Intensive Gaming Diary

Blog about different aspects of retro and new video games.

Tag: playstation 4

Where to Start With PS4?

Posted on by Viljami

I have recently got to play some very nice games for PS4. The idea behind this blog post is to introduce some games that are good starting points if you are just starting out with PS4. I have three recommendations if you are trying to figure what game to start with when it comes to PS4.

PS4 was originally released back in 2013. That makes it already eleven years old as a gaming system. It had some competitors (mainly Xbox One). It offered improved performance, graphics, a new controller and updates to overall playability. The device offers Full HD through HDMI. So, it isn’t capable to 4K.

There are some reasons to buy a PS4 in 2024. If you do not have the latest and greatest television or any other type of display you can still enjoy smooth graphics performance. There is a huge library of games released for PS4. Also the price of this console is lower than newer devices. You can also easily find a new console or maybe a used one. Either way you are paying many hundreds of euros less if you pick PS4 over, for example, PS5.

You made your decision and want to get into playing some PS4? Great! “What would be some good games for this system?”, one might ask. I have an almost perfect answer to you. I am about to present to you my current favorite games for this system.

I got my PS4 back in the spring of 2014. I was still very keen on my studies at that moment so I had to save some money. The console did cost 400 euros. As I wanted a game to go with my PS4 I chose to spend additional 50 euros for a game. This game was then very new and shiny Tomb Raider. This is a new game and it has very little to do with the original adventure game series. In any way this game was my first and it is also a very good game that I personally picked for my first PS4 game.

There have been two more games released in this a bit newer Tomb Raider game series. The other games are Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016) and Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018). Games are available also for PC and Xbox One and also for most newest consoles that actually are PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. I have to bring up also Tomb Raider I-III Remastered in this conversation. These games were remakes of old Tomb Raider games and they were released earlier this year. These might be your piece of cake if you are into some old school and retro type of action games.

I have two other games that I am going to deal with in this blog post. These are way newer than Tomb Raider that was actually not a launch game but released very closely after PS4 was launched. It was launched in 2014. Spider-Man Miles Morales was released in 2020 and God of War – Ragnarök in 2022.

While the first Spider-Man was a good game I think Miles Morales made a significant improvement. I really liked this game. It wasn’t so long as a video game. It took me maybe ten hours to clear. If you really like the game there is also some content that you can play after you have finished the main story.

God of War – Ragnarök has become my favorite game in the God of War series. I am still actually onto playing it. I have spent 26 hours already in it and also waiting to finish the game very soon. It just offers you a perfect experience as a video game. I have really enjoyed playing God of War – Ragnarök.

Latest New Games That I Added to My Collection

Posted on by Viljami

So, this is a blog post about latest new games that I added to my collection of video games. I got these for cheap prices. I bought Lords of the Fallen and Dying Light 2 for Xbox Series X and Batman – Arkham Knight for PS4. I am not going to go so close to how much these games did cost. I am such a person that values a cheap price. I often find myself thinkinh about a game if its in a very good sale.

As you might see I haven’t yet opened the seal of Dying Light 2 and Batman – Arkham Knight. Sometimes unopened games can have a better selling price if you are selling them to someone after many years. However I am not planning to sell these. I am going to play these two games when I have time.

The game that I have played for about four hours is Lords of the Fallen. It is an action role-playing-game with smooth looking 3D environment. The camera is positioned as a 3rd person view. Gameplay is versatile and I think after playing already four hours I still haven’t managed to get a full grip of all of the controls and features that it offers. This is a very nice game and I hope to be able to play it some more later.

I have recently bought many retro games. It is also nice to buy new games for alternation. I am lucky as my PS4 seems to be working. I wonder if it’s going to break and I think some day it actually will. I hope it would last for many years. I’ve had a bad luck with my original Xbox and PS2 consoles and I found that they are not so durable after all these years. It has to be mentioned that these devices are over twenty years old. I wonder also if they have such a good quality after all. Maybe newer consoles last better in frequent use. At least I hope they do.

Dying Light 2 has had some reviews that have been positive. Everyone just doesn’t consider it to be a good game at all. I have played the first Dying Light game and I didn’t enjoy it so much. I stumbled on this copy of the sequel and since it was sold at half price I thought I could buy it after all.

Batman – Arkham Knight for PS4 was sold at a price of twenty euros. It is a re-release as PlayStation Hits. If a game gets re-released it propably tells you something about how it has managed to get an audience and how well it has sold. I think this one can be also a very good game to play. It is a bit older game (but not a retro game, at least yet).

All-in-all I am content in these new games that I have bought. I like to buy games that I like and am able to play. My collection keeps slowly growing. I like to keep games that I have bought in my collection even if I have already completed them. Some games I store in my gaming shelf and some games I have to put in to separate storage that I have. So I have some consoles and games positioned nicely for the collection to be visible also to some friends that come to visit our home.

About Modern PC Controllers

Posted on by Viljami

This blog post deals with controllers for PC. I have used these three different gamepads for gaming on Windows 10. I don’t know, exactly, how these controllers work in Linux gaming. So, that part is out of the context of this post. Let’s get to it!

There are three, mainly, three controllers I have used. They are Sony Dualshock 4, the controller of PS4, Microsoft Elite Pad, that is designed for Xbox One and, my latest addition, PDP Neon Carbon that is used, mainly, with Xbox Series S/X. All these gamepads can be used with Windows 10.

Dualshock 4 (the red controller in the image) needs an app so it can be used. That app is DS4Windows. This gamepad works very well with PC. Only thing that is really annoying is the mapping of buttons. As I have learned by my experience, Windows apps tend to map controllers as Xbox One or Xbox Series S/X controllers. This is a bit irritating. I think this issue can be solved. There are for example USB dongles that can be used as a solution. As I noticed this problem I had a quick fix for it already – I changed to my oldest gamepad that is Elite Pad (the one in the middle in the image).

Buttons have been configured correctly when you are using Xbox One’s gamepad. It is often taken care that a controller that can be used in a Xbox Series console will be compatible with Windows also. I think you can even take a Xbox 360 controller and plug it in so you can use it to play with a PC.

By the way, all these controllers I have been using have had a wired connection. I haven’t even tried to get bluetooth to work with these. Why would I do that? My desktop doesn’t even have a bluetooth itself. I use a bluetooth dongle for a wireless connection whenever there is a need for such. It also seems that all these three controllers have a USB-to-micro-USB connection. Even the third gamepad, that is meant for new Series X, also sports a micro-USB, instead of the most popular, USB-C. This however makes only a little difference. And basically all you need is a cable that has about a metre or one and a half metres of lenght.

So, I was very involved in this and I was using the Elite Pad. It is of a very good quality. It was expensive and it has served well over ten years of use. After all, it started to break down a bit. There was a part, that I think was originally glued to its place, that I had to remove. It was sticking out and the controller didn’t fit so nicely anymore. I decided to get a newer controller. Of course my thoughts were to buy a controller of Xbox Series X. I had some thoughts about DualSense, but since Xbox and Windows go well together, I decided to go for the Xbox on this one.

It first seemed that the replaicment would definitely be a combo of wired and wireless. It would be an Xbox Series X controller. I first thought that I would buy the official controller. I made my way to a store. I found out that they were actually out of these controllers. I noticed an optional model. It actually was this PDP Xbox Series X controller.

The controller was only 45 euros or so. So it was 20 euros cheaper than the official controller. When it comes to gaming this kind of a swing can be a gamechanger. And that’s how it was for me in this situation. I got the gamepad and went home as a happy duude.

First thing I noticed with this controller was that it doesn’t have a battery included. It is a wired controller. It has a functionality and you can remove the cord. This might seem useless but it actually makes sense in a way. You can replace the cord if you are on the move or if it gets damaged in some way. It is very light. The feel is awesome. I like this controller and I haven’t noticed anything to complain about. It is compatible with Windows 10 and you don’t necessarily need any app to use it in this way. There is some sort of an app avvailable as a donwload.

We can have a tiny summary here out of this blog post. I am very content on my new controller. It is a nice update to my old Elite Pad. I have to say that Elite Pad really served very well for its price of 130 euros. It has an option to load a battery in it. It also has some adjustments and a bit of weight for the controller to feel good. It was although time to move on with it. You can also try to use PlayStation controllers with a PC. Some games might feel better this way. I didn’t go through Linux or Mac gaming in this blog post but as you can probably figure there is a wholea other world in that way also.

Some Notes About Doom Eternal

Posted on by Viljami

Last Saturday I picked up Doom Eternal. Its price was 30 euros. I decided to buy it. I have been thinking to buy this game for a while already. It is a very good first person shooter. I bought it for PS4. The game shelf in this store I was in was not so convincing. I am glad that I found at least one good game. Doom Eternal is a sequel to Doom that was released in 2016. This sequel was released in 2020.

The logic of this shooter game differs a bit from another strong FPS named Call of Duty. In CoD you basically have lots of ammunition all the time. It is necessary to take cover and move as swiftly as you can from cover to the next one. You get ammo and health packs here and there. It is also important to hit your enemies to the head preferably.

In Doom Eternal you basically have to kill monsters to gain health, armor and ammunition. You have to constantly keep killing your enemies to not be killed and to gain health. Armor is also important. Your health bar will stay up longer if you do have armor.

There is also upgrades to your weapons, maximum health and armor. Sometimes you will come across a puzzle to be solved. This makes the game have a clear rhythm. Weapons that you get to use vary. You might use rocket launcher to shoot your enemies from a distance. For a close combat you can use shotgun or even the chainsaw. Killing an enemy with a chainsaw gives you a bonus in health, ammo and armor. However you cannot kill every enemy with a one chainsaw swing. Sometimes the monster has such a level that you must use three chainsaw moves. So you can collect up to three moves and then you can finish a strong enemy.

There are many monsters in this game that we have seen in previous Doom games. I must remind you that the first Doom was actually released in 1993. Many of these enemies have a weak spot. Some of them are easier to kill in close combat. One monster actually swallows a grenade if you throw it to it. Another monster uses flamethrower in close combat so you have to beware that move, always.

I am satisfied with this game. However I don’t like that you cannot actually see, from a phone app, how many hours you have spent playing. So I don’t accurately know how many hours I have put in to this game already. I had to choose the easiest difficulty level. I am not so skilled in this game. I guess if I keep playing more I keep developing my skills also. By the way…I absolutely love the Xbox phone application. It is perfect!

Moving Slowly Towards Wirelessness

Posted on by Viljami

Wireless controllers have been around already for a long time. I have been a bit slow in utilizing them. I first encountered this issue back when PS3 was the most powerful PlayStation console. The battery life wasn’t so great back then. I went and bought two three meter long cables for my two Dual Shock 3 controllers so I wouldn’t have to charge them all the  time. If there were some practical charging stations I am sure that I didn’t have one back then.

Back in 2014 I removed PS3 from my setup completely and replaced it with PS4. As you can probably imagine I didn’t have any retro consoles or at least I didn’t include them to my setup. I have talked about this earlier in some other posts in this blog so I am not going to go through this again.

So I got a PS4 that had a wireless controller. I wanted also this new Dual Shock 4 controller to transform into a wired type of device. I used the cable that I already had and bought an adapter. I had to do this since Dual Shock 3 had a different connector than this new Dual Shock 4 controller. This however wasn’t enough and I went and bought another three meters long cable. The point here is that I didn’t like wireless controllers.

I got many retro consoles. But I didn’t get a new latest console until I bought Xbox Series S. This was in 2021. It had a very good wireless controller. I was still a bit unconfortable with it being wireless. For a long time I had a cable for this controller. It was only when I got a good charging station that also had modified lids for battery slot and also two batteries with it that I got really into using wireless controllers.

If you read my last blog post you already know I got a Pro Controller for my Nintendo Switch yesterday. It is wireless. It came with a short charging cable. The first thing I did was that I charged it. It takes six hours for it to charge fully. I am trying to use it mainly as a wireless controller.

The controller feels nice. As mentioned earlier it doesn’t have those annoying trigger buttons at the back of the controller. I played some NBA 2K with it. If there would be some good quality charging station for this controller I would have a use for it. I haven’t found one at least not yet.

Many retro consoles do have wired controllers. For a younger gamer it might seem odd that I am so used to playing video games with a wired controller. There is also a one difference in Pro Controller of Switch and the one that is for Series S and X. That is that Xbox’s controller has a removable battery which makes it more modifiable compared to the Pro Controller. Also PS4 and PS3 controllers don’t have a removable battery in them. I haven’t opened a controller like this so I don’t actually know if the battery can be somehow be replaced.

This was once again such an interesting topic and I wanted to write about it. So, thanks for reading and have a very merry Christmas my Dear Reader!

The Xbox Experience

Posted on by Viljami

I have a history with Microsoft’s game console, Xbox. Sony had already entered the field back when they released their first console, PlayStation. Back then I remember some of us, players, felt that Microsoft was only after big profits. They had already shown their somewhat greediness in operating system business. Why do they have to enter the gaming field?

PlayStation 2 was released before original Xbox. In next years it sold a lot and  it sold over 100 million units as Xbox sold “only” about 30 million units. This figures aren’t as accurate as could be but I think they give a tip about how the markets were formed. As Sega retreated their efforts to bring new gaming to markets, Sony and Microsoft kept competing against each other. And of course there was also Nintendo.

Today we can compare the most powerful home gaming consoles and we can talk about PlayStation 5 versus Xbox Series X. Actually, I just got my Series X yesterday. I have been using Xbox Series S for over one and a half years. I do have PS4 but I don’t really have any experience from PS5 be it digital or a device with an optical drive in it. Of course I have experience from latest games of Nintendo Switch and PC also. But it seems to me that I could compare PS5 and Xbox Series X, since they are, in my opinion, really close to each other.

I have very good experiences of Xbox. The thing that I have liked the most is the Android app that I can use to share my screenshots, see the time that I have spent on a Series S/X game and also to see what trophies I have achieved. It has been really easy to work with my account. It was really easy to move all my data, like saved games, to a new gaming console as I made the transition from Series S to Series S. I can also see how my player points look like. The account and the app also can show how many points I have gathered playing Xbox 360 games. I currently have 76 percentage of all of the trophies of Forza Motorsport 3.

My experiences with PS4 aren’t as convincing. I got my PS4 back in 2014. So I have used it for several years. Today, I find that if we compare this experience in overall to the new generations experiences that I’ve had I would like to tell you that…I actually like Xbox Series consoles more. PS4 has some kind of Android application also. But, for sharing a screenshot, you have to plug in a USB stick. That’s a bit wack. Also I didn’t like the overall feel of most games. I think they went after eSports players and made many games too difficult for an average gamer. In my opinion these games also lacked some playability.

Don’t get me wrong. I think PS4 is a great console. Although when compared to Series X/S it cannot compete. There are many really good games on PS4. I especially have enjoyed NBA 2K14, Dirt Rally (1 and 2.0), Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 and many others that I really don’t recall as I am writing this.

What I mainly wanted to say in this blog post is that I have enjoyed Xbox Series S/X very much. I don’t know if you should think that Series X is better than PS5. I think you should make up your own mind and maybe have a conversation with a friend about this. Xbox is nice but I have some very meaningful history with PlayStation. And of course – don’t forget Nintendo and if you are a bit of a retro type don’t forget Sega…and maybe even Atari.

My Personal Relationship with PS4

Posted on by Viljami

I hadn’t thought about PlayStation 4 yet when a friend asked me a question – Do you know when is the new console actually getting released? That was probably back in 2013. Before that comment entered my mind I had been steadily working through titles available for PS3. I had played almost endless series of driving games like Need For Speed series and Dirt 1 and 3.

I had time and energy to play video games. Back then I wasn’t so interested, as you can figure, about retro games. They were only a slight curiosity I casually worked with using emulators on a PC. So I thought it would be nice to finally buy the latest PlayStation.

I actually made the purchase after I had just turned 30 years old in 2014. My budget was, back then, low, but I managed to save money to buy the device. I bought also my first PS4 game at the same time. It was Tomb Raider that was released back in 2013.

At first I had an ambitious idea of completing every game I got for PS4. It worked out only until I got like my fifth game or so. I managed to get through Tomb Raider and Call of Duty Ghosts. Games for PS4 were pricey at that time and there was only small selection. Many games were releases of old games released as HD remakes. So I had a new gaming console but there were only a handful of games.

Was it really worth it? I started to think about this. When I am writing this I think that this device had some really nice games. Some of my favorite games are NBA 2K14 and Dirt Rally. These two really stand out in the list of my favorite games for PS4. I just think there were many titles that I didn’t really get into so much. I guess it has also something to do about that I was back then already a bit over 30 years old.

It is said that when you are young you get more inspired by the music of that time. I think this goes also for video games. One year can be very significant for a nineteen-year-old but one year for a forty-year-old is not so big deal. So I was a bit older and had already got through experiences of the first PlayStation. I just think that PS4 never conquered my hearth like PS1 once did. This personal relationship made me think that it would be not a good idea to buy a new gaming console. So tot this day I haven’t found a reason to get a new console. I have a fresh PC that I can play also some new games.

After all there is an infinite amount of games that you can play. I think the games I am going to play don’t necessarily have to be the newest anymore and PS4 kind of ended my habit of playing the newest games released. PS4 is now not the newest gaming console anymore. It isn’t retro either. It is somewhere in between of retro and new. I think it’s time now for me to take some distance to this console and try to find some other games that I can enjoy. If you did enjoy PS4 or are still enjoying it that’s fine. I just think it lacked a personality and that’s why I have not played it or enjoyed playing it as much as I did PS3 and some older devices.

What’s Going On?

Posted on by Viljami

This blog is mainly about gaming. It’s also my dear hobby and it always tells something also about me. So I dedicate this blog post to describing what has been going on lately in my life. I still try to write here as frequently as possible. It just seems that I don’t right now have so much time for video games. But I do have played a bit of Skyrim. Well, I have played it for about six and a half hours. I also started working again. I was unemployed for just about three weeks. So I got my next job almost instantly. It’s been keeping me busy but at least I don’t have to work on weekends.

There are lots of games available today. I chose my next game to be Skyrim. If you haven’t played it or if you are considering whether to get your hands on it, I can describe it a bit here. It might first seem that this game is some kind of an action game. That’s not completely true. I would compare to the first Deus Ex. It combines action and roleplaying elements cleverly. It’s not turn based but the game play is strongly depending on things like developing your character. Your character develops as you do different things and gather the actual experience. In the beginning of the game you get to choose your characters class and of course you have to modify the look and feel of your character visually and of course you have to give the character a good name that you can relate to.

There are many skills in Skyrim that you can develop. There’s too many for me to start telling something about them. Let’s just say there are maybe hundreds of them. There is also some magic skills that you can learn and use. You have to choose do you want to battle with two handed weapons, one handed weapons using also a shield or maybe you want to use ranged weapons like a bow. You can carry a limited amount of equipment with you. If the limit is reached your characters get slow. You can save your game any time you want and you can even use one quick save slot.

To this day I find this game interesting. It isn’t the newest game around. And the version I am playing is for PS4 so it is a HD remake. I already had this game for PS3 and Xbox 360 but I bought this latest remake so I could enjoy a bit better graphics. It was, again, in sale so I decided to buy it. Well, I also ordered one very interesting game at same time. It was actually Tetris for NES. So I made again a small purchase that had, again, very interesting games in it.

Maybe that is all for now. I hope I don’t get too tired and get to spend also time playing more video games as I do have free time sometimes.

First touches of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 on PS4

Posted on by Viljami

I’m a big fan of THPS. I have been that way since the very first game that was released on PlayStation 1. So it’s not a big surprise I have been waiting for this remake to drop. I bought this remake two days ago. In this blog post I’m going through my feelings on this release. I have played only completed 50% of the first THPS so I have a lot to play. It’s been nice to find out that the game is basically a lot like it used to be. Oh the nostalgia!

When first THPS was released on PS1 you couldn’t do manuals. This feature has been added to the game. It’s not a bad thing. This game, or collection, if you want to say so, is a good remake. It doesn’t stand up as a full new game. It is, to me anyways, a very good remake. There are some limitations that were probably there when the original game was released. Those slight flaws are also ones that make the game what it is and what it always was. There could be another very good skateboarding game to be made. This is a very good remake of a very good original game. And I’m happy I got this for about 45 euros instead of, say, 65 euros.

I can recommend this collection even if you haven’t played original THPS one or two. It would be a nice introduction to this genre and maybe even an introduction to how gaming used to be in the days when THPS 1 and 2 were the newest games ever released. Three dimensional modelling has advanced greatly since the release of these original games. Back then it was easier to spot an object just because there were so few of them. I particularly noticed this one as I was trying to trash all the “no skating signs”. It was much more difficult to spot these signs.

All in all I am very pleased in this gaming product that was brought to us by Activision. I haven’t found anything that would disappoint me or make me unable to enjoy this experience. It’s nice to have a good PlayStation gamepad to play this game. I think DualShock 4 is way better to play this game than some earlier PlayStation controllers. I hope I find some time to play this game a lot more.

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