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[analog_future]

Make a list instead of posting gifs

What first four years had better first party output?

Can you list the first party games you liked in the first four years of each gen?

You keep bringing this up, so sure!


A quick a dirty summary of SIE published exclusive games in the first 4 years of each generation:

PS1:

• Wipeout
• Wipeout 2097
• Wipeout 3
• Twisted Metal
• Twisted Metal 2
• Cool Boarders
• Cool Boarders 2
• Cool Boarders 3
• Crash Bandicoot
• Crash Bandicoot 2
• Crash Bandicoot: Warped
• Jet Moto
• Jet Moto 2
• PaRappa the Rapper
• Everybody's Golf
• Gran Turismo
• Blasto
• Spyro the Dragon
• Spyro 2
• Syphon Filter
• Ape Escape

PS2:

• Cool Boarders 2001
• Dark Cloud
• Gran Turismo 3
• Gran Turismo 4
• Twisted Metal Black
• Parappa the Rapper 2
• Ico
• Syphon Filter 3
• Jak and Daxter
• Jak II
• Jak 3
• Wipeout Fusion
• Ape Escape 2
• Sly Cooper
• Sly 2
• Siren
• Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando
• Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
• Killzone

PS3:

• Resistance: Fall of Man
• Resistance 2
• MotorStorm
• MotorStorm: Pacific Rift
• Heavenly Sword
• Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
• Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
• Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
• Patapon
• Wipeout HD
• Killzone 2
• Infamous
• LittleBigPlanet
• God of War III
• Gran Turismo 5

PS4:

• Killzone: Shadow Fall
• Resogun
• Infamous: Second Son
• The Last of Us: Remastered
• Driveclub
• LittleBigPlanet 3
• The Order 1886
• Helldivers
• Ratchet & Clank
• Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
• The Last Guardian
• Gravity Rush 2
• Horizon Zero Dawn
• Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
• Gran Turismo Sport

This is not even including exclusives that were not internally published like countless Final Fantasy games, Ridge Racer games, Tekken games, Metal Gear games, Grand Theft Auto games, FROM games, Quantic Dream games, Until Dawn, etc.. etc.. etc..

 

[clarky]

Yep. And who knows, I could be wrong and the second half isn't all that great, but looking at what's in the pipeline and I expect a lot of awesome stuff.

Death Stranding 2
Ghost of Yotei
Wolverine
Intergalactic

You're basically getting two new IPs here (Wolverine may not be a new IP, but it is new to Insomniac games and videogames in general as a major AAA title), along with two sequels that look exciting.

And there's likely a lot of stuff unannounced coming later in the gen, such as Cory's new project with SSM. As for GT, I wouldn't count on one since GT7 is more of a GAAS platform title. Seems like they release 1 GT per gen and give it regular updates, kind of the same strategy Mario Kart now has. Makes sense, because you kind of need more time between releases to make a big difference in what's on offer.

Yeah that list doesn't exactly float my boat, but like I said you never know. Looking forward to DS2 and Yotei though. Yotei especially though as I have hiked that mountain a few times. Intergalactic will probably be good but that seems ages away with what little they showed.

The PS3 was a hardware of a million innovations. Back in 2006 it was almost like alien tech entering the living room, with 1080p output, HDD, wifi, sleek design and quiet fans. Booting up MGS4 on it first time and it was like a real new generation had started.

Jump forward to PS4. Plasticky cheap design, had wobble, fans were so shit the whole living room became a hell of noise and heat just when playing a game. Insanely garbage specs, slowest ass HDD Cerny could find. I finished Bloodborne on it and then gave it away to my nephew. Part in guilt as I knew I just made him suffer the console instead.

Alien tech? The completion did almost all those things the year before. The design, well thats subjective, personally I though it looked like shit, the slim looked miles better.

MGS4 is the worst MG by quite some margin btw.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

You keep bringing this up, so sure!


A quick a dirty summary of SIE published games in the first 4 years of each generation:

PS1:

• Wipeout
• Wipeout 2097
• Wipeout 3
• Twisted Metal
• Twisted Metal 2
• Cool Boarders
• Cool Boarders 2
• Cool Boarders 3
• Crash Bandicoot
• Crash Bandicoot 2
• Crash Bandicoot: Warped
• Jet Moto
• Jet Moto 2
• PaRappa the Rapper
• Everybody's Golf
• Gran Turismo
• Blasto
• Spyro the Dragon
• Spyro 2
• Syphon Filter
• Ape Escape

PS2:

• Cool Boarders 2001
• Dark Cloud
• Gran Turismo 3
• Gran Turismo 4
• Twisted Metal Black
• Parappa the Rapper 2
• Ico
• Syphon Filter 3
• Jak and Daxter
• Jak II
• Jak 3
• Wipeout Fusion
• Ape Escape 2
• Sly Cooper
• Sly 2
• Siren
• Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando
• Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
• Killzone

PS3:

• Resistance: Fall of Man
• Resistance 2
• MotorStorm
• MotorStorm: Pacific Rift
• Heavenly Sword
• Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
• Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
• Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
• Patapon
• Wipeout HD
• Killzone 2
• Infamous
• LittleBigPlanet
• God of War III
• Gran Turismo 5

PS4:

• Killzone: Shadow Fall
• Resogun
• Infamous: Second Son
• The Last of Us: Remastered
• Driveclub
• LittleBigPlanet 3
• The Order 1886
• Helldivers
• Ratchet & Clank
• Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
• The Last Guardian
• Gravity Rush 2
• Horizon Zero Dawn
• Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
• Gran Turismo Sport

This is not even including exclusives that were not internally published like countless Final Fantasy games, Ridge Racer games, Tekken games, Metal Gear games, Grand Theft Auto games, FROM games, Quantic Dream games, Until Dawn, etc.. etc.. etc..

The problem with this list is that the vast majority of the games listed, nobody would be interested in playing. They rely on much lower budget AA titles that are in genres that nobody plays. Outside of a few, they were never considered marquee titles of the generation that went on to sell incredibly well.

I'm not discounting these games entirely, but let's not suggest that something like Cool Borders or Jet Moto is on the same level of significance collectively as a single entry into God of War or something like Helldivers.

This isn't quantity list war.

 

[analog_future]

The problem with this list is that the vast majority of the games listed, nobody would be interested in playing. They rely on much lower budget AA titles that are in genres that nobody plays. Outside of a few, they were never considered marquee titles of the generation that went on to sell incredibly well.

I'm not discounting these games entirely, but let's not suggest that something like Cool Borders or Jet Moto is on the same level of significance collectively as a single entry into God of War or something like Helldivers.

This isn't quantity list war.

These games were huge in their heyday and a ton of the games I listed were considered system sellers.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

These games were huge in their heyday and a ton of the games I listed were considered system sellers.

No they weren't. Only a select few actually were

 

[ReBurn]

Worst isn't the word I would use because I have loved them all. I would rank them in the order they were released. It's been fun watching PlayStation grow up, but it was the most fun when it was brand new and scrappy.

 

[V1LÆM]

Definitely my least favourite PlayStation.

Didn’t even buy one for the first 3 years and not because I couldn’t. I had the original pre ordered but cancelled it and had many other chances to buy one.

Now I have one it’s just sitting there doing nothing. I do have GT7 installed on it but eh.

Once GTA VI launches and I’ve played it then I’ll sell the PS5.

 

[analog_future]

No they weren't. Only a select few actually were

Yes, many of them were.

Pretty hilarious how you are called out on your BS about past generations and immediately respond disingenuously on it.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Yes, many of them were.

Pretty hilarious how you are called out on your BS about past generations and immediately respond disingenuously on it.

There's nothing disingenuous about stating that Jet Moto and Cool Boarders is not the same significance collectively as a single God of War release.

You want to turn this into a list war of number of titles, rather than more deeply looking into the quality, reception, and sales of each title.

 

[viveks86]

No they shouldn’t. The latest console at the time of release is PS5 and also where the majority of game sales are

So if someone didn’t own a ps5 during launch and played the games on ps4, they shouldn’t consider those 3 games while voting for ps4 on this thread? Given we are talking generations, the earliest generation where the game is out makes sense. Otherwise you are muddying the waters when it comes to backwards compatibility. Cyberpunk was a ps4 game at launch. Not a ps5 game. They patched that later, just like all the other definitive edition patches. If we go down that path, should we consider all patched games as ps5 games for this poll as well? Should people list last of us part 1 here as a win for ps5, ps4 or ps3? That’s the issue with demon’s souls in your list. To keep things clean, remakes and remasters should all be excluded. And the earliest console generation the game was available on should be considered to prevent overlap. Where the majority sales occurred is irrelevant as this is a subjective poll

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

So if someone didn’t own a ps5 during launch and played the games on ps4, they shouldn’t consider those 3 games while voting for ps4 on this thread? Given we are talking generations, the earliest generation where the game is out makes sense. Otherwise you are muddying the waters when it comes to backwards compatibility. Cyberpunk was a ps4 game at launch. Not a ps5 game. They patched that later, just like all the other definitive edition patches. If we go down that path, should we consider all patched games as ps5 games for this poll as well? Should people list last of us part 1 here as a win for ps5, ps4 or ps3? That’s the issue with demon’s souls in your list. To keep things clean, remakes and remasters should all be excluded. And the earliest console generation the game was available on should be considered to prevent overlap. Where the majority sales occurred is irrelevant as this is a subjective poll

You can personally do whatever you want, but when a title sells more on a next-gen console and pushes next-gen console sales, I will consider that to be the primary platform for that release.

BOTW is a Switch game because it sold the vast majority on Switch and is a big reason for its success as a platform. I do not consider it to primarily be a Wii U game. Same for Mario Kart 8

 

[analog_future]

There's nothing disingenuous about stating that Jet Moto and Cool Boarders is not the same significance collectively as a single God of War release.

You want to turn this into a list war of number of titles, rather than more deeply looking into the quality, reception, and sales of each title.

You literally requested a list of games the we liked in the first 4 years of each gen.


And you saying "only a select few" is untrue.

 

[ArtHands]

Here

A handful of them are also on other platforms, just with slight differences like haptic feedback or graphics fidelity. Gooya Fighter is on both Steam/Switch. C-Smash VRS, Star Wars Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge, Zombieland Headshot Fever Reloaded are on Quest 3.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

You literally requested a list of games the we liked in the first 4 years of each gen.


And you saying "only a select few" is untrue.

OK - so I am going to assume that you love racing games of all types, including snow racing games and water sports racing games. How many of those games do you own this gen?

 

[Salz01]

By far the worst generation. Complete fuckery. If it wasn’t for Insomniac holding down the fort. VR2, was a waste. The portal is just odd. Sony totally coasting on PS4 success from Trent and Layden.

 

[analog_future]

OK - so I am going to assume that you love racing games of all types, including snow racing games and water sports racing games. How many of those games do you own this gen?

I enjoyed them a ton when they came out, as did many others.

 

[Krappadizzle]

The first generation since Playstation's inception that I have not bought a console and still don't feel compelled to buy one. Console gaming in general has overall been a bit of a flub this generation. The best games are essentially the last generations games with 60fps and a resolution boost. There are some diamonds for sure, but not nearly in the same quantity or quality that we've received in the last 15 years.

 

[Pejo]

I'm a little surprised by all this PS3 talk. It was the generation that brought us these exclusives:

• Uncharted 1, 2, and 3
• The Last of Us
• Metal Gear Solid 4
• God of War III
• LittleBigPlanet and it's sequels
• Resistance 1, 2 and 3
• Killzone 2 and 3
• inFAMOUS 1 and 2
• Dark Souls
• Demon's Souls
• Journey
• Ni No Kuni

100% this. I am dumbfounded by the PS3 gen being "bad", especially for first/second party output. The hardware sucked to develop for, Sony took 2nd place to Xbox in sales due to a lot of reasons, but as far as me enjoying games as a gamer, it was one of my favorite gens. Easily above PS4 in my eyes. PS3 Phat might be my favorite console of all time. I play games, not sales numbers or market share, and I'd kill to see output like this on PS5 in both quantity and fun factor.

PS4 gen felt like they lost that AA exclusive game magic that they had previously dominated in. PS5 feels like they barely even care about games or gaming anymore. Feels like they put the console out just because it was time and they "had" to.

 

[Nikodemos]

The PS5 gen got thoroughly fucked by 'rona early on, meaning it only really started in 2022. Its two direct consequences were crossgen everything (up until circa 2023) and Sony going multiplat. Of the two, I'd say the latter is a bad decision, long-term. Sony need exclusivity to grow their market share and uphold their brand identity; having their games on competing platforms is conterproductive to that goal. Nintendo continued being a successful company, despite the Switch being a flimsy piece of shit, due to their staunch refusal to go multiplat with their titles. Nintendo games (either developed by their internal studios, or funded by them) can only be played on Nintendo consoles.

Another external issue affecting the release rate is, ironically, workplace improvement. Back 20 years ago, crunch wasn't just expected, it was the norm. While its effect on workers was bad (burn-out) it did help decrease dev time, leading to speedier turn-arounds. Remove/reduce crunch, and timelines expand. Heck, even the darlings of the cRPG community, Larian, have admitted to using crunch in order to get BG3 out of Early Access at the posted date.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

I enjoyed them a ton when they came out, as did many others.

Cool - fair enough. I'm not discounting your opinion, but you must *hate* this gen across the board because those games don't really exist anymore. That's not a Playstation thing. That's an industry problem. It's not catering to your tastes. There's a reason those genres died, because they didn't sell well.

 

[ULTROS!]

Just... the entire PC generation, in general? From 1962 with Spacewar until now?


lol

Correction: the Steam generation

(Used to be a PC guy back in the 90s)

 

[th4tguy]

PS3 was really bad for the first 4 years.
PS5 isn’t any better with first party stuff but at least the third party games run well. Nothing sucked more than feeling like your early mode ps3 was collecting dust because you would always go 360 for third party games and the first party stuff just wasn’t that great/ exciting compared to what MS was pumping out. Now the second half of that gen really flipped and Sony started killing it while MS chased the Wii market with Kinect.

 

[analog_future]

Cool - fair enough. I'm not discounting your opinion, but you must *hate* this gen across the board because those games don't really exist anymore. That's not a Playstation thing. That's an industry problem. It's not catering to your tastes.

As with every generation, the games that appeal to wide audiences, are considered system sellers, or reflect the current zeitgeist eb and flow and evolve and change.

3D mascot platformers, racing games, and fighting games were freaking HUGE in the PS1 days and into the PS2.

First person shooters were what everyone wanted in the PS3 days

Cinematic third person action adventure games dominated the PS4 era

Today we're seeing souls-like games, open world games, etc.. dominating consumer interest.


Things just change. What I loved 30 years ago when I was playing my PS1 doesn't have to be what I love today. That doesn't make the games that came out then any less impactful or incredible for what they were at the time.

 

[viveks86]

You can personally do whatever you want, but when a title sells more on a next-gen console and pushes next-gen console sales, I will consider that to be the primary platform for that release.

BOTW is a Switch game because it sold the vast majority on Switch and is a big reason for its success as a platform. I do not consider it to primarily be a Wii U game. Same for Mario Kart 8

Do you at least see the issue with including Demon’s souls?

If not, oh well. I’ll tell myself that I tried

 

[ULTROS!]

My take. I think People who rank the PS3 higher were people who only played on PS3.

I was Xbox 360 during most of those years and moved to PC near the end of that gen because of how badly games were starting to look and play. Tomb raider and Bioshock Infinite looked dated on the PS3 and 360.

They say PS3 overtook 360 near the end of the gen. I was one of those end of gen ps3 players who checked out some exclusives like ratchet and clank. But by then the PS4 was getting all the news. And I just bought the remakes there.

I had a PS3 and bought games for it but it’s still the worst for me. Maybe it’s because it’s way too western focused and the Japanese games all went to PSP/NDS. In fact I so much prefer NDS and PSP over PS3 but that’s me.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Do you at least see the issue with including Demon’s souls?

If not, oh well. I’ll tell myself that I tried

It's a remake that's dramatically transformed by the latest release. But if you don't want to include remakes, fine. It's just one title. I didn't list out any other remakes on my list.

Things just change. What I loved 30 years ago when I was playing my PS1 doesn't have to be what I love today. That doesn't make the games that came out then any less impactful or incredible for what they were at the time.

I'm not suggesting any of these titles were bad games. I am just simply suggesting that it's not a fair comparison to list 3-4 games in a single series that collectively sold far less and cost way less to develop (and probably had less collective playtime per user) than a single large AAA release today.

Like I said, I'm not looking at it from a quantity perspective. I'd much rather have a single GoWR release than all the Jet Moto or Cool Boarders games combined. I just wasn't that into those games at all, but they were fine.

 

[Lord Panda]

PS5 gen is mid as fuck compared to the other generations.

I'm old school so here's my ranking out there:

PS1
PS2
PS4
PSP
PS3
Vita
PS5

 

[Mibu no ookami]

If the criteria for assessing is first party game output and quality, then PS1 and PS2 should be at the bottom of the list.

Playstation FP really only meaningfully came into existence during the PS3 gen. Prior to that, everything was 3rd party exclusives.

Even if you dislike PS5's first party games thus far, the 3rd party exclusives have been stellar.

I think most of you are just salty that PS FP games are now on PC, and so arbitrarily dismissing games just because PC players also get to play them.

Spoiler

Tbf, some of you are just salty Xbox fanboys who are unhappy that MS shat it's console business down the crapper and so you'll hate on their biggest competitor to give yourself a worthless sense of accomplishment.

How quickly people forget Mark of Kri, Kinetica, Rise to Honor....

 

[analog_future]

It's a remake that's dramatically transformed by the latest release. But if you don't want to include remakes, fine. It's just one title. I didn't list out any other remakes on my list.



I'm not suggesting any of these titles were bad games. I am just simply suggesting that it's not a fair comparison to list 3-4 games in a single series that collectively sold far less and cost way less to develop (and probably had less collective playtime per user) than a single large AAA release today.

Like I said, I'm not looking at it from a quantity perspective. I'd much rather have a single GoWR release than all the Jet Moto or Cool Boarders games combined. I just wasn't that into those games at all, but they were fine.

Well then you're simply changing the goalposts and changing what you were asking for earlier. Of course these games cost less to develop and sold less than AAA games today. Literally all games did, obviously. The fuck point are you even trying to make here?

Why ask for a list of games in the first four years of each generation if you're going to just dismiss them for a bunch of arbitrary reasons when said lists are provided to you?

 

[FoxMcChief]

It’s easily the worst generation ever. PS peaked at PS2.

 

[coffinbirth]

A handful of them are also on other platforms, just with slight differences like haptic feedback or graphics fidelity. Gooya Fighter is on both Steam/Switch. C-Smash VRS, Star Wars Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge, Zombieland Headshot Fever Reloaded are on Quest 3.

A bunch of those games aren't even out yet.

 

[ULTROS!]

Today we're seeing souls-like games, open world games, GAAS, etc.. dominating consumer interest.

fixed

But seriously, GAAS is a big thing this gen… either you hit or miss like Helldivers 2 vs Concord… You also have the massives like Genshin Impact and Marvel Rivals

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Well then you're simply changing the goalposts and changing what you were asking for earlier. Of course these games cost less to develop and sold less than AAA games today. Literally all games did, obviously. The fuck point are you even trying to make here?

Why ask for a list of games in the first four years of each generation or if you're going to just dismiss them for a bunch of arbitrary reasons when said lists are provided to you?

No I'm not. My goalpost was never about a list war of total number of games. If I were to objectively rate any of those games, PS5 exceeds them hands down. Like I said, I'd take a single GoW game over the entire PS1 catalog in the first four years. Sony never had a very strong first party until the second half of the PS3 era. Most of my time in the 90s on PS1 was playing third party games from Capcom, Konami, and Square, or on the N64 where there were Nintedo games. I wasn't playing Sony exclusives, they were *never* regarded back then as the top tier of the industry.

 

[Wulfer]

Spider-Man Miles Morales
Demons Souls
Returnal
Ratchet
GT7
Horizon FW
God of War Ragnarok
Spider-Man 2
Helldivers 2
Stellar Blade
Astro Bot

Only in 4 years. Can’t think of any first party output from them in the first four years that’s anywhere close in terms of quality and consistency

So what happened did they're balls fall off?

 

[Mibu no ookami]

No I'm not. My goalpost was never about a list war of total number of games. If I were to objectively rate any of those games, PS5 exceeds them hands down. Like I said, I'd take a single GoW game over the entire PS1 catalog in the first four years. Sony never had a very strong first party until the second half of the PS3 era. Most of my time in the 90s on PS1 was playing third party games from Capcom, Konami, and Square, or on the N64 where there were Nintedo games. I wasn't playing Sony exclusives, they were *never* regarded back then as the top tier of the industry.

Dude... don't even bother.

 

[Dacvak]

I'm a little surprised by all this PS3 talk. It was the generation that brought us these exclusives:

• Uncharted 1, 2, and 3
• The Last of Us
• Metal Gear Solid 4
• God of War III
• LittleBigPlanet and it's sequels
• Resistance 1, 2 and 3
• Killzone 2 and 3
• inFAMOUS 1 and 2
• Dark Souls
• Demon's Souls
• Journey
• Ni No Kuni

You right. You right.

 

[AmuroChan]

Well can't speak for them, but for myself, it's mainly from the prospective of how the platform holder has managed the platform in providing it with what matters most: games. In this case, I've focused on internal studio output, and to a lesser degree, software content that differentiates the system from other options in the market (1P/3P exclusives).

On both fronts, I think it's fair to say PS5 is easily among one of the weaker PS offerings. There have been a decent number of 3P exclusives but they've been timed and not for very long periods at that. Meanwhile, SIE have had a very bullish porting strategy to PC (Steam) this gen; if you're not suffering from FOMO, the strategy plus significantly more 3P support for Steam this gen vs. last makes PC a very viable alternative.

That's not even to mention that for the past two years, I feel we've heard more of SIE game cancellations than official new 1P game reveals (especially those that aren't GAAS). Seeing where the studios are and what games have been cancelled, we know at least some of the studios won't have a single new game for this generation as a result. Can't really rationalize it as anything other than horrid management of the content portfolio.

Like of course there have been bright spots but it feels there have been a lot more sour points with SIE this gen, from not-exactly-best-showing sequels (GOWR, Spiderman 2, HFW in terms of some dissent among fans of earlier iterations of those IP), to the aforementioned cancellations & studio closures, to seeing the trainwreck of a M&A that is Bungie, to the price hikes, to the mishandling of PSVR2, to their PC multiplatform strategy, to the lack of showcases & software roadmap, to the disaster of Concord, to the incessant remasters, etc.

A Returnal, GT7, Astro Bot or Helldivers 2, or timed exclusives like Rebirth & Stellar Blade, doesn't wipe away the mistakes no matter how good they are.

All valid points if we're breaking down PlayStation from a business standpoint. As I said in another thread, Sony is very fortunate that MS has its own shares of issues this gen and therefore hasn't lost any market share.

With that said, I don't regret my PS5 purchase this gen. I have more games in my PS5 backlog than I'll ever get around to playing all of them. So just from a value standpoint, it's a device that I use almost every day and I've never not had games to play.

 

[Dacvak]

I think the real takeaway here is that, even at their worst, PlayStation is pretty damn good.

 

[Codeblew]

Are the people voting PS5 just young and don't know any better? PS4 generation is definately better than PS5 so far but worse than PS3? ...

PS2 > PS4 > PS1 > PS3 > PS5

PS2 > PS4 > PS1 > PS5 > PS3 (even though the gen isn't over yet)

 

[viveks86]

It's a remake that's dramatically transformed by the latest release. But if you don't want to include remakes, fine. It's just one title. I didn't list out any other remakes on my list.

If I challenged your list, it wasn’t to convince you that ps5 was the worst generation (at least so far). These things are cemented in our minds and whatever our lists are, those are going to be our lists no matter what others say. This isn’t a science no matter how we spin it with “objective” criteria. Including sales figures or budget or metacritic is not going to change that. What impression has the generation left you with, is all that is going to determine your vote. Rest are all arbitrary justifications to substantiate that instinctive response. My objective was simply to challenge the rationale you used. I get your rationale now, and hopefully you get mine. That’s about as productive as I can hope this exchange to get.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

If I challenged your list, it wasn’t to convince you that ps5 was the worst generation (at least so far). These things are cemented in our minds and whatever our lists are, those are going to be our lists no matter what others say. This isn’t a science no matter how we spin it with “objective” criteria. Including sales figures or budget or metacritic is not going to change that. What impression has the generation left you with, is all that is going to determine your vote. Rest are all arbitrary justifications to substantiate that instinctive response. My objective was simply to challenge the rationale you used. I get your rationale now, and hopefully you get mine. That’s about as productive as I can hope this exchange to get.

That's all true

I can just say that for myself, I don't think I've played as many games as I have in any other generation as I have on the PS5, when looking at the totality of releases including first and third parties, they've both been strong. Combine that with the absolute *best* hardware and software UI Sony has ever featured in a console, and for someone who primarily plays on PS5, there's really very little I have to complain about other than the idea that it could have been even better without all the large missteps in the GaaS misallocation of resources.

Some people are coming at this topic from the lens of remembering playing on on an earlier Playstation as their primary platform, and have since changed platforms to potentially PC or Xbox, and that's fine, but it also distorts their concept of whether PS5 is good or bad in that context because by definition if you think the PS5 generation is terrible, then you also must think that your PC or Xbox collection this generation is awful too.

Have you really felt you've been at a lack of games this gen? Every year has had a ton of awesome stuff to play. I feel like we're spoiled with so many good titles honestly.

 

[Radical_3d]

Even if the next 4 years would be banger after banger (and it won’t) this is easily N64 tier. Makes me want to quit gaming. Thank god for Civ VII.

 

[DinoD]

PS2>>PS1>>>PS3>>PS4>>>>>>>PS5

 

[viveks86]

That's all true

I can just say that for myself, I don't think I've played as many games as I have in any other generation as I have on the PS5, when looking at the totality of releases including first and third parties, they've both been strong. Combine that with the absolute *best* hardware and software UI Sony has ever featured in a console, and for someone who primarily plays on PS5, there's really very little I have to complain about other than the idea that it could have been even better without all the large missteps in the GaaS misallocation of resources.

Some people are coming at this topic from the lens of remembering playing on on an earlier Playstation as their primary platform, and have since changed platforms to potentially PC or Xbox, and that's fine, but it also distorts their concept of whether PS5 is good or bad in that context because by definition if you think the PS5 generation is terrible, then you also must think that your PC or Xbox collection this generation is awful too.

Have you really felt you've been at a lack of games this gen? Every year has had a ton of awesome stuff to play. I feel like we're spoiled with so many good titles honestly.

After my 360 rrod, Playstation has been the exclusive console I’ve played on. I briefly dabbled with PC gaming and spent $6000 dollars on a titan X SLI setup. It turned obsolete within 2 years and I sold it all as it was taking up space in my apartment. I’m as close to a dedicated fan that Sony can hope for. So the list in my head is for all games. Not just exclusives. There was a time when I’d have something new and exciting every single month. Was the case for every generation until the PS5. Now it’s every 3 to 6 months. And even those are rarely new IPs.

I have no scarcity of games though, which is why I had no hesitation to upgrade to the pro. I’m still working my way through Witcher 3! Like you said, there is no shortage of games to play. The output just feels a lot less exciting for the console in hand, with the endless remakes, remasters and sequels. Need more of that Intergalactic excitement in my veins, where we can speculate what the hell the game is even going to be like, instead of a bunch of known quantities. Even astrobot felt like a known quantity. It’s exciting as a game, but doesn’t mark the generation for me like when a brand new IP shows up. And there is a major dearth of brand new IPs now than ever before

 

[kiphalfton]

PS3 has lots of iconic first and third party games.

PS5 has some games... which is to be expected. That's about all I can say that's nice.

PS2 > PS1 > PS3 > PS4 > PS5

Even if you include PS Vita and PSP, PS5 still comes in last place.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

That's all true

I can just say that for myself, I don't think I've played as many games as I have in any other generation as I have on the PS5, when looking at the totality of releases including first and third parties, they've both been strong. Combine that with the absolute *best* hardware and software UI Sony has ever featured in a console, and for someone who primarily plays on PS5, there's really very little I have to complain about other than the idea that it could have been even better without all the large missteps in the GaaS misallocation of resources.

Some people are coming at this topic from the lens of remembering playing on on an earlier Playstation as their primary platform, and have since changed platforms to potentially PC or Xbox, and that's fine, but it also distorts their concept of whether PS5 is good or bad in that context because by definition if you think the PS5 generation is terrible, then you also must think that your PC or Xbox collection this generation is awful too.

Have you really felt you've been at a lack of games this gen? Every year has had a ton of awesome stuff to play. I feel like we're spoiled with so many good titles honestly.

Cynicism of the present and romanticism of the past are taking root hard.

There is no way anyone with a straight face would compare first party output in the days of Rise of Honor and Mark of Kri to what we're getting from Sony now.

Even games like Syphon Filter are comparatively dogshit compared to the games we're getting now. I've been around every step of the way and I've played most of these games and they're largely unplayable today. There were a few gems like Legend of Dragoon, but there's a reason why most of these studios aren't around anymore, it's because their games weren't up to snuff.

People want to erase Zipper Interactive being complete dogshit. People have a low bar for the past. Team Soho tried to make a GTA clone in the Getaway and the controls and hit detection were broken.

Ghost of Tsushima dog walks Sly Cooper and Infamous.

Naughty Dog's last 3 games were better than all their other games save for Uncharted 2.

Santa Monica's God of War 2018 outsold all the previous God of War games combined. Ragnarok probably will too.

Gran Turismo 7 is the best Gran Turismo game since GT4.

Almost every developer in Sony is making their best games within the last game or two with the exception of Media Molecule. Every studio Sony has ever closed, they closed with good reason, i.e. their games were dogshit.

 

[TheGodfather07]

I think 3rd party output is worse than ever, which doesn't do the PS5 any favours. Western publishers have gone to complete shit.

 

[ProtoByte]

All the pc master racists voting for ps5

Guess they’d rather go back to not getting first party games like prior gens, huh?

This revisionist history is comical

Yes, ironically.
Everything was better when the exclusives were actually exclusive. PC gamers may not like it, but they will respect if the only way to buy a game is to play it on another platform. If they won't, they are not going to buy it anyway. We can see that the sales of the first party games have been pitiful on Steam. And how many of them are double dips?

 

[KiteGr]

PS3 technically sucked much harder. It was forced into a success by then non arrogant Sony with good diverse titles so by the end of it's life circle it surpassed it's main competitor the X360.

PS5 just came out at a bad time when the corporate west lost their woke minds and also the service bubble bursted.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

I think 3rd party output is worse than ever, which doesn't do the PS5 any favours. Western publishers have gone to complete shit.

I think Japanese games are absolutely incredible this gen.

I never really played much Ubisoft, EA, or Activision stuff, so it’s not been much of a loss to me to see those studios flounder