Most AAA games have nothing special to say

@nepu7supastar7: That's true. It does need to be taken into account, and that's probably the limiting factor in games like Detroit or Heavy Rain. They just aren't that fun.

The way I see it, there was a shift.

AAA development used to be about cranking out a bunch of titles and taking risks. They weren't all masterpieces, but there was diversity and a lot of it.

Somewhere along the line, they shifted toward focusing more on single franchises than risk-taking, putting all their eggs in one basket. So instead of using 500 million dollars to develop 10 games that 50 million people might buy, they spend 400 million dollars on one game that 45 million people will buy.

Some time later there was another shift toward "value-added" content, such as DLC and aftermarket stuff; so now we have even less diversity, less risks.

TL;DR: game development went from creating a bunch of deep, cool games for specific audiences, to making really shallow "pop games" that appeal to a broader audience. More marketing, less depth. Bigger budgets, smaller risks.

I mostly play video games just to have fun, but when a game occasionally suprises me with a great story (Life is Strange , Until Dawn, Yakuza Zero etc.) it's a nice plus and adds to the experience.

I think we will all just get disappointed if we expect most or all AAA games to deliver a truly emotional experience. If I want something truly spectacular/artistic, I'll visit an art museum instead or read Dostoyevsky.

Most AAA games have nothing special, period. They are run of the mill trying to emulate B movies where gameplay is an afterthought.

@pmanden: Dostoyevsky was an amazing writer, I loved Brothers Karamazov!

@uninspiredcup said:

@cainetao11 said:

Wow, I think some AAA games are trying too hard to be emotional stories first and gameplay second.

Pretty much this.

It's amazing how this single scene says more than the entirety of Last Of Us.

"pick up that can".

Genius.

lol I played HL2. What exactly does that scene says? That they're d*cks? hooray...? -_-'

@XVision84: I haven't read that novel yet, but I guess it's a bit more elaborate than the average Call of Duty single player campaign. :) :)

@pmanden: Just a little bit :P. Mason and his numbers come close.

@Vatusus said:

@uninspiredcup said:

@cainetao11 said:

Wow, I think some AAA games are trying too hard to be emotional stories first and gameplay second.

Pretty much this.

It's amazing how this single scene says more than the entirety of Last Of Us.

"pick up that can".

Genius.

lol I played HL2. What exactly does that scene says? That they're d*cks? hooray...? -_-'

Thematically the entire opening sequence is a juxtaposition between propaganda and reality with the line "the right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world" jumping between images of Black Mesa and the final citadel section, both a callback to the original "accident" and the players eventual destination. It opens with a small (optional) act of player rebellion and ends with civil war. In conjunction, it acts as a tutorial foreshadowing what will later evolve into the games signature weapon, the gravity gun. The player throwing ineffective cans, to literally throwing them like cans. All of this is deliberate, Halflife 2 designed in a loop.

On a genius level of 10, it's at least a 9.5.

Bioshock; Infinite tried something to ape it with it's egg throwing sequence, but it was comparatively shit, pretentious, and forced.

Incredibly poo poo.

LMAO!

But yes. We are aware at the fact that PS gamers enjoy casual movie games. This was made clear when looking at their tiny e-sports gaming presence and tiny competitive mp library in general.

And they were B movies at best. I'd rather watch grass grow.

I loved Tales of Symphonias message.

MGS2 for all the shit it gets gas some cool messages too

@uninspiredcup said:

@Vatusus said:

@uninspiredcup said:

@cainetao11 said:

Wow, I think some AAA games are trying too hard to be emotional stories first and gameplay second.

Pretty much this.

It's amazing how this single scene says more than the entirety of Last Of Us.

"pick up that can".

Genius.

lol I played HL2. What exactly does that scene says? That they're d*cks? hooray...? -_-'

Thematically the entire opening sequence is a juxtaposition between propaganda and reality with the line "the right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world" jumping between images of Black Mesa and the final citadel section, both a callback to the original "accident" and the players eventual destination. It opens with a small (optional) act of player rebellion and ends with civil war. In conjunction, it acts as a tutorial foreshadowing what will later evolve into the games signature weapon, the gravity gun. The player throwing ineffective cans, to literally throwing them like cans. All of this is deliberate, Halflife 2 designed in a loop.

On a genius level of 10, it's at least a 9.5.

Bioshock; Infinite tried something to ape it with it's egg throwing sequence, but it was comparatively shit, pretentious, and forced.

Incredibly poo poo.

rofl now thats some pretentious bullcr4p if I ever seen one. All that scene said was "hey, we're the bad guys and we're d*cks", nothing else.

When I read your post this meme came imediately to mind

@Vatusus said:

@uninspiredcup said:

@Vatusus said:

@uninspiredcup said:

Pretty much this.

It's amazing how this single scene says more than the entirety of Last Of Us.

"pick up that can".

Genius.

lol I played HL2. What exactly does that scene says? That they're d*cks? hooray...? -_-'

Thematically the entire opening sequence is a juxtaposition between propaganda and reality with the line "the right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world" jumping between images of Black Mesa and the final citadel section, both a callback to the original "accident" and the players eventual destination. It opens with a small (optional) act of player rebellion and ends with civil war. In conjunction, it acts as a tutorial foreshadowing what will later evolve into the games signature weapon, the gravity gun. The player throwing ineffective cans, to literally throwing them like cans. All of this is deliberate, Halflife 2 designed in a loop.

On a genius level of 10, it's at least a 9.5.

Bioshock; Infinite tried something to ape it with it's egg throwing sequence, but it was comparatively shit, pretentious, and forced.

Incredibly poo poo.

rofl now thats some pretentious bullcr4p if I ever seen one. All that scene said was "hey, we're the bad guys and we're d*cks", nothing else.

Na, that 's you oversimplifying to downplay it. Which is really the only argument made.

Take the basic action and ignore everything around it. e.g. tutorial promptto indicate physics will be used prominently at some point in the future.

Or the fact you will be revisiting this area several hours later in a completely different context where the chapter is explicitly called "anti-citizen one".

Or the fact this is speech about instinct is playing in the background during this segment.

Which promptly turns to this in the exact next speech.

None of this is related., like, a group of people wrote, or thought about it, it's all random.

You know how whenever you're outside you can see the citadel prominently in practically every area barring Ravenholm? That's random as well. Not deliberately done as a symbol of authority, like they were trying to create some theme, showing the players eventual destination right from the get go.

Random interpretation.

@uninspiredcup said:

@Vatusus said:

@uninspiredcup said:

@Vatusus said:

lol I played HL2. What exactly does that scene says? That they're d*cks? hooray...? -_-'

Thematically the entire opening sequence is a juxtaposition between propaganda and reality with the line "the right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world" jumping between images of Black Mesa and the final citadel section, both a callback to the original "accident" and the players eventual destination. It opens with a small (optional) act of player rebellion and ends with civil war. In conjunction, it acts as a tutorial foreshadowing what will later evolve into the games signature weapon, the gravity gun. The player throwing ineffective cans, to literally throwing them like cans. All of this is deliberate, Halflife 2 designed in a loop.

On a genius level of 10, it's at least a 9.5.

Bioshock; Infinite tried something to ape it with it's egg throwing sequence, but it was comparatively shit, pretentious, and forced.

Incredibly poo poo.

rofl now thats some pretentious bullcr4p if I ever seen one. All that scene said was "hey, we're the bad guys and we're d*cks", nothing else.

Na, that 's you oversimplifying to downplay it. Which is really the only argument made.

Take the basic action and ignore everything around it. e.g. tutorial promptto indicate physics will be used prominently at some point in the future.

Or the fact you will be revisiting this area several hours later in a completely different context where the chapter is explicitly called "anti-citizen one".

Loading Video...

Or the fact this is speech about instinct is playing in the background during this segment.

Loading Video...

Which promptly turns to this in the exact next speech.

Loading Video...

None of this is related., like, a group of people wrote, or thought about it, it's all random.

Saw the videos. I still think its bullcr4p of the highest grade. HL is as barren as it goes. Revisiting a scenario in a different context barely works as an argument for what you're trying to tell. And I dont see how that "deep" speach correlates with the bad gus being d*cks by demanding you to pick up a f*ckin can. There's nothing deep about it... at all. And tutorials that force you into a mechanic that will be used throughout the game have been done way before HL2 btw

but, whatever, think what you will. I'll be here laughing at your pretentious bullcr4p

@uninspiredcup: None of this is related., like, a group of people wrote, or thought about it, it's all random.

You know how whenever you're outside you can see the citadel prominently in practically every area barring Ravenholm? That's random as well. Not deliberately done as a symbol of authority, like they were trying to create some theme, showing the players eventual destination right from the get go.

Random interpretation.

Love this LOL.

Yea, because Halflife 2, Ocarina Of Time and Breath Of The Wild were such failures.

If only they had listened to your sagely advice.

Woe.

@Vatusus: Why would a writer include the colour of the curtain if it had no meaning?

Why would the colour have relevance to the plot.

I admit, alot of American writing is overly descriptive.

But the point of including description is to create a world in which meaning is created from metaphore.

So why make the curtain blue and not yellow?

Because even, subconsciously, colour have meaning and add to the narrative even if it is just in atmosphere.

Half Life 2 very cleverly demonstrates, to the player directly, the experience of authority given too much control over the population in a dystopian future and the speeches on giant screens add to the overall sense of oppression in a rare example of gameplay driving the narrative over scripted dialogue.

Philistine.

uh, maybe to describe the scenery where the plot is taking in? Its called "visual description", its important to writting

MGS2 is still the best example of this in gaming. The things it said were way ahead of its time. Long before they ever became buzzwords, MGS2 was already dealing with themes like memes, social media, fake news, alternative facts, echo chambers, etc. It presented a vision of the future that turned out to be surprisingly accurate. And it was one of the first games with LGBT themes, back in the days when homophobia and gay-bashing was common (e.g. the whole "gay Raiden" thing). However, it also delved a bit into incest... If anything, MGS2 probably had a bit too much to say. It was a glorious trainwreck.

@Vatusus: So is spelling. I think you just argue for the sake of it.

This might be an unpopular opinion but, a video game isn’t the best form of media to say something special; a book or a movie is far more effective.

?

I think you just argue for the sake of it.

No, I just point out reason when I must.

@Vatusus: what is 'writting'?

I only ask because I must... :|

Nonstop-Madness

Video games are a really good format to allow the player to experience something in a more visceral way than writing can achieve, because it is is both visual and audible. I mean, the potential is there. The Last if Us attempts to write a meaningful story but is just a walking simulator and cover shooter with lacklustre writing.

With good writing, the potential of games to involve the player within an environment and plot stands apart from a passive media because you are asked to make decisions within a world which can affect the course of the story.

A game like The Last of Us, whilst a brown trudging snooze fest of mediocrity, is a kind of game that could have offered an interesting exploration of moral choice, forcing the player to make difficult decisions in a world in which your survival might be at odds with someone else's. For instance. As it stands, these games are uniformly good people against bad people as the imagination of the writers are not that expansive.

What needs to happen is a game needs to take a literary source of material, like the Dune games did, because that adds a layer of depth to the environment and characters that would innately have more impact and meaning than environment and characters created by a silicon valley nerd or Polish bro club.

That is why Dune games have the gravitas of a good writer behind them in the theme of rebellion in a desertificated landscape within the context of powerful organisations and the thirst for power and corruption that follows.

The potential for a game to reveal a narrative in the 'show don't tell' method of story telling is almost never explored which is a pity really.

There will always still be gameplay games too.

the thing is, some people find intellectualy challenging stuff "fun" and other's don't. The same applies outside the gaming world. The demographic that enjoys Metal gear solid, Persona, Final Fantasy and Mass Effect, is not the same demographic that plays Fifa, Call of duty, fortnite and battlefield.

Sure, theres some people that will enjoy all kind of games. but in my experience, thats very rare. I'v never meet enyone with both Fifa and Persona 5 in their collections, but to be fair, there's close to no gamers where i live ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@nepu7supastar7: Not everyone enjoys simple midless fun tho. thats very subjetive, personaly, simple mindless fun games bore me to death, my way of fun is listening to codec conversations on MGS or planning strategies/playing with stats on RPGs, i also find inventory managment and crafting in games "fun", while MP matches in shooters just give me a headache, i can't stand 5 mins of what most people call "mindless fun". But that's just me. Fun factor is different for everyone.

Actually, he didn´t prove your point since your post is pointless

Trying to make this Xbox/Playstation flamewar is missing the boat on so many occasions, especially when the facts are that a majority of both consoles userbase are gamers, the only difference is that Sony makes and sell exclusive games like Days Gone, The Last of Us, Uncharted and God of War while Microsoft does not make exclusive similar games because they manage to never actually put their waste resources behind studios that are similar to Naughty Dog or Sony Santa Monica.

Also, Microsoft offers its games on its biggest "competitor" PC.

Anyways that out of the way as to the TS, Gaming is entertainment and are not supposed to "say something" which is why most people when they turn on their gaming platform they go to find a game that allows them to turn off for a few hours and just relax.

Oh, it was a poor excuse of grammar "naziing". The trumph card of those who have no argument. English isnt my native tongue fyi. How many do you speak? Cause I can speak four different languages

Nonstop-Madness

Video games are a really good....

... zzzz

yeaaaah, I'm not reading that sh*t. But I hope you had fun writing it though :p

@Dragerdeifrit:

As far as Metal Gear Solid goes, I always preferred the story aspect too. Especially with the older games. But it was mainly because the gameplay was pretty dull.

@Vatusus: Please don't talk to me.

Jacanuk There's no reason for there not to be AAA intelligent game for some as there will always be FIFA's and CoD's and the over 18's market is probably big enough to support that.

Trying to think of clever stories in games... 90's VGA DOS point and click games had some though provoking stories like Blade Runner (1997).

...dont quote me then?

Metro exodus.

No they have nothing at all actually.

That seems very subjective, as in, you may not have had that experience but someone else might have... so at least there should be a debate.