I've realized that i've almost stopped playing games beside a few strategy ones and Racing ones... I was a huge Squaresoft and Enix fan (before they merged), i played and enjoied all Final Fantasy from 1 to 10... After 10's on rail game development i gave a try to FFXII that was decent but didn't manage to catch my attention. I was also a huge fan of SaGa, and i played and finished Romancing SaGa remake on ps2 with almost all characters, had fun with Romancing SaGa 3 thanks to translation patch, and finished SaGa Frontier with all 7 stories completed and even replayed a few of them. Been loving Star Ocean (should play the snes ones!) and Valkyrie Profile and Silmeria and even that DS one, covenant of the plume. What disappoint me is that all the franchise i love seems completely dead (SaGa), or going downhill since ages (Final Fantasy) or completely silent (VP).... If i stop to think about it, i think the last RPG i played and completely enjoyed is Lost Odissey This is ages ago now... I played and like Valkyrie Chronicles too, it was good but not a JRPG. Is it just that i'm becaming a nostalgic old man, or they do actually not make the games like i loved back then? What saddens me is that nothing on the horizon (i mean on new consoles like ps4 or xboxone) seem to suit my taste... Anything good i've missed?
I'm in the same boat. I'd think a lot of us here are. Both, probably. I don't mind, actually. There's literally generations of console libraries that are full of stuff I haven't gotten around to playing yet. Granted I'm more of an RPG guy, which usually age better than e.g. racing games (which tend to rely a lot on their graphics for appeal) so ymmv, but I probably won't even buy a PS3 for another couple of years (haven't even really gotten started with the PS2 yet) and not miss a thing.
you're having the exact same problem i do. there simply isnt anything in the horizon that i find even remotely interesting, and even game series' i absolutely love (like FF and persona series of games) the upcoming stuff is just not looking interesting anymore. i've been starting to think that maybe i've just become too picky or something, i dont know really. But all in all, i still find myself rather pushing down that frontmission cart in my snes than try out stuff on ps3/4 or whatever. kinda sucks really. Maybe i should consider stop being a gamer and go do something else
This might be the issue. Even people who favor the older titles play like some modern stuff. Another thing to take note is that as a child one is MUCH more impressionable. Then the kid grows up to be a bitter adult that nitpicks everything (and has lots of impending problems in mind).
I've owned (and loved) gaming machines since 1983, and I honestly think that now (these past few months onwards) is the worst time I've ever known as regards games releases, as there's been nothing to interest me since Batman: Arkham Origins, and Thief, and the only future games I am looking forward to are the new Alien game, and the new Batman game (though I won't be able to play the latter until I buy a PS4 or XBox One, or probably need to upgrade my PC). I was disappointed with Batman: Arkham Origins, *very* disappointed in Thief (Origins is a great game, just inferior to it's two prequels, but Thief is so far behind the previous three Thief games that it's almost amazing how badly the makers messed up). Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those "Things were always better in the old days" people. I love many modern games (such as the Batman: Arkham games, the Bioshock games, GTA V, Singularity, etc, as well as older games (I still play early 1980s arcade games, and ZX Spectrum, and C64 games, all via emulation). But I am *so* glad that I love retro-gaming, as otherwise I'd probably be very unhappy about the state of modern gaming. But since I still have my consoles from the N64 onwards to the PS3, plus a PC, and several more machines if you count emulation, then I don't spend much time lamenting the (to me) current low standards of much of the modern gaming experience (bugged game releases that make us into unpaid beta testers, DLC that should be part of the original game, first person shooters that are linear and treat you like an idiot (i.e. the endless onscreen prompts to open a door or pick up a weapon, an on-screen indicator pointing you to the next objective/exit to save you the trouble of having to think and explore, recharging health/shields, etc), games that interrupt the gameplay mid-level to give you a (often unskippable) cutscene (which just serves to remind you that it's just a game), little replayability, etc). I have lots of great games, including many I've yet to play, and lots more that I love to replay over and over again. If the games industry disappeared tomorrow, and no new game was ever made again, I would be disappointed, but not as disappointed as many gamers. Though I certainly don't want that to ever happen, as even though gaming is in a rut now (well, aspects of it are, such as AAA games, and commercial first person shooters), no doubt the standards will improve over time.
@OP Go check out ni no kuni and bravely default. I have the same problem as you, i mostly played ps1 and snes games, with some ps2 games and felt that the newer game i played, the worse they were. But the titles mentioned above make me wanna buy a 3ds and ps3.
If you like South Park, The Stick of Truth was pretty good, though you could argue that it was more of a Western RPG than a JRPG.
I was pleasantly surprised by Stick of Truth, bought it not expecting much, and got an amazing Paper Mario styled game, not to mention i was laughing my ass off the whole time. As far as newer games, i havent had a game that has had me genuinely excited for its release in probably 5 years or so. The only game i can think of that im somewhat excited for right now is Doom 4.
Same here. The DOOM reboot sounds pretty amazing and is so far the only game that has me wanting a next gen console. New systems just seem like "dude-bro" consoles to me. A negative point of view, but ever since the CoD explosion new games are losing their luster to me.
Try the Wii-U. Although it is lacking in Strategy or RPG games, it seems to be the console to get if you are just bored of FPS games of GTA style which are currently the most popular games right now. It's Wii backward compatibility is also a bonus with some of it's exclusive titles like Xenoblade Chronicles. That or look at games from Humble Bundle and stuff, a lot of my current PC games is from those bundles having to play games that are at times pretty unique and fresh.
Ah i sadly do not have a 3ds, band i'm not so excited of ni no kuni.... In any case i'm glad i'm not the only one feeling lost lol
There's a lot of arcade racers I just don't like any more. To me all the key developers are not around anymore. Major one for me being Bizarre Creations, and Criterion which are EA's bitch now. My all time favourite development team was Luxoflux who made Vigilante 8, the reboot was balls. It seemed the director had no clue about how the previous game played or he completely forgot, and made it up again.
I also miss Luxoflux a lot. The Vigilante 8 games were awesome, with 2nd Offense being my favorite. Played the hell out of True Crime: Streets of L.A. and also enjoyed TC: New York City, just not as much as the first. It was a shame the way Luxoflux went out. Activision pushed for them to follow in GTA's steps, which kinda took them partially outside of what they seemed best at. Then when the market shifted away from open-world games, they terminated the studio. Despite the fact that TC:Hong Kong was practically finished. Glad Square Enix picked it up and made it Sleeping Dogs. Luxoflux finally seemed to have a near-perfect handle on open-world games. For shame, Activision.
I'm the same, which is why I spend more time enjoying old classics than I do exploring the newer consoles. There are a few new games I want to play, but for me right now most of them are for another day, probably in five or ten years time when they're old enough for me to appreciate them. I guess I like my games with age, like a fine wine that matures over time. Metal Gear Solid is one of my favourites, even though it's on a console known for aging badly it is by far one of the master pieces of its generation. I find it that games back then were simpler, that basic geometric structures had deep and complex meaning to them, that's what made games great and what marked the skills of a truly great game designer. These days geometry is complex yet utterly meaningless, there is no longer a need to make up for technical limitations with clever game design, just an over abundance of cinematics to try and keep you entertained for the duration of what is a truly mediocre game experience.
Show me a game from the early 3D era that has not aged badly because I can't think of many (perhaps I don't know enough). Old 3D hasn't aged as well as 8bit has. I find that you are glorifying that era of graphics too much. Sure it took some talent to not make object look shitty, but even at their best they left much to be desired for. I find that time sucked in aethestics because real art styles could not be done. Newer consoles allow for games like Okami and Jet Grind Radio. Any game that looks drab today is the fault of the dev don't attempt to make this an inherent fault of the hardware.
Same here man, I loved 2nd Offense, probably my all time favourite game. I could never get sick of it!
I think you misunderstood what I was saying. Games back then looked terrible and still do, it was because of that that developers had to think of interesting ways to enhance the gameplay experience. Look at a game like Metal Gear solid or VR Missions, it was essentially built out of square blocks, very basic geometric structures, but what the developers did with those square blocks was beyond genius. They took something that was very simple and unpleasing to the eye, and turned it into a game that was deep. They created an experience that was well beyond anything from its time, something which still stands up to be as fun and interesting today, and that's what marked great game designers. These days the games are very pleasing on the eye, but developers aren't necessarily doing anything interesting with the highly detailed geometry they're using to fill their environments, the graphics are so good they don't have to make up for it with gameplay, perhaps in this day and age they do the opposite, make up for bad gameplay with detail and cinematics. That's the problem I've had these past few years, very few games have been brilliant, sure they've been pretty but they've provided nothing new as far as the experience goes. Perhaps the best example I can think of in this day and age is Mario Galaxy, a game about nothing but spheres, but what Nintendo did with those spheres they created something unlike anything we've seen before, a truly wonderful experience. That's what I really appreciate about games and I find that it only comes from those working with technical limitations, when you have so much detail to work with you forget that you're actually creating a game to be played.
On that topic, games today have post processing modules which don't really require much coding... Stainless Games consider them like plugins you use for video editing, they don't have to add any features these 'plugins' do it all for them which instantly makes the game look interesting. The tech today should leave gameplay and structure on the to-do list, and we should have longer games and content as more time can be spent on those things.
Old 3D games do look mostly somewhere between primitve and terrible, true, but some of them are still first class, playability-wise, even today. I have an XBox 360 and PS3 (no current generation console for me until they have games that I want, but Batman: Arkham Knight, and the new Mirror's Edge might prove to be the ones for me) plus a PC, but my two favourite games are still on the N64, and I still prefer the original XBox to the 360, gaming-wise.
Derp I did misunderstand. The VR boom should provide never before seen gameplay. Of course many old games are still worth playing. I've never disagreed there, and was focusing only on visuals.
