Topic: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

@KirbyTheVampire I was exaggerating and I did enjoy the game but if I think Kratos (not a bad character!) made it very hard for me (and I guess a lot of other people) to find a resonance with the game. I guess it's like when guys are thrown off by JRPG male leads but on the other end of the spectrum. The game is enjoyable at least to make someone like me play it to the end!
@themcnoisy spot on for me!

@BAMozzy Being a man absolutely is about more than being a brute, and Kratos is hardly a poster boy for how men should be, but I've seen several complaints that Kratos is "too manly", which is just strange to me. He could be a little more sensitive, sure, but sensitivity isn't a non-masculine trait, and not every character needs to be a softy or super likeable anyway. To each his own, though.

@Feena Yeah, I could see that being the case for quite a few women. My sister feels much the same about Kratos as you do, and men do tend to enjoy characters like that more than women do. It's just the nature of the two sexes. I just wasn't quite sure about the whole "for straight white men only" comment, but I can see that it was an exaggeration, so no worries.

@JohnnyShoulder it's not true that small percentage use bc, where did you get that? Straight form Sony exec mouth?

You said you doubt MS would care for bc if they were in Sony position, but that's not probable because Microsoft already planned for future bc as they put certain instructions in their SoC in order to achieve that backwards compatability. You have an excellent article on digital foundry on that, where you can read how they achieved that.

And mind you, what Microsoft achieved is not simply backwards compatability, they went even further and made enhancements for these games. For some of they you even have HDR, not to mention one X enhancements.

So all in all, this is a big win for Microsoft, you like it or not.

On the other side Sony ignores even ps2 and ps1 support, with only a handful of titles in store and there's no excuse for it. If we don't press Sony now,I fear we can get another ps3 launch level failure and that's not good for gaming.

@NecuVise I think it is great to have BC. I look enviously at the x1 back catalouge now as an ex xboxer now PS4 is the only console I use regularly. However at this point in my life and the amount of quality games released almost weekly I cant fathom how anyone has the time to play them all again. I also say this as a parent with 2x x1 consoles in the house.

I think both sides of the arguement are valid right now however bc will be an even hotter potato next gen. Just imagine sacrificing the 180 games I have in my digital library!

@KirbyTheVampire The 'being to manly' is more about using your muscles (physical strength) to get what you want - regardless of right/wrong - basically Kratos in a nutshell. Kratos is very 1 dimensional - even in the new God of War. I don't want to go into spoilers but the game is full of examples of this. The easiest thing would be to visualise a women in that role, on a journey with her Son to scatter the ashes of his father and look at the encounters on route - not just the 'fights' but every encounter. Again I don't want to go into spoilers but you may get the idea. Being too manly is resorting to stereotypical 'male' behaviour of using their physical strength to get what they want regardless, talking down to everyone else because you have the 'biggest' muscles. If you cannot visualise a 'woman' in that role, not just the 'combat' but the interactions with everyone inc Atreus, then its too manly. Kratos is not a good role model or father! Women may not like Kratos because they are often the ones that are on the receiving end of men and them using their physical strength to get what they want!

@themcnoisy As someone with an Xbox, I tend to use BC occasionally but mostly for the GwG games I missed out on when they released - the free games on Gold. Its not to replay games I have enjoyed at least once already - apart from the odd MP game if friends want to play but generally the Single player campaigns that I missed. With so many new games to look forward to as well as an increasing back catalogue of games I haven't yet fully experienced, I am more interested in playing games, experiencing stories etc that I haven't yet rather than replaying stories I already know how they end, know the plot twists etc. The main reason I like BC on XB1 is because of GwG, that gives me (up to) 4 new games every month and whilst I could play on my 360/PS3, its often better on the X - better frame-rates and sometimes visuals too. MW3 was added recently and that can drop to 40fps - rock solid 60fps on X, Forza Horizon is 4k on X, RDR is 4k and a rock solid 30fps on X. Also has built in 12x Anisotropic Filtering, faster load times etc too so its an 'enhanced' experience rather than playing the games as they 'were', as they would be on my 360.

@BAMozzy i only have ONE major issue with the XB1's BC program

and that is you CAN'T use it unless your connected online because for some dumb reason they decided you can only save your games to the cloud and not on the system itself and when you are like me and you have a XB1 that only connects when it wants to because it's Wi-Fi doesn't like my router (and no i can't connect it via a wire as my house has no connection outside of the living room nor can i get a new router because my internet only works with those provided by my IP provider) sometimes i just can't play any of them

if you have to be connected online to play then it's not really any different to PSNow apart from you don't have to pay for it, although PSNow allows me to play games i don't actually already own in addition to ones i do

guess they both have their issues

@FullbringIchigo A LOT of things will have 'issues' these days if your internet/wifi isn't that great or have a decent bandwidth. Whether that's affecting download speeds, streaming or saves, its still having an impact on a LOT of our media consumption.

Want to stream the World Cup in 4k HLG, need at least 40mb download speed, anything less and you miss out on something - you wouldn't blame iPlayer for poor 4k or 4k HLG quality when its being affected/limited by your ISP - that's unfair. I personally wouldn't blame MS at all for the way its set-up - after all they have made it so you can go from one console to any other and carry on from your save point even pick up where you left off from your 360 too which can't happen if its saved locally. I know that this may affect you in your situation but I think that's more a failing of your ISP and their Hardware. If that was delivering on its end, then you wouldn't have any issues with the way MS has set this up. It should benefit you if you ever upgrade or have to change your hardware for some reason. Games can ALWAYS be reinstalled or re-downloaded (at least the majority unless they were removed for licensing issues) BUT if you were to lose your saves because they were stored 'locally', you lose basically all you progress, character creations etc. By having all your saves stored in the cloud, you never lose your 'work' so to speak.

Don't get me wrong, but I do appreciate how frustrating it can be to have a 'poor' internet. I used to live in a small village which would only offer 2mb download (average) and no decent wifi coverage. You can't blame Sony/MS for making games available Digitally - even if in your situation it takes a week to download. Its more the failing of your ISP for not providing a 'reasonable' service and decent Wifi coverage from its hardware - especially as you are 'paying' for an internet service. Like I said, if your ISP was 'delivering', then this would NOT be any issue at all and would actually be beneficial to you - especially if things go 'wrong', you choose to replace your hardware (like upgrade from an XB1 to XB1s to XB1X) or play on different hardware. I would also say the same with regards to PSNow and BC does allow you to play games you don't (or didn't) own via the Game Pass too. The difference of course is that you also get given games totally free on GwG (no conditions - like having to remain a subscriber to continue playing - a full rather than conditional licence) but they are are all subject to the same rules - whether you bought them on disc for the 360, acquire them through Gold or Game Pass.

@BAMozzy i thought you only got to keep the 360 games with GwG not the XB1 games, those are like the PS+ games where you lose access to them once you XBLG runs out (i know because i currently don't have gold, i don't see the point if i can't connect half the time)

and as for the 360 games well i haven't been able to get any of them for a while because my 360 died years ago and i can't download them on the XB1 unless i have a payment card on my account which i don't do, i buy the vouchers instead

as for my internet it works perfectly fine on everything else with a nice strong signal and good speeds for the rural area i live in (i live in the UK and it's about 40mbs), just not my XB1 (it's a XB1s by the way) so it's problem is definitely on the XB1 side, i dunno perhaps the wi-fi adaptor is broken?

as for the game saves well XB1 games sync automatically whenever you log on to a different console, i know because i also play round my brothers house BUT they are also stored on your home system and they always ask which version you want to use so i don't see why the 360 games can't do the same

Regarding Kratos - he's the god of war! He's supposed to be great! I adored his character and the interactions with Boy and Head.

@fuzzy833 oh i agree he IS the God of War after all although i still maintain that his character was a better fit for the older style games

@FullbringIchigo That is correct - and I was referring ONLY to the 360 games as that was what we talking about. The XB1 GwG aren't considered Backwards Compatible which was the whole topic of conversation and therefore I was not considering these at all in the above post. As you rightly point out though, those as well as any Game Pass games are subject to conditions - for example, upkeep of your subscription.

I don't think I have a Payment Card set up on my Xbox One at all - although I do have Paypal set up. I did have a card set up many years ago as I once purchased Gold as I needed it 'quickly' but that card was out of date by the time the XB1 launched. I always purchase gold and credit via codes from places like CDKeys but it seems Paypal is 'adequate' for MS to allow me to get 360 games. Its because they have to 'charge' an account - whether that's a card or paypal - and consider it a 'transaction' even if they are 'free' - ridiculous I know.

I live in the UK too and I know live in a 'town' with BTBroadband but just 5miles away in a small farming village where I used to live, the best was standard BT with 'speeds' up-to 8mb but the best we could get was 3-3.5mb but in the evenings, that dropped to around 2mb. I now have the BTHH6 which has excellent Wifi and both my consoles are hardwired anyway. I get around 70-76mb. Running speed tests on my consoles though, even hardwired - the speed is around 50-60% that of my Laptop speed test when hardwired. It does seem as though some throttling is going on with both - maybe some 'firewall' or something.

Wifi can be affected by many household items, mobile phones, hands free phones, microwaves, internal wiring - even the wireless controllers too etc. So many devices use the 2.4ghz too which affects signal and 5ghz doesn't have the range but has less issues with interference. I don't know what Hub you have or whether you have specified what 2.4/5ghz wifi for your Xbox but maybe there is something you can do to improve it. Another option is wifi boosters

If it works with the XB1 games and with online gaming, it should work equally as well with the 360 games so I doubt its the console. Like I said though, if the wifi was consistent, it really wouldn't be an issue where the games are stored - locally or cloud. Its only an issue because of the situation you are in.

As for the 'saves' having to be in the cloud, I think that was because the 360 games are running in a 360 emulator. I don't fully understand why they couldn't have used local storage - maybe it was causing issues with XB1 saves - particularly those games that are on both systems and BC - like AC4, CoD:AW, Saints Row 4 etc

@themcnoisy some people don't like the direction of newer games, so they instead like to replay the old ones.

I'm in your side because I never replay games, since half life 2 I have replayed only horizon zero dawn. I like all sorts of games so I almost always have something new to play. But still, I used bc on Xbox one as there were some games I haven't played like rdr and many more. I would play Resistance trilogy on playstation right now it it was possible...

BC, I think is more of a big deal then it used to be for a few reasons.

Firstly digital is more of a thing now. I buy digital and physical and the idea of leaving my library behind next gen is sad because I have a stack of games yet to get through and moving that to the next gen console would be big for me.

Secondly, nostalgia and looking back towards the past. Gaming is mature enough now that people have grown up with them and right now, culturally, nostalgia is big big business. Also people want to know where their favourite games come from, in terms of what influenced them. People who liked Breath of the Wild are turning around to see what else Zelda has to offer. The Snes and Nes classics are proof there is a market. I was at a retro fair this weekend and it was rammed and most people were way younger than me and buying up old Sega, Nintendo and Sony games.

Collecting old hardware is great but it is not convenient and very compatible with new TV tech.

Not only that but games are changing drastically and in some cases, leaving a portion of the market behind. I would rather crank out a classic GC game then play an online only MP game. Now that makes me a minority sure, but I am still a demographic that platform holders want to cater to. Plus,

I bought an xb1 for online co'op with a friend and BC. I have played Portal 2 and have racked up Metal Gear Revengeance next to go. I know a few friends that leapt on the chance to play Red Dead on XB. So for me, someone that can provide BC alongside their other offerings is more attractive to me as a consumer.

@Kidfried got it across loud and clear

Yeah it would get boring pretty quickly if all the characters were all likeable and nicey nicey.

@Kidfried Thats a good point and I fully agree. I mean, who plays games to play as the same person you are in real life? Part of the experience is the fantasy of being this other character who does fantastic and unbelievable things you’d never be a able to do.
I do understand the limits to this, as you say, because at some point there may be a character profile so repugnant that you may never want to be in that person’s shoes, even if it is just fantasy. When given a choice in a game (like the paragon vs. renegade or the good karma vs. bad karma), I tend to make choices more aligned to what my personality would choose, but sometimes you just have to go off and be someone different. There is value in gaining a breadth of experience and I think that is a unique quality of video games. To see things from differing perspective than how we live our lives, maybe we learn something.
I too have not yet played the new GoW, but in playing the earlier games, Kratos is a great character, but my main impression of him was that he seemed to ... angry! I’m not an angry or vengeful person, in general. I tend to live by the forgive-and-forget, live-and-let-live philosophy of life. And actually while playing the GoW games, although fun to eviscerate demons and pull people’s heads off, it does reinforce my life philosophy because you just see how miserable a person he is. Now the new game is completely different I understand, but that’s just an example

Adding to the BC discussion, some have mentioned that but as a gamer it's never been this important to me as it is for the PS5. My entire library is digital this gen, I feel like I would lose it if they don't support BC in a similar way to Steam, for the simple reason that eventually they'd shutdown the servers (less likely to happen if you always have access to everything). And the most important reason is that there are so many awesome games this gen that I still want to play in the future (I don't wanna lose Crash and Kingdom Hearts for another decade).

Sony doesn't need to ensure older gen games work brilliantly on PS5. As generations pass older games will be harder to play, they can get too fast or use some deprecated tech, but leave that for the developers to fix. PS should be more like a PC, where you have different hardwares to pick from and the entire PSN catalogue (and your library) to buy/play.

But this is all about unpopular opinions, so here goes:
1. Assassin's Creed Unity is a great game, with a protagonist way better than Ezio in terms of personality and development; graphics, animation and cutscenes are fantastic; the story is also good.
2. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag gameplay is simply a copy of ACIII with ships added to it and its story is probably the worst in the series (I didn't care for it at all, not to mention I was completely lost for being all over the place); just adding that I love ACIII, it introduced some great mechanics, the story and the characters were good.
3. Crash Team Racing is, well... meh.
4. Film-to-game titles can be awesome if made right; I loved playing Harry Potter and Pixar-based games on the original PlayStation.

@RenanKJ yeah one of the reasons i'm still not sold on digital games is things like this (plus a few others)

@BAMozzy I don't think he's a good role model and he absolutely could be a better father, but it's supposed to be that way. A recurring theme throughout the game is redemption, and not letting what you did in the past define your actions and what kind of person you are in the present. We're seeing him progress and struggle through his journey from being a monster to being a good man and father. His development can only continue in the future games, and it would be rather jarring for him to be without flaw right off the bat.

@KirbyTheVampire I am well aware of his history but that still doesn't change the fact that he still acting and behaving in such a way that can construed as manly and that, as you also state in your first line, is a negative - which started this conversation off in the first place. Its that poor role model, that excessively brutish behaviour - especially not in front of a child that some don't particularly like or is necessary either. Obviously a lot of time has passed since the last game, inc marriage and the birth of his child so he could have changed a lot more.

Anyway this is off-topic and perhaps best discussed in the GoW Spoiler thread but it seems that you are agreeing that Kratos is still behaving too 'manly' and that is not a 'good' thing in this case. There is a difference between being a Man and acting 'Manly' and why some may find Kratos difficult to like or identify with.