Somthing is different about video games 8-15 years ago then video games now. Help me out here.

Wildlands is the quintessential example of everything wrong with Ubisoft.

Depends on some older games. I was disgusted with the original release of some games because they were either too buggy or too ugly or both. But, over time, most of my gripes got addressed and I gave those games a more favorable second look.

On the other hand, if I'm burned out on some games/genres, no amount of eye candy or accolades will make me want to play them. Take the current crop of 3rd-person games that are supposed to be outstanding. I have no interest in them at all. I might later on. But, not now.

On the other hand, if someone made a new flight sim with all the latest bells and whistles, I'd be on on it, asap.

I agree completely. Gamers always act like the sky is falling when in reality my current game collection dwarfs my collection from any other gen and contains the previous gens as well. I have more games on my PS Vita then I had my entire childhood. My biggest gaming issues right now are all backlog related.

@zappat: When people in such a context rant like you are doing here it's because they've grown out of gaming and find it less exciting and rewarding than before. It is you who changed, not necessarily games.

When people like me rant it's because there hasn't been one game in the charts that excited me since WoW or Left For Dead. That's ages ago.

I'm having fun looking at vgchartz.com at global sellers by year. Did you know in 2005 the top 15 games were handheld. 3DS at about 70% to PSP's the rest. 2008 sees the Wii take all top 5 slots.

But reading through all of them you start to drift off. CoD something something. Mario 64 something version. I'm actually amazed at how much handhelds have been dominating the charts though. PC games seem to have been redacted from this website though.

Metal Gear blah blah. Link's Crossbow Training?!... Sims, animal crossing. You'd be amazed how many of these there are. In 2008 at least. Guitar Hero something something. Oh look a Gran Turismo... CoD something something...

About 1% of games in the top 100 have interested me in the past 15 years. So I grew out of gaming ages ago but just keep coming back like a sucker, hoping to see something to whet my whistle but no. I go shuffling off into the fog with my walking stick. Banned from entering the warmth of the exclusive new game club.

"Charts"

Stop looking at charts and start looking at games then.

"hasn't been one game in the charts that excited me since..."

That still can be exactly what I claimed, you have grown out of gaming and don't find the same excitement than before now so your perception is driven by pure nostalgia from when gaming actually excited you. That doesn't mean there are no games out there now that would appeal to the old you, I'm sure there are many.

@zappat: of course I find gaming exciting. Why else would I be writing on this forum ffs.

The old me is the same as the new me. I still like the same kind of things. Why can't I have that but in better graphics.

Take a game like LHX attack chopper for PC-DOS. It is a boring game about being in a helicopter where you have to fly somewhere, kill or do a thing then fly home.

Most of the time is flying about a desert with almost no detail. But I like the game because of the pacing and skill level.

I don't see why it's so hard to make a game like that now but just improving the graphics and sound and with more missions, weapons etc. The reason is. That level of game. The mid level of game investment which is the AA market has all but dried up or been consumed by an ever more polarized market, which is caused by corporate and shareholder investment.

A game like LHX Attack Chopper would not be made, not because it would not have a market. But because the market is skewed towards either huge or tiny amounts of investment.

This is caused by large companies seeking growth on a level which the market cannot sustain and it will implode.

Without the innovation of new titles. The industry is heading for the same fate Hollywood is facing, which is less risk taking due to greater competition due to democratised development processes, due to shareholders demanding ever greater profits.

The trouble is. The money is not driving the market but rather milking it like has been said quite alot.

The god of western economic policy doesn't understand about game design.

This is all in the above Forbes article of a Quota question. I recommend you read it.

Take Diablo. The second game was a success because the first game was good and a success. The second game was also good but really only upgraded the graphics engine. The third game looked ok but had too much money and time spent on the development. They over-complicated it without evolving the gameplay significantly. Also, I only wanted to play as the witchdoctor, that costs extra. Also. It took too long to come out and I was kind of p*ssed off at that point. Then with all the server and in game economy problems it had, I just passed over it.

PS. It feels kind of dissingenouse to be defending modern gaming in such a vague and abstract way as you are. Are you a Sony-programmed-advanced-ai-forum-dissent-mitigation-prodecure-class2? Or SPAAFDMPC2, or 'b*llsh*tter' for short, chat bot by any chance?

Whit the advancements in technology top end games have become a lot more expensive to make (graphics, AI, physics .etc), so studios have stopped taking risks altogether on big budget games and are almost always very similar to previous existing games (not just games in the same series but any popular game from the past), innovation is now only really present in indie games.

So i feel like with modern games you either have choice of more content and better graphics or creative fresh game with less content and way less impressive graphics.

I fell like that's the biggest change.

@Jebus213: I kinda get you but I do have a few more games that I'm looking forward to. Mechwarrior 5, Total War Three Kingdoms, Metro, Cyberpunk 2077, the new Obsidian Fallout type game (can't remember what it's called) and Rage 2 looks like it could be fun as well.

Right now though I'm bouncing between Total War Wahammer 2 and Stellaris and have been for a while.

@valgaav_219: My biggest gaming issues right now are all backlog related.

This is the problem of too many channels and nothing on and is why no-one watches tv any more... I think... I'm starting a new thread on that.

THIS OMG THIS!!!! @Shewgenja you summed it up perfectly

You have to be willing to explore to the smaller budgeted games from big and small studios to play the hidden gems. Dead Cells is a perfect example

I've also been going back to older games too that I've missed out on. My next purchase will be the Capcom Beat'em Bundle!

I've been on an arcade kick lately, one thing I do wish to see more of are Arcade style games that are easy to pick up and play for about 30 minutes. The older I get, the less time I have to play these 100 hour games

Well, companies have always been in it to make money of course (that's how they keep the lights on). But these past two gens have definitely been more about coming up with "monetization schemes" not just building great/innovative games, and figuring out how to layer those monetization schemes onto games. Last gen it was about DLC and horse armor and "online passes" and "project 10 dollar". This gen, they really tried to implement full on gambling and pay to win aspects (which presumably they've taken from mobile games). It's really disgusting IMO.

That being said, sure some of the actual experiences this gen continue to get better. Nobody is going to tell me the GTA or Red Dead Revolver series from 10+ years ago can compete with Red Dead Redemption 2. It's insane what they have packed into this game. I can even forgive some of that "monetization" from Rockstar assuming it goes into the online modes, because you can legitimately see what they've been doing for 5 or 6 years. What sickens me is what some other AAA developers are doing with the annual franchises, they've straight up ruined some games this gen with this monetization/grinding crap that they are packing into simplified/dumbed down games that are obviously just assembly lined and pushed out the door.

@jackamomo: I read it but I'm not sure I agree 100% but I get what they are trying to say. I mean even though half-sized investments for games are difficult to come up with nowadays the size of the industry and the amount of people working on it more than compensates for it that's why the average investment is down but we still can have more mid-sized gaming companies than ever before. Sure there is an over-representation of big companies and small one-manned indies but there are always the inbetween ones. Look at a game like Subnautica which released this year to general praise by a mid-sized dev. The game is innovative, fresh, lacks most of the formulas that make the big triple A games popular and still it was made and praised. You just have to look a bit harder because a game like Subnautica won't have a bunch of marketing behind. There are many games like it that don't get so much praise so you hear them less but they are good and still exist and they experiment and innovate.

Even more the industry is not only the US and Japan now, but Europe and China are also now making games so the variety and number of efforts are much bigger than in the past. The comparison the article makes of Hollywood is spot on but not exactly to reinforce your point. Yes, Hollywood became filled with blockbuster summer hits and everyone with money is trying to follow the formula but if you look at the sidelines behind all the explosions and flashes the movies industry is thriving worldwide with exciting and top-level independent productions and even some Hollywood ones coming from other venues. It just takes a bit more research to find them.

I think the problems with gaming at the moment are symptomatic of the entertainment industry in general: nobody wants to take risks. Everything you see and hear in games, movies, music, and television these days is simply a variation on what is currently popular and profitable, so things are starting to feel generic.

@zappat: Subnautica ain't that great. It feels a bit unfinished to me. I think the Mount & Blade games are better.

Hollywood is in a similar state right now as in movies are expensive and big budget or small and independant. There may be big ideas but if you want to be rich, your options are more limited by what will be funded.

Also, Europe has been making games for the exact same amount of time as USA and Japan but maybe not so much China and USSR/Russia/Eastern broke ass block. Sorry Bohemia Interactive but you cannot code properly.

Even though Tetris is Russian.

I will point out at this point that I regard Russian programmers to be the best in the world. Just not in games as far as I know.

But greedy practices always existed, from the superior arcade screens in the back cover of my Megadrive games, to arcade ports like Virtua Racing or SW Arcade that could cost 100 dollars despite having close to no content, promissed Toy Story graphics on PS2, etc... At least now, thanks to internet, we can fight those practices back.

I honestly think that the main problem is that many people think that mainstream AAAs are all that's available, and as a consequence they miss hundreds of less known/poison free gems. I have played over 200 games this generation, never bought a DLC or paid a microtransaction in my life, and i'm having a blast.

The biggest change I noticed is games are a lot better today.

But keep on living in the past if you must.

I think you're just getting older. Tastes are changing. Standards are rising. It happens.

I'm still playing the original and only good Ghost Recon with the Heroes Unleashed mod. Check it out.

Games that would focus on their core ideas and refine the hell out of them, instead of trying to be 10,000 things all at once was a good thing. I'd rather play one that 'specialized' in a certain area and just move on to the next for variety, instead of trying to get it all out of one game which half asses the individual aspects and doesn't really get too in depth or do anything that well. Case in point....Bethesda's crap.

@jun_aka_pekto: On the other hand, if someone made a new flight sim with all the latest bells and whistles, I'd be on on it, asap.

X Plane 11 is the latest and greatest flight sim right now. I really like how they've included co-pilots that shout at you if you're going to crash and just real of flight information in that calm way pilots do.

It's kind of on the hardcore side to me and my graphics card can just forget about trying to run it on full effects. It is a bit behind the times too.

No love for (PC) GRAW? I thought it was pretty good, I think I like it more than the original. Although the aesthetics (brown brown brown) are horrid.

yes PC GRAW was good but its too brown. too brown and shooting and AI was pretty bad. other than it was good.

Original GR is best by far.

The one that was among the first games to feature "legitimate" cheats like wallhacks ?

I ignore anything else called Ghost Recon after the original & expansions.

@bussinrounds said:

@uninspiredcup said:

@bussinrounds said:

@uninspiredcup said:

@R4gn4r0k said:

You mean Wildlands ?

yeah the game seems awfully grindy in nature, I already stopped using ground vehicles and only use planes and choppers to get to objectives anymore because the objectives are just way too stretched out.

Wildlands is the quintessential example of everything wrong with Ubisoft.

I'm still playing the original and only good Ghost Recon with the Heroes Unleashed mod. Check it out.

Games that would focus on their core ideas and refine the hell out of them, instead of trying to be 10,000 things all at once was a good thing. I'd rather play one that 'specialized' in a certain area and just move on to the next for variety, instead of trying to get it all out of one game which half asses the individual aspects and doesn't really get too in depth or do anything that well. Case in point....Bethesda's crap.

No love for (PC) GRAW? I thought it was pretty good, I think I like it more than the original. Although the aesthetics (brown brown brown) are horrid.

The one that was among the first games to feature "legitimate" cheats like wallhacks ?

I ignore anything else called Ghost Recon after the original & expansions.

I don't remember that. But then, I haven't played it in years.

7th gen aggrssively pushed publishers to put more money in games and they wanted more money in return so they stuck to popular themes that had mass appeal and that's why we have less variety. As far as this gen goes I think publishers have pushed to pad games more with shallow content to extend gameplay time, I find this to be my major issue with modern gaming, not the style of games or themes of games made, just they take too damn long to play. I too like playing older games for this reason, many aren't nearly the same level of time to invest in completing them, they're more gratifying and I don't have to make a big commitment between starting and finishing them.

it's all part of the ebb and flow of gaming relative to you and your tastes.

the most contemplation worthy thing that i got from this thread is that ghosts4ever may have bred. more than once

You're just getting older, mate. It's happened to a lot of us.

Any recommendations?

I'm really disappointed with how Castlevania seems to have died... especially with the popularity of the Switch... a new Castlevania (pre-the reboot) would be fantastic.

The original Ghost Recon? I do. It stuck to the tactical scenarios, period. None of the drama queen and narrative crap.

No, GRAW.

I agree about the drama bullshit, The original Ghost Recon and Rainbow 6 have a feeling of realism.

GRAW feels like you're typical "America **** yea" crap Ubisoft love sucking. Gameplay wise though (having went back), it's pretty solid.

Check out Hollow Knight. Very awesome metroidvania game.

Also, Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon. Haven't played it myself, but it looks like a linear retro Castlevania done awesomely.

Too many butthurt noobs and I am the best gammer of all time.

I don't care about most AAA games nowadays except for Nintendo games since they still focus on fun gameplay. Besides Nintendo games, most of the other games that I play are either indie games or retro games. There are occasional exceptions where I will enjoy a AAA modern game that is not made by Nintendo, but that is increasingly rare. Maybe one per year if I'm lucky.

That's because we are getting much less AAA games from the publishers compared to previous generation.

Just compare Rockstar's output in this generation compared to their output in previous gen. At previous gen they made GTA IV, some expansions for it , GTA V , Red Dead Redemption, Undead Nightmare expansion , Max Payne 3 and other games that I don't know. This generation they've just made a Remaster of GTA V and RDR 2.

The main reason for that is that AAA games are becoming more and more expensive , development times are becoming longer and longer and as a result it has become a much more risky business.(Since some failed games can bankrupt a publisher and developer. )

I think it is more than just that for some of us. Modern game design is just very different in many ways than how it used to be and some of us don't like many aspects of modern game design and miss some aspects or retro game design that are no longer the norm.

Many of us that are dissatisfied with modern gaming can still find satisfaction with retro gaming though which has game design that is more appealing to us. I think that is a big reason why retro gaming has become more popular than ever in recent years.

Rockstar need to release max payne 4 before they do anything GTA or bully 2.

I will jump out of joy if rockstar announced max payne 4.

Oh. Okay.

I too abandoned the series after the original.

To name a few...

Hollow Knight

Cave Story

Dead Cells

Iconoclasts

Well a lot of games are more like movies now. At some people developers and gamers got kind of lazy in my opinion. They decided that they like pretty pictures more than actual gameplay. And here we are. On the bright side, indies are here to save the day and gameplay first is making a comeback! Wahoo!

That's only half true. Even so-called "movie" games have gameplay. The bad part is the waiting until gameplay resumes.

Sure. I am simply comparing it to games of the past. Graphics first is a thing now. It is somewhat obvious in my opinion. (of course there are plenty of exceptions)

That's progress, I suppose. But, one thing I learned all these years is that the type of games I like are still around even though the attention is now on the glitzy ones. That's good enough to me.

Absolutely. It is still a far better time to be a gamer than it ever was. I will give you my favorite example: When Phantasy star IV game out originally on Sega Genesis, it was $99.00! No I got the sega mega 50 games collection with TONS of great games on it on the Switch for $29.00. So many great games with all that gameplay (Including Phantasy Star IV) all for that price. What a time to be a gamer!

My gaming roots go back to those kinds of games (including a good number of Japanese ones). But, my current retro preference is MS-DOS and Amiga games. That's why when I started playing (1992) Star Control II HD, I dropped all of my modern games like a hot potato. ;)