Topic: Almost one year later, the next-gen problem.

I must be the only one who feels this way but i really see no reason to pick up a Series X|S yet or even Ps5. Yes i've been actively looking next-gen systems but every time i look they are sold out. I am at the point where i cant be bothered looking and wait for the Slim X|S and Ps5 systems

Now on to the games i mean most games are also playable on Xbox 1 or on Xbox1 via the cloud. I have yet to see a Series X|S game that makes wanna go look for the console. Even the Ps5 console exclusives are nothing to write home about Demon Souls can be played on Ps3 sure itsnot the Remake but u can still play it. Retural just a repeat game where u do the same things over till u get good. Ratchet and clank is your standard R & C game. ..... Most of Sonys other exclusive are also coming to Ps4.

So someone please explain to me why i should be excited for this gen. Because i can only think of two reasons faster load times across both consoles and the trigger things on Ps5 but i look at them of being pointless.

This is the first generation where i have yet to own either xbox or sony new systems. It has always been week one or at the latest one month into the console cyle.

@RedKnight34 I feel like this is always the case when we enter into a new generation. The first year or two will always feel underwhelming in terms of games worth getting for the next-gen systems. I remember buying a PS4 back in 2014 and I didn't start to truly enjoy it until years later when a lot of must-have games started coming out for it. It's the same thing with Xbox and PlayStation now, it's going to take a while before we get to a good point in their life cycles. Most people who get one today do it mostly for the excitement of playing on a brand new system. But I agree, there's still no point in actually getting one today, which is why I'm holding off on buying one (even if they were in stock) and focusing instead on clearing my extensive backlog.

That's not to say though that this generation isn't going to get more exciting down the line, it's just going to take some time before we get there. Considering how many studios both Microsoft and Sony have acquired, there should be tons of great titles to look forward to throughout the coming years.

The big mistake is still trying to support prior gen. That only weakens the current gen.

New games = next gen. Stop trying to do a double dip.

I would say load times, quick resume and overall snappy UI along better framerates are a good enough reason to upgrade if you can find one at retail price but I understand that will not be enough for everyone

@GuyinPA75 One could say some of it might be due to COVID. It's at least possible one or two of Sony's exclusives next year might have been PS5 only. I do believe Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite would have been cross-gen no matter what. I'm fine with it as long as the games end up being really good still, and it surely doesn't seem to have held back Forza Horizon 5 much at all (especially graphically). I'd say next year will be the last year for anything cross gen, unless it's a small indie title.

@Balta666 Agreed. Having all of that even for last gen and cross-gen titles has made owning a Series X well worth it for me, especially now that they have Quick Resume working nearly perfectly now (I've had it fail once while using it with Scarlet Nexus out of probably a dozen times by now).

@RedKnight34
For me the biggest upgrade has been that nearly every game is 60fps or even 120fps and on Xbox older games get a frame rate boost so games play a lot smoother. The loading times are also great

@KilloWertz yeah, Scarlett Nexus does not like it that much...

@Balta666 I've only ever had one issue with Scarlet Nexus and Quick Resume. It's worked probably a dozen times with it and failed once.

@KilloWertz everytime I paused on a cutscene it froze and today it dos not start from quick resume. But I want to say it is the only game I got issues so far (and the game saves automatically so no big deal either)

@Balta666 Obviously people have issues others don't for one reason or another, but I never had any issues with Scarlet Nexus on my Series X outside of Quick Resume not working with it once out of many tries.

You are right that it autosaves very frequently, so it's not a big deal, but there were times that I had to stop that moment even if I was in a middle of a cutscene or just had to quit before I got to a save point. I had only used in sparingly before this game, so being able to use it a lot with Scarlet Nexus made me really appreciate the feature. One big reason I hardly used it before was that I was scared to since they had a lot of issues with it around launch. I'd still try to save a game if it doesn't have frequent save points/autosaves if I can since you never know, but it seems to be working pretty good now.

I upgraded from a PS3 so u definitely needed to get something new and the jump in quality of graphics and load speeds is absolutely mind blowing. Quick resume is also something that once you use it for a few games is absolutely fantastic. Now if i had a last gen system, especially a One X or PS4 Pro, then i definitely would say there really isn't any "need" to upgrade just yet. The loading times are amazing but I'm not sure how that would compare to those systems vs me trying to load a fast travel in Skyrim on a PS3....litterly mind blowing how much of a step up it's been for my personal situation.

So yeah, save your cash up and get it when you feel it's necessary. With Xbox if you have a good internet connection and are plugged in then you will be able to stream all Series exclusive titles through gamepass ultimate on your old system.

Do whatever works best for you, i personally consider this one of my best purchases in a very long time and im back into gaming like i never imagined I would be cuz of it and gamepass.

@KilloWertz @Balta666 SN quick resumes for me. Although I have had it crashed a few times after. It’s much better now than it was. Clearly because my runtime is over 100 hours when it’s not… TOA is actually worse for me for QR. I’m not sure if it’s me but I have noticed JP games tend to be weird with QR. but they did state new games are more likely not to be QR compatible.

@mousieone Yeah, it's kind of a shame that it still isn't quite perfect as it is probably the best feature that's exclusive to the Series X over the PS5. Some new games don't have it right away, with ones now like Alan Wake. Some that don't have it right away do get it after launch, but honestly at this point it should be a feature that works for almost every game and at worst 99.9% of the time without failure.

At this point I am waiting until 2023-2024 before I jump in. Most of the games I want are cross gen and with gamepass and my Switch I have plenty to play. My ps4 is basically a VF machine at this point.

In the past when new consoles were launched, people could very easily go to their nearest videogame store and grab them off the shelf. Nowadays, due to covid-19, microchip shortages, distribution delays, etc. getting your hands on either 'next-gen' consoles is difficult.
Game developers / publishers also realise this and that's also why they bring newer titles for both console generations. It's economic sense as most players own Xbox1 / PS4 / Switch.
Once, all the various issues are sorted out completely, then consumers would be able to purchase 'next-gen' consoles readily, and game publishers would develop games only for XBS/X and PS5 ; but that's still maybe another two or so years down the track.
Personally, I gave up on the PS5 and started looking for the XBX as that console would play games like Cyberpunk properly. Luckily, I got one only from my ISP, where they had limited stock. Everywhere else was practically zero.

In my opinion, gaming has become more iterative with each generation since around the start of the PS2/Xbox era. By that point in time, we had all the technology to deliver all the 'core' game-play mechanics and whatever style you wanted to make. Audio too was now delivering CD quality.

There is never going to be another 'major' breakthrough - going from B&W, to 8 colours, to 32 etc made quite a difference, but going from 16m to 1bn - not much difference at all - its 'iterative'. Going from 2D to fully realised 3D worlds was transformative and opened up gaming in a big way but 3D is 'everywhere' now and used in every genre. Audio is as good as any 'movie' with full orchestral scores, thousands of lines of dialogue - a long way from simple beeps to synthesised and digitised speech.

Since the PS2/Xbox era, its been 'iterative' advancements. The 360/PS3 era enabled higher polygon counts and more objects on screen - so had a much more noticeable impact - but its still an iteration. The PS4/XB1 era gave us even higher polygon counts, more objects and improved lighting - which again boosted visuals, and now with the PS5/XSX era, there is a another 'big' jump up in terms of polygon counts, object density, lighting (especially with RT) but again its another 'iterative' step up.

Whatever aspect that goes into Games - from Audio to Graphics to the 'mechanics', its all been done now so its all 'iteration'. going from 8 colours to 32 colours had a bigger impact than going from 16m to 1bn despite adding a LOT more colour depth, going from beeps to digitised audio was bigger than going from 5.1 surround sound to 3D audio, going from 2D Pixels, to 3D Polygons was much bigger than going from 50m polygons per character to 200m polygons per character - its 'diminishing' returns so to speak. A circle made of triangles gets more and more 'circular' but beyond a certain point (depending on radius) doubling the Polygon count doesn't make the circle look 'more' rounded and doubling again has even less impact.

Its when you stop to look at the finer' details that you see how much 'more' the newer hardware offers. Look at the ground in FH5 or H:I on an XB1S and its just a flat texture layer but on an XBX, there is much higher level of detail, more geometry etc. Its a night/day difference - but in terms of game-play, its not doing anything 'new' and not going to make the 'game' feel different to play. Games like Forza or Gran Turismo haven't changed - just became more visually impressive due to hardware allowing them to increase the polygon counts, resolutions, lighting, object density etc etc

Everything is now iteration. There isn't really anything they cannot do from a 'core' game-play perspective that they have had to wait until now to do. Making use of 'instant' loading to jump through portal to portal isn't 'new' - you could do that last gen too - but not with as many objects or polygons to load in. RT is more 'realistic' lighting - an upgrade on SSR, AO, Baked GI etc etc. Things like AI, Physics etc existed before and any advanced AI/Physics is just an iteration. Whatever game you can 'imagine', its possible today in gaming. Its not like in 1990, wanting a Real looking 3D environment, with full surround movie quality audio, AI, Physics etc full motion capture animation to base your narrative in with a cast of Actors - you can today.

Regardless of whether or not the 'visuals' are that important, the last gen consoles (especially XB1S) is barely able to maintain a consistent frame rate at the minimum acceptable 30fps. Its also the 'worst' from a visual perspective - lowest resolution, lowest quality visual settings, lowest draw distances, lowest quality lighting etc and even if you don't have a 4k TV, its not 'great' on a HDTV either. So upgrading will give you much better visuals and better feeling games to play because they are more likely to offer 60fps as a minimum and much more consistent fram delivery. Add in the much faster loading, and the actual gaming experience is a generational leap above. I don't know if you have a Switch, but its like playing Doom at 'low' res, with 'low' visual settings and capped to 30fps on Switch or play it on an XB1S - visually, the 'essence' is the same, the story/enemies etc are the same, but the overall experience is quite different and feel different. Also there will be increasing numbers of games that you won't get on last gen - not because its such a radically new style of game no-one could have made before, its more down to the way it was 'designed' - for example, designing it with RT GI means it can't run on last gen hardware as the devs haven't built in an 'alternative', designed around fast loading (R&C for example could run on PS4 but players maybe stuck in 'portals' for 30s+ to load in the new world - Titanfall 2 did 'instant' swap between past/present versions of the world last gen). R&C still plays like an old R&C game from before the PS4 gen - albeit with much better looking visuals, but the core game-play loop is not that different at all - its iterative. Same with Fifa, CoD, BF, AC, Forza, GT. New IP's aren't unique either as they are all offering similar game-play loops. Its all iterating on what came before and the reason to upgrade is to get the latest features, games etc and the 'best' gaming experience you can for the money and ensure that you can play all the new games you want to play for the foreseeable future - the XB1/PS4 consoles are going to get fewer and fewer releases so you will 'miss out' on those....

If you don't upgrade, you miss out on 'new' features (Quick Resume, SSD loading times, RT/120fps modes), miss out on games (more and more games will not be released on last gen hardware - but you may be able to play via Cloud on XB1 with Game Pass - like MSFS for example) and the games you do get to play are costing the same, yet you get a scaled down (visually and in terms of playability) version. Higher Frame rates offer lower input lag for a more responsive game play feel. I'd argue too that higher resolutions and of course, higher visual settings too make it much easier to acquire targets at mid-longer range. Trying to spot an enemy sniper in the distance when they are about 2 pixels (due to low resolution) that is upscaled and very blurry on a 4k TV is impossible, but with higher resolution, that gives more definition, shape and detail, and the fact its not 'upscaled' and blurry makes it much easier to spot...

At the end of the day, the choice is yours. You don't need to buy a console at all and if access is ALL that matters, you could play on a Smartphone for just $10 a month. Who cares if its not currently the 'best' way to play games, you can still play Halo, FH5, MSFS etc Story, game-play etc is all the same - but some want the 'features' that Consoles offer. People bought a Pro/X because they wanted the 'best' version of those games - more 60fps modes or at least a better, more consistent frame rate, better/higher visual quality (inc at least a native 1080p image - something the PS4/XB1 are increasingly struggling to offer).

Basically, the 'newer' consoles allow the developers a much bigger 'budget' to work with. Instead of say being limited to 35k polygons per character, only 200k polygons on screen, they have so much more available so those 'trees' you see in the distance can be '3D' models instead of a 2D billboard of a tree that is swapped out for a 3D model when you get closer - see it pop-in. They don't 'need' to build in transition loading screens (like lift sequences) although they may still 'exist' because they offer a chance to deliver Narrative options, can stream in a LOT more objects much quicker so can fill Open Worlds with more objects and higher polygon counts - and do this at higher frame rates.

If you had been a PC gamer, you'd also not notice any 'generational' leap over the past 20yrs. Its all been iterative improvements to what came before. RT is an iterative step up on handling Lighting, Shadows, Reflections etc, DLSS is an iterative step-up over other methods of upscaling and everything is just iterative...

You'll never get that 'wow' this is something I've 'never' experienced before - not unless you haven't tried VR (but that novelty may wear off) because there isn't really anything 'new' they can do. Even if they get to the point of being indistinguishable from reality, its just iteration on where we are today. Some Photo-mode pics from games can be very difficult to tell from real photos.

I'd love someone to come up with 'something' that is 'next-gen' from a Game-play perspective that is truly unique and creates a whole new experience that is only possible now. Its more about making bigger, better playing, more immersive (less distracting, with no-pop in, screen tear, frame rate stutter, long waiting for loading etc) more visually impressive 'versions' of the types of games we already play. And to get the 'best' versions of these, you need the 'latest' hardware or 'put-up' with all the compromises the devs had to make to get the game running on antiquated (technologically) hardware of last gen. Yes you may still be able to 'experience' them, their story etc, but you get an 'enhanced' experience on better hardware.