Is gaming getting bad or am I growing up?

[Deleted1744345User]

Indeed the games these days do suck. I still play Star Wars: Empire at War, which is from 2006! It's one of my favorite RTS games, and it seems that only RTS can keep me engaged for so long.

[bben46]

Probably some of both. As you get older you look for more out of a game - as a kid you were more impressed with glitter and action. As you age you want more thinking in the game and the glitter becomes secondary. And, as games have been pushed into consoles they have become more glitter and less substance. PC players are taking second place now as many game companies make their games first for the console market and then port to PC as an afterthought. PC players are stuck with the limitations of the consoles - unless we can mod the games.

[Deleted54170User]

Since MORROWIND grabbed my attention each game I have played I looked at it, first and foremost, like it is a new story from the view point it is a modern form of a book. It gave me the ability to interact, even more then I did with my imagination, when reading a standard book.

If a book doesn't grab my attention, let me try to figure out some part of it in each chapter, and see if I can get a clue what is about to occur next, I loose interest in the story.

 

In video games if the story line did not give me the sense I wanted to be a part of the game I don't buy it. If the game grabs my attention and fails to bring my mind up to the challenge of deduction, subjective inner logic, the game doesn't keep my attention for long.

 

Last night I installed, "Oblivion" on my present PC.

 

I have to say, not playing it for awhile really has an effect, I missed it, as I miss a good book I read, and would like to share it with someone. I also feel that sense I am involved with an entire community, as with MORROWIND, only a bit more so.

 

Last night I was totally absorbed in the start of Oblivion, just like the day I played it for the first time in March of 2006. I could have added, "My Saved Games", from 2007, 2008, or 2009, but I did not.

 

MORROWIND, OBLIVION, FALLOUT gave me a sense of having a link that allows my sense to reason with my inner feelings. Their story lines give me a sense of reasoning, have a purpose, and showed me the door to getting out of my cellular zone and go to the store too.

 

When I was an adventurous young lad; going to the store was as boring as mowing the lawn, unless, there was a goal that assured me the work was worth it. A nice warm place to sleep was a darn good reason to work hard for money. Once! I also wanted a bicycle, so I worked hard for the money to get it.

 

Allot of the new games coming out are giving me reason's to save my money, again.

 

I think a new video game needs to have a story, a heart, and a plot.

I think we need a reason to want to read a story, or play a video game, and want to prove we can out think the author and solve a mystery before the character does is having to work, a bit, and that makes the reward all that much better when we get to read the book or play the game. A good game with a bunch of variables draws our attention to it, and back to it. That's why I think, "Baseball," has lasted for so many years as a sport. Imagine, "The Simpson's" Homer Simpson saying this line thinking about donuts, only from a scientists point of view, "So many variables!" Ooh! (Drooling scientific mind.)

[Nadimos]

Both and then people tend to also be emotionally attached to things. Like why would you still play

dust2 after all this time? What never gets old tho is having a good story in the right setting

and tying that up into multiplayer. Hopefully bioware can deliver it. And Skyrim with the editor.

Edited January 2, 2011 by Nadimos

[Vindekarr]

Calliton, just get Bad Company 2, it's the same formula as COD but the execution is much better; it's much more balanced, teamwork actualy matters, and the selection of weapons is a thousand times better. Oh, and it's got vehicles, building destruction, lots more modes, and far better graphics.

 

I cant agree more Sinophile.

 

I often struggle to find new games that entertain me half as much as their ancestors.

 

That's why I tend to stick to lineages of games rather than getting every new thing that pops up.

 

For me graphics are really nice to have, but frankly I'd rather have artstyle than graphics-if a game has heart and soul in how it looks, but is only 8-BIT, I'd much rather that than the spectacular particle in BFBC 2, or the insane texture quality in Hot Pursuit.

 

That's why I think MineCraft and Torchlight are great examples of heart and soul over pure shineys. Both have antique engines, middling resolutions, no HDR, SSAO, HDAO, anisotropic filtering, high antialiasing count or even particle effects. But these sprite animated charmers have real character. Torchlight has a really charming, unique artstyle, it feels like you've walked into a comic book in the best possible way. And MineCraft is so nostalgic that it could make '80s hardcores cry.

 

I mean, Im sure I'm a minority for saying this, but as far as Im concerned, FPS and RPG more thgan anything else, have reached pathetic rock bottom in recent years.

 

Mass Effect? psh, that shallow lump of coalslag looks sooooo good when you walk along the corridor BW left for you, but if you're like me, walking down a corridor in a game you cant even die in gets real old real fast. But here, you cant even leave the linear path, every non plot planet is simply a barren wasteland with a couple of crates. it has no sidequests, the characters are all monotone stereotypes, and it doesnt have any of the depth and character of the revival era SciFi that I grew up with in the '90s.

 

Red Dead? unreliable dog of a game that only gets fun when you add cheatcodes and is mediocre only then. The controls for this lump of rubbish are SO BAD that the game is all but unplayable, the controlls often dont respond at all, and just to move forward you've got to push a stick forward while mashing two buttons. It's a mediocre game destroyed by shear incompetance.

 

Call Of Duty? fashion statement! everyone plays it so they can say "Ima call o dooty playa!" and feel all hardcore and pro. But frankly I like that. Im a BFBC hardcore, and when CODTrash comes a knockin' I get dozens of free kills as they struggle to use a marginaly more realistic weapon that isnt aimed for them. My Vintovka Snaiperskaya has 177 notches on it's supressor, all dead COD noobs, that doesnt say much about how epic their skillz are. It's a dull simplistic linear handholding game that is so dumbed down that even a monkey could play it, but for some reason those monkeys always seem to think that playing it makes them "pro" my VSS exists to show them otherwise.

 

All these games are a dog's breakfast compared to their ancestors? Neverwinter owns ME, San Andreas is more fun than RDR will ever be, and Call Of Duty WAW atleast tried...

 

The only reason they are so popular is because people play them for fashion. Y'know in the world of motor racing we have a concept that the better a car is, the more obscure and less known it is. All rich boy racer types I see drive either an Audi or a BMW. All the real hardcores buy an anarchic mix of Caterhams, Westfields, KTMs, Radicals, RedBacks, and various other true bloodracer cars. They arent well known and unlike a BMW you dont get assumed to be rich when you drive one, but they actualy have some credibility as a performance vehicle.

 

Likewise people ignore the really good games so they can be seen to be playing the vogue newcomers. It's for shear twitter self righteousness. So that twits as I call them can show off to their twit mates just how vogue they are. They dont know anything about gaming, but hell, they sure feel like they do when they play these!

[Deleted1848331User]

I say that they are getting crappy now. I usually end up playing LoZ: OoT now even if it has horrible graphics. At least its a good game.

[SandsOfTime404]

I say that they are getting crappy now. I usually end up playing LoZ: OoT now even if it has horrible graphics. At least its a good game.

Yeah, it's definitely the games. I doubt I'm expecting "more" from a game, because I still bust out the N64 for some good old Mario Kart and StarFox 64. Neither game is incredibly deep, and the graphics are far from stunning. However, the games were put together well, played well, and are just "fun" in general.

 

The whole focus on multiplayer gaming has also thrown a wrench into my liking of newer titles. I was a pretty big solo gamer, because that's really the only option I had back in the day. Gamecube didn't have games with online matchmaking, and about as close as I got to multiplayer computer games was RuneScape and other junk like that, lol. Because of the huge focus on the online multiplayer aspect of games, though, I feel that my displeasure at least partially is a result of the lack of effort put into polishing the single player aspect of games. A game can be marvelous without being suited for more than one player at a time. It's something that developers appear to have lost focus of. Not everyone who plays a game wants to feel like they're being forced to put up with the primarily obnoxious userbase that populates their online matchmaking. PC gaming is a little better in that respect, at least. I still want to be able to play a game by myself without wearing out all of the things to do within a few hours.

Edited January 2, 2011 by SandsOfTime404

[Deleted1848331User]

I say that they are getting crappy now. I usually end up playing LoZ: OoT now even if it has horrible graphics. At least its a good game.

Yeah, it's definitely the games. I doubt I'm expecting "more" from a game, because I still bust out the N64 for some good old Mario Kart and StarFox 64. Neither game is incredibly deep, and the graphics are far from stunning. However, the games were put together well, played well, and are just "fun" in general.

 

The whole focus on multiplayer gaming has also thrown a wrench into my liking of newer titles. I was a pretty big solo gamer, because that's really the only option I had back in the day. Gamecube didn't have games with online matchmaking, and about as close as I got to multiplayer computer games was RuneScape and other junk like that, lol. Because of the huge focus on the online multiplayer aspect of games, though, I feel that my displeasure at least partially is a result of the lack of effort put into polishing the single player aspect of games. A game can be marvelous without being suited for more than one player at a time. It's something that developers appear to have lost focus of. Not everyone who plays a game wants to feel like they're being forced to put up with the primarily obnoxious userbase that populates their online matchmaking. PC gaming is a little better in that respect, at least. I still want to be able to play a game by myself without wearing out all of the things to do within a few hours.

 

I know what you mean. I like playing by myself as well. The Halo Reach solo campaign wasn't all that good and

 

they all die at the end. Rip off.

 

 

GameCube and N64 have good games, and so does the Wii. (Well, probably because I like game series Nintendo has lol)

[SandsOfTime404]

Yeah, I have to say I was also disappointed with the way Reach went down, and I've been a pretty avid fan of the series since the first game. Of course, as I said before, the developer made plenty of comments about how much focus was put into making it "one of the best multiplayer experiences" or something to that effect. I'll probably never stop liking Halo, but Bungie's swan song left a bitter taste in my mouth in a lot of respects. Perhaps it was hype though, and I expected more than could be delivered.

 

About the Wii, I'm with you on that for the most part. I've liked mostly all of the Nintendo titles I've played. They're just damn good games. The whole Wii controller thing is what I dislike though. I've got very unsteady hands, and coupling that with a twitchy system to begin with doesn't help. That's mainly why I prefer PC and Xbox to the PS3 as well. Big, clunky things to control with. Keeps my hands a little more steady. Of course, the Wii is perfectly fine if I throw a GameCube controller on that sucker. Super Smash Bros. is timeless.

[Deleted1848331User]

Yeah, I can't keep my hands still for the life of me either lol I had some trouble aiming a bow in Twilight Princess on the Wii, so I went back to my room and played it on GameCube :P I have all the Halo games too. Reach was by far my least favorite. Although it is fun to jack some Banshees in the one level heheheh... and you get an achievement for it :D

 

I have everything possible unlocked for SSB: Brawl and SSB: Melee, so I usually just invite my friends over and we beat each other up. (I win usually 1/2 the time :P I rock as Pikachu lol)