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Leaving Modern Gaming Behind?


TPA5

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  • 3 weeks later...

My little 13 y/o nephew came over, he has a PS4, 360, etc.. I got him up and running with networked Descent 2. We had a blast playing cooperatively and then in some deathmatch. I also had him and his sister playing Carmen Sandiego, Summer Games, and Jumpman on the C64. We had a blast. We didn't need $700 worth of hardware with constant online connections and gamer accounts to do any of it. We did when it was new of course.. but they had just as much if not more than they do at home...

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Sure it is. Unless the op would care to rephrase his position in fewer than twelve paragraphs, I'm sticking with my comment. Not all modern games are 100% OP-Modern.

 

Nah, not really.

 

 

It was more of a rant anyway. Sure, some modern games are exceptions in my eyes. But triple-A gaming certainly strikes me as stale. Not that I think enjoying a modern game is a sin. I made the post on a day when I felt that many games barely try to innovate beyond throwing more particle effects and bigger set-pieces around. That being said, I don't claim to be smart, analytical of the games industry, or even a voice anyone should take very seriously. Just a dude at a keyboard.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm in a weird spot. I grew up with Nintendo but they have no desire to attract third parties and their own games are becoming stale after 20 years of playing them.

 

This forces me to turn to the other systems. Based on their own misadventures or evil intents, neither Sony or Microsoft are viable. PC it is, but I don't like DRM so I begrudgingly play games on Steam. Then I realized the only modern non-indie games I really like are the Portal series, Team Fortress 2 and Resident Evil, which has been promptly ruined recently.

 

Maybe it's just a phase, but modern games seem to be too hand holdy and at the same time frustrating because there are usually too many game mechanics to get your head around (RE6 comes to mind with its weird combat/dash), as well as lazy hard modes (1 hit kills and bullet sponges). Also, they are becoming too cinematic in a totally different way than FMV games were, they are full of camera artifacts, sickening motion blur, bloom, flares and low framerates, all that to add to the cliché story and throwaway characters.

 

Luckily, old PC games and modern indie games like Proteus, Year Walk, Haunt the Hause, Limbo and slightly bigger stuff like Trine or Amnesia being DRM-Free gives me faith that one can still play some decent stuff while being free from a needless client. They are so cheap I can swallow a few bad indies too.

 

I've been thinking of going this route, specially as I have no guilt in missing out on the big games anymore, even considering going back and getting an Atari 2600 or expanding my ZX Spectrum collection.

 

For the record, I'm 24. I'm baffled as well.

Edited by AtticGamer
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Wow.. I'm relieved.. I thought I was the only really weird one when it came to just avoiding modern games altogether...

 

I have the following systems hooked up in my livingroom on switchboxes. NES, SNES, N64, Dreamcast, Playstation 1, and Xbox (original).

I have no desire for an Xbox 360 or Xbone, or Playstation 3 or 4. (Even though I have a buddy who would bring one over to me in a heartbeat.)

 

I'd much rather play the old games...

 

Favorites include DK64, MarioKart, Fzero, MarioBros, Dreamcast Rez & Crazy Taxi, Badicoot series, Xbox Burnout Series.

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I'm considering leaving modern gaming myself for a different reason. It's bad enough when the game companies use underhanded tactics to get great reviews to sell their games (and honest reviewers get fired for it), but now with #GamerGate you got the gamers themselves making death and rape threats to anyone who disagrees with them. And even before this they harass over people to the point of breaking laws (aka SWATing) thinking it's cool. If is this is how the current generation of "gamers" represent the hobby then I want nothing to do with it.

 

I'll do a semi-retirement and only mess with pre-2000 classic games and finally get caught up on all the RPG's I bought. But supporting this crap with my money, forget it.

Edited by MrMaddog
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I never really became part of the modern game scene. The most advanced console (aside from the PC) I've messed around with was the PS1. There's so much material in the classic category I don't think I'll ever experience it all. PS1 and earlier is how I define classics. And the PS1 is in a grey area regarding that division. It's almost modern.

 

Ohh sure I'll play a modern game from time to time, but not on my money, and not on my console. I don't have one.

 

I don't like supporting this modern industry outside of a few select specialty titles. And then those are by tiny companies or individuals. And they're mainly simulations or other such non-mainstream material. I absolutely despise modern platformers and fighting games. I don't like the billion dollar production costs. I don't like the rushes and crazes when a new title comes out. And I dislike special limited editions that can only be purchased by going through some loophole or doing something like getting it in conjunction with a movie release or a new console purchase. That's just as bad as people camping out on black fridays (which should be outlawed or at least toned down). I dislike all the online accounts and DRM And DLC and all that. It's just too much stuff. It detracts from the essence of the game.

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Some of you guys are missing out on modern games like Iron Brigade. You get to shoot at things, but you also get to place gun turrets and other items that will help you. It gives you the freedom of a board game like Stratego (being able to choose where you want to put stuff).

 

I don't play the regular game anymore; I just play the 100 wave survival bonus missions. There are only 3 bonus missions and that kind of sucks because there are some other places in the game that I'd like to play for 100 waves. Oh well, at least the the bad guys don't always enter a wave from the same places or in the same order, so it's random-ish enough to keep it interesting. If you're like me, you might have a hard time beating the bonus missions for a while, but after you learn better ways to play, you'll finish 100 waves and wish there were 100 more. (You can play the game online with other people, but I play solo.)

 

Related Links:

 

atariage.com/forums/blog/120/entry-10058-finished-wave-100-on-iron-brigade-survival-hospital-solo/

 

atariage.com/forums/blog/120/entry-10101-finished-wave-100-on-iron-brigade-survival-swamp-solo/

 

atariage.com/forums/blog/120/entry-10131-finished-wave-100-on-iron-brigade-survival-settlement-solo/

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I'm interested to know the age group of most of the people here. I see a couple that are in their mid-20s.

 

I just kind of assumed that a lot of it had to do with growing up and taking on more responsibilities in age. Not to suggest that playing games is somehow irresponsible or childish, but as many of us get older, have families, etc... we likely just don't have time to play games the same way we might have when we were younger. And... when we do, we may often resort to the games that we're more used to or know what to expect from.

 

I'm thinking that might be the reason... though I like to tell myself that games today just don't have the plot that the older games did. But when I really think about it... what the hell kind of plot did Realms, Stronghold, Cyber Empires, etc... have? Games like that were more or less blah at best... would be surprised if any of you guys remember any of those except maybe Stronghold... but, yeah...

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In my case it's because I have a job now and I also go to the gym, besides going out with friends occasionally.

 

I'm also a dedicated gamer, on the games that I like, I try to do everything that I can (except if it's silly collecting or lazy difficulty settings and such). I recently beat Invisible Enemy on Hard in REmake, but I don't feel like that about many games, and I surely dislike where games are going these days, though there are more that appeal to me now because of the sheer huge output that is happening.

 

I have no interest in Destiny, Watch Dogs or Tomb Raider. Resident Evil and TF2 are my most played modern big budget games,so that's why I sometimes feel out of the loop.

 

I'm a bit cautious now...I might play stuff on Steam but when possible I get a drm-free version with it for backup (humble store) and spend less on what I'm unsure of liking.

 

The age thing is mostly an issue of available time, not necessarily growing out of it.

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In my instance I've simply grown weary of throwing money at the wall to see what sticks. I feel like the culture of gaming has overtaken the actual games themselves. Plus, the marketing budgets of games has surpassed the GDP of some countries, which means I can never tell if a game will be decent or not because the companies are more interested in showing cinematics than game play. Destiny comes to mind with all its fancy live-action trailers and punchy marketing campaign, and ultimately it was a lukewarm game. I am in my 20's, and am married, but I don't know if that would be the reason I'm moving back to more "classic" games, I just find myself uninterested by many modern games. I still pick up the occasional game from a smaller studio like Euro Truck Simulator or Elite Dangerous, but I find my primary library on the computer is comprised of games from GOG, and console gaming is older handhelds, and the PS1, Gamecube, etc. All my Xbox 360 does these days is play Netflix.

 

Now, I should qualify that I'm not an elitist that looks down on people that play mainstream titles. It's more a personal preference, and I'm really happy to see all the awesome responses that this thread has received. I love hearing other opinions, and that everyone here has expressed them in such a friendly manner shows how great this forum and the people on it really are.

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I began disliking "modern games" immediately on their release. I was basically confused about the NES game selection. It seemed you had to spend too much time learning the game as opposed to playing it. NES and beyond seemed kinda dumb. Side scrollers and beat'em'ups. Ugghhh. And NeoGeo was the worst of the lot, like 90% of the library was beat'em'ups.

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I'm interested to know the age group of most of the people here. I see a couple that are in their mid-20s.

 

I just kind of assumed that a lot of it had to do with growing up and taking on more responsibilities in age. Not to suggest that playing games is somehow irresponsible or childish, but as many of us get older, have families, etc... we likely just don't have time to play games the same way we might have when we were younger. And... when we do, we may often resort to the games that we're more used to or know what to expect from.

 

I'm thinking that might be the reason... though I like to tell myself that games today just don't have the plot that the older games did. But when I really think about it... what the hell kind of plot did Realms, Stronghold, Cyber Empires, etc... have? Games like that were more or less blah at best... would be surprised if any of you guys remember any of those except maybe Stronghold... but, yeah...

 

 

I'm 35+ and really verging into old fart territory because all I do is work, learn, and play games (exaggerating). My wife and I have no kids, so that doesn't take away my time. I build little projects or take on new tech goals AND I play games.

 

I find that I actually have more time for this now than I did when I was 28. Something about getting older has made me less likely to seek out the company of other people, and I spend more time in my house. I also "let" my job interfere with my personal life more, so I can't always commit to after work activities, but I can play Mass Effect even if I get home after 8 o'clock etc.

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I am with Keatah. Some time in 1994 when I began university studies and the supply of Commodore Amiga games was dwindling down, I stopped keeping up with current gen games. For a number of years, I was totally oblivious to anything PlayStation, Saturn, N64, Dreamcast, Gamecube etc. I played a few PC games like Worms and brief rounds of Alien vs Predator, but nothing that really kept me occupied. Not even Red Alert, C&C and so on pulled me in. I never catched on with newer consoles neither. I have owned a second hand PS2 for a few days but just put it on to see that it worked. Obviously I have not been into much of modern PC games as well, I have grown into social usage of modern computers and still gets my playing satisfaction mostly from 20+ year old systems.

 

I am sure the industry has grown and evolved a lot in the past 20 years, and that it represents a longer time period than the first era of gaming, if we neglect the joy of Pong and cousins and start counting from the Atari VCS (or possibly Channel F). Still, as I'm nearly 40 years old, I can't motivate myself to re-enter the world of modern day games, no matter if they take place on a designated console or a PC. I do play some homebrews though, but I realize that rarely is referred to as modern gaming.

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I began disliking "modern games" immediately on their release. I was basically confused about the NES game selection. It seemed you had to spend too much time learning the game as opposed to playing it. NES and beyond seemed kinda dumb. Side scrollers and beat'em'ups. Ugghhh. And NeoGeo was the worst of the lot, like 90% of the library was beat'em'ups.

 

That touches on one of the big reasons I'm not much into modern games compared to the classics - the genres are almost completely different today. The most popular genres today are FPS's, RPG's, Platformers, 3D action games, and fighters/beat em ups. None of those genres appeal to me at all.

 

I love arcade/arcade style games, sports/racing games, simulation games like pinball, pool, flight simulators, puzzle/board/card games, adventure games (think Lucasarts 90's stuff) and games where you have a lot of creative control and freedom to create levels, etc (think the Sims games, Worms, etc)

 

I'm not the target audience and haven't been for decades. Even when the NES came out I played Duck Hunt but not SMB. I played Burgertime but not Zelda. There are some games on modern consoles that I do enjoy but they all fall into the categories above like racing, sports, puzzle, etc. I couldn't care less about a game like Destiny or the latest Mario game. There will always be games I enjoy from every generation but they're becoming fewer and fewer it seems.

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I have stacks and stacks of modern games and only a few of them kept my interest for more than a month.

 

There are days where I just about reach the point of throwing modern gaming out the door. Of course, I always hope that one truly spectacular game from my imagination will appear on the shelves. So far though, it's been a string of very similar games.

 

I've now discovered that when they say "non-linear" then actually mean "linear".

 

Voice acting - most of it makes me sick.

 

Unskippable cut-scenes - yes, they still exist, even today.

 

Then there are the numerous menu screens and 'hoops' that you have to jump through before you can even get to the action. Modern racing games are a great example of this. Spending 20 minutes going through all the preliminaries until you can get to the race track is unacceptable.

 

 

I also totally agree about the barely-interactive movie aspect. Bleh!

 

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