My first weekend with the PSVR!

Droogie 2001

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Having recently purchased a PS4 Pro at Xmas I decided that the PSVR option was too much of an exciting opportunity to miss out on. My only previous experience with VR was last year at the PC Gamer show in London. These were running on HTC Vive’s with what I would imagine were powerful gaming PC’s.
I was a little concerned about how the PSVR would compare and whether the dreaded motion sickness may ruin this expensive purchase.

So, this weekend I purchased the PSVR Starter pack, x2 Move controllers and selected Resident Evil 7 Biohazard as the bundle game. :)
I had also previously downloaded a lot of PSVR demos (Until Dawn: Rush of Blood), PlayStation Demo Disk 2 etc.

After a relatively straight forward setup process I was ready. BTW it’s nice that the PS4 Pro has a rear USB port so everything is kept tidy.
I started with Persistence. Wow the graphics looked great, tracking was working nicely even if I turned 180 degrees behind. Started moving and mild motion sickness seemed to kick in straight away.Oh no…!
Moved onto Star Child having previously watched videos on this.
This was much better as it is a side scroller. Again, stunning visuals with a great depth of feel of view at the start of the demo. No sickness here but I knew that I still need to get use to the motion of in-game movement. Next up was Until Dawn: ROB demo which was fine. Used the Move controllers and had a few issues with the tracking with them. I think this was my fault as when I replayed the demo, recalibrated the controllers they seemed to regain their accuracy.
Tried Gran Turismo VR and again all okay. Shame its not more integrated into the game but hey there is always Dirt VR I guess… Played a bunch of the VR Worlds games, enjoyed the London Heist most of all. Even let the wife have a go in the Shark cage, her being a non-gamer I think she quietly enjoyed herself…

Finally decided to try the big one, Resident Evil 7 - Biohazard as I have heard a lot people having some truly terrifying experiences with this one!

Ran through the tutorial and everything was okay. Switched off the comfort modes which I realise was probably stupid idea after my experience with Persistence.
To cut a long story short I played for about 30 minutes and I did not suffer from any motion sickness. The main reason for cutting short was that I had been playing on and off for nearly 3 hours and was time for sleep!
Yesterday I had a longer session on RES 7 and it was certainly one of the best gaming experiences I have had in a very long time. Also went back to Persistence and no more motion sickness. Hopefully my body and brain have quickly adapted?!

So, my opinions so far are that the graphics are largely good with some games looking much better than others. There is obviously a reduction in graphics quality for understandable reasons. The foliage on RE7 at the beginning were flat renderings (that said I haven’t tried the 2D version so not sure if that is the same...?) The rest of graphics are very good with the sound completing your journey into this dark VR world, amazing.
The head tracking has been very good, so I am pleased with how I have my room setup.
I am now about an hour in and my experience with one of the characters has certainly caused some terrifying moments. Staring face to face with them was amazing (and terrifying!) The detail on the characters face was very detailed, I even tried to reach out and touch their face!

Hopefully my early experience with motion sickness was a one off. But if it comes back I know that I have a number of options available to me.
I am looking forward to spending more time in that dilapidated plantation house, I must be mad!

One question is how do you guys clean your PSVR? I believe you can remove the plastic shroud by un-popping it. Not looking to do this yet but inevitably it will need doing at some point.
I am also keeping the lens clean with a proper camera lens cloth, I don’t want to become obsessed with cleaning them but after a few hours they do show some grease marks.

Apologies for the long post but just needed to share my fun weekend with the PSVR.
Good times ahead I think…:clap:
 
Welcome to the other side of the looking glass, its literally 'another world'

My advice is try everything, games that look average or boring in 2D can be totally different in VR.

Also you will get better with the motion sickness, but don't push it. play more of the static games and work up, to more violent movement games.

Regarding cleaning, i just use the cloth that comes with it if i see marks on the glass, otherwise i don't clean it especially.

BTW if you have the cash this is a bargain at the moment

£45 for Farpoint and the aim controller

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01GVQV2FI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This was £80 at launch and is still very scarce! (cant belive theres still stock actually) The gun works with other games, not just the one bundled.
 
— As an Amazon Associate, AVForums earns from qualifying purchases —
Thanks for the advice, it is amazing. Like you say the 2D games can start to look, well just ordinary.

Played Rogue One VR last night. A big grin appeared on my face as the AT-AT walks by followed by a life size X-Wing in front of me!
Enjoyable game though not something I will return to very often, other than showing off to friends and family. :D

Seem to be pretty good on motion sickness. I did play the demo of Scavengers Odyssey and that made me feel pretty ill, having read reviews I don't seem to the only one.
Also played Star Blood Arena and that was starting to make me feel a bit woozy. Spinning around in 360 degrees is probably the main reason.

RE7 is as I have mentioned previously a truly terrifying! No issues with motion sickness anymore there.

Thanks for the link for the Aim controller. I am sorely tempted but understandably I am now broke for the month, still it’s very tempting...:devil:

PS. I just found out last night that my first previous experience with VR last year on the HTC Vive's was Raw Data. Played the Demo last night on the PSVR Demo 2 Disk and the penny dropped. It was not the same level I was playing but even after a year I could see that the graphics were not as sharp. Of course the setup I was playing on was probably twice/three times the cost of the PSVR so no complaints. Still looked great!
 

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