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Xbox Series X - Review Thread

sumo

sumo

Member
Oct 30, 2017
636
Kittenz said:
Feel like we are saying the same thing.
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I think so, it's just the part where you said "I keep feeling like the reviewers miss the point a lot". From the ones I read if they're saying it may be worth holding off buying a Series it's because it's a similar decision to upgrading your GPU, not necessary but nice to have.
 
AntiMacro

AntiMacro

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,138
Alberta
Mr.Deadshot said:
I did. Calling the XSX a PC just is a very poor comparison. PCs are so much more versatile than consoles, the comparison is just wrong. The XSX is a console and it should be reviewed as that. There is nothing wrong with most of the reviews.
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I think their point is more that it's like having a PC because you maybe buy a new GPU for an upcoming game, but also to experience all your old games in a much better way...like you buy a Series X to play new games, but also to play your older games at 4K or 120 fps or with Auto HDR or whatever their specific benefit is.

Even if you didn't get the nuance there, it didn't really call for the super aggressive asshole answer, that's for sure.
 
Rndom Grenadez

Rndom Grenadez

Prophet of Truth
Member
Dec 7, 2017
5,637
chandoog said:
Once a game gets an enhancement patch, it becomes a native XBSX|S game and can only be played internally or in the sanctioned SSD card.

External only good for games running in BC 'boost' mode, or as a cold storage depot for native XBSX|S games to save space in your internal.
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You still get load time benefits though if you put it on an external SSD.
 
theAllseeingEYE

theAllseeingEYE

Member
Apr 4, 2018
4,513
Vancouver, BC
Definitely enjoying going through the reviews. It's cool to finally see some Series S impressions.

The IGN review in particular had some great 4k60 footage of Dirt 5, Gears 5, and Forza Horizon.

Rndom Grenadez said:
You still get load time benefits though if you put it on an external SSD.
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Yep,
I saw one of the reviews, I believe IGN? Incorrectly state that games from an external SSD drive don't get the load time benefits, which is untrue. From all the testing we've seen, load times for BC games are pretty much identical whether on an external SSD or on the internal drive. It's definitely better to store all BC games on an external SSD to save space for Series X/S optimized games on the internal drive.
 
Chance_Boudreaux

Chance_Boudreaux

Member
Oct 27, 2017
776
EDIT: Scrap this, I just had Lawrence test this and he had ~400 Mbps after a relaunch with Quick Resume titles in the pool. Still, close your games when downloading!

I'm not sure where to post this because it may be a "well, duh" situation and I may be 100% wrong, but I've just noticed something after watching two streams (Bruce Greene followed by Alanah Pearce).

In both streams their download speeds were capping ~20 Mbps while playing and switching between games, showing off Quick Resume. This lines up with how things work now on PS4 (and I believe Xbox One?) where if you have any app or game active while downloading the speeds typically tank. Bruce Greene was playing Sea of Thieves while downloading Alan Wake and Red Dead Redemption 2 when he noticed the slow speed and was told to close Sea of Thieves, where Alan Wake's speed then shot up to ~250+ Mbps. Alanah needed a 40GB update for Control and it remained ~20 Mbps whenever she checked the progress (which wasn't often).

Anyway, I was trying to get both of them to restart the console and check the speeds before launching any app/game, to see if Quick Resume (without launching anything) would tank download speeds or was it simply because a game (in both streams) was always active, but I was unsuccessful.

This is totally a non-issue, but it may very well help with some headaches in the future, IF Quick Resume is causing slow speeds and it's not just because they had games active.
 
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Rndom Grenadez

Rndom Grenadez

Prophet of Truth
Member
Dec 7, 2017
5,637
theAllseeingEYE said:
Definitely enjoying going through the reviews. It's cool to finally see some Series S impressions.

The IGN review in particular had some great 4k60 footage of Dirt 5, Gears 5, and Forza Horizon.



Yep,
I saw one of the reviews, I believe IGN? Incorrectly state that games from an external SSD drive don't get the load time benefits, which is untrue. From all the testing we've seen, load times for BC games are pretty much identical whether on an external SSD or on the internal drive. It's definitely better to store all BC games on an external SSD to save space for Series X/S optimized games on the internal drive.
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Yup. The Digital Foundry video showed that external SSD's were only a couple of seconds slower than the internal. That's why I bought a Samsung QVO 870 and SATA connector. That'll be my home for all my back compat games that aren't Series X optimized.
 
Hawk269

Hawk269

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,043
Reviews seem very positive. But the big issue is of course the games and the lack of games. I personally feel that when I get my Series X next week that i am going to have a fantastic time between some of the 3rd party games and going back and playing some enhanced games like Gears 5 and Forza 4. But I fully understand the issue that most reviews are bringing up. MS delivered on the hardware and features of the console...but dropped the ball on the software side of things big time. I get the issues (Covid) but the competition is able to deliver Spiderman, Godfall, Sackboy, Demon Souls. Yeah, those games don't do much for me personally, but at least they have something on the first party front.

I just wish MS did not put all the eggs into the Halo basket. Not much can be done about it now...it is going to be what it is. The good news though is we know the software issue will come around soon and 2021/2022 look extremely promising. But happy that the reviews for the most part are really good.
 
PapaShango

PapaShango

Member
Oct 27, 2017
199
Regardless of the anemic launch, for me, the hardware and upgraded experience is more than worth the price of admission! This is no different than an upgraded phone.
 
watdaeff4

watdaeff4

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,451
tbassett said:
Agreed. Hes flat out biased and also doesn't understand what the X vs S even is. When Sony announced the digital only PS5 he proclaimed Sony announced the series s before Microsoft.

You can have your preferences but for a supposed professional its comical
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didnt He admit to being biased iirc on Twitter and that people should just accept it
 
TiagoCosta

TiagoCosta

User requested ban
Banned
Aug 3, 2018
2,844
The reviews sound great!
Games wise I don't any problems, avoided playing horizon, Samurai Shodown and gears to play them now. There's my most hyped game on Yakuza 7, will surely go for Falconeer, bright memory, tetris and the Touryst as well. Will probably check out gears tactics at some point but not asap as there's way too much to go through.

Later in the year there's rpg time: the legend of wright and the almighty puyo puyo tetris 2!

Now I just need money to buy it, and time, cause not even going into BC(like Dragon quest 11S) there are a lot of games I want to dig into!
 
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NySpeed

NySpeed

Member
Sep 13, 2020
103
Anyone know if remote play (via android/ios) runs any better or at higher streaming resolutions? Also able to stream backward compatible games? I dont understand why that function was disabled
 
Jaaake

Jaaake

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
2,215
Australia
Halo Infinite delay hurt them a lot, huh.

Kinda glad I cancelled my pre-order and decided to wait, but man if they had got Halo out on release it would have been fantastic.
 
FuturaBold

FuturaBold

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,520
Rndom Grenadez said:
Yup. The Digital Foundry video showed that external SSD's were only a couple of seconds slower than the internal. That's why I bought a Samsung QVO 870 and SATA connector. That'll be my home for all my back compat games that aren't Series X optimized.
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HA I did the very same today. My SSD arrives tomorrow and will transfer games from my One X over the weekend.
 
Confused Cheeseburger

Confused Cheeseburger

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,890
The way I see it, this is how it breaks down:
  1. This is a console launch. No one ever buys a system for launch games. That's foolish.
  2. The xbox series x has an anemic launch, but if you skipped the xbone (which a lot of people did) there's a lot to play and it's all on gamepass.
  3. There are still games to play, but that's up to you to decide whether it's worth jumping on now and preparing for later.
  4. No question that the series x will be an incredible console. Between the massive amount of studios and their announced titles and the sheer power of the hardware, the series x is going to be an amazing console.
 
Jubern

Jubern

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,381
Very nice to read in the DR review about the HDMI 2.1 stuff working as intended. Hopes it goes as well with the PS5.
 
Skyebaron

Skyebaron

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
4,416
Confused Cheeseburger said:
The way I see it, this is how it breaks down:
  1. This is a console launch. No one ever buys a system for launch games. That's foolish.
  2. The xbox series x has an anemic launch, but if you skipped the xbone (which a lot of people did) there's a lot to play and it's all on gamepass.
  3. There are still games to play, but that's up to you to decide whether it's worth jumping on now and preparing for later.
  4. No question that the series x will be an incredible console. Between the massive amount of studios and their announced titles and the sheer power of the hardware, the series x is going to be an amazing console.
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No one buys a system for the launch games? Are you crazy or the amount of copium for no new first party games has you high right now.

The Series X seems like a great console, man, dont disrespect Halo, Super Mario World and 64, Tetris, Tekken Tag, Lumines, Panzer Dragoon, Breath of the Wild, Wii Sports or Soul Calibur.
 
Replicant

Replicant

Attempted to circumvent a ban with an alt
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,380
MN
Considering if you already have an Xbox One X, I certainly do feel the need to jump up at launch. The games library is identical and the X is still pretty decent overall. Makes the PS5 more compelling because it has games built just for it from 1st party on day one.

Im buying either yet at this point though
 
Confused Cheeseburger

Confused Cheeseburger

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,890
Skyebaron said:
No one buys a system for the launch games? Are you crazy or the amount of copium for no new first party games has you high right now.

The Series X seems like a great console, man, dont disrespect Halo, Super Mario World and 64, Tetris, Tekken Tag, Lumines, Panzer Dragoon, Breath of the Wild, Wii Sports or Soul Calibur.
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No, I'm not crazy?
Really chill.

I mean it, buying a whole system for 1 or 2 games is illogical. I didn't buy a switch, ps4 or a 360 at launch for the games, I bought them knowing that they would have great games down the line. It helps whe you have such an extraordinary game like BOTW, but my point remains.
 
Kingpin722

Kingpin722

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,028
Gonna wait until the studio acquisitions (hopefully) come to fruition or a price drop. As far as what's being brought to the table initially, TO ME this launch is the same as One X: strongest console, GamePass, and enhanced BC. I bought that at launch hoping they'd be a bit more loaded software wise the ensuing yrs leading into next gen but here I am feeling like I'm being sold the exact same message 3yrs later. I'm hopeful, but we'll just have to see.
 
bsigg

bsigg

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,556
Rommaz said:
Has any review said if you can play a game that's downloading an update? And how quick resume affects games that get updates?
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Games don't survive updates to the games themselves in quick resume.

Xbox's OS forces games closed when they're updating, which includes during the process of downloading the update since it's also installing at the same time.
 
Scottoest

Scottoest

Member
Feb 4, 2020
11,348
I've got a XSX and a PS5 coming next week, but reviewers aren't wrong that there's no real "must play" title for launch, unless you haven't played a lot of Xbox games the past couple of years. Halo could've been that title, but it wasn't to be. I'm mostly buying it now because I nominally prefer the Xbox "platform" to the PlayStation one, and will likely use it for third party games. If not for that, I'd have no problem waiting at least six months.

Luckily for Microsoft launch lineups don't really decide an entire generation, but Microsoft are going to need to be quick to point out what is on the near-horizon beyond Halo and a Flight Sim port, by the time supply catches up to demand. Things look really strong on the game front a couple of years from now, but aside from Halo and a Flight Sim port, I have no idea what they have on tap for 2021.
 

ThereBeGold

Member
Oct 28, 2020
3
Another review coming in hot from Finder

Xbox Series X review: Low on wow factor, big on power

"The Xbox Series X is the most powerful console of all time, but you wouldn't know it when you first turn it on. There's little to distinguish the moment-to-moment experience from its predecessor unless you have the eye, and the display, to catch those next-generation visual flourishes and enjoy those lightning fast frame rates. Outside of its spectacular design, the Xbox Series X has no immediate "wow" factor. But there's a method to the madness..."
 
Moppy

Moppy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,666
Question:

I bought an external SSD to run BC games on to save space on the new internal for actual Series X games - is there a way on the Series X to specifically designate default install locations for different types of games? (i.e. automatically always install BC games to external, always install XSX to internal)
 
Soulsis

Soulsis

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,564
I'm excited to jump into the Xbox ecosystem again after a 10 year hiatus. Gamepass means I'll have a lot to play while true next gen games roll in, but I understand that it's kind of a deflating launch for XBO owners.
 

TitanicFall

Member
Nov 12, 2017
8,268
Any in-depth impressions on the new D-Pad? Won't be picking up an X anytime soon, but could see myself getting the new controller for my PC.
 

Oracle

Banned
Nov 7, 2017
1,932
I am getting both a series x and ps5 next week. And ill be the first to admit im worried how much time ill play my xsx. I selfishly hope that third party games run noticeably better on the XSX going forward. I think that would balance my playtime between the two.

But if its essentially parity......it will be hard to avoid that dualsense utilization.
 
Lord Fanny

Lord Fanny

Banned
Apr 25, 2020
25,953
Confused Cheeseburger said:
The way I see it, this is how it breaks down:
  1. This is a console launch. No one ever buys a system for launch games. That's foolish.
  2. The xbox series x has an anemic launch, but if you skipped the xbone (which a lot of people did) there's a lot to play and it's all on gamepass.
  3. There are still games to play, but that's up to you to decide whether it's worth jumping on now and preparing for later.
  4. No question that the series x will be an incredible console. Between the massive amount of studios and their announced titles and the sheer power of the hardware, the series x is going to be an amazing console.
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I won't argue with 3 and 4 at all but 1 and 2 are no goes, sir
 
SoloTerran

SoloTerran

Member
Jun 29, 2018
339
What i don't understand is that some reviewers seem to be giving the hardware a lower review because of the current lack of software... that doesn't make sense
 
theAllseeingEYE

theAllseeingEYE

Member
Apr 4, 2018
4,513
Vancouver, BC
Scottoest said:
I've got a XSX and a PS5 coming next week, but reviewers aren't wrong that there's no real "must play" title for launch, unless you haven't played a lot of Xbox games the past couple of years. Halo could've been that title, but it wasn't to be. I'm mostly buying it now because I nominally prefer the Xbox "platform" to the PlayStation one, and will likely use it for third party games. If not for that, I'd have no problem waiting at least six months.

Luckily for Microsoft launch lineups don't really decide an entire generation, but Microsoft are going to need to be quick to point out what is on the near-horizon beyond Halo and a Flight Sim port, by the time supply catches up to demand. Things look really strong on the game front a couple of years from now, but aside from Halo and a Flight Sim port, I have no idea what they have on tap for 2021.
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Yeah, I'm not surprised journalists aren't aware of what's coming, but think Microsoft must have done a poor job of informing them of what's on the Horizon. There are actually a ton of Xbox exclusives coming out over the next year.

For example:

- The Medium (Dec.10) [XSX/S, PC only]
- Crossfire X (2020)
- Call of the Sea (2020)

- Warhammer 40,000 Darktide (2021) [XSX/S, PC only]
- Scorn (2021) [XSX/S, PC only]
- The Ascent (2021)
- Second Extinction (2021)
- Microsoft Flight Simulator (2021)
- Halo Infinite (2021)
- Forza Motorsport (2021) [XSX/S, PC only]
- Bright Memory Infinite (2021) [XSX/S, PC only]
- Exomecha (2021)
- New Genesis: Phantasy Star Online 2 (2021)
- The Gunk (2021)

Starfield is also rumored to be 2021, but who knows if it will actually make it. I'm fine with waiting. Microsoft is making the right choice to prioritize game quality and ambition over rushing games out. Even if it makes the launch period a bit less exciting, the momentum should pick up a lot as the system starts to become more widely available.
 
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Dolce

Dolce

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,251
I get the "it's like upgrading your PC" thing because that's the exact reason I'm getting a PS5 (no platform wars stuff, I'm buying a PS5 first because I play Japanese games mostly.) early on. I'll be playing a lot of my PS4 games but better. Going from HDD to SSD. There's no revolutionary step, just... better.
 
Scottoest

Scottoest

Member
Feb 4, 2020
11,348
theAllseeingEYE said:
Yeah, I'm not surprised journalists aren't aware of what's coming, but think Microsoft just have done a poor job of informing them if what's on the Horizon. There are actually a ton of Xbox exclusives coming out over the next year.

For example:

- The Medium (Dec.10)
- Crossfire X (2020)
- Call of the Sea (2020)

- Scorn (2021)
- The Ascent (2021)
- Second Extinction (2021)
- Microsoft Flight Simulator (2021)
- Halo Infinite (2021)
- Forza Motorsport (2021)
- Bright Memory Infinite (2021)
- Exomecha (2021)
- New Genesis: Phantasy Star Online 2 (2021)
- The Gunk (2021)

I'm fine with waiting. Microsoft is making the right choice to prioritize game quality and ambition over rushing games out. Even if it makes the launch period a bit less exciting, the momentum should pick up a lot as the system starts to become more widely available.
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We don't know if Forza is next year or not. We were just told it was "early in development". Everything but Halo on that list (and maybe Crossifre X? I have no idea what kind of budget that campaign has behind it) is a secondary/indie title, not a major "system seller" game. That is what Xbox mostly lacks early next gen.

That's not criticism of their internal studios, and I agree that they should prioritize giving them time for quality, over just pumping SOMETHING out fast. But I think it's pretty obvious at this point that Microsoft would've been wise to contract out a project for the launch window, instead of putting all eggs into the Halo basket.

Do we currently even have any confirmed 2021 games from any of Microsoft internal (or soon to be internal) studios, besides the delayed Halo Infinite? That doesn't mean there won't be any (there almost certainly will), but it does mean Microsoft need to make it clear what's on the horizon for Series X buyers, instead of just saying saying "Game Pass" every 20 seconds.
 
BetterGraphics

BetterGraphics

Member
Dec 11, 2017
2,500
Hearing the Eurogamer video review say that a lack of new interface is a negative really frustrates me. The industry is conditioned to insane change when it's not really required. If you get an iPhone 12 Pro you don't have a whinge that the software is the same as your iPhone 11. Microsoft should be praised for keeping things consistent.
 
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