Xbox Series S and X Thread - Backwards Compatible like no other

Alright so I have extensively used Xbox series S over the past few months and I think it's a good opportunity to share with you guys my thoughts about it. I'll keep to brief

The system UI:

Underwhelming would be an under statement. Visually, it looks no different than the now 9 year old Xbox one. Sharp edged boxy tiles, barely any transparency effects, dated animations, adverts on home screen, clash of different colours, and to add insult to injury I hooked up my series S to my 1440p 144hz screen, but the poor thing only managed to run at 1440p/60 even tho my monitor was full 144hz supported. It was very visually jarring whenever I switched from my PC to Xbox and the 60fps animations in the UI were instantly noticable.

Aside from that, it wasn't a particularly snappy experience either, sometimes games would take a full 30 seconds (even a minute!) to launch. The Xbox store, gamepass menu will flat out refuse to load if not updated. In offline mode it's even more sluggish and unpredictable. Overall the GUI is very internet speed dependent which I found really odd.

Gaming prowess:

The "1440p/60fps" is a lie. In some games it even struggle to maintain 1080p at 60fps. The drop in resolution is very noticeable. The textures in a true console style are blurry 5 feet distance ( basic anisotropic filtering). It's a 1080p/60fps machine with medium settings. Keep your expectations in check when getting it.

Quick resume and low latency mode:

It comes with a new quick resume function and a low latency mode for the controller. The input response is actually not that bad compared to say, ps4 which is downright horrible. Don't even know if LLM is active, but controller response is good.

The quick resume, at this point, on a series S, IS A GIMMICK. It bugs out often and restarts the game, other times it's flat out not supported in some titles. Even when it works, it breaks multiplayer games. The console turns on fairly quickly from a cold boot so I don't really see a need for it, but it is okay when it actually works. I don't really use it.

Build quality:
Pretty well designed and well built. Both the controller and the console itself. Looks good on a table. Makes ps5 looks like a massive cheaply build router in comparison. Kudos to Microsoft here. Noiseless, practically silent. Good unboxing experience.

Who should buy this:
If you are a PC gamer, you won't like it here, keep away. If you are a console gamer looking for a true next gen experience, look away. If your last console was a ps3/360 and you have a 1080p monitor and doesn't mind having at most three AAA games and being digital only, this might just be for you. If you are a casual gamer with no knowledge of any gaming technology and terms this is the console for you.

What would I buy if I only had 300$?

I would get a used PC, sell the old GPU and put in a new one. The second hand market for old PC components have crazy good value.

Closing thoughts:
bohut lamba hogia, parh lena Bhai, bohut Kuch rehta hai, lekin phir aur lamba hojai ga, bas Yaha tak theek hai abhi

Show iampashas post

iampasha said:

The quick resume, at this point, on a series S, IS A GIMMICK. It bugs out often and restarts the game, other times it's flat out not supported in some titles. Even when it works, it breaks multiplayer games. The console turns on fairly quickly from a cold boot so I don't really see a need for it, but it is okay when it actually works. I don't really use it.

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I've read similar complaints even from Series X players. It doesn't work across all games and is very buggy. A shame that it is still kinda broken.

Necrokiller said:

I've read similar complaints even from Series X players. It doesn't work across all games and is very buggy. A shame that it is still kinda broken.

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As someone who uses it very actively, I think it works great. Maybe I've had one case of a state not loading in the last 6 months.

Chandoo said:

As someone who uses it very actively, I think it works great. Maybe I've had one case of a state not loading in the last 6 months.

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Depends on the games you're playing too. It also affected achievements not unlocking in Hades and Psychonauts 2.


Even based on the replies, people had issues in other games as well.

Yaar ap last year August ki thread daal rae ho it's a lot more refined now. I currently have 5 games on the quick resume list and no issues in recent testing for me.

But I understand that the situation might be different in other cases.

Pasha ka experience tou past few months ka hai and it still feels like a gimmick.

But the generation lasts 7-8 years so there is still time to fix it

Chandoo said:

Yaar ap last year August ki thread daal rae ho it's a lot more refined now. I currently have 5 games on the quick resume list and no issues in recent testing for me.

But I understand that the situation might be different in other cases.

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5 Xbox Series X|S titles?

I believe for those the limit is 3.

It would be beneficial if they added quick resume as an optional, if turned off it would probably free up a few gigs which is already at a premium in these new Xboxes. The expansion slot alone cost as much as a series S lol

Major Aly said:

5 Xbox Series X|S titles?

I believe for those the limit is 3.

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Mix, a few XBO and I have a bunch of 360 games on sales.

NaNoW said:

So I am in middle of building a home theater...I am thinking about adding Xbox Series X ...however want to know how does it serve as a "stream player" ...like am I better off just connecting my PC to the projector?

I need to watch "unavailable in your region" streams

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I use my Series X as a streaming device, have set up a VPN on the router that only provides VPN to the Series X and I can bypass geo-restriction.

You can also use SmartDNS if a VPN provides that feature to set it up as well.

Use the app on your phone as a media remote and you're good to go.


If that's what you are asking.

NaNoW said:

Thank you yes, also extended question : Can you access a browser? Like Finland doesnt have Disney + or HBO Max or Amazon Prime, and for those shows, we end up using "secondary streaming websites" / KissAnime / KissCartoon - can those be accessed ?

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Use a US VPN and download those apps directly from the Microsoft Store. I guess those apps are there regardless of the region only when launching them you will get the error.

Did the same before Disney+ was locally available.

And yes, you can still access a browser.

Streaming only Xbox "Keystone" all but confirmed.

Rocksteady Dev Calls Xbox Series S a ‘Potato’ While Defending Gotham Knights at 30 FPS


Can't say I disagree, the GPU is unfortunately the weakest link in the series S. That being said, this game looks no better than Arkham knight that released 6+ years ago so I don't know what's going on here. I'm willing to bet this is gonna be a stinker of a port on PC too

Series S being weaker doesn't mean they couldn't have put more performance options in the other versions. Dying Light 2, Cyberpunk already did only 30 FPS on Series S at launch and 60 on the others.

This is just poor optimization.

It IS a potato lol.

Even the Xbox One X has a better GPU than Series S!

Chandoo said:

Series S being weaker doesn't mean they couldn't have put more performance options in the other versions. Dying Light 2, Cyberpunk already did only 30 FPS on Series S at launch and 60 on the others.

This is just poor optimization.

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Cyberpunk actually got a 60fps update on Series S too.

Gotham Knights with 30fps is presumably with RT though.