarily on narrative when we already have static mediums that do this so well.

That isn't to assert that games cannot contain great narratives as there are most certainly those titles that offer up sumptuous and satisfying stories but if the central goal of this medium is to be a slightly interactive version of a static narrative then I would question the relevance of something so redundant as well as those who advocate for such redundancy.

Lastly, we are discussing one specific developer whose pedigree is steeped in quality mechanics, thus criticizing Platinum games for a dearth in compelling narratives is the equivalent of being offended by prolific explosions in a Michael Bay film.

As to the notion that games without stories would sell poorly, I invite you to explain Tetris, Pac-Man, Angry Birds, and a slew of other games that definitively prove that theory wrong.

[QUOTE="Greyfeld"]

I agree with your evaluation of Platinum games, but it would be nice if you and other gameplay snobs would stop acting like people who actually want a good story are somehow in the minority or less important.  I don't tell people, "Well, if you want good graphics, go watch a movie!!" so I would expect the same level of respect for others' preferences from other gamers as well.  You can claim that story is unimportant and that people who care about it should, "Go read a book," but I guarantee you that games without story and lore wouldn't sell for shit, no matter how good or bad it is.

Grammaton-Cleric

The entire crux of gaming is interactivity and what makes it such a compelling medium is that as gamers we get the opportunity to forge our own narrative with actions, choices, and various other components afforded to us by the construct of the software.

Most of the games I have played contained narratives that were, at best, derivative and at worst uninspired and recycled tropes that could have been penned by a dull adolescent. As a lover of film and literature I flatly reject the notion that something as liquid and malleable as gaming should be judged primarily on narrative when we already have static mediums that do this so well.

That isn't to assert that games cannot contain great narratives as there are most certainly those titles that offer up sumptuous and satisfying stories but if the central goal of this medium is to be a slightly interactive version of a static narrative then I would question the relevance of something so redundant as well as those who advocate for such redundancy.

Lastly, we are discussing one specific developer whose pedigree is steeped in quality mechanics, thus criticizing Platinum games for a dearth in compelling narratives is the equivalent of being offended by prolific explosions in a Michael Bay film.

As to the notion that games without stories would sell poorly, I invite you to explain Tetris, Pac-Man, Angry Birds, and a slew of other games that definitively prove that theory wrong.

[QUOTE="UpInFlames"]

 I flat-out hated the combat system in Metal Gear Rising, clunky and unintuitive as hell.

Grammaton-Cleric

That game is easily one of the best hack-n-slash action games ever made and even after having invested dozens of hours into the game I am still discovering new techniques and strategies.

And when played at higher levels, clunky is the last adjective I'd employ to describe it.

It's easily the closest thing we have to a legitimate Ninja Gaiden successor.

I don't know, the slicing mechanic didn't really work for me at all, I found it extremely unintuitive. Couldn't get used to it at all. The level design was drab and the camera definitely felt clunky.

[QUOTE="Grammaton-Cleric"]

[QUOTE="UpInFlames"]

 I flat-out hated the combat system in Metal Gear Rising, clunky and unintuitive as hell.

UpInFlames

That game is easily one of the best hack-n-slash action games ever made and even after having invested dozens of hours into the game I am still discovering new techniques and strategies.

And when played at higher levels, clunky is the last adjective I'd employ to describe it.

It's easily the closest thing we have to a legitimate Ninja Gaiden successor.

I don't know, the slicing mechanic didn't really work for me at all, I found it extremely unintuitive. Couldn't get used to it at all. The level design was drab and the camera definitely felt clunky.

I wonder what would happen if Platinum ditched storytelling the way Valve did ? Left 4 Dead and Portal 2 dominated with just gameplay and context.Lulekani

Left 4 Dead is multiplayer and Portal 2 not only HAD storytelling, but it was incredibly well-written and executed.

Platinum couldn't do Valve if their lives depended on it.