Topic: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

@LtSarge It seems that with Xbox, you only need a Disc Drive for Backwards Compatibility these days. It's not really surprising that MS may not release on Disc when only Series X customers can actually use a 'disc' because Series S/PC customers all buy Digitally anyway.

When I moved last, back in 2013, I had boxes and boxes of Games stored in the attic - going all the way back to Vic20. 1000's of old games on Physical media. Even if those games were 'preserved', they required fully working Hardware which was now obsolete. I still had some Hardware, but no guarantee they still worked or worth setting up to play old games. In the end, those all went to the Local Rubbish Tip. When MS brought BC to XB1, it was cool seeing my 360 Digital Library, ready to 'download' on XB1, and now on Series X too.

Of course people will still want to buy Discs as they can find them cheaper (due to a more competitive market as retailers compete for your money) and of course less 'risk' as you can also 'sell' to recuperate some of that cost. With Game Pass too though, you can 'try' hundreds of games at no extra cost and only 'buy' games you want to keep or because you want to support the Studio/Devs.

At the end of the day, Physical may suit some better in their situation/circumstance and Digital may suit others better. Circumstances change too so you may find yourself preferring Digital despite being a Physical preferrer for decades. On Xbox, I've basically become far more of a Digital purchaser, yet still prefer (for now) to buy Physical on Playstation.

@Elodin @Ravix Two contrasting opinions, haha. But you both bring up solid points. I have been getting an urge in recent time to replay games like Persona 4 Golden as it's my favourite game of all time. So I might just choose a middle path in this case: sell all games that don't have a sentimental value to me and keep all the ones that I do care about, such as P4G. I mean, I just finished Far Cry Primal and I highly doubt I'll ever go back to that game again. I have tons of games like that that I don't care much for, so I'll probably put together a list and sell them. I have already adapted a mindset of only buying games that I truly want to play, so I won't be having as much of this issue going forward.

@Ravix Going all digital is very tempting to me but the issue is that I don't have enough storage space for downloading games. I'd have to delete them once I finished them, and that feels wrong for me as I paid full price for them unless I downloaded them via a subscription service. Then it's basically like I "rented" the games and it's not as big of a deal for me.

Granted, I could always wait and buy games on sale so that deleting them won't feel as bad. But yeah, I don't think I want to go all digital just yet as it's still not predominately advantageous for me to do so.

I might change my mind though. I can see myself reaching a tipping point where I just don't care anymore and I just want to experience the game in the most convenient way possible. Wouldn't surprise me if that happened sooner rather than later.

@BAMozzy You raise some good points. However, I'm not as confident in Microsoft as I used to be. While they keep talking about game preservation, and I completely understand what they mean, i.e. being able to access all your current games on all future hardware from now on, I just don't believe that they will keep releasing consoles in the future. So how is that going to work with my current games? If they have an app for that on my TV, will I play them that way, or will I have to buy them again, and how will the quality be like?

The idea is great though. Being able to access your current digital library of games on future systems would be fantastic. But the next consoles haven't come out yet and we don't know if companies will actually do that or not. And like you said, even if you keep physical games, you still need working hardware, and who knows how long these systems will last.

@LtSarge you can still redownload it from your library if you get the urge to play it though, and you won't have to go and find the box and the disc to reinstall it, which takes as long or longer than simply downloading it anyway, plus you can't also use the console for other things while the console is copying from discs, whereas you can while it doenloads in the background. You could argue that uninstalling a game is literally the same rented feeling but with more steps towards reinstalling it.

If you want to keep a collection of 20-40 games ready to go, then a couple tb of extended SSD storage is the way to go. When I first got my digital only ps5, which accelerated my switch to digital, I plopped an SSD I got on sale from amazon in it and haven't looked back since. It took 5/10 minutes and as of now I have 8 games on that console and 17 I can play directly from the extra SSD. Or swap them around if I feel the need. And even then, it usually turns out that once I've played the game I move on so I eventually delete it anyway 😅

If you use a combination of reduced price voucher codes and PS Stars rewards you can actually spend less on games digitally too. The only downside is you can't sell them on, but as I wasn't doing that regularly anyway, it was a moot point.

A few examples where I got BG3 special edition for I think £43/47 on release day. Dragon's Dogma 2 only cost me £17 at the time I actually paid money out as I had funds stored from PS stars and voucher codes. And every game has a built in 13/15% reduction from the voucher codes alone, anyway. Hogwarts Legacy was on a good sale, plus the built in discount from vouchers. It all adds up when gaming is one of your main hobbies.

Obviously to buy physical and sell it within a fee weeks playing it will always be the cheapest way, but that has never been my MO and would take the casual fun out of gaming for me, but it's good for some people.

@LtSarge You talk about Storage with Digital, but surely that is the same with Physical too. If you delete a game you have on Disc to make room for a newer game you have bought, you'd still have to spend time re-installing from Disk, as well as downloading any Patches etc before you can play as you can't play games from 'Disc' and haven't been able to do so since the PS3 gen. Back then, you had the choice to install and some games required some 'installation' first - like BF3 or Killzone.

Since the PS4 gen, all games have required installation to internal storage and the 'Disc' is really only required to check you have a 'valid' licence to play the Software. The disc is just a delivery system to get the Software onto your System and a 'key' to gain access to that Software. Digital too is just a delivery system to get the Software installed on your System, but unlike Physical with a more 'generic' licence you can 'sell', the digital licence is added to your Digital profile, added to your 'keyring' of Licenses so as long as you sign in, the software is accessible.

I can understand the fears with 'software' - what if you delete it and the hardware can no-longer go online? We have seen delisted games be re-downloadable if you bought before they were delisted, but what happens when PS4 goes 'offline' - you maybe able to play Driveclub if you had the Disc (although maybe not get the updates) but can't connect to download.

In terms of storage though, I see little difference between having to put the disc in and wait for it to install and download any updates before I can jump back in and re-downloading and installing the most up to date version. I guess it makes a difference if your internet is very slow or metered so Physical has an advantage - but both are just delivery methods these days. I also guess it makes a difference if you prefer Physical and/or that format is easier to see what games you 'own' - although you can often see what games you 'own' from your digital Library ready to 'download/install'.

What I will say though is that I also use Game Pass Cloud on Xbox to try games, even just play them entirely that way because I can't be bothered to move/delete games and then wait for it to download and install for what maybe 3-5hrs of Playtime or not sure if it appeals. Therefore its not taking up any Storage but obviously isn't the 'best' way to play, more the most convenient at that time. Its great if you don't have much time to wait for installing, don't know if its worth the Storage space etc and/or just want to jump straight in to try it. With Game Pass too though, you maybe can create space by deleting the games you've finished, that have left GP so can't play without buying anyway etc. Reminds me, I must delete High on Life now LOL.

These days, they are so many Digital sales - every week there are sales with 'extra' discounts or items on sale to Subscribers - extra money off if you have a Game Pass or PS+ subscription. With MS and releasing on PC too with Play Anywhere, there could be an extra incentive to buying some games digitally. I'd rather buy 'Starfield' Digitally on Xbox if it also gives me the PC version free - enabling me to play on my Gaming Laptop or RoG Ally too. I'd probably be more inclined to buy 'Spider-Man' Digitally on PS5 if it also gave me the Digital PC version too. If I buy Starfield on Disc, I can only play on my Series X as that is the ONLY hardware with a Disc drive, but bought digitally, I could also play on a Series S or PC. In 10yrs time, I'll still have the PC access even if I don't own another Xbox or if they drop Disc Drives entirely (no way to put the disc in for BC) so buying Digitally is the 'better' option with MS's games.

As I said, I still prefer to buy PS games Physically and until the last 3yrs or so, would have said exactly the same with my Xbox games but have found myself buying mostly Digital - the last Physical game I bought was Dead Space remake but the majority were bought Digitally. I'd like to think that I'd consider format on a Case by Case basis rather than be digital or physical only but with limited Capacity on discs, the state of games on those discs (pre-day 1 code) and the very real prospect that Disc Drives could disappear from future Hardware, making those discs 'useless' for Back Compat (as we see with PS5 digital and Series S), maybe its time to switch to Digital for all?

I bought very expensive and very powerful PS5 machine just only for playing 3rd party kids games such as PAW Patrol, Harvest Moon games, Kao the Kangaroo, the kids games by Outright Games / Microids / Merge Games, Bluey, etc.

@LtSarge
I don't even like digital only video game machine.
I like to collect things I like and keep them.
Also, I hate the convenience of being digital only if really removing the importance of physical release.
I still dinosaur and will keep being dinosaur.

3rd party kids games by Outright Games, Microids, Merge Games, GameMill, Just For Games, Mindscape, Rokaplay, etc are my priority for my games collection.

@LtSarge the point about MS and potentially leaving the 'Console' market themselves, that to me adds another reason to buy 'digitally' over a Physical Disk that likely cannot be used on any future hardware to access that game. As someone who only recently has started to dabble on PC, I am seeing how Digital could work in terms of long term preservation.

You never 'own' the Software, the 'game', what you purchase is a Licence to use that Software and that licence can be 'generic' (as in anyone who has that licence because its on a disc) or Account locked (as in its locked to 'your' account so only the account holder can play if they have signed in as Digital games have) as well as 'temporary' (timed for example) or 'conditional' (must have an active Subscription or in the case of some Sub services, also must be available on that service - so if you don't keep you sub or the game leaves, you can't play because the conditions are not met)

So if you have a Digital Profile (as you must have for Xbox/Playstation) then you have a Digital Keyring (so to speak) with ALL your Digital Licence Keys - regardless of whether they are account locked to you, timed or conditional. As such, if you sign into a PC with your 'Xbox' digital Account, you have access to your Digital Play Anywhere games that you bought that can be downloaded on PC and played. If you buy 'Starfield' on disc because you are concerned about the future, that disc only works with Series X today and maybe won't let you play on the 'next' box because it doesn't have a Disk Drive. Buy it Digitally with 'Play Anywhere', at the moment that lets you play on ANY PC it can run on as well as Series S and X. In the future, just like all my XB1 'digital' purchases were on my Series X to 'download/install' from my Library, I'd expect the same with the nextbox or any 'digital' Xbox/PC windows platform.

Whether 'everything' is playable from this point on - even on Xbox who talk about 'preservation' - or not, Digital can 'preserve' just as easily as Disc, maybe easier if Discs and drives become obsolete. MS don't have the control to preserve another Publishers game/IP and some of their games, like Forza, have licenced vehicles which they have no control over - if GM group decided they don't want to renew, or MS doesn't think its worth renewing as they want people playing the 'new' Forza, Same with games like Fifa, Madden, MLB etc. Would you want to play MLB21, 22, 23 etc in 10yrs time or be playing MLB 33, 34 etc.

I also think about games I have on Disc like Cyberpunk. If I can't get online to fix that game, the disc version is awful, unplayable. If I bought it digitally, even if the Console doesn't have a disk drive, I can download the 'latest/best' version from my Library as my Digital account has the Licence key to do that.

I see a future where Xbox could be a Digital platform so you sign into your account and have your Digital Library ready to download/play maybe an Xbox App like Steam is on PC. Considering what they can make with Chips these days - iPad Pro with AI processors (similar to nvidia with its AI for DLSS etc) and the best single core CPU performance seen, built in GPU too, MS with their ARM chips on Surface tablets - low power chips in tiny/thin devices with minimal cooling required able to do AI function (which could also be used for gaming like DLSS, RT etc). Even your mobile or TV in the future could have a Gaming chip with CPU/GPU/RAM and AI cores with some Solid State storage so you don't need a Console. So you sign into your Xbox, Playstation, Steam or whatever other Gaming apps and can play - much like you can now on a RoG Ally (except that doesn't have a Playstation app yet)

With Game Pass Ultimate that includes GP for PC/Cloud, I can sign into my Xbox/GP account on my Samsung TV to play Xbox games directly on my TV - no console required (albeit via cloud right now) as well as play on PC. My save is cloud based too so all my progress is carried over to whatever platform I play. Its a 'digital' platform that allows me to play those games on ANY compatible hardware, downloading to any Hardware that can run it (like Play Anywhere digital games) and, if you have Digital games, you know how easy it is to jump from one to the other, how much better they work with Quick Access etc - All of which helps me view what a 'potential' future could look like and how 'preservation' of YOUR library could work.

It could work like GPU in that when you sign into your Xbox (or Playstation) account all the games you own are listed in your Library ready to download (if the Hardware allows) or play via Streaming. In the future, your Display could have a decent Gaming chip built in so you can play locally - the 'app' will have the OS and/or API's to utilise the chip's CPU, GPU etc so if you sign into 'Xbox' it looks and operates like an 'Xbox', sign into Playstation, and it looks and operates like 'Playstation' as both have similar 'Hardware'. Sony could still sell a Console for 'premium' gamers that want 'higher' performance but don't want to pay for a PC build that maybe offers even higher performance - the 'hardcore, dedicated gamer with money'

For the majority, it could be like their Movie/Music media, they'd rather play through an App like Netflix, except that some 'hardware' may also offer the option to play Locally because they have a decent gaming chip built in so they have their games on ANY display. If they buy a Playstation game through the Playstation app digitally, they can then play that on ANY device - even if that means streaming because the licence is locked to that account, not a disc or a specific Hardware SKU...

Having a lot of physical games displayed tidily and still being played oftenly is way more pleasure than having digital only games and machine.
I hate the convenience of future stuffs like that.

@Anti-Matter agreed 100%

As far as the physical versus digital analysis, I’m mixed. I was more open to embracing the eventual digital future until I read about the recent issues with age-verification on PSN (there’s the thread on here from the old guy who was unable to get PSN to allow him to log in due to being unable to verify his age). It reminded me of the tenuous and fragile nature of my entire digital library if I were to somehow lose access. I started to consider if they retroactively start asking for age verification here in the States and I have a similar complication with that process then I instantly lose access to hundreds and hundreds of games. That’s scary.

I guess it’s always been a risk to lose access if you’re banned for misbehavior, but that never bothered me because I just rarely interact with anyone on PSN. But some kind of forced gatekeeping can be implemented at any time and could suddenly and immediately cut off access.

@Th3solution I know what you mean and have had similar fears for a while. I don’t think they’ve implemented that system here in Kuwait but it’d be incredibly annoying to lose so many purchased titles due to being unable to verify my account anymore. In my case my fear of losing my account would the result of my fear of losing my emails which can happen on a really bad day.

Astro bot is not a celebration of Sony IP.
It's a scandal in my opinion.

I think we have a winner of the thread 👆.

@Th3solution if it makes you feel any better, they can gatekeep it through the hardware itself via firmware, so whether digital or physical there’s no way around it

@BearsEatBeets indeed we do.

@Th3solution Oof, that is something I fear a lot. I don’t have any PlayStation console anymore, but the fact that a guy lost his games and account thanks to an age verification system is so scary and must have given him an awful feeling. I feel very bad for him. I am digital only with my console, but I think a digital only future would be concerning, and seeing physical media get gradually phased out is very worrying, since your digital games could be lost forever if you lost your account in some way, like of course the age verification thing but also through getting hacked.

I would call myself a security freak. I have never been hacked (and I pray I don’t), but I started to take account security and emails more seriously after I read a story on Pure Xbox last year that said that someone lost their Microsoft account to a hacker, and although the hacker was locked out of the account, the original account holder was unable to get back in and it ended with Microsoft having to permanently ban the account. The person never said anything about whether their security was weak or not, but people speculated that either the person didn’t have a long password, have some type of authentication, or a combination of both. Although it wasn’t me who had anything bad happen, I got so freaked out and imagined the possibilities of that happening to me, so I made my Microsoft account and other accounts more secure, but it really made me feel extremely anxious and terrible, since I fear that there could be a small chance that someone will get unauthorized access to my Xbox account somehow and lock me out despite how strong my security is, and then Microsoft can’t do anything about it and will have to resort to closing or banning my account permanently. I also fear someone will steal personal info and vandalize my account to something hateful or impersonate me. I have a Series S, so I am at more of a risk since everything on there is digital-only and I can’t buy anything physical. I’m so obsessive and I always make daily checks on my accounts to make sure they aren’t on the dark web. The news story really messed me up and made me scared…to add, there was a pretty lengthy Xbox outage yesterday that didn’t allow people to log in or access games, and although support didn’t give a reason given for what caused it, people speculated and said it was a DDoS attack, so that did somewhat make me worried but I was surprisingly able to stay calm after reading a few answers experts gave online, but I think that is one of the issues with needing a digital account for everything.

Although there are some downsides to physical (like games wearing down and becoming unplayable over time) one of the things it does better than digital is being able to keep the games even when your account and data is gone or you are locked out permanently. I really want to feel less fearful and anxious, but it just is so hard to do and I don’t know how to not feel this way anymore…I just wish big companies would care more about physical media nowadays and that they didn’t always have to require accounts for everything since it can pose a big security risk, especially for those that are digital only.

Not sure if this is an unpopular opinion or a pet peeve, or both — I don’t like “Wanted” or “Bounty” systems in games.

This occurred to me during recent discussions about GTA and I got thinking about the whole gameplay loop of doing something illegal or nefarious in a game and then having to deal with a blinking red screen and enemies / law enforcement are now hyper-aware (and even superhumanly psychic) and hunting or chasing you down. It’s all quite annoying.

Versions of this are done in a lot of games — not only GTA and RDR but also the Assassin’s Creed games, Need for Speed, and many RPGs in general.

The idea seems sound - make your actions feel like they have consequences in the game world. The problem is that usually the systems are inconsistent and even arbitrary at times. And if the balancing isn’t done well, then you can do some petty violation like loiter too slowly while walking by a cop and all of a sudden you have the US Marshall’s swarming you (or the royal guards in fantasy RPGs, or whatever) for nothing. And you have to either perform mass murder and destruction to escape or you have to run and hide for 30 minutes until your “Wanted” clock ticks down.

It’s one of the things that I remember put me off about AC 4: Black Flag. It’s one thing to be seen and chased down by guards when you’re an assassin in town, but it’s a whole other level of annoyance when you’re trying to sail from one island to another and 12 enemy ships spontaneously appear to surround you out of nowhere because you’ve triggered a “wanted” status.

I understand the attempt at realism, but I just think the implementation isn’t fun. So I usually try to always “be good” in such games, and avoid the law or the ruling body.

The only interesting wrinkle on this that I’ve played is the nemesis system in the LotR Shadow of ___ series where the individual orcs will form a personal vendetta against you and hunt you down based on some of your actions. I don’t mind that. But I dislike gameplay where you have an honor system that is fragile and can trigger an event that ruins the next hour of your game time running away and not being able to advance the story until your level drops down again.

@Th3solution

Nah I kinda getchu don’t worry.
Dropped Kingdom Sleep Deliverance because of this.