Comments 2,916

Re: FIFA 21 - A Step Up from FIFA 20, But Must Do Better on PS5

Paranoimia

Why is it that every single EA game which features 'realistic' character models always seems to have waxy-looking skin? Like a sheen on it - not sweaty looking, but more... 'polished'.

Is it just me, or do others see it that way too? FIFA, Madden, NHL... even NFS, Star Wars... they always have the same look.

Re: Devil May Cry 5 Takes Four Seconds to Load on PS5, 22 Seconds on PS4

Paranoimia

@SJBUK Well, we'll have to wait and see. The reason I'm a little pessimistic is that developers tend to play it safe and stick to what they know. That, and the fact that all many people seem interested in are resolutions and frame rates, which in turn encourages devs to play it safe and make the same again, but with minor tweaks.

If we're honest, PC has had the power and the SSDs for a good number of years now, but have games significantly changed or improved outside of graphics and frame rates?

Re: Devil May Cry 5 Takes Four Seconds to Load on PS5, 22 Seconds on PS4

Paranoimia

@thefourfoldroot Nope. He didn't have those. Haven't really been a fan of Wipeout since the original anyway.

I played EVE: Valkyrie, RIGS, the Star Wars X-Wing thingy, and a few others. I was impressed with the hardware itself, and there have been a couple of games I'd like to play (Robinson, Moss), but there's nowhere near enough games on it that I'd want to play to justify buying one for myself.

Re: Devil May Cry 5 Takes Four Seconds to Load on PS5, 22 Seconds on PS4

Paranoimia

@thefourfoldroot Nah. Used it twice in my life... the original arcade models back in the 90s, and a friend's PSVR. It doesn't do much for me. While it's visually immersive, I've found gameplay for most games quite basic and limited.

Plus I despise having anything on my head for any length of time.

At the moment, if I got a VR system, I probably wouldn't use it for gaming at all, but more for the virtual tour type stuff, to 'visit' places I otherwise may never see.

Re: Devil May Cry 5 Takes Four Seconds to Load on PS5, 22 Seconds on PS4

Paranoimia

@Jaz007 We'll see, I guess. But the things I'm thinking of... better AI, more interactive worlds, etc. could have been done by now.

The fact that R&C is the only game so far that anyone can point to kinda proves the point I'm making. The rest - so far - seem like more of the same, and don't really justify new hardware.

It's potentially an advantage which only Sony first-party studios may truly make use of, as others will still have to cater for other platforms; and we already know that one of those platform holders has a habit of requiring 'feature parity', potentially preventing developers from having features in games which their platform doesn't/can't support.

It's all very well saying "it allows developers to...", but it still requires them to actually do it. So far I've not seen much evidence. I do genuinely hope I'm wrong.

Re: Devil May Cry 5 Takes Four Seconds to Load on PS5, 22 Seconds on PS4

Paranoimia

Never been that bothered by loading times, coming form 20+ minutes on a C64 cassette.

Naughty Dog seemed to have it cracked, with an initial load and then nothing noticeable during the game.

Though others did begin to try my patience, particularly open-world games. Horizon wasn't great for loading, but the quality of the game made it worthwhile. GR Breakpoint gets very intrusive for the supposedly 'fast' travel... so much so that I tended not to use it, but rather find a helicopter and actually make the journey across the map.

Even so, when loading times are one of the 'big things' people are talking about, it's easier to understand why this 'next gen' is the least excited I've been in a long time.

I want something that's going to really improve the actual games I'm playing. The new controller might help a bit. Load times, 4K, and 60fps are not going to lead to better games - only more of the same, but slightly prettier. And that's not enough to get me excited.

Re: Western Digital Reveals First PS5 Compatible SSD

Paranoimia

@MarcG420 Smaller than they would be, perhaps. But that's not what was stated. If someone installs a game which takes up 100GB, I don't think they're going to be that bothered that it might have taken up 120GB on a HDD.

As the other article I linked states, savings from not requiring duplication of assets could be lost or even outweighed by the higher quality of those assets. So while it's certainly true that games may be smaller than they may have been if using a standard HDD, the assertion that they will be smaller over all isn't going to be true in all cases. In the case of Spider-Man Remastered, it's entirely possible that the game takes up less space because it shares at least some assets with the Miles Morales game; that would make sense, as it's the same city... plus you can't buy it as a stand-alone title.

Wherever you choose to look, the general consensus is that the installs are going to be large, and eat up the initial internal storage fairly quickly.

Re: Western Digital Reveals First PS5 Compatible SSD

Paranoimia

@thefourfoldroot No, I read it all. They're about the same size as PS4. That makes them not smaller.

If you only play 2 or 3 then yes, you'll be fine. I don't play that many myself compared to some, but on PS4 I've got a 1.5TB internally and a 1TB external, and I've still had to delete some to make room after various patches, updates, and DLCs.

Re: More PS5 Launch Games Will Arrive a Week Before the UK Console Release

Paranoimia

No, because...

(a) At the present time, it seems I won't be getting a system for launch day, as I pre-ordered with ShopTo.

(b) I'm not that bothered by (a) because, for the first time since PS2, there are no launch titles I feel I absolutely must have.

I've said before that I'd have been happy if 'next gen' hadn't happened for another year or two, and so far nothing has happened to change that.

I'll get my PS5 whenever the pre-order materialises, but for now I'm perfectly happy with PS4 and my PC.

Next-gen for me so far is stacking up to be a bit of a let-down.

Re: Spider-Man Creative Director Calls for Respect as PS5 Remaster Criticism Crosses the Line

Paranoimia

I've been gaming for 40+ years, since the late 70s. Through all the nonsense in the past about gamers being nerds, spotty teenagers, living in mum's basement, having no girlfriends, etc. I've never been embarrassed to tell people that I'm a gamer.

This last 2 or 3 years, though... that's starting to change. Some people are an absolute fecking embarrassment. A hobby which was once great fun, even with the 'tribal' rivalries of format wars (which go back to the C64/Spectrum days) were light-hearted. Barely a week goes by now without someone being "outraged" or "offended" about something completely insignificant.

Once again, as with so many of the (non) issues plaguing the world today, social media is usually at the centre of it, allowing the rants of morons to find traction when in the past they'd have been laughed at and forgotten. The faceless keyboard warriors, wastes of skin and oxygen, desperate for likes and clicks of approval from their idiot followers to make them feel like they somehow matter in the grand scheme of things.

Re: Ghost of Tsushima Looks Insane at 60 Frames-Per-Second

Paranoimia

@Arugula I'm the same. As long as the frame-rate is smooth and consistent, I really couldn't care less if it's 30, 60, or higher. I'll take a smooth, locked 30 over something which varies between 50 and 60 any day.

This video, to me, looks no different to when I played it on my Pro. 60 is not the necessity many believe.

Re: Talking Point: Are You Worried About the Future of Western RPGs on PS5?

Paranoimia

No, because I've never really played them anyway.

I enjoyed Fallout 3, but New Vegas was way too similar, bored me, and I didn't play much of it. Plus, Bethesda have become a bit of a running joke.

Horizon 2 will do me for the next gen, even if it's the only one I ever play on it.

There's always been a bit of a disconnect for me with MS. The games they've made have never held much appeal for me (probably why my original Xbox and 360 hardly saw any use), and none of the studios they've bought in recent times have really inspired me either. It's just a big ball of 'meh'.

Re: PS5 Pre-Orders from Some Retailers May Not Be Fulfilled Until 2021

Paranoimia

I had a message from ShopTo telling me they couldn't get me mine for launch day. They did ask if I wanted to switch to the Digital Edition. Ha ha! No.

I'm honestly not that fussed. I'm sure the wait won't be too long afterwards, and I've still got lots of stuff unfinished/unstarted on my PS4.

It's also helped by the fact that there's nothing I feel I absolutely must play on day one.

Still, more stock is being produced all the time, so there's a good chance they'll get another allocation of units soon.

Being perfectly honest, I'm less excited for "next gen" than I've ever been before.

Re: Rumour: Your PS4 Saves May Not Work on Upgraded PS5 Games

Paranoimia

This doesn't really bother me personally, but that being said, I can see absolutely no valid reason why this should be the case, apart from 'the individual developer wants it that way.'

Why they'd want it that way, I don't know... except perhaps as a form of encouragement to buy a PS5 version. But it's just data... there's no reason you couldn't just copy the file and have the game read and convert it as necessary.

Re: Reaction: Spider-Man PS5 Debacle Shows Sony Is Out of Touch

Paranoimia

It's ridiculous that Sony should even be expected to clarify it.

Not sure why anyone would expect a PS5 version of Spider-Man to be completely free. I don't, and I only bought it in a sale in November 2019.

The free upgrades are for late-generation games, in the months prior to the new consoles. For TLOU2 and GoT I could understand if they did it, but wouldn't be shocked, surprised, or angry if they didn't.

For a two-year-old game? Nah, that's reaching, and smacks of the "gamer entitlement" we're seeing more and more of in recent times.

Re: No Man's Sky Origins Update Available Now on PS4, Adds Huge Amount of New Content

Paranoimia

What this game needs is some AI helper bots which you can send off to collect all the stuff you need for jump fuel, to relieve some of the tedium and just let you explore. That's why I stopped playing; loved the rest of it, just got sick of that.

Yes, I'm aware there's an 'easy mode'; no, I don't want to enable that. It's just that with all that theoretical tech, you'd have something to do the menial work.

Re: Poll: Has Xbox's Bethesda Buyout Made You Reconsider a PS5 Purchase?

Paranoimia

Not in the slightest. I've never bought many of their games, so it's no loss to me. Besides, I buy PlayStation primarily for Sony's own games. Third-party titles are a bonus, but everything on Xbox will also be on PC, so I'm not going to miss out on anything.

Besides, who has ever based a hardware purchasing decision whether or not it plays Bugtester Notworks (sorry, I mean Bethesda Softworks) games?

Re: Future Bethesda Games Could Still Come to PlayStation Despite Xbox Ownership

Paranoimia

No big deal as far as I'm concerned. Enjoyed Fallout 3 on PS3. Never completed New Vegas on 360. Had Dishonored, which was okay. That's about it, I think.

They're not a developer I personally will be losing any sleep over, especially as Bethesda has become a bit of a farce in recent years. And as I've said previously, if they should make anything worth my time in future, it'll be on PC.

Re: Horizon Forbidden West Built from the 'Ground Up' for PS5

Paranoimia

@Flaming_Kaiser I didn't say it would be ideal, just that it could be done. Wouldn't be much worse than the delay jumping across the same world in Horizon, The Division, or Breakpoint. Just stick in some Stargate-like portal as a load screen, or a story-related minigame to play while it's loading like they used to do back in the C64 days, rather than a static screen with gameplay tips and a progress bar.

Re: PS5 Game Install Sizes Revealed, And They're Enormous

Paranoimia

I said ages ago that the supplied storage wouldn't last long before it's full. If it constantly captures an hour of video like PS4, that's going to eat into it too... especially if it records in 4K.

So as well as needing to know what expansions are available/compatible, we also need to know how we're going to be managing the storage. Will you have to uninstall a game, or can you shunt it to an attached HDD? Can you run a PS5 game from an external HDD if you wish?

More importantly, what's the point of an instant-loading super SSD if you have to waste several minutes moving a game from HDD to internal SSD in order to play?

I've got a nasty feeling that for all the crowing about these fancy new drives, in the long run, they're actually going to be the biggest PITA of the new system.

Re: Sony Won't Follow Game Pass Model on PS5, Doesn't Believe It's Sustainable

Paranoimia

It's okay for Microsoft, because they don't have the range or quality of exclusive titles which Sony has. They don't have the studios, they haven't been investing multi-millions into numerous games, so it's more cost-effective for them to bung some cash at publishers and give away low-cost access to everyone else's output. For my tastes, the studios they recently bought won't change that.

Very different situation for Sony and Nintendo.

Game Pass is on PC, but I haven't taken it up there. Not interested in most of the games, so for me at least, it's a waste of money no matter how low the cost.

Re: Horizon Forbidden West Built from the 'Ground Up' for PS5

Paranoimia

There's not going to be a vast difference in actual gameplay, because I've not seen anything on PS5 which couldn't be done on PS4, minus some snazzy effects. Even Ratchet & Clank would most likely work on PS4, albeit with some loading screens.

They were originally planning to have co-op in the original Horizon, but dropped it. I'm guessing "built from the ground up for PS5" means features like co-op will exist there, but be stripped from the PS4 version.