PS4 and PS5 games are all the same

[Saint Agustin]

I bought a PS4 and what the fuck happened to gaming?! Is it me or every game is the same mechanically? Same engine, same movement, same quirks, same gimmicks.

For example: Watchdogs plays the same as Skyrim. The Crew 2 plays the same as Forza. all shooters are the same. Even RPGs feel the same

What the fuck happened?! I remember in my teen years where I had my PS2, games were varied and all of them felt differently, even sequels like DMC1-2-3 had something different to offer... Nowadays all feel the same iteration of the same formula of ULTRA CRISP REALISTIC graphic (that makes you confused as to where to go cause everything grabs your attention, so you need a big fucking arrow pointing the way) or the same 2d indie pretentious crap.

... Even Sony knows they make shit, they put PS1, PS2 and PSP titles behind the deluxe subscription.

 

[Calandrino]

Nah seems fine to me

 

[Schwarzwald]

I think it's really just a case of diminishing returns of improvement with each successive generation. Think about the leap from the NES to the SNES, from the SNES to the PS1, from the PS2 to the PS3, and the PS4 to the PS5. It's gone from absolutely mindblowing improvements to something that's incremental at best.

The NES to the PS1 was a mere two generation gap. From 8 bit 2D to 32 bit full 3D. The same goes for the PS3 to the PS5. From HD to... better HD.

Computing power is so cheap now that consoles have basically become proprietary computers of varying powers for the last ~20 years. Games that meet the minimum requirements are still going to run on a less powerful computer pretty much the same. Even the controllers are the same. Most games don't really require that full computing power, so why would it be all that different?

I think this is pretty much what you can expect going forward barring gimmicks.

 

[NotYourAverageNigga]

Youre not going crazy or trippin.
The reason they all look the same as the previous titles is because theyre technically the same, there is currently no demand or need for next gen new tech eletric boogaloo new 7k ultrahyperrealism gen stuff, they make the same stuff as they did and everyones still buying and playing.
The moment some actual next gen hyperrealistic shit pops up and racks up some numbers, they will quickly start to actually make next gen games in order to get some of that cash, but for now, you can sit down and enjoy the brand new same old woke slop (the remake) 4k version for the playstation x ultra deluxe v edition.

 

[jertzog]

I've been saying for years that graphix peaked with Crysis. There's nowhere it can go from there but nitpicking things like fps and cosmetic gimmicks like ray tracing to try and jew you into buying more graphics cards (which are now for burning up in crypto rigs).
Until some brain implant can dumb down your perception so whatever level of visuals you look at directly are interpreted the same as real-world stimuli, you will never find yourself thrilled by that side of videogames again.

 

[Silver Higgs]

I heard this argument being made about movies, Disney movies in particular. It's easier and cheaper to copie or remake a successful IP than to come up with a new idea, story, characters etc... Maybe the same can be said about video games, it's all about money. I don't pay to much attention to games anymore because it's miserable but the last "mechanics" that popped in my radar, were monetary systems, loot boxes to season passes to that 10 different currencies courtesy from Blizzard with their Diablo game.

Also a little bit of , troons. I'll not elaborate but somehow troons are to be blamed for.

 

[We Are The Witches]

Nowadays all feel the same iteration of the same formula of ULTRA CRISP REALISTIC graphic (that makes you confused as to where to go cause everything grabs your attention, so you need a big fucking arrow pointing the way) or the same 2d indie pretentious crap.

Aren't you kind of already answering your own question with this, at least for a great part of them?

Of course if the graphics attempt to achieve realism, and the (environmental) settings are similar (e.g: a city, some forest, inside of a building), then you're going to get a very close feeling.

What you're experiencing is the lack of charm these games have for you, there's no "unique" style that differentiates it from the rest.

Take a look at Okami for the PS2 for example, way less polygons, textures, etc, yet I'd rather play that over any new game (although I'm not much of a gamer), because it has charm and a personality, combine that with good music and an interesting story, and you get a winner.

By comparing games, as some for of analogy, it's almost as if you were presented a boring photograph of a city on one hand, and a good lineart painting on the other. The one that may catch your attention to a greater degree is the painting, even if less faithful to an accurate representation of reality.

Which is why for example a good pixel-art game will always be capable of being on par, if not surpass the latest Unreal Engine/whatever game on the market, according to my taste of course, at the end of the day this is subjective.

 

[SandyCat]

Probably the same problem as Hollywood right now. Suits and ties no longer want to give control to the creatives to make something new, they only want the safest bet which means pursuing what has been proven to be popular already. Once they burn through that (Battle royale games for example, or cape shit superhero movies) they'll move onto the next big thing to copy until that gets ran into the ground, rinse and repeat.

Right now games are going through the Fortnite phase where every game now wants fucking fomo battle passes and wacky cosmetics. Look at what Call of Duty has become to see what I'm talking about.

 

[Buttigieg2020]

Are you telling me

The Last of Us
The Last of Us Remastered
The Last of Us Part 1
The Last of Us Part 2
The Last of US Part 2 Remastered

Are all the same?

 

[Checkerboard Hero]

PS5 games are just Wii games with more play in their station.

 

[Idiot Doom Spiral]

The PS3 generation (and rival consoles) were the apex of gaming.

Between 2006 and 2015 you still got lots of mixes between big budget titles, independent, and experimental games on console gaming. There were no sterile, formulaic FPS or RPG templates yet.

The graphical capability was refined sufficiently to be completely immersive, but without autistically refined hair mechanics, minimally better lighting tech and other diminishing returns.

Modern gaming needs to be abandoned; especially on PC. Since May this year, I’ve exclusively played PS2/PS3/Genesis/Saturn/MAME emulators on my PC via Launchbox, and never looked back.

Between 2015 and 2023 I never missed a Steam sale, but this year I’ve not bothered in any of them.

Who the fuck needs to keep shelling out $60+ for the next stale, online-only, soon-to-be delisted racing game botched at launch, when I can keep playing every console racer released up to 2016, uninterrupted for nothing? Same for COD clones, same for JRPG shite.

My advice: get into emulation if you haven’t already, and get collecting as many titles as you can for old gen consoles before the gaming corporations and associated cunts close the door on this forever.

 

[NerdShamer]

An lot of modern media is shit, if you think about it

 

[Idiot Doom Spiral]

An lot of modern media is shit, if you think about it

On the one hand, it depresses me that I am old enough to have witnessed the stale decline of film, music, TV and video gaming.

On the other hand, I am forever thankful that I was there when album releases were king; when cinemas had dozens of top releases a year and when games were amazing and unique.

 

[NerdShamer]

On the one hand, it depresses me that I am old enough to have witnessed the stale decline of film, music, TV and video gaming.

On the other hand, I am forever thankful that I was there when album releases were king; when cinemas had dozens of top releases a year and when games were amazing and unique.

At least we can finally watch the entertainment industry slowly burn itself to an crisp without being left in the dark about it.

 

[ducktales4gameboy]

I could dump pages on this topic but tl;dr modern large game engines like Unity and Unreal are very, very targeted at specific game genres, specifically ones that need to render a whole lot of highpoly static geometry with complex lighting and a handful of very complex rigged models. Cinematic third-person games like God of War and The Last Of Us are prime examples. Outside those specific setups the engines all suck ass to some degree and are especially terrible for games that need to render very large numbers of low-complexity models (which is the reason why even the most competent modern park/citybuilders like Parkitect and Timberborn bog down once you're past a midsize park/city).

 

[Dysnomia]

I think it's really just a case of diminishing returns of improvement with each successive generation. Think about the leap from the NES to the SNES, from the SNES to the PS1, from the PS2 to the PS3, and the PS4 to the PS5. It's gone from absolutely mindblowing improvements to something that's incremental at best.

The NES to the PS1 was a mere two generation gap. From 8 bit 2D to 32 bit full 3D. The same goes for the PS3 to the PS5. From HD to... better HD.

Computing power is so cheap now that consoles have basically become proprietary computers of varying powers for the last ~20 years. Games that meet the minimum requirements are still going to run on a less powerful computer pretty much the same. Even the controllers are the same. Most games don't really require that full computing power, so why would it be all that different?

I think this is pretty much what you can expect going forward barring gimmicks.

There's such a noticeable drop in "wow factor" in the past two console generations. I remember how much everyone was amazed at the rain effects in ALttP. The parallax scrolling in Sonic. We just don't get that sort of thing anymore. I think that studios need to focus more on gameplay and innovations that are actually fun.

 

[urr13 account]

Imagine if it was the PS2 forever, no new systems, no improved graphics, just new games. Forever and ever. PS2 forever.

 

[ducktales4gameboy]

There's such a noticeable drop in "wow factor" in the past two console generations. I remember how much everyone was amazed at the rain effects in ALttP. The parallax scrolling in Sonic. We just don't get that sort of thing anymore. I think that studios need to focus more on gameplay and innovations that are actually fun.

Can't bring up launch-period LTTP without mentioning the absolute oh fuck moment everyone had the instant they got thrown into the dark world the first time and opened the map. That wasn't something Nintendo advertised or even hinted at existing and it was absolutely a situation where you were completely disoriented at learning how much bigger the game was than you expected.

The hype around Super Mario 64 was insane too because it was a game that NOBODY would shut up about in the week after release and nobody had the proper words to describe, plus at that point almost all gaming news and images came from magazines which were few and far between.

 

[Saint Agustin]

My advice: get into emulation if you haven’t already, and get collecting as many titles as you can for old gen consoles before the gaming corporations and associated cunts close the door on this forever.

Yeah, I have a torrent with the whole library of NES, SNES, PSX, N64 and Sega Saturn. Also a Terabyte full of PS2 iso and a torrent with Dreamcast.

Every game was unique in that time, nowadays everything is bland.

I fucking hate gaming nowadays... Also don't make me start on the piece of shit that are controllers.

 

[Toji Suzuhara]

Yeah, I have a torrent with the whole library of NES, SNES, PSX, N64 and Sega Saturn. Also a Terabyte full of PS2 iso and a torrent with Dreamcast.

Every game was unique in that time, nowadays everything is bland.

I fucking hate gaming nowadays... Also don't make me start on the piece of shit that are controllers.

Also it has become infinetely harder, more time-consuming, and more importantly costlier to make games than ever before. Up until the times of the PS3 it was so easy to make games that you could make movie tie-ins with them and 20 guys over a period of just 3 years were able to make a game as expansive as Deus Ex. Small, niche genres like dating sims (as in, actual dating sims and not just visual novels) were economically feaseable as well even when only appealing to the markets of a single country, and the level of expertise also was far higher during those times as it was mainly gaming enthusiasts the ones who made the games instead of people who got in primarily for the money. Combine rising costs, rising complexity, and falling skill levels and everything that doesn't make the cut ends up getting axed