Question My opinion on PC gaming

[Dcopymope]

I'll keep this relatively short and sweet. A good high end gaming PC will cost you upwards of 900-2000 bucks. I would NOT advise anyone spend that kind of money on a PC unless its to run other programs that can also be very demanding, like 3D animation software or video editors. The only other exception is if its a game that is a PC exclusive, or games of a certain genre like flight simulators or 'real time strategy'. For half or even less than the price tag of a good higher end PC worth its salt, I can just buy a console and play the exact same games hassle free and get a consistent performance. Note that I didn't say BETTER, I said consistent. I'll take a steady 30 FPS over 60-120 FPS that's all over the damn place ANY day, and even this will no longer be a concern with the PS5 and Xbox Scarlett promising the same thing as the standard.

I can buy 'Hitman 2' or 'Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice' on the console with a 90% chance that I won't ever experience micro freezes or stuttering, or any type of crashes. We see people starting threads about these exact same issues daily, so lets not pretend like these aren't major issues concerning the lack of optimization in PC games. You could be spending as much time trying to get the game to work right as you are just sitting back and playing it. This is unacceptable, that someone can spend a bag of money on a PC just to run into the same damn issues or more as someone with a lower end PC. Lets not forget about the hackers in certain well known games that go unanswered, or the complete lack of in-game voice chat in a lot of these multiplayer games. I can't wait until the next Xbox Scarlett, where most of my games will be from there on in. PC gaming has turned out to be more trouble than its worth for me.

 

[MasterMadBones]

Considering your previous posts, you've had some bad luck getting your prebuilt up and running, which has left you frustrated. The truth is that most people never face any major issues with their PCs. Out of those that do, many problems are self-inflicted. It's hardly a surprise you're seeing lots of posts from people having trouble with their PCs when you're browsing a PC support forum.

I can also say with confidence that consoles aren't free of problems either, especially on the performance part. Any game will occasionally stutter, even in an optimized environment. Especially with the advent of "half-gen" consoles like the XBOX One X and PS4 Pro, completely smooth operation on the older models isn't guaranteed anymore.

Personally, 30 fps is too low for me. It's enough for a more-or-less smooth experience in a lot of games, but it slowly gives me a headache. In fast-paced games, it's almost completely unplayable for me, even when it's completely flat. Lucky for you, next-gen consoles should be capable of running nearly every game on high settings at 60 fps. Beyond that, having a slightly fluctuating framerate over 120 fps isn't noticeable, but indeed below that it's often better to just cap it to 60.

 

[delaro]

PC gaming has turned out to be more trouble than its worth for me.

Sounds like that is because you have very little of an idea on what you're doing.

A $2000 PC that is built right and managed will last 10 years and upgradable many times over. A console on average lasts 5 years and there is nothing upgradable about it other than more storage space.

 

[Dcopymope]

Considering your previous posts, you've had some bad luck getting your prebuilt up and running, which has left you frustrated. The truth is that most people never face any major issues with their PCs. Out of those that do, many problems are self-inflicted. It's hardly a surprise you're seeing lots of posts from people having trouble with their PCs when you're browsing a PC support forum.

I can also say with confidence that consoles aren't free of problems either, especially on the performance part. Any game will occasionally stutter, even in an optimized environment. Especially with the advent of "half-gen" consoles like the XBOX One X and PS4 Pro, completely smooth operation on the older models isn't guaranteed anymore.

Personally, 30 fps is too low for me. It's enough for a more-or-less smooth experience in a lot of games, but it slowly gives me a headache. In fast-paced games, it's almost completely unplayable for me, even when it's completely flat. Lucky for you, next-gen consoles should be capable of running nearly every game on high settings at 60 fps. Beyond that, having a slightly fluctuating framerate over 120 fps isn't noticeable, but indeed below that it's often better to just cap it to 60.

Never said consoles are problem free, its just heaven compared to my experience on the PC. Unless we're talking about PC exclusives or flight simulators, its not worth the hassle at all to me.

Sounds like that is because you have very little of an idea on what you're doing.

A $2000 PC that is built right and managed will last 10 years and upgradable many times over. A console on average lasts 5 years and there is nothing upgradable about it other than more storage space.

Yeah, typical, whenever a game is obviously poorly optimized, blame the gamer. For the record, I have a smooth experience playing Squad, an unfinished game, yet the experience is the opposite with Hitman 2. This is the type of ass backwards crap you deal with on PC. It isn't going to matter how much money you spend on a damn PC if the game ain't optimized for it to start with. That much is clear to me. I have a brand new PC by the way, just got the damn thing a few days ago. Everything is up to date, doesn't matter, I'm still having a <Mod Edit> experience then I ever did on the console. If someone spends a months worth of rent and groceries on a PC just to have the same experience of a low end potato PC, then I hate to break it to you PC elitists, but that money was better spent else where, like on a prostitute or something. I'll see if me buying a high end GPU will help at all next year, but I have my doubts. So far, this was almost a complete waste of time.

 

[vMax]

Most people who buy PC's even for gaming are using the PC for many, many other activities and multiple use cases. Also is the factor of controlling the gaming experience in a way that cannot be done with consoles appeals to many in terms of refresh rates and graphical control and most importantly the fact that a PC can be upgraded as time goes buy...yes it is a more expensive proposition but it has a huge pay of with a multitude of use cases.

As to individual issues with games....well we are at the bleeding edge of games and thus there will always be issues but on the whole PC users must be happier as gaming on the PC is actually growing.

I suppose the key area is that the PC requires a bit more effort and learning than a console...thus the issues that some suffer as there is some work and research required not only to build or buy a PC but also to use a PC and optimise it for your gaming experience...if that is not for you, then console gaming is a great route there for you.

Thankfully we all have a choice....

 

[Dcopymope]

Most people who buy PC's even for gaming are using the PC for many, many other activities and multiple use cases. Also is the factor of controlling the gaming experience in a way that cannot be done with consoles appeals to many in terms of refresh rates and graphical control and most importantly the fact that a PC can be upgraded as time goes buy...yes it is a more expensive proposition but it has a huge pay of with a multitude of use cases.

As to individual issues with games....well we are at the bleeding edge of games and thus there will always be issues but on the whole PC users must be happier as gaming on the PC is actually growing.

I suppose the key area is that the PC requires a bit more effort and learning than a console...thus the issues that some suffer as there is some work and research required not only to build or buy a PC but also to use a PC and optimise it for your gaming experience...if that is not for you, then console gaming is a great route there for you.

Thankfully we all have a choice....

Its not MY job as the customer to optimize anything, that is the game developers job, and the ones releasing the drivers to keep your components up to date for the game in question. I don't know how gaming got this far down the toilet that it became MY job to fix their game for them. From my understanding, that is what the damn system requirements list was for to start with. Its there to give you a baseline both at a minimum and recommended level to play a game hassle free. Its up to the customer to meet those expectations, but its up to the developers to ensure the customer didn't waste his damn time and money by optimizing it. I don't care if its a PC or console game, if the developers are on their shit, and I meet whats recommended, and all my drivers are up to date, then I should be able to open up the game, sit back and enjoy it, its really that simple. This isn't computer science.

 

[delaro]

Its not MY job as the customer to optimize anything, that is the game developers job, and the ones releasing the drivers to keep your components up to date for the game in question. I don't know how gaming got this far down the toilet that it became MY job to fix their game for them. From my understanding, that is what the damn system requirements list was for to start with. Its there to give you a baseline both at a minimum and recommended level to play a game hassle free. Its up to the customer to meet those expectations, but its up to the developers to ensure the customer didn't waste his damn time and money by optimizing it. I don't care if its a PC or console game, if the developers are on their <Mod Edit>, and I meet whats recommended, and all my drivers are up to date, then I should be able to open up the game, sit back and enjoy it, its really that simple. This isn't computer science.

Then sell your PC and stick to console, ports are hit and miss that is something expected especially from the likes of Bioware and EA. If your unhappy with the experience then move on because complaining about it here basically solves nothing, does it?

 

[JeckeL]

The only other exception is if its a game that is a PC exclusive, or games of a certain genre like flight simulators or 'real time strategy'.

Seems like you're thinking only in the realm of AAA titles, major releases by major publishers. In that sense absolutely, there aren't very many PC exclusives, like you mentioned, maybe a "flight simulator" released by Microsoft every so often... but you realize the amount of games you have access to on PC vs console is about 10,000 to 1, but I'm not taking the time to explain how many games are out there across every corner of the internet that you simply can't play on console... and tons you can't even play with a controller. Most of the games I play aren't on console (csgo, sc2, eve, total war games, dota2, LoL, nexus tk, etc, etc)

also, can you imagine playing any sort of 1st or 3rd person game with JOYSTICKS? and at 30 fps?? unreal.....

 

[Dcopymope]

Seems like you're thinking only in the realm of AAA titles, major releases by major publishers. In that sense absolutely, there aren't very many PC exclusives, like you mentioned, maybe a "flight simulator" released by Microsoft every so often... but you realize the amount of games you have access to on PC vs console is about 10,000 to 1, but I'm not taking the time to explain how many games are out there across every corner of the internet that you simply can't play on console... and tons you can't even play with a controller. Most of the games I play aren't on console (csgo, sc2, eve, total war games, dota2, LoL, nexus tk, etc, etc)

also, can you imagine playing any sort of 1st or 3rd person game with JOYSTICKS? and at 30 fps?? unreal.....

Quantity doesn't equal quality, and most of those games I could care less for to start with (Dota?). There may be lots of games on Steam, but really, a lot of them are absolute garbage. Nothing wrong with using a gamepad to play with at all as long as its on the console. I mainly came from the console. And really, if the big three really wanted to they could easily design their controllers with the smoothness of a mouse. I know this for a fact because I've seen it. There was this guy on YouTube who modified the joysticks on his Xbox 360 controller to move like that of a mouse.

He used it to compete in Unreal Tournament matches and won multiple times against players using a keyboard and mouse. It would be a godsend if the big three designed their controllers in similar fashion, because I'd never want to use a keyboard and mouse unless its absolutely necessary. Since cross platforming is becoming the new end thing, they might as well start designing them properly. I avoid it like the plague now in fact, in 'Hitman 2' and 'Sekiro: Shadows die twice' among other games, or any game that plays well with a controller that doesn't require more than ten buttons to play.

 

[sizzling]

Its not MY job as the customer to optimize anything, that is the game developers job, and the ones releasing the drivers to keep your components up to date for the game in question. I don't know how gaming got this far down the toilet that it became MY job to fix their game for them. From my understanding, that is what the damn system requirements list was for to start with. Its there to give you a baseline both at a minimum and recommended level to play a game hassle free. Its up to the customer to meet those expectations, but its up to the developers to ensure the customer didn't waste his damn time and money by optimizing it. I don't care if its a PC or console game, if the developers are on their <Mod Edit>, and I meet whats recommended, and all my drivers are up to date, then I should be able to open up the game, sit back and enjoy it, its really that simple. This isn't computer science.

That’s just 1 perspective. Another viewpoint is pc games give you a choice and flexibility. For example you may decide 60 FPS at higher game settings is what you want, but someone else with similar hardware may want 100 FPS at lower game settings. On a console you get what your given, no flexibility.

 

[Dcopymope]

That’s just 1 perspective. Another viewpoint is pc games give you a choice and flexibility. For example you may decide 60 FPS at higher game settings is what you want, but someone else with similar hardware may want 100 FPS at lower game settings. On a console you get what your given, no flexibility.

Flexibility always comes with more problems to deal with. If this weren't the case, there wouldn't be a need for stores selling PC's to have a service department, or for forums like this for people to complain for that matter. You just don't get that aggravation on a console. On a console, at least the product tends to work as advertised, and you get what you pay for.

 

[JeckeL]

Quantity doesn't equal quality, and most of those games I could care less for to start with (Dota?).

lol c'mon dude... huh? Quantity absolutely matters considering everyone is different and likes different things, just because you don't like dota doesn't mean there aren't millions of players and it hosts one of the largest esports events ever (the international) with a $30+ million prize pool. How many esports events are played on console using controllers? Like what, madden and fifa? Gimme a break dude...

 

[Dcopymope]

lol c'mon dude... huh? Quantity absolutely matters considering everyone is different and likes different things, just because you don't like dota doesn't mean there aren't millions of players and it hosts one of the largest esports events ever (the international) with a $30+ million prize pool. How many esports events are played on console using controllers? Like what, madden and fifa? Gimme a break dude...

You wouldn't be saying this if DOTA was dog poop like a lot of games on Steam. And quite a few games at epsorts events are played using controllers. You already mentioned two of them. NBA 2K is another one. You know why? Its not hard to see, its because games like NBA 2K are damn near unplayable with a keyboard and mouse. When you start these games up on a PC, the first message you get is a recommendation to use a game pad if it doesn't detect one for a better experience. I can't imagine playing a basketball game with a keyboard/mouse, and sports games in general are better on the console anyway, especially NBA 2K games. The PC versions are absolute dog poop compared to the console versions in every aspect minus the graphics and sound.

 

[DSzymborski]

Closing this thread. OP, if you want to start an actual discussion or ask a question, by all means. If you want a soapbox to rant about how much you hate PC gaming and be combative towards people who engage with you, write a blog entry somewhere. Wordpress is a good starting location.