I thought I would never buy a PS5...

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noah98
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I thought I would never buy a PS5...

Postby noah98 » February 20th, 2023, 2:47 pm

Long post warning!

With Valentine’s Day around the corner and my wedding anniversary rapidly approaching, my wife asked me if I wanted a PS5. PS5’s have not been readily available for the last two years, so I didn’t give it much thought in the past. I told myself that I would resist the urge to be an early console adopter for once, given how underwhelming recent console launches have been. I was all in on the Nintendo Switch launch in 2017, and it lived up to the hype with Breath of the Wild on day one and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Skyrim, and Mario Odyssey in the first year. Contrast that with the PS4 launch which had only one game I was interested in, Knack! Infamous: Second Son and LittleBigPlanet 3 came out the year after, but not much to be excited about. Xbox One also failed to impress with digital only Killer Instinct being the only game I cared about at launch. The next year would see Sunset Overdrive and the Halo Master Chief Collection, but also a lackluster start to the new console generation.

Sure, there were multiplatform games I was interested in back then, like Dragon Age Inquisition, one of my favorite games of all time, but many of these games didn’t run all that well on these shiny new consoles. For the first time that I could remember, the new consoles released underpowered and didn’t feel like a big step up. They undeniably had advantages over the PS3 / 360 era, but they didn’t generate as much excitement. This was also a time when PC gaming had really started to pick up, and the non-exclusive games could be bought for cheap and could run at 60 fps and even higher resolutions than the consoles were capable of. With DLC, day one patches, and mandatory installs / updates, the games became less “physical” than in the past, and it wasn’t as big a factor in deciding between PC and console. The console makers recognized how underpowered their consoles were and eventually released Pro and One X models of their hardware, with Nintendo wisely just releasing an entirely new console after the disastrous launch of the Wii U.

So, here we are in February of 2023, after the new consoles have already been released, but almost impossible to find for over two years. Backwards compatibility is thankfully now a thing again, and the growing pains of weak launch lineups are two years behind us. Also, we have the luxury of getting some of the original releases at discounted prices. I’ll have to be honest -- I still wasn’t sure about getting a PS5, but now that I own one, it has more than exceeded my expectations. Although it is a massive beast, it's still an elegant machine. The controller builds on the past to bring some innovation in the haptic feedback. The console even comes with a great pack in game! To get one, I had to buy the God of War bundle, which only included a digital code, but I wanted that game anyway, so it wasn’t a problem. At its core, the most amazing thing about this console is how good the games look and play. This feels like a huge leap forward from last generation, and I really didn’t expect that. I think you must play it on a 4K TV, even better with HDR, to see what I am talking about. Even without a 4K TV though, the 60 fps gameplay makes me want to play on consoles again, after being spoiled by PC gaming for so long. I think my favorite feature is the Game Boost for PS4 games and upgrade options for previous gen releases. I will say that to take full advantage of these modern consoles, you must accept that games and the system will need updates, even on day one, and retail games will still need to be installed on the machine. If you keep your console completely offline, don’t have a 4K TV, and don’t update your games, there are diminishing returns on your new console investment.

Here’s what I’m currently playing:

PS4 games with Game Boost: Ratchet and Clank (60 fps made me want to finally finish this), God of War (same with this one), Days Gone (60 fps, decided to give it a try for $11), Last of Us 2 (finally an excuse to pick this up for only $10), and Infamous (60 fps, need to play this again!)

PS4 games with free upgrades to PS5 versions: Spider-Man Miles Morales (plays way better on PS5) and Madden 21 (I still had it in my collection)

PS4 games with paid upgrades: Tony Hawk 1 + 2 ($10 to upgrade to PS5), Uncharted 4 ($10 to upgrade to PS5 “A Thief’s End” with the DLC included), Miles Morales ($20 to add Spider-Man Remastered with all DLC)

PS5 native games: Horizon Forbidden West, Ghosts of Tsushima Director’s Cut, Judgment, Lost Judgment, Sackboy, Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart, and The Last of Us Part I Remastered. Many of these were super cheap for President’s Day sales. For example, Sackboy was only $20 new at Best Buy this weekend.

By waiting to buy the console I now have a ton of games to play for a relatively small investment, with some I already owned and now have new life breathed into them. There are even games from last generation that have Game Boost and made me want to pick them up for cheap.

The best games so far have been Spider-Man Remastered and Miles Morales. These look and run beautifully on PS5 with 60 fps and 4k. Horizon Forbidden West, Ghosts of Tsushima Director’s Cut, and Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart are also gorgeous and amazing exclusives. I’m also excited to revisit God of War and Ratchet and Clank PS4, given how amazing they now look. And with The Last of Us on everyone’s minds lately, I’m excited to finally give this series a try with the remake of the first game and Game Boost for the second game. I’m super excited about finally owning this console, something I was convinced would never happen, and I highly recommend everyone consider making the jump.

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noah98
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Re: I thought I would never buy a PS5…

Postby noah98 » February 20th, 2023, 4:03 pm

To add to my own thread, the games I still want to buy for the PS5 are Stray and maybe Kena: Bridge of Spirits. For upcoming releases later this year, definitely looking forward to Diablo 4, Gothic Remake, Robocop, and Dragon Age 4. I'll probably wait on Street Fighter VI until more of the characters are eventually released as DLC and maybe discounted. It took many years and many updates for Street Fighter V to become a complete game!
Last edited by noah98 on March 5th, 2023, 9:30 am, edited 2 times in total.

SpiceWare
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Re: I thought I would never buy a PS5…

Postby SpiceWare » February 21st, 2023, 10:53 am

noah98 wrote:To add to my own thread, the games I still want to buy for the PS5 are Stray and maybe Kena: Bridge of Spirits


I picked up my PS5 last month. I skipped the PS4, so the jump from PS3 was phenomenal.

Stray is awesome, I posted about it here. It's one of the games that's included with Playstation Plus subscription, but not at the base Essential level (need to be Extra or Premium).

Loved Astro's Playroom - that GPU song is so catchy. Also played thru Spyro Reignited, Ratchet and Clank* (including Challenge Mode) and I'm nearly finished with the Challenge mode for R&C Rift Apart.

* R&C is also included with Playstation Plus.

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noah98
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Re: I thought I would never buy a PS5…

Postby noah98 » February 21st, 2023, 12:52 pm

SpiceWare wrote:
noah98 wrote:To add to my own thread, the games I still want to buy for the PS5 are Stray and maybe Kena: Bridge of Spirits


I picked up my PS5 last month. I skipped the PS4, so the jump from PS3 was phenomenal.

Stray is awesome, I posted about it here. It's one of the games that's included with Playstation Plus subscription, but not at the base Essential level (need to be Extra or Premium).

Loved Astro's Playroom - that GPU song is so catchy. Also played thru Spyro Reignited, Ratchet and Clank* (including Challenge Mode) and I'm nearly finished with the Challenge mode for R&C Rift Apart.

* R&C is also included with Playstation Plus.


I don't have Playstation Plus or online since I mostly play single player games. Stray looks great, and I can't wait to start Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart, but I still need to beat the PS3 game, which I'm more motivated to do now that it is 60 fps. I'm also trying to finish the DLC in Horizon Zero Dawn so that I can start Forbidden West. I really love the series and was saving the Frozen Wilds DLC for the future, but now that I have a PS5, I'm ready to start the new game!

SpiceWare
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Re: I thought I would never buy a PS5…

Postby SpiceWare » February 21st, 2023, 1:18 pm

noah98 wrote:since I mostly play single player games.


Same here. I reviewed the games that were included with Playstation Plus, and that's what sold me on it. I opted for the yearly subscription, which costs a lot less than going monthly or quarterly.

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noah98
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Re: I thought I would never buy a PS5…

Postby noah98 » February 21st, 2023, 1:28 pm

SpiceWare wrote:
noah98 wrote:since I mostly play single player games.


Same here. I reviewed the games that were included with Playstation Plus, and that's what sold me on it. I opted for the yearly subscription, which costs a lot less than going monthly or quarterly.


Wow, I didn't realize how many games were available on the service! I'm sure Xbox Game Pass has more, but it's nice to see Sony offering an alternative. If I wasn't such a collector, I would definitely do a subscription. It's no different than subscribing to Netflix or other streaming services, or even renting games.

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noah98
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Re: I thought I would never buy a PS5...

Postby noah98 » March 5th, 2023, 9:30 am

I got Stray, Kena, and The Ascent all on sale. Three great games so far!

matmico399
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Re: I thought I would never buy a PS5...

Postby matmico399 » March 5th, 2023, 7:32 pm

How are the install and download times? I've been putting it off too. Got an Xbox One several years back and I couldn't believe it took a day to download and required more updates before I could even play. What kind of times are you looking at to install this stuff? If it takes a day to download I am not at all interested. As the VGC says, plug and Play.

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noah98
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Re: I thought I would never buy a PS5...

Postby noah98 » March 6th, 2023, 1:55 pm

matmico399 wrote:How are the install and download times? I've been putting it off too. Got an Xbox One several years back and I couldn't believe it took a day to download and required more updates before I could even play. What kind of times are you looking at to install this stuff? If it takes a day to download I am not at all interested. As the VGC says, plug and Play.


Install and download times are still quite long. Install goes faster than updates do though. It's not like the old days where you could just pop a game in and start playing. The Nintendo Switch is still mostly like that, although there are occasional day one patches. Modern games, even bought on a physical disc, require a lengthy install process. Download speeds are a combination of your internet speed and the speed of their servers. I find that console servers are slower than PC, so modern consoles take much longer to get into the action. If I didn't have decent internet speeds in my house, I would probably struggle with modern gaming!

However, load times are significantly improved on the PS5, so that's progress!

SpiceWare
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Re: I thought I would never buy a PS5...

Postby SpiceWare » March 14th, 2023, 3:29 pm

matmico399 wrote:How are the install and download times?


On my PS5 the updates occur in Rest Mode so takes "zero" time as far as I'm concerned. The only things I notice are a notification that the update(s) occured and, if it was a system update, the last game I was playing does not automatically resume where I left off.

I just did a test by installing the PS5 version Battlefield 2042, which is one of the games added to PlayStation Plus for March.

Initial download was 33 GB and took 5 1/2 minutes*, at which point a message popped up that the game was ready to play so I launched it.

7 minutes later a message popped up that the game installation was complete. I checked the storage and Battlefield 2042 took up 70 GB.



* I have gigabit fiber in the Houston metro, Speedtest of my connection:
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