Topic: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

@Anti-Matter Yeah that's fair. Sometimes games are better on console. But, like, playing osu on a 3ds would be dang near impossi-
Just remembered osu was inspired by a 3ds game, nevermind

@EllaTheKawaiiNeko Pretty much, also in case of GOG, you can backup the games to a hard drive, DVD-R, USB stick and always have them, even when Internet isn't available.

@Anti-Matter That's why I feel it might be an unpopular opinion. I have to respectfully disagree, as PC games do last longer than console. Throughout the years, I've had different PCs due to needing to upgrade from older PCs in general, but older games all come over on PC. I have Steam games I played since my old desktop, and they were played on my previous PC, and my current PC.

Same with GOG games, got a bunch with my previous PC, and they all play. Plus games with no DRM on them can be backed up and installed and played without Internet, a feature I really like.

Meanwhile, for example, my GameCube games can only be played on a GameCube and Wii, but not my Wii U, and Wii U games can't be played on Switch, and so on. Most games stay behind unless there's backwards compatibility added. PC games move if one needs to buy a new PC or upgrade it.

Unless it's a F2P games that relies heavily on an online connection, that's a unanimous thing across both PC and console, especially mobile.

We can agree to disagree, just basing this on my own experience with PC games that had me thinking this morning.

I'm very sick to see this modern society which glorified too popular franchises and the developers like 2K / EA / etc take a chance by milking the over popular franchise into money draining games.
I really hate the over popular franchises being popular and then the dirty business practice keep going to tell the world this is the best games ever.
It's beyond disgusting for me !
Over Popular stuffs = disgusting and lame !

@Sunsy
My PC cannot even have longer live span and thus I don't play PC games anymore.
Even I cannot enjoy The Sims 3 PC for more than 2 years.
My PC got crashed and I lost all my data.
Since then I will not trust PC gaming anymore despite I still want to play The Sims 1 - 3.
My consoles and handhelds have way longer lifespan than my PC before I used laptop in June 2020 for my PC replacement since I'm working at school and need to bring my laptop to print at teacher office.

@Anti-Matter I can understand why you have some frustrations with PC gaming at least, crashing is something all computers have to deal with. Even consoles crash, sometimes I play a Switch game, next thing I know, I'm back at the home screen.

Taking good care of a PC can help it last. My old laptop still works, and recently booted it up, and it's over 10 years old and still runs the games I had on it.

More or less, I'm thinking about the games themselves. How my 18 year old Steam games I had on a mid-2000's desktop are playable on my current PC, vs. GameCube games stuck to GameCube and Wii, and I need to use those systems to play them.

I feel like the value proposition of PC gaming has only gone up thanks to the Steam Deck, too. I have gone on record on this very forum not understanding the point of the Deck, but I'm happy to eat crow on that one. The fact that Steam is just this giant library of games I've been building for over a decade that I'll always have access to even as generations pass by in the console space feels increasingly like a true gift that deserves to be treasured. We've seen an increasing locking of people out of massive portions of their library unless they are willing to maintain aging hardware through time, Microsoft are trying to break down these walls again, but it is clearly not in the interest of many to make things backwards compatible, when they can just charge you all over again for a remaster/remake instead.

And now you can also access that library anywhere via the Deck too, I dunno I just think console gaming is such an outdated model to experience games and it sorta becomes funny to me that console gaming seems to only be getting more expensive with time, too, as companies nickel and dime you with so called "next gen" experiences at a undefined premium (well still forcing you to buy a bunch of MTX crap in their shop too) I just... I dunno. The PC title will just be like 30 quid or whatever, and you can run it in as high specs as your machine can handle, you don't have to pay an extra ten or twenty quid because your PC can run it in 4k or whatever. How do consoles get away with this crap.

@Link-Hero I was thinking of the official ways of playing PC and console games, yes, I do know that. While I haven't tried it with my GameCube games, I do use emulation for Sega Genesis stuff. The Steam releases give you the ROM, I prefer playing them in a lightweight Genesis emulator instead of the one graphically heavy one Sega provides.

Unpopular opinion.

No matter how many people say going digital is better. I just shake my head at this.

But one thing for certain though...and here's the lick: even with digital, ya'll still need a "physical medium" to access them. PC's are just as physical as consoles are. You still need'em to access your digital games, right? Did anyone actually had this moment of clarity before? Like I did a few years ago?

Honestly, physcial will be around for long time whether you like it or not. Heck, I need my laptop to play Genesis games on a emulator. And that's my take on that. Just do keep in mind...that not everyone has the money to buy PC's all the time.

@DanijoEX I might similarly call all games on cartridges as digital, on the grounds that all the data is digitally encoded. There you go, physical = digital, it's all the same. Don't know why anyone make such a fuss about it. 😊

Seriously, I'm all for the continuation of physical media and would see it as a good thing that the mainstream market tends away from it.

Things like better packaging, printed manuals, meaningful extras - like soundtracks and art books - and getting the entire game on the cartridge become far more likely when the only people buying are those who really care about that. If the sort of people who'd shy off paying a few bucks extra to get them switch to downloads, streaming and subscriptions, it's for the better.

Erm, no. PCs are upgradeable, unlike consoles, which generally have a relevant lifespan of 4-7 years. The length of time before upgrading a PC will depend entirely on how cutting edge a machine you have to start with and how well you maintain it. A GTX 1080 Ti purchased in 2016 is still a very capable card in 2023, for example.

On top of this, your entire library of games are transferable to a new drive or entire system, allowing you to play your games with higher settings and framerates as your PC performance improves with better hardware. Even if you decide not to upgrade, you can downscale the graphics to reach a preferable framerate.

You can also back up your saves very easily, unlike the Switch which runs on a mobile battery that's very vulnerable to failure after 5+ years.

You only need to look at the number of Wii Us failing right now to see the reality.

Consoles have many plus points but a longer lifespan simply ain't one of them.

@Sunsy GameCube emulation is really good these days. The Dolphin emulator will play practically the entire library, with the only exceptions being obscure games that few people would care for. Mind you, this is the sort of forum where those few might hang out. 😉

You can get a lot of benefits through emulation such as HD upscaling, widescreen, and 60fps on many games that never originally supported them. Plus there are mods to improve texture quality and sometimes even add extra content to the more popular games.

You need a moderately decent PC to run it well, particularly if you want the upscaling. I can still play a lot of games on my GPD Win and 2015 vintage craptop, mind you, so it's not like running Cemu or RPCS3 where you'll need something very modern. Better hardware will still give better results though.

Also, you'll need a modded GameCube or Wii to rip the discs with. Other sources of games may exist, but I'm saying nothing. 🤐

@Jalex__64
My consoles I have such as Wii, PS2 Fat, PS2 Slim, PS3 Slim, etc have longer lifespan than my PC before I replaced my PC with laptop for more convenient working style.
My Wii is 17 years old, PS2 Slim = 16 years old, PS2 Fat = 18 years old, PS3 Slim = 13 years old and they are still working well until today.
My PC got busted oftenly when I have The Sims 3 PC, I could enjoy the game not more than 2 years. After I got more original games and video game machines, I completely stopped playing PC games in year 2014.
I don't even care with PC gaming anymore since then.

@Anti-Matter Yes but you are a sample of one. There is an entire world of people out there with differing experiences. You only need to look at how many retro gamers are maintaining PC's from the nineties or earlier on Youtube to see this. Alternatively, look at the number of articles about failing Wii U's.

Whether YOU care for PC gaming or not does not alter the reality.

Lots of retro gamers maintain consoles from the 80s or earlier, and it goes without saying that many PCs from the 2010s are lemons or otherwise failing.

@Euler I mentioned the 90's because that's when PC gaming really caught fire. The period holds a lot of nostalgia for people, which is exemplified by the amount of 90's retro systems being built and maintained right now.

Whether your claim about 2010's PCs failing is true or not (and I severely doubt it, as 90's PCs were far more vulnerable to static and other hazards compared to modern systems) the point still stands. A well built PC today has as good a chance of achieving a decent life as a modern console.

Each platform has had its quality control shifted over the decades, so it's impossible to vouch for either being the overall winner in this regard.

@Jalex__64
But I personally prefer consoles and handhelds over than PC gaming for easy to play and longer lifespan than PC.
I don't even value any benefit from PC gaming.
This is my statement, I will not change my opinion whether you disagree or not.

I'd think that the key word there is 'maintain.'

Neither consoles nor PCs are built to last more than about ten years. Getting twenty to thirty out of them isn't particularly unusual, although you can expect them to become somewhat less reliable toward the end of that period.

Anything from the 80s, well, you should have the power supply professionally tested or just buy a brand new replacement. All the capacitors should be inspected and replaced if necessary, along with any batteries it uses. You should also consider getting replacement ports and connectors, as well as mods to give it modern mass storage and video output. That's aside from any cosmetic stuff you might want to do for the ageing plastics.

I've recently done this to a C64C (around 1986 vintage) myself and, while it was a fun exercise to keep up my electronics skills, I wouldn't recommend it to the uninitiated. There are people who'll do a restoration job for you for a fee though.

That's not to say that there aren't still people using unmodified devices of this age. They are, however, running a risk of destroying them whenever they turn them on, as well as a not insignificant chance of shocking themselves and/or starting a fire. It's much the same with any electrical device, mind you; I don't think I'd recommend a 40 year old toaster either.

@Matt_Barber This is why the more I think about it, PC games last. I have old box copies of Half-Life 2 (with CS: Source), Half-Life 2: Episode One, and Counter-Strike Condition Zero from my old desktop days. They all carried over to my previous laptop, and my current gaming PC, all playable. I've had them for 18 years.

Same with GOG games on my previous laptop, they came over to my new PC. Plus being DRM-free, I can install from backups without being online or logged into GOG.

I'm not taking a dig at consoles, I love playing games on my Switch and Wii U. I can see why PC is better for longevity, I can still keep playing games I bought years ago.

I don't really need "Proper dungeons" in TotK. I was satisfied with the shrines, and yeah, the beasts were terrible, but the puzzles were good. Fix the problems with the beasts and I'll be happy. And nothing against dungeons (Halfway through Links Awakening and I love the puzzles) but if dungeons aren't there in TotK, I'll be one of the few people for whom this doesn't ruin the game.

@sunny63 this makes sense. There are a hell of a lot of shrines in BOTW too. Over 100 of them. In your average Zelda title, I’d say there is about 3-5 core dungeons, not including the overworld and final boss areas. You’ll get more bang for your buck with more Shrines.