@Zuljaras Yep. Also the S is a bit more powerful than PS4 Slim (while PS4 Pro is a bit more powerful without (as much) huge downloads like X.) Granted there's a lot of PS exclusives or quasi exclusives like DQXI to consider as well, but for an "archivist" gamer interested in long term viability, the feature that will probably push you toward X1S (or, actually, even X1X) is the backups of digital content.
If you're buying discs (as opposed to digital that does rely on the licensing servers), and internet isn't a problem, then you can download the big updates now, buy your own hard drives/storage, and preserve that data forever. So with X1, even X1X, say you buy 100 games on disc, and install all those games at some point, and download all the patches including the X1X patches for each of those games, you'll have about 4TB of data on your (external HDD) for your X1 (the installed disc content + patches.) You can buy your own 4TB HDDs and back up all that data onto all of them and store those HDDs so that 40 years from now you can still run all your X1 discs, with all the patches included, based on your digital archive you crated with your disc + patches. Then all you need is the data from those HDDs, + your discs + an ancient X1 to play them on.
To be clear: You install the game from disc onto the HDD (you have to on all X1 and PS4 systems), you download and apply all the patches (including X1X patches if applicable), now your HDD (and all copies) contain a full install of the patched version of the game. The disc is still used as the "license check" (that's all the disc is ever used for after install.) And you can back up that full install, like with old PC games, infinitely on unlimited drives. You still need the disc for a license check (as opposed to digital that checks the server.)
Sony doesn't let you do that. You can only move a game from one drive to another, so if a drive fails and the servers are down, you can't recover a game in the distant future. You can't copy them onto infinite backup drives. So for an archivist, X1 is actually the the best answer as you can keep the patches forever too (provided you pay for your own backups...) (For those with limited bandwidth issues, PS may still be better.)
If you don't mind the huge downloads overall and the price of buying external drives to archive your downloads, that could put the X1X back on your radar as well. It would work like DRM-free PC games from GoG, or like music downloads from iTunes/Amazon etc that are DRM-free, you're just responsible for your data storage/backups. Except instead of being truly DRM-free, you'd have a physical disc-based license check, same as always.
@NEStalgia Yes you are right about the PS4 exclusives. Especially the upcoming Spider-Man (Arkham-Spider) and the amazing God of War.
But other than that the One S is nice
So the games with gold for August have been announced and one of them is Forza Horizon 2. For you guys that have played both, how does it compare to 3? Does it feel "old" with what they added into 3?
@Dezzy From what I can recall, overall the S is a tick faster than the Slim on the processor side but in terms of media playback (plays uhd blurays) and 4k it beats out the slim. Both however can do HDR.
Comparing all the models from both this gen in terms of power from most to least it goes: XB1X > Pro > XB1S > Slim > OG PS4 > OG XB1
@Dezzy That choice sometimes will come down to the age of the game, actually. On paper spec and in practice, the 1S is more powerful. CPU is about 7-8% higher clock, GPU about 12%. On paper. Though a lot of the S GPU boost goes to it's ability to upscale to 4k (PS4 Slim doesn't do that (Upscale the video output, not rendering >1080 like Pro and X).)
In practice they probably break even more times than not with different slowdowns in different places more related to game optimization being PS4 focused more than anything else. The bigger issue is older games before the S launched are going to have been designed assuming the X1 is slower than PS4 and will be locked at 900p or so where the PS4 version will run at 1080. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Mass Effect: Andromeda are my favorite examples of this. Deus Ex in particular is a travesty. Designed for OG X1 and OG PS4, it renders 1080p on PS4, and only 900p on X1S. Worse, it received a Pro Patch so it renders in 2k on PS4 Pro with enhanced textures. But an X1X patch was never released, so even on the X it renders....900p...with the old textures.....like an OG XBone.
So so much comes down to the game itself on an individual basis. Newer games however (RDR2 etc.) should, in theory, run a little better on X1S than PS4Slim (assuming the devs don't phone in optimization.)
@redd214 The graphics are obviously less advanced than in Forza Horizon 3, but not by much, and it's still a great game and it has some equally crazy stunts and races. So, no, it doesn't feel old at all, but I'll hold the spoilers, unless you decide not to download it...
Here's a trailer and some gameplay footage to give you some idea:
'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'
@redd214 For comparison's sake, here's the Xbox One version of the first part of the game:
@NEStalgia While looking up these older Forza Horizon videos, I came across this video about the history of the series as a whole, and it's great to see how far they've come over the years:
And at the same time, it amazes me, how good the first game, that was released on the OG Xbox,
still looks and plays. And as a fan of the series, I obviously have that game myself as well...
'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'
@ThanosReXXX Kind of cool Horizon 2 is the freebie....it's rare MS does 1st party freebies. Kind of obsolete next to 3 and 4 coming soon (To me, racing games that are iterative, like fighting games, rarely have much reason to play an older one since it's not really the missions/quests that matter like a story driven game but the physics and mechanics of the systems. But I'll take it, for free
(Now NFS tries to be story driven so that's a little more justifiable.)
What's the setting location for 2? And does it use the right side of the road? (Screw Australia, and UK! )
@NEStalgia Whaaaattt??? Forza Horizon 2 is chock full of story, haven't you watched the gameplay video?
Blasphemer...
And NFS tries, but fails, due to wanting to be too much of a Hollywood/Fast & Furious movie.
@ThanosReXXX Horizon is a wonderful video game series. A storyteller, it is not. "You're a racer....please do racey stuffs while people watch" doesn't count as story.
NFS is very cool at what it is though. The storytelling thing works precisely because making a video gamey hollywood racing film game out of a racing game is kind of unusual, so it makes it different. Maybe it makes it not a true racing game, but it's a fun action game with cars all the same Ok, that Westwood throwback FMV 2015 reboot is dubious....but other than that....
@NEStalgia Respectfully agree to disagree: I can't take people, that think that NFS has more story than Forza Horizon, seriously...
Neither of the series is a big story teller, but then again, I never claimed that this was the case: I simply said that Forza Horizon has a story line, and it does. Suffice to say, also, that I was kidding with the chock full part...
And of course, there are differences: I always saw the rebooted NFS as a continuation and/or mix of the original NFS and Burnout, so much more of an arcade racer than Forza Horizon, and with only the flimsiest layer of a story, much like any of the older NFS games had: guy gets out of jail (or gets into trouble, depending on the iteration), meets mysterious babe, who explains to him that he needs to take part in illegal car races to climb up the ranks and win the ultimate price, and his freedom.
Along the way, his car either gets wrecked or stolen (and of course, he has to race to win it back), he meets another lady who becomes his co-driver and/or mechanic, and she helps him to get the better parts for his car, so he can finally become the game's hero...
Forza Horizon's story line revolves around the festivals and finding all the secrets.
All accompanied by a possibly equally hot lady (judging from her voice) that helps you out...
All in all, it too has a flimsy story line, but it isn't more or less than any other "story driven" racer.
But the story IS one of the things that sets it apart from mainline Forza, which is really just a track/championship racing sim.
And yes, Forza Horizon 2's setting IS cool. Which is why I can still easily recommend it to anyone who's into Forza and/or arcade racers. And it's out on both Xbox 360 and Xbox One, so you can take your pick, unless of course, you're only interested in freebies, where it concerns older games...
'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'
@DarkRula It is cool, isn't it? Glad you're enjoying it.
P.S.
Just in case you come to a point where you start to wonder how to get back to the normal tracks:
go to the map, and either plot a course to Byron Bay, or simply fast travel there, if you have enough credits.
'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'
@ThanosReXXX I'm sorted in terms of fast-tracking, having found all the boards to use it free.
Also of great help has been the ability to swap cars on the fly, which I only realised you could do after it was mentioned on the livestream for the fourth game.
Still haven't gotten around to grabbing Forza Horizon 3 yet, so it was a nice surprise to hear that 2 will be part of GwG next month. That should be a good way to get my feet wet in the Horizon series.
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