Older gaming

[Iroscato]

Fuck no. Gaming has never been better.

[Edwardo Piet]

Yeah I love cutscene after cutscene and rehash after rehash with sequels that are more like weak expansion packs with better graphics than proper legitimate sequels. I love tutorial levels that are unskippable and go on forever and treat me like a fucking baby. I love games that are all flare and no substance... I love -

Oh wait, I see your winky face now.

Gaming has gotten so bad that I've gone from gaming for 16 hours a day to pretty much giving up on it.

[Homeless Nutter]

Nostalgia is a b*tch. We tend to forget, that there were TONS of bad old games. And even a bad game that reminds us of happier days doesn't seem as repetitive, ugly and/or frustrating as it used to be, back when it was the only thing we had to play.

I like old games - especially those from early- to mid- 90's, like X-Com, Settlers, Road Rash, Elite 2 and many more - and I play them often, but I'm not going to pretend, that technological progress didn't make games - on average - better.

[Iroscato]

Yeah I love cutscene after cutscene and rehash after rehash with sequels that are more like weak expansion packs with better graphics than proper legitimate sequels. I love tutorial levels that are unskippable and go on forever and treat me like a fucking baby. I love games that are all flare and no substance... I love -

Oh wait, I see your winky face now.

Gaming has gotten so bad that I've gone from gaming for 16 hours a day to pretty much giving up on it.

Oh no, I was being serious. The aforementioned shite is going to be forgotten, and the true gems of our era will remain. Just like films, TV, music and literature.

[Edwardo Piet]

Indeed there's fuckloads of terrible old games. But there's many more bad new games. It's all too formulac, back in the 90s you didn't have games that treated you like a baby, that were only interested in sending out the next sequel with better graphics and otherwise barely any difference, games that were more like movies than actual games.

Before the graphics got to this level game developers had to focus on the gameplay because if they made the game too movie like it would have been unwatchable.

DooM would have never been just cutscene after cutscene and more of a movie than a game because the graphics were dated back then. Sure they were incredible for the time but they still had to focus on the gameplay.

I don't even lke action movies that much so when action games are more movie-like than game-like I wonder what the fuck happened to good FPS and RPGs. And where the fuck are the new decent RTS games? I really need to give Starcraft II a try but are there any others? (No I don't mean the Total War series I mean proper RTS: You actually create your armies and manage your economy. I'm not talkng about a simulation of wargaming) and oh fuck I miss Ensemble Studios.

[Homeless Nutter]

Indeed there's fuckloads of terrible old games. But there's many more bad new games. [...]

Even if that's true - and it is debatable - it's because there are a lot more games nowadays. Thanks to internet we have access to practically infinite assortment of entertainment, which makes us more picky about it. 

Personally - I never seem to have a problem finding a good new game, if I feel like playing one. Recently I played "FTL", "Kingdom" and "Human Resource Machine" and those relatively simple indie games can easily kick any retro game's ass in terms of originality and play-ability.

Sure - many major releases are pretty un-imaginative and targeted at as broad an audience as possible, but most of those games would still blow our minds if they came out in the 90's. The sad truth is - we're getting old and as one gets old, everything seems more and more sh*tty. That's why our parents hated our music and couldn't understand why we wouldn't want to listen to their favorite stuff from the times they were young...

Sunrise, sunset...

[Edwardo Piet]

Even if that's true - and it is debatable - it's because there are a lot more games nowadays.

Yes but there is some truth to the unskippable cutscenes, lame-ass tutorial levels and "movie-games" of today being far more ubiquitous than ever before.

[Edwardo Piet]

Sure - many major releases are pretty un-imaginative and targeted at as broad an audience as possible, but most of those games would still blow our minds if they came out in the 90's.

With the graphics... but not with the gameplay. I don't play a game to watch it like a movie.

Gameplay on average used to be less formulaic and back in the 90s the level design was more important than the graphics and cutscenes.

Making use of fewer tools used well and not just relying on technology, formula and gimmick can aid creativity IMHO.

Did you know that Doctor Seuss deliberately limited the words he could use when he wrote his stories in order to be more creative?

I'm glad the graphics were weaker in the 90s, it means the focus was on more important things.

[Iroscato]

The Call of Duty games and their similarly massively popular ilk are the junk food of the gaming industry - cheaply-assembled formulaic fluff that sells a fucktillion copies and makes a cuntillion dollars, and is quickly disposed of and forgotten about. You don't hear an older CoD like World At War being lauded as a benchmark of gaming perfection these days, do you, despite it being a blockbuster when it landed? The ones that are remembered are the really, genuinely great games - the Mass Effects, the Skyrims, the Arkham City's, to name a few off the top of my head. Some have cult followings, such as Okami (the only game I've ever played that did Zelda better than Zelda itself), but are fondly and rightfully remembered as being classics.

Nostalgia is bullshit. Games have never been better.

[Faith No More]

Indeed there's fuckloads of terrible old games. But there's many more bad new games. It's all too formulac, back in the 90s you didn't have games that treated you like a baby, that were only interested in sending out the next sequel with better graphics and otherwise barely any difference, games that were more like movies than actual games.

Before the graphics got to this level game developers had to focus on the gameplay because if they made the game too movie like it would have been unwatchable.

DooM would have never been just cutscene after cutscene and more of a movie than a game because the graphics were dated back then. Sure they were incredible for the time but they still had to focus on the gameplay.

I don't even lke action movies that much so when action games are more movie-like than game-like I wonder what the fuck happened to good FPS and RPGs. And where the fuck are the new decent RTS games? I really need to give Starcraft II a try but are there any others? (No I don't mean the Total War series I mean proper RTS: You actually create your armies and manage your economy. I'm not talkng about a simulation of wargaming) and oh fuck I miss Ensemble Studios.

There are still lots of great games out there that innovate, and you just have to look for the games that don't hold your hand. Bloodborne is an amazing game that is punishingly difficult, and it's still not even as hard as Dark Souls 2. Metal Gear Solid 5 is another game that doesn't hold your hand and expects you to be creative. Fallout 4 is already garnishing a reputation as a game that expects the player to figure out a lot on their own.

I think you just need to be a little more vigilant in finding games that suit your taste. Good games are definitely out there.