The PS5 has made me realize why I stopped playing games on console (and why I just started playing them again)

[Niosai]

Early last year, I built my first gaming PC.

I've been a lifelong console gamer, mainly sticking to Sony outside of the 360 era. I played almost all of last gen exclusively on the PS4, at least until I got my PC.

I still had tons of games in my backlog on PS4 that I had either barely touched, or was deep into. But once I got the PC, I just kind of dropped them all and my PS4 started gathering dust.

I just had no desire to play the PS4, but I wasn't really sure why, at least until I got my PS5.

It's the UI. The PS4's UI is unbearably slow, at least nowadays. Doing anything on the PS4 is like wading through molasses. On my PC, I click an icon and the game opens. On PS4, I have to turn on the console and wade through the slow UI just to get to the game I want to play. Each menu could take upwards of 10 seconds to load sometimes. I was on a base PS4 and had tried all of the fixes I could find online, including rebuilding the database. It was just not intuitive to wait so long for everything to load. Even downloads were painfully slow, even though my internet speed was capable of being much faster.

The PS5 changed that, though. It could be that the console is so new, but the UI is snappy and has no perceivable delay in loading up different menus. The store even loads up far more quickly, meaning I just don't have to wait. It's encouraged me to actually tackle my backlog and even replay some games with the improvements.

Anyone else have this experience?

 

[Deleted member 19533]

No. I didn't feel the PS4 UI was that slow, just the loading of the games themselves, which has been fixed for PS5.

You should go back and check out the PS3 UI, lol.

 

[TheChrisGlass]

The PS5 ui is quick, but it's clumsy.

They need to bring back the "Hold PSN button" feature. I shouldn't need a half-dozen button presses to put it into Rest Mode.

 

[4 Get!]

The crazy thing is, I swear the PS4 menu worked pretty fast on launch year, and yet year after year it slowly became slower for myself and others. Felt the same way with the PS3 menu. Things felt snappy at first, but then it felt like the system updates aged it.

 

[Eeyore]

The PS5 ui is quick, but it's clumsy.

They need to bring back the "Hold PSN button" feature. I shouldn't need a half-dozen button presses to put it into Rest Mode.

Click to shrink...

There are issues with the UI but tap, hit left and then X and X and it's plenty fast for me now.

 

[BadWolf]

No.

Zero problems with the PS4's UI for playing games.

The sleep/suspend function is also a big leg up that it has over PC gaming.

 

[CloseTalker]

PS5 UI is certainly faster, but not to the degree that it's a fundamental change in how i use the console imo. Whatever the PS5 UI gains in speed, it loses in overall intuitiveness.

 

[Deleted member 19533]

The crazy thing is, I swear the PS4 menu worked pretty fast on launch year, and yet year after year it slowly became slower for myself and others. Felt the same way with the PS3 menu. Things felt snappy at first, but then it felt like the system updates aged it.

Click to shrink...

Pretty sure, in both instances, they changed the amount of RAM allocated to the UI for the system. PS3 also gave the ability to bring up the XMB in game, which slowed things down in general as it always needed to be in system memory.

 

[Kyoufu]

The PS5 ui is quick, but it's clumsy.

They need to bring back the "Hold PSN button" feature. I shouldn't need a half-dozen button presses to put it into Rest Mode.

Click to shrink...

Press the home button once, scroll to the right. It's no more complicated than scrolling to the bottom on PS4. 🤷‍♂️

I'm not a fan of the party system but your complaint is odd.

 

[shanew21]

Consoles were supposed to be something that you started up easily, popped in a game, and you were off to the races.

Then PCs adopted SSDs a decade ago and consoles became sluggish because they continued to use slow HDDs and low power CPUs. It's really weird to me that consoles went from HDDs to NVME SSDs and totally skipped SATA SSDs.

Now consoles have gone back to what they should have been.

 

[ManOfWar]

The snappy UI was the first thing I noticed and one that impresses me to this day. There are somethings to improve, but I really like the new way of doing things.

The PS5 ui is quick, but it's clumsy.

They need to bring back the "Hold PSN button" feature. I shouldn't need a half-dozen button presses to put it into Rest Mode.

Click to shrink...

pleasegodno.gif

What? You need one press on the PS button, scroll to the right and X twice. Done.

You don't even need to watch what you are doing.

 

[AusGeno]

I have no issues with the PS4 UI. The main reasons I want to upgrade to PS5 is to take advantage of the silent running noise and the quicker load times. My PS4 sounds like a vacuum cleaner these days.

 

[Veelk]

Really? I didn't notice a major difference in speed.

Now if you go back to PS3, then yes, that is a console UI that god abandoned to the darkest pit of hell

 

[shanew21]

pleasegodno.gif

What? You need one press on the PS button, scroll to the right and X twice. Done.

You don't even need to watch what you are doing.

Click to shrink...

I disagree. I much prefer the Xbox version where a tap brings you to the guide and a hold lets you control the power.

 

[Alek]

I think though technically faster in terms of loading each menu, the PS5 is actually slower at most of the actions I perform frequently, because of the number of steps required. The party changes which hit both PS4 and PS5 have been a nightmare, and hot swapping menus is no longer available on a double-press of the PS button, meaning making settings changes takes far longer on a PS5 than a PS4.

Very frustrating overall user experience if I'm honest.

 

[@dedmunk]

Press the home button once, scroll to the right. It's no more complicated than scrolling to the bottom on PS4. 🤷‍♂️

I'm not a fan of the party system but your complaint is odd.

Click to shrink...

*scroll to the left

 

[Digital Dinosaur]

Well; I think focusing on just the UI is a bit pet-peevy, since most gaming time is not spent navigating the UI.

That said, the PS4 generation did slowly become more and more bloated overall due to games becoming massive over the course of the generation. It did affect the entire game, not just the UI. Many games, compared to their PC versions, suffered slow loading and poor streaming (such as in open worlds).

The Division series on console, is a major example. Just inexcusably slow to load anything; from the UI, inventory, map travel, etc.

 

[Cyclonesweep]

The Xbox UI has gotten faster and faster over the years too. It used to be so bad.

 

[Granadier]

There are issues with the UI but tap, hit left and then X and X and it's plenty fast for me now.

Click to shrink...

Press the home button once, scroll to the right. It's no more complicated than scrolling to the bottom on PS4. 🤷‍♂️

I'm not a fan of the party system but your complaint is odd.

Click to shrink...

pleasegodno.gif

What? You need one press on the PS button, scroll to the right and X twice. Done.

You don't even need to watch what you are doing.

Click to shrink...

Just because you've gotten used to something doesn't mean that it's in any way good UX design.

 

[Jolkien]

Zero problem with the PS4 UI wasn't slow at all. Nothing I wanted to do required more than 1 to 3 layers of menu It wasn't super fast either but I'm in that OS like a few minutes each month, rest mode and mostly playing a game at a time makes this a non issue.

UI on PS5 isn't perfect either but it's usually very snappy just a few time pressing the PS button didn't bring the mini menu however they call it immediately and I pressed again and the console thought I pressed twice but that's a tiny nitpick.

 

[Kyoufu]

Just because you've gotten used to something doesn't mean that it's in any way good UX design.

Click to shrink...

But... it's the same as PS4, you're just scrolling in a different direction. Not sure what you're talking about here.

 

[Cactuar]

Had no problem with PS4's UI and I'm having no problem with PS5's either.

Sony just needs to fix that damn PS Store on the PS5, but I have to assume it's like that due to few native PS5 games at this point. Still, the PS4 games section should be better, particularly when it comes to finding deals, which I think is most people's issue with it.

 

[KORNdog]

I can't say I ever felt like any aspect of the PS4 UI was slow. Certainly not to the exaggerated degree the op is describing it. But I do very much appreciate the speeds to actually start playing a newly loaded game on PS5. Demon's souls not only looks unbelievable. But it loads in a few seconds...but then again, I mostly play a game to completion before moving onto other titles. So rest mode on PS4 gave me that instantaneous access anyway *shrugs*

The biggest thing I like about the ps5 UI is how it has integrated the store and Now. They don't launch a new app or a seperate front end. They're just....there.

 

[Radec]

The PS5 ui is quick, but it's clumsy.

They need to bring back the "Hold PSN button" feature. I shouldn't need a half-dozen button presses to put it into Rest Mode.

Click to shrink...

Press PS Button
Far right, press power icon
Press rest mode

Half dozen?

 

[HardRojo]

I'm still trying to find a way to see what the game I'm currently playing is. When you go into a media app, it seems like it simply treats the current game as a recent game and doesn't tell you that it's suspended. It's kinda weird. Double tap on the home page should take you to the current active game too.

 

[Maple]

It's not just the UI, but the loading times and general speed of everything (ie, 60 FPS). The PS4 and Xbox One are just so incredibly slow. The menus are slow, OS is slow, loading takes forever, all for 1080p (or lower) and 30 FPS (or lower) gaming. I just really didn't want any part of it.

But I'm absolutely loving my PS5. The OS is downright insane in terms of speed, and the load times of many games (Demon's Souls, Miles Morales) is so fast it feels similar to old cartridge based systems when loading times were basically nothing more than a 2-3 second blank screen. Not to mention playing everything in 1440p+ at 60 FPS is glorious.

 

[Granadier]

But... it's the same as PS4, you're just scrolling in a different direction. Not sure what you're talking about here.

Click to shrink...

No, it's not.
PS4 was...hold PS button regardless of what you're doing, press right, press X.

 

[Lord Fanny]

I don't think the Ui is really that slow. It's just mostly terrible in its design

 

[MrBS]

PS4 was/is still great for pick and up play, that suspend feature is so good. I never had an issue with the UI that said I never touched the in app store, that was trash so using the web store for that my impression of the UI was fine, especially when folders came in.

I spent a couple weeks playing The Last of Us 2 without ever seeing the title screen, it was lovely. PC still wins with brute force but I always enjoy going back to exclusives and the simplicity of it all.

Somewhat OT, the lack of patches for TLOU2 was great at launch, the daily patches for GOW18 at launch breaking suspend irked me at the time!

 

[ManOfWar]

Just because you've gotten used to something doesn't mean that it's in any way good UX design.

Click to shrink...

It's pretty much the same thing compared to PS4, that's the point. The only difference is the tap on the PS button, instead of a long press.

I would say it isn't that hard to learn a tap instead of a long press (even if you long press by mistake, the the menu bar is just a tap away anyways).

No, it's not.
PS4 was...hold PS button regardless of what you're doing, press right, press X.

Click to shrink...

Again, PS5 is tap the PS button, regardless of what you are doing. The rest is the same thing, scroll to the right a press X twice.

 

[ApeEscaper]

I don't know if placebo or not but when I use custom themes on PS4 feels a touch slower but when I do the default systemwide stock waves theme bit better

 

[reKon]

PS4 UI was fairly quick for me and it was very simple to jump in and out of games... Maybe it's just you or your PS4.

Now go back to PS3. Using THAT would be be considered torture.

 

[TimPV3]

Did you ever try replacing the hard drive in your PS4? My PS3 was SUPER SLOW, until I popped in a new 2 TB hard drive. Huge difference.

 

[Yerffej]

I never thought it was slow. Just terrible from a layout perspective.

 

[defaltoption]

Not even gonna lie the ps5 makes me want to return to pc gaming. I hate the total restart of the console features and how slow it's been to get fixes out. I still love consoles and there are reasons I left pc gaming but damn it feels like ps5 does everything wrong that isn't actually playing the game itself. I hate the ui of the machine and the store, trophies are worse, installs from discs feel longer then ps4, I'm stuck with small storage for my needs for new games and can't use storage for old games because it might brick my machine.

I have issues with my Series X as well but I've been playing my ps5 more a bit lately with more of backlog on there so it's what's on my mind atm.

There's a part of me who wishes I never got back into console gaming beyond exclusives because now I feel stuck between both consoles and pc by the fact that I've spent insane amounts on each platform.

It feels like I have the "launcher" issue but on console. PS5 is my Epic games store, PC is my steam, and Series X is my GoG

 

[Ouroboros]

My biggest complaint for the PS4 UI was the store. Holy shit was that storefront SLLLOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

 

[defaltoption]

I think though technically faster in terms of loading each menu, the PS5 is actually slower at most of the actions I perform frequently, because of the number of steps required. The party changes which hit both PS4 and PS5 have been a nightmare, and hot swapping menus is no longer available on a double-press of the PS button, meaning making settings changes takes far longer on a PS5 than a PS4.

Very frustrating overall user experience if I'm honest.

Click to shrink...

Exactly how I feel, I don't understand any of the love it gets beyond actual speed of loading a single menu. I'm no ui designer but there's so many flaws here that I swear I hear ui/ux designers alway say are terrible so I don't know how they made it in.

 

[Snake Eater]

PS4 UI was great and simple, the store was trash

 

[pillowtalk]

Every console home screen was lightning fast until update 3.0 or whatever and the basic design got remixed and all the nonsense fillers were added. But PS5 came like that already, but fortunately it's still responsive and snappy. I'm waiting for the molasses firmware patch to happen.

 

[entremet]

The snappy UI was the first thing I noticed and one that impresses me to this day. There are somethings to improve, but I really like the new way of doing things.



pleasegodno.gif

What? You need one press on the PS button, scroll to the right and X twice. Done.

You don't even need to watch what you are doing.

Click to shrink...

This is more complex. Wtf is this argument lol. I miss hold down to sleep. Muscle memory is a bitch.

Xbox and Switch do the same thing, why does Sony wanna be unique now?

 

[Teddie28]

Ps4 ui was awfully slow. I hated it so much. Ps5 is snappy like my pc now and I like it.

 

[Indurian]

I have a base PS4, can confirm everything about the UI is slow. I often thought about getting a PS4 pro and putting an SSD in it, but ultimately decided on waiting until I can get my mitts on a PS5. Glad to hear it's better.

 

[Doskoi Panda]

PS4 UI can be very inconsistent, and occasionally slow and cumbersome, especially if you haven't cleared your cache or rebuilt your database in a while.

PS5 and Xbox Series S/X are massive improvements in that regard.

 

[gaugebozo]

The crazy thing is, I swear the PS4 menu worked pretty fast on launch year, and yet year after year it slowly became slower for myself and others. Felt the same way with the PS3 menu. Things felt snappy at first, but then it felt like the system updates aged it.

Click to shrink...

Totally agree with this. I remember thinking how snappy it was compared to my last console, the 360. It's really slow now, the store in particular.

 

[TheRulingRing]

Honestly with the PS5 ui sometimes I feel like you have to click so many extra times that it basically takes as long as PS4 anyway lol

 

[ss_lemonade]

PS4 has always been pretty snappy for me. It was the Xbox One that at one point, became near unusable for me. It slowly got better though

 

[the-pi-guy]

The PS5 ui is quick, but it's clumsy.

They need to bring back the "Hold PSN button" feature. I shouldn't need a half-dozen button presses to put it into Rest Mode.

Click to shrink...

I'm not sure what you're talking about.
On the PS5, you hold the PSN button and you get the option on the right.

The only real difference is that it isn't customizable like the PS4 one, so the power options are further away on average.

 

[Dan L]

I'm not sure what you're talking about.
On the PS5, you hold the PSN button and you get the option on the right.

The only real difference is that it isn't customizable like the PS4 one, so the power options are further away on average.

Click to shrink...

no you don't - Hold PS Button: Goes to home screen (where you change options and launch games, etc - no power option there) if you touch the PS button it goes to the menu at the bottom where you can go over and click on the power icon to bring up that menu.

but holding the ps button does not bring up that menu.

 

[dralla]

You don't have to scroll to the right to get to the power options. That menu loops, so if you press left it brings you right to the power options.

 

[henhowc]

PS5 is a lot smoother but I find it slower to do some common things. Perhaps just muscle memory right now but I don't feel like the locations of things is intuitive and takes additional button presses to do things.

One thing I want really badly right now as I test headphones is to have 3d audio quick toggle in the Sound quick menu. You could have a whole nother thread (and we have) about parties/game base...lol