Topic: The PlayStation Fan Thread

@BruceCM @TheJGG LOL, it didn't seem that long before I hit send. Oh well. Regardless large conversations with Ralizah and a few others go back years, so....this is normal

@NEStalgia In another tab I have eight paragraphs. I'm not hitting post until I hit twelve.

Edit: Ten. Just.. ran outta steam.

@NEStalgia I feel like I have mild credibility in that I own a PC, a PlayStation and a Switch. I'm by no means authoritarian but I'm not entirely clueless if you get my drift. Despite the obvious disappointment that was 2020 for videogames (minus the obvious spectacles that were Hades, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Animal Crossing, Ghost of Tsushima, Hyrule Warriors: AoC, Persona 5 Royal, and to some extent experiencing Death Stranding during a pandemic) I feel like Nintendo almost takes top honours in the fight for "best game output of 2020", but that Sony's right on their heels, and in some divisions, are ahead.

I didn't expect some of the things we got this year from Nintendo. Sony tend to plan very far ahead, whereas Nintendo can reveal a massive game and release it all in the same year, think back to Smash. Age of Calamity, Pikmin 3, and even the Mario 3D All-Stars collection. That was sparked by a leak that happened in April 2020. It was officially revealed about 15 days before release. Their windows are absolutely tiny in that sense.

On that note, the State of Play showcases have always felt like Nintendo Direct copies. Every major studio has turned to this format for wide ranges of showcases, and Nintendo pioneered this whole movement nine years before it became trendy. And though I didn't really pay attention to Directs until they were almost left for dead starting March 2020, they always had more power than any other showcase.

The State of Plays don't give the impression that major titles would get revealed in them. FF7R Intergrade wasn't a major game; it was an expansion. Returnal we already knew about. Same with Kena, and Deathloop. That lack of new content, suggests that Sony want to use this format as a "recap". That... sucks.

The minor fanbase got a decent haul from Nintendo, with the near infinite playloop that is Animal Crossing. I never got into it as much I could have but I've seen the effect that game has on people. It would have been a very different story if this game released in 2018 or 2019, because the element of escapism would have applied more to children than... working adults too. Because everyone is at home there's a greater need for escapism. Which makes adventure games all the more relevant.

Death Stranding... God I can't believe how well it managed to predict a pandemic. I got it for Christmas 2020, and it felt no different to going outside. Granted the coronavirus itself could be swapped out for anti-matter BTs but the element of danger with invisible enemies was very much there. Being alone, walking through the country, with hauntingly beautiful LOW ROAR music playing, is something I never thought I'd need.

But Hideo Kojima's tastes in a way are more infectious than any disease (barring the new strain of course) could ever hope to be, because he, a developer whose games I had never even thought about playing, turned out to have such relevant and relatable themes. I read about how some Metal Gear games addressed the danger of fake news; that must have looked like a joke to people in the early 2000s, who still believed that random kid online who said his uncle was Bill Gates.

I already made posts on gratuitous violence but Ghost of Tsushima straddles this line. At times it could have been cleaner but at others it could have been worse. Not that the violence detracted from the experience. It really strengthened it actually.

And Persona 5 Royal, one of my games of the year. I played it first in June and I thought to myself after an hour or two; "where's this been all my life?" And at times I question why it took me that long to get into Persona, a series that retrospectively felt like a perfect fit for my gaming style and interests.

I'm really irked by the direction Sony have taken with their management of Japan Studio, a team which had been really good at supplemental roles. That they're now centred around Team Asobi, who created one good game, and now want to build a series, a brand, an ICON after Astrobot... I can't see that happening. There's so much charm and potential but Astrobot should be a PlayStation avatar. Like... I dunno, Sonic. Except get rid of the part where they give him a shadow self and realistic gun mechanics.

Edit: Ahhhh shoot. I didn't even write one third of NEStalgia's post. I cede.

Just NES & his typing for some competition, @TheJGG.... Even by his standards, that was a long 1

Sorry if this was clarified somewhere else in this thread, i dont have the opportunity to search - but when switching from PS4 to PS5 can you transfer your save data from games? Also, is the PS4 backwards compatibility universally better? Or are there some games that play functionally the same or worse? Any input appreciated, thanks.

@Losermagnet It's on a game by game basis. It seems anecdotally like most games do not carry over saves (which is ridiculous...but it is what it is.) Spiderman released without saves carrying over, but I believe they patched it so that it does. A lot of games don't.

BC for the most part just emulates a PS4 Pro. So if you had base PS4 you'll see an upgrade to most games that launched post 2016, and nothing on most games that launched earlier. If you had a Pro it'll be basically the same, though any game that had a boost patch that still failed to reach solid framerates should (Nioh2 before it had the real PS5 upgrade for example.) Most games run exactly as they always did (on a Pro.) Select games have smoother performance or enhanced performance (God of War, Tsushima, etc.)

@NEStalgia
Did you know what is my plan for PlayStation games on this year ?
Getting Beatmania IIDX & Pop'n Music games on PS2 with Pop'n Music controller for PS1 / PS2 !
PS2 have tons of hidden gems and diamonds and i found a lot of diamonds from Konami's Rhythm games on PS2.
WooHoo...!!! 😁😁😁
Time to build my Arcade at home games.

Edit: Oh, if you noticed my avatar, that was a cover of Beatmania IIDX 13 DistorteD. 😉

Lemme just post the first chapter of War and Peace in here....

@Losermagnet @NEStalgia You can transfer saves for nearly every single game. If you play a different edition on PS5, let's say Control UE, you can't use the save date of Control. They are effectively treated as different games. But for the vast majority of games, it works perfectly fine.

@Octane @Losermagnet Good point, I was thinking about the PS5 "Upgrade" games like Control, FF7R, Spiderman, Nioh 2, etc. Pure BC games, the saves do transfer (although strangely the cloud saves didn't transfer for me for unknown reasons. Presumably the Pro was never uploading them. BC games, the machine is mostly just a PS4 emulator (possibly with an extra boost mode). "Upgrade" games are seen as entirely new games most of the time (that's the part that doesn't make any sense.)

@NEStalgia Depends. There are a few games that have 'dedicated' PS5 versions, but for most it's just a patch. Days Gone or God of War for example, those are just patches, and you can use your PS4 save file.

For BC games without a patch, it runs them like a PS4 Pro. However, if the game has an unlocked frame rate or resolution, it will boost those of course.

@Octane Yeah, it's very hit or miss. It's still sad we have to have this conversation. (Goes back to my point 1 above, I really overestimated them and thought they'd come out with a really nice BC solution....what's here is very very Nintendo...which isn't a compliment, much as I adore Nintendo...)

"Most games" are just unenhanced PS4 emu with saves.
Some games are unintentionally enhanced (meaning they were unlocked but Pro still didn't have power to have a steady 60fps)
Some games are intentionally enhanced (GoW, GoT, etc) with a true unlock patch for high quality mode.
All of those, the saves carry over.
Some are PS5 upgrades. Spiderman (sold separately), Miles, Sackboy, Control, FF7R (not yet released), Cyberpunk (eventually), Nioh 2, etc. Those mostly don't carry the saves over. Spiderman was eventually patched to carry the saves (I think.)

It's TECHNICALLY not that much of a mess, but it's still a mouthful to try to sort out when someone asks a simple question like "hey do my old games upgraded on PS5 carry the saves" and the best answer is "maybe, or maybe not, it depends...."

@NEStalgia @Octane thanks for the info. I'd love to have the performance boost of the PS5, but if the difference in most cases between it and a pro is negligible then I doubt I would notice. That, and if it didn't transfer the saves over that would be an adamant "no" from me (good thing it does). I am not playing through Persona 5 again without my compendium info.

I plan on upgrading...but only after i've squirrelled away enough cash. PS5 seems like it's missing a great launch title. If i bought one today I'd go with Demons Souls, but as a new fan to the series i'm not that excited about it.

@NEStalgia You can also transfer saves for Sackboy. It's mostly up to the dev if there are two versions. Remedy/505 could've chosen to allow you to transfer saves, but they didn't for some reason.

I don't really see how it's complicated. For 99.9% of the games it works just like any other BC. Some are enhanced, great, some aren't. But you can always play the game. It only gets complicated if you own both the PS4 version and the PS5 version and you want to transfer a PS4 save to the PS5 and continue playing with the PS5 version. Those are done on a game by game basis. I don't have a game where I own both versions, and I don't see the need to, so I don't have experience with that.

@Losermagnet If you already own a PS4 Pro, the difference for most games isn't that big. I think maybe PushSquare has a list of games that are enhanced on PS5.

@Octane thanks. Based on your info I'm thinking waiting will be the best option. Not likely that I'd find a PS5 anyway. I am glad to know that it's not as inconvenient as I feared with BC.

@Octane 505 made a mess of control in many ways. Iirc they don't even support saves carrying over on series x/s.... And if I'm not mistaken, it's the only game on the platform (other than The Show) that doesn't..... They basically did a ps5 version and literally ported it, and Sony's policies over to xb. That's after the whole ultimate edition debacle. Normal 505, but poor Control deserved a better publisher.

". It only gets complicated if you own both the PS4 version and the PS5 version and you want to transfer a PS4 save to the PS5 and continue playing with the PS5 version. "

Lol, this sentence..... That's the mess of it. There shouldn't be "versions". You either own the game or you don't. If you own it you play it on any hardware you have access to if it's supported hardware. It's not rocket science despite Microsoft's trademarked name pretending it is. It's not actually a stroke of ingenuity on their part... It's the logical way one would expect it to work.

On one hand i get it. Supposedly they have the data that says nobody uses bc so it's not a priority and they didn't put any thought into it at all. But that's kind of my overall disappointment in their leadership.... Every decision is evaluated as a cost benefit line item rather than what most strengthens their value proposition. Typical western short term gains thinking.

@Losermagnet Yeah for the most part bc works fine, but doesn't add anything beyond pro. Even load times aren't really better. Maybe a smidge. There definitely enhanced games, some of them high profile, and that might be worth it (again, gow, got, ff7r, control, days gone, nioh 2, sackboy. I'm sure others I'm not thinking of. But few games not on the list octane mentioned get any really meaningful perk.

Unless you hate the ds4 controller, which I do, in which using the ds5 is an upgrade on it's own.

Am i the only one here who is currently really excited to dig more PS2 games i have never played before when everybody are busy with PS5 games ?

@Anti-Matter Honestly... that’s likely the case. I for one wasn’t even alive when the PS2 was first released. My first console was a DS.

@Losermagnet @NEStalgia Just to be concise. Load times DO greatly benefit from being played on PS5. It's a significant boost over the load times of the PS4 Pro, even if you just play a regular (non-patched) PS4 game on the 5. Here's a video with a couple of examples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcUtEQ_zFnI&ab_channel=Ga...

Whether the frame rate and resolution are increased depends on the game. If the game already ran at a perfect locked 30fps 1080p on the PS4 Pro, it won't change. But if the frame rate wasn't as stable, the PS5 can run it at a steady fps. Or if either the frame rate or resolution weren't locked on the PS4, the PS5 can run those at a higher fps or pixel count.

@NEStalgia One reason, that I can think of, of having different versions is that they can compress the file size on PS5, while at the same time store higher fidelity textures and DualSense button mapping without bloating the PS4 version. Sackboy for example is 35GB on the PS4, yet it is only 30GB on the PS5, despite including higher fidelity assets and whatnot. And you can still transfer saves between systems, so it's not really an issue for this game.

Could it have been better? Probably. However, I don't really see this being an issue for me personally.