Topic: Playstation 4 Backloggery and most wanted!

@Voltan @render @Th3solution @nessisonett @Ralizah @Keith_Zissou cheers team. Real sorry for my cranky comments as well ROFL 🤣. But yeah loads better now, I'm going to play more and more games, so it's good to be back. Hopefully this next few weeks goes great and we all have a boss Chrimbo!

@RogerRoger sounds like a plan Rog. Currently away and having a break. I had to have a balloon put into my groin to get into an artery to open it up and get rid of buildup there. They couldn't go in through my neck as I've had issues with my thyroid which is due to have radioactive iodine treatment next year. So yeah I'm feeling like 100x better now, I can't really describe the change. Always lethargic, struggling to even get up, work was a nightmare. Now I'm buzzing, everything feels great again

How are you anyway bro? Up to much?

@RogerRoger Great to hear from you Rog, I will find a game we can play together. Maybe overcooked?

Since my last post, I've:

Purchased:

Fatal Frame V: Maiden of Black Water (NS)
Pokemon Shining Pearl (NS)
Shin Megami Tensei V, both digitally and physically via the Fall of Man Edition (NS)
Tetris Effect (NS)

Played:

God of War (completed and platinumed)
The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve (3 out of 5 cases down)
Shin Megami Tensei V (43 hours and more than halfway through at this point)
Tetris Effect (completed the Journey mode a second time on Switch, and have also returned to the PS4 version since to chase more trophies)

For the next few months, I plan to:

• Finish Shin Megami Tensei V
• Finish The Great Ace Attorney 2
• Play and finish Shadow of the Colossus on PS4 as part of the PushSquare Game Club playthrough
• Log at least twenty more hours into Monster Hunter Stories 2
• Log at least twenty hours into Pokemon Shining Pearl
• Start a new game of some sort. I always do, as the allure of trying out new games is strong. And, by "new," I of course mean something that I bought at an unreasonably high price and have allowed to sit rotting in my library for months/years on end

Planned Purchases:
Pokemon Legends: Arceus (NS) at the end of January 2022. Nothing before then. Hopefully. I'd like for my backlog to actually go DOWN at some point.

@themcnoisy Damn son, I only just saw your posts in here! Good to hear you’re on the mend after they had to “cut you open and tinker with your ticker”.

@Thrillho my own fault mate, years of excess wouldn't change it though other than the Papa John's.

@Ralizah have you played Tetris Effect in VR?

@themcnoisy Nope. It's very tempting, but it would also required hundreds of dollars worth of equipment.

@Kidfried Finally finished Ace Attorney, eh? Did you end up enjoying it?

@Ralizah You wrote that you want to log 20 more hours into Monster Hunter Stories 2, so I'm assuming you've already played the game for a bit? What are your thoughts on it so far? I'm personally not a fan of the mainline MH games but the Stories spinoffs have always interested me, although the first one seemed a bit too simple for my taste. Is the sequel any better?

@LtSarge I think I got about 20 hours in before stopping earlier in the year. It's fun. I also wasn't... a massive fan of the first game on 3DS, and really didn't like the battle system. The battle system in the sequel isn't overhauled or anything, but they made a few alterations (mainly UI related, I believe) that made it easier for me to enjoy. The big upgrade in this one is the presentation: it has lovely art design and the character models are more proportional. Characters in general are older in this one as well: the original had a strong "kid's game" vibe to it that's mostly missing from the sequel.

Even more than the original, this often feels like it tries to replicate aspects of the mainline MH games in an RPGish, turn-based environment.

I definitely wouldn't call it overly simple, as systems are layered on as the game goes on that adds a strong level of depth to the monster collection elements.

SMT is more my jam, and for a game with "Stories" in the title, it sure didn't have a strong sense of narrative to it in the 20 hours I played, but it's a beautiful, well-crafted monster-collecting JRPG that I'm eager to play further into. I've said this before about SMT V, but it's true here as well: if Pokemon games had half the level of technical ambition that MHS2 does, people would be freaking out.

Performance could probably be better on Switch, though. The framerate is all over the place, and notably choppy in the game's second area. Nothing game-breaking, but some people are more intolerant of performance problems than others. "Big" games on Switch usually target lower resolutions, but MHS2 is 720p undocked and 900p docked. This makes it VERY pretty, especially in handheld mode, but I'd have taken a softer image if it meant fewer performance dips.

Really, had they lowered the resolution and capped the framerate at 30fps, it'd probably be really close to a perfect match for the hardware.

@Ralizah I see, it sounds like a decent game overall then but maybe not something I should get ASAP. I'd definitely like to give it a shot if I ever find it for a cheap price as I love monster-collecting JRPGs and there aren't that many of them on the Switch. Too bad about the performance, I'm guessing it won't get fixed with a patch seeing as how the game has been out for a while now.

@LtSarge Probably not. All these developers choosing uncapped framerates for Switch games is a bit baffling to me (although hopefully this means they'll all be running beautifully on either an upgraded Switch or the eventual successor), but otherwise they made a conscious decision to prioritize visual fidelity over framerate. Like I said, it's hardly unplayable, but unless portability is important to you, the PC version might be the way to go.

As someone who plays across systems past and present, many of which rock major games that run far worse than most Switch games, I'm not too fussed about it either way.

@Ralizah Yeah I mean, I don't mind certain games having worse performance as long as I get to play them on the Switch. But it's indeed weird that a lot of third-party Switch games have uncapped framerates. While I was looking up information about the performance for NEO: The World Ends With You on Switch, there were some people saying the exact same thing you did, i.e. that developers are leaving framerates uncapped for a potential Switch Pro.

And honestly, I think that's such a dumb reason. I just don't like how we live in a time when you have to constantly do research about which console version of a game is the best one. This is especially annoying for a person like me who doesn't buy newer iterations of the same system. I tend to buy most games on PS4 as it's the most reliable one, but then sometimes there will be games that run better on Xbox One (Guardians of the Galaxy is a recent example since it has a lower resolution on Xbox One and therefore a more steady framerate) or games that just run absolutely poorly on base PS4 compared to PS4 Pro. So I have to go watch 20 minute videos on YouTube of Digital Foundry looking at the same game on PS4, PS4 Pro, Xbox One, Xbox One X, PS5 and Series X and it's just insane to me how many versions there has to be of one single game. I just want to go back to the good old days of buying one version of a game and knowing that it will run well on the system I have. Obviously if you own a PS5 or Series X then you're fine, but in five years we're going to have four more iterations of consoles and then these people will have the same issue as I have right now.

So if Nintendo decides to release a Switch Pro then I'm done, I just can't handle so many different iterations of the same systems I own. It just never feels like I can buy a console today and expect it to be properly supported for the next six years anymore. If I buy a PS4, then a PS4 Pro will come out three years later. If I buy a PS4 Pro, then a PS5 will come out four years later. It just never ends.

Apologies for veering off towards a rant there but it's something that's been bugging me lately, especially as Black Friday deals have gone live and I've been deciding which version of games I want to get.

@LtSarge The easiest solution is to just buy games on your preferred platform for them and not worry too much about performance. A few games are performance nightmares, but most games run well enough. I know we exist in this weird subcultural bubble where we obsess over performance metrics, but, at the end of the day, if you're enjoying your time with a game, it doesn't matter if it's the "best" or "worst" performing version of a game. Sort of liking enjoying the DVD version of a film versus the Blu-Ray or 4K Ultra-HD whatever version.

I'd be surprised if we didn't get a more capable Switch at some point, considering the New 3DS was an improvement on the old one, with some games showing significantly improved performance on the newer model. Also, PS4 Pro and Xbox One X arguably made the mid-gen hardware refresh strategy a fixture going forward. It's all part and parcel with consoles becoming more PC-like environments in the last ten years.

Of course, with the continued chip shortage going on, who knows what's going to happen in the immediate future.

@LtSarge If some games have performance issues on base consoles now, it's probably because these games are really meant to be played on the new gen hardware. I'm sure they would run good enough on the PS4 Pro, but still, the base consoles have been around for a long time now and it's not totally surprising if there's a new game here and there now that might have issues running on it.

With that said, I wouldn't be quite as concerned with the new gen consoles running into those problems. They are a good leap up in overall power, especially over the base consoles, so they should be able to capably run games for a long time just like consoles used to.

Also, using current hardware vs. a mid-gen upgrade, for quite a while games ran very good on the base PS4 even though they were released PS4 Pro enhanced on day 1. Sony has been pretty good with having their base hardware still be able to run games admirably far down the line, and I would imagine it's natural for a game here and there to have performance issues really far into a console's lifespan. It's also pretty clear that, while the game seems to be pretty good, your example of Guardians seems to be mediocre in terms of optimization out of the gate given framerate issues at 60 FPS even on new gen hardware with the resolution being all the way down at 1080p.

@Ralizah Well I tried to apply that strategy last year when I bought Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order on Xbox One instead of PS4 because I was just getting back into Xbox. Then I realised that the XB1 version has severe framerate issues and it ruined my experience with the game. Had I known about this, then I would've just bought the PS4 version instead. It's one thing if there are a few framerate drops here and there, but when you walk through areas and the game struggles to keep up then it's not a good experience for me. It's just that, if I know one version is better than the other one then why shouldn't I get that version?

I mean, if the next Switch turns out to be a full successor rather than a simple refresh then I'd be more willing to get it. Because that means that Nintendo will support it for the next coming years instead of releasing a brand new system a few years later. I think Nintendo has also stated that they aren't going to abandon the Switch concept anytime soon, so if we get a "next-gen Switch" then I'm all for it, as long as it comes out in like 1-2 years lol.

@KilloWertz But if you think about it, what you said doesn't really make much sense because companies shouldn't be releasing games on older models if they won't run well on them. Then we have that whole Cyberpunk problem again where the game should've just been made for next-gen consoles. But instead, we have half a dozen different consoles to consider when buying a game. That's why I don't like all these mid-gen refreshes because that means companies are forced to release poor versions of their games on base models just so they can have better versions on PS4 Pro/Xbox One X since they can't release on the mid-gen systems exclusively. The point is that if PS4 Pro/One X hadn't existed, then companies would've put in more effort into making base PS4/Xbox One games run better. And I'm not talking about specifically games coming out in 2021, I'm talking about the period from when these mid-gen systems came out, i.e. 2016-2021. Sure most games ran well up until maybe 2019 when we started to see games like Control and Borderlands 3 have performance issues on base consoles.

In terms of Guardians of the Galaxy, I know the game just isn't that well-optimised in general but the framerate is still better on base Xbox One compared to base PS4, which is unusual because it's usually the other way around. And personally, I'd rather have a game with low resolution but higher framerate than vice versa.

@LtSarge Having only one console has made me less aware of performance issues between game versions. “Ignorance is bliss” I guess in that regard. I just play everything on PlayStation and am none the wiser when I’m playing an inferior version. 😅

I remember playing Skyrim on PS3 and it being one of my very favorite PS3 games, and in fact one of my favorite games of all time to that point. I had a vague knowledge that the PS3 version was broken, as it was widely discussed in games media at the time, but I didn’t have any other options. So I effin’ loved that game, regardless.

Now that I’m a proud owner of a PS5, it’s kind of a non-issue for me, like you mentioned. I can choose to play on the current gen and know that I’m typically getting the best experience. …Still, there will always be those Digital Foundry comparisons with XBOneX and PC that dissect the differences. I’ll sometimes watch their videos just to see if I can really pick out the small graphical perks on one version vs another (I usually can’t) just for my curiosity, but I know at the end of the day that I’m buying the game on PS.

There does come a small internal debate about whether to buy the PS4 version or a PS5 version of a game. Fortunately, many games have free upgrade paths so it really doesn’t matter. But given the choice there, unless there’s a huge price difference then it’ll obviously be splurging for the PS5 version, like with upcoming Forbidden West. No matter how wonderfully the reviews say the PS4 version runs, I’m certain I’ll pony up the dough for the current gen version.

@Th3solution this is a great point. Sometimes scrolling a digital foundry article, I can't tell the difference either

I suppose it's all small gains with flat screen gaming. HDR, 4k, Better lighting, realistic water, foliage etc. They all have incrementally improved and we are now we're we are.

The big issue we have now is game developers producing games for 7 year old PCs at a lower spec than base PS4. This will hold back the big pros of owning a PS5.

@themcnoisy Yeah, that’s a good way to describe it — incremental improvements. Generational improvements seem small as you’re experiencing it going forward, but going back makes the differences pop a little more obviously. I’ve done a little gaming on my PS4 lately just for convenience sake, after months of just using my PS5 exclusively, and man, the difference feels more drastic. Mostly the load times, but also the graphical fidelity of 1080p vs 4K, as well as frame rate. Also small things like the amount of subtle facial animation and texture - things I normally would have said look great on my base PS4, now look wooden or bland. I’ve become a bit spoiled.

That is true that the game development progress is probably taking a hit now and so the real technical reach of PS5 and modern PCs is likely not to be seen for a while longer while the market demands that games be available on older hardware for a while.

I might as well update my backlog while I’m here 😄….

>>>>Previous Projects -

PS5
Final Fantasy 7 Remake - done!
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart - started!
PS4
13 Sentinels - very small progress
Resident Evil 3 - done!
Vita
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - nope.

>>>>>Previously Planned Purchases -

The Last of Us Part II - purchased!
Kena: Bridge of Spirits - not yet.
Guardians of the Galaxy - purchased!

———————

>>>>Currently On Deck -

PS5
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart - only about 15% through with this game. It’s a great one and I expect this will be my main game on PS5 for a few weeks
Demon’s Souls - Feeling like I’ll start this as soon as Ratchet is complete.
PS4
Rime - started this charming game and made it halfway before hitting a snag. I plan to complete this when the mood strikes.
13 Sentinels - fortunately this game is manageable to play in spurts since it’s composed of lots of small snippets of chopped up story. For some reason I have just made really slow progress here.
The Last of Us 2 - if/when I move on from 13 Sentinels, I think I’ll go back to the zombie well.
Vita
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - the next time I want handheld gaming, this is where I still plan to go.

>>>>>>>Planned Purchases -

Kena: Bridge of Spirits - still want this one.
Hades - I can’t keep from being curious about this, and it’s not very expensive, so it might be an impulse buy one day.
Gran Turismo 7 - I’m thinking that this is the only game coming up I’ll get on release. It’s still 4 months away so maybe I’m planning too far ahead. A lot can change in that timeframe but this is my plans for now.