Random Gaming Thoughts

[Raging Justice]

A few little improvements in FPS, resolution, and load times don't matter compared to what you're losing. In fact, nothing about the PS5 feels "next gen". It's a small, incremental jump forward in terms of technology and still nowhere even close to the PC market and that's coming from someone who is not even a PC gamer.

This is due in part to the fact that there are so few PS5 exclusives. If you look at the fact that it can do ray-tracing and the insanely fast loading from those engineered SSDs that sort of gives it the cross-over into next-gen. But that's going to have to be something that developers can capitalize on. For 4k gamers who want fast action at 120 fps, no, ray tracing is not going to happen. But also, nothing that looks a ton better than the PS4, either. It definitely beats the PC market for the price, however. And that's what the console market has been for the past few generations. It's not about beating the PC market in graphics. There's always someone willing to spend $1600+ on a gaming PC that will run the latest and greatest. But the fact that a $500 PS5 can, at least in many ways, match a $1500 gaming PC isn't bad at all. That's a reasonable target, IMO.

This does raise a question about what Next Gen means any more. We're at the point where the only fundamentally new graphics tech on the market is ray tracing. Otherwise it's about higher quality textures and increasing resolution. Cyberpunk was considered truly next gen when it dropped (despite being horribly broken). The fact that it's now very playable on the PS5 and Xbox serX is a pretty good indication that those consoles are Next Gen at their core. But capitalizing on that is going to be a job for AAA studios with massive budgets and incentives not to simply pander to the existing PS4 user base.

I think the only thing "next gen" in gaming right now is VR, but there doesn't seem to be much of a market for it unfortunately, at least not on consoles. After video games went "high definition", I have felt like technology in gaming hasn't really improved in any dramatic way...until I played some Playstation VR games. VR literally changes the way you experience video games in a way that I can only compare to the paradigm shift that was going from 2d gaming in the 16-bit era to 3d gaming in the 32 bit era.

[marurun]

The problem with that is that VR still has a lot of restrictions unrelated to graphics tech: you have to have open space available to move around in, you have to wear a bunch of crap on your face, and you have to be very deliberate about design to avoid giving your audience motion sickness. I do think ray-tracing and eliminating loading times (or at least minimizing them dramatically) is a good start to this gen. And I still think the biggest problem is that we don't have very many good examples of it at all.

Some of what's hurting this is that the PC gaming space and the console space are closer together, not just technologically but in terms of game variety and availability, than ever before. PCs also used to have clear generation delineations. CGA/EGA to VGA, VGA to SVGA and CD-ROM drives, introduction of 3D acceleration... But after that it was a much more linear slide. PC gaming has been advancing for like 30 years now at a more gradual pace, without big steps in fundamental and widespread tech. And the console space is basically a static point on that curve. In this case, the bang for the buck is really in the consoles' favor, and they are dramatically more powerful than the last generation. But almost no studios are really capturing that. I think once we get more exclusives out the door we'll start to be able to compare better to the last console generation and it will be more obvious.

[Raging Justice]

So has anyone ever got a nice, brand new controller only to find themselves playing WORSE?

I got a new PS 4 controller, just a standard controller like what I using before, the only difference being color. Logically, you'd think you'd play better with a new controller. However, I guess I got used to how worn down and loose the buttons and analog were on my old controller. The stiffer, tighter, controls on my new one are actually throwing me off and I'm screwing up a lot more in the game I'm currently playing.

[RCBH928]

So I finally completed Serious Sam. I had big hopes but nothing feels special about it, totally skippable. I am going to guess it turned heads at launch due to graphics. I still plan to play the sequel but is there any reason to play the 3rd or 4th game or its just more of the same thing?

So has anyone ever got a nice, brand new controller only to find themselves playing WORSE

Those buttons could really take a beating. Controllers from SNES days still work which leads me to believe that if "they" wanted to make something unbreakable they can, they just want things to break to rebuy again (wears tinfoil hat)

[MrPopo]

So I finally completed Serious Sam. I had big hopes but nothing feels special about it, totally skippable. I am going to guess it turned heads at launch due to graphics. I still plan to play the sequel but is there any reason to play the 3rd or 4th game or its just more of the same thing?

There were two main selling points to Serious Sam at the time. The first was the fact that it was bringing back the unrealistic "shoot lots of dudes on the run with fantastic guns" gameplay from games like Doom and Quake. At the time it released pretty much everyone had switched to the more realistic modern shooter model. The second was how big the environments were and how many enemies they tossed into those environments.

In terms of the follow up games, Serious Sam 2 is a major departure tonally, and the devs seem to have decided that it probably is no longer canon. The third and fourth games do a much better job of taking the original game and updating it with new tech. But if you weren't really grabbed by the first game you won't find the third and fourth games any more engaging, to be honest.

[RCBH928]

There were two main selling points to Serious Sam at the time. The first was the fact that it was bringing back the unrealistic "shoot lots of dudes on the run with fantastic guns" gameplay from games like Doom and Quake. At the time it released pretty much everyone had switched to the more realistic modern shooter model. The second was how big the environments were and how many enemies they tossed into those environments.

In terms of the follow up games, Serious Sam 2 is a major departure tonally, and the devs seem to have decided that it probably is no longer canon. The third and fourth games do a much better job of taking the original game and updating it with new tech. But if you weren't really grabbed by the first game you won't find the third and fourth games any more engaging, to be honest.

I see now, then they were not wrong it does deliver what it says. I didn't know the realistic shooter model was the standard by 2001. Actually I am pretty fuzzy on the FPS genre in that era. I guess its supposed to be the first "doom clone" in 3D space which makes sense. I know Quake was 3D but it didn't have the mass enemies effect of Doom.

I don't see the big environments as an attraction. Your finger hurts from pressing forward for a long time. Lots of empty space and wasted time. Graphics wise maybe it was impressive at the time but gameplay wise I do not enjoy wondering empty spaces.

[Ziggy]

So has anyone ever got a nice, brand new controller only to find themselves playing WORSE?

I got a new PS 4 controller, just a standard controller like what I using before, the only difference being color. Logically, you'd think you'd play better with a new controller. However, I guess I got used to how worn down and loose the buttons and analog were on my old controller. The stiffer, tighter, controls on my new one are actually throwing me off and I'm screwing up a lot more in the game I'm currently playing.

My PS4 controller probably still feels new due to how little I've used it.

But now that you mention it, I think a new PS4 controller feels rather stiff and tight compared to other controllers.

I usually have the opposite problem. Using a really worn out controller, then swapping to a new one or swapping the membrane pads and realizing how mushy of a controller I was using. My most used SNES controller was so mushy. I bought a new membrane pad set for it, but I only replaced the start and select buttons since those were the only ones having an issue. But then the D-Pad started making noises like...



...so I finally replaced all of the membrane pads. Now all of the buttons feel so much tighter and snappier. They have a satisfying click to them again.

[RCBH928]

I started playing Serious Sam 2. This one already feels better. Guns more interesting, level design more interesting. You can notice how the first one was the developer's first attempt and the second how they kind of developed and improved on their work.

[MrPopo]

For clarity's sake, are you playing Second Encounter or 2?

[RCBH928]

For clarity's sake, are you playing Second Encounter or 2?

eeekk...there is a 2? I am playing Second Encounter. I thought is was officially "2". Apologies for the confusion