A PS4 Thread: Because You Had to Play "Knack"

Some* people liked the launch Zelda this time.

*all and then eventually Josh

I’m taking about third party devs. Obviously priorities are different for first parties.

the launch zelda was a crossgen game though. the new consoles will be launching with games like that, just not big exclusives

PS4 has at least 3 more years on it especially if you like japanese games. remember that persona 5 and yakuza 0 were ps3 games, the ps3 gen only ended 2 years ago

Again, from a position of complete ignorance (what else is new?), assuming the PS5 comes out in 2020, I don't see the incentive as of yet for someone who has a PS4 - Pro or otherwise - to upgrade to a PS5, at least not any time soon. There are still awesome games coming out on the PS4, they seem to run super-well on the PS4, there are awesome games being readied for the PS4 for the next year (at least), and the most appealing reported feature of the PS5 is ... that it's backward compatible. When Nintendo puts out a new system it seems to be totally new, even radically so. But the PS5, as much as I/we know about it, seems to be a slight upgrade to the PS4 that doesn't necessarily do anything new or needed. Or is the idea that whatever it can do that the PS4 can't do is being held close to the vest, and when it comes out people will see the potential? Yeah, I don't know, current graphics and processors and whatever seem pretty cool to me. Will it just be ... faster load times? Is that what bugs people?

PS5 is not going to be a 'slight upgrade' to the PS4. but as i said, you should always wait a few years to upgrade, the second half of any console's lifecycle is where the majority of the good games come out.

don't worry dude you will get good value out of your ps4. and think of your backlog! don't give in to video game FOMO, particularly since, as everyone here is saying, you won't be missing out on anything until a few years after launch.

me, I'm thinking more to the streaming future. if I had an xbone I might be there already

i just bought a ps4 this year and mostly to play upcoming games, so my money is where my mouth is too

it would take something really unexpected to get me to buy a PS5 before 2023, like FF16 as an exclusive or something of that sort

Oh, trust me, I've got no FOMO. I bought a PS4 Slim, couldn't be any happier and/or can't even see what the Pro offered that I don't have or that I thought I needed. Conceivably, something like (and I'm guessing, since I haven't played the original yet but, knowing me, will probably love it) Bloodborne 2 could do it. But the PS4 is so many miles beyond anything I've played before that I've got a long way to go before I run out of road. (That metaphor worked!)

I've been skipping generations and doing fine - I have one of the PS3s that can play both PS and PS2 games, and will consider upgrading to a PS5 around 2023 or possibly even later

Josh, rundown of the specs here: https://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/consoles/ps5-release-date-news-and-features-1213409

New generations also have faster processors, which means, among other things, better and better hair physics.

I'm also not getting PS5 at launch. The only reasons that I can think of doing that would be because you like being an early adopter or you think the launch version will have features that subsequent editions won't (eg launch PS3s bring backwards compatible with PS2s).

Another interesting to but if true:

The company is also promising that when the PS5 does roll around, it’ll be a slower transition, with multiple new games releasing for both the PS4 and PS5 — at least at the start.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/16/18401209/sony-playstation-5-details-8k-graphics-ray-tracing-ssds-ps4-backward-compatibility

*tidbit

This also has the ring of Truth:

You don’t want your big budget next gen game to arrive too early, because you’ll end up selling to a much smaller potential market, bound to be better to wait until the new platform is properly established. “Writing for new consoles is hard” is often just the excuse that gets rolled out for this, I think.

the biggest spec upgrade this coming gen will be the CPU, the PS4/XB1 CPU was already low end in 2013 when those consoles released and is a big bottleneck for doing stuff like more advanced enemy AI or open world simulation or even just getting more games running at 60fps rather than 30. we won't see the former until after the transition period though obviously as those aren't things you can downscale for the old hardware.

the slow transition thing is always the case, they're just being honest about it there. pretty much every known major game in the pipe right now (except maybe bethesda's space RPG) will still be releasing on PS4, and that'll include everything that's about to be announced at E3 next week as well.

iirc the game that drove a shitload of original playstation sales was FF7 and it came out two years after the console

Skimmed that Verge pice. 8k video, 3D audio ... I could give a fuck, tbh. There's really not much more I'd want than what the current gun gives me, I guess, esp. if something like Last of Us 2 plays as well as it seems from what little they have shown. I mean, even more open open worlds and even more advanced AI? I'm not even sure what this would look like, but I do know (again, from my limited vantage) that the thing that lets so many games down is not the graphics and the sound but the writing and *story*. As I always ask the guy that accosts me at Costco about new TVs and their insane specs, "but does it make bad TV shows *better*?"

a good TV definitely makes a lot of bad content better

weed's cheaper than a good TV

My new TV was pretty cheap! And no, it does not make bad TV better, in fact, it makes bad TV worse, imo, because you can see every nook and cranny of every bad, caked on by necessity make-up job. Haven't played Spider-man on it yet, that should be a good test. But Zelda and the other Nintendo games look fine.

I remember, many years ago, at the advent of consumer HD, going to a giant electronics mega-barn in Omaha, Nebraska, just to bask in the novelty, and the salesperson there kept pushing an HD TV. The pitch was basically "sports, sports, Becker (with Ted Danson), sports, Becker ..."

Big ol sale: https://blog.us.playstation.com/2019/06/06/days-of-play-deals-hit-playstation-store/

I've been introducing my kids to the PS4. So far their favorite games are Pacman (shocker), Cars 3: Driven to Win (another shocker), Wipeout Omega (HELL YES) and... Woah Dave! (?????)

https://www.humblebundle.com/games/indie-playstation-rebundle-2019

eh, should i bite for Talos?

no

There are a handful of old and/or sequel games I'm curious but almost 100% ignorant about - Fry Cry 3, Bioshock Collection and Borderlands (3 comes out soon). Are these all just shooters? Are they any good or worth getting cheap? The first two have a couple of vague red flags about them, like seeming too bro-like or, in the case of the latter, Ayn Rand-y. Right? What can anyone tell me about them?

I bought the remastered Shadow of the Colossus for $12. Game looks great, if a little limited in scope (if not scale!).

i don't think any of those are particularly worth playing in 2019, the good elements of them have all been absorbed into better games by now

Fry Cry 3

Lol would totally play Fry Cry: Jurrasic Bark

Bioshock is at least semi-critical of Objectivism if not full blown (at least the opposite site is such a cartoon I can't imagine it being taken seriously, compared to the Randians) and maybe worth a play. I haven't played the sequels.

Borderlands 3 comes out in a little while and you can probably just wait for that

bioshock infinite is the one that gets that criticism, not the first 2

iirc, i never played it

the good elements of them have all been absorbed into better games by now

otm

like i dunno why you'd play far cry 3 when that series is basically iterative, just play 4 or 5 and get current gen graphics with your crappy far cry writing

At least for Bioshock and Colossus - gameplay-wise they're definitely superceded, but there's probably still plenty worthwhile in them if you like the story and environment. Shadow in particular has this uncanny loneliness few games even look for, and I played the PS2 version a decade after release.

But I haven't played either in a long time, so feel free to correct me

Collosus seems good so far.

Re Far Cry series, there must be more than just tech differences, since people seemingly have clear preferences for one over another.

"uncanny loneliness" a great coinage for that particular videogame feeling. tomb raider 1 had this in spades.

Borderlands 3 is tough to stomach after the Randy Pitchfork shitshow

metroid series is another ‘uncanny loneliness’ simulator

And Dark Souls.

Far cry 2 is the only entry in that series that one should try to play the others yeah you can play the most recent or whichever theme seems fun I guess primal or whatever they’re all the same w different skins

So just curious, why that one? Because others say Far Cry 3 is the best, others say 4 a big step down, some say 5 is a fun return to form ... what's shifting between sequels to make one better than the other if they are all fundamentally the same?

different people like different settings and characters and stories i think thats all there really is to it.

But the gameplay is more or less the same, just the stories and graphics and stuff change from version to version? Like, for example, people seem to like Dark Souls 2 the least of the three (and Bloodborne), but as far as I can tell that's because they messed with the gameplay, right? So you're saying the gameplay of all the Far Cry games is more or less the same, but some people prefer one story or setting over the other? Just wondering, I've not played any of the Far Cry games.

far cry 2 is not like the other ones - much more immersive experience. the others are all more or less iterative tho, but that particular entry stands out.

I read someone else observe that Far Cry 1/2/3 are all pretty different from one another, but Far Cry 3/4/5 are all kind of the same idea. Eh, I'll file 3 (which overwhelmingly seems the One To Get) in the pile of potential games I don't need now but that know I can always pick up for $15 or less

why isn't there a decent letterboxd clone for video games yet...

I played Shadow a bit and after two bosses was completely bored by it.

That's as far as I have gotten so far. I kind of assume it is the same thing over and over again, with different big creatures, but at least the game looks pretty good. And I think I paid $12 for it.