hououinkyouma00
Gold Member
Before I even start, this is NOT a hate thread. If anything my frustration comes from love. Really I've just been thinking about this a lot since the showcase last month, and needed to put my thoughts into words. I'm going to put my thoughts into categories starting with the current console.
Xbox One: Gonna make this relatively quick. They fucked up, and fucked up early giving the generation away before it started. The last few years though got me hyped again. They released two great consoles in the Xbox One S and X, and Playground gave up 2 of the best racing games ever made with Horizon 3/4. It gave me hope for the next console, along with the ridiculous value that GamePass holds. They really turned it around bringing me to my next point..
Series X: I feel let down. The beginning of the marketing was great. That initial reveal trailer got me pretty damn hyped, and the thought of a next gen Halo (one of my favorite franchises) was so enticing despite 4/5/MCC being a letdown personally in many ways (though great in others).
Game showcases: Some great games have been shown in these but overall were pretty underwhelming. I remember liking some games but outside of The Medium I can't actually pick out a single game that I'm like oh fuck yeah lets go. First one was a "Gameplay Showcase" almost completely void of gameplay. Then they hyped up a First Party showcase which let a lot of people down. You have Rare's game that they don't even know what it is yet. Then you have Fable which was a short teaser and completely CGI. It's like that ESVI teaser. Just why? If it's so far out that you can't show us anything more then CGI teaser then why show us anything at all? And then ...
Halo: I love Halo despite getting a late start on it. I've read the books, I've spent hundreds of hours playing, hundreds of hours reading lore and watching lore videos. The world of Halo is just so rich.
I want Xbox to wow me so badly. I want to go out and buy a Series X and play an epic mind blowing Halo game. I want to play a gorgeous 60/120fps racing title. I want competition back. I want Xbox to do something great, and make Sony do better as well. Now I have issues with PS5 as well, and honestly neither of the new consoles are really making it known why I should buy them this fall.
I am frustrated because I love Xbox as a brand. I don't want this to turn into console war bullshit, but I just felt like I needed to put my thoughts into words.
Xbox One: Gonna make this relatively quick. They fucked up, and fucked up early giving the generation away before it started. The last few years though got me hyped again. They released two great consoles in the Xbox One S and X, and Playground gave up 2 of the best racing games ever made with Horizon 3/4. It gave me hope for the next console, along with the ridiculous value that GamePass holds. They really turned it around bringing me to my next point..
Series X: I feel let down. The beginning of the marketing was great. That initial reveal trailer got me pretty damn hyped, and the thought of a next gen Halo (one of my favorite franchises) was so enticing despite 4/5/MCC being a letdown personally in many ways (though great in others).
- Their marketing has taken a roll downhill. They seem to contradict themselves left and right making it confusing as to what is actually the truth. They have hyped up showcases only for them to come out and be completely underwhelming. Their ecosystem strategy is on one hand pretty cool, but on the other frustrating. I think it's great for some people that especially in these times may not have the money to shell out for a new console, and they've stated that their first party games will be cross-get for awhile (2 years maybe?). I think it also just removes a lot of the hype for a new console. New consoles should give up new things to be excited about, new things possible by developing specifically for a new console (especially a console without a shit CPU, and slow HDD). But what is true? Multiple games have be shown as Series X exclusive from their 1st party studios so the question is: Are these games simply just so far out that they aren't part of the original statement? Or are you picking and choosing and therefore confusing people?
- Do you want people to buy your new console? Or do you not care? Do console generations matter or not? It's all so unclear from their marketing which is disappointing.
- What games come out at launch outside of Halo? A Series X port of some years old games like Horizon 4 and Gears 5? We are getting a console launch without a NEW flagship racing title, and that seems weird.
Game showcases: Some great games have been shown in these but overall were pretty underwhelming. I remember liking some games but outside of The Medium I can't actually pick out a single game that I'm like oh fuck yeah lets go. First one was a "Gameplay Showcase" almost completely void of gameplay. Then they hyped up a First Party showcase which let a lot of people down. You have Rare's game that they don't even know what it is yet. Then you have Fable which was a short teaser and completely CGI. It's like that ESVI teaser. Just why? If it's so far out that you can't show us anything more then CGI teaser then why show us anything at all? And then ...
Halo: I love Halo despite getting a late start on it. I've read the books, I've spent hundreds of hours playing, hundreds of hours reading lore and watching lore videos. The world of Halo is just so rich.
- I don't want to focus on graphics as if the game is "open world" then it is harder to push fidelity then something like 4/5. Outside of 3/Reach Halo has never been a graphical showcase IMO but a flagship next gen title SHOULD look better then upscaled Halo Reach from 2010. BUT my problem is they kept this under wraps for soooo long which built up hype so so high despite 343i's other games being looked down on by many (I have my problems with those but that's not the point of the thread).
- We are 3-4 months out from the launch of the consoles, they are on bug fix duty at this point. This won't be fixed by launch, and it reminds me of MCC which has the worst launch of any game I can think of. You can't delay Halo without delaying Series X and it's too late to delay the console. If they had shown us that in like March or April it wouldn't have been nearly as big of a disappointment to see a game that looks much worse then Halo 5 on XBO X. Gameplay looks pretty good but animations and effects just quit and disappear immediately. It's just obvious it's not ready for release. But then 343i tells us they are aware of the criticisms but remind us that it's pushing a new audio engine? What?
- The announcement of F2P Multiplayer (and 120fps as well on Series X) got me hyped initially but then I remembered what goes hand in hand with F2P games...microtransactions. You could point to Warzone as a way to not ruin a F2P game with them but COD has never really been about deep customization. Halo has been and I can see them ruining it with micro transactions. You want this cool shoulder armor? Well pay for it. This visor? Pay for it. Does it affect the gameplay? No but it is integral in what makes Halo MP customizable without attachments and weapons like in COD.
I want Xbox to wow me so badly. I want to go out and buy a Series X and play an epic mind blowing Halo game. I want to play a gorgeous 60/120fps racing title. I want competition back. I want Xbox to do something great, and make Sony do better as well. Now I have issues with PS5 as well, and honestly neither of the new consoles are really making it known why I should buy them this fall.
I am frustrated because I love Xbox as a brand. I don't want this to turn into console war bullshit, but I just felt like I needed to put my thoughts into words.