Avowed the future of AAA gaming

[JediMasterTallyn]

Access whoever thought that would be come a problem in the video game industry, someone said "Gaming journalist should have to pay for the games they review so that they will give an honest opinion".

I did not really give this much thought at the time of hearing it, but then I downloaded and played Avowed, because game pass.

Dear God. 

When a decades old RPG is STILL the gold standard what the hell are we even doing anymore.

Skyrim is over 20 years old 

Oblivion is older still

And then there is GTA Vice City. 

I bring this last one up because even in this game released almost 30 years ago the NPCs reacted to player actions. 

Avowed plays more like one of the old Final Fantasy games than a modern RPG, the only real difference  is Avowed does not have "Random Encounters"

Starfield

Veilguard

Avowed

Three games from  three different AAA studios with a history of 10/10 games with edgy content, edgy characters, engaging story, and  gameplay that keep our butts in seats to the detriment of our health sometimes. 

Now, "Oh no we might offend someone, lets not let the demon possessed assassin actually act like a demon possessed assassin, Honestly? the Moggles from the old Final Fantasy game were more engaging then the cookie cutter companions  we get now from AAA studios. 

And maybe that is the problem, they are not afraid  of failing  anymore they made their money so "Here buy our game because you loved a game we made over a decade ago and made us millions. 

Seriously 

Janky low frame rates and bad game play that make Dark Souls seem easy by comparison. Check.

Non offensive barely alive cardboard cutout companions who could care less if you save the world or go "kill them all and let the gods sort them out". Check.

Graphics that are amazing and look like they belong in a high budget Hollywood film. Check

NPCs they ignore the presence of the player even if they are shooting them in the face. Check. 

Honestly, Cyberpunk 2077 was a better game on release day than this...... Visual Novel turned game.

Also; This is not about pronouns or what ever; this is about bad games from AAA studios. You want a special pronoun? Yeah for you, have cookie and shut up I do not care. The only thing I ask of people is that you treat others around you with common decency and respect. If you try and blame this on WOKE I will assume you are a rage baiting troll and ignore you. This is about AAA studios shoving piss poor games down our throat and telling us to bend over and  take it again and again.

 Be honest if Starfield had been the game all the hype made it out to be would you have given a crap about pronouns? no you would not. You would have just chalked it up to yet another way to customize your character and gaming experience.  Not every option is for you, some of them are for other people. That has always been my attitude about  these kind of choices, personally I thought it was cool. The only complaint I have ever had is  making all companions bisexual, personally I prefer some of each makes for better story telling. The companions being "attracted to the player not matter what" is a cop out and lazy, people are not like that, personally I was hoping that someday if you choose a certain body type certain companions would not be romanceable. 

i.e.: Grogg is straight and will only romance females but they also have to be of the curvy or large body type, he will find the thin or skinny body type to be underfed and offer them meals if they attempt to romance him. "Umm perhaps another time, would you like some of this stew It is freshly made?"

The real world is complicated not everyone is going to like you the way you want them too, and that has nothing to do with skin tone, gender, sexuality or any other BS reason we have found to separate ourselves into these little groups. Yes sometimes it does but most of the time? people could careless. 

90% of all actual face to face human interaction can be summed up thusly: "Oh sorry did not mean to block your path" "No prob, have a good one" "You too"

Or: "Hey" Hello" "How are you?" "Good, you?"  "Pretty Good, oh the line moved" "Thanks, my turn have a nice day" "You too"

The second is dependent on if you decide to engage with said stranger standing beside you, most of the time you are going to be looking at some hand held device ignoring the world around you and raging at some dipsticks post on Twitter.

Most people just do not care they have their own lives and issues and are too busy dealing with them to worry about yours. This is not a mean thing is just is. Be real, are you at all worried beyond "Oh I hope he gets better" That  I am in severe depression because I had a stroke and my health tanked? No and I am not offend by that you have worries of you own, like feeding yourself and your dependents. 

But seriously what is your take on the state of the AAA game market?

Personally I am starting to check and if it is a studio I have heard of, I am checking YouTube for reviews before buying. I am more likely to buy a indie game now that some big market game.

Sorry for the long winded rant.

[HeyYou]

Games these days do their best to appeal to as many people as possible...... You know, "casual gamers"..... Which means, some folks that actually like their games to be challenging, at least partially reflect reality, and provide real consequences for your actions.... don't exist any more. In Morrowind, if you joined one faction, there would be a couple others that you could NOT join..... In Oblivion, you could become the leader of every faction in the game..... even factions that are diametrically opposed in their beliefs/goals..... Same in Skyrim. The games went from actual Role Playing games, to action/adventure games, with a few role playing elements. Ah well.

I still enjoy starfield for what it is though. Its a fun game, and its getting to the point that there are sufficient mods out, to address most of it's shortcomings..... My load order isn't huge, but, it sure changes the way the game plays.

[JediMasterTallyn]

Your take is most likely spot on and maybe that is the  problem, catering to the lowest common denominator, or what ever it is called, has always been lazy and does not  go over well. 

Dark Souls is a prime example, I have played the first game for 1 hour. I never got past the first boss; the one like 5 whole minutes into the game. (Yes, I am in fact aware of how sucky that is no need to rub my nose in it.) This game was not for me, however, the franchise prints money. 

Why?

The developers took pride in the difficulty and quality of their games; and people recognized this and bought the games. 

Maybe if I had tried harder I would have enjoyed Dark Souls I hear it has a deep engaging story that flows through each game all the way to Elden Ring similar to how the Elder Scrolls was handled before money become more important.  (This is rumors I have never really looked to hard at the franchise because I did not enjoy it, I am aware of it because of its popularity, feel free to correct me if I am wrong here. It is a great game just not for me.)

I think what we are seeing is similar to what happened to the US car companies in the 1980's "People will by our cars no matter how crap they are because we made them."

Next thing  they knew imports were eating their lunch.

Now AAA studios have a similar attitude, and indies are thriving, or maybe it was always this way and Skyrim, Assassins Creed, and similar games spoiled us. 

Perhaps Mel Brooks  was right  and ever single sequel ever should have the subtitle "The Quest for More Money"

But I bring up Dark Souls for a very specific reason, this is not a game I like, this is not a game I enjoy. However, even I who am not a fan of said game can recognize the quality of said game through YouTube, streamers, forums, and the  over all success of the  game in general.

Game recognizing game.

[HeyYou]

When it became more about 'profit', than about 'making great games', quality nose-dived. Morrowind was a really niche game, and didn't appeal to  a wide audience, but, the hard-core RPG folks LOVED it. Game play was more about character skill, than player skill..... Even given the limitations of graphics at the time...... And not so strangely, the game is still loved today, and folks are still crankin' out mods for it. More than 20 years after release. But, I think Oblivion, and Skyrim are still getting new mods fairly regularly as well..... so, take that for whatever it's worth.

Starfield has some great game play elements.... Ground combat is pretty good, space combat is ok...... I love the boarding mechanic, and being able to take over ships...... (one of my in-game hobbies.....) The story is ok, but, works out with the whole NG+ mechanic... Some of the quests are REALLY well done, and a LOT of fun.... Others? Well, I can ignore them, and not feel like I am missing anything. All in all, it's a decent game, and I will likely being playin' it for quite a while. I have already gotten my money's worth out of it. But, I am all about 'icing on the cake'.