Games taking a turn for the worse

[BaeBlade]

Just after some opinions.

I dont know if this is just me, but has anyone noticed new games aren't just what they used to be?

I remember getting a new game and playing for weeks straight, but over the past few years there has been an decline in interest and passion for gaming. I would buy a hyped new release, play for a few hours, then feel gutted that I've missed my window for a refund.

And early access.... I understand the smaller developers want to generate funds to work on the game and to test out the current game state but its becoming more of an issue where developers will release a game thats almost unplayable, take months or more to patch it to a working state then let it sit in early access for years.

I dont want this to be a rant, even though its starting to feel like it when reading it back to myself... I just want something new, something exciting, something that will make me pull a sicky in work for a week and play nonestop getting sweaty like the good old days.

What do you all think? Has gaming taken a turn for the worse? Am i just getting old? What games are due to be out that you think will be different and in what way?

[Alpha]

In SWG you could scan for particular resources. It would give you a way point to the resource somewhere in the world. You would go there and take a sample. With that sample you could see the quality of the resource. If you wanted to harvest it you would place a harvester in the world, which was like a small structure (which would be crafted by an Architect) that would extract the resource over time, which you could visit to take the extracted resources from. Each resource type of the same kind had different quality levels. This plays a part in the quality of the things you can craft with it. The highest quality resources were rare. Thus, the best weapons and armor in the game were also rare.

When crafting it used a system of component crafting, so you had to craft multiple components before crafting the item. Some item recipes required effort to acquire. Follow some kind of quest chain or find the recipes in a special place. There were ways to boost your crafting efficacy, with clothing item that boosts your stats, and rare addons of different strength that you could fit into your crafting outfit to boost. You had to be really committed to be the best. When you were, you had the crafting outfit, the best resources, the best crafting tools, then you crafted a weapon which depending on the skill, and quality of resources, you could create the best possible weapon or amor in the game. Items also had the makers name on them, so the best Armorsmith or Weaponsmith would become famous on the server. If you wanted to craft Stormtrooper armor, you had to join the Empire, same for Rebel armor, you had to join them to make those armors.

I think people underestimate the importance of this kind of complexity in games, except for people who played these games, because it is one of the things many people say was the best thing about it that hasn't really been recognized by most/all games that followed.

[Tux]

Publicado originalmente por Deadsea_1993:

Publicado originalmente por Tux:

I have zero idea who CD Projekt is or what you are talking about.

its like me telling you about The Fun Pimps and The Squad

I haven't said that games are getting worse, I've been saying the exact opposite.

I love writing, I love well writen movies, Breaking Bad, etc, and why can't I enjoy good stories in games also ? Ken Levine is an amazing writer and is one of the many writers in gaming nowadays that brings art to games. Don't you think that you are wrong to tell others how to enjoy games that they like ?

my bad I just assumed you where part of the 'oh games are so bad these days' crowd.

I have gotten into long debates over why I feel story telling is better when its not in a game and I dont have the time to do it again so I will just have to let it go.

I will say though, if you like Breaking Bad have you see Better Call Saul? I personally think its a better show

[Tux]

Publicado originalmente por Paradox:

In SWG you could scan for particular resources. It would give you a way point to the resource somewhere in the world. You would go there and take a sample. With that sample you could see the quality of the resource. If you wanted to harvest it you would place a harvester in the world, which was like a small structure (which would be crafted by an Architect) that would extract the resource over time, which you could visit to take the extracted resources from. Each resource type had different quality. This plays a part in the quality of the things you can craft with it. The highest quality resources were rare. Thus, the best weapons and armor in the game were also rare. When crafting it used a system of component crafting, so you had to craft multiple components before crafting the item. Some item recipes required effort to acquire. Follow some kind of quest chain or find the recipes in a special place. There were ways to boost your crafting efficacy, with clothing item that boosts your stats, and rare addons of different strength that you could fit into your crafting outfit to boost. You had to be really committed to be the best. When you were, you had the crafting outfit, the best resources, the best crafting tools, then you crated a weapon which depending on the skill, and quality of resources, you could create the best possible weapon or amour in the game. Items also had the makers name on them, so the best Armorsmith or Weaponsmith would become famous on the server. If you wanted to craft Stormtrooper armor, you had to join the Empire, same for Rebel armor, you had to join them to make those armors. I think people underestimate the importance of this kind of complexity in games, except for people who played these games, because it is one of the things many people say was the best thing about it that hasn't really been recognized by most/all games that followed.

guys! you really really really really need to look into the feature list in detail of games like Life is Feudal and even Wurm. games with increable depth do exist now, SWG is no longer the expample

[Space Coward]

Publicado originalmente por Sixtyfivekills:

You know what i hate the most? Most of the PC games are digital download only. What's up with that? And you know what's even worse? When you can't play the game you own because code doesn't work!

Check this out.

I bought Mirror's Edge, physical copy, i played it and i loved it. Couple of years later, i realized that the code on the box was for Origin, so i activated it and guess what. I can't play it anymore, even with deleted Origin. Why? Because key expired, and there's nothing i can do about it, except to listen to game's soundtrack on bonus CD. And that's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Mirror's_Edge#Availability

SecuROM is ♥♥♥♥, that's true. However, EA did release a de-authorization tool. It might help you out here, and if not, EA Support is some of the best I've ever seen.

[Vile]

Publicado originalmente por Tux:

Publicado originalmente por Paradox:

In SWG you could scan for particular resources. It would give you a way point to the resource somewhere in the world. You would go there and take a sample. With that sample you could see the quality of the resource. If you wanted to harvest it you would place a harvester in the world, which was like a small structure (which would be crafted by an Architect) that would extract the resource over time, which you could visit to take the extracted resources from. Each resource type had different quality. This plays a part in the quality of the things you can craft with it. The highest quality resources were rare. Thus, the best weapons and armor in the game were also rare. When crafting it used a system of component crafting, so you had to craft multiple components before crafting the item. Some item recipes required effort to acquire. Follow some kind of quest chain or find the recipes in a special place. There were ways to boost your crafting efficacy, with clothing item that boosts your stats, and rare addons of different strength that you could fit into your crafting outfit to boost. You had to be really committed to be the best. When you were, you had the crafting outfit, the best resources, the best crafting tools, then you crated a weapon which depending on the skill, and quality of resources, you could create the best possible weapon or amour in the game. Items also had the makers name on them, so the best Armorsmith or Weaponsmith would become famous on the server. If you wanted to craft Stormtrooper armor, you had to join the Empire, same for Rebel armor, you had to join them to make those armors. I think people underestimate the importance of this kind of complexity in games, except for people who played these games, because it is one of the things many people say was the best thing about it that hasn't really been recognized by most/all games that followed.

guys! you really really really really need to look into the feature list in detail of games like Life is Feudal and even Wurm. games with increable depth do exist now, SWG is no longer the expample

Exactly. The quality control in gaming is far better than its ever been. People say well look at Call of Duty or whatever, but goodness that series is gold compared to some of the games that I've played in the past that are entirely frustrating and borderlines unplayable. Games like D Tracey, The Simpsons Bart games, Conan The Barbarian, Fester's Quest, and Back to the Future on NES, yes AVGN reviewed them and he was spot on with how bad that they are. Movie based games back then were atrocious and many games like The Crow City of Angels were flat out broken.

The NES had over 700 games and almost the entire collection was garbage with only a good amount being good in quality or having any redeeming factors.

[Alpha]

Publicado originalmente por Tux:

guys! you really really really really need to look into the feature list in detail of games like Life is Feudal and even Wurm. games with increable depth do exist now, SWG is no longer the expample

I have looked into them a little. I know some games do have some depth to them, but there are other factors and things that need to come together for me personally. I will look into them again though thanks. SWG is the example to me for a few systems that are to my knowledge unsurpassed.

[Tux]

Publicado originalmente por Deadsea_1993:

Publicado originalmente por Tux:

guys! you really really really really need to look into the feature list in detail of games like Life is Feudal and even Wurm. games with increable depth do exist now, SWG is no longer the expample

Exactly. The quality control in gaming is far better than its ever been. People say well look at Call of Duty or whatever, but goodness that series is gold compared to some of the games that I've played in the past that are entirely frustrating and borderlines unplayable. Games like D Tracey and Back to the Future on NES, yes AVGN reviewed them and he was spot on with how bad that they are. Movie based games back then were atrocious and many games like The Crow City of Angels were flat out broken.

The NES had over 700 games and almost the entire collection was garbage with only a good amount being good in quality or having any redeeming factors.

I take a different view.

In my view from what I have seen with nearly seen with nearly zero exceptions is that the top tier indie titles (like Ark etc) are way far and light years better than pretty much ALL AAA titles...ever.

I want to paint that in your mind that I see the gap as HUGE and it appears they do it on a very small budget. The first time I saw it happen I thought it was just an oddity but now it happens so often there has to be a common thread and I think its a few things

1. Large companies tend to loose focus and get bogged down in tradition and red tape. Small firms are far more agile.
2. The cost of entry into high end development for the tools is pretty much now zero dollars. This changes the landscape from say 10 top tier developer to literally 10s of thousands of them.
3. money interests in the game companies themselves make decisions without understanding games or really caring about them. indies are typically run by people who play and understand games and innovation.

So the 'quality control' on the indie side is basically 'the crowd' quality by floating to the top by shear volume of numbers. Like tons of water diluting the bad out.

[Vile]

Publicado originalmente por Tux:

Publicado originalmente por Deadsea_1993:

Exactly. The quality control in gaming is far better than its ever been. People say well look at Call of Duty or whatever, but goodness that series is gold compared to some of the games that I've played in the past that are entirely frustrating and borderlines unplayable. Games like D Tracey and Back to the Future on NES, yes AVGN reviewed them and he was spot on with how bad that they are. Movie based games back then were atrocious and many games like The Crow City of Angels were flat out broken.

The NES had over 700 games and almost the entire collection was garbage with only a good amount being good in quality or having any redeeming factors.

I take a different view.

In my view from what I have seen with nearly seen with nearly zero exceptions is that the top tier indie titles (like Ark etc) are way far and light years better than pretty much ALL AAA titles...ever.

I want to paint that in my mind the gap is HUGE and it appears they do it on a very small budget. The first time I saw it happen I thought it was just an oddity but now it happens so often there has to be a common thread and I think its a few things

1. Large companies tend to loose focus and get bogged down in tradition and red tape. Small firms are far more agile.
2. The cost of entry into high end development for the tools is pretty much now zero dollars. This changes the landscape from say 10 top tier developer to literally 10s of thousands of them.
3. money interests in the game companies themselves make decisions without understanding games or really caring about them. indies are typically run by people who play and understand games and innovation.

So the 'quality control' on the indie side is basically 'the crowd' quality by floating to the top by shear volume of numbers. Like tons of water diluting the bad out.

Even then triple AAA games and movie based games are far better than they used to be and thus quality control is there. Yes Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, Battlefield, and other games have become boring to me, yet there is quality control in them. Movie based games still are lacking but they represent what they are supposed to at least and some can be a fun time waster on a weekend. Terminator Salvation is by no means a good game and it shouldn't have ever been release for $60 in its current state, but the game represents what it is supposed to and its not broken. It's a good movie based game is all I can say about it lol. Back in the day Total Recall and Predator had very little bearing to what they were supposed to be and they were just awful. Arnold wearing Pink in Predator ? Fighting little people in Total Recall ? Why is my character in the Crow City of Angels slow moving, he can die from bullets, and the camera is all over the place ? Why does Marty have a Black vest on with Black hair and he's collecting clocks and throwing bowling balls at people that are trying to kill him ?

[Smugass Braixen-Chan]

For Triple-A titles? Definitely. Companies like EA and Ubisoft got too big for their breeches. Now they only care about money, and there isn't a whole lot of "soul" to go around. When you are making video-games purely to sell a product, you really have to wonder what the point of it all is.

[Tux]

Publicado originalmente por Deadsea_1993:

Publicado originalmente por Tux:

I take a different view.

In my view from what I have seen with nearly seen with nearly zero exceptions is that the top tier indie titles (like Ark etc) are way far and light years better than pretty much ALL AAA titles...ever.

I want to paint that in my mind the gap is HUGE and it appears they do it on a very small budget. The first time I saw it happen I thought it was just an oddity but now it happens so often there has to be a common thread and I think its a few things

1. Large companies tend to loose focus and get bogged down in tradition and red tape. Small firms are far more agile.
2. The cost of entry into high end development for the tools is pretty much now zero dollars. This changes the landscape from say 10 top tier developer to literally 10s of thousands of them.
3. money interests in the game companies themselves make decisions without understanding games or really caring about them. indies are typically run by people who play and understand games and innovation.

So the 'quality control' on the indie side is basically 'the crowd' quality by floating to the top by shear volume of numbers. Like tons of water diluting the bad out.

Even then triple AAA games and movie based games are far better than they used to be and thus quality control is there.....

I will have to take your word for it.

that said its rather ironic.

AAA increase 'quality control efforts'
indies DEcrease 'quality control efforts considerable' and yet indies get dramatically improved for doing so.


lol

[Jonathan Sensei]

Publicado originalmente por TeaBag:

I dont know if this is just me, but has anyone noticed new games aren't just what they used to be? I remember getting a new game and playing for weeks straight, but over the past few years there has been an decline in interest and passion for gaming. I would buy a hyped new release, play for a few hours, then feel gutted that I've missed my window for a refund.

I wouldn't worry about it OP. Everyone burns out on video-gaming at some point; might be helpful to take an extended break from it as a whole and do something else instead for a while.

Publicado originalmente por TeaBag:

[...] And early access.... I understand the smaller developers want to generate funds to work on the game and to test out the current game state but its becoming more of an issue where developers will release a game thats almost unplayable, take months or more to patch it to a working state then let it sit in early access for years.

EA is a double-edged sword really; some devs just take advantage of the system, while others like you said, are just trying to make a name for themselves. I would avoid EA games unless you've done some in-depth research before-hand.

Publicado originalmente por TeaBag:

[...] I dont want this to be a rant, even though its starting to feel like it when reading it back to myself... I just want something new, something exciting, something that will make me pull a sicky in work for a week and play nonestop getting sweaty like the good old days. What do you think? Has gaming taken a turn for the worse? Am i just getting old? What games are due to be out that you think will be different and in what way?

I don't make asumptions of peoples' age here. But with that said, it sounds like you're burnt out on gaming. Just to reiterate: take a break from gaming for a few months, then come back. If you still feel the same about games after said break, well, maybe it's time for a new hobby.

[Vile]

Publicado originalmente por Tux:

Publicado originalmente por Deadsea_1993:

Even then triple AAA games and movie based games are far better than they used to be and thus quality control is there.....

I will have to take your word for it.

that said its rather ironic.

AAA increase 'quality control efforts'
indies DEcrease 'quality control efforts considerable' and yet indies get dramatically improved for doing so.


lol

I haven't said anything about Indie games or about them decreasing. I have no interest in that genre as I've played a few and hated them, even ones that were highly loved. I'm saying that overall Triple AAA games are better than they were back in the day. Back then games were broken or they had little to do with what they were supposed to represent. I'm not saying EA, Activision, or Ubisoft are good at all. In fact they have ruined many gaming franchises over the years, that's not to say that the games themselves are bad or broken.

Two years ago I was burnt out with gaming, I took a year off and did other hobbies. I came back refreshed and I play a few franchises here and there that I like instead of playing like I used to and was overwhelmed. I play Rockband for my music gaming moments, story based games, the Dead Rising series, RPGS, and Left 4 Dead 2.

[😼Studio Cat😼]

Publicado originalmente por Insanity Wolf-Chan:

For Triple-A titles? Definitely. Companies like EA and Ubisoft got too big for their breeches. Now they only care about money, and there isn't a whole lot of "soul" to go around. When you are making video-games purely to sell a product, you really have to wonder what the point of it all is.

You know... I have never understood this argument. At no point in time have they ever not gone after your wallet. Saying a company is wrong for doing it is silly.

It isn't the companies fault that gaming is the way it is. It's our fault as consumers.

[Tux]

Publicado originalmente por Deadsea_1993:

Publicado originalmente por Tux:

I will have to take your word for it.

that said its rather ironic.

AAA increase 'quality control efforts'
indies DEcrease 'quality control efforts considerable' and yet indies get dramatically improved for doing so.


lol

I haven't said anything about Indie games or about them decreasing. I have no interest in that genre as I've played a few and hated them, even ones that were highly loved. I'm saying that overall Triple AAA games are better than they were back in the day. Back then games were broken or they had little to do with what they were supposed to represents. I'm not saying EA, Activision, or Ubisoft are good at all. In fact they have ruined many gaming franchises over the years, that's not to say that the games themselves are bad or broken.

what I am saying is that at least for indies NOT having quality control has INCREASED quality.

regarding increased quality in AAA titles I very frankly dont see it, but it could be simply because I dont like to play games that hold my hand, have me do the same thing I did in the last 20 games of the same title, look the same, view in 3rd person, restrict where I can go, not allow me to craft ♥♥♥♥, cant build anything, seasons dont matter, and shove a 20 min cut scene in my face while i am trying to play a game.

So maybe I just like different kinda games

[Smugass Braixen-Chan]

Publicado originalmente por Tux:

that said its rather ironic.

AAA increase 'quality control efforts'
indies DEcrease 'quality control efforts considerable' and yet indies get dramatically improved for doing so.

The thing is that Triple-A titles have a consistently mediocre quality to them, and variations to this median, both positive and negative, are rare.

Then you have Indie Games, which are all over the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ shop.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/212680/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/594640/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/475430/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/242920/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/548480/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/365020/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/232430/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/611350/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/327670/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/550670/