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[Lime]

One of many reasons I simply enjoy Sony's portfolio much more than other competitors. This is the genre that appeals much more to me than games as service and shooters/race/sports.

Last Guardian, Tearaway, Until Dawn, Journey, UC Lost Legacy, Horizon Zero Dawn, Gravity Rush 2, Last of Us, and that's just first party. Then you have all the Japanese support (Persona 5, Yakuza, Nioh, Digimon Cyber Sleuth, Nier Automata, Valkyria Chronicles) that Microsoft doesn't, and it's pretty clear that what Sony offers for me personally is just much more appealing.

 

[McMoneyman]

Music to my ears to be honest. I don't want everything to be GaaS.

 

[Ricky_R]

Music to my goddamn ears.

 

[firelogic]

I like Layden a lot. He's a good dude who knows where their strengths are.



I honestly think that says more about how Sony presents games than how similar the games themselves actually are. Almost all the games they show have looked Naughty Dog-esque at first glance and then the gameplay systems are actually really varied and interesting - Days Gone is just the latest victim of "wow this looks a lot like the Last of Us" in demos but in gameplay looks really great and different.

Yup. Outside of the general aesthetic, Days Gone's gameplay is completely different than TLoU. It's kind of annoying to hear/read comments immediately dismissing Days Gone as a poor man's Last of Us. So weird people won't even give it a chance. It's not like you can only play one or the other. And they're both exclusives so it's not even a "I hate it because it's on another platform" BS.

 

[KahooTs]

Things other mediums do infinitely better.

 

[jroc74]

Some one probably mentioned it, but MP for uncharted and tlou is liked by many.

It doesn't have to be like Destiny or The Division to be part of the Gaas model.

Have a decent MP mode for your single player and there you go.

Why not both?

 

[jrDev]

Awesome, thanks for sharing OP.

As the 31 yr old guy who constantly worries about if these types of games will exist in 10 years, this is very heartening to hear.



What does this mean?

That's why I keep myself to PS, Nintendo and PC. I like story driven/SP-games best. If I had to choose between a good SP game, a game with a mediocre SP, but good MP and a very good MP only game, I will choose the good SP game.



What.

I cried after racing a Golf in GT and hitting that home run in The Show.

Needed a good laugh today, thanks

Your stupid at the least that is a very ignorant statement.

This thread has potential.

Resogun? Bloodborne? Driveclub? WipeOut? OlliOlli 1/2?

They've had plenty of great games this gen that put gameplay above everything else.

Terrible first post.

Lol I had no idea my post was going to rile up some of you. It was only meant to say what mostly sells for them. Btw it's my first time being personally called stupid on GAF.

Point me in their direction.

And has the story in an uncharted game ever been great? They've mostly been Indiana Jones lite with stale villain's until the 4th game (imho). Though the best villain in 4 (Nadine) wasn't the main antagonist.

For me only the 4th game with the story of the pirate city and the mystery of what went down there was the great UC story. The rest were mainly carried by great set pieces and story telling with a fantastically likeable main character.

Wow!

 

[jroc74]

Things other mediums do infinitely better.

Stories are usually better with books.

So glad folks still make movies. Even tho other mediums do it better.

Why does everything have to be so black or white, no middle ground?

 

[Budi]

I like the sound of this, while by playtime my most played games are multiplayer games and games as a service. I still appreciate story driven SP experiences bit more, like Witcher games or Telltale's offerings. Well written characters really stick with you, just like the emotional highs in a story. And anyway, I rather play many different titles and hence get many different experiences than stick with one or two games for too long. I still play those too, but really happy with just let's say 100 hours of playtime.

 

[tokenflipguy]

One of many reasons I simply enjoy Sony's portfolio much more than other competitors. This is the genre that appeals much more to me than games as service and shooters/race/sports.

Last Guardian, Tearaway, Until Dawn, Journey, UC Lost Legacy, Horizon Zero Dawn, Gravity Rush 2, Last of Us, and that's just first party. Then you have all the Japanese support (Persona 5, Yakuza, Nioh, Digimon Cyber Sleuth, Nier Automata, Valkyria Chronicles) that Microsoft doesn't, and it's pretty clear that what Sony offers for me personally is just much more appealing.

It's a different take and that's why I favor PS4 being an owner of both.

 

[Alienfan]

I'm more interested to see how they marry gameplay with their narratives, the indie space has been making strides with this recently - using gameplay to elicit emotion from the player and letting players partake in the stories pivotal moments, not just watch them . It sometimes feels like AAA games use basically the same mechanics intertwined with cut scenes and QTEs when their standard gameplay moulds don't allow player control. Games have a lot more to offer than being movies with shooty bits. It's probably why Last Guardian was my GOTY last year, I felt like I was partaking in the story, not just observing

 

[Lord of Ostia]

They aren't as interested in games as a service titles because they recognize that those games have a harder time being successful when they are exclusive to one platform. The games as service titles they do have fill a niche with little competition (i.e. MLB) rather than attempting to compete with the big third party publishers in that space. It's a smart approach.

 

[Quasar]

I'm glad someone still cares about these kinds of games.

 

[OfTheOverflow]

Fine by me Sony, keep these awesome story driven games coming.

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

Funny enough it's not their first party games that get me, but rather their third party exclusive games like Nioh and Persona 5 that I like the most.

Sony's strongest point next to their story focus 1st party games, might be their pseudo-exclusivity with third party Japanese games.

 

[Loudninja]

I never got the notion that Story driven games means bad gameplay :/

UC,TLOU,HZD all have good gameplay.

 

[SolidSnakex]

I'd argue that Sony's main strength is in the sheer breadth of diverse quality content they publish and host exclusively on their platform. So while I consider their devs some of the best in the business at producing superb narrative-driven experiences, they're far from a one-trick pony.

This is the main reason why I don't have an issue with what he's saying. Here are their current announced games

Matterfall
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
Everybody's Golf
Knack 2
Gran Turismo Sport
LocoRoco 2 Remastered
Horizon: The Frozen Wildlands
No Heroes Allowed! VR
PlayLink games (Hidden Agenda, That's You, Knowledge is Power, Singstar, and Frantics)
God of War
Spider-Man
The Inpatient
Bravo Team
Days Gone
Death Stranding
Detroit
Shadow of the Colossus
Wild
Dreams

That seems like a good balance between games with a narrative approach and more system driven games. And from everything we've heard, Sony's pretty open to developers doing what they wanted. So, if ND for example wanted to make a platformer that's light on story after TLoUPII, then I really doubt they'd tell them that they couldn't.

 

[Boombloxer]

Point me in their direction.

And has the story in an uncharted game ever been great? They've mostly been Indiana Jones lite with stale villain's until the 4th game (imho). Though the best villain in 4 (Nadine) wasn't the main antagonist.

For me only the 4th game with the story of the pirate city and the mystery of what went down there was the great UC story. The rest were mainly carried by great set pieces and story telling with a fantastically likeable main character.

Yes, every Uncharted game is praised for its story. Not it's story alone, but they've won plenty of awards for it. So yes, yours is the minority opinion. Go pick one of the universally acclaimed reviews. U2 in particular.

As for the games, take your pick. I haven't had any issue ignoring Nintendo's home console output and I've played some of the best games of the generation with an actual functioning online system elsewhere.

 

[FingerBang]

Yep, Sony is great for character/story driven games, but I want a sequel to MAG.

I SWEAR that game was pretty good.

 

[Woodchipper]

I love Shawn, and I love PlayStation.

 

[Square Triangle]

Well at least they know their MP spectrum and ecosystem is awful. It's good to be honest with yourselves.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

This is the main reason why I don't have an issue with what he's saying. Here are their current announced games

Matterfall
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
Everybody's Golf
Knack 2
Gran Turismo Sport
LocoRoco 2 Remastered
Horizon: The Frozen Wildlands
No Heroes Allowed! VR
PlayLink games (Hidden Agenda, That's You, Knowledge is Power, Singstar, and Frantics)
God of War
Spider-Man
The Inpatient
Bravo Team
Days Gone
Death Stranding
Detroit
Shadow of the Colossus
Wild
Dreams

That seems like a good balance between games with a narrative approach and more system driven games. And from everything we've heard, Sony's pretty open to developers doing what they wanted. So, if ND for example wanted to make a platformer that's light on story after TLoUPII, then I really doubt they'd tell them that they couldn't.

Absolutely. I think your list really speaks for itself.

Keep doing you Sony and you'll continue to have my money.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

Was State of Decay a community-driven PC-Friendly title?

I mean, I liked it and played it on PC, but I don't think it had that kind of impact.

Fans of State of Decay wanted the game to have coop. It's systems were primed for a community-driven experience but the first game was very limited.

 

[wapplew]

Nah, Sony always about diversity for me.
Just because their narrative driven games are best in biz recently doesn't make them less diverse.
As much as I love their single player story titles, I love Japan/Europe studio's wacky shit more.

 

[Acquiescence]

Good to hear. I will always always always always favour story-orientated, single-player games over the whole GaaS model.

 

[Fbh]

Good to hear and as long as that continues to be the case I'll continue support PS consoles.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

Nah, Sony always about diversity for me.
Just because their narrative driven games are best in biz recently doesn't make them less diverse.
As much as I love their single player story titles, I love Japan/Europe studio's wacky shit more.

You gotdamned right.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

Good to hear. I will always always always always favour story-orientated, single-player games over the whole GaaS model.

To be fair, given that GaaS is not really a genre but a business model, there's nothing really stopping anyone from making a narrative-driven primarily single-player GaaS game.

As far as I understand it, what constitutes "GaaS" does not necessarily imply multi-player, although that is conventionally what brings in the bacon.

 

[Nightengale]

There are a lot of nice things to take away from this overall article, as a fan of Sony's story-driven games.

The list showed by SolidSnakex speaks for itself, and while I'm no fan of Sony pulling out of broader indie-funding to support VR instead, I understand and acknowledge the business realities there.. And it's not like there aren't other publishers like Annapurna who's doing a good job supporting indies these days compared to before.

That being said, the GAAS part of it is... part of it is your fault. If we look at San Diego's F2P initiatives, along with stuff like Drawn to Death, it speaks pretty clearly that your GAAS/F2P experiments had a very low budget compared to your flagship studios.

There are a lot of competition in the GAAS space, and while cheap inititives mean failure isn't studio-closing, but when indie devs like Digital Extremes can pull off Warframe, you need big investments to stay in the GAAS space.

 

[DrunkShogun]

Might not be the answer for some but that's exactly what i want to hear from Sony. I leave my community enjoyment outside of gaming and just want to experience great stories when I game.

 

[Ocarina_117]

Yes, every Uncharted game is praised for its story. Not it's story alone, but they've won plenty of awards for it. So yes, yours is the minority opinion. Go pick one of the universally acclaimed reviews. U2 in particular.

As for the games, take your pick. I haven't had any issue ignoring Nintendo's home console output and I've played some of the best games of the generation with an actual functioning online system elsewhere.

I accept it's a minority opinion. Personally I only found the story of 4 interesting, in particular due to the uncovering the mysteries of the pirate city. As said, for me, the story telling of the game compensates for an otherwise by the books story in 2 and 3. What makes the story in 2 and 3 great for you? TLoU, for example, I consider a truly great gaming story. Others include ME:2, Alan Wake, Witcher 3, Spec Ops.

Well ignoring Nintendo's console output has you missing out on the game of the generation so far. Ignoring the Wii U also has you missing out on fantastic gameplay focused games such as Bayonetta 2, DKCR:TF, 3D world, splatoon, etc.

 

[fantomena]

Ftfy

Steam/PC has way better community and online features than XBL and best thing is, it's free.

 

[Djostikk]

I love solo experiences way more, Sony should stick to them.

 

[Dee Dah Dave]

I think their 'on rails' cinematic games, while good, do tend to all merge into one. Also they often have very average gameplay mechanics hidden behind fluff. But they still have very good variety with other games, just famously week on the multiplayer side.

Personally I prefer strong core mechanics, emergent gameplay, multiplayer and more open ended sandbox like design. Nintendo >= Xbox > PlayStation.

But it's all good, each of the 'big three' have a different main style and that's great for options. It would be a shame if they all focused on the same thing.

 

[Melchiah]

Sony is smart, because they realize third parties will bring GaaS titles to their platform and their first party studios can focus on other things.

That's exactly what Destiny, Driveclub, and Let It Die have provided for me. Then there's The Tomorrow Children, but I haven't tried it yet myself. Story-driven, horror/sci-fi, and arcade-ish games (Resogun, WipEout Omega) are what I play the most though, so they serve me well in that regard.

 

[The God]

What's wrong with the "mechanics and gameplay" in Sony's games?

 

[Bioshocker]

He's not wrong. Games like The Last of Us, Uncharted 4, Horizon Zero Dawn, and (probably) Days Gone etc are good examples of what I miss on my Xbox One.

 

[Night Hunter]

No...just no. Gears is strong enough in other areas, we don't have to lie about it.

Gaf is fucking nuts, man lol.

Yup. Imagine my surprise the day I found out that some people think the whole Maria thing in GoW2 is actually a well done and moving scene. I was like "excuse me" ...

 

[Haganeren]

Well, to be honest, i'm not a fan of Sony output nowadays. The Last Guardian was good but the next Ueno game won't be here for at least 4 years (Yep, i'm very optimistic). Infamous is... I don't know.... Not very deep i guess ? It's like a parody of comic but which actually takes itself seriously. I really wanted to like Uncharted, i bought all three (at the time) of them since i was so sure i would love it.... Then i found that there is only gunfight to be had and i was severely disappointed. The Last of Us don't look any different and after the Walking Dead i didn't wanted a similar setting. Only Horizon interests me "a little".

So uh, yeah, not the big fan of the company... But even with that, i'm still attached to Sony as an editor because at some point, they will release that "kind of game" that i like... I don't know, Gravity Rush 2 for exemple, Pupeeter, Patapon or more. And i know i can never wait for that elsewhere especially with the focus on "service" game. I don't care for that at all.

So yeah, why did i say all that ? Becaue for me Playstation's strenght isn't about creating stories, character or emotions. They are actually quite bad for my taste in that. For me, it's about diversity. They put a lot of kind of game and i always find one or two that interest me.

PS : I'm only talking about SOny as an editor, of course the Playstation is still home to all those Third Party Japanese game that i love but that's beside the current point.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

He's not wrong. Games like The Last of Us, Uncharted 4, Horizon Zero Dawn, and (probably) Days Gone etc are good examples of what I miss on my Xbox One.

Then why did you get an Xbox One?

 

[tzare]

Music for my ears. These are the kind of games i like.

However i think PlayStation's main strength, as a brand, is that it usually has all kind of games and genres, there's something for everyone. It is a safe bet.
That said Sony have been providing those single player focused games themselves, many of them quite niche, not all of them AAA big sellers, but good enough. ANd hope they keep doing them.

 

[NavyPharaoh]

Long live SP Games!! Thank God they aren't chasing the GaaS train. Like all gaming trends the GaaS genre will fill up & many will fail. Just like when everyone was chasing COD & WoW before that. There's always room for Single Player games.

 

[Moongazer]

Good to hear them say it. Can't express how much I hate how the industry is turning everything into GaaS now or purely online experiences. I'll continue to stick with PS consoles so long as they continue to make great SP experiences.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

Long life SP Games!! Thank God they aren't chasing the GaaS train. Like all gaming trends the GaaS genre will fill up & many will fail. Just like when everyone was chasing COD & WoW before that. There's always room for Single Player games.

Not if said single player game bombs.

 

[blakep267]

Some one probably mentioned it, but MP for uncharted and tlou is liked by many.

It doesn't have to be like Destiny or The Division to be part of the Gaas model.

Have a decent MP mode for your single player and there you go.

Why not both?

GAAS doesn't just refer to having multiplayer. It's more along the lines of providing continual content to keep the base engaged. Titanfall 1 had a MOnbut it's a poor example of a service game as it was updated very long after launch and lost its base. Games like Halo 5 and overwatch keep the community engaged with new content drops and events much more frequently.

If TLOu2 MP is going to have monthly content drops with new weapons, community events maps and skins, then it's in the service territory

 

[NavyPharaoh]

Not if said single player game bombs.

When a SP game bombs it's usually cause it's not a good game. Within 2 weeks, Zelda, Nier & Horizon came out and they all sold over a million and continue selling. Titanfall 2 may have been the best MP game from last fall and it didn't stand a chance because it came out around other MP games.

 

[jayu26]

I think Sony should stick to that niche, nothing else works for them, so yes they should play to their strengths...

Lol, tell this to MLB The Show.

really wanted to like Uncharted, i bought all three (at the time) of them since i was so sure i would love it.... Then i found that there is only gunfight to be had and i was severely disappointed. The Last of Us don't look any different and after the Walking Dead i didn't wanted a similar setting.

Last of Us is nothing like Uncharted.

 

[Atomski]

Oh give me a break.. these "stories" are still not that great.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

When a SP game bombs it's usually cause it's not a good game. Within 2 weeks, Zelda, Nier & Horizon came out and they all sold over a million and continue selling. Titanfall 2 may have been the best MP game from last fall and it didn't stand a chance because it came out around other MP games.

Exceptions don't make the rule. GAF is still saddened about Prey's numbers.

 

[Aters]

I have only so much emotion to invoke in videogames.