Topic: PlayStation 5 --OT--

I know they won't because it's been bad ever since the PS5 came out and their tech team is a joke, but they really need to fix the Store on the PS5. Tonight was probably my worst experience with searching on there, with it refusing to search for anything but add-ons. No matter how many times I entered in the word Shantae (I was curious how much the last one they put on PS5 was), it kept failing to look up actual games.

I love my PS5, but damn is the UI awful in certain areas, with the Store being near the top of the list.

@KilloWertz I have to agree with you on the PS Store search logic. It’s really pretty bad. I know what you mean about putting in a specific search term and getting the top 10 results be the most ridiculous things like add-ons and unrelated content. I don’t know how many times I’ve searched for a game and I have to scroll through a dozen Sackboy outfits before getting to the actual game (if it even brings up the game!) 😅

I’m not much of a computer tech guy, but to me it seems we need better relevance tracking with the search function. I understand the want to sell DLC and add-on content so they want to pull that stuff to the top, but it’s borderline asinine when it’s for games that are so obscure and it seems you’d want the user to buy the game they are actually searching for! 😄

@Th3solution Yeah, but it makes even less sense when it literally refuses to search for anything but Add-ons, as if I selected an option that I wanted to search for Add-ons only. I haven't used the Store much lately, but I don't remember it doing that before. Yes, it would give me wacky results, but not refuse to search for actual games.

As nice as it was to look at prior to the last update (ruining the home screen by shoving Activities in our faces), this is turning into the worst UI PlayStation has ever put out. It's functional mostly (besides the Store), but it's not very good overall. I'd be less harsh if they gave any hint that they were aware of this stuff and were working on it, but time goes by and it doesn't change and they remain silent. It's also ridiculous that I would have had to put my Deathloop disc in to download the update yesterday instead of being able to check for updates for games that aren't on my Home screen. I could do that on the PS4, but nearly 2 years in we still can't do that either.

@KilloWertz In my experience the game update download process seems to be quite random. I believe I’ve had some games automatically download updates (while in rest mode for example) and then times when the prompt for updating shows up only after launching the game. I think the auto-update feature limits itself to only games that have recently been played, but I’m not sure it’s consistent that way.

As for not being able to manually download an update patch without the disc being in, I also feel like that’s been inconsistent. I have some games on my system that I haven’t put the disc in for ages (like No Man’s Sky and Tetris Effect) yet have sometimes auto-downloaded a patch. I’ve never tried to manually do an update for a game without having the disc in though. Maybe I’ll try it for kicks and see what happens.

But I’m not sure why the system has an option to select for automatic game updates if it’s not going to actually download said updates automatically. 😅 Like what’s the point? It’s not a deal breaker for me, but it’s just weird. Even console firmware updates don’t always automatically download for me like they are supposed to. Maybe it’s my internet.

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On a separate (but related) note, I noticed a notification this morning that Horizon Forbidden West is on a nice 30% sale right now. Pretty sure this game wasn’t included in the current sale, so it’s just a separate random offering, I guess. Since the game is on my wishlist I got a notification. $39 is tempting, even though I have a boatload of games lined up to play yet.

And it’s really weird because the PSN digital version of the game still has two separate entries for the PS4 version and the PS5 version. And at two different prices no less! Despite there being a free upgrade to download the PS5 version if you own the PS4 version, why in the world would someone buy the digital PS5 version and spend $10 more? I can see the reason why someone might buy a separate physical version for PS5 so they have the PS5 case, and the PS5 disc to directly download content, etc. But when you are downloading a digital game, I’m not seeing the attraction of buying the PS5 version as opposed to buying the PS4 version and then just downloading the free PS5 upgrade. Most digital game with a free PS5 upgrade (say Resident Evil Village for example) only have one entry in the PSN store to just buy both the PS4 & PS5 version as one product for one price, despite there being two different disc boxes if you go physical. Not Horizon Forbidden West though. Just another weird curiosity.

My 65" LG C1 OLED TV arrived today and... well first of all I had to call my brother to help me pick it up off the floor after I took it out of the box - the way it's built isn't very 1-person friendly even for a big guy like me 😂

With that out of the way though, I tried a couple games that support the 40 fps mode with 120hz screens and yeah, all games with ray tracing should definitely do this, it's great!

@Th3solution Here in the UK Horizon Forbidden West is the current Deal of the Week priced at £52.49 with 25% off. The PS5 and PS4 versions are priced the same it looks like, but the Digital Deluxe Version is about 10 quid more expensive.

@JohnnyShoulder Interesting. Over here the deal of the week is TNMT Shredder’s Revenge for 20% off. HFW isn’t even listed under any of the sales, but when I search and pull up the game it shows up on discount — PS4 Ed. $39, PS5 Ed. $49, and Digital Deluxe Ed $59.

I would have thought they’d highlight the discount since this is the crown jewel right now of the first-party moneymakers.

Also it’s interesting that Sony isn’t trying to fool PS5 owners over there into paying an extra $10 like they are over here.

@Th3solution If the game is on your Home screen, it will either automatically start downloading the update or you have to hit Check for Update and it starts eventually that way. Either way is fine, but inconsistent like you say as sometimes it won't automatically start no matter what. If you have the game amongst the games on your Home screen, the disc doesn't need to be in there.

Still, the fact that you have to effectively put it back on your Home screen by inserting the disc is inexcusable at this point. Is it that big of a deal? Most of the time, no, but it is still annoying given that you could at least check for updates for any game in your library on your own on the PS4. I forgot about the update for Deathloop until after I put my PS5 into sleep mode to download the Star Ocean demo overnight, so instead of it just automatically downloading overnight, I had to do it in the morning. Again, not a huge deal, but still something that shouldn't be an issue at this point.

There's plenty of things in the UI that defy logic. Your system update issue is a bit weird though, as I've always had the system updates automatically start. How quickly it starts is variable, just like with game updates and installations sometimes taking a good minute or more to start, but system updates starting have been good as a whole.

As I always say, none of this is truly dealbreaking or would make me get rid of my PS5, especially since the gaming aspect of things on the PS5 is obviously good given the games available. It's just the UI should be in a better place at this point, and they continue to be dead silent about anything, leaving you wondering if they will ever fix some of the stuff.

@Th3solution We had turtles as last weeks deal of the week, Horizon replaced it today, I think.

@KilloWertz By the sounds of it you should set fire to your PS5 and have done with it.

@JohnnyShoulder Nah, I just don't refuse to criticize them for bad decisions or a bad UI for the PS5. While I know you were trying to be playful there, they are all legitimate complaints even if some of them aren't major in the grand scheme of things, and there is no excuse why at least some of the things aren't fixed by now.

@KilloWertz I was being dead serious. I get it, but I find I just don't care about most of the things you are bringing up and they don't bother me as much. Maybe seeing people complain about absolutely everything and anything since the covid started has made me a bit ambivalent with things like this.

The system is ok for me, it's quick and everything seems to work as far as I remember. It is not perfect by any means, but I don't think any UI has or ever will be.

I don't get the lauding over the PS4 UI though, for me that was way much worse, sluggish and unresponsive at times, and the store especially always used to crash.

Have you tried complaining through the proper channels? You may actually get through to someone that can do something about it.

So I actually prefer the layout of the PS4 UI… if you excuse how long everything takes and the various crashes etc. but that could just be a case of my familiarity with it. I remember when I first booted up my PS4 back in 2013, I was horrified that they had changed the UI so drastically from the PS3 version… though 9 years later I now prefer the PS4 UI. I’m kinda expecting to prefer the PS5 UI after a while as a result of this.

I currently only have one complaint about the PS5 UI and it's not even exactly a UI thing but rather seems like a backend bug - it's that sometimes games don't come up in search despite typing the full name (shows a ton of partial matches instead - I was looking for the Star Ocean demo and it simply wasn't there, I ended up downloading it via the mobile app) and sometimes the only way to find a game is through search because they don't show up on lists they should be on (this is true for some PS3 games on PS+ Premium).

I've not really got many issues with the PS5 UI either and actually prefer it to the PS4 one. Now if I go back to the PS4 it feels a bit antiquated and slow. I was never really that bothered about themes either and quite like that you get a full page image of the game selected. It feels like a step forward as it's giving plenty of room for more options like the activity cards. I'm kinda hoping that more games get better support for those as time goes on as they can be useful if implemented well. There's always room for improvement though and, as mentioned by others, finding things in the store / PS+ could be better.

@JohnnyShoulder Then you must literally just boot up your PS5 and play games on it and nothing else. That's fine, whatever, but the UI definitely needs work. I'd probably be less critical or frustrated about the UI if Sony showed any signs of actually working on and acknowledging the problems the UI has, but like almost everything else nowadays with PlayStation, they are dead silent. That and the fact that some of this stuff could be done on the PS4, but then they decided to remove it for no reason on the PS5 (the ability to check for updates in your library and not just on the home screen for example). I'm not going to jump ship to Xbox and get rid of my PS5, but at least they tell you about things they are working on with the UI at times.

The PS4's UI was only sluggish and such because of the system it was on. If you put the UI on the PS5, I doubt it would have been because it's a much faster system. As for the store, I didn't experience much in the way of crashes that I remember, but while I agree that it was kind of a mess, at least it was useful for finding games. The search on the PS5's is almost entirely broken at times.

No, I haven't. I have little faith that anything will come of it since they seem like they don't really care given that none of the problems have been fixed in nearly two years, but I suppose I still could, especially since I have a feeling I will get a response on here like "well, stop crying about the UI if you aren't even going to take the time to tell Sony about it."

@KilloWertz Yeah pretty much. I use it for Apple TV and some of the other streaming apps, but I tend to use the app on my TV when available. I have a brief browse of the store every week or so of the latest sale, but I'm generally buying less games over the last couple of years anyway, so I am less inclined to.

The PS4 store search function was definitely difficult to use until they changed it quite late on I seem to remember. Even then the same problems of everything but the thing you are searching for would come up.

Hopefully no one would be that harsh lol and even then I would like to think they would be only pulling your leg.

@colonelkilgore Yes, this. In retrospect I wasn’t thrilled with PS4 UI coming off the PS3’s, but eventually really liked it (like you said, aside from technical limitation related sluggishness) and looking back, the iteration from PS3 to PS4 wasn’t really that big of a leap — some things that were horizontal became vertical, or vice versa.

And the PS5 UI is gradually winning me over. Granted I never utilized themes on PS4 anyways. I felt like they slowed the UI more, especially the dynamic themes. Folders were way better in PS4 but my PS5 drive space is so small I only have like 7 or 8 games on it at a time right now anyways.

I think @KilloWertz has some valid gripes, but like @JohnnyShoulder says, I’m mostly rolling with it since it functions and doesn’t crash. My biggest issue is the store’s search logic, like I said. I don’t like the constant advertisements and irrelevant content I’m being bombarded with. But it’s not my hill to die on. I’ll rely on Killo to raise enough of a stink with Sony to make some needed improvements for us. 😄

@Th3solution good to know I’m not the only creature of habit out there 😅. And yes indeed:

#westandwithkilo #butsilently #anditsonlyametaphoricalstandasigenerallyjustremainseated

@colonelkilgore 😄 Yes sir. Although strangely sometimes I stand while gaming when I need to concentrate more on a difficult part, because… I think better standing? Or my reflexes are better? I’m not sure why I do that. 😂

@Th3solution kudos for your correct interpretation of that third hashtag… not the easiest thing to read! 🫡