An Octopus Embraces the Fantasy of Rubber Hands, Just Like Us

Plain-body octopus can be misled into believing false arms are their own

Kawashima and Yuzuku Ishima/Lucys University

Similar to humans, octopuses can be deceived by an illusion that leads them to believe that artificial arms are genuinely theirs.

This phenomenon, known as the rubber hand illusion, was first identified in the late 1990s, wherein a person’s hidden real hand is stroked alongside a fake hand placed before them. This trick was later found to impact other mammals, such as mice.

Recently, Kawashima and Samia, alongside Yuzuru Ikeda at the University of Ryukyu in Okinawa, Japan, discovered that octopuses are likewise susceptible to this illusion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8ajppo0qyy

The experiment involved the plains of octopuses (Callistoctopus aspilosomatis) placed in a test tank. Soft gel fake arms, set atop an opaque partition, were placed over one of the octopus’s real arms, obscuring it from view. A researcher then stroked both the actual and fake arms simultaneously with a plastic caliper.


About eight seconds later, the researchers pinched the fake arm with tweezers. All six octopus subjects exhibited defensive behaviors, including color changes, arm retraction, and attempts to escape, across 24 trials.

The illusory effect diminished when the test was conducted without synchronized stroking, used non-synchronized stroking, or when the fake arm’s position didn’t align with the real arm.

During the experiment, the octopus could see false arms resting over a partition that obscured their actual arms

Kawashima and Yuzuku Ishima/Lucys University

According to Ikeda, the experiments reveal both advantages and disadvantages in the neural wiring of both octopuses and humans. “The illusion indicates an octopus’s ability to predict and anticipate, critical for survival,” he states. “Conversely, this capacity arises from neural conflicts and processing errors, suggesting a flaw.”

Kawashima asserts that this investigation will contribute to the understanding of octopus capabilities related to human experiences. “Our results imply that octopuses could serve as a vital model for studying the evolution of body ownership,” she mentions.

Peter Godfrey-Smith at the University of Sydney in Australia found the findings surprising. “This indicates that octopuses possess a complex body image,” he comments. “I was intrigued that the ‘positional mismatch’ scenario indeed worked—showing that the octopus didn’t perceive the rubber arm as its own in that specific situation.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Is Superintelligent AI Just Around the Corner or Merely a Sci-Fi Fantasy?

Could machines surpass human intelligence?

chan2545/istockphoto/getty images

Listening to the leaders of AI companies suggests that the coming decade will transform human history profoundly. We’re entering an era described as “radical abundance,” which presents an optimistic view reminiscent of groundbreaking advancements in high-energy physics and aspirations for space colonization. Yet, the experience of researchers working with today’s leading AI systems reveals a contrasting narrative. In practice, even the top-performing models struggle with basic tasks that most individuals find simple. So, who should we trust?

According to Sam Altman of OpenAI and Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind, a transformative AI system is on the horizon. In Altman’s blog post, he predicts that the 2030s will usher in significant changes compared to prior decades, suggesting that breakthroughs in materials science might enable high-bandwidth brain-computer interfaces within just a year.

Hassabis also projects a fruitful decade ahead in an interview with Wired, claiming that artificial general intelligence (AGI) will tackle major challenges like the treatment of severe diseases, potentially leading to improved health and longevity. He confidently states, “If all this transpires…”

This ambitious outlook heavily relies on the premise that larger language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT can effectively utilize more data and computing power. While this “scaling approach” has proven successful in recent years, signs have begun to signal a slowdown. For instance, OpenAI’s latest GPT-4.5 model demonstrated only modest gains over its predecessor, GPT-4, despite likely costing hundreds of millions to train. Such expenditures pale compared to future investments; Meta is poised to announce a $15 billion investment aimed at realizing “superintelligence.”

Yet, the sole approach to resolving these challenges isn’t merely financial. AI companies are shifting towards “inference” models like OpenAI’s O1, which was introduced last year. These models require more computational resources, taking longer to generate responses while processing their output iteratively, mimicking a human-like “thinking” process. Noam Brown from OpenAI cautioned about AI’s limitations, noting last year that both the O1 model and its iterations indicate that “scaling methods” can indeed progress.

Nevertheless, recent studies reveal that these inference models can falter even on straightforward logic challenges. Research conducted by Apple scientists found that AI models, including Deepseek’s inference model and Anthropic’s Claude Thinking model, encountered obstacles during basic tasks. The study highlighted that while the models demonstrated limitations in accurate computations, they frequently failed to apply explicit algorithms and reasoning consistently.

The researchers tested AI performance on various puzzles, including scenarios where individuals must transport items using the least number of moves, as well as the Tower of Hanoi challenge requiring sequential movement without placing larger discs atop smaller ones. Although the models could tackle simpler instances, they struggled as complexity increased. This research suggests that while more intricate problems may require longer contemplation from AI, the reduced number of “tokens” (information bundles) indicates that the apparent “thinking” time of the models may be deceptive.

“It’s concerning that these can be easily resolved,” remarked Artur Garcez from the University of London. “We mastered symbolic AI inference techniques for these tasks half a century ago.” Although enhancements and fixes could eventually enable these new systems to tackle complex problems, Garcez suggests that merely increasing the model size or computational capabilities is unlikely to be a panacea.

These models also illustrate their persistent difficulties in addressing scenarios they haven’t encountered in their training data, remarked Nicos Aletras from the University of Sheffield. “In practical terms, while they excel at information retrieval, summarization, and related tasks due to their training, they can come off as impressive without being truly adaptive,” Aletras concluded. “Apple’s research has undoubtedly highlighted a significant blind spot.”

Additionally, other research indicates that extending “thinking” duration could detrimentally affect AI model performance. Soumya Suvra Ghosal and colleagues at the University of Maryland analyzed Deepseek’s model and uncovered that prolonged “thinking chains” reduced accuracy in mathematical inference tests. In a mathematical benchmark, they found that tripling the number of tokens enhanced performance by around 5%, but using 10-15 times the tokens led to a decline of roughly 17% in scores.

In certain instances, the “chain of thought” generated by AI bears little relation to the eventual answer it provides. When testing Deepseek’s navigation abilities in a simple maze, Subbarao Kambhampati from Arizona State University discovered that even when the AI solved the issue, its “chain of thought” contained mistakes not reflected in its final answer. Moreover, presenting AI with an irrelevant “chain of thought” sometimes improved the accuracy of its responses.

“Our findings challenge the common belief that intermediate tokens or ‘thought strands’ provide a meaningful trace of internal inference in AI models,” Kambhampati stated.

All recent studies assert that the terms “thinking” and “inference” in relation to these AI models are misleading, according to Anna Rogers at the University of Copenhagen. “Many leading techniques I’ve encountered in this field have historically been accompanied by vague, cognitively-inspired analogies that ultimately proved incorrect.”

Andreas Vlachos from Cambridge University observed that while LLMs have distinct applications in text generation and other tasks, recent insights imply that Altman and Hassabis may face difficulties confronting the complex challenges they anticipate solving in the near future.

“There is an inherent conflict between their model training—predictions based on the forthcoming words—and our objectives, which involve generating true inferences,” Vlachos remarked.

On the other hand, OpenAI maintains a different stance. A spokesperson remarked, “Our research indicates that chain-like inference methodologies can significantly enhance performance on complex problems, and we are actively pursuing advancements in training, evaluation, and model design.” Deepseek has yet to comment on requests for input.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Review of Avowed: Where Annihilation Collides with the Intricacy of a Rich and Diverse Fantasy World

eYou need to switch between fantasy realms. Who am I again? What do I do here? Who are all these people? It’s been a golden age for fantasy recently, and inhaling Dragon’s Dogma 2, Metaphor: Rifantagiothe seasons of Dragon House and all seasons of Rebecca Jaros are beginning to blur the details of one kingdom with another, less than a year later.

Avowed’s Fantasy Universe is ready-made from other Eternity Games pillars of developer Obsidian. The lore is dense, the in-game text is rich and the characters are redundant, but thankfully the land between them is fascinating to see the territory of Eora, full of political tensions and cool monsters. I remember valuable names and historical details, but I remember some of my experiences with this game – big enough for a crazy priest to build as a huge automaton inside The view from the rattle road hugging the walls of an underground cave and the secrets of the skin crawling I discovered in the basement of my fellow family homes. The appearance is annihilation and obliv with fungal and floral details that embroidery the structures and people you encounter, embroidering the ever-present tension between organic and rot.

The land in between is destroyed by a disturbing plague that angers people before it is consumed by mushroom-like growth. You, an envoy from the distant centre of the Empire, have been sent to investigate. You are like God, touched immortal, through this strange place, by the sacred voice in your head and the various native companions I felt truly enlightened. You will be guided. Avowed has many choices and self-direction, and it is a game that always respects your intelligence. The characters are interestingly written (densely) and there are many ways to respond to them. That’s far less than the Whedon-esque man/bad guy/joker reaction, as the cries echoes other games force you out of you.

I was hoping for a lively adventure of Obsidian sci-fi comedy The Outer Worlds for 20 hours, but readers, this is it’s not. This game is immeasurable. We spent some time in the opening area of Dawnshore and spent some old time familiarizing ourselves with spider-equipped caves (there are a lot of these, but this is not an Arachnophovictic game). Booty. (This is because I’m stagnant in the main quest, and I forgot about the important information that was displayed once in the text tutorial for about 5 seconds.) Only after 15 hours on this comfortable coastal land, I’d say I met one of my central antagonists. A memorable and terrifying warrior dressed in intricate armor and a mask with smoldering eyes. Then I found myself in a densely rotten jungle swamp filled with amazingly cheerful necromancers, and it big From Dawn Shore. When I arrived at my third new location about 30 hours later, I realized that there was no measure of this world at all.

Unfortunately, AVOWED is better It was 20 hours long. I’ve always been lost on strike from town and have come across something interesting like Skyrim and Fallout. However, there are two stickiness issues that suck fun over time. The first is common to many open world games. Once you arrive at a new location, all the quests and battles are a little difficult. After hours of quests, exploring weapons and armor, and upgrading, it hits a short sweet spot that all feels challenging but conquering. Then you start to feel like everything is too easy and empowering yourself, and it’s like a box-chic movement. This pattern repeatedly eroded my patience in the game.

The second problem is that the combat in Avowed is not as fun as it thinks. A lot of it. There are an impressive number of weapons and techniques, including Grimoire and Staff for spells, giant two-handed axes, bows and pistols, maces, shields, and more. But no matter what you choose, it feels inaccurate and boring, and the likelihood of success is determined by invisible numbers rather than skills. Make sure to take on enemies above your level, and how well you dodge the Great Sword path, or how cleverly you combine your magical effects to freeze undead skeletons. It hardly matters whether to grind it. The key is the quality of the gear. This should be continuously and painstakingly upgraded with random materials from warehouses that are found in every chest or lockbox. I was extremely tired of destroying R2 and firing magic projectiles, hacking tree monsters with my sword, and being so determined that I was missing from hit points. My companions either didn’t feel particularly useful in the fight.

All the diversity and textures in the fiction here are lacking in combat and loot. The end of the most interesting quests is home to unique swords and trinkets, but the fun of exploration is rarely found outside the scenery or characters. If you come across a powerful enemy, you may be losing your strength for the fight. If you find an appetizing, glowing breast in a cave, it can be filled with pennies, chunks of iron, and some fur.

Avowed began as Obsidian’s answer to Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls series, reminding me of many oblivion and Skyrim in an exciting moment when I tripped over something unexpected in the wild. But it also shares a tendency to repeat those games and a sense of weightlessness in their fight. My first 15 or so hours on the land felt potentially rich, but I was tired of it long before the end.

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Source: www.theguardian.com

Ultimate Guide to Amazon’s New Free Fantasy Game, Throne and Liberty: Otter in a Hat and Magic Wand

Amazon has been attempting to enter the gaming industry for quite some time. Despite having abundant resources and hiring top designers, progress has been slow. However, in recent times, Amazon has found success in releasing massively multiplayer online games. First came New World in 2021, a fantasy game focusing on survival and player-built settlements. This was followed by Lost Ark in the next year, developed by SmileGate from South Korea, blending MMO elements with Diablo-style combat. While reviews were mixed, both games found popularity among players. Now, Amazon is launching its third MMO in four years, Throne and Liberty, also developed in Korea. Here’s what you need to know about this latest offering.

What is Throne and Liberty?




A large, detailed world… Throne and Liberty. Photo: Amazon Games

Throne and Liberty is an MMO set in a fantasy world akin to World of Warcraft. Players create characters and embark on adventures, either alone, with friends, or as part of a guild. The game offers main storylines, cooperative dungeon battles, and player-versus-player combat for territory control.

The game had a prolonged development, initially announced in 2011 as an expansion of the Lineage series. It was released in South Korea in December after facing delays, technical changes, and leadership shifts. Amazon is the global publisher, having acquired the rights in February the previous year.

How is Throne and Liberty different?




Traditional MMO combat combined with action-game dodging and parrying for real combat. Photo: Amazon Games

Throne and Liberty offers unique elements, such as the ability to transform into various animals for faster travel. Combat and character progression stand out; instead of fixed classes, character abilities revolve around weapon usage. With six different weapons and customizable combinations, players can create unique playstyles.

Is Throne and Liberty worth playing?




A unique world… a massive floating whale in the sky. Photo: Amazon Games

Throne and Liberty offers engaging exploration and combat mechanics, blending MMO and action elements. However, it lacks depth in storytelling and character development. Crafting and upgrading systems may feel complex and tedious. Overall, the game is free-to-play and provides a decent gaming experience without requiring excessive time investment.

Should I try Throne and Liberty?




Fashionable style… Characters resembling a mix of wizards, warriors, orcs, and goblins. Photo: Amazon Games

Throne and Liberty is recommended for casual play, offering basic yet enjoyable gameplay. However, if choosing between Amazon’s Korean MMOs, Lost Ark may be a better choice due to its more engaging combat and storytelling. Both games are free-to-play, providing diverse experiences for players.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Darklume Fantasy Metaverse: Presale Now Available – Latest Blockchain Updates, Opinions, Television, and Job Listings

Casal di Basso CS, Italy, April 29, 2024, Chainwire

Dark Rhyme VR a pioneer in the VR entertainment industry, proudly announces the launch of DarkLume VR, a stunning virtual world that allows users to experience fun, entertainment, and fantasy elements like never before.

DarkLume VR’s mission is to create a dynamic, immersive metaverse where users can connect with like-minded people and experience the epitome of luxury and sophistication.

Users can participate in presales here.

Darklume VR transports players to a realm where reality meets fantasy, offering an incredible level of immersion that blurs the lines between the physical and virtual worlds. Through cutting-edge technology and innovative design, Darklume VR provides online gamers with an unprecedentedly immersive experience, delivering stunning visuals and realistic soundscapes. Users can participate in his DarkLumes nightlife with breathtaking dance floors and virtual clubs, stimulate their inner emotions and accumulate digital wealth. Users can build long-term relationships and plan strategies to make money online and become wealthy.

Darklume CEO said: “With Darklume VR, we are not only redefining the immersive Metaverse experience, but also unlocking new possibilities for creativity, collaboration, and exploration within the virtual realm.”

The main features of Darklume VR are:

DLUME currency:

Participate in activities within DarkLume VR using DarkLume’s native currency, DLUME. It serves as the primary medium of exchange. The more his DLUME coins a user has, the higher the fun and enjoyment rate.

country citizenship

All countries in the DarkLume metaverse offer citizenship by holding a minimum number of specific tokens.

Maintaining citizenship

To maintain citizenship in a country, users must pay the taxes imposed. If not, their citizenship will be revoked.

Users can spend DLUME Coins on various activities and earn DLUME Coins within Darklume VR by participating in social activities. Another interesting fact here is that everyone without a source of income will receive unemployment benefits, but they cannot use their wages for personal gain.

To celebrate the launch of Darklume VR, Darklume is offering a special airdrop worth $15,000.Users can access DarkLume VR Twitter (X) Handle and complete small tasks and become part of the dream world.

About darkroom

DarkLume VR presents a unique virtual metaverse concept that combines social interaction, fantasy elements, and a gamified ecosystem. Through his native token, his DLUME, users can fulfill their unfulfilled desires in the virtual world. Its elements include monthly unemployment benefits, tip exchange, social assistance, and participation in social activities.

DarkLume pushes the boundaries to bring you another level of fun, fantasy, entertainment, and beautiful games to explore. With the continued support of our loyal investors and active community, DarkLume VR strives to achieve levels beyond imagination.

For further updates, users can join DarkLume VR telegram and follow them twitter

contact

Osvaldo Rizzo
Osvaldo111@gmail.com

Source: www.the-blockchain.com

Review of Dragon’s Dogma 2: A thrilling and unpredictable fantasy adventure | Games

LLet’s talk about my piece, Bowie. As his name suggests, he is a beautiful, fair-skinned, slender magician with heavy makeup and big red hair. He is an extradimensional being, and his job is to support my adventures as Arisen, the fate-chosen ruler of this kingdom. That’s when I unknowingly landed the role.

Bowie wasn’t very good at his job. He often forgets to heal me when a harpy or goblin or ogre knocks my lumps off in the field and forces me to say, “Help!” Press the button while being held down by the Minotaur. When he travels to other worlds, he always returns with sour stories of how often he has fallen in battle, and how badly he has suffered at the hands of other Ariens. Anyway, I love Bowie. my pawn. Despite his failures, we have had incredible adventures together.

You might look at the screenshots and videos of this game and think I must be high, but Dragon’s Dogma 2 is the best adventure I’ve had in years. Yes, it’s a bit of a shock. Yes, the information on the screen is confusing and the controls take some getting used to. That’s right, you will always die because you will be caught outside after dark and will encounter a lot of ghosts that will instantly vaporize you. Yes, whoever designed the map needs to talk hard about the concept of color contrast. But give yourself a few hours to play Dragon’s Dogma 2, at least until you reach the capital city of Fermund. Then you will be released immediately. You’ll get carried away, and soon you’ll be on your way to a faraway land, zapping ghosts with a team of fellow pawns to bring them back to the next life.

If I had to describe this game in one word, it would be “more fun than functionality.” What you have to understand is that, in contrast to most of the other very serious fantasy novels out there, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is very silly. It’s a beautiful mess of ideas colliding and connecting, creating some really funny moments. For example, pushing a Cyclops so hard that it tumbles off a cliff, levitating around a haunted castle with skeletons chasing you, or accidentally killing your lover. An errant sword swipe forced her to sneak into the morgue later to revive them with a magic stone (which she didn’t care about). Unless you played the first Dragon’s Dogma 12 years ago, you’ve probably never played anything quite like it.

I can honestly say that I had no idea what was going to happen next. I also don’t know if some of my random daring feats were meant to happen or were just interesting bugs. One time I was sorting out my armory in the town square of Fermundo when I turned around to see a troll standing there, and the townspeople looked at me with obvious surprise. In a tense battle, I defeated it and destroyed half of the market stalls, but then everyone carried on with their work as if nothing had happened. Was that demon supposed to be there? I don’t know, but it was a great story.

Speaking of the story, it’s not the plot that got me here with this game. Hundreds and hundreds of medieval-flavored fantasies! – About the characters, and most importantly, my goal to oust the Queen Regent and her puppet puppets and take back my rightful place on the throne of the kingdom as the chosen Arisen. Everyone speaks in a mesmerizingly stiff, unspecific Middle English syntax (“What must we do, Arisen?”). The word “o” is used interchangeably to mean something, anything, or nothing. I’ve spent very little time following the plot so far. many I grabbed my sword and left the city, following the road forever, picking up random quests along the way.

The world is cruel. You can’t go near water. If you don’t, you’ll be swallowed up by an evil scarlet tentacle called Brine. When it gets dark, you can only see about 1 meter in front of your face, and fear looms over you from the night. Griffins, dragons, and other unconquerable giant beasts roam free, and taking them on won’t hurt most animals, so it’s best to know when to run away. If you don’t remember lantern oil, medicine, and a camping pack, you’ll be totally ruined by night.

Combat is what really drives the game. Whether you’re a warrior, a spearmage, a thief, an archer, or a wizard, work together with your team of hired pawns to engage in truly exciting and dangerous battles like monsters. Hunter or Bloodborne. All of these professions can be switched freely, so if you get tired of close combat, you can try archery or spell casting. Mastering each profession unlocks a huge tree of abilities to keep you fighting, always, and always having fun.

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Continue to have fun fighting…Dragon’s Dogma 2. Photo: Capcom

Dragon’s Dogma’s world and enemies are unpredictable, and combat styles vary widely, which can make them inconsistent and unfair at times. A team of pawns makes up for this by essentially making combat much easier and allowing the player to offset any weaknesses his character has. In fact, I love Pawn. They combine the roles of narcotics, heroes, clowns and saviors, and the game is always told by their laments, curses and abuse. It’s a miracle they don’t get too annoyed when they hear one of them say, “That ladder looks sturdy enough to climb on!” I might kick them off of it again.

If this review feels chaotic, that’s because it’s a true reflection of the game. It’s crazy, fun, fantastical chaos, and I honestly love it. Before I started writing this, I had left Arisen and her lovably incompetent pawns on an ancient battlefield patrolled by dragons. We used a few ballista bolts to blow it up, then it flew out and smashed the ballista with its claws. At that point, I realized that I was somewhat outnumbered here and fled to some castle ruins to hide from the creatures. This seemed like a good idea until skeletal warriors rose from the ground, and I realized that this castle was very haunted. I don’t know how to get out of this situation. But I know it will be an adventure.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Review of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: A Fan Service Miracle

IEvery good RPG has a point where the protagonist has to leave the safety of their homeland. After learning the gravity of the threat they face, gathering a party and stocking up on food, they are ready to embark on an epic adventure.

Now, ironically, popular RPG creator Square Enix is ​​being forced to do the same. His second installment in an ambitious trilogy that began with the 2020 remake, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth retains the beloved dystopian cityscape of Midgar and builds on his 1997 PlayStation classic. reimagined his second disc as its own full-fledged adventure. After the eco-terrorist Avalanche collides with the shady giant corporation Shinra, Reverse follows the hero Cloud (he of the oversized sword) and his friends on a journey around the world in pursuit of the loud-screaming villain Sephiroth.

Square Enix wasted no time in showing off its cinematic chops, sending players headfirst into the flashback section of Game Thief, forcing them to relive Cloud's storied military past, and Sepiroth. It perfectly depicts the character's descent into an unstoppable villain. This is a masterclass in interactive storytelling that hammers home the stakes before you go. Cloud He Few spiky-haired protagonists are as revered as Strife. It's easy to see why his creators opted for a strictly written retelling of a gaming classic in the first place. But where Remake forced you to wear the tattered boots of a legendary mercenary and chase cats during recess, Rebirth allows players to occasionally sit in the director's chair.




Show off your cinematic chops – Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Photo: Square Enix

Weave your way through glorious, story-driven scenes, dungeon-like enclaves, and luxurious environments full of distractions. The vast plains of Junon, a tropical paradise, and the sparkling desert you can drive your buggy across. When you emerge from a series of battles and explore new areas, it feels like filling your lungs with fresh air. Traveling feels really exciting and brings some welcome visual variety to this cross-map road trip. Rebirth's freer approach offers a welcome antithesis to Remake's narrow hallways and frees players from chains.

The remake's core combat is back, but it incorporates the cinematic flourishes of last year's FFXVI with a welcome party-centric approach. In the remake's battle, I simply controlled Cloud and repeated the same attack several times, nauseatingly. But here we have to make the most of our cast of lovable weirdos. There are satisfying cinematic synergistic moves with partners and a variety of spellcasting “materia” that can be combined, and mastering the various nuances of your party's members is essential to defeating the boss. . Creating a new combat system that everyone is happy with seems like an almost impossible task, but somehow Square has managed to pull it off with aplomb. By swapping party members during battle, the game perfectly combines the depth of a turn-based RPG with modern action.

From conversation choices that strengthen your bonds with party members and side quests that determine who you can romance, to a series of odd jobs, Rebirth's take on this mythical world is as vivid as it gets It feels like. From the bustling townspeople of Calm walking around talking about their day, to suspicious fishermen muttering comments about you under their breath, to deer frolicking around Junon's fields, this is a sequel to Ship It is firmly embedded in a “bigger, better” approach. Dancing in a parade, racing chocobos, taking pictures of landscapes, zooming on a Segway…it seems like there are endless ways to cleanse your mouth. The frighteningly addictive new card game King's Blood is a highlight and a distraction deep enough to become a full-fledged obsession in its own right.




Bigger and better… Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Photo: Square Enix

The problem is that as the journey progresses, these once frivolous digressions become mandatory. Mini-games and side quests gradually become obstacles to progressing the plot, Cloud vs. Sephiroth's narrative thread gets lost in a vast world, and high-stakes adventures become uneven and twisty-toned whiplash movements. It will change to . His second disc in FF7 was originally only 10 hours long, but Rebirth expands his once modest story into his terrifying 50-hour epic. That shows it.

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With side quests galore, engaging combat, and polished cinematic flourishes, Rebirth is a fun celebration of video game maximalism at its best. But this breadth comes at the expense of narrative focus, with cleverly scripted cinematic moments punctuated by a momentum-killing parade of mini-games, puzzles, and fan-fueled filler.

Longtime fans will devour every bite of the sweet fanservice here and savor every extra moment spent with this beloved cast. For Avalanche enthusiasts, this is a nostalgic dream come true. However, newcomers looking to experience his one of the medium's most beloved tales in a new, modern form should be prepared for yawn-inducing low notes, along with the high notes of the buster sword swinging. there is.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will be released on February 29th. £69.99.

Source: www.theguardian.com