I don’t especially want a Switch but my son has been lobbying hard for one. I may fold under the pressure.
Yeah that’s me too - not played much PS4 at all since getting the Switch earlier in the year. I’m now choosing Switch versions over PC due to the added portability (eg. Steamworld Dig 2, Stardew Valley).
And the games are refreshingly different to most of the stuff on the other platforms. Once Xenoblade 2 lands in just over two weeks, there may very well be three Switch games in my top five for the year. I’d also think that going forward we’ll see a library with more JRPGs/strategy/adventure type games, similar to 3DS.
Though the PS4 did have Persona 5, and I’ll be back for Monster Hunter World (and double-dipping on PC, but I’m a MH junkie). Still sore that MH Switch only released in Japan. :)
Personally, anything I could be playing on the Xbox or the PS4 instead of the PC, I do.
I hate sitting in front of a computer monitor all day and then doing it at night to play games. Of course I could hook my computer up to a TV or get some kind of steam machine but I just like to sit down in front of my huge TV’s and play console games. I don’t play strategy or wargames anymore which is what I used to play all the time on the PC. I instead play strategy and war board games now.
So, for me, PS4 and Xbox have replaced my PC for gaming. I miss the mouse control for action games but oh well, don’t have to worry about CPU’s and GPUS, and slow start ups, and viruses and video card issues and conflicts, and upgrading, etc. So much easier with not much to maintain.
I had a switch for awhile but never used it as a portable and even though the games are fun and colorful, etc…I’m just too old and would rather play more mature games with better graphics now. I do watch my kid play on his switch though.
I would go for the PS4…I just like that better than the Xbox…always have. But, I just bought an Xbox One X and have been playing on that a lot lately but if I had to pick one, PS4.
Yeah, same here. Right now I’m playing a LOT on the PC, because of Grim Dawn but man, I hate sitting at a computer all day at work, and then sitting at a computer again at home. I love Grim Dawn, but I can’t wait to be done eventually with this excellent game so that I can go back to being on Xbox or PS4.
Personally I would also recommend the PS4 or Switch over Xbox. When it launched, there was a lot I liked about the Xbox over the PS4 for a multimedia machine, like being able to give voice commands on the Kinect, snapping TV to the side so I could play Destiny and watch TV at the same time, and various other little conveniences. But those have all been patched out. No more voice commands on the Kinect, and no more snapping TV. And the interfaces for Plex and Netflix have gotten worse over time. So when it’s down to just exclusives, I’d say PS4 or Switch are the way to go, since everything moving forward on Xbox should also come to Windows 10 store also.
While I don’t own a switch, this article on Kotaku highlights the indie games landing on switch, so to me, it felt like there are some good games - albeit ports from previous releases, but if you haven’t played them, some look pretty good:
I’m going through the same dilemma @Warfran. I’m trying to figure out if it’s worth it to get a console as I prefer gaming on my PC. I’ve got an new standing desk with an antifatigue mat. It’s funny how much more I enjoy standing at the computer now.
I’ve had consoles before and I never use them a ton, but there are some games that I really want to play. For me, it’s between the PS4 and the Nintendo Switch, and of course neither. The exclusives I know about that I want are
PS 4
Last of Us 2
Horizon Zero Dawn
Uncharted 4 + its stand alone expansion
Everybody’s Golf (maybe)
Driveclub (maybe)
Bloodbourne (maybe)
MLB The Show (maybe)
The Switch
Zelda Breath of the Wild
Mario + Rabbids
Mario Odyssey (maybe)
Mario Cart 8 Deluxe (maybe)
Splatoon 2 (maybe)
Fast RMX (maybe)
I tend to think I want the PS4 games more than the Switch (especially The Last of Us 2 and Horizon Zero Dawn), but Zelda and Mario + Rabbids both look very promising. Then there is the price - a PS4 will be sub $200. Not sure of the Switch will come down from $299. I don’t think I’d use the mobility of the Switch all that often.
Man, people tell me how much more awesome the PS4’s exclusives are than the Xbox’s and I’m just not seeing it. Still, I’m sure it’s a solid device and plays games well.
It kind of sounds like you already know which one you want :)
Opinions obviously differ on this, but I’ve not found the Switch exclusives all that compelling. Zelda was a miserable slog, Mario Kart is totally pointless, and while I like Rabbids it’s very hard to play it for more than half an hour in a sitting. It doesn’t help that playing on the PC is just vastly more comfortable with my setup. So the Switch has ended up as a pure travel gadget for me.
I heard that Skyrim is coming for the Switch, and I was checking out DOOM…two major PC titles and a few sports titles I like as well with FIFA 18 and NBA 2k18.
So it’s sounding more rounded out as far as types of games available.
Didn’t even realize I had two accounts till I tried to log i on a new machine and warfran was the one that came up…but thanks for getting me back to the regular account.
There’s only so many annual releases of Forza one man can play…
But more seriously, the full list of Xbox retail exclusives for 2017 appears to consist of three games. They didn’t generate a lot of discussion on Qt3:
- Halo Wars 2 (a 30 post thread)
- Forza 7 (a 22 post thread about loot boxes)
- Super Lucky’s Tale (no thread)
Actually, the only high profile Xbox one console exclusive of this year was Cuphead, a $20 indie platformer (a 100 post thread). Not that there’s anything wrong with the genre, but even the most sublime 2d indie platformers won’t sell consoles.
Ffor the PS4 I think there were something like 20-30 retail exclusives. Enough that it’d actually be real work to figure out the exact list and see if someone here actually cared about them. So just the obvious high profile ones:
- Horizon: Zero Dawn (500 post main thread, 100 post spoiler thread, and a jolly 270 post flamewar that probably doesn’t count)
- Nier: Automata (220 post normal thread, spoiler thread 20 posts)
- Nioh (220 post thread)
- Persona 5 (160 post thread)
- Yakuza 0 (50 post thread)
- Uncharted: Lost Legacy (a 7 post thread)
- Gran Turismo Sport (a 80 post thread; which seems strangely positive on a quick skim, I thought for some reason that this was widely hated?)
Other than poor little Uncharted: Lost Legacy, this forum was much more interested in these games than any of the Xbox ones. Is it really so surprising that people prefer the set of games that’s both larger and clearly more engaging to this particular audience?
On a personal level, there are four games on that PS4 list that I’ve played or really want to play; just don’t have the time. And then there’s one that I already watched a 50 hour playthrough of, so can’t really justify playing myself. On the flipside it means they probably had 20+ exclusives that I have zero interest in. But it doesn’t matter how many games miss, it’s all about whether there were some hits.
And it’s pretty hard to get those hits without actually releasing a decent number of games. Microsoft is not doing it themselves, and they aren’t getting any partners to do that either. So this year all they had was the 10th annual installment of Forza, a C-tier 3d platfomer, and a console RTS that sank without a trace. It’s like if all we got for PS4 was GT Sport, Knack 2, and MLB: The Show.
But this is what I don’t get: people talk as if the Xbox lineup is niche, and yet four or those games you listed as must-play exclusives appear to be JRPGs, which I haven’t really enjoyed since the early 90s. Horizon and Uncharted, which I don’t doubt for a moment are very well made games, are yet another iteration of open world exploration and mission games, the kind you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a dozen of, regardless of platform. And then you’re going to sell me on Gran Turismo just after telling me there’s only so many iterations of Forza you can play?
My point is that these are probably great games but they just don’t move the needle for me, not even a bit. Now I’m probably in the minority, and that’s ok with me. I’m not in the business of selling consoles, whatever someone finds interesting should be what they buy. But I doubt I’m alone, either. I think there are plenty of good reasons to choose an Xbox over a PS4, but you should absolutely have all the info you can going into that decision.
The Naughty Dog games are pretty special, and they are true exclusives. Horizon:ZD isn’t a ubisoft checking boxes off open world type game, and it’s also reportedly excellent. There’s just no doubt that Sony has better exclusives this cycle, but as always, if you don’t enjoy those genres it won’t matter to you.
MS now has much better hardware with the X, so if you primarily care about cross-platform releases it’s the obvious choice. But really most people buy based on price, exclusives, and/or the platform their friends own.
But that’s kind of the point, you can’t throw a bunch of sequels and JRPGs out there and say, “Dude, our games are clearly better!” I’m sure they’re good, but I’ll never find out because I can’t be arsed to find out.
If you buy a PS4 you can play the entire Naughty Dog oeuvre, as it’s all been remastered for current-gen consoles. I don’t own a console and that is very attractive to me. Just not quite enough to sell the box, because while I do enjoy action-adventure games, my true love is cRPGs. That’s why I bought an OG Xbox and X360, to play KOTOR and mass effect.
PS4 has the best game selection. Switch will give you the best new play patterns. Your call really.
But again, that’s not a very valid argument given that the Xbox and PS4 libraries are probably 95% the same. I think a better argument is that those games look and perform a little better on PS4, and the best argument is probably because damn near everyone has a PS4 these days so if you want to play online, there’s where most of the crowd is.
Probably right. I just assumed XBOX was out of the running. Didn’t feel there was a reason to recap all the reasons its the third place choice for new console owners right now.
I think Xbox absolutely is worth at least considering. In fact, between backward comparability with the two previous gens, EA Access and Game Pass, you’ve got immediate access to hundreds of games at very little cost. I also think the Xbox Live infrastructure is pretty solid.
That said, if someone I didn’t really know wanted advice as someone coming into consoles for the first time, I’d probably lean PS4 for the reasons I mentioned. But then I’ve never played one myself, so I may not be the best person to ask.
I didn’t list anything as must-play. Those were what I thought were the high-profile games, since there wasn’t a ready-made list anywhere I could just have copy-pasted. E.g. Rob mentioned Everybody’s Golf and MLB: The Show as some of the games he was interested in. But I don’t think those were talked about very much here. (And I’m sure that you have no interest in sports games, so what would be the point of mentioning them?).
Only one of those games was a JRPG (Persona 5). I have no interest in it myself, but a bunch of people were listing it as their most anticipated game of the year.
Nioh is the first serious attempt at rethinking the Souls formula. Nier is a Platinum brawler in the style of Bayonetta with an apparently wild sci-if storyline. Yakuza 0 would go more into the 3rd person open world mission category, except it’s done with very different sensibilities than the western ones. Very different styles of game, and absolutely not JRPGs.
I disagree. There’s nothing comparable to them multi-platform. (I’d love it if there was, since I’d rather play on the PC than PS4). But also, Uncharted: Lost Legacy came and went with no trace, which would have been unthinkable at some point, so clearly people don’t feel a massive urge to play another one of those this soon after UC4.
I’m not trying to sell you on GT. I have no intention of playing it. But clearly Qt3 was more interested in that then Forza 7. Maybe that’s because this is the first GT in 4 Forzas, and also the first one on PS4.
Sure, you like what you like, and some forum discussion isn’t going to change that :) But you were once again expression your faux disbelief about this, “I just don’t understand how anyone could think the PS4 exclusives are better”. The Xbox had none in 2017 that people on this forum showed any interest in. The PS4 had an order of magnitude more, in varied genres, and some of which have been among the most talked about games this year on this forum. How can you possibly pretend that it’s surprising people find the PS4 lineup more compelling?
Now, the argument you switched to later works better. Yes, the majority of the libraries are shared. But does this theory of “you can have 95% the games, so don’t worry about the last 5%” really match the behavior of gamers? If some game looks cool and people are talking about it, I want to play that game, not some substitute in the same genre. So my PS4 was bought purely for Bloodborne, the Switch for Zelda, etc. Exclusives sure seem to matter.