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Even with single player games, I don't know what to play anymore
It's quite a depressing reality. See, I was a gamer for 25 years now, or so. And now, almost everything out there looks terrible, mediocre or uninteresting to me. I used to play 3 types of games, RPGs like Baldurs Gate, Action games like Hexen or Heretic and Strategy games lke Civ2 or Age of Empires.
These days, such games are either not made anymore or trash.
Take Civilization. I was SUCH an avid fan of the series, but each new game of Civ was worse than the one before. And Civ 5 was such a bad game, it really sucks with all its simplifications. Or space civs: I loved to play the old Master of Orion or Galactic Civilisations from Stardock. But these days: I checked out those who exist and those who come, like Sword of the Stars II, and BOY, it looks like games 1990! And there are all those Paradox games. Europa Universalis, Victoria II... strategy fans really recommended this to me, but its like a puzzle or like an Excel chart! I don't need Crysis graphics in a strategy game, but this is really too little, when just small tokens move over a map and thats it. And Total War looks nice, but lacks the complexity.
Or Action games. Why are 99% of all Action games about war, war or war? I mean modern war. Where are those cool fantasy action games, like Hexen and Heretic, like the series with Kain and Raziel? I just don't like settings like Crysis or Far Cry, as good as they may look. I don't like no frigging guns and tanks. Or really COOL action games like System Shock! Man, THAT was some epic game!
Amd don't even get me started about RPGs. Yes there will be Skyrim. But Bioware has, IMVPO really overdone this story thing at the expense of the RPG part. DA2, you could pick warrior, thief, mage. Thats it. ME is essentially a story based shooter now. KOTOR sacrificed for TOR. I loved those epic, open RPGs. Games like Ultima, Might and Magic, Wizardry, Baldurs Gate. These new RPGs are all so simplified and streamlined. No classes, often no parties (like in Witcher or Two Worlds)... where have those classic sort of RPGs gone? Away. A thing of the past. And what does D&D create these days? Trash like Daggerdale! I mean whoa, I used to buy EVERY D&D game, and now its all trash and more trash.
So there I sat, scanning through Amazon, Steam and whatnot to find a cool game to spent some time and money on, and I found... nothing. Nothing that interest me. So I have this feeling like games got worse. They are not made anymore with the same love of some tinkering gamers in some garage, but with legions of evil stockholder and bean counters who care mostly about the rising of their stocks. Like they slowly suck all the fun, diversity and coolness out of games.
*sigh*
Just another sphere were I get this feeling that things used to be better in the past. I know young people always mock that idea. But maybe now, we live in times where for once it may actually be true.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Comments
Thats pretty much the story of all America.
The souls of everything we love including ourselves are being sucked dry by the neverending quest for more money.
This is why I have begun to let go of quite a bit of my material possesions in exchange for some personal satisfaction and peace.
I still love my computer, and my home, but even our house is something that seems inflated and egotistical.
Im with you though...the allure and mystery in gaming is gone. No more do I spend my time intrigued, its more or less everything that is polished is like everything else, and anything that attempts to be different winds up riddled with bugs....
Sometimes I wonder if it is not a conspiracy of some sort.....
Actually that would make a good backstory for an rpg with a modern setting.....
To the caterpillar it is the end of the world, to the master, it is a butterfly.
modern games are designed to bring in as wide an audience as possible as quickly as possible. this means that devs shy away from the succinct styles of game play of the past in favor of tactics that any idiot can employ. in the old days, games favored creativity, and supplied many tools for players to come up with their own styles. now, too many people complain about needing to rely on other players, so every mmo has become a single player game with no point in social play. this has in turn curdled all game design to be the same.
if enough people start buying their old games from sites like gog.com etc, modern devs might see that their is still a market and start building em like they used to.
I hear ya, there's a lot of rehashing going on in the industry these days.
Though, there are still a few gems that pop up every now and then. I'm noticing actually, that it seems to be the indie games that do more to break the mould these days, while the corporate giant just keep churning out the same old.
Some of the better more modern indie games to check out include Minecraft, Terraria, the Mount and Blade series. They're not for everyone, but I personally find these games a lot of fun, and a good bit different from what a lot of the rest of the industry is doing.
To the OP..
I hear ya but all is not lost, their are still a few gems being made.
Before you duck out completely may i suggest http://www.drakensang.com/ this is what BioWare have lost IMO,the real magic of an RPG..
Difficult to master but once you do you will find yourself in a beautiful skill based world where you can be any class you want and craft.
You can pick up this game and the follow ups really cheap and they also have http://www.drakensang-online.com/
Time to step away from the games buddy.
I got like that once, i hated everything.
Had those rose colored glasses on and they were super thick.
Take a few years off and comeback.
Playing: Nothing
Looking forward to: Nothing
Why they stopped the Baldur's Gate series is beyond me...
I'm in the same boat and I can agree with alot of the things you say. I really lost interest in the games I own right now and not much new is coming in. Obviously I will play Skyrim and I am excited for SWTOR, but then I was excited for a lot of games that didn't meet with my expectations.
Hang in there, I know I will and I'm hoping for the next best thing.
Same issue here, been spending a bunch of money, trying to find a game to love, which just seems to be an impossible task atm.
Not sure wether it's the games or me, been playing games for some 15 years now, and to me it seems as if games are made without as much thought as they used to, tbh too many games are like mcdonalds theese days.
Played Portal 2 already?
Or wait for Deus Ex 3, that will be out soon.
Hype train -> Reality
Edit: I've also seemed to rekindled that old school flame. I'm also replaying some old ps1 games. Tomba! FTW!
BOOYAKA!
I would suggest you play nethack without reading a lot about it. Trial and error so to say. Perhaps after playing it you will find something about modern games you will appreciate. Plus roguelike games are cool.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
I suggest you look at indie games more. It sounds like you are sick and tired of the blockbusters and regurgitated ideas and gameplays. I've found myself enjoying these small games much more than I enjoy $60 games.
Games I've picked up cheap on steam and really appreciated recently (not all indie):
Terraria
Reccetear
Dwarfs!?
Darksiders
Majesty/Majesty2
The nice thing about alot of the indie games and older games on steam is that you can just spend $5 and get an awesome game. RPGs I heard good things about Cthulu saves the world or whatever its called. Action? You mention Crysis and Far Cry but these are more like shooters than action games. Darksiders I thought was an awesome action game.
Also some gems I found for my PS3:
3D Dot Game Heroes
Demon's Souls (although they are bringing down the multiplayer interactions soon if not already)
Valkryia Chronicles
Also why not play the older games you speak so highly of, or find games you never played from the same era and are now crtically acclaimed. Websites like GOG.com have been springing up giving you a chance to play some of the greats like Arcanum.
"They essentially want to say 'Correlation proves Causation' when it's just not true." - Sovrath
Proferred solutions:
Play some of the old games: GOG, Steam, Amazon, dosbox etc
Play simple games where "game" still feels like it applies eg I'm finding mobile gaming really fun release eg
Play some complicated games: Revelation: I like the actiony mmorpg games but I reckon they are limited and am making the move to sandbox for longterm gaming commitment/enjoyment eg I started replaying Outer Empires on mobile/browser and if I get time EvE.
EGs of my theory:
1. Simple games like Bubble Bobble co-op are great fun with a friend or two. Modern Equivalent: Eg Terraria seems to get this right.
2. Old games: Eg Dungeon Keeper on GOG, whereas the new update "Dungeons" was something of a flop and expensive on steam by comparison.
3. Complicated games with less immediate action appeal but more personal decision, learning = fun, and growth such as OE* and EvE seem the way forward to guard against getting fed up with themepark mmos.
Back to those categories:
Skyrim
From Dust
Firefall/GW2
are my best (feeble) suggestions : )
OE = Outer Empires (iOS, browser)
PS: Interesting how several ppl mentioned Terraria (independtly in my case to verify)
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014633/Classic-Game-Postmortem
Terraria is so much fun. Personally i feel every old school gamer needs to take a break once in a while.
I stopped playing games for 3 maybe four years and when i returned the first game i played was Mass Effect... it freaking blew my mind.
Playing: Nothing
Looking forward to: Nothing
I'm in a similar boat. Right now (as in, all ready released) there is no modern game that even seems remotely interesting. Any new games that I'm interested aren't due for another few months.
So for now, I've gone back and have started playing the older games. Running through Quake 1 and 2, Baldur's Gate 2 and Temple of Elemental Evil. There are things I enjoy a lot of these games, but at the same time, I'm learning to appreciate some of the finer nuances of the newer games.
While the combat and banter in BG2 is absolutely awesome, I do miss being able to actually look at the character in full 3d, which I suppose is something I've been taking forgranted.
Same with XCom; I absolutely love its complexity and depth. But at the same time, there have definitely been some advances in the way turn-based battles play out that I sorely miss while on the battlescape (by the way, if you're into Xcom, you may want to check out Xenonauts which is an indy's attempt to reproduce XCom in more modern graphics with their own little changes).
So my advice, if you don't know what to play now because today's games have no interest for you, I'd say go back and actually replay the older games.
Even with single player games, I don't know what to play anymore
I'm right there with ya.
I had BG from years ago, I just bought BGII (+expansion), NWN (+expansion), ICEWINDALE+ICEWINDALE+EXPANSIONS on GOG this morning. That's how I'll fill my time.
Rose colored glasses suggests a skewed perception of history based on nostalgia discarding the bad memories and keeping the good.
That doesn't explain however, how someone like me still loads up games like X-com, Master of Magic, Master of Orion 2, etc, and I still have a blast playing them over most of the new games that come out these days.
Or, it could just be that those games are in fact far superior in gameplay than a lot of games that are released these days.
I would say theres some truth to the Rose colored glasses comments. Those are games you have played and love, thats not to say ALL games from that time are better/worse than games now. That's like when people talk about the great NES games, but forget about all the hundreds upon thousands of absolute shit games that got made for the NES because they remember their favorite one or two. It's all the same, just now its harder to tell the difference between the garbage and the good because they both look like highly polished turds.
"They essentially want to say 'Correlation proves Causation' when it's just not true." - Sovrath
I agree OP
I keep going back to older games and replaying (hard to get through 1/2 way after a few times though).
I stayed away from mmo's for a long time, because of the people (anonymity makes the masses arses). Finally broke down and been playing eve for what 8 years now. Nothing else works well.
I beleive that several mmorpg's would make better single player games than mmo's. Like Rift for example, I enjoy the skill trees and toying with them. But I feel there is no point to a level capped game more than anything else because I hate forced gang play and raiding. Here you get into the argument of in a mmo you have to play with people because its and mmo.
I think mmo's mainly lack the story quality and (often immersivness) while single player games lack the finish and inventiveness of mmo's (especially rpg games). Herein lies all my hope on TOR.
I loved the old D&D games, and Jedi Knight (even though the later ones were simplified like you were saying).
Good luck to you finding something. Try some of the indy games on steam for a change of pace like zeno clash or braid etc.
Edit: rose colored glasses maybe but i remember commodor games that had far superior gameplay and story. I also remember the crap. But think there is definitly a greater % of crap now.
Here's some eg's of interesting iOS games; good games exist just in unexpected or unusual quarters...
Async Corp. iPhone Game Review
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
& on PC (hopefully):
From Dust (Steam, OnLive etc, XBL, PSN etc)
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014633/Classic-Game-Postmortem
I'm playing Oblivion and Fallout 3 again.
Have you played The Witcher games?
Amnesia - The Dark Descent is a pretty sweet game.
Divintiy 2 isn't too bad.
Really...there are plenty of good games out there, some great ones, and a few great ones coming out this year.
Try X3: Terran Conflict. It's about as complex as you can get without burying you in spreadsheets. It's a freeform sandbox space game with multitudes of ways you can play. One warning though, it has a learning curve that rivals EVE online... LOL
Bren
while(horse==dead)
{
beat();
}
Alas, I have such a DAMN good memory when it comes to games. I can't recall what I did 2 days ago, but put me in Baldurs Gate again after 10 years and ALL will come back. It's a curse.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
I respect that, Everyone has his or her own opinion on whats superior to what.
I personally loved older games. Would i call them superior to todays games? certainly not. I would be lying if i said BG1&2 were as good as Biowares rpgs in the last ten or so years. I would by lying if I thought the original fallouts were better than FO3. I can't sit through those games anymore. PLay doom instead of todays Fps?!?! HA!!! play old ultimas instead of todays PC rpgs? yeah ok.
Games have evolved so for me it certainly was rose colored glasses when i hated on everything just before my break.
Playing: Nothing
Looking forward to: Nothing
100% agree on all points, Elikal. They won't stop making these types of trash until people stop buying them...though people won't stop buying them because they don't know any better.
My solution, currently, has been to go in reverse when looking for games to play. I keep stepping back a year at a time until I find something I haven't played that I always wanted to..or that looks good. There are still a few gems out there that I haven't seen yet. That's the best I can suggest...boycott the new crap we're being force-fed and look to the past for things to do until the wind shifts.
It does make you wonder though..when's the last time you've seen a good, simple, multiplayer RPG for example? When's the last time you played a console style single player RPG with a deep story that made you not want to put it down? When's the last time you played a RPG that didn't feel like a chore to get to the good stuff? Or any MMORPG for that matter. I'm betting it's been quite a long time or you're playing older games. Or you're so mentally addicted to the grind that you forgot all about what games are really meant to do.