Are games becomming to bland?

[BladeVenom]

Sure part of it is getting older, but there's a lot more to it than that.

Big name titles are dumbed down compared to what they use to be.

Most games now are just sequels.

Big gaming companies seldom take risks.

There are no new genres. If you have been gaming for more than a decade, then you've seen brand new genres come and go. That just doesn't happen, or at least it's rare nowadays. There are actually fewer genres being made by the big companies.

Less games include mod tools now.

Last years games look the same as this years. It use to be games looked noticeable better every year, and a sequel's graphics were an order of magnitude better. While most sequels look about the same, some have looked worse.

When I use to upgrade my video card it was like, "OMG, I can't believe how amazing the graphics are now." Now it's like, "I think it's running a bit smoother, better run a benchmark to be sure."

 

[Rudee]

Every year you get older, the less entertained you are by games. When I was in my early 20's I couldn't wait to get home from work to play PC games. I even called in sick a couple times just to get more game time. Now that I'm in my 40's, I have little to no interest in games at all. Even if I have the time.

 

[Craig234]

Every year you get older, the less entertained you are by games. When I was in my early 20's I couldn't wait to get home from work to play PC games. I even called in sick a couple times just to get more game time. Now that I'm in my 40's, I have little to no interest in games at all. Even if I have the time.

That's not entirely accurate.

 

[PeeluckyDuckee]

I don't game as much as I used to. Back when I was still in school fridays/saturdays/sundays were an awesome time to be a kid in the late 80s early 90s gaming on the NES/SNES. Quality of games from NES to SNES were at par, but obviously games benefited from a big jump in graphics on the SNES, enhancing gamer experience.

But graphics can only carry a game so far, and the jump to PS3/Xbox 360 is where a plateau was reached, but the creative juices have slowed and we see rehashes, and companies playing the safe card and making safe bets. Profit at the expense of gamer experience, and that's where indie developers can come in and walk away with a few dollar if they can show something new and interesting and capture gamers attention.

I remember playing Super Mario, Contra, Einhander, Castlevania, TMNT, Street Fighter 2, Pitfall Harry, Joust. All quality gems that I wouldn't mind picking up again once every now and then.

 

[Nintendesert]

OP's thread title is really bothering me. :|

 

[KeithTalent]

OP's thread title is really bothering me. :|

Same here.

KT

 

[mindcycle]

I honestly think I spend more time reading game reviews/previews, and what's happening in the the gaming industry, than I actually spend playing games. A lot of games get hyped up nowadays but when you actually play them it's the same old boring repetitive crap.

Sure, it was cool playing through Assassin's Creed 1, maybe even 2, and feeling that wow factor of playing something new and unique and wanting to see where the story goes next. However, after that wears off it just seems like a chore and I get extremely bored fast, doing what's IMO is pointless "fetch" and "kill" quests over and over, just to get to the next overly convoluted plot point. This seems to be about the norm for most AAA game "franchises" nowadays.

Indies can be ok, and i've enjoyed a few of them. However, there is usually about one game a year I really enjoy and play all the way through and will typically go back to later as well. Last year it was The Witcher 2. Not sure what it'll be this year but I guess i'll start slogging through all the previews/reviews till I find it..

 

[fixbsod]

I say it's both

some of the luster is coming of as you have played a lot of games and so there isn't so much "new" experiences,

but I still chalk a LOT of it up to poorer games; I greatly believe that the games that have been coming out lately have been much more mediocre and retreads than what I have seen in a long while. A lot of the big studios seem content to put out the next Battlefield Duty 17 Elite and appeal to the widest (casual) audience rather than actually make something GOOD. How many man hours went into making Guitar Hero 24 instead of the next great original IP?

Don't forget we are in a muddling economy and have been for years so it's not all that surprising to see the studios focus on ROI and play it safe. This leads to boring retreads.

Its DEFINITELY not age related!

Games are indeed getting more generic, dumbed down cookie-cutter copies of each other.

 

[sigurros81]

Sex makes video games bland.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Actually I got a theory...If supposedly hard hitters like SWTOR, ME3 and D3 fails to meet expectations there is a domino effect that makes people stop caring for other blockbuster games.

 

[Texashiker]

Actually I got a theory...If supposedly hard hitters like D3 fails to meet expectations there is a domino effect that makes people stop caring for other blockbuster games.

What ruined diablo 3 for me was the always on internet requirement.

I did not buy D3 because of that one issue. And, I played the beta and was rather disappointed.

 

[fixbsod]

Oh, don't worry Blizzard messed up more than always on DRM with D3, they also messed up:

PVP
Actual randomized dungeons/areas
Item randomization and drops
Customizable / buildable skill trees
Large number of skills to use (remember hotkeying in D2? no need with only like 4 + 2 skills avail)
Customizable primary stats like int/dex/str/etc so you could build how you want
Trading

so basically the whole game

What ruined diablo 3 for me was the always on internet requirement.

I did not buy D3 because of that one issue. And, I played the beta and was rather disappointed.

 

[cmdrdredd]

For me, having played so many games in my life, I tend to compare one with another way too much. Like a really fun game can be ruined when I say "too bad you can't do this, that other game had it." or "this feature was done before."

In some ways the storyline is super boring. "Oh please save the world!" "Save the princess" "stop the aliens" "stop the demons"

The only games that are truly interesting to me are games with side things to do. GTA, Skyrim, other RPGs. That way when the story gets boring I can do a side quest or 10 and come back later with more loot. I do appreciate when games have charm like Little Big Planet or humor such as some of the dialog in RPGs.

Still my original point of comparing everything to another game hurts more than anything I would say.

 

[JoetheLion]

What a load of self-serving, elitist nonsense.

Why? It hurt your feelings? You found yourself in it? These were just examples to show how this blind devotion to the newest trends that are shallow and recycled over and over again are lack of taste. It may sound elitist to you, but shall we not some criterias? Can't we criticize anything? You do realize that these examples are all overhyped games or series that are not original or clever in design. It's a matter of marketing and unimpressing eye-candy stuff.

It's like a movie choice based on the number of explosion in it. The more, the better. No other criteria. No other demands. I don't think that such person can really understand and grasp the depth and intensity of films. If you are a consumer who worships the downgrade of video games, nobody's forcing you to stop playing these things. There is just no real quality.

 

[Veliko]

Why? It hurt your feelings? You found yourself in it? These were just examples to show how this blind devotion to the newest trends that are shallow and recycled over and over again are lack of taste. It may sound elitist to you, but shall we not some criterias? Can't we criticize anything? You do realize that these examples are all overhyped games or series that are not original or clever in design. It's a matter of marketing and unimpressing eye-candy stuff.

It's like a movie choice based on the number of explosion in it. The more, the better. No other criteria. No other demands. I don't think that such person can really understand and grasp the depth and intensity of films. If you are a consumer who worships the downgrade of video games, nobody's forcing you to stop playing these things. There is just no real quality.

What does any of this even mean? No-one is 'blindly devoted' to anything, it's just people playing the games that they like to play.

I don't know what you mean by setting criteria. Criteria for what? What purpose does it serve?

What's the difference between some 15-year old playing Doom all day back in 1993, and some 15-year old playing CoD all day in 2013?

I'm sure that somewhere there's a bitter 80-year old man saying that you're not a gamer unless you were spending two months wages flying over to MIT to play Space War! back in 1963.

 

[JoetheLion]

Criteria for quality of course. You don't realize the difference between Doom and CoD? Doom had actual leveldesign, CoD is one (short) on-rail corridor. But first CoD was good, then it got repetitive and with each new game it was dumber and dumber, shorter, with less things to do, you cannot even move anywhere else except in front of you. The game won't let you. There are many games of many genres to play, CoD is far from good. It's like listening to Nicky Minaj whole day while there's actual music out there.