Anyone else feel like games are being "dumbed down" or "casualize

Alright, I don't know if anyone is with me on this, but I really dislike this whole "casual gaming" thing executives are big on these days.

example:

I feel a little tinge of anger, especially with Resident evil 5. It feels too simple, holds your hand too much, upgrading and whatnot just doesn't seem deep enough. Gameplay doesn't seem as complicated or as deep as any game in the series (no puzzles??)But I really enjoyed the game, regardless, But I feel like it was dumbed down to sell more copies, like it could have been much deeper, I don't know how to explain it.

and whats up with all these causal titles for the Wii? I feel bad for wii owners, because it seems like they get the real crap end of the stick when it comes to AAA titles. They have motion sensing, big deal, if the game selection sucks, who cares? Like Im not trying to troll, but it seems like I see more re-makes, family-friendly casual games, and puzzle games, and subpar action/rpg/shooters, then anything else.

Im just afraid that all of my games now are going to be one-button controlled (gears of war, A is the everything button?), "easy to get into" games... Im not saying all games are like this, but it feels like all of these new games are being skimmed off the top, to attract new buyers.

i mostly agree. this is mostly why i buy less games now. it's getting to the point where it's similar to when i was younger and having a game every bday and xmas!

i also have a wii and i'm kind of frustrated that it's making millions for nintendo and what do we get in return? i mean, just look at the conduit. what was reggie thinking?

but i guess its also easier on my wallet. i've resorted now to re-playing my older games, until really interesting stuff comes out like sports resort, scribblenauts, bayonetta etc.

nintendo has taugh people in the gaming business that casuale crap sales, if you sell it right.

I do agree that this is an occurring trend, but it isn't new. RE 5's lack of puzzles was due to the co-op play I think. I mean if you are playing with someone who sucks at puzzles and you wait for an hour to see it completed, you might quit playing altogether. I actually had to walk my brother and his friend through the laser puzzle at the temple because they just didn't see it, I was super frustrated and I wasn't even playing.

I agree, games are being dumbed down to appeal to everyone, its not all bad but its not all good either. I feel the same about wii owners, its shouldnt be like that with every game:?

there aren't as many extremely difficult games this gen as there used to be, but there are still some. Fire Emblem Radiant dawn, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, Soul Calibur IV and Super Smash Bros Brawl had some pretty challenging things to do, and with online capabilities, you can now have challenging, good matches with other people, where before you had to depend on AI to give you a challenge to test yourself.

though honestly, I like games that are about in the middle when it comes to difficulty; not so frusterating that you wannt to snap yoyr controller in half, but not a walk in the park either, though if a game has a "very hard" option or whatever after I beat a game, I will gladlly accept it, if I am confident enough and care about the game enough.

It's funny because the majority of gamers are over their 20's - and they're still making games that have a Teen rating or have a development time spam that's shorter than a high school project. It's like they feel the customers are just a bunch of anime watching, comic book reading, warhammer collecting, drug abusing manchildren.

Yea I mean where are the hardcore games like Super Mario World, Aladdin, The Magical quest of Mickey Mouse? Who can forget the most hardcore game of all time... Pong? (/sarcasm) Maybe I've just been around this industry for way too long but people forget that casual games have been around forever, and people have always complained that games are becoming more casual.

The only difference is that now there are is a huge market (look at the Wii owners who buy one game a year) for casual games. I would be willing to bet that if you look at the amount of "hardcore games" being released now to 10 years ago there would be many more. It's a much bigger market now and people need to learn to accept it.

Some games are being dumbed down, yes. Several instances of this can be found with traditional PC series being developed for or ported over to consoles, such as Oblivion.

I agree. Games are getting easier for so that casual gamers would appreciate it.

The RPGs and strategy games are being dumbed down and made more actiony and the stories are worse. I want to be able to take the stories seriously. Take Red Alert 3. Do these people really think a whole f___ing game that's a parody of its predecessors is interesting? What a bunch of idiots. Red Alert 3 is the video game equivalent to Disaster Movie.

The biggest strategy games these days are 100% action. I like action when it's done well but once upon a time there was such a thing as base building (beyond randomly plopping down generic, ugly buildings around your HQ) and collecting resources and planning ahead (beyond planning what units to clump up into a blob and take to the enemy). I remember an episode of Futurama that had a robot TV executive who was programmed to underestimate the viewers' intelligence. I think he's running the video game industry today. I want tactics, strategy, seriousness, interesting characters etc. I want there to be depth everywhere. I don't want one aspect of the game to be great and another horrible, I'd prefer everything to be good over that. Crysis had great gameplay and action but an atrocious story and despicably bad acting. I'd have given up the superpowers for a great story.

Is a good story I can take seriously too much to ask? Someone needs to shake up video game writing and these companies need to start hiring professional writers to write their stories. Hire screenwriters or novelists or something.

Alright, I don't know if anyone is with me on this, but I really dislike this whole "casual gaming" thing executives are big on these days.

example:

I feel a little tinge of anger, especially with Resident evil 5. It feels too simple, holds your hand too much, upgrading and whatnot just doesn't seem deep enough. Gameplay doesn't seem as complicated or as deep as any game in the series (no puzzles??)But I really enjoyed the game, regardless, But I feel like it was dumbed down to sell more copies, like it could have been much deeper, I don't know how to explain it.

and whats up with all these causal titles for the Wii? I feel bad for wii owners, because it seems like they get the real crap end of the stick when it comes to AAA titles. They have motion sensing, big deal, if the game selection sucks, who cares? Like Im not trying to troll, but it seems like I see more re-makes, family-friendly casual games, and puzzle games, and subpar action/rpg/shooters, then anything else.

Im just afraid that all of my games now are going to be one-button controlled (gears of war, A is the everything button?), "easy to get into" games... Im not saying all games are like this, but it feels like all of these new games are being skimmed off the top, to attract new buyers.

Shmiity

Since RE2, RE's puzzles haven't been worthy of the name ('Put round plate in round hole' is easier than the type of puzzles babies solve) so dropping what were in effect speed bumps increased the pace of the game without lowering the difficulty. I'm not happy about the trend of increasing the pace of the action that has been present in the numbered REs, but while I think it has lessened the series, I don't think it has made it easier.

Its been a bit of time since I played a Gears game, but I'll make two points 1) IIRC on the highest difficulty level Gears 1 was challenging and 2) difficulty and 'number of buttons used' are two different beasts.

To address the broader trend whose existence you are claiming, no I don't see it. Games are less reliant on pattern memorization and cheap deaths (in the old days, a boss that killed you unless you happened to be standing underneath a platform (whose importance you couldn't have understood before the event) was perfectly acceptable, but Itakagi was roundly criticized fora similar trick in NG2. Challenge derived from cheapness is not something I'll miss.

I feel the same way. I mean, I bought Grand Torismo 5 expecting more from the challenge side of the game in the events, but there isn't even any liscences to get in this game! It seems like they took all their focus away from making a game out of racing, and spent all their time creating a plain racing game with good physics, that's it.

I also agree with what you had to say about the Wii. I am one of those owners you spoke about and it's true, the selection just isn't there anymore. At first the console seemed like a great idea to have because surely with the wireless controls some game creator has got to master it and utilize it to the fullest. This has yet to be seen, besides the improvements from Tigre Woods games and various other games that is out. I still haven't seen anything amazing come from the new controls yet.

Games need to be a challenge, without that then where's the good accomlishment feeling in the end? Sometimes I ask myself after finishing games like this, was it even worth the time?

Yea I mean where are the hardcore games like Super Mario World, Aladdin, The Magical quest of Mickey Mouse? Who can forget the most hardcore game of all time... Pong? (/sarcasm) Maybe I've just been around this industry for way too long but people forget that casual games have been around forever, and people have always complained that games are becoming more casual.

The only difference is that now there are is a huge market (look at the Wii owners who buy one game a year) for casual games. I would be willing to bet that if you look at the amount of "hardcore games" being released now to 10 years ago there would be many more. It's a much bigger market now and people need to learn to accept it.

bigdrew172

The old Mario and Aladdin games were hardcore and some of the Mickey Mouse games (Mickey Mouse and the Castle of Illusion springs to mind) were hardcore.

Minigame collections have been with us for a long, long time though (Combat! is the first that springs to mind for me).

I completely agree with your last two points though.

I feel the same way. I mean, I bought Grand Torismo 5 expecting more from the challenge side of the game in the events, but there isn't even any liscences to get in this game! It seems like they took all their focus away from making a game out of racing, and spent all their time creating a plain racing game with good physics, that's it.

I also agree with what you had to say about the Wii. I am one of those owners you spoke about and it's true, the selection just isn't there anymore. At first the console seemed like a great idea to have because surely with the wireless controls some game creator has got to master it and utilize it to the fullest. This has yet to be seen, besides the improvements from Tigre Woods games and various other games that is out. I still haven't seen anything amazing come from the new controls yet.

Games need to be a challenge, without that then where's the good accomlishment feeling in the end? Sometimes I ask myself after finishing games like this, was it even worth the time?

GhostKai

GT5 hasn't been released yet. Are you talking about GT HD?

Maybe because Ive gotten older, but it just seems like Oblivion and RE 5 were just dumbed down version of Morrowind and RE4...