Biggest Surprise/Disappointment of this Generation for You?

[ObsidianJones]

We all know games are going to keep coming out for the ps4 and the Xbox 1 for another couple of years. But with the new generation out, there isn't that much room for innovation. And since what's coming out for the ps4 and xbox 1 will most likely come out for the Ps5 and Xbox series but not vice versa, I think we can now measure the previous generation as a whole.

So people, what was your biggest surprise and/or disappointment for this generation?

I have two options for the biggest surprise. I'm torn whether to include one of the options, so I'll start with the one I'm definitively ok in including.

Biggest Surprise

VR.

I remember when Cyber cafes were a thing (How old do you feel reading that concept), and I remember people playing 8 dollars for a stand up thing that lasted 15 minutes that looked like different colored blocks kind of stacked like a humaniod figure. I remember thinking "That has a long way to go" and getting Warcraft 3.

So when I started hearing that the VR thing was coming back and Facebook was handling it, I wasn't holding my breath. I expected it to fizzle out.

But no. It came. And it was accessible. And I tried it with PSVR. And I can not play flat screen games for anything but fighting games on my Ps 4 pro now. I feel too removed from the action. I HATE Iron Man and I downloaded his Demo because I wanted to feel what it would be like to put on the suit. And it was GREAT.

BLOOD AND FRICKING TRUTH, PEOPLE. Have fun watching John Wick. I WAS John Wick. And I was British, making me ostensibly better!

My money is already slated for a revision of PS 5, because PSVR 2 will blow me away. And I won't even think about xbox because there will be no VR option.

Now, to the one I didn't know if I should add.

The Nintendo Switch.

You've heard me say this is my favorite gaming system of all time. And I mean it. For the simple fact that I own my games. I can continue. I can have an impromptu session. Gaming time isn't something that I luck into any more: That I have nothing to do and I happen to be in front of my tv. Gaming time is something I can make. This experience has saved me in long boring flights, waiting for tires to be changed, entertain younger family members during difficult times, break the ice at parties, MAKE parties (add one nintendo switch, one tv, 60 bucks worth of pizza, and one copy of Mario Kart 8. Create new Frenemies!).

The reason I didn't know if I should add it is that it technically isn't done with its generation. There's no pro announced. Do we measure generations by a simultaneous release date? Is it by the newest console release? Does that put the Nintendo Switch UP a generation even though they have last generations graphics but with newer generation hardware (compared to the ps3 and xbox 360 hardware)? I don't know.

Now for my Biggest Disappointment.

The Touchpad for the PS controller.

I thought this was going to be a game changer.

A new level of playing could be possible, I thought. RTS's could actually work on a console. New puzzles and functionality. Like Motion controlling before it, it would surely give new avenues for game designers to branch out an...

What? It's... it's a map button? it took place of select for most games? No RTS's...

Oh...

 

[BrawlMan]

The Touchpad for the PS controller.

I thought this was going to be a game changer.

A new level of playing could be possible, I thought. RTS's could actually work on a console. New puzzles and functionality. Like Motion controlling before it, it would surely give new avenues for game designers to branch out an...

What? It's... it's a map button? it took place of select for most games? No RTS's...

Oh...

Really? After the fiasco with the Dual Shock 3, I already knew that touch pad would not amount to much other than some early console life cycle gimmicks. I do love the DS4 over the DS3, because the grip, Dpad, analog sticks are much better and comfortable to use.

Biggest Surprise: God of War 4 and the announcement of Streets of Rage 4 & DMC5. GOW4 I thought I would hate, but decided to give it an honest shot and I ended up loving it. DMC5 I did not see coming given Capcom's decade dork age, and I thought the closest I would be getting to SOR4 was the Takeover. This ended up being another surprise as those games and several other brawlers that came out on indie platforms or Steam ushered in a new golden age of beat'em ups. I thought I would love Onechanbara Z2 Chaos either. It was my first PS4 game.

Biggest Disappointment: Doom Eternal. I did not like the additions to platforming and how they change up combat so now you have to switch weapons constantly. The game became repetitive for me, and was just more of the same (yet somehow less for me) I already did in Doom 4. A shame, because I was hyped for it when first announced.

 

[Dreiko]

How good FFVIIR played despite not being turn based was easily my biggest surprise. I tend to have a good sense of whether I'll like something or not but in this one case I enjoyed the game way more than I expected. It legit never overstayed its welcome, every fight was fun and I never ended up having enough all the way to the end of the game.


As for disappointment, it'd have to be Sony moving its headquarters to California, causing the american people's content standards to become the default, when it used to be the Japanese ones, which in turn lead to a bunch of games either not being released, being censored, being denied release until being patched. Basically the stuff we were making fun of Nintendo for is now being done by Sony. My hope is that this is gonna be a phase that will pass but either way it was by far the most disappointing thing that happened this gen.

Ah well, at least nintendo saw the error of their ways anyhow, and steam became much more free as well with allowing all sorts of games to be put on it, so it's only a matter of time until Sony wakes up from their prudish slumber too.

 

[Worgen]

I think I have to second the VR stuff. I am pretty damn impressed with my Index and Half Life Alyx really did a lot to prove just how well VR can work. Also, Moss is awesome.

Biggest disappointment... I don't know. Bayonetta 2 not coming to pc... The epic store deciding to pull monopoly exclusive bullshit so I will never use it. I'm sure I have better but nothing is really coming to mind.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Not a surprise, but still a disappointment:

Scalpers.

I've always known that a section of the population were opportunistic assholes, but you come along during a pandemic to buy up masses of electronics and resell them at utterly perverted markups, telling us things like "fuck your feelings" or "this puts food on our tables". The bare minimum of acceptability would be that nobody buys anything from any of you, leaving you wallowing in your losses, you worthless parasites.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Definitely the biggest surprise and hopefully not the biggest disappointment of this console generation: Square Enix is remastering/actually finishing SaGa Frontier.

I'm absolutely flabbergasted. My actual favorite game, despite its many, many flaws

 

[Dreiko]

Definitely the biggest surprise and hopefully not the biggest disappointment of this console generation: Square Enix is remastering/actually finishing SaGa Frontier.

I'm absolutely flabbergasted. My actual favorite game, despite its many, many flaws

They even released SaGa:Scarlet Grace in the west not too long ago. Some dude must have lifted off all the empty ramen bowls and found out the SaGa series folder lol.

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

Surprises:

Ok who saw Microsoft blowing it entirely coming into this generation? Seriously they were riding high even after surviving the Red Ring of Death and they fell harder than I think anyone saw coming, that was a real surprise. It's a surprise because it brought competition back to the marketplace.

CDPR rise: Pro consumer practices and a huge hit that changed the industry, in a non traditional game development country and it managed to basically embarrass most of the others in the genre and set a standard few get close to. That was a nice surprise to see them finally become mainstream as such.

Free to play games on consoles and some of them are pretty good. Warframe anyone? How about Paladins?


Disappointments

As Dreiko mentioned Sony moving HQ locations and the censorship and content restrictions being brought in with it.

The fact we're going backwards, yes the COD lobbies were toxic sewage last gen but now there's a push to sanitise more and more to remove people from the networks rather than make systems so you just don't get matched with said people. I won't miss the death threats but I do kind of miss the angry messages after beating some-one or you know being able to tell the Solo Hanzo player that he sucks ass and should consider a game more suited to his ability line Everybody's Gone To the Rapture.

Evolve - Seriously it felt like there was such potential there but it was wasted and they never seemed to figure out the formula to make it work.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Biggest surprise for me has to be the Capcom Redemption Arc. Through the 7th generation and early 8th, I was hardcore in the 'Capcom has lost their way' camp, spending a lot of time on the GameFAQs forum for DmC: DMC right around when it came out, watching Resident Evil circle the drain from a distance, and seeing Street Fighter x Tekken and SF5 die on arrival. I enjoyed Resident Evil 4 and 1 (the original, I picked it up on PSN) and DMC4, but only as games from a 'distant past', and figured Capcom would never reach the heights they had from the 90s to the 00s.

Then in the space of three years: Resident Evil 7, Mega Man 11, Monster Hunter World, remake of Resident Evil 2, and the one that really hit home for me, Devil May Cry 5. After losing everything that made them a respected figure, Capcom earned it back and then some. I don't know about Iceborne or the RE3 remake, and I don't feel like RE4 even needs a remake to begin with, but I'm still interested to see what they do with the new generation, if they can keep their hot streak alive or they fall back into infamy.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Surprises:

The Nintendo Switch. Don't have one, probably never will, but that it didn't die in a fire along with every Nintendo gimmick was a welcome surprise.

Call of Duty. Like the Switch I haven't owned or played a new CoD game, but even I have to admit that the changes they've made recently are for the better. Actually giving a crap about the singleplayer again, making a Battle Royale mode that isn't fucking dumb, and graphics that finally look like they couldn't be done on the PS3.

Disappointments:

Apex Legends. Fun game, best battle royale I've personally played, but Goddamn it I just want Titanfall 3 and all Apex Legends will ever be to me is less fun Titanfall.

All the Tom Clancy third person shooters. I like third person shooters, hell I even specifically like cover based third person shooters. But the The Divisions and the Ghost Recons fell flat on their fucking faces. Also, they all have the greatest sin of not being another Splinter Cell game.

EA Star Wars. Heard Squadrons and Fallen Order weren't bad, but only having two good Star Wars game in a generation? I will never forgive EA for fucking it up this badly.

Battlefield. Battlefield is one of the few game series I really got into because I was able to play it with my friends. I'm a younger gamer, so I've never experienced before a franchise just imploding and its community almost disappearing. All the Youtubers I followed back then have given up on the franchise and moved on to other games. None of my friends give a rats ass about Battlefield anymore. Just a few weeks ago I finally had to uninstall Battlefield 4 because just not enough people were playing in my region anymore. DICE needs to take a long good look at themselves for their next game.

 

[Dreiko]

Biggest surprise for me has to be the Capcom Redemption Arc. Through the 7th generation and early 8th, I was hardcore in the 'Capcom has lost their way' camp, spending a lot of time on the GameFAQs forum for DmC: DMC right around when it came out, watching Resident Evil circle the drain from a distance, and seeing Street Fighter x Tekken and SF5 die on arrival. I enjoyed Resident Evil 4 and 1 (the original, I picked it up on PSN) and DMC4, but only as games from a 'distant past', and figured Capcom would never reach the heights they had from the 90s to the 00s.

Then in the space of three years: Resident Evil 7, Mega Man 11, Monster Hunter World, remake of Resident Evil 2, and the one that really hit home for me, Devil May Cry 5. After losing everything that made them a respected figure, Capcom earned it back and then some. I don't know about Iceborne or the RE3 remake, and I don't feel like RE4 even needs a remake to begin with, but I'm still interested to see what they do with the new generation, if they can keep their hot streak alive or they fall back into infamy.

To be fair, Capcom's fighting games still suck, with their most recent being the latest marvel vs capcom game which did horribly and was outlived by the similarly horrible but less ugly sf5 that they released before it. It's no surprise Ono (the director of SF) left the company recently.

Monster Hunter was always good, as well, so it was more of an issue with normies REALIZING that it was good than anything else. Though RE and stuff like DMC5 are genuine achievements and improvements which do deserve credit. I never much liked RE, was more of a Silent Hill type, but RE village is looking very interesting, and DMC I always loved so I definitely enjoyed that series being revived from the brink.

 

[meiam]

Definitely the biggest surprise and hopefully not the biggest disappointment of this console generation: Square Enix is remastering/actually finishing SaGa Frontier.

I'm absolutely flabbergasted. My actual favorite game, despite its many, many flaws

It's great for people who are really into the saga franchise, like all 20 of them!

I just don't get SE decision, of all the playstation game they could have remastered they picked saga frontier?! For people who never played a saga game, I'd describe them as intentionally sabotaged game, they're full of obtuse game designs that seem to serve no other purposes than to be make the game bad. Like you know how great the exp/level system is? Well saga game don't have that, they just have random stats boost after combat with their own unexplained mechanism. Why? No reason. The frontier has a couple of interesting ideas, but without a complete overhaul of pretty much every system it's borderline unplayable. If anyone played the recent octopath traveller, I'd describe it as the worst part of that, saga game have multiple protagonist with their own storyline that play lip service with the idea of being connected.

I really don't get why they picked that, next they'll do final fantasy legend or something crazy like that.

 

[laggyteabag]

Because im unoriginal, im probably just going to ape off of other people's points.

Surprise: The Nintendo Switch.

This one really surprised me, too. Nintendo merging their home and handheld console into one, was an inspired idea, and one that I greatly appreciated. Im a PC guy at heart, and whilst I own a PS4 and a Xbox One, I always saw them as just worse PCs. The Switch though, was something different. I couldn't play on my gaming PC or consoles on the go, or on my sofa, or in bed. It offered something different, and that I what I really appreciate.

7th Gen+ quality games on a handheld device? Great!

I must admit though, I barely use the console's dock, but I play in handheld mode all of the time. It is my go-to place for indie games, and it is fantastic to bring it with me to parties, just to play some jackbox games.

Really great surprise, coming from the anemic Wii U. I really hope that Nintendo's next console is a Switch 2-type device.

Disappointment: The Touchpad for the PS controller.

Definitely.

The sky was the limit for this thing, but aside from a couple of games, the only thing that this was used for, was just another button. I really hope the PS5 controller's new features are treated better than this, because this just fell flat on its face.

Disappointment: Doom Eternal

I didn't so much mind the game's additions to combat. Constantly juggling weapons due to low ammo, and being right in the middle of a massive group of enemies, shooting, punching, and chainsawing was a really fun and frantic experience, but I feel like they really bogged it down too much with the bloodpunch, flame belch, and the frag/ice grenades.

My biggest issue though, was the platforming. Sure, DOOM 2016 was a bit repetitive after you unlocked all of the weapons, and it became arena-corridor-arena-corridor etc, but the answer to that was absolutely not to add environmental puzzles and platforming. Im the DOOM SLAYER, not Mario.

Also, fuck Marauders.

Disappointments: Battlefield

Oh yeah, totally.

I had about 400 hours in Battlefield 4, and I probably have about <50 collectively in Battlefield 1 and 5. I just don't really enjoy either of them. WW1 in BF1 was an inspired idea for an FPS, but it really didn't feel like WW1 game at all, and felt more like a WW2 game, but without any of the memorable weapons and locations. Battlefield V somehow didn't feel like a WW2 game either, surprisingly for the exact same reasons.

EA do really need to think about what they are doing with the next game, because now Call of Duty is doing almost everything that I enjoy from a Battlefield game, but better.

Surprise: Microsoft

This one is a surprise, and a disappointment.

I know Sony started releasing some great exclusive games towards the end of the PS3, but Microsoft had a lot of steam coming from the 360.

Im amazed how badly, and how quickly they got themselves into shit, and how they just never really recovered.

From the moment the Xbox One was announced, they were on the back foot vs Sony. The Xbox One was bigger, less powerful, more expensive, and was supposed to be always online, with no second hand game market - not to mention that they spent almost the entire reveal, talking about how great their new game console was at watching films and TV shows. What a clusterfuck it was.

Then for the entire generation, Sony was hitting it out of the park with their exclusives, again, and again, and the Xbox One had a broken Halo collection, a disappointing Halo sequel, and a couple of OK Gears of War games - all they had that was actually worth a damn, were some good Forza games, and I guess Sunset Overdrive was a good time, too.

I would have assumed that the lack of Xbox One exclusive games, was because Microsoft had basically abandoned ship in favour of a strong Series X|S lineup, but seeing how, well, non-existent the new console's launch selection is, who knows what they were doing with their time.

That said, I suppose the benefit of the Xbox One tanking as hard as it did, was it forced Microsoft to really look at the PC platform as an alternative source of income. So honestly, im grateful. If the Xbox One didn't suck so hard, maybe I wouldn't be playing Halo on my PC, right now.

Still have no idea why they thought it was a good idea to bring Halo Infinite to the Xbox One, though. Imagine that game (as questionable as it looks) being forced to run on a console from 2013.

 

[CriticalGaming]

My biggest disappointment is probably Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The 3rd game of the reboot series was a colossal let down after how good i thought the first two games were. The story had so much potential but they squandered it by making Lara a selfish stupid ****. Two games of character development and growth thrown away for fucking nothing. The build up of this bad game Trinity organization and they turned out to be fucking stupid and useless, after some aztec blade to become aztec gods simply to rule over some random aztec jungle. Why be a global organization for that? That's more of a cult thing than something that needed billions of dollars of global espionage.

Fucking dumb.

 

[Worgen]

Oh, I got some better ones now.

Surprises
Steam allowing porn games on their service. For the longest time porn games were the red headed stepchild of gaming. Something everyone was curious about but no one wanted to be seen being curious about. Granted they are somewhat inconsistent with what is allowed but you can still get hardcore porn on their store.

Microsoft coming back to the pc. Ok, so microsoft didn't really leave the pc but last year they made some deal with steam to bring a bunch of games to the steam store, like the Master Chief Collection and remasters for the Age of Empires series. That was cool.

Steam controller integration. During this console generation gamepads have really taken off on the pc space. Mainly with the xbox controller but Steam has offered support also for the playstation game pad as well and I think even some of the nintendo controllers. Just how easy it is to use a gamepad with the pc is pretty cool since I still remember the days when pc game pads existed but were only barely supported and there was no standard for them.

Dissapointments
... Still can't really come up with any good ones. I'll keep pondering.

 

[BrawlMan]

but I feel like they really bogged it down too much with the bloodpunch, flame belch, and the frag/ice grenades.

My biggest issue though, was the platforming. Sure, DOOM 2016 was a bit repetitive after you unlocked all of the weapons, and it became arena-corridor-arena-corridor etc, but the answer to that was absolutely not to add environmental puzzles and platforming. Im the DOOM SLAYER, not Mario.

Also, fuck Marauders.

Those are my biggest issues and why I didn't like it. Hence what I meant in my post.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

I had about 400 hours in Battlefield 4, and I probably have about <50 collectively in Battlefield 1 and 5. I just don't really enjoy either of them. WW1 in BF1 was an inspired idea for an FPS, but it really didn't feel like WW1 game at all, and felt more like a WW2 game, but without any of the memorable weapons and locations. Battlefield V somehow didn't feel like a WW2 game either, surprisingly for the exact same reasons.

I think besides the bizarre decision to go only for "unseen" parts of the wars, the biggest problem was that they let their commitment to historical authenticity and immersion get in the way of being a true Battlefield game. In Battlefield 4, you could chuck some C4 under an ATV, blast yourself onto the roof a skyscraper, jump off, and no scope a jet with your pistol. In Battlefield 1, you can ride a horse. In Battlefield V, you can build some sandbags. How next gen!

Battlefield 3 and 4 rewarded player creativity and supported player freedom, which allowed both games to last for much longer than they should have. Once you've mastered the basic gameplay in and seen all the sights in the new Battlefield games, there's just nothing left for you anymore.

And of course in general there were the gameplay changes that were less than stellar. For every new step of quality of life improvement added, there were three more steps back or no steps taken at all. They made such a big deal of being able to drag your buddies to safety to revive them, and yet they couldn't even manage that... how pathetic.

I'd also argue that Battlefield may be one of the few franchises that might actually be better off with a season pass rather than a live service. Season passes are fucking expensive sure, but they at least arguably gave you enough content in proportion to what you spent.

Man I've needed to rant about this for a long time. For fuck's sake EA, let DICE LA have a fucking chance at it this time.

 

[CriticalGaming]

Steam controller integration. During this console generation gamepads have really taken off on the pc space. Mainly with the xbox controller but Steam has offered support also for the playstation game pad as well and I think even some of the nintendo controllers. Just how easy it is to use a gamepad with the pc is pretty cool since I still remember the days when pc game pads existed but were only barely supported and there was no standard for them.

Holy shit that's a good one Worgen.

Shame that Steam's own controller didn't hold up.

 

[laggyteabag]

I think besides the bizarre decision to go only for "unseen" parts of the wars, the biggest problem was that they let their commitment to historical authenticity and immersion get in the way of being a true Battlefield game. In Battlefield 4, you could chuck some C4 under an ATV, blast yourself onto the roof a skyscraper, jump off, and no scope a jet with your pistol. In Battlefield 1, you can ride a horse. In Battlefield V, you can build some sandbags. How next gen!

Battlefield 3 and 4 rewarded player creativity and supported player freedom, which allowed both games to last for much longer than they should have. Once you've mastered the basic gameplay in and seen all the sights in the new Battlefield games, there's just nothing left for you anymore.

And of course in general there were the gameplay changes that were less than stellar. For every new step of quality of life improvement added, there were three more steps back or no steps taken at all. They made such a big deal of being able to drag your buddies to safety to revive them, and yet they couldn't even manage that... how pathetic.

I'd also argue that Battlefield may be one of the few franchises that might actually be better off with a season pass rather than a live service. Season passes are fucking expensive sure, but they at least arguably gave you enough content in proportion to what you spent.

Man I've needed to rant about this for a long time. For fuck's sake EA, let DICE LA have a fucking chance at it this time.

The thing with EA is that at this point, im sure they just enjoy making boneheaded decisions, because they sure are good at it.

Battlefield hasn't been the same since 4. Hardline (remember Hardline?) was just a weird choice, and one that definitely didn't work out. 1 lost the community support, because as you say, this is when a lot of the Battlefield YouTubers really started to explore elsewhere, and Battlefield V was seemingly the last nail in the coffin, because I don't see anyone talking about V, unless it is to complain about it. I mean, remember the Battle Royale mode Firestorm that they created, which directly conflicted with their own Apex Legends - which was free?

Talking about conflicts, remember when they decided to release Titanfall 2 - which was brilliant, but still had to prove itself after TF1 - between two of the largest FPS franchises is modern gaming? One of which was their own Battlefield 1? I love Titanfall 2, but EA suffocated their own game.

And no, im not done with Battlefield Hardline. Remember how they got Visceral Games (RIP) and BioWare Edmonton - singleplayer-focused studios - to work on multiplayer games, but got BioWare Montreal (also RIP) - who worked on Mass Effect 3's multiplayer mode - to work on the next singleplayer Mass Effect game?

Or how between 2013, and the release of Jedi Fallen Order in 2019, there were two Star Wars games, and both were quite heavily criticised Battlefront games, from the same studio. And just when Battlefront 2 had turned around, and was really getting noticed again, they stopped making anymore content for it, and moved the team onto other projects.

I just have no idea how they make their decisions, but it looks a lot like they blindly throw a dart into a board and see what sticks.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

The thing with EA is that at this point, im sure they just enjoy making boneheaded decisions, because they sure are good at it.

Battlefield hasn't been the same since 4. Hardline (remember Hardline?) was just a weird choice, and one that definitely didn't work out. 1 lost the community support, because as you say, this is when a lot of the Battlefield YouTubers really started to explore elsewhere, and Battlefield V was seemingly the last nail in the coffin, because I don't see anyone talking about V, unless it is to complain about it. I mean, remember the Battle Royale mode Firestorm that they created, which directly conflicted with their own Apex Legends - which was free?

Talking about conflicts, remember when they decided to release Titanfall 2 - which was brilliant, but still had to prove itself after TF1 - between two of the largest FPS franchises is modern gaming? One of which was their own Battlefield 1? I love Titanfall 2, but EA suffocated their own game.

And no, im not done with Battlefield Hardline. Remember how they got Visceral Games (RIP) and BioWare Edmonton - singleplayer-focused studios - to work on multiplayer games, but got BioWare Montreal (also RIP) - who worked on Mass Effect 3's multiplayer mode - to work on the next singleplayer Mass Effect game?

Or how between 2013, and the release of Jedi Fallen Order in 2019, there were two Star Wars games, and both were quite heavily criticised Battlefront games, from the same studio. And just when Battlefront 2 had turned around, and was really getting noticed again, they stopped making anymore content for it, and moved the team onto other projects.

I just have no idea how they make their decisions, but it looks a lot like they blindly throw a dart into a board and see what sticks.

God this made me a little sad. I did not realize that EA publishes so many of the game franchises I really enjoy I DID forget Hardline, even though I might argue it was more interesting than 1 and V.

Looking back at the past few years, I can't think of a single thing EA has done right. How are they even doing as a company? It seems the governments and powerful individuals of the world have been gunning for EA lately.