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Playing video-games nowadays = please wait.

cireza

cireza

Member
I have been playing video-games since my childhood. Started with the NES and Mario/Zelda, then had every Sega console til the end, and pretty much every Nintendo/Sony/MS console afterwards.

With time, I began to be more and more frustrated by how video-games have been wasting my time (by making me wait). I love playing, and want to spend every minute doing meaningful things. Especially now that I have two kids and that my free time is precious lol.

So when I made the jump to CDs, loading times annoyed me a bit. But I thought to myself "Good things take time". And pretty much accepted having to wait to be able to play great games. Still for games like Grandia, the accumulation of loadings make it a real problem (for example).

Fast forward to 2015/16/17. I currently own an Xbox One. The console in itself provides satisfactory entertainment to me : good looking games, great controller etc...

But way too many things get in the way of enjoyment for me :
- having to download 2 GB, 4 GB or even 10 GB updates : this takes hours for me. I don't have a very good connection
- installing the games : this takes a lot of time, and it needs to download the updates anyway
- loading times : I have been playing Hitman, Recore and Final Fantasy XV recently, and I simply can't stand the loading times anymore
- buy a game digitally, it will take 2 or 3 days to download : it is actually faster to order it from amazon...

I know that I could let the console in "instant start", but this basically means that it is turned on all the time, it makes some noise, and I don't want to have a console turned on all the time. It consumes power. And anyway, it won't solve the other problems.

All of this has become a big hassle, and I can't count anymore how many times I booted the console, to only end up waiting in front of whatever screen. Waiting, waiting and more waiting. I get bored and simply turn it off, to play something else.

Next to this console, I have a ton of older consoles that put me in the action in less than 5 seconds. And CD consoles, probably in less than a minute. A console like the Wii U also loads its game very fast and never annoyed me with installations or massive updates.

tl,dr : To sum this up, the current trend of having always bigger games leads to having to wait all the time for installation, updates and loadings. And it kills my enjoyment of video-games.

How do you feel about this, and do you have any suggestions ?
 
M

mieumieu

Member
I just wait.

For digital games, start downloading the game before sleep, and play instantly the next evening when I get home from work.

A lot of other stuff you can still do while waiting. Reading social media, read a book, watch videos, reading on the game on a forum (I don't mind spoilers btw) etc. Or heck, play other games.
 
J

JBwB

Member
Honestly it's never bothered me. I just do something else whilst I'm waiting for something to download / install.
 
S

Samikaze

Member
The switch to CD's didn't bother me so much, but my first PS1 game was Abe's Oddysee and I took it's loading screen advice to heart I guess:
AbesOddyseeLoadingFinal.png


I agree that the constant and large updates are a hassle though. I work swing shift and get off work around 11pm. When I get home, if I'm lucky, I get in an hour before Server Maintenance hits or an update comes up. Having to download these during my limited game time gets very frustrating.
 
A

Auto-Reply

Member
I can put up with it but had my fits of rage in the past.

The people around me, family & friends, the non-gamer casul crowd with the rare console under the TV, they don't. Most of them don't play stationary videogames anymore or very, very rarely. The switch may or may not get them back "into the game", but I'm not optimistic, interest is low.
 
M

Memory

Member
cireza said:
Yes, I ordered one :)
Click to expand...

Awesome, my main issue isn't the initial installation but updates.
Coming back from work hoping to play a game for a quick 30-45 mins before I pop out again is killed when I have a 5-10gb update waiting for me.

I have the fastest broadband speed also but regardless you loss that jump in jump out mentally when your forced to wait to play a game you are ready to play right now.
 
Creepy

Creepy

Member
Ever use a Spectrum?

But yeah, current gen takes the piss a bit...
Every time I get a new game I put it in expecting to play and go "oh... right..."
 
S

Samikaze

Member
Creepy said:
Ever use a Spectrum?

But yeah, current gen takes the piss a bit...
Every time I get a new game I put it in expecting to play and go "oh... right..."
Click to expand...

My favorite is when it makes you wait IN the main menu.
Mafia III, Call of Duty, Battlefront. I couldn't even go play another game because they wanted me to wait for their install while at the menu.
 
J

Joe Spangle

Member
I agree OP. When i used to live at my folks the internet connection was 1.3meg and so whenever a game would say 'update required' my heart would sink, i wouldnt be playing it that night, or probaly the next night, nor maybe for the whole week whilst it downloaded the update (which wouldnt offer any noticable difference to me)

I always thought the point of consoles was quick easy gaming, switch them on, start playing.
 
D

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
Keep in mind in the past games weren't ever any bigger than a few MBs, while these days games are MUCH larger in size. Also games are far more complex now than they were back in the day for a number of reasons.

If people want bigger games, it's one of the needed trade-offs.
 
Caayn

Caayn

Member
We've even got loading screens between menus. Singleplayer to multiplayer menu often causes a loading screen in games.
 
C

cheesekao

Member
Speaking as a PS4 owner, I disagree.

1. Install times are, for the most part, quick as you can play the game once the soft install is done.

2. I always play games while letting updates download in the background. Unless they fix something gamebreaking, I see zero reason to wait for it to finish downloading. I also rarely play online-only games so there's that.

3. Loading times are a case by case thing and isn't a new issue. PS1 games had some nasty loading times.

4. The PlayGo system is an absolutely welcome innovation. Games like GOW3 and RE:HD utilizes it magnificently as I was able to play a good chunk of them before the download was even complete. PC marketplaces really need to get on this.
 
M

mieumieu

Member
Caayn said:
We've even got loading screens between menus. Singleplayer to multiplayer menu often causes a loading screen in games.
Click to expand...

Single player and multi player are usually different executables, so the loading times are extra long for this reason.
 
A

aadiboy

Member
cireza said:
But way too many things get in the way of enjoyment for me :
- having to download 2 GB, 4 GB or even 10 GB updates : this takes hours for me. I don't have a very good connection
- installing the games : this takes a lot of time, and it needs to download the updates anyway
- loading times : I have been playing Hitman, Recore and Final Fantasy XV recently, and I simply can't stand the loading times anymore
- buy a game digitally, it will take 2 or 3 days to download : it is actually faster to order it from amazon...
Click to expand...
It takes you 2 or 3 days to download a game? How about you get better internet?

Also this whole "Nintendo games are instant" BS needs to stop. Games still have loading times on Nintendo consoles! And games are still updated on Nintendo consoles! And when Zelda DLC comes out, guess what...you're going to have to *gasp* download that too!

Also, I don't know what kind of solution you're looking for here. A time travel device that let's you skip loading times?
 
D

daxgame

Member
As someone who plays smash bros melee a lot still now, i feel you op. Whenever i play something else, i am often annoyed. Wiiu's loading times actually weren t good imho and i skipped lego city for that. The Switch so far has been a saviour in this regard.
 
E

Exquisik

Member
Dusk Golem said:
Keep in mind in the past games weren't ever any bigger than a few MBs, while these days games are MUCH larger in size. Also games are far more complex now than they were back in the day for a number of reasons.

If people want bigger games, it's one of the needed trade-offs.
Click to expand...

^^^ This.

Also, games in the past had plenty of glitches and issues but were never patched because there was not option to. If you played PC games back in the day, most games had updates and patches, but not console games. Now that everyone has access to the internet, it is easier for developer to push patches to make the games better.

Would you rather wait an hour to play a game without glitches and issues, or would you rather just jump into a game with full of glitches and issues?
 
E

Eumi

Member
What exactly do you want?

Do you want games to go back to being barely a few megabytes in size with zero way of fixing any bugs it's launched with?
 
Alx

Alx

Member
Loading times are the only thing that really bother me, because I have to suffer them while playing the game, so they're a direct obstacle to my enjoyment.
Installation/downloading times can be annoying (not so much when you have good internet connection and go digital), but it's something you do out of your gaming session.
"Update needed" ? Ok, I'll do something else in the meantime, no big deal. But "Please stop playing for 1 minute while we load the next chapter" ? Fuck you.
 
F

Falk

that puzzling face
I do remember waiting over a minute for old DOS games like Demon Stalkers to load.

Or taking 8 hours to download the 5MB 3D Lemmings demo.

This isn't something that magically popped up this generation.

im not that old
 
Alx

Alx

Member
Falk said:
I do remember waiting over a minute for old DOS games like Demon Stalkers to load.
Click to expand...

Heh, I remember our first home computer was a TRS-80 with games on cassette tapes. We were playing hide and seek in the room while waiting for the game to load. :D
 
F

flattie

Member
BoTW rain. That's what i hate waiting for - especially when you're stuck on a ledge or trying to transport a flame somewhere.
 
B

boneyjangles

Member
Games are just more complicated now, they have to be bigger, and it's impossible to get it "perfect" until a few large patches.

I can't think of any exceptions. And if a game doesn't get large patches it's more a sign that the publisher has abandoned it, rather than it being closer to "perfection."
 
Rellik

Rellik

Member
anddo0 said:
Get better ISP
Get SSD
Click to expand...

aadiboy said:
It takes you 2 or 3 days to download a game? How about you get better internet?
Click to expand...

Did you ever to stop to think that they may not have access to better internet?

I'm on unlimited fibre so I have no issues here, but not everyone has my kind of access. Especially in the US.

And how does he install a SSD in his Xbox One?
 
cireza

cireza

Member
aadiboy said:
How about you get better internet?
Click to expand...
Amazing advice, thanks !

Edit : I won't trade leaving close to this for better internet ;)
Panorama.jpg
Click to expand...

Dusk Golem said:
Keep in mind in the past games weren't ever any bigger than a few MBs, while these days games are MUCH larger in size. Also games are far more complex now than they were back in the day for a number of reasons.

If people want bigger games, it's one of the needed trade-offs.
Click to expand...
I know this very well, but it is still a good point reminding us about this.
 
KungFucius

KungFucius

King Snowflake
I agree. Day one updates, forced game updates and forced console updates are a pain in the ass. If I get a PC game, I need to wait for a huge download. Preloading helps, but most games are purchased after release. If get a new console game in the mail, I need to boot up the system, update it, install the game and update the game to the latest version.

But this is the model now and there is nothing to be done about it. It allows us to get the game on time and have the first update ready on day one for consoles and in some cases on PC. Yes, in some cases games are shipped broken and not ready, but for the most part, it is part of the plan. What is not needed though is system updates and forced game updates related to multiplayer when all I fucking want to do is play the fucking single player part of the game. They need to figure a way to separate the two and to allow users to defer or skip updates if they do not want to go online.
 
U

Undrey

Member
Rellik said:
Did you ever to stop to think that they may not have access to better internet?

I'm on unlimited fibre so I have no issues here, but not everyone has my kind of access. Especially in the US.

And how does he install a SSD in his Xbox One?
Click to expand...

Cannot emphasize this enough. Not everyone has access to amazing unlimited internet.
 
T

The Janitor

Member
I have a fast PC and internet so loading times are usually not a problem (Except for GTA V online which has unbearable loading times)

But something that annoys me are long unskippable intro videos, like some games have 30 seconds of bullshit you have to watch everytime.
This is especially annoying if you're a modder and need to quit and restart the game often to test your mods.
 
R

Real_Madrid

Member
Isn't that mostly the fault of your Internet provider?

I don't know how the Xbox One handles it, but you can put a PS4 in rest mode and it will download, update everything.
The loading times are indeed irritating, but that's nothing new. If it really irritates you, there are expensive hard drives out there that will perform better.

One thing that's rather irritating, is the size of the games. Knack has like a 40 gb install if I remember correctly. A game like Super Mario 3D world was 1,7 GB.
 
C

cheesekao

Member
The Janitor said:
I have a fast PC and internet so loading times are usually not a problem (Except for GTA V online which has unbearable loading times)

But something that annoys me are long unskippable intro videos, like some games have 30 seconds of bullshit you have to watch everytime.
This is especially annoying if you're a modder and need to quit and restart the game often to test your mods.
Click to expand...
Wouldn't your first order of business be to mod that shit out?
 
cireza

cireza

Member
Real_Madrid said:
Isn't that mostly the fault of your Internet provider?
Click to expand...
Better internet will make the downloads faster, but the problem will remain. I am the kind of person who wants to play a game (I already own, to make this clear) right now, when the idea pops in my head. And with my Xbox One, often, I won't be able to do it (unless I leave the console turned on all the time...). And even then, loadings will still get in the way (depending on game).

Also, as you said, the size of the games and updates is the would remain a problem here. Better internet won't solve everything.

Some games, while still being packed with content, are much smaller in size (Dark Souls II or III, Zelda BotW).
 
FantasticMrSnake

FantasticMrSnake

Member
cheesekao said:
Speaking as a PS4 owner, I disagree.

1. Install times are, for the most part, quick as you can play the game once the soft install is done.

2. I always play games while letting updates download in the background. Unless they fix something gamebreaking, I see zero reason to wait for it to finish downloading. I also rarely play online-only games so there's that.

3. Loading times are a case by case thing and isn't a new issue. PS1 games had some nasty loading times.

4. The PlayGo system is an absolutely welcome innovation. Games like GOW3 and RE:HD utilizes it magnificently as I was able to play a good chunk of them before the download was even complete. PC marketplaces really need to get on this.
Click to expand...

PS4 lets you play without updating (with no online functions for that game), Xbox1 doesn't or that's what i remember, i haven't turned on my Xbox since sunset overdrive.
 
S

Slixshot

Banned
JBwB said:
Honestly it's never bothered me. I just do something else whilst I'm waiting for something to download / install.
Click to expand...

Yup. I'm busy enough that the additional time gives me time to do other stuff.

I mean, they are adding patches to games which are a lot more complex than the games of yesteryear. It may not be ideal, but it's realistic.
 
J

Jacobson

Member
Undrey said:
Cannot emphasize this enough. Not everyone has access to amazing unlimited internet.
Click to expand...

Can confirm, I live in SEA, have crappy mobile internet. And even if it's crappy (15mbps), it's already better than the average in my country. Luckily I only have PC and a 3DS.
 
Z

ZzzZombi

Neo Member
I'm okay with loading screens and to some degree big patches but when a game makes you wait 3-4 seconds with a "cool" transition effect each time you select a menu item or a map screen etc. I can't help but get mad.

Sometimes they do it when you just launch the game after all that company logos. The last game I remember playing was Darksiders. It goes like this:

  1. Hey! Watch this cool transition to main menu that takes 5 seconds (remember, it's 5 sec on top of other things).
  2. Now, let me put a "press start/any button" on there with its own transition effect.
  3. *Click start* - Another transition with sound effects. Now to the actual loading screen that takes 5 seconds only.
Oh, and repeat this process when you quit the game.
 
D

datsunzep

Member
it usually takes under an hour to download full games for me. I have a 200mbps down connection. I can understand how it maybe frustrating to have anything less than 50mbps. I have an xbox one and it typically download ~115mbps via ethernet, Can't complain.
 
J

jamesmccloud

Member
I heartily echo OP's sentiment. I know the reasons for it, but I still feel like "this is the future" when I...boot Yoshi's Island or SMW on my SNES. It would be amazing to one day have again a console that could deliver this with a) game boot and b) in-game transitions. Switch is the closest yet, it has made my PS4 feel really slow :( But Switch too is still ways off (at least Zelda is).
 
X

xevis

Banned
Just buy a Nintendo machine. No bullshit. Only games. I love, for instance, the way my WiiU will sometimes say "Hey, wanna update?" and I can say "No!" then play my game. Can't do that on MicroSony's machines.
 
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