Topic: What Game(s) Would Make you Buy a PS5?

A few immensely exciting Japanese exclusives (and I mean full exclusives, because why get a new platform if I can just play the games on my PC?). Although I'd likely wait until the platform sunk in price enough. Like the PS4 this Black Friday. By the time the PS5 hits $200 on Black Friday with a game, I imagine it'll probably have enough exclusives to justify a purchase.

Normally I wait a while before getting new PlayStation consoles, as launch line-ups are rarely great. However, anything in my favourite franchises would certainly do the trick. Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts or Persona have serious pulling power.

What convinced me to finally get a PS4 was the then upcoming release of Fallout 4 and Dragon Quest Heroes. Doubt Fallout 5 would do the same, but you never know. Elder Scrolls VI might.

@FullbringIchigo I guess it really depends on what you consider a 'leap' to be and the diminishing return effects. Going from 8 colours to 64, going from 240p to 480p, going from simple beeps to more digitised sound etc had a big impact. Going from 1080p to 2160p is the same 'leap' in resolution, going from 16m colours to 1bn is a massive jump - more than just 56. Its the same with Polygon counts too - once you get to a certain point, then doubling the count is more just 'refinement' at most - diminishing returns.

We already have the highest audio quality - maybe not quite the full spatial audio that Atmos/DTS-X offers on Playstation at least and if you don't have better than 5.1 audio anyway, no benefit there. We already have 3D world that look almost realistic so having Ray Tracing to refine the lighting, make reflections, bounce lighting, shadows etc more accurate (could also come into game play as shadows for example could make you aware of enemies behind you), but its more refinement. Hair and fur could be more accurate as could facial animations across the board - not just cut scenes or select NPC's. Aloys Hair looked great I know - when it wasn't clipping through her outfit which may well be refined on next gen.

Its impossible to know what, if any, ground breaking areas can be explored or offered now. Its not like we are still stuck in 2D anymore and waiting for the tech to deliver 3D or waiting for proper CD quality audio with proper speech anymore. AI is being refined, NPC's are becoming more 'realistic' in the day to day - even the passage of time is being added to games - not just a day/night cycle but the passage of time. RDR2 will have buildings being erected over time rather than NPC's that appear to work on construction but never seem to progress. If anything Time is the 4th dimension that next gen games could progress - especially with cloud gaming rather than being more static with simulated time progressions and limited AI that behaves accordingly but on a set path. We know that games like H:ZD, AC etc have had NPC's that 'work' during the day and sleep at night to simulate a more dynamic world that marks the passage of time, but the next step is for time to play a more significant role - if a farmer is killed for example, his fields become overgrown and maybe become forests, or settlers come in an cut down forests to build houses and towns.

Its difficult to predict whether we will see any 'major' leaps in gaming that have the impact like going from 2D to 3D had because of diminishing returns. Once we had 3D, then it was more about polygon counts to get the games looking more like 'real life'. How can you make a game like GT Sport be revolutionary when the cars, the tracks, the sounds etc are so realistic now? Obviously Ray Tracing will help make the shadows and reflections better and it may benefit from dynamic weather systems that also play into the handling (although other racers offer that), better physics for crashes and damage too maybe but most of that is just refinement. Next gen 'could' offer 4k/120fps or any 'frame rate' from 30 to 120 with VRR to create smoother looking games without screen tear or other issues related to being out of sync with the display. Not revolutionary - although it is for consoles of course.

Even if we do get cloud based gaming, ray tracing or any other new aspect that is used to add more realistic passage of time, more accurate destruction physics and particles, more complex AI, more realistic animations, hair etc, these will still be more refinements that the current consoles can't offer. Who knows whether Devs may find something 'ground-breaking' to offer o whether we see it as more an incremental improvement. If a game comes out that really does change over time in a realistic way rather than scripted, would you see that as a 'revolutionary' leap or just a minor step up like going from 720p to 1080p was??

@BAMozzy Its crazy to think how single player games in a 2d space will improve after next gen.

But with online stuff there are a gazillion improvements that can be made. That's where we will see big gains.

@BAMozzy Tossing a billion NPCs on screen at once is something I hope to see used. While the game got mostly fixed, AC: Unity’s insane and impressive crowd sizes caused some problems for it. Syndicate just got slacked back because of said issues. Imagine if something like Unity was made with dynamic crowds and stuf. The huge revolting crowds come and go. The AI and rounded could be more complex. Unity still has an atmosphere and feeling to it’s environment that is still unique and not matched in someways because of the sheer numbers of NPCs on screen. So in simulating a city and/or a war we could see a generational leap clearly.

@themcnoisy I can't see too much changing with 2D games - you can make use of the 8.3m pixels being offered in 4k but I doubt we will see a revolution there.

Online again could well be more iterative. We have 100 people in a game now, 32vs32 MP battles and even if we see 200 or 100vs100 on massive maps, is that a 'leap' or an iterative step up? The infrastructure could be massively different, playing in games that are essentially running in the cloud and having massive numbers of real people in that space but if its still just a FPS (regardless of its theme) will people feel its a major leap - especially if they aren't that keen on the competitive MP games we have now. I do think that 'online' can improve Single Player experiences too - have worlds that continue to evolve in real time because they evolve in the cloud in real time. Depending on how often you log in, may depend on how noticeable the changes are, whether the vegetation has noticeably grown for example. Making a game though where you aren't just mimicking real life, logging in just to cut your lawn or tend to your garden/crops isn't what I want from a game and would rather have something more 'static' like H:ZD for example - yes it is 'static' despite the day/night cycle - because the game-play is great.

@Jaz007 Unity suffered because of the CPU limitations and runs better on PC's as a result. Its different from something like Days Gone which can have hundreds of enemies as those enemies have quite a simple AI and obviously have less individual visual appearance too - something that becomes much more complex with a crowd of people with much more individuality in both behaviour and clothing.

Again though, would it be a leap or more an iterative step up for some people? Whether a crowd has 300 people or 500 people, its not as if some games already haven't offered 'crowded' places before. Hitman 2 with the Race track appears to have an impressive amount of people around and if the spaces are more open, with more people, the impression isn't that different from a smaller area with fewer people - it can still feel just as densely packed. I am not arguing that from a technical perspective that these things are 'leaps' but whether or not people will see them as 'leaps' or more iterative improvements.

Its the GT Sport thing - now that cars look so realistic, sound realistic, perform quite realistically etc, increasing the car count to 40 isn't necessarily going to feel revolutionary - not like going from 2D to 3D or hearing actual speech in a game for the first time - its more of a step up despite the fact that its a technical leap over what has been possible before with that level of detail, realism and frame rates.

I can understand why some may feel this gen hasn't felt much like a leap - its not as if we didn't have massive open worlds before - even if they had loading to go into a building or some hidden loading sections as you travelled between zones. Better Side Quests can be seen as more iterative progress with devs spending more time on these rather than just trying to add fillers with 'fetch' quests or go here and kill something quests. Filling a world like the Witcher 3 for example with even more things (not just people) with more random encounters, more NPC's to interact with that also behave in more realistic ways, patterns etc - even react to you differently depending on your 'reputation' or gear you happen to be wearing, etc may be a massive technological leap - especially to do all that at much higher resolutions and frame rates but some may still see it as minor iterative steps up because its still just an open world Witcher game that's not that dissimilar to Witcher 3. A great example is the difference between RDR and RDR2 - all the little details, the NPC interactions, the passing of time like buildings that get built and how hair and dirt accumulates, the big difference in the quality of the environments and density thereof, the animal behaviours, the way dead animals decay, bullet holes in your hat remain etc etc. Its a technical leap over its predecessor in MANY ways but some still think its not much more than minor progress - hardly a 'leap' at all - certainly not a 'leap' like going from 8bit to 16bit was or from 2D to 3D because its not 'completely' new. Increasing crowd sizes and improving the AI isn't 'new' - as you said, Unity tried it and if the next Gen perfects it and actually adds more to it too, because its not necessarily something completely new, never seen before and probably just 'prettier' looking thanks to 4k HDR, maybe playing better at 60fps too, its not a generational leap.

My initial point was to try and get people to think what a 'generational' leap is. Is it adding something that has never been seen before - which becomes increasingly difficult as you can't 'reinvent' 3D or hear speech/dialogue and/or full CD quality soundtracks again for the first time - milestones in gaming that new generations offered or is it the technological leap that enables things to be much more realistic, less loading screens, better AI, more NPCs, better quality visuals (shadows, reflections etc) with greater draw distances, more dynamic worlds etc all wrapped up in higher resolution presentations and smoother, higher frame rates. Enabling devs to tell new stories, bring more characters to life, realise more impressive landscapes with better physics, destruction etc. Personally, I fall into the technological leaps as I understand that it becomes increasingly difficult to invent something totally 'new' - far easier when things were much more limited and newer.

Bloodborne 2. What else?

GOW 2,witcher 4.

but tbh,i'll buy a ps5 anyway unless it's focused on streaming/cloud gaming. then i'll just pass it.

Horizon, God of War and Spider-Man sequels.

A new IP that wouldn’t have been possible on the PS4.

Cyberpunk 2077, Cyberpunk 2077 and Cyberpunk 2077.

The latest Madden Nba2k NBA Live Cyberpunk 2077 gta6 rdr2 or 3

The Order 1886 sequel would be high on my list. The lore just begs to be explored further. More open environments and increased length would hopefully secure more interest than the first. The first game really focused on a cinematic experience and still holds up today as one of the best looking games on PS4 - what better game than this to showcase the raw power of the PS5.

Dark Cloud sequel with a heavier emphasis on exploring more than just dungeons to create a fairytale town that can be utilised to progress further in the story. Incorporate multiplayer elements, like in Animal Crossing, where you can visit other people's downs and trade crafting items. A vast expanse of differing environments to challenge the player, with full day/night and weather cycles. This had to potential to be PS4's Zelda and it just hasn't been fully realised yet as a concept.

Driveclub 2. As much as I enjoy Gran Turismo Sport, it is a bit po-faced for me and I don't feel like playing it just for "fun". Its all about constant improvement, learning and being challenged. A new Driveclub could give Forza Horizon a run for it's money and reinject some arcade-ish handling into the Playstation ecosystem.

GTA 6
PES 2020

Another game would be a Sly Cooper game made by Sucker Punch. Sly Cooper is my absolute favorite platformer series, especially 2&3. They could do so much with interacting with an environment, disguises, extra heists or maybe getting information for blackmail or selling or something, bigger more alive worlds, etc, there’s so much they could do with it. Sanzaru games do an okay job, but played like Sly 1.5 or 2.5, taking steps back instead I If forward. I liked it, but was definitely a fan game.

Nothing. I usually wait a year or 2 after a new system. More game choices and at cheaper prices. Having said that Bloodborne 2 or Star Wars battlefront 2 ps2 remake might get me close or looking for PS5 sales.

Crash Bandicoot 4
TimeSplitters 4
Shenmue 4
X Com 3
A Star Wars game Amy Hennig is allowed to finish

Or, like always, some exciting new IPs.

I don't think there is a singular game that would make me buy it, but I will most likely buy it at launch regardless.

Ape Escape 4

@Tirus666 Agreed on Resistance.
I'm ready to buy the PS5 on release day nonetheless, probably with a new 4K TV as prices would have dropped by then.