I'm kind of.........underwhelmed by this new generation so far.

[VanDoughnut]

We got another stellar Bluepoint remake and an excellent Spider-Man game; and even a really great remaster of the original Spider-Man at launch.

Even if it's crossgen does Hitman 3 not look incredible and play great at 60fps?

Y'all just don't like good things lmao but you also didn't need to spend the money if you were waiting for AAAAs only you should have known what you were getting into.

Like we're months away from a PS5 Ratchet and Clank. Acting like this is the same as the PS4 launch, sorry you feel that way.

 

[ShinUltramanJ]

It's interesting to see how stances have changed, because I remember before when a lot of people said backwards compatibility didn't matter. I don't buy new consoles to play old games was a pretty common comment.

 

[Shameless_Pineapple]

There will be games that look great and will wow audiences this gen, but there is no getting away from diminishing returns in terms of graphics over time. Games going forward will need to find different ways of impressing people.

 

[TheCarrotKiller]

Yes, agreed. Half a year in the PS4 impressed me far more than PS5 has. However we have COVID to blame for much for it. But also, a big thing for me is the crossgen shit we have to deal with this gen. I would have thought we learnt last gen how bad it influences the scope of the end product, e.g., destiny, and the "we believe in generations" talk Sony did last year had me really hopeful, but alas, they were even worse this time.
Cross gen makes business sense for third party, but first party should lead the pack...

 

[eyeball_kid]

I think with the greater focus on CPU power and AI, I think this gen once we are past the cross-gen titles will feel like a much bigger advancement than PS3->PS4. Because for me, PS4 gen certainly didn't feel like a gamechanger. It just looked better.

 

[KingBae]

While I can't wait for true next gen experiences to arrive, I really think a lot of people are unappreciative and underestimate the amount of power it takes to run the same game at twice the framerates. It's true the games are the same, but I find playing through something like God of War at 60 frames mighty impressive. So even if this cross gen go on longer that usual, those enhancements and faster loading makes the consoles worth it for me.

 

[Philippo]

Like a clock.

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

whats with all the dismissive "its only just started" comments? im old like the OP too, and i agree, this gen sucks so far. the only great game ive enjoyed so far is astros on ps5 and the medium and its not like they were incredible or anything.

yeah, you may disagree, and thats fine, but previous gens had some great variety of games in launches.

dreamcast had an incredible launch. xbox had halo and gamecube had luigis mansion and a bunch of variety

xbox 360 had pgr3 and rr6 which hit me right where i like it. i even enjoyed pdz. ps3 i really liked motorstorm

forget about generations before that as you had one of the best games of all time mario 64 and heaps of incredible other games on playstation coming fast.

this gen, idc about superhero shit, or souls. so its slim pickings. xbox same, but i did enjoy the medium. but its sucked so far and i really doubt covid wouldve made much of a difference tbh. games take longer to make now so i doubt a substantial amount of games wouldve been ready regardless. last console launch sucked too but not as hard as this one.

TLDR its incredibly subjective because one mans treasure (spiderman, souls) is the next mans trash (mine) so if you enjoy it, great, legitimately happy for you!

for me, its sucks. im trying to pump myself up for ratchet but its not like ive ever even enjoyed a ratchet game before either.

 

[Armoredgoomba]

I think this thread would have been correct at the start of PS3 and PS4 also.

It takes 2-3 years to really see cool stuff

 

[finalflame]

It's been 3 months. Jesus.

 

[dasu]

You know, this narrative that the next generation does not really truly start until a year into the console's lifecycle is sort of a "new" thing.

I think that console launches have gotten weaker over time due to unmanageable game dev cycles, and the diminishing returns of graphical leaps makes it harder for early (less polished) games to differentiate themselves from the best of the previous generation. What makes it "worse" is that there no longer is a huge distinction between console gaming and PC gaming making things much more competitive.

(Nintendo, as always, is a weird outlier in this regard)

 

[Wein Cruz]

There will be games that look great and will wow audiences this gen, but there is no getting away from diminishing returns in terms of graphics over time. Games going forward will need to find different ways of impressing people.

Click to shrink...

Lol people have been trying to push that graphical diminishing returns narrative for 15years now.

*Plays Demon's Souls remake*

Nope still not anywhere near diminishing returns!

 

[EggmaniMN]

Instead of couching this as some intellectual discussion you can just say "I want really pretty 30fps games" because that's all I'm getting out of this.

And boy am I glad we didn't just get a bunch of 30fps games.

 

[Polyh3dron]

People have said this every gen since the 360 came out.

Back when it was allegedly the Xbox 1.5

Click to shrink...

I'm old enough to remember when I tried to hype myself up for Geometry Wars on the 360 because there was little else out there.... until the LOST PLANET DEMO OMG

Even old enough to remember when I tried to fool myself into believing that Automobili Lamborghini was a good game on N64, because of its early drought, while getting hyped over little screenshots of Quest 64, where N64 owners would FINALLY have an RPG that rivals Final Fantasy VII!

All that being said, my PS5 is collecting dust right now lol

 

[AJUK]

I agree with this, tlou2 felt more of a generational jump than any PS5 game has, although I will note that it was one of the 1st games I played on my PS4 pro.

 

[night814]

While we do get these conversations every gen, I think the emergence of the Pro and One X definitely did a number on the leap that everyone expected day one.

If you were coming from an OG Xbox One or an OG PS4 you'd have a phenomenal leap, even with crossgen titles. If you've spent the last three years already playing games at 4K on a One X then the step is undoubtedly smaller.

Click to shrink...

This is me, I never had a pro or X but now I have so many last gen games that got upgrades that I wanna go through again.

 

[YolkFolk]

I'm old enough to remember when I tried to hype myself up for Geometry Wars on the 360 because there was little else out there.... until the LOST PLANET DEMO OMG

Even old enough to remember when I tried to fool myself into believing that Automobili Lamborghini was a good game on N64, because of its early drought, while getting hyped over little screenshots of Quest 64, where N64 owners would FINALLY have an RPG that rivals Final Fantasy VII!

Click to shrink...

Remember seeing screenshots of Hybrid Heaven and thinking it was a Metal Gear killer? Or how Fighter's Destiny was the answer to Tekken? Haha.

 

[amstradcpc]

All the flops are in 4K and 60 fps.

 

[Trup1aya]

Launch window games rarely move the needle. That's why I didn't bother to pre-order or jump in line.

Not since Halo CE has a launch game justified a console purchase for me. It was Mario 64 before that.

 

[Myself]

People have said this every gen since consoles came out.

Back when it was allegedly the Xbox 1.5

Click to shrink...

Fixed it for you :)

 

[ghostcrew]

Remember seeing screenshots of Hybrid Heaven and thinking it was a Metal Gear killer? Or how Fighter's Destiny was the answer to Tekken? Haha.

Click to shrink...

Definitely remember seeing screens of Quest 64/Holy Magic Century and thinking the N64 finally had it's Final Fantasy killer.

 

[Jombie]

It's fine, I guess. But it's cemented for me the truth that outside of a few franchises I enjoy, I'm really not that into gaming anymore. Most titles just bore me to tears, regardless of how pretty they look or how well they run.

 

[ArtemisLunar]

It's the same for me on every start of each generation, but on this gen there's a lot of great upgrades for everyone: faster load times, upgraded audio/3D Audio and ray tracing.
We're going to start to see the impressive stuff on year 2 or 3.

 

[dgrdsv]

This gen has always going to be perceptually smaller jump due to various reasons so it's not unexpected that nothing released so has is looking like true next gen. This will change down the line once devs will stop caring about previous gen versions.

 

[maximumzero]

Someone doesn't own a Switch.

 

[OnanieBomb]

I'm guessing something like Horizon is going to be the first next gen game to really melt peoples eyeballs.

 

[Multiverse Moo]

It's been 3 months. Jesus.

Click to shrink...

Discourse continues to track into the negative. Normally this "underwhelming" would probably happen later, but everyone wants to hate or dismiss everything because it doesn't fit some magical imagined launch window.

We've gotten plenty of fantastic next-gen / cross-gen / etc. stuff but *magical handwaving* none of those REALLY count... for reasons...

Heh

 

[Tophat Jones]

Start of last gen was a disaster by comparison. You're old enough to remember.

 

[TaySan]

This happens every gen at the beginning. Just give it a year and the games will come. :)

 

[Zombine]

I am appropriately whelmed and enjoy the quality of life changes.

 

[Darryl M R]

As an early adopter for tech myself, you need to set better expectations.

I'm thoroughly enjoying the start of this gen; few next gen titles and upgraded last gen titles are what I expected.

 

[thediamondage]

Stuff loads a lot faster is basically the big difference for me. And that is NICE. Try going back to playing on a ps4 and you'll keep thinking "why is everything so slow".

but yeah, its not a huge upgrade in quality or anything. more 60 fps is really nice though, but I expect that to drop to 30 fps across the board sadly sooner than later.

Honestly the much bigger change for me in the past 12 months is buying WAY fewer games and just enjoying games off gamepass and PS+ a lot more. This year has been nuts, I've plat'd Maneater, Control Ultimate Edition from PS+ and have played 20+ games off gamepass, and basically only bought 3-4 games in the past few months. Its a complete flip from years ago when I was buying 2-3 new games a month. To get me to pay $70-100 for a new game now requires it to really, really, really scratch a deep itch.

 

[Sadsic]

What's interesting to me in threads like this is that everyone always agrees "console launches always, suck you know this" while at the same time literally every Nintendo console launches with one or multiple evergreen titles that go on to be one of the best selling games of the console

 

[Deleted member 79517]

I just don't agree at all.

Last generation, I got a PS4 pretty early on and it literally sat unused for weeks until inFamous came out. Then, after that, it was another several months before I got so desperate I settled for Madden to get my gaming fix.

This generation, I've used my Series S daily since I bought it. There aren't a lot of next generation games, no, but I'm seeing a lot of my backlog benefit from the transition. I'll take that over the waiting months at a time for a drip feed from developers figuring out new hardware.

 

[Hasney]

I'm extremely happy with both my PS5 and XSX. Game pass is incredible and I'm just happy to have better running games that aren't on those awful Jaguar cores while the PS4 prepares for lift off with those fans.

 

[Loud Wrong]

I'm enjoying it much more than last gen because of how many last gen games play better now. PS4s first year was just awful in comparison. BC is awesome.

 

[theBmZ]

COVID affects all. Console shortages, delayed games... it's gonna take some time. But there are already clear benefits, and promise of where the generation can go.

 

[Jobbs]

I adore the new hardware, particularly the XSX.

There aren't many games yet, but that's normal. PS4 had no games for a while.

Backwards compat is also huge with these systems. Being able to play previous gen games with upgrades is insane.

I use the PS5/XSX far more than I used the PS4/XB1 in their first year

 

[laughingmood]

The first year of next gen is always barebones and the world is going through COVID, so......

Click to shrink...

This. The COVID piece is such a huge, obvious and overarching factor. From people complaining about cross gen releases (which will continue for much longer this generation due to very real and impactful COVID related chip shortages) to complaints of delays.. It's becoming tiring explaining that water is wet.

And in direct response to OP's complaints, Demons Souls was next gen af. I'm 45 and have been gaming since the 2600 days. If booting from a cold start into DeS in seconds doesn't impress, the ability to properly access objective technological progress should be strengthened.

 

[UltraGashInferno]

It's all felt like one big gen since ps360 kinda. 360/ps3 was the last time it felt like there was a clean break from the gen prior. A couple of super manicured information dumps is basically a console launch now. It felt more emphatic when it was total chaos like leading up to 360/ps3 and then nintendo comes out with a dildo controller that outsells them all 100:1. something that random probably won't happen again. But also I was a kid so I had the time to go nuts for it.

The new consoles are way more interesting than ps4/xb1 tho, at least. My pc was already more exciting than ps4 and was already there in my apartment and would run anything ported to it better all gen long.

 

[Serious Sam]

It's interesting to see how stances have changed, because I remember before when a lot of people said backwards compatibility didn't matter. I don't buy new consoles to play old games was a pretty common comment.

Click to shrink...

At the time many didn't appreciate what a big boon it would be to have your games library move with you to the new system. Now everyone can continue playing their favorite games (many with improved performance at no additional cost!) without being shackled to old hardware, while simultaneously waiting for new games.

 

[Bigjig]

As someone who stuck with a base PS4 all the way through last gen the jump to Demon Souls at 4K/60 with next to 0 loading times is mind blowing to me. Heck simply playing a game without the console whirring like a jack hammer is worth the price to upgrade alone.

 

[JoJoBae]

I mean last gen didn't get good until 2015ish so I'm not surprised. Generation before took a couple years to really take off also. Patience.

 

[litebrite]

At the time many didn't appreciate what a big boon it would be to have your games library move with you to the new system. Now everyone can continue playing their favorite games (many with improved performance at no additional cost!) without being shackled to old hardware, while simultaneously waiting for new games.

Click to shrink...

Especially as digital games steadily increase and people build digital libraries of games.

 

[Lord Azrael]

Lol people have been trying to push that graphical diminishing returns narrative for 15years now.

*Plays Demon's Souls remake*

Nope still not anywhere near diminishing returns!

Click to shrink...

More like you don't understand what diminishing returns means 🤷‍♀️

 

[RF Switch]

It hasn't started

 

[Greywaren]

This happens every time. The first few years are underwhelming because devs are still getting used to the new hardware.

 

[rahji]

I just switched from base PS4 to PS5 with a 4k tv and it is pure magic. For me the jump is enormous and it is great.

 

[ElephantShell]

The framerates are most impressive to me. Demon's Souls looked and felt amazing at 60 and the Miles Morales performance RT mode is very impressive. Demon's would certainly be 30 on PS4 Pro and I'm pretty sure there's no 60 fps option for Miles on PS4 Pro? Somebody can correct me if that's wrong.

 

[Lentic]

People are being too dismissive of OP. Yes, it always takes some time to get rolling, but the nature of console launches is changing as well. Generational leaps are no longer what they once were and things are now more iterative. Breakthroughs seem to take more time.

I also feel that while games have advanced graphically, they have been stagnant in many other ways. Part of the dream has always been games with dynamic and open gameplay. Yet, games still feel very "on rails". It feels like little advancement has been made in that area since the 360 era. I can't remember the last game I played where I was wowed by the expansive gameplay possibilities.