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The Current state of Games?

Luxpyre

先輩
22 Oct 2002
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Since we have this new folder, I started thinking about how games have been changing. Does it seem to anyone else that the state of games is declining, despite the improvements in technology. Of course, there still are good games that are fun to play, but I honestly don't think there have been any great games in a great long while, where I just couldn't wait till I could play them again. Am I just getting old? What are your thoughts?
 
Ah yes, that's what you get if you've seen everything from Pong to Doom 3. :)

Actually, i don't entirely agree with you. It's true that in the very beginning, videogames had to be very playable because there wasn't much graphical wizardry.
People argue that with all the CG graphics in games that gameplay has been neglected, and that is true for many games that usually only sell on title rather then reputation, but there are still a lot of gems outthere.

The most recent one is perhaps Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. The game uses a kind of outdated graphics-engine, but ranks very high in the gameplay section because the player enjoys an incredible amount of freedom.

RPG games like the Final Fantasy series also keep you coming back for more because of the involving stories.

Then there are the management- and godgames where have to manage either a theme-park or control the fate of the human race. These games are also highly involving and complex enough to keep you interested, which brings me to your dilemma:

With most games you can't sit down and have a quick game anymore. It takes mental preperation and a lot of time to really get going in the game. Most (older) people don't have the patience to learn a game, which is required with most of these games.
Even most action games these days also require you to learn a complex keyboard lay-out or mindboggling joy-pad combinations.

No, it's certainly not easier to get a grip with videogames as it used to be, but then again, at the price of most consolegames you would want to spend a little more time then 15 minutes with a game. :)
 
I used to love RPG but hell with work and a family the time involvment is just way too much.

I got an a pretty cool idea floating in my head but I bet the US will ban it ;)
 
I think I may just be growing out of video games. My roomate has GTA: Vice City and it was fun at first, but I just kind of puttered out on it halfway through. I remember going gaga over certain games when I was younger. RPG's in particular. That's another thing. What happened to all the RPG's? Maybe that's the deal. I was always a lot more into RPG's than anything else and there aren't really a whole lot of 'em. I don't count computer RPG's because I really don't like them at all. I've always been a console gamer.
 
I used to play a lot of games on my Atari ST. Spent hours on Populous, International Karate+, Falcon 3.0 and Nebulous.
Ah, those were the days. I think i'm going to download an Atari ST emulator now. :)

And what about games in the arcadehall? These places have all disappeared overhere, but back in the good old days i spent so much money in Outrun, Double Dragon and Afterburner.

Currently i actually don't play any games anymore. The most recent game i've played is Unreal Tournament on my PC, but since i've installed Windows 2000 the controls just didn't feel the same anymore (different mousedriver), so i quit.

I'd love to get a Playstation 2 (no, the Gamecube and X-Box are no contenders), but the consolegames are way too expensive these days.
 
I used to think console were getting way too expensive too (I'm just cheap... errrr... frugal) but if you think of it with PS2 you're getting a gaming system(2 almost because you can play PS1 and PS2), a DVD player and a cd player. It's not too bad. I really don't have too much time to play games much either but I figure after talking myself into finally purchasing it, I gosh darn better get some use out of it :)
 
Right, the consoles themselves don't cost much. But you want to play games too and preferable many different games. And that's what usually kills this great hobby. After you buy about four games and one of them isn't that great you'll think twice before you buy another one. And that's usually the moment when the console starts catching dust.

I agree, the PS2 is also a great DVD-player, but that's not the main reason to buy it. And it's also damn hard to get one that's region free.
 
that's true. my PS2 and i have an unhealthy relationship (addiction) and games do cost an arm and both legs. in order to not break the bank, i usually end up renting the game first to test the waters. If i know i really want the game then i can buy it and not feel so guilty about it.
 
;) i actually bought a ps2 and i hardly never play on it , i just use it to watch some dvd's.
GBA is still my fav .... 👏
 
I like computer games. I like fps games like half-life counterstrike for violence and a weird game no one has ever heard of called ( Infantry ( Sony) for gameplay. They are both online games. Computers aren't smart enough to beat me. Unreal Tournament... the bots were good but even on the highest setting, I could still win, although it made them harder than most humans. All games will have to be online. Computers just can't play as good as humans, and human vs human is the only way to go.
 
I have two things on my wishlist for online games.

1. A good online car-racing game that doesn't suffer from lag.

2. A online version of Elite (or one of it's sequels Frontier or First Encounters).
 
I have a PS2, and... I love it!!!
I still play FFX (again!?), fatal frame, etc!! Fatal frame is a spooky game a ever played
😍
 
I think that games have just gotten easier. Most older games required fast reflexes and memorization, and a lot of them never really had an end, e.g. super Mario bros. and Tetris, where everything just kept getting harder and faster, but they had very little depth to them. Newer games a full of complex scenarios and intertwined storylines, but the gameplay is relatively simple. Some games I've noticed are more like movies loaded with tons of cgs and cut scenes with very little actual gameplay time in-between. For the most part, I think developers are so focused on graphics they forget about gameplay. and my complaint with CG laden RPGs is that they use them in the battle modes, sure they look nice, but after a couple of times it's extremely annoying have to watch a whole 2-minute sequence every time you use a certain attack/spell/summon *cough* final fantasy *cough*
 
Actually, i like those cut scenes, but that's mainly because i'm too lazy to really take the time to learn any gameplay. :)

I think this phenomena is also due to the fact that nobody can come up with an original gameplay ideas anymore. Most games these days are just reinvented vintage games with good looking graphics.

Gamehouses are currently only on a mission of outclassing eachother. Marketing does the rest.
 
I thought Fatal Frame looked interesting, but I haven't had the chance to play it...
I agree w/ you about the cut scenes, jeisan... I'm all for pretty graphics, but really, they've gone too far... especially FFX... every 2 sec. There was another cut scene! You didn't have to work for them at all. They just were... (for every plot twist, every battle, every conversation...) I wish they'd get back to more like what they had going in FFVIII and FFIX were a pretty CG was like a reward, not a given... or if they can't do that for me, they could at least let me skip them!! I'm not asking for much, just the in-game ones and the battle things would be fine... I'm sorry, but I don't need to see them 20 million times... 2 is pushing it for me. My attention span is here. :: and if you could see me, I'd be indicating that there is a minuscule amount::::arghh:: I like complicated storylines, but w/o solid (and by solid, I mean fun and engaging) gameplay, what are we left w/? Nothing! OH, WHAT IS THE WORLD COMING TO!? WHY!? WHY!?!? WWWHHHYYY!?!?!?
 
:)

I really liked fatal frame (but i made my husband play through it because it was freaking me out). i'm looking forward to fatal frame 2.

i've also enjoyed both silent hills but get similarly freaked out (time to put the bad game in the freezer).

as for the cut scenes in ffx, they didn't bug me... have you played xenosaga? they truly are every two seconds (but it somehow works, can't wait for the next part).

i was also really into vagrant story once upon a time, are they ever going to make another?

the only game i play on my computer is the sims, i didn't care for the one released on playstation.
 
Yeah, they should let you skip them in FF. They do in Chrono cross, but there weren't that many either, save the one for changing worlds, but with a simple touch of a button, it skipped over it, or any other CG in the game. After you beat it once, they give you fast forward and slow-motion buttons so you can, if you so choose, fast forward through a summon. Though most were short and to the point, so there's not much need. That was on the psone, so we'll have to wait and see how they do it on the 3rd instalment of that series.
 
oh yeah!

i forgot about chrono cross, i loved that game. i think i got about five of the nine endings before i became satisfied enough to set it aside. i'm still maxing out my characters in dark cloud 2 (many late nights collecting medals). i like parasite eve as well.
 
yeah i still play mine every once in while trying to get more crap, and different endings.
 
Originally posted by Twisted


I think this phenomena is also due to the fact that nobody can come up with an original gameplay ideas anymore. Most games these days are just reinvented vintage games with good looking graphics.

Gamehouses are currently only on a mission of outclassing eachother. Marketing does the rest.


AMEN!!

I come to believe this to be true as well twisted. I know I'm going to catch flak for saying this, but I can't stand the FF line, as all I see is a rehash of the previous edition, with better graphics. The last really innovative FF was Tactics, which I play try to beat once a year. I remember almost a decade ago when games like XCOM, Street Fighter, Civilization 2, and Final Fantasy 2 (I think it 4 in Japan), Chrono Trigger, Doom, Warcraft 1/2 and others were coming out. Those were really innovative games. Almost all the best selling games today stem from these games. Today all I see is the third person games with the camera following the player as he does stuff. It's really starting to tire me. Very very rarely do I see a truly "innovative game" anymore that can engross me. Alpha Centauri was probably the last in recent memory that really interested me because of its future technology ideas(except for multiplayer HALO, but that's because it Goldeneye all over again with my friends.). I honestly think that the best games are the multiplayer party games, like Super Smash Brothers and Fusion frenzy. Have you ever had 4 drunk friends fighting it out on a couch to try to get the star or the hammer while all the girlfriend watch on in the background with fawned enthusiasm? Or Played goldeneye and said, "YOU CAN'T BE ODDJOB, NO FAIR" at 5:00 in the morning? I find these are by far the most fun games you can ever play, and those are the times that stick out in my memory (as well as going 10 Kills to 1 while being an odd job and crouching with the golden gun).

The only game that I play anymore is Starcraft, and that's because it is a quintessential classic and is just as good and even better than many of the same games in the genre today, without all the extra graphics, which make them look cheap in my mind.

Sorry about the rant. I've played Videogames for so long, and it's really starting to depress me about the industry.
 
I always like playing Children games.... :eek: I don't really know why but i'm into Children kiddy games. -_-'
 
I couldn't agree more with all you jaded gamers. Being a lifelong gamer, I'm disgusted with the current state of the industry. And why ever not? What used to be about fun, creativity, and innovation has all but become tiresome, sterile, and insipid. Everything nowadays is a rehash of a rehash of a rehash...Example: First person shooters. How do they differ? Graphics, weapons, and simple design elements. Otherwise the structue has remained consistent since Wolfenstein. That's an entire genre that's almost undergone zero change in over 10(?) years, so when you pick up one FPS, you know what to expect from the others.
That's not to say that cheaply produced 'me-too' titles didn't exist in the old days. They did. But there just weren't as many.

But this isn't even the real point. It's those ever 'wondrous' marketers that decide what gamers want to play, and if 3rd person adventures happen to be the big thing, than guess what? And who are these games being designed for? WHO? I'll give a hint. Bugger it I'll give the answer: The bane of the hardcore gamer's existence - the casual gamer.

Casual gamers are a lot less critical, choose the games that are 'big,' not necessarily good, and thus because they make up the vast majority of gamers, ruin it for everyone else. What a wonderful era of games, eh?

Really, what's the point when the mahority of games can be summarised as "an out of this world adventure featuring over 40 interactive characters, 10 weapons, a plethora of levels to explore, and a hero like no other. And you can blow stuff up."

Ahhh....That's why I'll be doing a lot more reading from now on.

Oh, and it's a pleasure to be on this board. 🙂
 
Does it seem to anyone else that the state of games is declining, despite the improvements in technology.
Many games bring new aspects to a certain game-type, but I don't see any who create a new game-type. And most are just updated versions of older games, but they can still be fun.
However, as said in "you're all-time favourite", I play again for about two weeks daily with a friend the game "total annihilation" in our house-network, though it's over 6 years old. We just haven't found any new game to be that much fun.
The amount of control it gives and the teamplay it allows you to do. The ai's you can download from the web to train him and me against them (it took us now 4 days to develop a strategy to beat a team of two ai's) and later play against each other—the back and forth during the game. The little victories you achieve, the cries for help to your teammate as the ai builds a big weapon to destroy your defence and then overrun you, create fantastic gameplay. And once you play a long round, you just sit back and think, "wow",.

Anyway, back to the topic.
Games not really changing apart from the effects in the last time? Hmmm, yes, you're right. As said, there are lots of nice new games, but somehow they create no long-term motivation. So the three games I play right now are total annihilation (as said 6 years old), magic online (horrible graphics and such but well, its m:tg, no graphics and much needed), and at times online mud's (multi-user-dungeons = free text-based mass-user online roleplaying games, some of those are over 13 years old but who minds as long as they're fun).
back to the roots, I say :)
 
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