Topic: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

@DiamondCore @Snatcher Microsoft and Sony are as bad as each with regards to the subscriptions. Microsoft's been gradually decreasing subscription value considerably over the past few months:

• Price increases announced in July as well as Series X price increase
• 1 month Game Pass special offer ($1 for Ultimate) reduced to 14 days and then later on removed completely
• Gold to Game Pass upgrade ratio reduced from 1:1 to 3:2
• Gold being replaced by Game Pass Core in September
• New Xbox dashboard is an ad infected mess (prioritizes the Xbox store and ads over being able to access games you can already play)
• Fewer games being added to Game Pass

Meanwhile the PS+ price increases are also ridiculous. So in the end NSO is honestly the only gaming subscription that's good value nowadays but even then that's poor value when compared to VC.

@Grumblevolcano Oh really? I have to be honest I don’t follow Xbox nearly as much so I didn’t know this! So I guess Xbox really is no better, and for all we know they might try to follow Sony and up the prices again, at least they have day one exclusives right? Something Sony doesn’t have. (If I’m right of course)

Who’d think that Nintendo would have the best deal out of the two, maybe some people did but I sure didn’t lol.

@NeonPizza To follow from this: PS5 is probably the most disappointing console I've ever purchased.

Sure, it was pretty exciting when I picked one up in 2021. The Dualsense's new features (haptic feedback, adaptive triggers) were pretty cool, Astro's Playroom was a good demonstration of the controller and a welcome dose of PS fanservice, and Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart was one of my favourite games of the year.

But beyond that? My PS5 has mostly been a big ugly PS4 upgrade / Netflix machine.

Some of my gripes include:

• Lack of exclusive games that interest me. Fair enough, I own other platforms, and have a preference of Switch and PC...PS was always going to come third in this regard. But I did at least get decent mileage out of my PS4. But in 2 years the only exclusives I've felt compelled by have been Astro and R&C. I guess it's a combination of (i) many Japanese games now coming to the Switch / PC, (ii) lack of Japanese first-party Sony games, (iii) many Sony first-party titles being cross-generational, and (iv) first-party titles now coming to Steam. I guess I should be grateful for the latter, as it probably means I won't need Sony hardware moving forward.
• The Dualsense. I've mentioned this in other threads, but I really can't stand the thing. It's just so uncomfortable to hold for me (whereas the Dualshock 4 was more-or-less perfect)...did they really need to increase the size of their controller again this generation? I do have slightly small hands for a man, but they are certainly larger than those of most women and children. Also, outside of a few novelty moments in Astro, as well as the general feel of weapons in R&C, I find the haptic feedback to be really hit or miss. In some instances I've found it outright obtrusive and have decided to turn it all the way down (no I don't want to feel a jolt in my hands every time I take a step, thank you very much - that is not how walking feels in real life).

Honestly at this point the only reason(s) I can think of for keeping my PS5 are Spiderman 2 and FF7 Rebirth - and I'm confident these will be coming to PC anyway.

I can see why some might find enjoyment in the PS5, and I'm happy for them in that regard. But it just isn't for me.

...and yeah, that broken HDMI link is quite annoying. How did they mess that up?

@Buizel People keep mentioning the controller, and I am glad I’m not the only one that has issues with the controller. While I love the feedback, it feels so off in my hands, my aim have felt off ever since. Thankfully I am starting to finally get used to it like a year later lol!

@Snatcher Maybe I'll get used to it some day. It's just a shame that there aren't more options on the market at the moment, unlike the Switch and, of course, PC.

@Buizel I wish I could at least play ps5 games with a ps4 controller, I get that it uses hepatic feedback but why not just turn it off? I can’t see why I can’t play a ps5 game with a ps4 controller, it sucks.

Hopefully one day it will be easier to find a way to use different controllers Xbox, switch, regardless of console, because one of the most important aspects of gaming is a controller, and it sucks if it doesn’t feel right in your hands.

@Snatcher yeah, Sony really messed up here.

@Grumblevolcano
Oh wow, I didn’t realize that.
I don’t really follow Xbox as much as the other 2 so I guess I didn’t realize that.

Though game pass is still better then PSplus atleast because atleast all the new AAA games go on it

Oh, I completely forgot about vouchers, those are great too!
I personally don’t use them because I’m a physical fanatic but they’re amazing for those who play digital!

Yeah, I can agree the connection is inconsistent, some games clearly got more love than others in terms of the online department.

I like the PS5, but my main gripe is just that this gen as a whole has been awful. The whole idea console generations are dead, and the pandemic really screwed it over, at least at the start. There's no real reason to own a PS5 or Xbox Series X, since Microsoft and Sony are still supporting old consoles that hold the games they're making back.

@VoidofLight I know multiple people who bought a PS5 purely to play FF16. Baldur's gate 3 is also on PS5 but not PS4. PS4 is technically supported, but if only PS5 has the new games most people want, that's a reason to upgrade.

@FishyS I mean, there are exclusive games, but a lot of them are few and far between at the current. I've heard Baldur's gate also runs pretty poorly on PS5.

I'd only buy a PS5 for FFVII Rebirth, and that just doesn't make sense to me. It'll come to PC eventually. Square-Enix ports pretty much everything.

First-party-wise, their games will all come in time, and if they don't... eh. Horizon is the only first-party property I care about at this point, and even if the ports are a year or two late, they'll come eventually.

Once upon a time, series like Persona and Gravity Rush were compelling reasons to buy Playstation consoles, but the former is now multi-plat (and beginning to associate itself more with the Xbox brand lol), and Sony killed the other because people don't buy PS first-party exclusives that don't fit into the PS exclusive cinematic gameplay mold.

@VoidofLight Eh. Cross-gen games have been a thing for a long time. The truth is that none of them are being "held back." The games that were designed with PS4 in mind started development with the PS4 in mind back when the PS4 was still the relevant console (sort of like BotW and Wii U), and otherwise companies are targeting current gen hardware and then working out if ports to the older machines can happen during/after development.

This gen sucks for other reasons. Chief among them being that there's just less of those hardware sales-driving games, as AAA experiences take so much longer to develop now. And also safer games in general, which is a consequence of these companies bloating the budgets and development times of their games.

From what I've seen, it runs fine, with a solid 60fps in performance mode.

I think some people were just a bit taken by surprise that the game seems a bit more polished on PC than console, which is a very rare occurrence these days.

Can’t get a feeling for a gen that hasn’t even gotten off the ground.

By some definitions, gen 9 started with Switch. 😝
I blame Wii U for making console generations confusing. Plus xbox's incoherent naming conventions. PS5 had a slow start because of covid, so I agree it is still early days for it.

@FishyS Xbox is really a weird with the whole naming thing lol!

Now I’m not going to act like I know what’s going on with the Wii U as I didn’t follow that whatsoever.

Honestly I think whenever the next switch comes out, it’s going to kick off just fine. There first party game is amazing and yes while not all of the switches release day games we’re amazing, they at least started, I mean look at the switches first party release now, we are drowning in first party’s right now, and we have a lot to look forward too!

Sony has first party’s yes but they’re not even really next gen games, they haven’t ditched the ps4 yet, and yes I know there phasing it out it’s still means we got a slow start.

Look I know this makes me sound like a big nintnedo fanboy saying “Nintendo good Sony bad” but I barely use the ps5 for next gen first party’s, I mean I would if there were any, but there are barely any, so I mainly love it for its extra power.

Sorry if this post kinda sounds all over the place lol, there just thoughts kinda flying around in my head lol.

@EaglyBird Both types (open-world and linear) are great for 3D Mario but I would like a linear world that’s not-so-linear like Galaxy for the next 3d Mario, Galaxy kinda perfected 3D Mario for me tbh.

I honestly have no idea why there wouldn't be a Mario Odyssey 2. There's no chance they don't have a ton of ideas they didn't utilize in the first game. I refuse to believe otherwise, there's seemingly boundless potential for the capture gimmick, let alone everything else surrounding that.

Random Take:
The best ace attorney case is not “Bridge to the Turnabout”, but to me it’s “Farewell, My Turnabout” (though BTTT is a close second)

Why? Because of many reasons but here are some:
1. The plot
— This is the only case where phoenix has a guilty client , and it creates a really interesting rock and a hard place scenario that no other case has been able to replicate, and the fact maya gets kidnapped brings a huge adrenaline and determination to this case in particular that I just adore, seeing the prominent characters working together to save maya and solve the rock and hard place problem really shows how much they all have grown from back in case 2 of the first game where gumshoe, edgeworth, phoenix, etc are all on different sides
I could go on and on about how much I adore this cases premise but I don’t wanna reach the character limit of these forum posts

2. The characters.
As I said above, the interactions between them in this case are amazing.
I’ll go over them one-by-one here,

• Phoenix
  — I really love how this game chose to write Phoenix, and in this case in particular, his internal monologues about the trial and how if he gets a guilty verdict, maya dies or if he gets a not guilty verdict Adrian Andrews gets imprisoned is really compelling, and this case has a genuine impact on his character.
• Maya
  — Since she’s kidnapped, she can’t really be in the plot much besides being a damsel in distress, but I loved the part of the case where she channeled Mia and Mia got an idea of where she was, so when pearl channeled Mia, she was able to give them a lead that Maya is near the circus.
• Gumshoe
  — I just love his determination. The moment he crashed his car while trying to get the evidence near the end of the trial to save maya and get Matt guilty will always be one of the pivotal moments of gumshoe to me.
• Edgeworth
  — Great dynamic with Phoenix, running short on time so I can’t explain much but he’s great in this case.
• Matt Engarde
  — One of, if not THE best client in the series hands-down, and the fact he’s the antagonist in this case is amazing, stuff like this is why this case is the most unique.
• Adrian Andrews
  — Honestly one of the better AA characters, she got herself tangled into this mess and was almost framed and nearly had her life ruined for the crime, the fact she came back in game 3 case 2 and was a lot happier was a joy to see.
  Overall, I really do love this case, it’s so well-written, the characters are amazing, the music is great (its ace attorney what did you expect? guy playing a flute on a 24-bit bitrate whilst the music is ultra-compressed?) and it’s just amazing all-around.

I think the obvious, key difference between the two is that one is a case and one wraps up an entire trilogy of storytelling. Like there are some things that wrap up Justice for All in the case, but not to the extent that Bridge to the Turnabout does for both its game and the trilogy of games, which makes it better than it would've been otherwise.

But I would say to Bridge of the Turnabout's...not defense that in hindsight some of it relies too much on certain characters almost inexplicably refusing to tell anyone anything because reasons. Which to be fair, is a problem with a lot of mysteries in stories in general (I'm sure there's something similar in Farewell My Turnabout too, but it doesn't stand out to me in hindsight at the very least).

However, the music callback to the first game near the end of the final trial in Bridge to the Turnabout is one of the best uses of music in anything ever, genuine chills.