So we are just going to pretend Splatoon,  Daemon X Machina, Astral Chain, and reviving Bayonetta are not risks?

As for Zelda, this is false on so many levels.  I am going to say look at the review scores for Triforce Heros and Hyrule Warriors and leave it at that.  Nothing wrong with admitting that the majority of a certain IP just so happens to put out high quality entries.

No, I'm saying that investing in Mario/Zelda and Co (the 30 year old franchises) is not as a investment as God of War and Horizon Zero Dawn.

Thats not what you said, but ok lets pretend that you didn't forget about Nintendo taking risks on newer IPs and you were not trying to claim that all Nintendo does is reuse the same franchises without risk.

Now we have come full circle.  Once again, investment does not equal quality.  Despite being less of an investment, Breath of the Wild still beat out Horizon in sales, score, and won GotY.  Mario Odyssey scored just as high.  I play games, not investments, and therefore the notion that Sony games are better due to how much money they invest is just plain incorrect.

Now do not get me wrong, God of War and Horizon are both amazing games.  God of War was my GotY 2018, but lets take a look at some more heavily invested games on Sony's side.

Killzone Shadowfall was an expensive investment, and is one of the weakest in the franchise.  The Order 1886 was a very heavy investment, and we all know how that turned out.  Driveclub bombed, got better with patches, and is now being removed from the store.

So I will say it again, investment means little in the grand scheme of things.  What does make good games is the developers and talent behind games like Zelda, Mario, God of War, Horizon, Smash, etc.  In this regard, Sony and Nintendo both have a lot going for them.

I love the PS4. It think it is a great console with great games. However, I have not played in seriously in the past two years. Part of the reason is that I have been busy with work/school so gaming just became a lower priority. I also don't write for this site anymore which was once a huge component of my gaming time. I have tried to ease myself back into a steady habit so I can catch up on a lot of great games (Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, Uncharted The Lost Legacy, Shadow of the Colossus, etc.) but ever time I try I encounter a huge turnoff: Download and Installing data on the hard drive.

The fact that every game needs to be installed is a nightmare! Whenever I feel the urge to jump back into a game after a few months I have to check to see if it is still installed on my hard drive, physical or digital. If its not on my drive I have to go through the whole installation process all over again.  Even if it is there usually I am greeted by some mandatory update that eats up even more space and forces me to delete another game off the drive to clear up space. I tried playing GT Sport the other day and couldn't because the new update wouldn't fit on my remaining space. I just lose interest and don't even bother.

I miss the days when you could just pop in a game and it would work automatically. The most convenient situation is if I have the game digitally, it is already on my drive, and there are no multi-GB updates needed before I could play. That is honestly so rare though. I share my PS4 with my bro and we have different tastes so we have to compromise which games are installed at any given time.

I still have my launch day PS4 basic. We even upgraded the hard disk to 1TB. I know that is a pitiful amount nowadays but developers should go easy on the amount of data they use. Any suggestions? I will probably upgrade the disk again and I heard external drives are useful too.

I might just buy a PS Now subscription and play through that library.

You're a little young for the "Old man yells at cloud" phase of life, but I'll allow it.