Gaming Xbox Series X|S

[caid]

Everyone else was harsh on it so I just swerved it. Been enjoying must of their output for the last few years though, and come on, that's not a controversial take...

Yeah there's always a bit of hyperbole involved. I skipped ps4, so after years of hype around their library i was expecting more. I've probably over corrected a bit because all of them are somewhat flawed and merely good. Which is still good and there aren't that many great single player games around before you wind up playing Skyrim again.
I think From Software and Nintendo with Zelda have been the real AAA of recent years though. You buy these consoles for the 3rd party library and whichever your friends are on. Gamepass and Microsofts network are generally better and it costs less so i think its at least a competitive choice.

 

[b82REZ]

What isn’t true? The last page of the ps5 thread has people complaining about Horizon Zero Dawn. So many have said Tsushima was just another repetitive Assassin’s Creed type game, although the art direction does look nice. And I’ve named the ones I’d actually play if I had a ps5. I’m not interested in ‘denigrating Sony’. They do release polished and well made games, but they’re really just another game that we’ve seen before, with shinier graphics.

This isn’t another ps5 v Xbox argument though. It’s just the way games are at the moment, which is the point I’m making.

Zelda looks good, especially for nostalgia purposes, but personally I won’t be parting with hundreds of quid just to play one game (or two soon), although I was tempted to a while back. At least they pushed the boat out from what they’d done before with it.

Indie games are good at times but often lacking. Which ones in particular are you liking?

As for Xbox, as much as you try and denigrate it, personally was never particularly interested in the exclusives and bought it for Game Pass and vast majority of games that aren’t exclusive. So the generation is hardly borked for me from a console choice pov, and the many others that did the same. I do hope Starfield is great though, not because it’s an exclusive but because it will be right up my straße.

What’s borking this gen is the lack of quality third party games, especially AAA and AA. It’s been a poor show considering we’re nearly half way through the gen. To be fair I just want another GTA or Red Dead though.

So because a couple of posters on the Caf complained about Horizon that means gaming is dead? This is just conformation bias.

As afro said looking at aggregate sites gives a better overall impression, although even that's not fool proof (the user reviews being used to review bomb when a female character has peach fuzz for example).

Indie games fill the void left from the early 2000s when devs were given more room to be creative and try new things. While this happens on occasion in AAA, what we generally see is large publishers strangling the soul out of any semi popular franchise until they do become stale. That's the reason you see less exciting third party output, the days of an Activision putting out a THPS into an untested market doesn't exist anymore.

Spin it however you want, but three years into a console's cycle, to only have released 5(?) exclusives that have generally received a lukewarm reception is absolutely borking another generation. The difference this time is MS had more people onside due to GP and even that golden goose has started to shit out the odd turd instead of the dozens of golden eggs they were promised three years ago.

As the expectation for more realism in terms of gameplay and graphics continues to grow, you will see longer lead times on the big AAA titles (although that doesn't excuse the decade between GTA).

 

[b82REZ]

Wrong thread.

We don't talk about exclusives round here, mister.

 

[Sarni]

(although that doesn't excuse the decade between GTA).

Which will probably extend to about 15 years, if we see another GTA on this generation of consoles at all.

 

[b82REZ]

Which will probably extend to about 15 years, if we see another GTA on this generation of consoles at all.

6 will definitely appear this gen.

Also this gen isn't half done, the two years lost to COVID have had a huge impact.

 

[Sarni]

6 will definitely appear this gen.

Also this gen isn't half done, the two years lost to COVID have had a huge impact.

Yeah we were certain it was coming last gen. Though I am convinced it will this time, probably around 2027/28 towards the end of this generation’s cycle so there’s sufficient customer base, with swift re-release coming 2 or so years later for the following consoles.

 

[b82REZ]

Yeah we were certain it was coming last gen. Though I am convinced it will this time, probably around 2027/28 towards the end of this generation’s cycle so there’s sufficient customer base, with swift re-release coming 2 or so years later for the following consoles.

I knew it wasn't coming last gen, although I did expect it by now.

 

[VeevaVee]

So because a couple of posters on the Caf complained about Horizon that means gaming is dead? This is just conformation bias.

Not what I said at all.

And haven’t spun anything. You just can’t accept a reasoning.

I’ve already said Xbox have messed up exclusives but that I wasn’t interested in them anyway. Even with ps and Nintendo, decent exclusives make up a small percentage of games, hence why plenty of people choose Xbox for other reasons. And to them the gen isn’t bollocksed because of that, but for me the gen in general isn’t as good as I was hoping for.

As for reviews, again you’ve missed the point I was making in that games are very samey at the moment. Including the beloved exclusives.

 

[Drawfull]

Skill Up's review of Redfall is fun.

On a serious note, is Xbox as a console fecked going forward?

 

[Fully Fledged]

Not what I said at all.

And haven’t spun anything. You just can’t accept a reasoning.

I’ve already said Xbox have messed up exclusives but that I wasn’t interested in them anyway. Even with ps and Nintendo, decent exclusives make up a small percentage of games, hence why plenty of people choose Xbox for other reasons. And to them the gen isn’t bollocksed because of that, but for me the gen in general isn’t as good as I was hoping for.

As for reviews, again you’ve missed the point I was making in that games are very samey at the moment. Including the beloved exclusives.

I mainly play 3rd party games.
The Exclusives that I've been waiting for on Xbox are HB:II, Avowed, and Elder Scrolls 6. I know they are all medium to long term projects but I'm a patient man. I would rather they take their time with all of them and get them right than push them too soon. I said that About Redfall and now here we are.

 

[afrocentricity]

I feel that being XBox only might lead some to feel like gaming is stale, but it isn't. Consider, you aren't playing any of the Sony/Nintendo exclusives past or present, and if you only play what's on GP then that's a lot of mid tier stuff.

I'm not going to say anymore in this thread... but we can take it to the other one if y'all want to carry on making out I'm taking shit.

 

[VeevaVee]

I feel that being XBox only might lead some to feel like gaming is stale, but it isn't. Consider, you aren't playing any of the Sony/Nintendo exclusives past or present, and if you only play what's on GP then that's a lot of mid tier stuff.

I'm not going to say anymore in this thread... but we can take it to the other one if y'all want to carry on making out I'm taking shit.

Ps5 exclusives aren’t doing anything new at all

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Not from any AAA game developer. They're all dumpster fires.

Indie games are in a good place though. I tend to think sub services like gamepass, while they clearly ruin AAA games between the lack of revenue and encouraging devs to released unfinished products, they are conversely really good for indie devs.

The rise of indie games over the last 10-15 years has been brilliant for the industry however this simply isn't true.

Just this past year, we've had GoW and Elden Ring hailed as instant classics by all and sundry. The studios that made those games has been producing excellent stuff for a good while now. Naughty Dog has been consistently excellent for ages now. Rockstar gave us RDR2 not so long back. CDPR despite the torrid launch of CP 20177 (a brilliant, brilliant game) is probably my favourite game developer right now. I just played Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart which was really good. The Spiderman games were very good too (as was the Batman series before). What is Nier Automata - AAA or AA - exceptional game, one of the best of the last 10 years. RE4 Remake has everyone raving. RE7 was excellent. What about Nintendo and Zelda?

This is just recent stuff off the top of my head without thinking back beyond the last few years. I’m sure the list for the last decade would be huge.

Obviously indies / small studios are fantastic - the likes of Outer Wilds, Subnautica, Hotline Miami, Disco Elysium etc. but I think the likes of Ubisoft, EA and the online gaming scene (Fortnight) clouds people's judgement at times.

 

[Redlambs]

I admit I only saw the white text after my post but figured you would know not to take it too seriously, so couldn't be bothered to add in some of my own.

I know mate, the second line was throwing in some cheeky digs to some of this other lot

 

[Redlambs]

Yeah there's always a bit of hyperbole involved. I skipped ps4, so after years of hype around their library i was expecting more. I've probably over corrected a bit because all of them are somewhat flawed and merely good. Which is still good and there aren't that many great single player games around before you wind up playing Skyrim again.
I think From Software and Nintendo with Zelda have been the real AAA of recent years though. You buy these consoles for the 3rd party library and whichever your friends are on. Gamepass and Microsofts network are generally better and it costs less so i think its at least a competitive choice.

It always comes back to what we all know yet some really hate...Nintendo are the best, and the console wars will always be a fight for second place.

 

[hobbers]

The rise of indie games over the last 10-15 years has been brilliant for the industry however this simply isn't true.

Just this past year, we've had GoW and Elden Ring hailed as instant classics by all and sundry. The studios that made those games has been producing excellent stuff for a good while now. Naughty Dog has been consistently excellent for ages now. Rockstar gave us RDR2 not so long back. CDPR despite the torrid launch of CP 20177 (a brilliant, brilliant game) is probably my favourite game developer right now. I just played Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart which was really good. The Spiderman games were very good too (as was the Batman series before). What is Nier Automata - AAA or AA - exceptional game, one of the best of the last 10 years. RE4 Remake has everyone raving. RE7 was excellent. What about Nintendo and Zelda?

This is just recent stuff off the top of my head without thinking back beyond the last few years. I’m sure the list for the last decade would be huge.

Obviously indies / small studios are fantastic - the likes of Outer Wilds, Subnautica, Hotline Miami, Disco Elysium etc. but I think the likes of Ubisoft, EA and the online gaming scene (Fortnight) clouds people's judgement at times.

I wouldn't count FromSoftware as AAA. Yes there's no denying Sony have a firm grip on narrative games like GoW and TLOU thanks to a handful of good first party studios. RDR2 was 5 years ago, since then Rockstar have re-released GTA5 about 20 times and have spent the last few years perfecting in game transactions and monetisation. Cyberpunk was a mediocre game released in a pathetic state, only decent now after 3 years of updates.

Then we've had Forspoken from Square Enix. Redfall from Arkane. Everything from Ubisoft, EA, Xbox Game Studios and Activision.

 

[b82REZ]

I wouldn't count FromSoftware as AAA.

 

[afrocentricity]

I don't care what they are they made my Goty.

 

[Bosws87]

There due a great game I just don’t think it will be one the expected ones.

 

[afrocentricity]

There due a great game I just don’t think it will be one the expected ones.

The new Armoured Core looks good

 

[Damien]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

credit to era, where I stole the gif from

 

[Siorac]

I wouldn't count FromSoftware as AAA

Elden Ring cost about $200 million to make and made $9bn. That's as triple A as it gets. It was huge, it had a massive marketing campaign, it was eagerly anticipated.

 

[Ainu]

I wouldn't count FromSoftware as AAA. Yes there's no denying Sony have a firm grip on narrative games like GoW and TLOU thanks to a handful of good first party studios. RDR2 was 5 years ago, since then Rockstar have re-released GTA5 about 20 times and have spent the last few years perfecting in game transactions and monetisation. Cyberpunk was a mediocre game released in a pathetic state, only decent now after 3 years of updates.

Then we've had Forspoken from Square Enix. Redfall from Arkane. Everything from Ubisoft, EA, Xbox Game Studios and Activision.

Seriously, you can't call From Soft anything less than a AAA studio these days. They might not have been when they released Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, but they're a 350 strong studio these days, and they've delivered an enormous, industry-leading open-world title just last year.

Compare that to, say, Ember Lab, the studio behind the gorgeous Kena. Now, some might call this indie, but in my opinion Kena's production values are far beyond what could be considered indie, as it rivals (and indeed surpasses) many undisputed AAA titles in that area. Ember Lab had a team of 15 during that development, less than 5% the size of From Soft's work force. Just to put it into context.

 

[Redlambs]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

credit to era, where I stole the gif from

That is perfect.

 

[Massive Spanner]

Elden Ring cost about $200 million to make and made $9bn. That's as triple A as it gets. It was huge, it had a massive marketing campaign, it was eagerly anticipated.

Christ, $9bn? That’s insane. The video game industry dwarfs the movie industry now!

 

[Siorac]

Christ, $9bn? That’s insane. The video game industry dwarfs the movie industry now!

No, sorry, that's not true. It's probably closer to 'only' 1bn, I just got mixed up with other numbers.

 

[Herman Toothrot]

I see Redfall is getting pretty dreadful reviews. Has anyone downloaded it yet? I'm no expert, but wasn't it pretty obvious that this game was going to be rubbish from the moment it was previewed? I'm not sure if it's desperation for titles, but probably better to kill these games earlier.

 

[Vidyoyo]

I see Redfall is getting pretty dreadful reviews. Has anyone downloaded it yet? I'm no expert, but wasn't it pretty obvious that this game was going to be rubbish from the moment it was previewed? I'm not sure if it's desperation for titles, but probably better to kill these games earlier.

No I haven't played it but I did look at a couple of metacritic reviews, which is the same thing right?

 

[Herman Toothrot]

No I haven't played it but I did look at a couple of metacritic reviews, which is the same thing right?

No, that's not what I asked.

 

[hobbers]

I see Redfall is getting pretty dreadful reviews. Has anyone downloaded it yet? I'm no expert, but wasn't it pretty obvious that this game was going to be rubbish from the moment it was previewed? I'm not sure if it's desperation for titles, but probably better to kill these games earlier.

I dont think anyone could have predicted just how cheap and nasty the final product is. Plus having such piss poor AI in a coop shooter is insane really, given that enemy AI always makes or breaks any coop shooter.

 

[Vidyoyo]

No, that's not what I asked.

You're right. I thought it looked crap when they previewed it but I don't like Arkane so it was never on my radar.

 

[Herman Toothrot]

I dont think anyone could have predicted just how cheap and nasty the final product is. Plus having such piss poor AI in a coop shooter is insane really, given that enemy AI always makes or breaks any coop shooter.

It certainly looked cheap and nasty at the Xbox and Bethesda Showcase last year, it doesn't look any different now. I know graphics aren't everything, but doesn't sound like the gameplay is anything either. Think I'll not bother wasting the HD space.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Graphically Redfall looked bland and hollow and gameplay wise looked like your typical generic shooter.

I have found the review videos funny though. The game looks like a complete disaster.

 

[Alock1]

They've found no balance at all in studio management. In the past they were clearly too hands on and interfering, but now they seem to have gone too far with a hands off approach.

Redfall was always going to be a tough sell. The studio skillset and experience just didn't match well with the ambition. And the ambition itself was for a genre that has fallen off a cliff in recent years.

But there's really no excuse for MS letting it release in the state its in. I presume they just wanted to get it over and done with and take a hit, hoping it'll be largely forgotten if Starfield, Forza and maybe something like Hellblade can land well in the near future.

Afro talking about metacritic but Xbox issue has been quantity more than quality for the most part. Hifi Rush, Grounded, Forza Horizon, Flight Sim, Wasteland 3, Psychonauts, Halo Infinite, AoE, Gears Tactics, Pentiment were all received well. Deathloop too even though it was PS5 timed exclusive.

I still think Activision will get done but I don't think it's bad for Xbox if it doesn't. They have enough studios to have great first party output but need to do better. Acti seems to be a distraction.

 

[Redlambs]

It's almost as if someone has been telling you for over 10 years now that MS just don't seem to understand how to manage video game development teams well and next year isn't the year they get it right...'la.

As for the Activision deal, I'm highly amused at brushing off the biggest deal ever for MS and in gaming as a "distraction" just in case it doesn't go ahead

 

[Redlambs]

Totally fecking uncalled for

Sorry brother, sometimes I just can't help myself!

 

[Volumiza]

Sorry brother, sometimes I just can't help myself!

It’s ok, was funny dude.

 

[Fully Fledged]

Just watching this.

 

[afrocentricity]

He looks like he's put on 20 years ffs

 

[hobbers]

Redfall failing is a tragedy for everybody because they took a risk on something new and failed? Hah. No.

Redfall didn't have any new or original ideas, it's a coop PVE looter shooter which failed at every single copied element. What a clown.