Final Fantasy 16- for better or worse (Picture: Square Enix)

The Tuesday letters page has more advice on getting Game Pass Ultimate for cheap, as one reader dreams of Power Stone 3.

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Fantasy milestone
As a casual fan of Final Fantasy, that will pick up new games when they become cheap, I have to wonder what kind of effect Final Fantasy 16 is going to have on the future of the series, because it basically looks like being a flop. It’s impossible tell whether games make a profit most of the time but between the disappointing pre-orders and one single week at number one, it really doesn’t seem to have been bought by anything but hardcore fans.

That’s gong to bite for Square Enix, who obviously aimed at this one being bigger than usual in the West, what with the whole Game of Thrones thing (about eight years too late, but never mind). I wonder what exactly has put people off, though? Is it because they wanted the old school combat or that the story was too serious and grimdark?

I know in theory that Final Fantasy can be anything it wants to be, but I really do think it has too little connection with the rest of the series. There’s nothing in how it plays (I tried the demo) that feels like Final Fantasy and while the graphics and design has an echo of the franchise as a whole it’s very subdued.

If this leads to Final Fantasy 17 being something that goes back to basics, with a fantasy/sci-fi setting, then that will probably be the most welcome legacy of 16. I think if you end up changing absolutely everything about a game, to the point where the only point of similarity is that it’s got chocobo in it, you probably should just call it something else.
Treston

Multi-dimensional Metroid
I’d never thought until now how Nintendo would be thinking of following up Metroid Dread’s surprise success. I guess a sequel was pretty obvious but it had literally never occurred to me until reading the story about the dev probably getting Switch 2 devkits.

I’m not actually sure how a sequel would take advantage of better graphics, because the presentation was pretty much perfect already but I’m definitely all for it.

I do seem to remember that Nintendo release Metroid Fusion around the same time as Metroid Prime though, so it makes perfect sense that they’d want both 2D and 3D entries around at roughly the same time. Although if they’ve only just got devkits doesn’t that mean the game is years away and so by that logic so too is Metroid Prime 4…
DaggerOtom

Nintendo only
Really interesting feature about the Switch 2 at the weekend. I think that if it is as powerful as a PlayStation 4 it could well be the perfect system. With all of Nintendo’s games and the power to run a wide selection of third party ones as well, I can’t see why I would need anything else. There’s nothing exclusive to PlayStation or Xbox that I would deem to be a must have, but Mario and Zelda certainly are.

Games developers really seem to be struggling to take advantage of the increased power of Sony and Microsoft’s consoles and Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom has shown that there are way more important things than graphics anyway. For me it’s really not worth buying more than one system just for a handful of games I might miss out on. I will be a Nintendo-only gamer this generation.
Anon

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Live Gold
I wrote in a few weeks ago about renewing my Game Pass and a method that I’d heard about online and can confirm it works.

For anyone not in the know, it basically involves converting any existing Xbox Live to Game Pass Ultimate. The maximum length of time is three years and can only be done if you don’t already own Game Pass. So you need to have an expired subscription.

So yesterday I bought 36 months of Xbox Live Gold on cdkeys.com for £96 and then one month of Game Pass at £7.99. I redeemed the codes for Xbox Live Gold first, which showed I had the service until July 2026. Then I redeemed the code for Game Pass, which converted the Live Gold, so now I have Game Pass Ultimate until July 2026. So essentially 36 months of Game Pass for £104, which works out at roughly £2.90 a month.

I’d definitely recommend this method, but I’d say do it as soon as possible as who knows when this loophole might close. Also, just to reiterate it doesn’t apparently work for people who already own a subscription.
matc7884

The vision
The other night I had a bizarre dream about Power Stone 2. I know it was Power Stone 2 as I was dreaming of playing and the current arena was the space station stage. A young, blonde man who I had never seen before was playing the game with me. However, we must have taken too long and the alien monster destroys the stage and our characters fall. Large text, in the style of the game then reads: ‘DELIVERED.’

Stranger yet, the game isn’t over and our characters fall to a narrow, stone platform floating high in a blue sky peppered with fluffy, white clouds – like something out of a Sonic game. Then more text pops up saying: ‘FREED.’ I only remember Falcon being on screen but it looked like the fight continued on this narrow strip and then the portal to next proper stage would appear. Weird.

What could it all mean?
DMR

GC: Clearly a Power Stone 3 announcement is imminent.

Busman’s holiday
I know you’ve been posed some of these questions occasionally in the past, but other than a fondness for the modern XCOM titles I’m afraid I don’t remember any of the answers…

I realise that having to play and then write about games for a living, for what’s probably a lot more than a 40 hour work week, probably puts you off, but I’m curious what, if anything the crew of the good ship
GameCentral like to play for fun or just to unwind? Are there titles you wish you had time to go back to and enjoy again/finish off in your own time but never get a chance to?

Since there now seems to be more than one of you writing the reviews and articles, do you ever play as a team or battle against each other online? And are there any old formats you particularly miss and why?
yourhomeisatrisk

GC: Playing a video game to unwind isn’t the obvious choice in our line of work, but a good 2D shooter often fits the bill. Trying to 100% Elden Ring was fun too and if we ever get the chance we’ll do the same with Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom.

Constructive criticism
I would love to have been a fly on the wall when Bungie told Naughty Dog that their Last Of Us multiplayer game was no good. I sincerely doubt they are the kind of people that take criticism well.

I also doubt they were telling the truth when they said that the third game wasn’t already on the cards. There’s no way they were going to leave the story like that, especially after the show. Don’t get me wrong, they should do, but they won’t.
Haggar

More: Trending

Hearts and minds
So another month and another round of good games for PlayStation Plus Essential and another month of complete apathy for the Games with Gold from Microsoft.

I know GC has never understood the appeal of paying for a service where you are given access to random games in the future, that may or may not have any appeal to you, but I think, like others, I don’t know if I would pay for multiplayer access without the sweetener of the added games.

Being a father to three-year-old twins, my time playing online games vs. single-player is massively in favour of the latter, as I simply don’t have the time/ability to git gud, but is still nice to dip my toe in now and again and have the option so the ‘free’ games certainly keep me paying my annual subscription.

I would have long ago cancelled Games with Gold were if not for the fact that I am locked into the Game Pass Ultimate ecosystem which, thanks to the original deal and Microsoft Rewards, is fully paid up for the next three years.

But I do wonder how long it will take Sony to change the quality of their offerings due to Microsoft completely giving up on the idea of adding value, and I wonder why that hasn’t already happened, although I’m very glad they haven’t.

Has some highly paid actuary/analyst confirmed the cost benefit of these added games that it generates more income for them, while also not cannibalising sign ups to PS Plus Extra?

Or do they see it as a PR coup in the hearts and minds of gamers?

Or has the failure of PS Plus Extra to take off scared them from rocking the boat?
irve77 (gamertag/PSN ID)

GC: PS Plus Extra hasn’t been a failure, unless you mean in the sense that more people than expected have, bafflingly, gone for PS Plus Platinum instead.

Inbox also-rans
I remember all the fake renders for the original Switch, before it was unveiled. We’re six years later now and fakes have got a lot better. I fear for the next six months or so…
Trepsils

I mean… what reason did people think there was for no more F-Zero other than it doesn’t make enough money? The motivations of companies, even Nintendo, aren’t exactly complicated.
Focus

This week’s Hot Topic
Since it’ll The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Lamont, who asks where do you usually play your video games?

Since we’re now over the halfway point of the year this weekend’s Inbox asks what is your favourite new game so far?

You can name any game on any system, but it has to be something that was released new in the UK this year. 2023 has already seen many greats, including Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom, Street Fighter 6, Humanity, Resident Evil 4, Amnesia: The Bunker, Diablo 4, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Hi-Fi Rush, and many more.

How does your pick compare to some of your existing favourites and what do you think of the year as a whole so far, and its potential for the rest of the year?

E-mail your comments to: [email protected]

The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

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The Tuesday letters page has more advice on getting Game Pass Ultimate for cheap, as one reader dreams of Power Stone 3.