Conversations on the Xbox 360 and its library.

[strangenova]

I gotta ask. What is wrong with Oblivion?

[Xeogred]

I totally agree with you about the love/hate relationship with the 360, but for me, it's more bullshit reasons than yours. What yall gotta remember is that that generation and my high school years started at the same time; the Xbox 360 came out my 8th grade year, the PS3 and Wii my freshman year. As I'm sure everyone is aware, middle schoolers and high school freshmen are fucking stupid. While today I'm a firm believer in mutliplatform play, back then, I was a hardcore Nintendo fanboy. I hated Playstation for how badly the PS2 beat out the Gamecube, and I hated Microsoft for how badly the Xbox 360 was beating out the Wii (among actual gamers, not pure hardware sales). I hated both the 360 and PS3 for getting multiplats that the Wii either got shit versions of or no versions at all. Rationally, I understood why those things happened (though it did and still does baffle me why so many gamers are so resistant to the Wii's and Wii U's gameplay-innovation-over-hardware-specs approach), but at 14 years old, you don't really rely on rationality as opposed to short fuze emotions, especially when you're as passionate about gaming as I've always been.

Interesting to bring up loyalty here. Maybe you could say I was "confused" during this gen. I grew up a Nintendo fanboy myself, for years even called videogames "Nintendo games". All my friends back in the day had the Genesis, when I was the one kid with the SNES. Then the N64 hit which, is probably as equally weird as the 360 when I look back on it, basically I haven't touched my N64 in probably over 10 years, at the least. Over the N64's liftetime I was getting heavily into emulation as well and discovered JRPG's. It didn't take long to hear everyone at school talking about FF7, and I had a good friend who had all the PSX hits back then from FF7, to MGS, to RE2, etc. It was mindblowing seeing FMV's, hearing CD quality audio, etc, at the time compared to what the N64 could do. So the interest was growing and when the PS2 hit, my dad got one for the family, which basically ended up being mine. Prior to this I let a friend borrow my N64 for his PSX for quite a long time and I almost didn't miss it, haha.

FPS's were something I always loved and always had to hide, since my dad was hard on the M rating crap. But I played Doom, Half-Life, etc as a kid. I guess this is where the interest in Halo stemmed, and the local multiplayer and co-op was absolutely amazing. It was literally one of my favorite games ever at the time and I thought the Xbox was cool. Had to get it.

The GCN in comparison didn't do much for me. I hated Sunshine, I don't hate Wind Waker but it's my least favorite 3D Zelda, and none of the exclusives, or the controller, interested me. Metroid Prime and RE4 blew my mind though. Then and now, it's my least favorite Nintendo console by quite a bit. So my "loyalty" started to shift a lot. It never had anything to do with me being an angst teen and thinking they were too kiddie at the time, but I literally wasn't interested in much going on here.

I got the Wii at midnight launch and liked it a lot more than the Gamecube, but still wasn't super sold on the motion controls or always in the mood. I still haven't given the Wii much time, but I really do like it more and more as time goes on. It's in a Sega Saturn like state for me, I know there's tons of great gems to uncover, I just haven't tapped it much.

So I followed Halo and the rest of the world to the 360 I guess. The PS3 was too expensive and some of the first party stuff they had out the door didn't interest me, which is a bit strange since it's like I forgot how much I love Metal Gear Solid haha, didn't pay much attention to 4 when it was being developed I guess.

Today, I love my 360 and probably have more games for it than I do my PS3 (given the higher supply and lower current demand for 360 games vs PS3 games in the US leading to low prices), but I held such vitriol for the system during such formative years that I'll probably always have just a hint of that bad aftertaste, so to speak, in my mouth for the system.

I can't be sure (given the legitimate bullshit at its official unveiling and the relative lack of exclusives or good performance on multiplats), but I suspect that my subconscious prejudice regarding the 360 has probably colored my view of the Xbox One...

...online multiplayer - but it feels like online play is, in large part, what cost gaming its soul.

Maybe I'm just too emotionally invested in the medium, and maybe I'm just turning into a crotchety old man with regards to the inevitable changes in the medium, but I can't help but see the Xbox 360 as the real launching point for the changes that turned the medium into something I feel like it shouldn't become. There we go. I'll shut up now and let someone else speak.

/endsermon

Chopped this up a little. I guess what I'm building up to with your points here and my history lesson above, is that let me just admit to being a mega Playstation fan in 2016. The math finally added up. The N64 hasn't been out in over a decade, but what has been? My big PSX collection that I regularly play. PSX vs N64 isn't even comparison for me. Then there's the destructive force of the PS2's library, it's more than double the size of my Xbox and GC collection combined. Then there's how hard the PS3 sunk its anchors into me and it was game over... the PSX, PS2, and PS3 at the time of their releases were secondary consoles to me, but the test of time has proven otherwise so I finally knew that the PS4 was the right choice from the get go. And I definitely don't regret it at all.

All that said, it's still the games that really dictate my loyalty and where I go. But with the Playstation consoles, the numbers start to build up... and never stop.

I do place a lot of blame on the medium changes against Xbox as well. Could probably go on forever about that I guess but you covered some of it. To me it just makes sense, they really did change things up and not really for the best.

I feel no shame in saying I have zero interest in the One, when I still value my Xbox, and there's still a lot of 360 stuff I'll probably get someday. But well 343 killed Halo for me (I was getting tired of it either way), and that's... it? I can play all the other multiplatform releases elsewhere, on PC or the PS4 where I get tons of other exclusive options there as well that I actually care about. I'm not out to hate or destroy the Xbox One or anything, but there is literally nothing interesting about it to me. And frankly I'm of the camp that would like more exclusives on all sides as that brings out the best of each platform, but I guess MS doesn't care.

Luckily Nintendo has kind of revived multiplayer a bit for me and some of my friends. I guess if there's a future family time for me hopefully I can get them into it too for some fun. Gaming will always be more of a solo thing for me, but yeah it's indeed depressing how multiplayer is a bit of a lost art. Online gaming has always felt a bit sterile and isn't something I get that into or want to commit to.

[Xeogred]

Reading back through the comments, I'm guessing people will probably think that I have a mental illness when I say that Dead Rising 3 was the main impetus behind me buying an Xbone and the fourth game along State of Decay sequel are a few of the only things that are keeping me from abandoning the platform completely for PS4.

Haha, I don't know if I set off the chain reaction or what, but I figure I'm in the minority in not liking the series. I had some friends that were super into them.

[Sarge]

For me, even if the 360 was preferred for more breadth of titles, and definitely has the stronger overall library compared to Wii, the number of top-tier, must-play games on Wii very much outclassed the 360 and the PS3 in my mind.

If we drop back a generation, the PS2 fares much better, since it got all the RPGs for the most part, and despite some great Nintendo fare, the GC is probably one of the weaker systems as far as their output.

You're right about one thing: N64 and PSX isn't even a contest. The N64 may be my least-used major console. PSX had all the good RPGs, so that's where I did most of my gaming at the time, barring some of the better games like Paper Mario, Zelda, or Ogre Battle.

[Exhuminator]

I gotta ask. What is wrong with Oblivion?

Talking about the vanilla version on the 360...

Not a fan of auto-leveling enemies. Made leveling up feel kinda pointless. Fighting bandits in glass armor was just dumb. Boring generic fantasy world with no distinct personality. The plot was milquetoast and uninteresting. Side quests were bland. Overall structure of the game became very repetitive (basically just search and destroy Oblivion gates). Human NPCs looked inbred. And worst of all, Oblivion gave birth to one of gaming's first utterly pointless monetized DLC:

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/horse-armor

Which was a crime against humanity in and of itself.

Oblivion played everything disgustingly safe and was the opposite of the far superior Morrowind.

[Gunstar Green]

I have a hard time seeing the Elder Scrolls games as anything other than PC games. I just don't think I could handle them on console.

[ElkinFencer10]

I'm going to be responding to a couple of different people, and forgive me for not quoting directly, but I've spent all day packing and moving houses, so I'm a bit tired.

Anyway, to piggy back on what Exhuminator-senpai said about Oblivion, I agree that I never cared for Oblivion, and for me it was the story. I fully admit that I never game Oblivion more than a few hours, so it's entirely possible that I just didn't invest enough time, but I also played Skyrim before Oblivion (I was Super Captain Late to the Game on Elder Scrolls), so Oblivion just felt...meh....to me. It's also why I've hesitated playing Morrowind - my hardcore TES buddies tell me that Morrowind is among the best in the series (most either say it's #1 or #2 after Skyrim), so I'm trying to make sure I don't play it until I'm really and truly in the mood for it so I don't go into it expecting a graphically inferior Skyrim.

As for Xeogred, just speaking your point about 343 (I totally agree, btw), they royally fucked Halo 4, but Halo 5 was okay. It wasn't great, and even Bungie's WORST effort is better, but Halo 5 wasn't bad. It's to Halo what Ghosts' campaign was to CoD - it's okay. It's a huge step up from Halo 4. I'd say that, if you've got buddy with an Xbone, pop a squat at his place for a day or two and play through Halo 5 just once.

[Exhuminator]

my hardcore TES buddies tell me that Morrowind is among the best in the series

Morrowind is the opposite of Oblivion. Definitely give it a fair shake.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Xbox 360

Got it for the RPGs, shmups, and compilations.

It's treated me well and I play it from time to time. Doesn't get as much love as my retro consoles, but that's expected.

I have 44 games with Deathsmiles and Lost Odyssey being my favorites. But my most played? Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection.

[Xeogred]

So to renew my interest, what are some good exclusives, compilations, and shmups on the 360? And I hope these shmups everyone talks about are physical releases for the most part. I guess on the plus side like the Xbox, the 360 looks like it'll be relatively cheap to collect for for quite sometime.