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PlayStation Cloud Streaming is surprisingly good now (streamed PS3 GoW HD 1 & 2)

LectureMaster

Gold Member
In the light of Ragnarok, I am surely not alone wanting to revisit the OG Greek trilogy.

While GoW III is easily accessible as there is a remastered version for PS4, there isn't really a convenient way to play the first two games - I haven't had a PS3 since 2010, the vita version has performance issue, and you either need a powerful PC to emulate PS3 or have to spend time meticulously tweaking PS2 emulator.

Yes there is one more way to play - via PS Plus Premium's cloud streaming service. But I had been skeptical about Sony's streaming service - I subscribed to PS Now a few years ago and the experience wasn't great - there were noticeable input lagging and video/audio breaks. It was by no meanings feasible to play action games. And the skepticism is why I've been keeping at the second tier PS Plus since launch.

But the urge to play the OG Kratos is so strong and I finally pulled the trigger to upgrade. And I happily found the streaming experience is much more satisfying now. The most surprising part is that the input lag is virtually gone - during the playthrough, I was able to do all precise timing inputs, perfect parry right before being hit, etc.. There were a few hiccups where the video and audio broke for one second, but overall the streaming quality was consistent - for most time, it felt like I am playing a normal game on my local SSD. Granted, it was just PS3 games and 720P, but the consistent framerate and precise controls really elevated the experience. Because of the enjoyment, I even took my time, beat all the challenges, and platinum'ed both games.

Everyone:

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Me:

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As for the games themselves, they hold up pretty well, in fact, I'd say they actually feel like rather modern in terms of design - the hack and slash gameplay is as satisfying as it ever is, the game pace and puzzle design, especially GoW 2, still feels very fresh and doesn't diverge much from nowadays games. The utmost angry and violent Kratos feels day and night different from the father figure Kratos, not saying it is better, but it is a nice change of flavor. Overall, I'd say I got what I wanted from streaming the GOW I and II from PS premium cloud.

Also tested some other PS3 games like Castlevania Lords of Shadow, and it also played very well. This opens up much potential to me as there are many good classical games in the premium tier. If you are on the same boat, might worth giving it a whirl, and also there is the Black Friday deal that's 25% off for subbing PS Plus service.
 
you have people struggling to give up their plastic discs. you won't be able to convince anyone to stream games on here lol.

i did stream some games and thought it was a good experience. felt like i was playing the game locally. image quality was good and i didn't feel any lag.
 
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It was ok when I binged a handful of games last year (GOW: Ascension, Spec Ops The Line, and Enslaved) on PS Now.

Visual quality was the biggest casualty, but response time from inputs was manageable.

But it’s still a significant downgrade, in spite of the streaming feasibility.
 

rofif

Banned
I tried gow 1 two months ago and it sucked ass horribly.
Stuttering, distorted audio and delay.
But it's Poland. we are probably too far from servers
 

dotnotbot

Member
I guess I am gonna try Infamous now.

Some time ago I tried playing Infamous 1 natively on PS3 and was surprised how shitty it runs. I guess I wasn't as sensitive 10+ years ago when I played it for the first time. So even if the streaming itself is perfect performance may still suck.
 
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BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
Cloud gaming in general is getting good. There are free Luna games every month if you have amazon prime and I tried DMCV thinking it would be a shitshow and it was actually totally fine. 15 years from now people who still want physical hardware will probably be looked at like the weirdo audiophiles who spend a shitload of money on vinyl and headphones.
 
Yea pretty much all streaming services seem to work well in my area at this point. Wish they would add streaming support for PS5 games too but I’m sure it will come.
 

Jayjayhd34

Member
You n emulate GoW 1/2 on a calculator these days. Why stream it?

Interesting really want play through them again never actually completed three as got burnt out after completing first too. Got high end pc ps5 so it's either emulation or streaming I've never had much look with emulators.
 

Bragr

Banned
Do you guys actually get clean resolutions for this? I always get that 5% fog on all cloud games across PSN or xCloud, I'm over it until they can get it to run properly and look clean.
 
Not surprised to hear this. As the tech matures and the algorithms improve cloud gaming will continue to improve. Now whether it ever achieves parity with local gaming idk but I think it gets to a point where the difference is negligible.
 

Jayjayhd34

Member
Do you guys actually get clean resolutions for this? I always get that 5% fog on all cloud games across PSN or xCloud, I'm over it until they can get it to run properly and look clean.
Rachet and clank looked awful last time played it but this looks pretty clean.
 

DaGwaphics

Member
I played a good chunk of Spiderman on there and it played okay and that was a couple years ago. I complete a lot of GP quests using Xcloud and those always play great too.

The technology has moved forward enough that most single player games are going to work just fine. Where you'll have issues is if you are trying to play multi-player twitch shooters against opponents playing on local hardware.
 

nocsi

Member
They’re still using the proprietary Gaikai protocol and haven’t moved off of it. There are better alternatives available but Sony is now stuck with the technical debt.
 
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Skifi28

Member
The latency is not terrible, but the visual quality looks like YouTube 240p. If you have no other way to play said games it kinda works, but I wouldn't recommend it.
 
Interesting really want play through them again never actually completed three as got burnt out after completing first too. Got high end pc ps5 so it's either emulation or streaming I've never had much look with emulators.

do you have a series s or x? its ridiculously easy to emulate PS2 on them. might be worth getting a series s just for this purpose.
 
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LordCBH

Member
Sometimes I get a flawless experience (such as when I did one of the older Ratchets on the service the other day), but sometimes I get an atrocious service. Did GoW Ascension yesterday and the lag spikes were unreal. (1200 down)
 
PS Streaming has always been good. Played through all the older GOW games using it also.

Only issues I've had is when the connection times out due to the game being paused for too long.

But your experience its going to vary based on the type of internet connection you have.
 

leo-j

Member
Yea it’s not that bad, nice to have that option when u can’t download because of storage space issues. Been playing ratchet and clank the OG ps3 remastered via stream and haven’t had any issues either.
 
I just streamed my firs game after signing up for the complete PS+ service. Startup was slow but once I was in game it was pretty seamless. I'm running Fallout NV but will hold judgement on something that moves a bit faster. Assetto Corsa next? Anyway, I don't know how much I will use it for new games but the PS3 function is great. I don't have a working PS3 and yes I know I'm paying twice for games I already own yadda yadda. The service satisfies nostalgia urge and is there for new things I want to try.

That being said, I will always have and buy physical copies. I do like collecting them and having games at my real life fingertips. There's something about going to my shelf and picking out my next play through. Seeing the box art, maybe reading the back if I need a refresher on what's in there. I's like a warm up to playing, gets me more excited to start a new adventure.

All the snarky "give up your little plastic disks" commenters just don't get it. Which is fine but not sure where the animosity comes from. I think the problem disc owners have (at least me) is one of control. If I feel like playing a particular game then I don't want to be concerned that it may have left the service. For example: AC Valhalla is leaving PS+ Extra next month. When it leaves (it's a long playthrough game) you either let it go or buy a copy, which defeats the purpose etc. Disappearing content is always a bad thing and is a reason I will continue to buy physical for anything I will play more than once. I will also be using the streaming service going forward.
 
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bender

What time is it?
I ran through Ico when the new service tiers launched and it seemed fine. I did have one instance of horrible slowdown.
 

MidGenRefresh

*Refreshes biennially
if by 'calculator' you mean a midrange gaming PC/ Xbox series S then yes. PCSX2 is unoptimized for lower end systems though

Mid-range gaming PC? :messenger_grinning_sweat: You can emulate God of War on 150$ handheld and you'll probably have better experience than streaming it if your internet is not up to the task.

It really is not that difficult.




 

NeonGhost

uses 'M$' - What year is it? Not 2002.
Yeah I found that PlayStation streaming had better quality than the Xbox for some reason
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
I have my PS3 hooked up still and have switched between the two, it looks like dog shit in comparison.
But I guess if you haven't got something to compare it to and are just thinking (oh it's an older game so that why it doesn't look as sharp and crisp)
Yeah I suppose you can say it okay.
But it isn't.
 

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
Mid-range gaming PC? :messenger_grinning_sweat: You can emulate God of War on 150$ handheld and you'll probably have better experience than streaming it if your internet is not up to the task.

It really is not that difficult.





this is news to me, i thought the best these types of handhelds could do was dreamcast. Handheld tech runs fast these days 🤯
in that case you're right and i stand corrected
 

MidGenRefresh

*Refreshes biennially
this is news to me, i thought the best these types of handhelds could do was dreamcast. Handheld tech runs fast these days 🤯
in that case you're right and i stand corrected

Too fast to be honest with you. Every 2-3 months the "next best thing" is released. It's hard to keep up.
 

Gamerguy84

Member
I've streamed a total of 3 games on my PS5. Two Infamous and one RandC.

They all looked and performed great. Still prefer local but it's playable. Of course I have fiber though.
 
Streaming is much better than it used to be. However, the reason I flipped so quickly with MS is because streaming is 100% entirely optional and just an added benefit at zero additional cost to me. The second it is required and the only option available is when I sour on it fast.
 

skit_data

Member
Played GoW Ascension via PS+ Premium because it’s the only one in the series I don’t own on PS3 and while it was a decent experience and I made it all the way through the resolution and varying degree of input lag made it a chore at times. It doesn’t help that some games really don’t seem to run all that well on the hardware itself (Arkham Origins was unplayable IMO).
 

01011001

Banned
it's not good, the the latency barely improved from all the older tests, new tests still show up to 100ms of additional latency and at least 80ms, which is by far the worst of any modern streaming service
 
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Topher

Gold Member
Last time I tried, it wasn't good. That been a bit though. I've tried xCloud and GFN. GFN still doesn't have a rival as far as I'm concerned, but that may change as Microsoft is building a datacenter a couple hours from my home.

you have people struggling to give up their plastic discs. you won't be able to convince anyone to stream games on here lol.

i did stream some games and thought it was a good experience. felt like i was playing the game locally. image quality was good and i didn't feel any lag.

I still use plastic discs and yet somehow I stream games as well. So much for generalizations.
 
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Knightime_X

Member
Streaming for me is like an absolute LAST resort.
Like LLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAASSSSTTTTTTT resort.
I will attempt everything under the sun before I go to streaming games.
 
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