Topic: The PS4 breakdown - has it been the best console ever? Discussion and Banter. Everyone Welcome.

I had a 360 last gen and on this I played some truly great games including Skyrim and GTA V. The two best open world games ever!

Then this gen hit and both games were topped by The Witcher 3 and Red Dead Redemption 2 respectively.

But wait, both those games I could've played on the Xbox One do why make the change?

Three words. Horizon. Zero. Dawn.

In late 2016 I realised I was missing out next gen titles like Arkham Knight and AC Syndicate so thought it was time to upgrade. I wasn't sure which way to go. The logical thing to do was to stick with what I knew but most people were talking about the PS4 plus I had heard good things about the remasters of the Uncharted games and The Last of Us. Then I saw a trailer for Horizon and was immediately hooked. I had to play that game! Dinosaurs meets Transformers with a red-haired woman kicking ass? Sign me up!

And so I turned Blue this gen and I haven't regretted it one bit. So many great gaming experiences but this year alone I've played and finished Days Gone, Persona 5, Death Stranding and The Last of Us Part II. That's quite the list!

Some people sneer at third person games but that's my jam, I like to feel like I'm aging a film or TV show. Getting involved in the story, caring for characters, being blown away by Hollywood style spectacle whilst being gobsmacked by Oscar worthy acting and writing. I don't generally like 'gamey' games, you know the sort that people think are for kids. I like good story telling and this gen has given me what I like and in spades!

So for me it probably is the best console of all time. I played on the early Nintendo's and Sega systems but I don't feel any nostalgia for these as retro gaming doesn't do anything for me.

2D Mario or Arthur Morgan? It's no contest as far as I'm concerned.

Next gen? I'm not sure if it can be topped. There are worrying signs that developers are going to abandon the types of pure sp experiences that I enjoy. Sony will still put out great sp games, of that I have no doubt, but will that be enough? Time will tell. In the meantime, despite the noisy fan, there is life in the old dog yet and I still have Ghost of Tsushima to play which is, by all accounts, another Sony gem.

They really have been spoiling us!

😜

I keep meaning to post in here so I’ll jot some thoughts before I forget again.

Overall, I think it’s been pretty great. I think comparing consoles is difficult as life changes so much between each gen, let alone trying to compare anything to do with the consoles themselves. PS3 was a huge chunk of my time at uni where I had most free time but less cash so played games to death. Now I can get more games but have less time to play so choose games carefully (but have a backlog for the first time ever).

General thoughts on this gen;

Content sharing was something I never thought would be something I used as much as I have. I remember scoffing at the idea of the share button when it was announced but it is a great feature.

The ever increasing digital library is also something I didn’t think would happen for me. Buying games through the online store also seemed a ripoff to me but now I’m less likely to buy games at launch, there are some great deals to be had and I haven’t bought a physical disc in over a year.

That also ties in to the increasing nature of games as a service and also constant updates, DLC etc. This started last gen but is more prominent now and is one of the reasons I hold off buying games at launch as constant tweaks, updates, and extra content is constantly dropped so that you can feel left out as an early adopter now.

PS+ has also evolved significantly this gen but not necessarily for the better. It’s now Sony’s cash cow after putting all online play behind it but the free games don’t seem as good to me, the range of games is less, and the price only ever goes up.

Remakes and remasters also started last gen but that nostalgia hit only seems to be getting more common. There’s probably a combo of people who grew up with those games now being the ones who will pay for them, a lack of backwards compatibility, but also the desire to not have such complicated epic games that AAA development now seems to be focused on.

So overall I think it’s been great but the desire for games to constantly want to be bigger and better means that I struggle to play everything I want to and that games become a bit more homogenous. It takes a developer willing to take risks or a clever little indie game to fill the gap to keep things interesting for me.