How do you feel about the PS4/Xbox One generation of games?

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I was just thinking with E3 and various other gaming showcases on the horizon. I was wondering how everyone felt about the PS4/Xbox One generation of games in terms of quality, storytelling, is it better or worse then the PS3/360 generation, has there been more or less standout games, what games will stick with you years from now etc?
 
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ive owned both the xbox one and ps4. i loved my ps4, it had some great games.. for me it mainly came down to exclusives as to why i stuck with the ps4 and sold my xbox one.

comparing last gen to the xbox360/ps3 era. i think the ps3/xbox360 era had a more even amount of exclusive AAA games while the ps4 had a better selection last gen? i think games are getting better but we are getting less of them.. i would definitely say last gen was better then the xbox360/ps3 era.

on the xbox one, i would say sunset overdrive stood out for me. while on the ps4, nearly every exclusive title was awesome. on the ps4, the last game i played.. i would say the last of us 2 really took it up to another level with the gameplay and graphics.
 
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This gen was ok I would say. Nothing groundbreaking though. Too many forced open world games that were not necessary.Not everything needs to be open world. Especially some Story driven games. Tech Wise the gen was ok. I was not overly impressed but it was ok.

I had few surprises in it of course as well. Shenmue 3 was the biggest suprise. The Resident Evil Games 7, RE2R and RE3 Remake was also postive suprise. The comeback of Sakura was was also surprise for sure but a welcome one.

But in generel this gen did not had the same impact on me as did the 5 and 6 gen. Tons of alltime classics were borrn in that time frame. Games I can play again and again.

Neither the PS3/360 nor the XboxOne/PS4 era had the same effect on me. Besides Shenmue 3 which I will keep playing again and again in the future all the other games have been forgetable. I had some fun with some games last gen not gonna ly but I will never touch them again. They had no profound effect on me.
 
Lots of good games but not as many as I was expecting compared to previous gen. The most disappointing things I suppose have been Sonic being dead, Halo being dead, GTA going retarded with awful focus on online nonsense. That said, there’s been a lot of good where I haven’t expected it, like Nier getting much more popular, new No More Heroes games, Yakuza escaping death, smaller devs making things like Senran Kagura(though Sony of California seems to want to destroy it). Overall I guess it just really depends on your perspective and individual tastes, even where you are in life tbh.
 
I posted something in another thread which revealed I played far less games this generations than previous. Main reason for this was:

  • Franchises I would have purchased took a dramatic drop in quality as they moved to open world or monetary games; Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon being immediate examples.
  • Very little middle ground games - Everyone was trying to be AAA and smaller games I used to play like the Conflict series, Tenchu and a few others are just existent.
  • Sport Games - For the first time since 1998 I skipped out on a football game (the latest release). Used to play NBA games but they were just rammed with micros-transactions. Also haven't bothered with the NHL or NFL games as they've only been released by EA this generation.
  • WWE Games - Started to take themselves too seriously and the quality of their games took such a massive drop.
With that said, some of my favourite games were released this generation just gone; The Witcher, Persona 5, God of War, The Last of Us 2, Zelda BOTW and more.
 
one good thing only sticking with one console throughout a console generation, is that when everything gets cheap you can get the rival console and then you have a large collection of cheap, good games you can play.

even though it's almost dead, i'm currently thinking about getting a base model xbox one for this reason. ( i dont think i can justify buying a xbox series x & ps5)
 
one good thing only sticking with one console throughout a console generation, is that when everything gets cheap you can get the rival console and then you have a large collection of cheap, good games you can play.

even though it's almost dead, i'm currently thinking about getting a base model xbox one for this reason. ( i dont think i can justify buying a xbox series x & ps5)
I got a PS3 late into its life cycle and loved all the cheap exclusives that were available to me.
 
I have enjoyed my PS4 pro and it's wonderful games but it does seem like to me that there was less amount of games that I wanted to play compared to the PS3. Maybe it's just that I'm getting older I'll be 33 this month and I don't feel like sinking hours upon hours into games anymore unless they're incredible.

Like I enjoyed Persona 5 beat it once and haven't gone back to it since. It's the story of that game that kept me going not those bullshit dungeons. I wish I could just skip the dungeons all together.


Spider-Man is fantastic.

Shenmue was everything I expected and wanted out of a sequel.

Uncharted 4 was a lovely ending to the franchise. Lost Legacy was a nice bonus.

Horizon is simply put wonderful.

Oxenfree was a nice small game. I got the best good ending on my playthrough and have no desire to go back hope the sequel comes to PlayStation.

Last Of Us 2 was my most anticipated game aside from Shenmue and I haven't been more disappointed in a game. Still will check out the sequel mainly cause of where Ellie is and what she's been up to since 2.

The Last Guardian was a extremely underrated gem.

No Man's Sky is my ultimate chill game I pop it in from time to time and explore the universe.

Abzu was fun for what it is same with the pathless.

Detroit was incredible Ghost was phenomenal.

Even more so I'm more cautious about what games will I know for a fact interest me. Lately I've been drifting to smaller and smaller games though that may be a case of nothing catching my eye lately. I'm looking forward to Lost Judgment and am fingers crossed for Life Is Strange True Colors and Open Roads.
 
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I have about 60 games for my PS4, which is the largest collection I’ve had for any console I’ve ever owned. Even with my PS5 I only play PS4 games. I’m not THAT huge of a gamer to give an opinion on whether that was the greatest console generation or not, but I loved a hell of a lot of games from that system and continue to do so.
 
I think I slightly prefer the 8th gen to 7th gen.

While there's only a handful of true 8th gen games I've really enjoyed (Breath of the Wild, Shenmue 3, Spider-Man, Ghost of Tsushima, Resident Evil 2 & 3), I can also play my 7th gen favourites in their best possible form thanks to all the remasters we got out of it (Uncharted trilogy, The Last of Us 1, Tomb Raider 2013, Resident Evil 5, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition). Plus it's the generation that finally gave me Shenmue 1 & 2 HD and Shenmue 3. 😊
 
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I think I prefer it to the 360/PS3 generation if only for the tech improvements. Going back to some old games that run at 720p, sub 30fps and with screen tearing to boot, is rough.

I do miss the AA games of that generation though. Things like Binary Domain, Splatterhouse, Sega Rally, Condemned, Spec Ops The Line etc....

Personally I think things are great at the moment with all the backwards compatibility. A game like VF Final Showdown running on PS5 , day and date with it's host format and not having to buy a new controller is wonderful.
 
The Xbox One/PS4 are both full of cash grab titles as that seems to be what majority of games are, it is a business first and art second within the industry. While older console gens had a better selection of titles, nothing was truly amazing or a must experience piece of art with depth and life changing implications the way that some Xbox One/PS4 titles are. If you set aside Shenmue 1 and 2, what games from the 360/PS3 gen and earlier are really at any level of deep story telling? For one, the graphics are so bad you can't even connect with the characters in most older gen titles, the voice acting is usually bad too in most cases. I look at pre-XB1/PS4 era gaming as being a great hobby for gamers and people who enjoy the entertainment of video games, but starting with the XB1/PS4(or possibly the last year of PS3/XB360) gaming as a whole can finally be taken seriously as a real means of art and something deeper than just an entertainment outlet. The sales numbers show that people who never bothered with video games in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s started getting into games in the early 2010's(unless you count Wii Sports or Sports Champions and other entertainment only titles that pulled people in with the Wii and PS3 motion controls). I'd say if you're looking for depth, substance, spiritual experience, great story telling and the ability to connect to the art: XB1/PS4 generation and current gen only in most cases with rare exceptions like Shenmue 1 and 2 where Yu Suzuki was waaaaaaay ahead of his time. For a variety of pure mindless entertainment and experimental gaming experiences that don't go too deep in story telling but were blazing the trail for what was to come: OG Xbox/PS2/Dreamcast era and older. Xbox 360/PS3 was the staple generation where gaming hadn't really come into it's own yet, but you could see the writing on the wall and the direction it was starting to head in. With Series XS/PS5 we finally have arrived at the first game console generation that can fully feel like a real life experience due to the graphics, controls and overall raw power of the new machines. XB1/PS4 was a great host for some deeper meaning titles and was also able to foster backwards compatibility of older games like Shenmue 1/2 with smoother textures and framerates.

Games from the XB1/PS4 gen that will stick with me years from now:

Shenmue 1/2 port
Shenmue 3
Mortal Kombat 11
Mortal Kombat X
Mortal Kombat 9(I know it's 360/PS3 era, but its tail end of that gen and feels more last gen than retro)
Ghost of Tsushima
Tomb Raider 2013
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
to a much lesser more entertainment based, yet not shallow due to its social commentary degree: GTA 5

When I think about true masterpiece level games with depth that stick with me on a deeper level than just nostalgia from the pre-XB1/PS4 gen it's simple: Shenmue 1 for Dreamcast and Shenmue 2 for OG Xbox. That's basically it.
 
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Games from the XB1/PS4 gen that will stick with me years from now:

Shenmue 1/2 port
Shenmue 3
Mortal Kombat 11
Mortal Kombat X
Mortal Kombat 9(I know it's 360/PS3 era, but its tail end of that gen and feels more last gen than retro)
Ghost of Tsushima
Tomb Raider 2013
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
to a much lesser more entertainment based, yet not shallow due to its social commentary degree: GTA 5

When I think about true masterpiece level games with depth that stick with me on a deeper level than just nostalgia from the pre-XB1/PS4 gen it's simple: Shenmue 1 for Dreamcast and Shenmue 2 for OG Xbox. That's basically it.
i agree about the shenmue 1/2 port. gotta be the best deal for us fans. before you would have to buy a dreamcast console and both copies of the games, if you wanted to play them.. and that could of easily set you back £85-100 on ebay.

the port seems to also had an effect on prices of the original games ( instead of £45/50, they are around £25each) which is good for collectors.
 
Shenmue 1 & 2 (PS4, Xbox One) is pretty much the definitive version, at least for me.

I mean sure, you get a weird letterboxing of the cutscenes in Shenmue 2 which sucks arse through a coffee straw, but you also get dual dubbing options, crisper visuals, analogue stick movement, faster loading, a better Shenmue 1 save system, trophies, and accessibility on current gen.

I still have my Dreamcast copies, but sometimes I wonder why I still have them because I'll never revisit them after the improvements the PS4 port made.
 
As the only titles I've ever purchased/seriously-played for the past 2 gens are the RGG/Yakuza titles (and one-offs in 'mue 3 for PS4 and Binary Domain for PS3), I would have to compare the series on both gens.

Kenzan!
3
4
Dead Souls
5
Ishin!
0
Binary Domain

Those are a bunch of great titles, with the weakest being 4 and Dead Souls. The jump in graphic quality from Kenzan! to 0 was fairly marked and the gameplay did expand quite a bit, from being confined to two smaller locations (and a few one-off locations, in Kenzan! and 3), to multiple, larger locations, with umpteenth amounts of things to do. Binary Domain was a super title and you could see what RGG Studios was trying to do, with the voice command system (which I think would work without a hitch, on current-gen hardware).

0
Ishin! (don't own it/never played it on PS4)
6
Kiwami 2
HGG
Judge Eyes
RGG7
'mue 3

Things expanded even more in terms of size, scope and things to do, gameplay-wise, with a sharp uptick in graphics and fidelity. YS Net got a lot out of the engine for what they were trying to accomplish and this seemed like more a of a, "polish," generation, than an experimental one, like with the PS3 titles.

For that reason, I would say I enjoyed this past gen, more than I did the previous gen, despite the previous gen having 2 of my 10 favourite Sega games of all time (3 and 5) and the latter gen only having 1 of my 10 favourite Sega games of all time (6). You could more-immerse yourself into this past gen, whereas the previous gen still saw a learning curve, in terms of innovation and breaking ground on what games were capable of and what the future held for development potential.

And 'mue 3 was just a wonderful experience, that maybe only Yakuza 3 could compare to, for me personally (about on-par with 5 and 6 or just a bit more-enjoyable than 5 and 6), which I don't think would have been fully-capable on PS3 (IMO, but I may be wrong).

So yes, in the end, I feel quite content with the titles from this past gen (8) and prefer it to the previous one (7).
 
Having a brief look through both generations here are among m favourites:

PS3/360
Bioshock
Catherine
Dead Space
Fallout 3
Final Fantasy XIII
Heavy Rain
The Last of Us
Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom
Metal Gear Solid 4
NieR
Siren Blood Curse
Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed
Uncharted 2
Fable II (360)
Lost Odyssey (360)
Left 4 Dead 1 & 2 (360)

PS4
Alien Isolation
Death Stranding
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Gravity Rush: Remastered
Kingdom Hearts III
Last Guardian, The
Life Is Strange
Resident Evil VII (+ The 10 other RE games I have on the system 0HD,1RHD 2R, 3R, 4HD, 5HD, 6HD, Village + Rev 1 & 2)
Rocket League (Before they changed the rules in 2018 and ruined it!)
Shenmue III
State of Mind
Until Dawn
Wolfenstein: The New Order
World of Final Fantasy
Yakuza Series (0, 1K, 2K, 3R,4R, 5R, 6 & 7)

Both have strong offerings and some titles are on both systems but I feel that the PS4 simply has more solid titles to offer. I also valued the accessibility of the system itself, it was built to be much easier to play with friends online. The 1080p/60fps upgrades are very welcome and some of the series revivals on the PS4 like Resident Evil, Shenmue & Yakuza are really big deals in my book.

One of the big detractions for the PS3 generation is the lack of great JRPGs. Especially as a PS3 owner, for some weird reason all the JRPGs at the start of the generation went to 360! Star Ocean 4, Blue Dragon, Infinite Undiscovery, Lost Odyssey - I remember being very jealous at the time and simply not getting why the PS3 was lacking in comparison - Especially with the PS2's dedication to the genre. We got a few notable ones, but Final Fantasy XIII was meant to be the big one - Which I actually still really like unlike the majority! While I found it to be worthwhile I was annoyed that I bought the PS3 with the promise of FF13 being an exclusive, yet it turned out to be on the 360 anyway. PS4 had more JRPG's but nothing that has really stood out to me. Final Fantasy XV was a train wreck and I still have mixed feelings about FF7 Remake as I still am content with the original - It's a great indulgence but I don't know if I value it on its own merit. World of Final Fantasy was a blast though!

The only game to enter my top 10 of all time is Life Is Strange, which is on both systems but I had a PS4 when I first experienced it - the PS3 version is certainly playable. But that game had me hooked until 2-3am in the morning! I love the concept of interactive narratives in games and found the characters, setting and style all very appealing.

Others come close mind you, NieR on PS3/360 is a game which grows on me more and more with time. the narrative and characters are excellent and very endearing. Some say that the gameplay wasn't great but I personally really enjoyed the combat - just not the generic sidequests or that damn farming mini-game...

Gravity Rush Remastered while a Vita game bursts with charm on the PS4! Sadly the sequel was an absolute train wreck, featuring a side story then pouring the real sequel content we all wanted crammed into an epilogue at the end - No idea WTF happened with this one but I still love the original!

Overall I think the PS4 is a great successor to the PS3, it improves on it in every way really and while some PS3 experiences are certainly unforgettable, I think the PS4's accessibility and broader range in titles wins over the previous console.
 
As someone who has done this dance since the 1980s, this generation is nothing new. Like every other generation, you have your highs and your lows. I am not a fan of the insatiable monetization of the hobby through loot boxes and pay-to-win systems. Progressives becoming the contemporary Puritans that supplanted the Conservatives of old. With "ist" and "phobe" replacing "Satanic", "Murder Simulators", or "Blasphemy". Or how the philosophy of "release now, fix later" has become a mantra in the industry for broken releases. Then again, I guess it wouldn't be different than in the eighties when shovelware was abundant everywhere as Atari did not have a good track record when it came to quality control.

Yet, there have been tremendous highs with Virtual Reality, Shenmue fans finally getting some vindication from SEGA, the rise and mainstream success of independent creators with titles like Lost Souls Aside, Shovel Knight, Hollow Knight, A Hat in Time, Sonic Mania, etc., the advancement in graphical and technical power, and so much more.

I have enjoyed new and wonderful experiences and have detested others. In other words, the same song and dance but different day.
 
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One of the big detractions for the PS3 generation is the lack of great JRPGs. Especially as a PS3 owner, for some weird reason all the JRPGs at the start of the generation went to 360! Star Ocean 4, Blue Dragon, Infinite Undiscovery, Lost Odyssey - I remember being very jealous at the time and simply not getting why the PS3 was lacking in comparison - Especially with the PS2's dedication to the genre.
iirc Microsoft made the conscious effort when they still actually tried to sell in Japan
 
"I am not a fan of the insatiable monetization of the hobby through loot boxes and pay-to-win systems. Progressives becoming the contemporary Puritans that supplanted the Conservatives of old. With "ist" and "phobe" replacing "Satanic", "Murder Simulators", or "Blasphemy". Or how the philosophy of "release now, fix later" has become a mantra in the industry for broken releases. "

I love this, especially the middle part.
 
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