What happened to gaming? No game is true fun anymore..

[szatanica]

I was scrolling through the immense list of games I managed to gathered over the years and for some reason (and I've been observing this for many years now) nothing really looks attractive and exciting anymore. Sure, there are so many "amazing" games out there, a lot of indie productions into which developers pulled their hearts and souls but somehow games don't give this "THING" that they used to. These oldies, with really bad graphics had something in them, something which makes me want to go back to them over and over (like first and second Fallout or Discworld Noir from the 90s , Fahrenheit, or first Neverwinter Nights, the list goes on). Like they lost something inherently special.Sure, there are some exquisit exceptions like Papers Please or Papetura or Mass Effect but it's a tiny percentage. The rest is just...meh...

Is it the games or is it us/me?

[TheDragonSlayer]

I go through bouts of what you describe, but then I find a game I truly get immersed and enjoy. To me, as an RPG fanatic, I find myself enjoying newer games less and less until a gem surfaces (rarely). So I cannot speak for anyone but myself, but to me, I feel this way because either the market has become:

1. Too generic or too infused with modern day influences. Whether it's medieval/high fantasy or a futuristic RPG, nothing kills the experience faster for me than tik tokker/influencer saturated dialogue/banter. This is especially bad for my taste in "Old World" settings.

2. Overemphasis of multiplayer. I guess since I'm such an hardcore RPG connoisseur, I do not care much for multiplayer style RPG games. I'd go to MMOs if I want to slay dragons or the local wild boar with a friend if I desired that. I feel that, when most modern games inject multiplayer, they skirt or shave away layers on the RPG game that makes it actually good for the sake of trying to fit in having multiplayer. Of course there are exceptions (imo rare) that it does not take away from the game.

3. At the end of the day, it's about money (for the main majority imo). " a lot of indie productions into which developers pulled their hearts and souls but somehow games don't give this "THING" that they used to." - I find that even a lot of those Indie Devs do not pour true heart and soul int heir game. You can find the gem I referenced above, but at the end of the day, it comes down to sale figures and profit. I mean, it is a business, but the sad thing is, it shows heavily int he product does it not? Whether it's current trends seeping in a fantasy game or flavor of the week/month/year game mechanics/themes etc., you see it permeate the market and I feel that can lead to #4.

4. Game burnout. Now I will preface by saying I'm a hell of a collector of old games I grew up with from SNES to PS4 titles. You are right in thinking the older ones had something the new ones don't on steam or any other platform currently. It was a different time and market where art expression, imo, was more original. There were, of course, bad games and generic marketed games, but they were usually called out back then believe it or not. For instance, a game that did not survive in the 90s is now considered a "cult classic" and highly sought after now on the market because the new wave of gamers find it fun/new/different/etc. A lot to unpack here for a discussion imo :) but I hope you get the jist.

5. Last point I'll add: Looking for fulfilment in something that can't give this to you. IDK your real life situation, but if you're a "hardcore" gamer, who really doesn't have any real hobbies (not talking about shared hobbies aka things you do with friends etc), but if that's the case... try to find something other than gaming that really strikes your interest. I do other things such as blacksmithing and other things I find fun/interesting to learn and do. Diversity helps a particular hobby, including gaming, to become less of a toll/droll and more fresh when you decide to revisit it.

Just my opinion/two cents here. Here's hoping you find that spark you're searching/hoping for in the near future!


Cheers

[Gary Childress]

I could go for revamped versions of some of my favorite survival games with new maps and features. However, I have a difficult time catching on to new games. I play a lot of survival games and it seems like a precious few that I come back to. The rest I play for a short while and get bored quickly. Unfortunately, In some cases, it seems like it would be better if game developers would take some of my old favorites and expand them with more DLCs and stuff than it would to come out with brand new concepts for games.

I definitely get the nostalgia thing with games that someone mentioned earlier in this thread.

[crunchyfrog]

Originally posted by Gary Childress:

I could go for revamped versions of some of my favorite survival games with new maps and features. However, I have a difficult time catching on to new games. I play a lot of survival games and it seems like a precious few that I come back to. The rest I play for a short while and get bored quickly. Unfortunately, In some cases, it seems like it would be better if game developers would take some of my old favorites and expand them with more DLCs and stuff than it would to come out with brand new concepts for games.

I definitely get the nostalgia thing with games that someone mentioned earlier in this thread.

I would frankly be OK with some triple A company getting a decent financial officer or CEO that took an overview of the company and addressed the useless bloat that goes on.

Then looked at games like Senua's Sacrifice and the PS2 era games and set things up to work on that premise - where you can still afford experimental games that look reasonable but don't need unreasonable costs and pointless chasing after unneceaary realism, etc.

Any company that gets this through their thick head may end up cleaning up.

[Walach]

AAA companies focus too much on making their games fit everyone. And because of that, they all become too tame. Too "by the numbers."

The experience feels too guided, like every single action I take has been fine-tuned by the devs. Hard to explain the feeling, it just is there, nagging me each minute playing AAA games.

I don't play many of them anymore.

There's probably a thousand more things I could say, but I believe most people know the general thing I wanted to say, so I'll stop here.

[Jon the VGNerd]

This is why retro gaming still remains popular to this day, no matter how niche it seems.

[Home Appliance]

When you only play a handful of genres to begin with, it's worse

[Princess Luna]

I dont believe you cant find 1 fun game

[szatanica]

Wow...its amazing how structured and to the point your views are...I liked them a lot. And they all have merit. And they also stand in such a contradiction to bs of social media, it has been such a nice change :) Regardless, its good to know its not just in my head, a lot of you see the problem. I like the idea of maybe picking a different platform. Who knows, maybe I'll experience a rebirth of some sort. :D

[Swarmfly]

How did the long-thought impossible prospect of having everything you ever wanted work out for you?

[Freqsync]

Usually there was easy normal and hard.
Now there is ultra easy only part of the game, normal, normal turbo, hard and permadeath and then permadeath of the account made to play

Then there is vanilla, modded, cheats, admin, developer modes

Course then there is single player, single player server where a dev or admin or ai can mess up everything at any time,
Multi player where biometrics can allow on the same computer different personas
or Multiplayer where everyone has a chance anywhere to have a persona dark soul onto anothers game
then there is multiplayer where all in a team building events happen
then there is multiplayer if you can't dress up talk and become one with the nature...

Then it happens everyone wants to be you as your being some digital representation of life and doors unlock conversations become intangible and everyone says there is a pill for that and the police end up looking like impersonators to elvis and so forth who go bonk when ever they get behind someone.

Originally posted by szatanica:

szatanica Sep 17 @ 9:36am
    
What happened to gaming? No game is true fun anymore..

24 fps was TV things were moving when creating a flip book. The devices now run 300 fps and they don't just move they actually interfere like wind would be caused to move things if it were a flipbook......that is the general gist.

[Knee]

Originally posted by Jon the VGNerd:

This is why retro gaming still remains popular to this day, no matter how niche it seems.

an oxymoron but okay

[Jon the VGNerd]

Originally posted by Knee:

Originally posted by Jon the VGNerd:

This is why retro gaming still remains popular to this day, no matter how niche it seems.

an oxymoron but okay

You should give them a try. You'll be thanking me later.

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by Jon the VGNerd:

Originally posted by Knee:

an oxymoron but okay

You should give them a try. You'll be thanking me later.

Where did they say they don't?

[Jamebonds1]

Sadly, there is issues with new games right now, but not all. Some indie developers made games as if it were from 1990s. Ion Fury is my favorite so far.

[Zefar]

Originally posted by szatanica:

I was scrolling through the immense list of games I managed to gathered over the years and for some reason (and I've been observing this for many years now) nothing really looks attractive and exciting anymore. Sure, there are so many "amazing" games out there, a lot of indie productions into which developers pulled their hearts and souls but somehow games don't give this "THING" that they used to. These oldies, with really bad graphics had something in them, something which makes me want to go back to them over and over (like first and second Fallout or Discworld Noir from the 90s , Fahrenheit, or first Neverwinter Nights, the list goes on). Like they lost something inherently special.Sure, there are some exquisit exceptions like Papers Please or Papetura or Mass Effect but it's a tiny percentage. The rest is just...meh...

Is it the games or is it us/me?

Out of those titles you mention only Papers Please and Papetura has been recently released. The others are anywhere from 10 to 20 years old. Or even older.

SURELY there must have been some other games these past 10 years that you have remotely enjoyed?

If not your "Things I like" are extremely narrow.