FPS the future of Gamimg???

[WhipperSnapper]

Unfortunately, the gaming industry doesn’t see it that way any more. Where I would like to see full robust RPG games and Strategic 4X games, these are becoming a thing of the past. Even the iconic development houses (Bioware, Stardock, etc&#8230 that have historically created these types of games are running more and more to the Run and Gun approach to the RPG industry. And the “Let’s add Real time” into the mix of the typical 4X games, but they have to dumb it down to do it.

I disagree with you that Sins of a Solar Empire (Stardock--let's add real time to the 4x mix) is dumbed down. Perhaps you can't design your own ships like you could in Galactic Civilizations and maybe the tech tree isn't as extensive, but Sins adds something Gal Civ could never offer--the strategic and tactical challenge of dealing with real human opponents in online multiplayer. Human opponents in Sins must have far more strategic and tactical ability than whatever the Gal Civ AI could throw at you merely because it's AI. So, it's hard to call Sins dumbed down relative to Gal Civ. Most Sins PvP games are team-based and add team-based strategy elements. Sins actually has very deep and complex strategic elements to it, but it's hard to appreciate them if you're a new player and only play against AI.

One area where RPG games seem to have taken a hit is the free-to-play online multipayer after purchase area. (This would rule out MMORPG's since you have to pay monthly fees.) For example, the predecessor to Dragon Age, Neverwinter Nights, had a robust online multiplayer component filled with custom-made realms and mods. However, consistent with the trend to consolization, Dragon Age didn't have any online multiplayer (probably because if people could make servers, maps, and mods, fewer players would have a need to purchase downloadable content.

Am I the only one that sees this and is appalled?

I'm appalled by the general trend towards consolization that we've seen in FPS and RPG games. The much anticipated Unreal Tournament 3 (UT3) was completely destroyed by consolization, and Dragon Age's lack of online multiplayer is a big letdown from Neverwinter Nights.

I don't think RTS games are being affected since that entire genre is pretty much PC-exclusive.

Nice Bilbo Baggins avatar, btw.

 

[thespyder]

Don't get me wrong. I enjoy Sins and play it quite often. But when I switch between Sins and Gal Civ 2, I can definitely see the difference. Admittedly I don't play online Sins, so maybe i am missing that component, but... although you are facing a human opponent (i.e. sigificantly more Tactics) you are still using a significantly reduced array of tools. It is like playing Risk vs a computer as compared to Checkers vs a human (IMHO).

The problem I have with online multi-play RTS is that, if you are comparing a reasonable strategy (say one you can read about and copy from the internet) and a fast mouse click, vs the best strategic mind out there with a slow mouse click, the fast mouse click wins. Every time. and my eye-hand coordination isn't what it used to be. Nor do I have 18 hours a day to practice.

As for NWN2, i am a big fan of the game. And play online quite often. But even if it weren't aging, it is still pretty much the only game in town for the RPG crowd, and looking to be for the forseeable future. Because nothing on the forseeable horizon comes anywhere close. And in fact, the stuff that is on the horizon is all (IMHO) significantly less with a major focus on Action and console portability. ala ME2-3, DA2, Neverwinter, Daggerdale, Dungeon Siege 3 etc...

What I would really love to see is someone really pushing the envelop both tactically and story wise. Throw in a whole host of customizability and an online community component and you are going in the right direction. But the industry wants console portability and high end graphics, and to do that something's got to give which usually means customizability, tactics and story.

And then you get the idiot who says "Who wants a well thought out villan with a back story when the real danger is online pvp Griefing. Because the human opponent is tougher!" Humans are tougher, but that doesn't mean that being owned by some 10 year old with a better reflexes and no responsibilities is as much fun as finally beating Saravok (for the xth time).

At the end of the day, while I like games like NWN2, they are like the Doom of RPG. Doom, back in it's Hay day was AWESOME!!! But now 20 years on it looks a bit dated. And as with Doom, RPG technology has had very little in the way of advancement (of any material nature) since Baldur's Gate. And now it looks like the big wigs in the gaming development industry are seeing/being told that "Forget really good RPG and 4X games! The real money is in short attention span, low brain power, high reflex driven shooters".

 

[ChickenShwarma]

Umm, did I read the same article?

The article talks about shorter games, not shooter games.

I can totally relate to the article, btw. Married, kid, in his 30s, full time job. As much as I love long games like Mass Effect, or Dragon Age, I appreciate shorter games like Dead Space, Splinter Cell Conviction.

If the story wraps up well in 10 hours, there's no reason to prolong it, just for the sake of creating more contents. More is not necessary better, IMO.

If the story is fit to be long and detailed, (Dragon Age), I feel spending 30+ hours simply works.

Games shouldn't be created based on play time.

What the article didn't go in deep is the social aspect the multiplayer games. Your friends play game XXX, so you play that game until game YYY comes out. With limited time on my hand, I stopped following that trend a while ago. I'm a social person but gaming is becoming a personal entertainment. In FPS, I don't want to learn new maps every DLC to be competitive, nor spend time grinding to be PvP competitive in MMOs anymore.

Weather it's 10hrs, or 30hrs, I'll play when I want to, how I want to, at my own pace.

 

[thespyder]

LOL. Wow, what was I reading?

But the story still remains the same. Shooter or shorter, the gripe is the same. If it is shorter, used to be that the length of the game played heavily into the reviews it got. if i am going to lay down $60 bucks for a game, i had better get more than 10 hours out of it. If not, I can go see 6 movies which would give me 15+ hours at least.

And if it is shooter, there is a huge focus on "Forget the game, let's just give sand box mode and let people run around shooting each other". So no focus on content or strategy or actual "Game", merely the same game engine that every other game coming out today has, but with different graphics "Modern Battlefield: Total reality shootout XXV" boiled down to run on your Iphone.

and I am not saying make the story 20 hours simply to meet that bullet point. But I am saying that if you can't get at least 20 hours out of your story, it isn't worth making into a game.

 

[zinfamous]

I know it's not going to get the love, attention, and massive recognized praise due to being released with Star Wars TOR, and the continued success of WoW, but I'll wait to see what happens when Guild Wars 2 is released before I declare that such genre is dead.

FPS will still always be the most popular for some time--it's appealing to a wider audience due to consoles and the wider appeal of consoles to the ave Joe that never played a game prior to the 360 or the original XBox.

Though, I think that motion/participatory/party games will be the next industry giant.

 

[Red Storm]

I personally could care less which genre was/is/becomes the industry giant, there will always be choices in other genres.

 

[thespyder]

FPS will still always be the most popular for some time--it's appealing to a wider audience due to consoles and the wider appeal of consoles to the ave Joe that never played a game prior to the 360 or the original XBox.

I call it the LCD (lowest common denominator) effect. The Game Developers play to the IQ level accessable to the most number of people. Hence "Call of Warfare MDXXX".

I personally could care less which genre was/is/becomes the industry giant, there will always be choices in other genres.

the point is if the Industry giants all decide to make FPS and that becomes the only game in town, that IS a problem for people who don't like that genre. Because there will be no "Other choices in other genres".

 

[Malak]

I used to love RPGs the most, but now I can't stand to play a single one. I can't even enjoy Gran Turismo anymore... shooters are the only game I can play and not get bored within 5 minutes.

 

[zinfamous]

I call it the LCD (lowest common denominator) effect. The Game Developers play to the IQ level accessable to the most number of people. Hence "Call of Warfare MDXXX".

this is the case in all genres of entertainment. look at music.

I bitch about this all the time when it comes to film, and dipshits call me "elitist" when I try to explain to them that Michael Bay is pure garbage and there is effectively zero value in any of his failures.

in that case, I am wrong for dissing on something popular.

Sometimes, I come in here and criticize you guys for putting too much value and attention on something so meaningless and wasteful as video games, and we could go on and on making conflicting arguments using the same value system, but in different genres, but then we'd both expose ourselves as idiots.

 

[thespyder]

I used to love RPGs the most, but now I can't stand to play a single one. I can't even enjoy Gran Turismo anymore... shooters are the only game I can play and not get bored within 5 minutes.

I am just the opposite. 5 min into a FPS and I am boored to tears. i tried playing Crysis 2 because my nephew was into it and i wanted to share. Got bored and quit.

If i am going to spend my valuable time gaming, I like to have something worth my while. Something that is going to make me think or show me something new.

Quite frankly I don't have the time to waste on something with no content. And i will never be as good as kids with better reflexes and 18 hours a day to practice. So...

 

[PeeluckyDuckee]

If all I have in my library of games is just FPS I would get sick of it pretty darn fast. I like variety. Some FPS, some action/adventure, some racing games. Having open ended open world games can get boring as well. I like a good compelling story, as well as good graphics and good game play.