The Series S is proving to be a boat anchor holding the platform back. They should cut it loose and release a digital only Series X to fill the space and call it good.
The Series S and X are extremely similar hardware wise. Games really just need to scale to fit the two targets. The real issue is that the games and game makers which MS owns largely use a lot more CPU power, which doesn’t really scale down as easily as GPU power. Having a PC game maker act like a console game maker is the real gap in skillset, not the dual targets.
The S only has 10GB of RAM compared to 16 in the X,
Yes, and the Switch is an ARM based architecture, the 360 was a PowerPC. Architecturally, the S and the X are very similar. Your argument seems to be “The Series S is slower and has less RAM”, which is true, but games should just scale properly. Lower res and lower framerate targets should work. They aren’t working because the game probably doesn’t scale across some critical axis. That’s basically a bug and they should fix it.
I think it bothers people because they think that Series S is “holding back” Series X, which is simply not how it works. Fixing things fixes them everywhere. Series S makes Series X games run faster and better.
I don’t think there are palette limitations, but many games are running on the Series S at SD with FSR upscaling to 1080P. Quality wise they do look acceptable. See Immportals of Aveum as an example
I’m inclined to agree. Many folks saw Elden Ring and its hype/critical acclaim, and they’ll look to AC6 next. Of course, I’m already seeing folks that are playing it and saying its not for them via Steam Reviews. So double edged sword I guess. It’ll bring new players in, but some may have bought solely on the hype, expecting something like Elden Ring but sci fi. Personally, I just like Armored Core and mechs.
I had zero expectations going into AC6, having never played one before and only discovering FromSoft in the past 3 years, but I love this game. I feel like I’m 13 years old playing PS2 Gundam games again
If you’re enjoying it, I would recommend checking out the rest of the series too. They all emulate well enough, except the PS2 games but they have PSP ports that emulate almost perfectly. The PS3 games might still be purchasable.
Honestly the PS1 and PS2 games emulate pretty well on Duckstation and the Nightly builds of PCSX2 (except for AC2, that needs the Stable)
You’ll just need to get used to the clunky tank controls.
You can customize them through the emulator (or Steam) to make the controls a bit more modern. I found a community layout for AC2 when I played in on my Steam Deck that made it feel much more like how AC6 plays.
Oh I played AC2 emulated a while back, but just needed to remap the turning buttons to the shoulders and I was good with the oldgen layout. At least until Silent Line when I needed to dual wield. But hey, I defeated all versions of old Nineball with those, so I’m happy!
Honestly while the aiming and moving controls in the old game were bonkers, imho the jumping and firing controls were better. Only 4 buttons – fire, switch weapon, sword, and jump (which is lateral boost if you do it while walking) fit the game into a standard PS1 pad. Playing ac6 I’m annoyed how much my right thumb has to jump back and forth between the aim stick and the face buttons – if they didn’t have 4 attack actions and 3 boost actions they could’ve fit more on the shoulders and l3/r3 actions.
I didn’t say it in this thread, but since you mentioned it I’ll concur: yeah after a tiny bit of remapping the shoulder buttons and d-pad, I actually got really into the old controls, and other than dual wielding, I actually preferred them over the later 3rd gen style. But both were usable. yeah I’m playing AC6 right now and I’m twisting my right hand into a knot operating the stick and the face buttons at the same time, but this is a kind of problem that every japanese mech game has… Gundam Battle Operation 2, EDF, the 4th and 5th gen of AC too. At this point I’m just used to it.
I’m playing on PC and switched to KB+M in my 2nd session and it’s night and day. Unless you’re using a PS5 controller with the extra buttons on the back, this game is meant for keyboard and mouse.
My kid thought I was nuts: “it’s a fromsoft game! They don’t even know keyboards exist!” but they provided basic keyboard/mouse support and it works amazingly.
Edit: I feel like dual-wielding takes away a lot from AC. The swordplay is too essential to the game, imho. My dream AC game would play more with melee weapons in the left-hand slot but remove dual-wielding. However, otherwise I prefer weapons in AC6 - more oomph and longer cooldowns means there’s more fun cycling through your gear instead of switching to a weapon and emptying it like was often the strategy on AC1, and the AC1 “heavy shoulder guns mean going immobile” and the stunlocking were dumb ideas.
But I assume I’m weird since I skipped all the middle games in the series and jumped from ac2 (which I barely played) straight to ac6 and was mostly an AC1 die-hard. I’m sure I missed a lot of good reasons why dual-wielding is good.
I also played Daemon x Machina and it was boring as hell, and duallies was a big reason.
I’m not switching to KB+M but I am switching to Type B controls after struggling against Balteus for 6 hours today. My hands actually hurt from how hard I was gripping the controller, lol.
Dual wielding was basically the only way to play in late Gen 3 as the games got harder and harder, and the enemy ACs started coming more and more decked out (or in the case of Last Raven, straight up cheating) and is what I’m most used to. First thing I did in 6 was to put on dual rifles. But now after trying out other builds I put a sword back on, they’re really fun and VERY strong in this game.
Yeah we need to become better to calm ourselves on new game releases and ask ourselves if it’s for me. Hype only serves publishers, hence they are so good at creating it.
i feel like ubisoft has been having really cool ideas for games pretty consistently for the past decade. (in the sense that every game has a cool elevator pitch.) but then, every time, they ruin those ideas by making the most bland and generic open world game with the most boring stories, dialogue, and gameplay systems imaginable. it’s like the creativity behind their games is forbidden to develop past the elevator pitch.
this is particularly noticeable with the assassins creed games i think. super cool ideas for settings, time periods, and main characters, etc. but every time, they find a way to turn the games into the most boring and generic slop imaginable. there’s just so much wasted potential.
Man I had so much hope for infinite, remember when Elizabeth opens a year for that dying horse and they’re accidentally on a rain-soaked street in the 80s?
There should have been more secret tears for you to find throughout the game with all kinds of Easter eggs and shit.
The one you brought up, if I remember correctly, was supposed to be Paris in the 80s, because there’s a movie theater in the frame that says something about Star Wars.
I personally mostly watch gaming streams as a background for work, never as focus activity. As a main activity I definitely prefer to play myself rather than watch others playing, with a rare exception when I’m just interested to see a few minutes of gameplay of some new game to see if I’m interested in it.
That seems like a lot. Elsewhere Sony was apparently planning to release 12 live service games by the end of the 2025 fiscal year (now halved to 6). The world of mainstream game development seems to be absolutely nuts at the moment.
Looks like I’m in the minority, but I subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online. My wife and I enjoy the extra Mario kart courses and I personally enjoy the N64 virtual console.
I think enough people have been exposed to enough subscription services that customers have started taking inventory of what they’re paying per month that they didn’t used to do, which means often signing up for a month and then quitting. I’m simultaneously surprised and not surprised that the access to online multiplayer only accounts for about 30% of the reason people subscribe to these things, but then those same customers doing that same accounting of their personal finances have probably done the math to realize that, long term, it’s cheaper to just play games online on PC, which is leading to consoles performing the way they’re performing lately.
long term, it’s cheaper to just play games online on PC
The companies are clearly coming to terms with this, as well. I’ll be avoiding Sony games on PC for the foreseeable future. After the Helldivers debacle, it’s clear that Sony is looking for ways to monetize PC players.
You know if anyone needs to be let go maybe it's the management who were spending like there was no tomorrow and are now throwing everyone overboard to stop the ship from sinking. Or, you know, just keep cancelling games and shuttering studios. I'm sure that'll work out eventually.
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