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ADee

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
963
Sweden
Well it just got Spiritfarer, Flight Simulator, RE7 and It Lurks below. Gamepass is such a beautiful thing right now.

And don't forget Undermine, spent so many hours on it on steam. If you like the idea of Rogue Legacy and Binding of Isaac mixed together, then check it out.
 

indosmoke

Member
Oct 30, 2017
1,054
France
I also think people conflate AA games unfortunately with "low quality"...many of the AA games on there are superb.

That's also true.
Obviously we can still argue about what defines AAA games, but for me it's always been about scope and budget rather than quality (which is also somewhat subjective, but that's another story).

So yes, definitely, plenty of high quality "AA" games on Game Pass and I'm glad this trend seems to continue.
 
OP
OP
Ghost of Jhoto
Jul 20, 2020
1,314
Kinda shows how dumb they are doing Day 1 Gamepass on a lot of these. Could easily squeeze a good deal of full price purchases out of a few of these before dumping them on Gamepass 6 months to a year later.
I think the opposite, they might sell okay or underwhelm, but by putting them in gamepass you give subscribers a reason to stay.
 
Sep 14, 2018
4,624
Most impressions I read seem to be people loving it. Hard to gauge fully until it's over
Well I hope it's good, I'm not asking for the best thing ever just better than LiS 2. I had the season pass and could not force myself to keep going after ep 3.
It is 1% lower than Life is Strange and 2% higher than Life is Strange 2 on Opencritic (which is an easier comparison because it factors in all platforms rather than having a PS4 score and a different Xbox and Switch score etc).
I should have said received by fans of dontnod/LiS. Score aggregates of random reviewers don't tell me anything.
 

TimPV3

Member
Oct 30, 2017
631
Full disclosure: I have Game Pass Ultimate through 2022, and the only game on your listwarz that I'll probably end up playing is Battletoads.

I never see GamePass criticized here. It is the PS4 Remote Play circlejerk of 2020.
 

ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,364
I should have said received by fans of dontnod/LiS. Score aggregates of random reviewers don't tell me anything.

Gotcha, I figured you were reacting to the MC score in the OP. Sounded like a surprised question to me!

I think it's been well received by most. Heard a few people say it's their favourite Dontnod game so far and I don't think I've heard many of the grumblings that were around LiS2. I think the rapid release of the episodes will help alleviate a lot of that though to be fair... The LiS2 waits were brutal.
 

CloseTalker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
30,649
Full disclosure: I have Game Pass Ultimate through 2022, and the only game on your listwarz that I'll probably end up playing is Battletoads.

I never see GamePass criticized here. It is the PS4 Remote Play circlejerk of 2020.
There aren't many legitimate criticisms to leverage against the service.
 

Rogue Kiwi

Chicken Chaser
Banned
May 5, 2019
725
I imagine as Microsoft's development culture gets better this will rise, with more first party games in the pipeline. Pretty happy with my gamepass til 2022 purchase during the $1 deal.
 

Martinski

Member
Jan 15, 2019
8,424
Gƶteborg
Getting great titles like Wasteland 3 and Crusader King 3 day one is like people said nuts. Not to mention Flight Sim which is a MS title..

And then Tell me why cherry on top.
 

mugurumakensei

Elizabeth, Iā€™m coming to join you!
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,328
Gamepass is monthly sub I'm most happy with more than Netflix or amazon prime combined.
 

nampad

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,238
I just signed up for 3 years of GPU because of that insane upgrade deal with cheap gold.

Played some games in the 14 day trial I had before and it was just ok.
CK III pushed me over the top for the cheap membership but I wouldn't pay full price for it honestly.
 

Komo

Info Analyst
Verified
Jan 3, 2019
7,110
I mean I don't see what you mean I don't expect 90+ out of gamepass. Just something enjoyable
 

Conor

Self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
450
The best game, Flight Sim, isn't even on console and the two higher rated titles, Wasteland 3 & Crusader Kings 3 are RTS games that are the antithesis to what I find fun.

I even gave Wasteland 3 a try but I just could not get into it.

Still a great service and I'm still enjoying things like Gears 5 and MCC but it's been a real dry year for me personally. Infinite was the one I wanted most.
I'm slightly confused, neither CK3 or Wasteland 3 are RTS games. They are also two vastly different games in different genres.
 

CloseTalker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
30,649
I'm slightly confused, neither CK3 or Wasteland 3 are RTS games. They are also two vastly different games in different genres.
It's crazy that people are saying "I want more shooters". Like, of all the complaints against game pass, you say that the legitimately impressive genre variety is a bad thing? If you want shooters, there are a ton on there to choose from. But one of my favorite things about GP is that it surfaces so many games you might not otherwise play, like Spiritfarer
 

VeePs

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,369
Wasteland 3 RTS games

I've only done the tutorial mission so far for Wasteland 3, but so far combat seems to closer to a TRPG/SRPG - something like Fire Emblem, Shining Force, or XCOM.

RTS is more like Command & Conquer, Age of Empire, etc. But still, if you didn't like you you didn't like it. I have a hard time getting into Metroidvania games myself.
 

dep9000

Banned
Mar 31, 2020
5,401
84 as an average. That's pretty insane. I don't think Crusader Kings is for me, but I can see the appeal. I'm still shocked it scored as well as it did though. That's what I love about Game Pass. I tried CK3 due to the high review scores, didn't care for it and now I can move on and play something else (that something else is currently RE7. Glad I waited and never bought this one!)
 

gothmog

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,434
NY
Well it just got Spiritfarer, Flight Simulator, RE7 and It Lurks below. Gamepass is such a beautiful thing right now.

And don't forget Undermine, spent so many hours on it on steam. If you like the idea of Rogue Legacy and Binding of Isaac mixed together, then check it out.
Undermine is incredible. I can't stop playing. I'd throw in a little original Legend of Zelda too in your description of the game.
 

Sosukae

Member
Oct 25, 2017
177
Just keep adding new gamepass additions to my play later. Hope they make a big splash with some additions when the series X launches
 

Liabe Brave

Professionally Enhanced
Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,672
For the past month the average metacritic score for the day one gamepass releases is 84. The quality of gamepass games being low seems to be a bit overblown and this past month shows that the service is capable of bringing high quality games to the service day and date.
Capable of introducing great games, yes. But I don't think complaints about low quality were claiming the impossibility of great games appearing on GamePass. I think they're rather about the overall quality. And that won't be changed very rapidly by individual good months. For example, if every month repeats the results from this thread--six games with an average score of 84--it would take about two years for GamePass' overall average score to rise to 80.

The current overall average score for GamePass is around 77. Nobody's touting that, because it sounds less impressive than saying "In the last month, the average is 84!" But in fact, I think it's a far more meaningful stat than any short timeslice, which will naturally vary up and down. And an average of 77 is actually quite good for something that's theoretically going to mostly replace buying individual games. Most platform libraries have much lower averages, just because lots of games come out that aren't masterpieces. GamePass next month will almost certainly have a lower average again...but that doesn't matter very much. And neither do above-average release months.

I think this is clearer when you compare how people feel about PlayStation Now. Is their mental image of it formed by the month God of War, GTA 5, Infamous, and Uncharted 4 came to the service? No, of course not. It's formed by the fact that the average overall score for PS4 games on Now is around 68. That's a full 9 points below GamePass, which is a big, meaningful gap. (The lower number is partially driven by a larger library on Now, but that's just a reason the average quality is less, not a rebuttal.)

GamePass' average release quality is more important, and more impressive, than whether a particular short period sees high quality titles.

Note: My stats for GamePass are specifically for Xbox One console games, not including PC-only or prior gens.
 

Oticon

Member
Oct 30, 2017
1,446
The fact that all MS first party games will be on the service already justifies the cost of entry.
 
OP
OP
Ghost of Jhoto
Jul 20, 2020
1,314
Capable of introducing great games, yes. But I don't think complaints about low quality were claiming the impossibility of great games appearing on GamePass. I think they're rather about the overall quality. And that won't be changed very rapidly by individual good months. For example, if every month repeats the results from this thread--six games with an average score of 84--it would take about two years for GamePass' overall average score to rise to 80.

The current overall average score for GamePass is around 77. Nobody's touting that, because it sounds less impressive than saying "In the last month, the average is 84!" But in fact, I think it's a far more meaningful stat than any short timeslice, which will naturally vary up and down. And an average of 77 is actually quite good for something that's theoretically going to mostly replace buying individual games. Most platform libraries have much lower averages, just because lots of games come out that aren't masterpieces. GamePass next month will almost certainly have a lower average again...but that doesn't matter very much. And neither do above-average release months.

I think this is clearer when you compare how people feel about PlayStation Now. Is their mental image of it formed by the month God of War, GTA 5, Infamous, and Uncharted 4 came to the service? No, of course not. It's formed by the fact that the average overall score for PS4 games on Now is around 68. That's a full 9 points below GamePass, which is a big, meaningful gap. (The lower number is partially driven by a larger library on Now, but that's just a reason the average quality is less, not a rebuttal.)

GamePass' average release quality is more important, and more impressive, than whether a particular short period sees high quality titles.

Note: My stats for GamePass are specifically for Xbox One console games, not including PC-only or prior gens.
I think a 77 overall for a "netflix" like gaming service is good. Because it means that most games are good. Especially one that works as well as gamepass, if gow, infamous and uncharted came day one to ps now that would be a better comparison, but since xbox is having day one games on top of the older titles it is a bit of a better value proposition. To get a service like gamepass to say a 85-90 overall would be impossible without killing off some of the diversity because very few games rate that high, you need the less known games like "the long dark" which are superbly received in the 70s but is niche enough a few subscribers will love it.
 

TechnicPuppet

Member
Oct 28, 2017
10,834
They are literally untouchable for variety. No one else even gets close, though they have better marketing..
 

Liabe Brave

Professionally Enhanced
Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,672
I think a 77 overall for a "netflix" like gaming service is good. Because it means that most games are good. Especially one that works as well as gamepass, if gow, infamous and uncharted came day one to ps now that would be a better comparison, but since xbox is having day one games on top of the older titles it is a bit of a better value proposition. To get a service like gamepass to say a 85-90 overall would be impossible without killing off some of the diversity because very few games rate that high, you need the less known games like "the long dark" which are superbly received in the 70s but is niche enough a few subscribers will love it.
Yes, this is exactly what I said. For a "replacement for normal purchases", GamePass has a pretty high average game quality (as measured by metascore). And this is the main reason people find it a great value. The particular quality level of specific games releasing, like you talked about in the OP, really doesn't move the needle much.

The fact of launch day releasing is much more important, since it serves as an excellent USP and social media brand awareness tool. But hypothetically if Microsoft suddenly decided to launch titles on GamePass after 3 months instead of day one, I don't think it'd have as big an effect as you'd think. Yes, there would certainly be (justified) complaints about reduced value...but I think it really wouldn't materially hurt the overall attractiveness of the service. There's so many good games already that functionally it would mostly just mean people would play their backlog. Forza would still be just as good a game when you eventually got it for "free".

I also think they could actually afford to reduce the number of games released, in order to make the average quality higher. Size of catalog is generally not what's attracting people. It doesn't really work for PS Now, whose depth of diversity vastly exceeds GamePass. Rather than try to fight that ground, Microsoft could concentrate marketing on a smaller slate of big, flashy releases to drive engagement. It's worked for Netflix.

Of course, in reality Microsoft is unlikely to do either of these things (release fewer games, or with longer gaps from the physical release). Businesses tend to stick with what they have if it's working. I'm just giving additional examples of how I think a perceived high quality average trumps the specifics of which titles release when.

They are literally untouchable for variety. No one else even gets close, though they have better marketing..
This is quite untrue. PlayStation Now has hundreds more titles than GamePass.
 

Betty

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
17,604
I'm slightly confused, neither CK3 or Wasteland 3 are RTS games. They are also two vastly different games in different genres.

Okay turn based, but for me all those isometric type games are so painfully boring to play, more power to those that like them though.

I've only done the tutorial mission so far for Wasteland 3, but so far combat seems to closer to a TRPG/SRPG - something like Fire Emblem, Shining Force, or XCOM.

RTS is more like Command & Conquer, Age of Empire, etc. But still, if you didn't like you you didn't like it. I have a hard time getting into Metroidvania games myself.

Yeah it's more the perspective and the type of games you mentioned that I'm not fans of.
 
Oct 29, 2017
7,500
It's crazy that people are saying "I want more shooters". Like, of all the complaints against game pass, you say that the legitimately impressive genre variety is a bad thing? If you want shooters, there are a ton on there to choose from. But one of my favorite things about GP is that it surfaces so many games you might not otherwise play, like Spiritfarer

Remember when the complaint against the 360 was that it only had shooters? And what people wanted instead was more unique, artistic, and nonviolent experiences? Good times
 

Mercador

Member
Nov 18, 2017
2,840
Quebec City
This month is incredible but I'm curious to know if it will mostly always be the case. I'll stick to the PC part for now but I must admit that I'm leaning on a Xbox console next gen.
 

mangochutney

Member
Jun 11, 2018
375
Full disclosure: I have Game Pass Ultimate through 2022, and the only game on your listwarz that I'll probably end up playing is Battletoads.

I never see GamePass criticized here. It is the PS4 Remote Play circlejerk of 2020.
You need to read more then.

Plenty of concerns on here about sustainability or how it'll make devs make certain types of games.

And don't forget a lot of people locked in for 3 years @ $1. Pretty easy to get very excited at what it is offering at that price.