@PurvisP Running 1440p in DLSS Quality Mode got me in the 80s (+- 10fps) when out and about.
Getting to the first city dropped the FPS down into the lower 50s at times but sticks around 60-ish - CPU usage shot up to like 60% at one point!
Lowering down to DLSS Balanced keeps the majority of City traversal above 60 - only occasionally dipping under 60.
Not exactly sure what is causing those noticeable dips when getting to a town. Nanite buildings + crowd logic? That's the only thing I can think.
Otherwise, after about an hour of playtime, no real issues or bugs to speak of. A little stutter here and there, but not egregious for a UE5 open-world title.
@PurvisP I take a pretty “plug and play” approach myself.
I turn on the Nvidia performance monitor, crank settings to max and start with DLSS Quality and if I see 60+ for most of the first 30 ish minutes, I don’t touch a thing and turn the monitor off.
If I hover in the low 50s, I drop DLSS to Balanced and if it’s 60+, I turn off the monitor again.
@OldGamer999 Probably because you are playing a version that's been patched a couple of times (one within the past 24 hours) where the reviews are based on pre-patched code.
This is the reason Eurogamer has withheld scoring as well as PureXbox.
Unfortunately for review scores, it seems like the game wasn't ready for review, but is ready at release.
@Xbox_Dashboard I still have a 60GB back compat PS3 in the basement. Probably the best 100% legal way to play the old games aside from having the original hardware.
@Xbox_Dashboard If you have a laptop or any machine that runs Windows that's at least like...oh...20 years old...you can get the original game from GOG.com for $7 (and it goes on sale fairly often, too).
Just an option if Sony does lock it behind a Premium paywall.
@breakneck When I saw that it was Overwatch, I was completely shocked - I am sure I probably thought the same thing back then, too (but I forgot the winners of years past, so I am shocked again).
If Uncharted lost to anyone on the list that year, Overwatch wasn't the one I would have picked:
Overwatch – Blizzard Entertainment
Doom – id Software
Inside – Playdead
Titanfall 2 – Respawn Entertainment
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End – Naughty Dog
For those curious about winners for years where Sony didn't win, here is the list:
2015: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 2016: Overwatch 2017: The Legend of Zelda - Breath of the Wild 2019: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice 2021: It Takes Two 2022: Elden Ring 2023: Baldur's Gate 3
Still, congrats to Sony on having that many nominations! There is no doubt there is something special about Sony first-party games. They are my second favorite console exclusives losing out to Nintendo.
I guess that’s the thing, I only use my PC for gaming - and web browsing as it’s kind of hard to not use the internet these days.
I was like your friends when I was into PC gaming back in the late 90s and early 2000s - constantly chasing Ultra settings/maximum FPS. It’s the reason I went console-only because I was spending so much time and money chasing to have “the best”.
I think being a console gamer for so long made me simply appreciate just playing the game. My PC is almost exactly like yours - but I am using 4070 Super. It certainly outclasses a console, but I am a realist in that it will probably be more “on par” with next-gen.
I’m okay with that. I just want to play the game - I don’t care that games like Silent Hill 2 Remake or Alan Wake 2 don’t run at 165fps to match my monitor refresh - it’s a VRR display anyways.
And modern games on PC are much more convenient for that plug and play experience than early 2000s.
I also don’t play multi-player games, so I don’t have to deal with cheaters.
Maybe I will regret my decision in 5 years, or maybe I made the best decision to get out of consoles.
But, I certainly understand your gripes and I hope the PS5 Pro and PS6 (should you stick with it) are everything you hoped they would be! It’s not a bad choice at all, just not the choice for me anymore.
I don't envy smaller games competing with juggernauts. It is tough to compete with games made by huge studios.
Slitterhead is good, but it's not without fault. I haven't exactly meshed well with the combat - having to fight multiple enemies at a time proves difficult for me for some reason.
But I like its originality and play it in small chunks. Plus, the story has me intrigued so far.
You can tell it was on a tight budget, but overall I haven't really encountered bugs. It's polished for what it is. I play on PC and get like 130-140fps at Max Settings at 1440p - so this isn't exactly pushing hardware, either. I hope consoles are able to lock at 60fps.
I think there is room for these kinds of games and I don't necessarily think actual sales numbers are a sole indicator of success. If the developer only sells 50K, but due to lower budget, actually makes a profit, I would call that a success.
When compared to something like COD or Monster Hunter, 50K sales is a flop.
The thing is, these smaller titles are going to cater to the absolute hardcore of gamers - which is significantly smaller than the total projected userbase.
As such, keeping budgets to cater to that is imperative to a studios growth.
I took a 12 year hiatus from PC games because I found myself tinkering more with settings than I did playing games. I moved to console for the simplicity.
I don't like where the console space is headed with Microsoft seemingly throwing in the towel and Sony essentially going "unchecked". Nintendo are in their own lane at the moment and seem to have found a perfect balance being in that lane.
Yes, I paid about $2K when all was said and done, but I don't regret it one bit! I think I am not only covered for this generation, but next generation as well.
PC gaming has never been so easy and I have been enjoying games so much more now than I ever have back in the day.
If you basically just want to play the game, most modern games have console quality settings as their defaults. Some auto-detect your system settings and adjust accordingly and can even be higher than console settings.
Plus, if you decided to go with an Nvidia GPU, Nvidia provides its own optimized settings based on your hardware that you can just click a button to Optimize (or even have it Auto-optimize everything if you want) and you never have to look at the settings menu in a game ever.
I'd argue that most PC players who are spending a bunch of time tweaking their games are trying to get their games to run in FPS that match the native refresh rate of their monitors (for context, mine is 165Hz).
But if you just want to shoot for 60fps, then that's pretty achievable with most modern games without touching a single setting.
Most games for the PS4/X1 era and below can pretty much run at Max settings and well above 60fps on a modern PC.
It also depends on whether you turn RT on or off. If you absolutely couldn't care one lick about real-time RT, then basically any game past or present will run above 60fps at above console quality settings.
But, I would caveat that you'd need at least an Nvidia 4070 if you care about doing that at 4K. I honestly see more detail in my 1440p monitor than I do my 4K TV - so 4K really isn't necessary in my opinion.
@Vault_Mcfly My PS5 is for exclusives only...though...that could change going forward depending on how much Sony changes its PC strategy to be even more aggressive - then it could be "adios PS5" like I did with my Series X.
The only console I would own at that point is a Switch.
Here's my take about ray tracing as I am sure a lot of people scratch their heads on why anyone even bothers with it when it has such a performance cost:
Developers are really good at "faking" realistic lighting that RT sometimes doesn't look any better than rasterized lighting. RT isn't necessarily about looking better, it's about having realistic behavior of light.
Again, it's something the gaming industry has had years of practice to "fake" because it was never available.
Why bother, then?
Development efficiency. With real-time RT, artists can just plant a light and the GPU handles the rest. It's like the "Plug and Play" of lighting. If you are 100% real-time RT, there is no hand-crafting of shadows, reflections, etc., it all "just works".
The Pro is a perfect example - developers are having an incredibly quick turn around on adding in new RT options. It is essentially like flipping a switch (I am sure there is some tweaking required, but certainly not like having to hand-craft an entire new lighting model).
As scenes and geometry get more complex, it's getting harder and harder to "fake" that lighting! Any missed shadows or light bounces can make an image look flat or out-of-place. Real-time RT solves that problem because it calculates everything for the artists.
The problem is that it feels like only Nvidia is actively trying to progress the technology and it's taking forever to reduce the overhead in order for real-time RT to become an industry standard. And since there is such a small amount of competition in that arena, it's also quite expensive.
I equate it to when real-time 3D rendering first game around. Granted real-time 3D had an actual impact on the types of games being created, whereas real-time RT is cosmetic. But, at a time, 3D rendering looked awful compared to sprites and ran even worse than 2D games. There were plenty of companies trying to progress 3D rendering costs and improve framerates.
We need that for real-time RT if we ever want to get all the benefits at such a seemingly small cost. I am sure lighting artists would be grateful!
@get2sammyb I'd say it's a W for Microsoft regardless. Microsoft gets the sales across platforms. It gets MTX money across platforms. And even if it isn't driving Game Pass subscriptions up (though I seem to remember someone at somewhere saying there was a boost to Game Pass thanks to COD), it will help maintain the high-tier Game Pass subscriptions - so there is money there.
Bottom line: Microsoft is doing fine with the money-making department. It's not a multi-trillion dollar company for nothing.
The problem with Microsoft is that Xbox became a "Board Room" brand - in that the soul of the platform was removed once Xbox became too big and the gaze of big-daddy corporate became fixed in its direction.
I would be pretty cool if the physical copy of the game came with a QR code that links to instructions on how to build each of the monsters in the game as well as the list of Bricks required for each build (just like how all sets have a Brick sheet in case you need to order replacements).
Sure, it would probably cost more than having LEGO come out with an official set, but for those with disposable incomes, it would be nice to order all the bricks individually from LEGO's official store based on official checklists.
@LogicStrikesAgain @Whately86 As of right now, if one were to buy a game on Steam from 2K Sports, Ubisoft, Blizzard, Rockstar, and some EA and Activision games, they all require logging into their respective launchers upon booting of the game.
Interestingly enough, it is all Western publishers that require them.
I don't think any major Japanese publishers require launchers with an account. Capcom doesn't require one. Square Enix doesn't (well, except Final Fantasy 14, but that makes sense). Bandai Namco doesn't, either. Neither does Konami.
Microsoft doesn't require any log-in for single player games.
So, yes, there is precedent for launchers on PC, but I also think there is "launcher fatigue" on PC.
I know I have the following installed on my computer:
Steam GOG Galaxy Epic Games Store Amazon Prime Games EA Play Battle.NET Ubisoft Connect
I use Steam the most.
Second-most used app is Epic Game Store to play Alan Wake II, and a bunch of free games Epic has been handing out over the years (as well as free games through Prime Gaming).
I sometimes use GOG Galaxy for Cyberpunk and The Witcher series (and some old games I happen to own as well as freebies that I got both from GOG.com itself and through Prime Gaming).
I loaded the Amazon Prime Games launcher once. I loaded the Ubisoft Connect launcher once or twice. I loaded Battle.NET a handful of times. I don't even really use EA Play at all.
I prefer to use as little apps as I can - and I don't load all these apps up at boot.
@LogicStrikesAgain I would think selling games since Sony actually makes money from that. Creating a PSN account doesn't cost a dime from the consumer - yet seems to be costing sales for Sony.
I guess some bean counter somewhere feels like ecosystem is the better option since Sony isn't budging on the issues at the moment.
@LogicStrikesAgain Steam lets developers do what it pleases in terms of how it wants to handle games and lets the free market decide for itself how things play out.
It's not in Steam's interest to police who adds what launcher and authentication to their games. That's on player choice to decide what's right for them.
Steam makes it very clear what is required to play said game to allow people to make an informed choice.
I don't think anyone is arguing whether Sony is allowed or not allowed to do with its own games.
What people are saying is that players are voicing their concerns with Sony and voting with their wallets and, yet, Sony continues to double down regardless of that.
So, if more news comes out that Sony games aren't doing well, there is no mystery why. Sony does nothing about it.
I feel bad for Nixxes.
They do a great job with their ports, but it's all starting to be in vain. Will that studio go on the chopping block if Sony's PC ambitions die due to Sony telling its consumers what they want rather than listening to what they want (or don't want)?
@dskatter "we want to track your playtime so we can show our shareholders that we are having growth in PSN accounts so that they are satisfied".
There, I fixed it for you.
@LogicStrikesAgain Sorry, I wasn't meaning for you to actually have answers. Truly baffling to say they "learned" but won't change. It really does feel like Sony forgot what it's like to have actual pushback.
@LogicStrikesAgain Odd strategy to disregard the voice of the people you are trying to sell to - especially if you want to grow a Live Service business that will need a player base.
If a company isn't listening to the players, why should they continue to support that company?
I remember when people were losing their minds because there was a bug in the first re-release of the original DOOM where the Bethesda account launcher couldn't be skipped and forced people to sign-in. It was rectified very quickly.
This is the same thing except Sony doing it! Provide the option, and let it be skipped.
@get2sammyb "Just don't give Sony your money if you don't want to login to PSN. It's not hard."
And that's exactly what PC players are doing as PushSquare posts articles about how the novelty of Sony games on PC is wearing off due to low sales.
Move to the comments section and people call Sony's push to PC a mistake and how they shouldn't even bother because people aren't buying the games anymore.
We tell people to vote with their wallets and then criticize them for voting with their wallets.
It's very simple Sony:
PSN for live service as people are connecting to your servers.
No PSN for single-player games because no one on PC cares about your Trophies or your PSN success line chart you report to shareholders.
Do that and perhaps people will believe you've "Learned a lot" from PC players.
@ChrisDeku "You understand that if Sony hadn’t backed this game it would still have existed and been published in the same state and everyone at the studio would still lose their jobs right?"
Would it? Or perhaps another publisher would have tested the game earlier - like Sony admitted it failed to do - and actually made course corrections where necessary.
@themightyant No, all I am saying is that saying "Sony will be fine" is tone deaf after a bunch of people lost their jobs and became "lessons learned" for Sony.
I am done with this conversation.
I think Sony should have done better for Firewalk. You all don't. We'll agree to disagree.
Yay Sony has 65 million sales of PS5!
Peace and love to you both and thanks for the back-and-forth. 👍
@ChrisDeku I don't think you are really paying attention to what I am saying.
Yes, the game was in development and Sony saw what Firewalk was doing and though it was great.
Someone at Sony saw everything Firewalk was doing during development and thought it was great.
Someone at Sony continued to go full steam ahead with everyting Firewalk was doing despite what people were saying about it when it was revealed because they thought it was going to be great.
The game didn't land and it was canned after 2 weeks because it didn't make millions at launch.
Firewalk gets closed.
Sony then comes out and says "You know, maybe we should have tested this earlier."
Tell me how someone at Sony doesn't get canned for that?!
Then to just nonchalantly comment that Sony will do just fine taking the risk because it can make money back?! At what cost?! How many jobs will Sony continue to have on a chopping block chasing the live service holy grail?!
@ChrisDeku No less bizarre than absolving Sony in any wrongdoing that lead to the closure of said studio.
They are both at fault in some way, but Sony just gets to make PR statements that they should have done better for the game, while the actual developers have to update their LinkedIn profiles.
I said it once before - it's like a Captain firing the deckhands because the ship ran aground, despite the Captain being at the wheel.
So if the Horizon multiplayer game flops after spending millions, is Guerilla going to get shut down?
On topic: Congrats to Sony on the sales accomplishment.
But Sony took the gamble. Sony lost. So as punishment to the people who made the game, they dropped them.
Sony then has a nice boost to profit.
Go Sony! Let's all applaud Sony for making massive money off the backs of others when it was Sony who made the decision to buy the company to begin with.
Sony obviously saw something in Firewalk to buy them. Firewalk delivered a technically polished product - it's just that it didn't resonate with people. Sony even admitted mistakes it made with Firewalk - so, in that sense it was Sony who failed Firewalk, not the other way around (but Firewalk gets punished for it).
So glad that the closure of entire studio made for a wonderful "Lessons learned" corporate document for the future. Go team!
@ChrisDeku So glad Sony was able to recoup its financial losses - tell that to the people who lost their jobs thanks to Sony's push for live service. I am sure their loss of stability rolled right off the company's back, too.
This goes for any company who takes a risk chasing trends at the cost of jobs when it doesn't pan out.
I mean, yes, there are anomalies that can show up, but you pretty much would need to take direct capture, stop footage, zoom in 400% on a blade of grass and compare it with the native version at exactly the same time to actually notice that a blade of grass as slightly more break-up in motion than the native resolution.
@Titntin I guess I overlooked the fact that it's a HFR Mode that isn't available on 60Hz displays. That's actually kind of an odd choice, indeed.
Perhaps console makers should look into what Nvidia does with VSync. For those not in the know, it has a "Fast" Vsync option that lets the game run as fast as the game can run, it just drops the frames your display can't handle so you don't get screen tearing - but get all the game response benefits of the higher FPS.
So for something like this, a 60Hz TV can run a game at 80fps, you just don't see it - but the game responds as if it's running at 80fps. Like a reverse Frame Gen - lol!
While the TFLOP doesn't mean anything like it used to, it's still a loose gauge of raw performance. With the PS5 Pro being 16 TFLOPS means a PS6 will probably be like 32 TLFOP and my Nvidia 4070 Super is 35 TFLOPs.
Plus, it already has AI technologies like DLSS, Frame Generation, and Ray Reconstruction. All similar technologies that will probably be added to a PS6 (but obviously not Nvidia's variant).
My AMD 7800X3D and 32GB of RAM will also be more than fine.
Bottom line: Not only am I covered through the rest of this generation, I will be covered through next generation as well.
I will probably need to lower settings for "next-gen" games as I only have 12GB of VRAM (and I am sure 16GB of VRAM will be the ideal target), but I don't predict absolutely needing to upgrade components until the generation after next. I don't run games at 4K anyways, which helps a lot on keeping VRAM levels lower.
@ChimpMasta I remember when you needed a super powerful GPU just to use AA because it was incredibly expensive - FXAA and TAA didn't exist, then though. Even at 1024 x 768 resolution you couldn't use AA unless you had the right hardware.
Unless Capcom is doing some significant optimization to CPU load - which will also bleed over to all platforms - I wouldn't expect 60fps in cities on PS5 Pro.
Even people with 7800X3D CPUs have their framerates drop down to 60 and below when running around cities - but reported framerates in the 100s when outside of cities (GPU dependent, of course).
People need to understand that Bloodborne will run the exact same way even on PS6 because the game needs modification to remove the uneven frame times and boost to 60fps.
Sony doesn’t have the “luxury” of using a DirectX layer to trick the game to 60fps.
Okay PSSR could sharpen the image, but performance requires more effort. Simply throwing more processing cycles isn’t the solution.
I think it’s a symptom of the FromSoftware engine, because when Microsoft got Dark Souls 3 to use FPS Boost on Series X|S it actually needed FromSoftware to change something to the Xbox version for it to work correctly (as it never got an X1X patch).
@DonkeyFantasy The PSN requirement for single player games is one sticking point. Especially when the original PC release didn’t have any PSN requirement and was available to more countries.
The $10 upgrade fee also doesn’t help - especially with the PC version being considerably newer than the PS4 release.
Comments 2,365
Re: STALKER 2's Technical Troubles Likely Fixed by the Time It Comes to PS5
@PurvisP Running 1440p in DLSS Quality Mode got me in the 80s (+- 10fps) when out and about.
Getting to the first city dropped the FPS down into the lower 50s at times but sticks around 60-ish - CPU usage shot up to like 60% at one point!
Lowering down to DLSS Balanced keeps the majority of City traversal above 60 - only occasionally dipping under 60.
Not exactly sure what is causing those noticeable dips when getting to a town. Nanite buildings + crowd logic? That's the only thing I can think.
Otherwise, after about an hour of playtime, no real issues or bugs to speak of. A little stutter here and there, but not egregious for a UE5 open-world title.
Re: Shenmue 3 Publishing Rights Passed to ININ on Fifth Anniversary
@Nem @Matroska Wasn’t Yakuza born from the work that was done for the canceled Shenmue Online?
Heck, Shenmue started out as a Virtua Fighter spin-off adventure.
Re: STALKER 2's Technical Troubles Likely Fixed by the Time It Comes to PS5
@PurvisP I take a pretty “plug and play” approach myself.
I turn on the Nvidia performance monitor, crank settings to max and start with DLSS Quality and if I see 60+ for most of the first 30 ish minutes, I don’t touch a thing and turn the monitor off.
If I hover in the low 50s, I drop DLSS to Balanced and if it’s 60+, I turn off the monitor again.
That’s my “tweaking” and I am okay with it!
Re: STALKER 2's Technical Troubles Likely Fixed by the Time It Comes to PS5
@PurvisP What resolution and DLSS setting were you running?
I will be giving this a whirl a little later on 4070 Super (also 12GB), Ryzen 7 7800X3D, 32 GB RAM on a 1440p monitor.
Re: Shenmue 3 Publishing Rights Passed to ININ on Fifth Anniversary
Hopefully this story ends before I’m too old to play games.
Shenmue III was building up for an epic showdown only to leave the player hanging and wanting more!
Bring on Shenmue 4!
Re: STALKER 2's Technical Troubles Likely Fixed by the Time It Comes to PS5
@OldGamer999 Probably because you are playing a version that's been patched a couple of times (one within the past 24 hours) where the reviews are based on pre-patched code.
This is the reason Eurogamer has withheld scoring as well as PureXbox.
Unfortunately for review scores, it seems like the game wasn't ready for review, but is ready at release.
Re: Stellar Blade's Eve Will Attack You if You Act Inappropriately in New PS5 DLC
Been a while since I played the game, but wasn't the Stellar Blade version of Wastelands similar to City Ruins from Automata?
Re: Here's a Taste of Soul Reaver's Remastered Gameplay on PS5, PS4
The voice actors for this game are in another game from that era that could use a remaster:
Sword of Berserk: Guts' Rage.
Just saying.
Still mulling over if I want to pre-order this one for the 10% off.
Re: There Is a God! Legacy of Kain PS5 Pre-Orders Are Exceeding Expectations
@Xbox_Dashboard I still have a 60GB back compat PS3 in the basement. Probably the best 100% legal way to play the old games aside from having the original hardware.
Re: There Is a God! Legacy of Kain PS5 Pre-Orders Are Exceeding Expectations
@Xbox_Dashboard If you have a laptop or any machine that runs Windows that's at least like...oh...20 years old...you can get the original game from GOG.com for $7 (and it goes on sale fairly often, too).
Just an option if Sony does lock it behind a Premium paywall.
Re: There Is a God! Legacy of Kain PS5 Pre-Orders Are Exceeding Expectations
So glad this is getting well-received. Hopefully this sends a message that people want more of this series!
Re: Sony's Had a First-Party PS5, PS4 Game Nominated for Game of the Year Ten Times in a Row
@breakneck When I saw that it was Overwatch, I was completely shocked - I am sure I probably thought the same thing back then, too (but I forgot the winners of years past, so I am shocked again).
If Uncharted lost to anyone on the list that year, Overwatch wasn't the one I would have picked:
Overwatch – Blizzard Entertainment
Doom – id Software
Inside – Playdead
Titanfall 2 – Respawn Entertainment
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End – Naughty Dog
Re: Sony's Had a First-Party PS5, PS4 Game Nominated for Game of the Year Ten Times in a Row
For those curious about winners for years where Sony didn't win, here is the list:
2015: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
2016: Overwatch
2017: The Legend of Zelda - Breath of the Wild
2019: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
2021: It Takes Two
2022: Elden Ring
2023: Baldur's Gate 3
Still, congrats to Sony on having that many nominations! There is no doubt there is something special about Sony first-party games. They are my second favorite console exclusives losing out to Nintendo.
Re: Disgruntled PS5 Pro Owners Campaign to Disable Support After Slew of Shoddy Patches
@LindyG I have been gaming since about ‘86 - lol!
I guess that’s the thing, I only use my PC for gaming - and web browsing as it’s kind of hard to not use the internet these days.
I was like your friends when I was into PC gaming back in the late 90s and early 2000s - constantly chasing Ultra settings/maximum FPS. It’s the reason I went console-only because I was spending so much time and money chasing to have “the best”.
I think being a console gamer for so long made me simply appreciate just playing the game. My PC is almost exactly like yours - but I am using 4070 Super. It certainly outclasses a console, but I am a realist in that it will probably be more “on par” with next-gen.
I’m okay with that. I just want to play the game - I don’t care that games like Silent Hill 2 Remake or Alan Wake 2 don’t run at 165fps to match my monitor refresh - it’s a VRR display anyways.
And modern games on PC are much more convenient for that plug and play experience than early 2000s.
I also don’t play multi-player games, so I don’t have to deal with cheaters.
Maybe I will regret my decision in 5 years, or maybe I made the best decision to get out of consoles.
But, I certainly understand your gripes and I hope the PS5 Pro and PS6 (should you stick with it) are everything you hoped they would be! It’s not a bad choice at all, just not the choice for me anymore.
Besides, I still have my base PS5 (just in case).
Re: Do You Really Want Devs to Make Lower Budget, More Original Games for PS5?
I don't envy smaller games competing with juggernauts. It is tough to compete with games made by huge studios.
Slitterhead is good, but it's not without fault. I haven't exactly meshed well with the combat - having to fight multiple enemies at a time proves difficult for me for some reason.
But I like its originality and play it in small chunks. Plus, the story has me intrigued so far.
You can tell it was on a tight budget, but overall I haven't really encountered bugs. It's polished for what it is. I play on PC and get like 130-140fps at Max Settings at 1440p - so this isn't exactly pushing hardware, either. I hope consoles are able to lock at 60fps.
I think there is room for these kinds of games and I don't necessarily think actual sales numbers are a sole indicator of success. If the developer only sells 50K, but due to lower budget, actually makes a profit, I would call that a success.
When compared to something like COD or Monster Hunter, 50K sales is a flop.
The thing is, these smaller titles are going to cater to the absolute hardcore of gamers - which is significantly smaller than the total projected userbase.
As such, keeping budgets to cater to that is imperative to a studios growth.
Re: Disgruntled PS5 Pro Owners Campaign to Disable Support After Slew of Shoddy Patches
@Member_the_game It's not as bad as you'd think.
I took a 12 year hiatus from PC games because I found myself tinkering more with settings than I did playing games. I moved to console for the simplicity.
I don't like where the console space is headed with Microsoft seemingly throwing in the towel and Sony essentially going "unchecked". Nintendo are in their own lane at the moment and seem to have found a perfect balance being in that lane.
Yes, I paid about $2K when all was said and done, but I don't regret it one bit! I think I am not only covered for this generation, but next generation as well.
PC gaming has never been so easy and I have been enjoying games so much more now than I ever have back in the day.
If you basically just want to play the game, most modern games have console quality settings as their defaults. Some auto-detect your system settings and adjust accordingly and can even be higher than console settings.
Plus, if you decided to go with an Nvidia GPU, Nvidia provides its own optimized settings based on your hardware that you can just click a button to Optimize (or even have it Auto-optimize everything if you want) and you never have to look at the settings menu in a game ever.
I'd argue that most PC players who are spending a bunch of time tweaking their games are trying to get their games to run in FPS that match the native refresh rate of their monitors (for context, mine is 165Hz).
But if you just want to shoot for 60fps, then that's pretty achievable with most modern games without touching a single setting.
Most games for the PS4/X1 era and below can pretty much run at Max settings and well above 60fps on a modern PC.
It also depends on whether you turn RT on or off. If you absolutely couldn't care one lick about real-time RT, then basically any game past or present will run above 60fps at above console quality settings.
But, I would caveat that you'd need at least an Nvidia 4070 if you care about doing that at 4K. I honestly see more detail in my 1440p monitor than I do my 4K TV - so 4K really isn't necessary in my opinion.
Re: Legacy of Kain Fans Will Be Feasting on PS5, PS4 These Coming Weeks
@Vault_Mcfly My PS5 is for exclusives only...though...that could change going forward depending on how much Sony changes its PC strategy to be even more aggressive - then it could be "adios PS5" like I did with my Series X.
The only console I would own at that point is a Switch.
Re: Legacy of Kain Fans Will Be Feasting on PS5, PS4 These Coming Weeks
I really want to get this series, but I can't decide if I want to buy them on Steam or GOG.
Re: Helldivers 2's Democratic Super Weapon Now Fully Operational
I have no idea what I just read, but I am inspired to get a giant tattoo on my chest with lots of guns and symbols of freedom and democracy! 😂
Re: Japan Sales Charts: PS5 Pro Gets Stronger Start Than PS4 Pro Despite Being Twice the Price
@Loamy It would be about as powerful as a PS2...but at least everyone would get one! 👍
Re: Japan Sales Charts: PS5 Pro Gets Stronger Start Than PS4 Pro Despite Being Twice the Price
Glad to see Slitterhead make it into the top 10.
It's pretty good - a little janky, but a great first outing for a brand new studio! I hope it is profitable so the studio can grow!
Congrats to Sony for a strong outing on the Pro in Japan.
Re: Stellar Blade's Anticipated PC Port Takes Flight Sometime in 2025
@Ralizah No idea.
Re: Stellar Blade's Anticipated PC Port Takes Flight Sometime in 2025
"and Shift Up expects to sell even more on PC"
This will only happen if it doesn't require a PSN log-in to play.
I may double dip after it goes on a super deep discount since I still have the PS5 version.
Re: Black Ops 6 Drives Monthly PS5 Sales Growth in the UK, 75% of Players Purchase on PlayStation
@get2sammyb “I'm still of the opinion Game Pass is simply not a viable business model without the enormous cheque book of Microsoft bankrolling it.”
Oh I agree. But I’ll certainly take advantage of the multi-trillion dollar company while I can!
I have GPU until at least July 2026.
I replaced my Series X with a PC, so if Microsoft wants to dismantle its console business, I won’t lose any sleep.
Re: Hands On: Spider-Man 2 All in on Ray Tracing for PS5 Pro
Here's my take about ray tracing as I am sure a lot of people scratch their heads on why anyone even bothers with it when it has such a performance cost:
Developers are really good at "faking" realistic lighting that RT sometimes doesn't look any better than rasterized lighting. RT isn't necessarily about looking better, it's about having realistic behavior of light.
Again, it's something the gaming industry has had years of practice to "fake" because it was never available.
Why bother, then?
Development efficiency. With real-time RT, artists can just plant a light and the GPU handles the rest. It's like the "Plug and Play" of lighting. If you are 100% real-time RT, there is no hand-crafting of shadows, reflections, etc., it all "just works".
The Pro is a perfect example - developers are having an incredibly quick turn around on adding in new RT options. It is essentially like flipping a switch (I am sure there is some tweaking required, but certainly not like having to hand-craft an entire new lighting model).
As scenes and geometry get more complex, it's getting harder and harder to "fake" that lighting! Any missed shadows or light bounces can make an image look flat or out-of-place. Real-time RT solves that problem because it calculates everything for the artists.
The problem is that it feels like only Nvidia is actively trying to progress the technology and it's taking forever to reduce the overhead in order for real-time RT to become an industry standard. And since there is such a small amount of competition in that arena, it's also quite expensive.
I equate it to when real-time 3D rendering first game around. Granted real-time 3D had an actual impact on the types of games being created, whereas real-time RT is cosmetic. But, at a time, 3D rendering looked awful compared to sprites and ran even worse than 2D games. There were plenty of companies trying to progress 3D rendering costs and improve framerates.
We need that for real-time RT if we ever want to get all the benefits at such a seemingly small cost. I am sure lighting artists would be grateful!
Re: Black Ops 6 Drives Monthly PS5 Sales Growth in the UK, 75% of Players Purchase on PlayStation
@get2sammyb I'd say it's a W for Microsoft regardless. Microsoft gets the sales across platforms. It gets MTX money across platforms. And even if it isn't driving Game Pass subscriptions up (though I seem to remember someone at somewhere saying there was a boost to Game Pass thanks to COD), it will help maintain the high-tier Game Pass subscriptions - so there is money there.
Bottom line: Microsoft is doing fine with the money-making department. It's not a multi-trillion dollar company for nothing.
The problem with Microsoft is that Xbox became a "Board Room" brand - in that the soul of the platform was removed once Xbox became too big and the gaze of big-daddy corporate became fixed in its direction.
Re: Someone's Definitely Gonna Rebuild PS5's LEGO Horizon Adventures in Real Life
I would be pretty cool if the physical copy of the game came with a QR code that links to instructions on how to build each of the monsters in the game as well as the list of Bricks required for each build (just like how all sets have a Brick sheet in case you need to order replacements).
Sure, it would probably cost more than having LEGO come out with an official set, but for those with disposable incomes, it would be nice to order all the bricks individually from LEGO's official store based on official checklists.
Re: Sony Boss Says It's 'Learned a Lot' from PC Player Pushback
@Bez87 Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered kicks you out of the game if you don't log in.
Everything before God of War Ragnarök doesn't require a PSN log-in (it was either optional or login didn't exist at all).
Ghost of Tsushima has an optional log-in to use PlayStation overlay (which makes sense), but it is required to play Legends (also makes sense).
Re: Sony Boss Says It's 'Learned a Lot' from PC Player Pushback
@LogicStrikesAgain @Whately86 As of right now, if one were to buy a game on Steam from 2K Sports, Ubisoft, Blizzard, Rockstar, and some EA and Activision games, they all require logging into their respective launchers upon booting of the game.
Interestingly enough, it is all Western publishers that require them.
I don't think any major Japanese publishers require launchers with an account. Capcom doesn't require one. Square Enix doesn't (well, except Final Fantasy 14, but that makes sense). Bandai Namco doesn't, either. Neither does Konami.
Microsoft doesn't require any log-in for single player games.
So, yes, there is precedent for launchers on PC, but I also think there is "launcher fatigue" on PC.
I know I have the following installed on my computer:
Steam
GOG Galaxy
Epic Games Store
Amazon Prime Games
EA Play
Battle.NET
Ubisoft Connect
I use Steam the most.
Second-most used app is Epic Game Store to play Alan Wake II, and a bunch of free games Epic has been handing out over the years (as well as free games through Prime Gaming).
I sometimes use GOG Galaxy for Cyberpunk and The Witcher series (and some old games I happen to own as well as freebies that I got both from GOG.com itself and through Prime Gaming).
I loaded the Amazon Prime Games launcher once.
I loaded the Ubisoft Connect launcher once or twice.
I loaded Battle.NET a handful of times.
I don't even really use EA Play at all.
I prefer to use as little apps as I can - and I don't load all these apps up at boot.
Re: Sony Boss Says It's 'Learned a Lot' from PC Player Pushback
@LogicStrikesAgain I would think selling games since Sony actually makes money from that. Creating a PSN account doesn't cost a dime from the consumer - yet seems to be costing sales for Sony.
I guess some bean counter somewhere feels like ecosystem is the better option since Sony isn't budging on the issues at the moment.
🤷♂️
Re: Sony Boss Says It's 'Learned a Lot' from PC Player Pushback
@LogicStrikesAgain Steam lets developers do what it pleases in terms of how it wants to handle games and lets the free market decide for itself how things play out.
It's not in Steam's interest to police who adds what launcher and authentication to their games. That's on player choice to decide what's right for them.
Steam makes it very clear what is required to play said game to allow people to make an informed choice.
I don't think anyone is arguing whether Sony is allowed or not allowed to do with its own games.
What people are saying is that players are voicing their concerns with Sony and voting with their wallets and, yet, Sony continues to double down regardless of that.
So, if more news comes out that Sony games aren't doing well, there is no mystery why. Sony does nothing about it.
I feel bad for Nixxes.
They do a great job with their ports, but it's all starting to be in vain. Will that studio go on the chopping block if Sony's PC ambitions die due to Sony telling its consumers what they want rather than listening to what they want (or don't want)?
Again, not looking for an actual answer.
Re: Sony Boss Says It's 'Learned a Lot' from PC Player Pushback
@dskatter "we want to track your playtime so we can show our shareholders that we are having growth in PSN accounts so that they are satisfied".
There, I fixed it for you.
@LogicStrikesAgain Sorry, I wasn't meaning for you to actually have answers. Truly baffling to say they "learned" but won't change. It really does feel like Sony forgot what it's like to have actual pushback.
Re: Sony Boss Says It's 'Learned a Lot' from PC Player Pushback
@LogicStrikesAgain Odd strategy to disregard the voice of the people you are trying to sell to - especially if you want to grow a Live Service business that will need a player base.
If a company isn't listening to the players, why should they continue to support that company?
I remember when people were losing their minds because there was a bug in the first re-release of the original DOOM where the Bethesda account launcher couldn't be skipped and forced people to sign-in. It was rectified very quickly.
This is the same thing except Sony doing it! Provide the option, and let it be skipped.
Re: Sony Boss Says It's 'Learned a Lot' from PC Player Pushback
@get2sammyb "Just don't give Sony your money if you don't want to login to PSN. It's not hard."
And that's exactly what PC players are doing as PushSquare posts articles about how the novelty of Sony games on PC is wearing off due to low sales.
Move to the comments section and people call Sony's push to PC a mistake and how they shouldn't even bother because people aren't buying the games anymore.
We tell people to vote with their wallets and then criticize them for voting with their wallets.
It's very simple Sony:
Do that and perhaps people will believe you've "Learned a lot" from PC players.
Re: Sony Ships 65.5 Million PS5 Consoles, in Line with PS4
@ChrisDeku "You understand that if Sony hadn’t backed this game it would still have existed and been published in the same state and everyone at the studio would still lose their jobs right?"
Would it? Or perhaps another publisher would have tested the game earlier - like Sony admitted it failed to do - and actually made course corrections where necessary.
@themightyant No, all I am saying is that saying "Sony will be fine" is tone deaf after a bunch of people lost their jobs and became "lessons learned" for Sony.
I am done with this conversation.
I think Sony should have done better for Firewalk. You all don't. We'll agree to disagree.
Yay Sony has 65 million sales of PS5!
Peace and love to you both and thanks for the back-and-forth. 👍
Re: Sony Ships 65.5 Million PS5 Consoles, in Line with PS4
@ChrisDeku I don't think you are really paying attention to what I am saying.
Yes, the game was in development and Sony saw what Firewalk was doing and though it was great.
Someone at Sony saw everything Firewalk was doing during development and thought it was great.
Someone at Sony continued to go full steam ahead with everyting Firewalk was doing despite what people were saying about it when it was revealed because they thought it was going to be great.
The game didn't land and it was canned after 2 weeks because it didn't make millions at launch.
Firewalk gets closed.
Sony then comes out and says "You know, maybe we should have tested this earlier."
Tell me how someone at Sony doesn't get canned for that?!
Then to just nonchalantly comment that Sony will do just fine taking the risk because it can make money back?! At what cost?! How many jobs will Sony continue to have on a chopping block chasing the live service holy grail?!
Re: Sony Ships 65.5 Million PS5 Consoles, in Line with PS4
@ChrisDeku But according to you, it's all good because Sony recouped its losses so it was worth the risk.
Re: Sony Ships 65.5 Million PS5 Consoles, in Line with PS4
@ChrisDeku No less bizarre than absolving Sony in any wrongdoing that lead to the closure of said studio.
They are both at fault in some way, but Sony just gets to make PR statements that they should have done better for the game, while the actual developers have to update their LinkedIn profiles.
I said it once before - it's like a Captain firing the deckhands because the ship ran aground, despite the Captain being at the wheel.
So if the Horizon multiplayer game flops after spending millions, is Guerilla going to get shut down?
On topic: Congrats to Sony on the sales accomplishment.
Re: Sony Ships 65.5 Million PS5 Consoles, in Line with PS4
@themightyant I am fully aware of the history.
But Sony took the gamble. Sony lost. So as punishment to the people who made the game, they dropped them.
Sony then has a nice boost to profit.
Go Sony! Let's all applaud Sony for making massive money off the backs of others when it was Sony who made the decision to buy the company to begin with.
Sony obviously saw something in Firewalk to buy them. Firewalk delivered a technically polished product - it's just that it didn't resonate with people. Sony even admitted mistakes it made with Firewalk - so, in that sense it was Sony who failed Firewalk, not the other way around (but Firewalk gets punished for it).
So glad that the closure of entire studio made for a wonderful "Lessons learned" corporate document for the future. Go team!
Re: Sony Ships 65.5 Million PS5 Consoles, in Line with PS4
@ChrisDeku So glad Sony was able to recoup its financial losses - tell that to the people who lost their jobs thanks to Sony's push for live service. I am sure their loss of stability rolled right off the company's back, too.
This goes for any company who takes a risk chasing trends at the cost of jobs when it doesn't pan out.
Re: Stellar Blade a 'Gigantic Leap' on PS5 Pro, PSSR Better Than Native 4K Option
@mountain_spider Yup.
I mean, yes, there are anomalies that can show up, but you pretty much would need to take direct capture, stop footage, zoom in 400% on a blade of grass and compare it with the native version at exactly the same time to actually notice that a blade of grass as slightly more break-up in motion than the native resolution.
@Titntin I guess I overlooked the fact that it's a HFR Mode that isn't available on 60Hz displays. That's actually kind of an odd choice, indeed.
Perhaps console makers should look into what Nvidia does with VSync. For those not in the know, it has a "Fast" Vsync option that lets the game run as fast as the game can run, it just drops the frames your display can't handle so you don't get screen tearing - but get all the game response benefits of the higher FPS.
So for something like this, a 60Hz TV can run a game at 80fps, you just don't see it - but the game responds as if it's running at 80fps. Like a reverse Frame Gen - lol!
Re: Random: Super Smash Bros Maker Masahiro Sakurai Says He Bought a PS5 Pro Today
@get2sammyb Agreed! That is why I disciplined myself to playing one game at a time until I finished it.
Honestly, it takes forever to get through everything.
I am STILL getting through my Christmas haul from last year.
Granted, things like FF7 Rebirth, Astro Bot, and Silent Hill 2, and Hellblade 2 "got in the way", but I only bought like 3 new games this year.
Re: Random: Super Smash Bros Maker Masahiro Sakurai Says He Bought a PS5 Pro Today
@Deadlyblack As one should - well, at least the "wide array of games" part (I understand not everyone can afford multiple consoles).
Re: Stellar Blade a 'Gigantic Leap' on PS5 Pro, PSSR Better Than Native 4K Option
If it looks better than native 4K at 80fps, why even bother with a native 4K at 50fps?
I guess for those who can actually spot the extremely hard to notice graphical glitches that come with using these techniques?
Re: Round Up: PS5 Pro Reviews Love New Tech and Its Glimpse of PS6 Potential
I am so happy I got the PC I did.
While the TFLOP doesn't mean anything like it used to, it's still a loose gauge of raw performance. With the PS5 Pro being 16 TFLOPS means a PS6 will probably be like 32 TLFOP and my Nvidia 4070 Super is 35 TFLOPs.
Plus, it already has AI technologies like DLSS, Frame Generation, and Ray Reconstruction. All similar technologies that will probably be added to a PS6 (but obviously not Nvidia's variant).
My AMD 7800X3D and 32GB of RAM will also be more than fine.
Bottom line: Not only am I covered through the rest of this generation, I will be covered through next generation as well.
I will probably need to lower settings for "next-gen" games as I only have 12GB of VRAM (and I am sure 16GB of VRAM will be the ideal target), but I don't predict absolutely needing to upgrade components until the generation after next. I don't run games at 4K anyways, which helps a lot on keeping VRAM levels lower.
Re: What Is PSSR for PS5 Pro?
@ChimpMasta I remember when you needed a super powerful GPU just to use AA because it was incredibly expensive - FXAA and TAA didn't exist, then though. Even at 1024 x 768 resolution you couldn't use AA unless you had the right hardware.
Re: What Is PSSR for PS5 Pro?
Another benefit of AI-based super-sampling is that it doubles as a form of anti-aliasing - eliminating the need to use TAA (which softens the image).
Re: Dragon's Dogma 2 Set to Run Significantly Better on PS5 Pro, Early Footage Reveals
Unless Capcom is doing some significant optimization to CPU load - which will also bleed over to all platforms - I wouldn't expect 60fps in cities on PS5 Pro.
Even people with 7800X3D CPUs have their framerates drop down to 60 and below when running around cities - but reported framerates in the 100s when outside of cities (GPU dependent, of course).
Re: Bloodborne PS5 Pro Comparison Appears As Consumers Receive Console Early
People need to understand that Bloodborne will run the exact same way even on PS6 because the game needs modification to remove the uneven frame times and boost to 60fps.
Sony doesn’t have the “luxury” of using a DirectX layer to trick the game to 60fps.
Okay PSSR could sharpen the image, but performance requires more effort. Simply throwing more processing cycles isn’t the solution.
I think it’s a symptom of the FromSoftware engine, because when Microsoft got Dark Souls 3 to use FPS Boost on Series X|S it actually needed FromSoftware to change something to the Xbox version for it to work correctly (as it never got an X1X patch).
Re: More People Are Playing the Original Horizon Zero Dawn Than Its Remaster on PC
@DonkeyFantasy The PSN requirement for single player games is one sticking point. Especially when the original PC release didn’t have any PSN requirement and was available to more countries.
The $10 upgrade fee also doesn’t help - especially with the PC version being considerably newer than the PS4 release.