Some people don't apreciate the old games

[Kalfear]

Just a point on the issue of graphics in particular, though, and in defence of the better graphics, to say why some folk like reasonable graphics. Bear in mind I am not a kid with the attention span of a gnat btw...

 

When you have spent all day at a terminal at work, coupled with the fact that you no longer have the eyes of a hawk and your gaming time is limited, the very old games with poor graphics can be a real trial to look at and play. I loaded up Baldur's Gate...and unloaded it straight away as it gave me headache trying to see what was what on the screen. I also don't like games where everything is extremely dark or grainy, by all means dungeons should be dark and dank and have beasties that go "Booooo!" and leap out and kill you, but please, not gloom all the time!

 

Having said this, when I say decent graphics, I do not necessarily mean that they have to be up to the standard of Crysis, for example (a game I never rated as some others did.) My rig can handle anything out there ATM and I have FO3 on Ultra High, to quote but one, but I can still appreciate Morrowind (modded, it can look stunning anyway), whereas I couldn't abide Bioshock. Love The Witcher as well.

 

To me, blinding graphics certainly can't compensate for lack of storyline, a poor gaming experience and general bugginess.

 

Oh I hear you about graphics.

 

I actually cant play WOW because of all the neon flashing graphics in game. My eyes get sore and I geta head ache with in 30 minutes of playing it.

 

And im totally on board with the dark and gloom comment. I hate squinting trying to see in the dark! Drives me right batty! Loved The Witcher "Cat" potion as it eliminated that issue. LOL, first thing I did on my 2nd play through of The Witcher is make 10 Cat potions so im never with out and never forget.

 

Im not against good graphics btw, I think The Witcher 2 stands to be the BEST LOOKING RPG I have ever seen to date. That does make the game more appealing.

 

And like you, my rig can handle pretty much anything they throw at me right now (made it to play EQ2 at highest feasible settings available at the time).

 

My complaint really isnt about graphics. My personal complaint is about changing designs for "new" fans.

 

I really think if you make a RPG franchise, then all the games should be RPGs. Not RPG, then action, then shooter as your customer base never knows what they are buying!

 

I would have never bought ME2 if the reveiwers and Bioware had been honest with me and told me about how much they dumbed down the RPG elements of game! Just like ill probably not buy DA2 as from all reports it sounds like Mass Age or Dragon Effect. It sounds like combat first, everything else 2nd or lower.

 

THATS what drives me crazy.

 

Dont get me wrong, I think those people (not only kids) that buy games based on graphics alone are idiots (to put it bluntly). Games are about far more then just graphics and customers should do their just investigation (if at all possible) before buying a game.

 

The Witcher 2 gameplay

[Chaosblade02]

I find this most with younger people, especially for games and systems that were released before they were born. I still play some old Sega, and Nintendo games on my PC from time to time. Also graphics can't make a bad game good, or a decent game great.

[monkybuttface]

I was sad when i realized i couldnt make my uber assault rifle that never had to stop shooting and almost ignored shields on ME2, I mean really, isnt an RPG mostly about becoming as epicly awesome as possible? or at least when your just playing and not trying to fit a roll? If you limit in such ways, what is the point? However, what i dont understand is WHY, I mean the RPG mechanics are already in place right? why did better combat have to be at the expense of the RPG side?

And again, im 15, and I find no issue with playing a game with "bad" graphics, heck my jaw dropped when some kid said they couldnt get in to Morrowind because "the graphics are bad" idiocy, plain idiocy

[Vindekarr]

aye.

 

I still play the old classics. And even if software limitations prevent me playing them, I still keep the discs as living history. Someone needs to keep the old names alive. DIablo and other classics are what inspired modern games. Intertextuality is a powerful thing, and sometimes a game's true impact to a community is not felt for decades later/

 

ET was a loooooong time ago, but we still all shudder when we hear it's foul name and laugh as we recall the story of the cartridges being buried in the desert and then concreted over. And we've all made that joke about how they concreted them over not to keep thieves out, but to keep the games locked up so they cant escape and wreak their untold horrors on an unsuspecting world.

 

Maybe some modern games will have that legacy? who knows. We wont know till they're old and have bad graphics. Old is just as often a compliment as far as I'm concerned. Old cars still have charisma and achievments that will never be beaten, or just a certain mystique. Old wine gets better every year. Old books will always be classics and old games are what we will always remember as those that started the golden age.

[Surenas]

Metaphorically speaking it's "Brain vs Eye" and we see an ongoing shift towards the latter over the last twenty years.

 

 

Take your protein pills, boys

http://www.abload.de/img/anne9hol.gif

[monkybuttface]

But again: Why? Do graphics really have to come at the expense of good design? Cant we have shiny graphics with gameplay as polished as the classics? Does it really have to be one or the other? Im pretty sure If you make the gameplay first, then polish up the graphics you could have a pretty sweeeet game.

[Surenas]

Guess the game play of old is the problem. The former gamer interest in tricky and time-consuming problem solving is almost vanished and with it the high intellectual aspiration of the designers, cos market research results and modern product development are mutually dependent.

New games like "The Day After The Tentacle" wouldn't feed the game studio anymore.

 

 

Take your protein pills, boys

http://www.abload.de/img/anne9hol.gif

[Kalfear]

aye.

 

I still play the old classics. And even if software limitations prevent me playing them, I still keep the discs as living history. Someone needs to keep the old names alive. DIablo and other classics are what inspired modern games. Intertextuality is a powerful thing, and sometimes a game's true impact to a community is not felt for decades later/

 

 

LOL, thats funny cause I STILL HAVE (in my game closet) The box sets for ALL the old SSI Gold Box Games from way back when.

 

Thought I was only one being a packrat and holding onto this stuff

[Vindekarr]

aye.

 

I still play the old classics. And even if software limitations prevent me playing them, I still keep the discs as living history. Someone needs to keep the old names alive. DIablo and other classics are what inspired modern games. Intertextuality is a powerful thing, and sometimes a game's true impact to a community is not felt for decades later/

 

 

LOL, thats funny cause I STILL HAVE (in my game closet) The box sets for ALL the old SSI Gold Box Games from way back when.

 

Thought I was only one being a packrat and holding onto this stuff

 

That isnt being a packrat Kalfear, that's looking after history.

 

And besides, I miss the old bosses. Who here remembers the fun of killing those old 2D 16 bit bosses? what about Purple Tentacle? the original Kane? The Makron? or the most fun and funny of all in my view, Giant Robot Cyborg Hitler from wolfenstein? a fight SO BADASS they gave you the one and only "MEGA ROBOT HITLER DEATHCAM" for an instant replay of the carnage.

 

For me gaemplay has waned as graphics have risen, really really enjoyable modern games exist, but they will never rival the joy of putting a square, 2D bullet through Mega Cyborg Robot Hitler's head and then watching it replay in MW2 style killcam.

[Sinophile]

I admit that I do not play text adventures, as I lack the patience to think of all the difference combinations of words. The last text adventure I played was "A Night With Troi" about a decade ago, when I was Monkey's age. Likewise, games such as Monkey Island and Spacequest I also do not have the patience for. Final Fantasy is a prime example of the "dumbing down" of games. In FF1, you kinda had to figure out for yourself where to go. in FFXIII, the game literally played itself for you.

As the gaming market continues to expand, game developers are ever more encouraged to make games with Mass Appeal. Take Wii for instance, they made a system on which you are able to play a game with your grandmother, and it outsold it's much more advanced competitors. Also, compare the card game of Uno to Chess. Chess is a much more complex game, but how many people are going to go over to your place to play Chess?

While major gaming developers themselves continue to water down their games to appeal to less patient gamers, keep in mind t hat retro gaming fans have more platforms of which to develop and share games, albeit unprofitably, such as Flash and the Iphone.

What bothers me the most though are musical games such as DDR and Guitar Hero. The premise of these games bothers me on a philosophical level, because all you do is memorize what the machine tells you to do. Meanwhile, you could be learning to play a real instrument.