The trouble with games today

[Guard Dog]

Ok, here is the deal. I have about six computers in varying degrees of damage/wear and tear in the garage. I took them all apart and built one with the best parts of each. So I ended up with a 2.0 GHz P4 with 512M, a 60G HD and a GeForce 6600 GT. Not the best in the world, but capable. So I grabbed my XP cd and got ready to load when I got this sudden impulse. I rooted around some more and found a copy of Windows ME and loaded that instead. Then I found all of my IE games (Icewind Dale, BG 1 & 2, PS:T, ID2) and loaded them. Then went on ebay and bought FO 1 & 2 (never played either) and topped all of it off with HOMM 3 and MOO 2. This machine is a 90's throwback in everyway.

 

What the heck is wrong here? I have new games I never play more than a few hours. NWN2 barely held my interest (although MOTB was great). I can't even look at Oblivion any more. I hated Guild Wars and have no desire to try the Witcher or WoW. FPSs bore me. What is it about todays games that drives us back to the old titles that are technically inferior in every way? Look at this very forum. The top topics are about games that are almost 10 years old! What is missing in the new stuff? I just can't put my finger on it.

[thepixiesrock]

Nostalgia? It's partly mostly why I play pokemon still.

[random n00b]

 

Yeah, same thing happens to me. I have BG2 perma-installed, and go back to other old games regularly.

 

Nostalgia, I'd say... you can find folks crying about how no game has ever been able to capture the sense of freedom of Elite, as well.

 

Maybe in fifteen years time, people will be like that with ME, for instance.

 

edit: foiled again!

Edited April 25, 2008 by random n00b

[Moatilliatta]

Could it be that the problem is with you and not newer games?

HOMM 3

Seven is better, just my opnion.

NWN2 barely held my interest (although MOTB was great).

I still haven't finished it and as such can't really fault you for this.

...and have no desire to try the Witcher...

Any specific reasons?

FPSs bore me.

Why? Personally I find the visceral experience of a good shooting very invigorating.

The top topics are about games that are almost 10 years old! What is missing in the new stuff? I just can't put my finger on it.

Top games are often more about what games people are emotionally attached to rather than "THE BEST!". This is because humans are living emotional beings, something that people often forget, and which funnily is probably your problem. Adjusting is always hard but if you keep at it you can eventually come to like new games, at least that is how I think about it.

 

Yes I know - whippersnapper in old mans-thread.

[Dark_Raven]

Not only yourself but myself and others tend to play games of the past more than the new ones. As I've said before games of today lack character, good stories, good npcs, etc. All its about is trying to impress the technogeeks and their 1337 graphics cards.

[Moatilliatta]

All its about is trying to impress the technogeeks and their 1337 graphics cards.

I too am jealous.

[Guard Dog]

You guys are probably right maybe it is just simple nostalgia (although I am not usually given to such things). The only game that gins up any emotional attachment in me would be BG 1 & 2 but when I discovered those two I was going through a divorce while working full time days, going to school full time nights, dead broke and skirting the edges of a real drinking problem the rest of the time. Every BG session was like a vacation from all that crap!

 

Well my 90's retro computer may not impress the techo geeks but I think is pretty cool. Plus I get to free up some space on my real PC now.

[Slowtrain]

Ok, here is the deal. I have about six computers in varying degrees of damage/wear and tear in the garage. I took them all apart and built one with the best parts of each. So I ended up with a 2.0 GHz P4 with 512M, a 60G HD and a GeForce 6600 GT. Not the best in the world, but capable. So I grabbed my XP cd and got ready to load when I got this sudden impulse. I rooted around some more and found a copy of Windows ME and loaded that instead. Then I found all of my IE games (Icewind Dale, BG 1 & 2, PS:T, ID2) and loaded them. Then went on ebay and bought FO 1 & 2 (never played either) and topped all of it off with HOMM 3 and MOO 2. This machine is a 90's throwback in everyway.

 

What the heck is wrong here? I have new games I never play more than a few hours. NWN2 barely held my interest (although MOTB was great). I can't even look at Oblivion any more. I hated Guild Wars and have no desire to try the Witcher or WoW. FPSs bore me. What is it about todays games that drives us back to the old titles that are technically inferior in every way? Look at this very forum. The top topics are about games that are almost 10 years old! What is missing in the new stuff? I just can't put my finger on it.

 

 

Games were better in the mid-late 90's then they are now. Go get Heroes of Might and Magic 2 and 3 while you are at it. Also Deus Ex and Systen Shock 2. Toss in Thief 1 and Thief 2. Master of Orion 2 is always nice. Warlords 3 is good TB strategy. Jagged Alliance 2 is of course THE TB squad combat game. Arcanum, Wizardry 8 are some other good crpgs.

 

Seriously, with that computer and access to Ebay you could play older games for the rest of your life and never lack for quality.

Edited April 25, 2008 by CrashGirl

[Pidesco]

Personally, I don't think mainstream games are evolving enough. Innovations in games are few and far between, and few things can hold surprise and a sense of wonder like they did before when everything was knew Also, speaking for myself, all the general hailing of every new, high profile game as the second coming of Christ is leaving me more and more jaded with the industry.

 

As an example, despite how much I enjoyed MotB, I don't feel there really is much of a change in terms of gameplay between it and, say BG1. and that's ten years of RPG development.

 

Also, even where there is some sort of change in design philosophy, it isn't change in a direction I'd like tosee. It's all about wider appeal, focus groups, and profiting. For example, the way party NPC development has been handled in Bioware games starting with NWN1 seems to me like the worst possible way to integrate the characters into the narrative. It made everything about the characters mechanical and pointless, and reduced empathy to a minimum. And this from a company that professes to make games that are centrally about narrative.

[Moatilliatta]

Well my 90's retro computer may not impress the techo geeks but I think is pretty cool. Plus I get to free up some space on my real PC now.

I think it is very cool, but stagnated human beings aren't.

 

Then again it can happen even to me as anyone who reads "The Music Thread" have seen.

[Gorth]

Maybe there used to be more diversity and innovation, back when production costs were much lower?

 

Game developers still appeared and disappeared at a regular rate, but there were so many more the smaller ones.

 

Maybe games have become too serious a business, going the way of Hollywood (i.e. taking themselves too seriously)?

 

I asked a similar question a while ago in a different place, why I haven't seen a racing game that I really liked since Carmageddon.

 

They may be all realism simulators today, but the fun has gone out of them

 

 

 

Anyway, if you like HoMM3 then you have to give Disciples II a try. Beats HoMM3 in just about every aspect. And the gold edition is dirt cheap right now from Strategy First's homepage

[Pidesco]

And Disciples III is taking ages to come out...

[Krookie]

I think video games have evolved. Maybe you like Fallout more than Oblivion because it's more recognizable to you, but really I think most PC gamers are missing out on what has really been an evolution of online play. Xbox Live has made games 10 times more fun for me than I ever thought possible. I've tried PC gaming, and console gaming is so much more accessible. GuardDog said something about not liking FPSs, but I'd bet you'd like them a whole lot more with a group of friends (cough, us XBL gamers here at Obs) to play them with. Maybe I'm wrong, but RPGs like Oblivion may seem dull or boring to some people because the real center point of gaming isn't a one-person experience anymore.

 

Don't take it for "PC gaming sucks!" because obviously some people really believe the PC is the best platform for gaming, and for multiplayer. But an online service can make a world of difference in gaming today. Look at the PS3's online capabilities when compared to Xbox Live. Sure, PS3 is free, but the service is garbage (or at least until Home is released). Xbox Live has made for some great times and makes it super easy to communicate and interact with people (Jags, Kor, Bok, Pixie) that I would never had talked to if I was playing single player RPGs like Oblivion all the time.

 

I hear a lot of people complain that games today suck (or maybe that's just Gabs replaying Vampires: Masqueradeade or whatever), but really I think they could be having a lot more fun if they played games in a different way for a change.

 

Just my two cents though.

Edited April 25, 2008 by Krookie

[Slowtrain]

The only thing in gaming that has evolved in the last 5 years is graphics. WHich is fine, awesome graphics are nice, but they don't make a game classic.

[Pidesco]

I think video games have evolved. Maybe you like Fallout more than Oblivion because it's more recognizable to you, but really I think most PC gamers are missing out on what has really been an evolution of online play. Xbox Live has made games 10 times more fun for me than I ever thought possible. I've tried PC gaming, and console gaming is so much more accessible. GuardDog said something about not liking FPSs, but I'd bet you'd like them a whole lot more with a group of friends (cough, us XBL gamers here at Obs) to play them with. Maybe I'm wrong, but RPGs like Oblivion may seem dull or boring to some people because the real center point of gaming isn't a one-person experience anymore.

 

Don't take it for "PC gaming sucks!" because obviously some people really believe the PC is the best platform for gaming, and for multiplayer. But an online service can make a world of difference in gaming today. Look at the PS3's online capabilities when compared to Xbox Live. Sure, PS3 is free, but the service is garbage (or at least until Home is released). Xbox Live has made for some great times and makes it super easy to communicate and interact with people (Jags, Kor, Bok, Pixie) that I would never had talked to if I was playing single player RPGs like Oblivion all the time.

 

I hear a lot of people complain that games today suck (or maybe that's just Gabs replaying Vampires: Masqueradeade or whatever), but really I think they could be having a lot more fun if they played games in a different way for a change.

 

Just my two cents though.

 

Unless you are talking about achievements or perhaps lower pings, I don't see what you're talking about with "evolution in online play". I don't see any big improvement in online gaming between say, Quake, and Call of Duty 4.

 

Not that online games today are worse than they were a few years ago. I think they're about the same.

 

Anyway, what I do think is that online gaming isn't so much about the gaming but rather about the socializing. The difference between, for example, Xbox Live and Canasta isn't the game that is played but rather the social groups the different activities appeal to.

[Krookie]

I think video games have evolved. Maybe you like Fallout more than Oblivion because it's more recognizable to you, but really I think most PC gamers are missing out on what has really been an evolution of online play. Xbox Live has made games 10 times more fun for me than I ever thought possible. I've tried PC gaming, and console gaming is so much more accessible. GuardDog said something about not liking FPSs, but I'd bet you'd like them a whole lot more with a group of friends (cough, us XBL gamers here at Obs) to play them with. Maybe I'm wrong, but RPGs like Oblivion may seem dull or boring to some people because the real center point of gaming isn't a one-person experience anymore.

 

Don't take it for "PC gaming sucks!" because obviously some people really believe the PC is the best platform for gaming, and for multiplayer. But an online service can make a world of difference in gaming today. Look at the PS3's online capabilities when compared to Xbox Live. Sure, PS3 is free, but the service is garbage (or at least until Home is released). Xbox Live has made for some great times and makes it super easy to communicate and interact with people (Jags, Kor, Bok, Pixie) that I would never had talked to if I was playing single player RPGs like Oblivion all the time.

 

I hear a lot of people complain that games today suck (or maybe that's just Gabs replaying Vampires: Masqueradeade or whatever), but really I think they could be having a lot more fun if they played games in a different way for a change.

 

Just my two cents though.

 

Unless you are talking about achievements or perhaps lower pings, I don't see what you're talking about with "evolution in online play". I don't see any big improvement in online gaming between say, Quake, and Call of Duty 4.

 

Not that online games today are worse than they were a few years ago. I think they're about the same.

 

Anyway, what I do think is that online gaming isn't so much about the gaming but rather about the socializing. The difference between, for example, Xbox Live and Canasta isn't the game that is played but rather the social groups the different activities appeal to.

 

I'm not just talking about achievements, I'm talking about the whole layout of XBL. Arcade games, the easy to use Mic system (no downloading Ventrillo or TeamSpeak), text messages, voice messages, the Marketplace as a whole, easy way to invite friends to games (click name, click invite). There's a lot more to XBL than achievements.

[Pidesco]

Can't you do all that for free on the PC? And have been able to do it for years? The other day I even talked to Pop for a few seconds in TF2, the other day. And I listened to some guys making fun of me in French that same day.

[thepixiesrock]

I mean, on one hand, I think games are obviously getting better all the time, just more slowly than before because I think the better games get the longer it takes to progress them further. I also feel that there are a fewer percentage games getting better, but that's just because of how many games are comming out now as opposed to how many games used to come out, which brings me to my final point. Because there are more companies out there, and video games because increasingly popular, it becomes more about making money, and less about progressing gaming simply for the purpose of making gaming better from certain people's perspectives.

[Krookie]

Can't you do all that for free on the PC? And have been able to do it for years? The other day I even talked to Pop for a few seconds in TF2, the other day. And I listened to some guys making fun of me in French that same day.

 

It's not that you can or can't do it, it's the ease at which it is done

Edited April 25, 2008 by Krookie

[Pidesco]

I can understand how that's draw for people who didn't already do all that stuff before. However, for people who have done all those things for years with minimal or no hassle, and take those things for granted (granted as in free), paying for such a service seems a bit underwhelming, to say the least.

[Krookie]

I see your point, but for the record I said "evolution" not "revolution"

[Deadly_Nightshade]

But an online service can make a world of difference in gaming today ...I think they [the players] could be having a lot more fun if they played games in a different way for a change.

The only games I really ever play on-line are run through STEAM (in fact I am bringing a game with two other members of SoDOFF up as I type), and it has all the options of X-Box Live unless I am very much mistaken. I press a button, I get voice-chat - another enables me to easily see what me friends are playing, and so on and so forth. Sure, I might enjoy playing on-line - but it still gets boring rather quickly and I return to my single-player world. Sure, multi-player might be fun for a few battles, or whatever, but for story you either need a small LAN team, a MMORPG-ish game (something I abhor), or a good single-player campaign.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

I see your point, but for the record I said "evolution" not "revolution"

 

De-evolution maybe...

[Krookie]

I'm not saying that it's like that for everyone, if you're happy with single player games that's great, but for people getting bored with games like Oblivion, it may be telling that person that it's time for a change.

[Slowtrain]

This game came out in 1996. It was truly awesome. Since then countless game developers have ripped it off brutally and not one has come close to matching it despite the massive advances in computing technology that the last 12 years have brought.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_Nova:_S..._Force_Centauri