@belmont @THE_VITTLER Definitely. PC isn't a perfect space in that regard. Although workarounds usually exist, you'll get stuff like fan patches and mods, etc. You have options, especially months and years after release.
Starfield is reminding people that developers can literally just go "lol no" to the prospect of a console performance mode, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it other than choose not to play the game.
Glad I didn't buy a console for this lol. I'll be playing at 60fps with drops like God intended.
@NEStalgia I'm starting to think you have a medical issue. TotK looks fine on my SWOLED. It also looks surprisingly good on my 4K OLED (for a Switch game, anyway).
If you care about performance in games, get a PC, where you have more control over the user experience.
Even if a console is the "most powerful in the world," you're ultimately at the mercy of the developer as to whether you're going to be allowed to put all of that hardware grunt toward performance. And, more often than not, 30fps with the visual settings jacked up will be the priority.
@UltimateOtaku91 In general, people who leave an ecosystem tend to just drift away from it. If you're invested enough to loudly complain about how you're done with Playstation, chances are you'll be in line for the next one at some point as well. So I tend to see that as merely a way of expressing disappointment. Perhaps in a hyperbolic manner, but some of us are drama queens, y'know?
@TakeItEasy A good trailer doesn't require a talking head to contextualize what you've seen, though.
I don't mind Nintendo Directs where you might get half a minute of the host telling you about an especially notable game after a trailer, but this format is still vastly better than listening to corporate heads stand around droning about the game, IMO.
It's obviously different if a game is meant to be spotlighted, like Starfield presumably will in the show soon.
@TakeItEasy The format was pretty much the one thing I didn't have an issue with. The games can and should speak for themselves. I don't need a talking head spouting corporate buzzwords and trying to convince me to be excited.
Too bad the trailers were primarily CG movies, and didn't showcase much in the way of actual gameplay.
@UltimateOtaku91 You know, people can just be disappointed in a thing. It's alright. If you're excited, our disappointment doesn't de-legitimize your own feelings.
@BrilliantBill I dunno, man, Capcom remade the first four Resident Evil games without giving them weird titles. Shadow of the Colossus remake didn't have a weird title. I feel like it's really not a huge issue most of the time. If anything, calling it MGS Delta (thanks for that, @Wheatly) is going to cause more confusion than anything.
@PsBoxSwitchOwner Probably in the UK. Not necessarily in the States. DEFINITELY not in Japan.
No metrics are defined here, and the data doesn't really align with what we know about Nintendo's own momentum in terms of public awareness (like, where are the obvious spikes that occurred in certain points in its lifecycle)?
Even most of the people on Push Square are calling this out, lol.
What the hell does "brand momentum" even mean? Switch has consistently outsold Playstation hardware until this year, and, culturally, they dominated social media during the height of the pandemic.
@LX_FENIX That's just how Square-Enix operates. They clearly signed deals with Nintendo for games like Octopath Traveler and Triangle Strategy as well.
I'm pretty much riding the Nintendo bus with TotK, Advance Wars, Pikmin, etc. until September when Starfield releases, at which point I'll be moving back over to Game Pass.
Nothing on PS5 this year interests me so far. Maybe if FFVII Rebirth drops, but I really think that'll be an early-mid 2024 release. And even then, I'll likely just wait for the inevitable PC release.
@UltimateOtaku91 We initially thought that this rumored thing that hasn't been confirmed to exist wasn't coming to Xbox, but happy day! The rumored, possibly-non-existent game is rumored to be coming to Xbox after all!
@SplooshDmg Xenoblade 3 exhibited a similar level of technical improvement compared to its predecessor. Granted, its scope isn't nearly as vast, and you don't have the complex physics systems at play, but it's definitely at the top of the list when it comes to the most visually stunning games on the system. Monolith Soft and EPD have really mastered the hardware.
This is on a downclocked mobile SoC from 2015, lol.
What truly amazes me is that TotK is a gigantic game in everything but file size. About 2.5x the size of BotW if you factor in all three layers of the world. And it's still... what, 16GB? It's mind-boggling.
@S1ayeR74 Agreed. I was telling people we wouldn't get anything this year. Historically, the gap between the announcement/reveal and release is fairly lengthy: on average nine months to a year.
I think they'll likely announce it this year, and drop it mid 2024.
A ton of Switch games would just benefit automatically from new hardware. Especially the ones with wildly variable uncapped framerates like MH Stories 2 and dynamic resolutions like Xenoblade 2.
Nobody in their right mind expects a Tears of the Kingdom-level product from BGS, lol.
The true rout would be stealing Spider-Man 2's thunder, since both will likely release near the end of the year.
@101Force Totally agree. Switch enjoys a constant influx of interesting exclusives primarily because they collaborate with other companies to utilize their IPs in interesting ways, giving them a level of published output that wouldn't be possible if they were simply relying on first-party developers.
Even Capcom and a prominent indie developer have made games for the Zelda franchise, for example!
Microsoft is everywhere and have more money than God. There's zero reason they shouldn't have a consistent conveyor belt of exclusive releases on their platform.
@S1ayeR74 Q3/Q4 is weirdly vacant on Switch, and they're piling up a bunch of first-party launches in the first half of the year instead of spacing them out more. I think we'll be hearing something before the year is up.
@SplooshDmg lol I'll probably just end up waiting for the next Switch as well. Hopefully it's fully b/c. So many Switch games would run beautifully on hardware with just a tad more ooomph to it.
@ycshinobi Mass Effect wasn't b/c on Playstation. The older entries also didn't enjoy updates on more powerful hardware. And had aged more poorly in general.
shrug
I'm not saying you're not allowed to enjoy it, but I genuinely don't understand the appeal.
I'm remembering the expectations of Cyberpunk prior to release, and how drastically they differed from the final project. I don't think Starfield will be as unfinished as that was at launch, but I do feel like going in expecting some 11/10 game that will be the savior of the Xbox brand is just setting yourself up for disappointment.
That's not because I think Bethesda will do a poor job. I think it'll be great, and I'm excited to play it. But the reality is never going to live up to unlimited expectations.
@SplooshDmg You know, I've heard those complaints about AMD cards, and was nervous about going that route. But so far, I've not experienced any driver issues, my PC seems to be running cool, etc. Maybe I won the GPU lottery, idk. My luck tends to be pretty good with gaming hardware. My 360 was also fine, and I got it when everyone else's was RRODing. My launch Switch joycons have experienced a bit of drift, but it took years, and a bit of alcohol on a cotton swab clears up the issue for months, etc.
Haven't messed with Adrenaline yet, but the GeForce Experience software is hot garbage as well.
@SplooshDmg I actually just transitioned to an AMD GPU and am pretty happy with it so far. I know it's no good for anything involving ray-tracing and that DLSS is a superior image scaling tech to FSR, but for my purposes (gaming at med/high settings at 1080p/60), I think my card will work out fine for the foreseeable.
In my mind, my computer is a Series S that'll actually hold up to the rigors of modern gaming.
Usually go NVIDIA, but I had no interest in paying almost $100 more for a similarly powerful card. They've completely messed up lower-mid-range pricing this gen, IMO.
But yes, Switch 2 really would benefit dramatically from DLSS.
@NEStalgia Series S was never going to be a 60fps standard console. Not with that GPU.
We're starting to see more 30fps only experiences this gen. I'm not convinced that's not going to become increasingly common over time.
Also, Redfall is a shooter, so the framerate is especially crucial there. But when The Last of Us Part III drops at a glorious, cinematic 30fps, people are going to fall over themselves to praise it, and Sony's base will fall in line with the messaging that 30fps is OK for action-adventure type games, the same way they fell in line with other talking points from the top.
@Sakai Pretty much. Developers are going to start pushing more demanding tech in their upcoming games, and it's going to tank performance at higher resolutions. This gen has barely started in terms of seeing how modern titles are going to push the hardware.
@SplooshDmg Always expect 30fps on consoles. I know this cross-gen period has lulled gamers into a false sense of security on that front, but console builds will always prioritize image quality, and we're going to see them re-normalize it more and more as next-gen AAA titles continue to dribble out.
@anoyonmus Difference is that the Switch port has a concrete launch date target, not just a vague assurance that it's totally, definitely coming. Also, they've already demonstrated competence with downscaling the experience to the last gen home consoles.
@SplooshDmg Definitely. The level of care they're showing for the different platforms in terms of delivering a strong, optimized product is impressive.
Especially considering the PS4/Xbone builds are unlikely to pull a ton of sales, with most core gamer types having moved on to the newer devices by now.
If Hogwarts Legacy is decent on Switch, I might buy it just out of a show of support. It's the sort of care I want to see with more ports.
And here's why I prefer PC over consoles for AAA stuff. User control.
I'm playing this at 60fps. Might have to lower all the settings and use FSR, but with my hardware, it should be doable. Probably won't be a smooth 60fps (cuz, y'know, Bethesda), but I'll make do.
@SplooshDmg Technically better than an MMO sub in some ways, since you get to keep your gacha loot. Whereas, if you pay for an MMO sub and don't use it, that's just wasted money.
I'm a thoroughly single-player gamer, but even if I wasn't, the notion of paying a sub for a game I bought offends my sensibilities.
@mousieone Genshin won't be finished for a loooooong time, assuming the developer sticks with it (but why wouldn't they? It's a veritable gold mine). I'm not too worried about that aspect, tbh. It's the sort of game you'd play off and on over years.
@SplooshDmg Good thing is that it'll likely eventually improve. Playstation consoles pretty much always do in their latter years. Hopefully they revise it into something a little less unsightly looking.
tbh I might have already considered getting one to fully experience Horizon Forbidden West if they weren't porting their games to PC. As it stands, though, you just know a HFW Complete Edition is coming to Steam in a year or two.
I liked what I played of Genshin (just enough so I could unlock Aloy during her availability window), but I feel like, as good as it is, I'm only experiencing half a game, since I refuse on principle to feed money into the gacha machine. That keeps me from fully investing myself into playing it. Same reason I haven't touched their new sci-fi RPG, either.
@NEStalgia I don't generally buy third-party games where there's a massive disparity in terms of the experience, like the recent DOOM games. Almost everything on my Switch is either exclusive or feels at home on the platform.
I can't stand streaming. Even Xcloud is a laggy, choppy mess for me. Everywhere, too, not just at home. I'm all aboard with video streaming, but game streaming just sucks.
@SplooshDmg I have an extremely similar setup, except's it a PC, Switch, and PS4 that all feed into the same monitor.
Sony hasn't done a good job of convincing me to upgrade on their end. No themes and no exclusives I care about.
@SplooshDmg I'm weird with PC. I don't play games on it super often, but I also just sort of... can't imagine being without a gaming PC? It's not like a console for me where it needs to justify its existence.
@NEStalgia I mean, I waited until Metroid Dread was $40 in a sale. I'm not generally one to spend full price on a 10 - 20 hour 2D game. Even one as good as Dread was.
Switch is looking pretty packed me this year so far (granted, I'm not hung up on first party v third party concerns at all). Started with FE Engage, which was quite fun. March had Fatal Frame IV and Paranormasight. April, of course, had Advance Wars, which is always incredibly fun. May has TotK, the game I've been waiting an increasingly large chunk of my life for. June has Rain Code, the spiritual successor to the Danganronpa series. July is Pikmin, of course.
I'm sure Nintendo will have other stuff for the next half of the year, but, honestly, my Switch is so stuffed with unplayed and half-played games now that I think I'm going to semi-retire when it comes to new purchases. At least for a bit. The backlog needs love.
@mousieone Agreed. Which lowers their review average on Metacritic a lot, since certain types of games just don't review as well as your Zeldas and God of Wars, but I love that they publish games belonging to almost every genre. How many other companies say
Frankly, even Microsoft has Sony beat in the software diversity game. I think people would be a lot more tolerant of their smaller/less mainstream stuff like Grounded and Pentiment if they seemed to have less trouble with their AAA bangers.
@UltimateOtaku91 I doubt it'll happen, but I'd love to see the division of Monolith Soft that helped build the open worlds of BotW and TotK help Game Freak. If only so their open worlds had more of a natural feel to them.
Don't get me wrong: there's a massive improvement on that front from the Wild Areas of Sword/Shield to the environments of Scarlet/Violet. But they could be a lot better as well.
Although without longer dev cycles, I don't know that it matters too much.
@NEStalgia Eh. Of the big three, Nintendo is the only one consistently releasing games I'm excited for. Some of them are misses, but that's going to happen when your published output (both first-party, like Pikmin, and second-party like Pokemon and Kirby) dwarfs that of the competition. Not to mention they've been instrumental in making the Switch a safe haven for classic-style JRPGs and more niche Japanese content in general.
I've never been happier with a platform than I am with the Switch. Even with their issues.
@SplooshDmg Hi-Fi Rush looks interesting, but I doubt MS execs saw it as something worth expending a significant advertising budget on. I feel like Redfall probably wouldn't have been touted as heavily if they weren't desperate for something exclusive with perceived sales potential to push GP subs with.
Legends: Arceus is neat, btw. Still sort of ugly for a modern game (this IS Game Freak we're talking about), but the framerate, if not locked, is extremely stable, I don't recall running into even a single bug, and it rethinks almost every aspect of the Pokemon RPG formula.
Not a masterpiece, by any means, but a breath of fresh air for the franchise nonetheless.
@UltimateOtaku91 Have you seen Tears of the Kingdom and Xenoblade Chronicles 3? Nintendo's hardware, limiting though it is, is NOT the issue here.
@Tharsman Xbox definitely isn't in the regular habit of publishing bad games. One other factor I think matters is the level of perceived quality of their output. Even if Nintendo missteps more often (which they probably do irrespective of Pokemon tbh), they also have a reputation for developing some of the best games each generation. Ditto with Sony.
Ask the average core gamer to give you a shortlist of the best games ever made, and names like Mario, Zelda, God of War, and The Last of Us are likely to be thrown around a lot. Xbox used to have this with Halo, but they apparently fumbled that ball with Infinite.
It matters less if Nintendo stumbles, because we know generation-defining games will release, alongside a consistent slate of high-quality exclusives each year. The same can't be said for Microsoft. And as long as that's true, the significance of something like Redfall sucking will matter more than something like Mario Tennis being vaguely disappointing at launch.
On the topic of people not wanting the same games over and over, while it is true Nintendo rarely branches out with new IPs, they do significantly experiment within their respective IPs. Arguably moreso in terms of gameplay diversity than Sony does with a hundred different IPs that all also happen to be third-person action-adventure games with crafting systems.
@UltimateOtaku91 Well, like I said before, I don't think it's a matter of not having the resources. Pokemon is an industry unto itself, and the consistent roll-out of new-gen games is an integral aspect of that. So I think GF is HEAVILY encouraged to stick to certain timelines.
If you mean they should opt for an Ubisoft/Activision approach of massively expanding the development pool to the point where AAA-quality games can be churned out on the regular... well, maybe, but this is easier to say than to do, and who knows if GF's culture would even be compatible with this approach.
Either way, Nintendo would have some say, but I doubt they could unilaterally affect massive structural changes like this. And with sales being the way they are, people are probably just content to leave well enough alone.
@SplooshDmg To add to this, the gulf in quality between their main gen games, which likely need to be coordinated with the rollout of anime, merchandise, etc. and something like PLA which can probably just sort of... drop whenever... tells me that it's not unlikely that Game Freak IS capable of doing better, but is on a timeline that it would be a gigantic hassle to deviate from.
3D open world games are vastly more complex than what they were making on the Game Boy, but I feel like their development timelines per generation haven't changed all that much.
Comments 606
Re: Reaction: Microsoft's 2023 Showcase Confirmed There's Something For Everyone At Xbox
Those Atlus reveals were ace. Really nice to see SEGA so fully on board, considering Microsoft's struggles with other publishers from that region.
Re: Starfield At 30FPS Is A Creative Decision, Says Xbox's Phil Spencer
@belmont @THE_VITTLER Definitely. PC isn't a perfect space in that regard. Although workarounds usually exist, you'll get stuff like fan patches and mods, etc. You have options, especially months and years after release.
Starfield is reminding people that developers can literally just go "lol no" to the prospect of a console performance mode, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it other than choose not to play the game.
Re: Starfield Will Run At 4K / 30FPS On Xbox Series X, 1440p / 30FPS On Series S
Glad I didn't buy a console for this lol. I'll be playing at 60fps with drops like God intended.
@NEStalgia I'm starting to think you have a medical issue. TotK looks fine on my SWOLED. It also looks surprisingly good on my 4K OLED (for a Switch game, anyway).
Re: Starfield At 30FPS Is A Creative Decision, Says Xbox's Phil Spencer
If you care about performance in games, get a PC, where you have more control over the user experience.
Even if a console is the "most powerful in the world," you're ultimately at the mercy of the developer as to whether you're going to be allowed to put all of that hardware grunt toward performance. And, more often than not, 30fps with the visual settings jacked up will be the priority.
Re: Atlus Reveals Two New Persona Games, Both Coming To Xbox Game Pass
@SplooshDmg It's cute looking. The PQ games were already my favorite spinoffs.
Re: Atlus Reveals Two New Persona Games, Both Coming To Xbox Game Pass
That is a gigantic coup, lol.
I like how P5T art-style is reminiscent of Persona Q
Re: Talking Point: Are You Picking Up Either Of These AAA Juggernauts On Xbox This Month?
Neither of those games do anything for me.
Re: Stop The Presses, Square Enix Just Announced A New Game For Xbox
Removed
Re: Reaction: PlayStation's Showcase Was A Win For Xbox, Whichever Way You Slice It
@UltimateOtaku91 In general, people who leave an ecosystem tend to just drift away from it. If you're invested enough to loudly complain about how you're done with Playstation, chances are you'll be in line for the next one at some point as well. So I tend to see that as merely a way of expressing disappointment. Perhaps in a hyperbolic manner, but some of us are drama queens, y'know?
@TakeItEasy A good trailer doesn't require a talking head to contextualize what you've seen, though.
I don't mind Nintendo Directs where you might get half a minute of the host telling you about an especially notable game after a trailer, but this format is still vastly better than listening to corporate heads stand around droning about the game, IMO.
It's obviously different if a game is meant to be spotlighted, like Starfield presumably will in the show soon.
Re: Reaction: PlayStation's Showcase Was A Win For Xbox, Whichever Way You Slice It
@TakeItEasy The format was pretty much the one thing I didn't have an issue with. The games can and should speak for themselves. I don't need a talking head spouting corporate buzzwords and trying to convince me to be excited.
Too bad the trailers were primarily CG movies, and didn't showcase much in the way of actual gameplay.
@UltimateOtaku91 You know, people can just be disappointed in a thing. It's alright. If you're excited, our disappointment doesn't de-legitimize your own feelings.
Re: Xbox Boss Phil Spencer Congratulates Sony On 'Nice' PlayStation Showcase
This just seems like trolling in the light of that utterly disappointing showcase.
Re: It's Official, The Metal Gear Solid 3 Remake Is Coming To Xbox Series X|S
@BrilliantBill I dunno, man, Capcom remade the first four Resident Evil games without giving them weird titles. Shadow of the Colossus remake didn't have a weird title. I feel like it's really not a huge issue most of the time. If anything, calling it MGS Delta (thanks for that, @Wheatly) is going to cause more confusion than anything.
Re: June 2023 Showcases: Every Xbox-Related Event Announced So Far
The ball is in your court now, Microsoft. That Playstation Showcase was terrible.
Re: It's Official, The Metal Gear Solid 3 Remake Is Coming To Xbox Series X|S
Why is it called Metal Gear Solid Triangle now? I don't get it.
Re: Xbox Has Much Weaker Brand Momentum Than PlayStation, Claims New Sony Document
@PsBoxSwitchOwner Probably in the UK. Not necessarily in the States. DEFINITELY not in Japan.
No metrics are defined here, and the data doesn't really align with what we know about Nintendo's own momentum in terms of public awareness (like, where are the obvious spikes that occurred in certain points in its lifecycle)?
Re: Xbox Has Much Weaker Brand Momentum Than PlayStation, Claims New Sony Document
Even most of the people on Push Square are calling this out, lol.
What the hell does "brand momentum" even mean? Switch has consistently outsold Playstation hardware until this year, and, culturally, they dominated social media during the height of the pandemic.
Re: Final Fantasy 16 Team 'Looked At All Options' Before Deciding On (Timed) PS5 Exclusivity
@LX_FENIX That's just how Square-Enix operates. They clearly signed deals with Nintendo for games like Octopath Traveler and Triangle Strategy as well.
Re: According To Metacritic, These Are The 10 Best Xbox Games Of 2023 So Far
I'm pretty much riding the Nintendo bus with TotK, Advance Wars, Pikmin, etc. until September when Starfield releases, at which point I'll be moving back over to Game Pass.
Nothing on PS5 this year interests me so far. Maybe if FFVII Rebirth drops, but I really think that'll be an early-mid 2024 release. And even then, I'll likely just wait for the inevitable PC release.
Re: Metal Gear Solid 3 Remake Is Reportedly Coming To Xbox After All
@UltimateOtaku91 We initially thought that this rumored thing that hasn't been confirmed to exist wasn't coming to Xbox, but happy day! The rumored, possibly-non-existent game is rumored to be coming to Xbox after all!
Re: We're 'Probably' Getting Mid-Gen Xbox & PlayStation Consoles, Says Take-Two CEO
Waiting for the Xbox Series XXX, personally.
Re: Microsoft Rewards Giving Away 100s Of Easy Points With New 'Edge' Browser Update
Nice. Literally only use Edge for the Rewards points, so I don't mind activating nonsense like this.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (May 13-14)
Tears of the Kingdom, of course. I'll be playing this for a good, long time.
My sister and her husband are on Diablo 4, though. Whatever Server Slam thing is happening.
Re: Xbox Congratulates Nintendo On The Release Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
Even Playstation posted a positive/nice tweet about TotK. Kinda surprised by that, considering their hyper-competitive image/tactics.
Re: Review: ASUS ROG Ally - The Xbox Handheld We've Been Waiting For?
@SplooshDmg Xenoblade 3 exhibited a similar level of technical improvement compared to its predecessor. Granted, its scope isn't nearly as vast, and you don't have the complex physics systems at play, but it's definitely at the top of the list when it comes to the most visually stunning games on the system. Monolith Soft and EPD have really mastered the hardware.
This is on a downclocked mobile SoC from 2015, lol.
What truly amazes me is that TotK is a gigantic game in everything but file size. About 2.5x the size of BotW if you factor in all three layers of the world. And it's still... what, 16GB? It's mind-boggling.
@S1ayeR74 Agreed. I was telling people we wouldn't get anything this year. Historically, the gap between the announcement/reveal and release is fairly lengthy: on average nine months to a year.
I think they'll likely announce it this year, and drop it mid 2024.
Re: Review: ASUS ROG Ally - The Xbox Handheld We've Been Waiting For?
@SplooshDmg LOL
A ton of Switch games would just benefit automatically from new hardware. Especially the ones with wildly variable uncapped framerates like MH Stories 2 and dynamic resolutions like Xenoblade 2.
Imagine XC2 handheld at 720p instead of 360p.
Re: Reaction: Zelda Reviews & Redfall Woes Put The Pressure On Xbox Exclusive Starfield
@UltimateOtaku91
"Starfield not being game of the year does not mean failure."
EXACTLY
This is BGS we're talking about here. Anything better than Fallout 4 should be celebrated.
Re: Reaction: Zelda Reviews & Redfall Woes Put The Pressure On Xbox Exclusive Starfield
Nobody in their right mind expects a Tears of the Kingdom-level product from BGS, lol.
The true rout would be stealing Spider-Man 2's thunder, since both will likely release near the end of the year.
@101Force Totally agree. Switch enjoys a constant influx of interesting exclusives primarily because they collaborate with other companies to utilize their IPs in interesting ways, giving them a level of published output that wouldn't be possible if they were simply relying on first-party developers.
Even Capcom and a prominent indie developer have made games for the Zelda franchise, for example!
Microsoft is everywhere and have more money than God. There's zero reason they shouldn't have a consistent conveyor belt of exclusive releases on their platform.
Re: Review: ASUS ROG Ally - The Xbox Handheld We've Been Waiting For?
@S1ayeR74 Q3/Q4 is weirdly vacant on Switch, and they're piling up a bunch of first-party launches in the first half of the year instead of spacing them out more. I think we'll be hearing something before the year is up.
@SplooshDmg lol I'll probably just end up waiting for the next Switch as well. Hopefully it's fully b/c. So many Switch games would run beautifully on hardware with just a tad more ooomph to it.
Re: Review: ASUS ROG Ally - The Xbox Handheld We've Been Waiting For?
Native GP integration is very attractive. It's my biggest gripe with the Steam Deck, tbh.
Another handheld without an OLED screen, though.
@SplooshDmg Depends on the battery life in silent mode for me. Most games I'd be playing would be far less demanding than something like Gears 5.
Re: Video: Digital Foundry Compares Last-Gen Hogwarts Legacy To Xbox Series S
720p/30 with frequent drops on Xbone, lol. Will be interesting to see how they squeeze it down even more on Switch.
I'll be impressed if they can get it running at 540p undocked/720p docked on Switch at a decent framerate.
Re: Talking Point: Are You Hoping Xbox's 'Gears Collection' Is Real?
@ycshinobi Mass Effect wasn't b/c on Playstation. The older entries also didn't enjoy updates on more powerful hardware. And had aged more poorly in general.
shrug
I'm not saying you're not allowed to enjoy it, but I genuinely don't understand the appeal.
Re: Talking Point: Are You Hoping Xbox's 'Gears Collection' Is Real?
Aren't the Gears games all playable on Xbox One/Series consoles as is, though?
This seems sort of pointless to me.
Re: Starfield's ESRB Rating Appears To Have Been Revealed By Bethesda
I'm remembering the expectations of Cyberpunk prior to release, and how drastically they differed from the final project. I don't think Starfield will be as unfinished as that was at launch, but I do feel like going in expecting some 11/10 game that will be the savior of the Xbox brand is just setting yourself up for disappointment.
That's not because I think Bethesda will do a poor job. I think it'll be great, and I'm excited to play it. But the reality is never going to live up to unlimited expectations.
Re: Xbox To Provide Update On Starfield's Frame Rate Ahead Of September Launch
@SplooshDmg You know, I've heard those complaints about AMD cards, and was nervous about going that route. But so far, I've not experienced any driver issues, my PC seems to be running cool, etc. Maybe I won the GPU lottery, idk. My luck tends to be pretty good with gaming hardware. My 360 was also fine, and I got it when everyone else's was RRODing. My launch Switch joycons have experienced a bit of drift, but it took years, and a bit of alcohol on a cotton swab clears up the issue for months, etc.
Haven't messed with Adrenaline yet, but the GeForce Experience software is hot garbage as well.
Re: Xbox To Provide Update On Starfield's Frame Rate Ahead Of September Launch
@SplooshDmg I actually just transitioned to an AMD GPU and am pretty happy with it so far. I know it's no good for anything involving ray-tracing and that DLSS is a superior image scaling tech to FSR, but for my purposes (gaming at med/high settings at 1080p/60), I think my card will work out fine for the foreseeable.
In my mind, my computer is a Series S that'll actually hold up to the rigors of modern gaming.
Usually go NVIDIA, but I had no interest in paying almost $100 more for a similarly powerful card. They've completely messed up lower-mid-range pricing this gen, IMO.
But yes, Switch 2 really would benefit dramatically from DLSS.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (May 6-7)
I'll try to log some time into the Splatfest.
Also continue on with Persona 3 Portable.
Re: Xbox To Provide Update On Starfield's Frame Rate Ahead Of September Launch
@NEStalgia Series S was never going to be a 60fps standard console. Not with that GPU.
We're starting to see more 30fps only experiences this gen. I'm not convinced that's not going to become increasingly common over time.
Also, Redfall is a shooter, so the framerate is especially crucial there. But when The Last of Us Part III drops at a glorious, cinematic 30fps, people are going to fall over themselves to praise it, and Sony's base will fall in line with the messaging that 30fps is OK for action-adventure type games, the same way they fell in line with other talking points from the top.
@Sakai Pretty much. Developers are going to start pushing more demanding tech in their upcoming games, and it's going to tank performance at higher resolutions. This gen has barely started in terms of seeing how modern titles are going to push the hardware.
Re: Xbox To Provide Update On Starfield's Frame Rate Ahead Of September Launch
@SplooshDmg Always expect 30fps on consoles. I know this cross-gen period has lulled gamers into a false sense of security on that front, but console builds will always prioritize image quality, and we're going to see them re-normalize it more and more as next-gen AAA titles continue to dribble out.
Re: Hogwarts Legacy Looks Surprisingly Good On Xbox One
@anoyonmus Difference is that the Switch port has a concrete launch date target, not just a vague assurance that it's totally, definitely coming. Also, they've already demonstrated competence with downscaling the experience to the last gen home consoles.
@SplooshDmg Definitely. The level of care they're showing for the different platforms in terms of delivering a strong, optimized product is impressive.
Especially considering the PS4/Xbone builds are unlikely to pull a ton of sales, with most core gamer types having moved on to the newer devices by now.
If Hogwarts Legacy is decent on Switch, I might buy it just out of a show of support. It's the sort of care I want to see with more ports.
Re: Xbox Announces Permanent Price Cut For Series X|S Storage Expansion Cards
Better, but still overpriced.
Re: Hogwarts Legacy Looks Surprisingly Good On Xbox One
The real final boss will be the Switch port.
Re: Xbox To Provide Update On Starfield's Frame Rate Ahead Of September Launch
And here's why I prefer PC over consoles for AAA stuff. User control.
I'm playing this at 60fps. Might have to lower all the settings and use FSR, but with my hardware, it should be doable. Probably won't be a smooth 60fps (cuz, y'know, Bethesda), but I'll make do.
Re: Phil Spencer Says Xbox 'Needs To Improve' Its Development Process
@SplooshDmg Technically better than an MMO sub in some ways, since you get to keep your gacha loot. Whereas, if you pay for an MMO sub and don't use it, that's just wasted money.
I'm a thoroughly single-player gamer, but even if I wasn't, the notion of paying a sub for a game I bought offends my sensibilities.
@mousieone Genshin won't be finished for a loooooong time, assuming the developer sticks with it (but why wouldn't they? It's a veritable gold mine). I'm not too worried about that aspect, tbh. It's the sort of game you'd play off and on over years.
Re: Phil Spencer Says Xbox 'Needs To Improve' Its Development Process
@SplooshDmg Good thing is that it'll likely eventually improve. Playstation consoles pretty much always do in their latter years. Hopefully they revise it into something a little less unsightly looking.
tbh I might have already considered getting one to fully experience Horizon Forbidden West if they weren't porting their games to PC. As it stands, though, you just know a HFW Complete Edition is coming to Steam in a year or two.
I liked what I played of Genshin (just enough so I could unlock Aloy during her availability window), but I feel like, as good as it is, I'm only experiencing half a game, since I refuse on principle to feed money into the gacha machine. That keeps me from fully investing myself into playing it. Same reason I haven't touched their new sci-fi RPG, either.
Re: Phil Spencer Says Xbox 'Needs To Improve' Its Development Process
@NEStalgia I don't generally buy third-party games where there's a massive disparity in terms of the experience, like the recent DOOM games. Almost everything on my Switch is either exclusive or feels at home on the platform.
I can't stand streaming. Even Xcloud is a laggy, choppy mess for me. Everywhere, too, not just at home. I'm all aboard with video streaming, but game streaming just sucks.
@SplooshDmg I have an extremely similar setup, except's it a PC, Switch, and PS4 that all feed into the same monitor.
Sony hasn't done a good job of convincing me to upgrade on their end. No themes and no exclusives I care about.
Re: Phil Spencer Says Xbox 'Needs To Improve' Its Development Process
@SplooshDmg I'm weird with PC. I don't play games on it super often, but I also just sort of... can't imagine being without a gaming PC? It's not like a console for me where it needs to justify its existence.
@NEStalgia I mean, I waited until Metroid Dread was $40 in a sale. I'm not generally one to spend full price on a 10 - 20 hour 2D game. Even one as good as Dread was.
Switch is looking pretty packed me this year so far (granted, I'm not hung up on first party v third party concerns at all). Started with FE Engage, which was quite fun. March had Fatal Frame IV and Paranormasight. April, of course, had Advance Wars, which is always incredibly fun. May has TotK, the game I've been waiting an increasingly large chunk of my life for. June has Rain Code, the spiritual successor to the Danganronpa series. July is Pikmin, of course.
I'm sure Nintendo will have other stuff for the next half of the year, but, honestly, my Switch is so stuffed with unplayed and half-played games now that I think I'm going to semi-retire when it comes to new purchases. At least for a bit. The backlog needs love.
Re: Phil Spencer Says Xbox 'Needs To Improve' Its Development Process
@mousieone Agreed. Which lowers their review average on Metacritic a lot, since certain types of games just don't review as well as your Zeldas and God of Wars, but I love that they publish games belonging to almost every genre. How many other companies say
Frankly, even Microsoft has Sony beat in the software diversity game. I think people would be a lot more tolerant of their smaller/less mainstream stuff like Grounded and Pentiment if they seemed to have less trouble with their AAA bangers.
@UltimateOtaku91 I doubt it'll happen, but I'd love to see the division of Monolith Soft that helped build the open worlds of BotW and TotK help Game Freak. If only so their open worlds had more of a natural feel to them.
Don't get me wrong: there's a massive improvement on that front from the Wild Areas of Sword/Shield to the environments of Scarlet/Violet. But they could be a lot better as well.
Although without longer dev cycles, I don't know that it matters too much.
@NEStalgia Eh. Of the big three, Nintendo is the only one consistently releasing games I'm excited for. Some of them are misses, but that's going to happen when your published output (both first-party, like Pikmin, and second-party like Pokemon and Kirby) dwarfs that of the competition. Not to mention they've been instrumental in making the Switch a safe haven for classic-style JRPGs and more niche Japanese content in general.
I've never been happier with a platform than I am with the Switch. Even with their issues.
Re: Phil Spencer Says Xbox 'Needs To Improve' Its Development Process
@SplooshDmg Hi-Fi Rush looks interesting, but I doubt MS execs saw it as something worth expending a significant advertising budget on. I feel like Redfall probably wouldn't have been touted as heavily if they weren't desperate for something exclusive with perceived sales potential to push GP subs with.
Legends: Arceus is neat, btw. Still sort of ugly for a modern game (this IS Game Freak we're talking about), but the framerate, if not locked, is extremely stable, I don't recall running into even a single bug, and it rethinks almost every aspect of the Pokemon RPG formula.
Not a masterpiece, by any means, but a breath of fresh air for the franchise nonetheless.
@UltimateOtaku91 Have you seen Tears of the Kingdom and Xenoblade Chronicles 3? Nintendo's hardware, limiting though it is, is NOT the issue here.
@Tharsman Xbox definitely isn't in the regular habit of publishing bad games. One other factor I think matters is the level of perceived quality of their output. Even if Nintendo missteps more often (which they probably do irrespective of Pokemon tbh), they also have a reputation for developing some of the best games each generation. Ditto with Sony.
Ask the average core gamer to give you a shortlist of the best games ever made, and names like Mario, Zelda, God of War, and The Last of Us are likely to be thrown around a lot. Xbox used to have this with Halo, but they apparently fumbled that ball with Infinite.
It matters less if Nintendo stumbles, because we know generation-defining games will release, alongside a consistent slate of high-quality exclusives each year. The same can't be said for Microsoft. And as long as that's true, the significance of something like Redfall sucking will matter more than something like Mario Tennis being vaguely disappointing at launch.
On the topic of people not wanting the same games over and over, while it is true Nintendo rarely branches out with new IPs, they do significantly experiment within their respective IPs. Arguably moreso in terms of gameplay diversity than Sony does with a hundred different IPs that all also happen to be third-person action-adventure games with crafting systems.
Re: Phil Spencer Says Xbox 'Needs To Improve' Its Development Process
@UltimateOtaku91 Well, like I said before, I don't think it's a matter of not having the resources. Pokemon is an industry unto itself, and the consistent roll-out of new-gen games is an integral aspect of that. So I think GF is HEAVILY encouraged to stick to certain timelines.
If you mean they should opt for an Ubisoft/Activision approach of massively expanding the development pool to the point where AAA-quality games can be churned out on the regular... well, maybe, but this is easier to say than to do, and who knows if GF's culture would even be compatible with this approach.
Either way, Nintendo would have some say, but I doubt they could unilaterally affect massive structural changes like this. And with sales being the way they are, people are probably just content to leave well enough alone.
Re: Phil Spencer Says Xbox 'Needs To Improve' Its Development Process
@SplooshDmg To add to this, the gulf in quality between their main gen games, which likely need to be coordinated with the rollout of anime, merchandise, etc. and something like PLA which can probably just sort of... drop whenever... tells me that it's not unlikely that Game Freak IS capable of doing better, but is on a timeline that it would be a gigantic hassle to deviate from.
3D open world games are vastly more complex than what they were making on the Game Boy, but I feel like their development timelines per generation haven't changed all that much.