Quality of PC Games

[JoshGuru7]

Obviously it's subjective. I didn't like Mirror's Edge, but I personally think Soviet Assault, E:TW, and Anno 1404 (Dawn of Discovery) are all nearly perfect. Braid, Assault on Dark Athena, and Tales of Monkey Island are pretty good, and I've heard a lot of good things about Battlefield Heroes but haven't tried it yet.

The point is that it's easy to compare apples to oranges when you are talking about wildly different time frames - the momentary present against all of history in the past - and that leads to nostalgia that often isn't justified. I didn't like any of the games released last month as much as I liked my favorite game from the last twenty years (Lords2)... but that shouldn't be surprising nor a sign that games are getting worse.

 

[EnzoLT]

i thought games pre 2006 was way better than games post 2006. but thats just my opinion.

 

[sonoma1993]

In my opinion, it seems like we are getting more lower quality PC games that are being release every year and very few (2 or 3) good quality pc games being release every year.

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: tokie
JoshGuru, the only good game in that list is Mirror's Edge. Fear 2 should have been aborted with a coat hanger...

How many on that list have you actually played?

 

[Schadenfroh]

Honestly, I play far more player made mods than official content these days. Player made content has gotten far more abundant over the past decade.

 

[KentState]

I know one downfall is the social aspect involved with PC gaming. When I'm playing TF2, I'm pretty much in the office alone. On the other hand, when we are playing Rockband1/2, a group of us in is front of the tv. The same for Madden, baseball, or even Halo3 or GoW. Top that off with having a room full of friends playing band challenges or 2 player split screen Halo against others across the country. Then you combine that effect with most games are console first, then a pc port. I'd personally rather sit in front of a wall size screen, with 1000 watt home theater, in a nice leather chair playing a game, instead of taking the pc port.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy playing strategy games and stuff like TF2 on the pc, but even with all of the faults of Oblivion on the console, it was just more enjoyable doing it on the tv. I think it will take some type of innovation to bring the PC front and center again. Something to give it a huge advantage over consoles besides graphics.

 

[Pelu]

Each year.... developing games cost more money, and takes more time, not to mention that is rater more complex... also if you add the crappy economy situation, and some sort of social downgrade, are not only the formula for games to go down, but also of everything else, cars, realstate and such...

 

[JoshGuru7]

Originally posted by: KentState
I know one downfall is the social aspect involved with PC gaming. When I'm playing TF2, I'm pretty much in the office alone. On the other hand, when we are playing Rockband1/2, a group of us in is front of the tv. The same for Madden, baseball, or even Halo3 or GoW.

Well I think the PC has made huge advancements in the social aspect of gaming to the effect that it's a separate genre now - the MMO. Social features that didn't exist in any game 10 years ago are commonplace in just about any MMO released in the last few years. There are also services like Steam that try to automate voice chat in non-MMOs but I'd agree that the emphasis there is less then with something like XBL.

Originally posted by: Pelu
Each year.... developing games cost more money, and takes more time, not to mention that is rater more complex...

To play Devil's Advocate here, couldn't you say that spending more time and money on a game to add complexity is a benefit to the consumer rather a detriment?

also if you add the crappy economy situation, and some sort of social downgrade, are not only the formula for games to go down, but also of everything else, cars, realstate and such...

I don't have any hard data but for the example you mentioned (cars) I would say it's widely acknowledged that quality is going up rather than down. Average Fuel Efficiency is not rising as quickly as people think, but engines are becoming more efficient and consumers are simply responding to that by purchasing larger engines. Reliability has been going up as well according to J.D. Power, which found that 2008 improved over 2007 (from 7/100 to 7/118 likelihood of trouble). It shouldn't be a surprise that quality improves over time generally as technology increases and we improve on previous designs.

 

[JellyBaby]

Game companies put out what sells best and that means the simple, accessible and pretty stuff. It's been that way for a long while now, probably starting when a company called Origin broke the bank adding full motion video to Wing Commander III...also around that time I think Access Software made a similar high budget game called Under a Killing Moon that set a trend for steep development budgets in AAA titles. It then became all about making a visually stunning game, often at the expense of everything else.

From that point on games felt more and more commercial, "for the masses" and less and less original. They sure looked a ton better, though. That said, there have always been gems and great games to be had each year though the pickings were slim in some years and there sure were slumps and burst periods.

Some genres didn't handle the ride so well. AAA space games are virtually gone now, the same with adventures as already mentioned. It's also rare to see a good simulation now. "Back in the day" old school sims and board-game style strategy games were easily the best-selling games. Flight sims once dominated but now that category has shrunk and Microsoft recently canned their Flight Simulator team so you know those games will be flat for a long time to come.

One other factor is veteran gamers have been there and done that so it takes a lot more to impress us now. Compounding that is that sequelitis reigns supreme and complex/deep/hard games just aren't made anymore (by hard I mean actually having to solve puzzles, take notes, sleep on how to beat a scenario, etc.).

For example, in some early RPG/adventure games I had a notebook full of game notes and some puzzles were just damn hard to figure out. Today, picking Oblivion as an example, everything is laid out for you. It tracks quests for you. It adds waypoints to your map and HUD so you know exactly where to go. It puts quest objecsts in plain sight, telling you when you found the item you need and what to do with it. So much hand-holding. There's not much left to think about other than what to click on and when. The combat, on the other hand can be very challenging at harder settings, which I enjoyed.

Sometimes easy-mode fits the bill, though, and Oblivion was a great game, just in a different way. The voice overs, story, huge world, graphics, gameplay, etc. all added up to a AAA title. Just a very easy one.

Still, I sometimes do miss the ways old school games could challenge you: having to learn an aircraft's controls and understand flight physics in flight sim games gave a unique level of satisfaction. Such games don't sell well enough to make anymore, though, at least not well-marketed commercial games from the big studios.

 

[Maximilian]

Originally posted by: samduhman
The PC as a gaming platform received multiple black eyes all about the same time frame.

- HDTVs brought console graphics to a new level
- Microsoft stabbing PC gamers in the back by joining the console market and cutting PC gaming support especially after the 360 was released
- Microsoft releasing Vista which split the PC developing/gaming market
- wishy washy so called ex PC gamers who jumped ship ASAP to 360 and continually troll gaming forums badmouthing the PC as a gaming platform and have convinced themselves playing with your thumbs is good enough for FPS and RTSs.
- I still think online play plays a big part in the current state of PC gaming. Why buy a new game when you still enjoy that game your playing. I played BF1942 for 2 years. WoW for 4 years. Unlike others I still bought new games regularly so I have a massive backlog.

With all that negativity guess what. The PC is still doing fine.

- I still buy just as many games as I did in the 90s/early 2000s if not more.
- The black eye of Vista is disappearing with service packs and now Windows 7.
- PC gaming hardware is cheaper than ever while console costs have approached PC
- PC gaming has gotten much more streamlined and easy to use while I have found myself banging my head waiting for my consoles to download patches or get the networking on them to work correctly. Plug and play is/has disappeared from consoles.

I feel PC gaming is on the upswing. We still have more exclusives if you willing to look for them and not expect them to be AAA titles. There's nothing wrong with C+ if you enjoy the genre. Also I'm pretty sure I've been noticing more exclusives being announced for PCs these days and also devs who used to be console exclusive now supporting PC. Capcom, Square/Enix for example.

Basically the PC just needs a dev to take chance and create the next big thing. Just like ID and Epic did back in the day, create a game that's so next gen people go out and buy/upgrade a computer just to play the game. I spent $1600 on a PC back in the day just to play Warcraft 2. Until then I'll just keep gaming. I don't mind ports as long as they aren't crappy ports. Even consoles are getting plagued with crossplatform titles, its not just happening on the PC.

Yeah or maybe theyre just "gamers" and dont chain themselves to a single platform for life...

 

[masterxfob]

as far as RPG's are concerned, i've yet to see anything along the lines of planescape torment, baldur's gate 1 & 2, and fallout 1 & 2.

 

[exar333]

Games are more buggy, gameplay has declined, DRM has emerged, console ports ruin good franchises, 10+ years between good games (Read: SC and Diablo series), and little innovation.

 

[alpha88]

The late 90s were awesome when Age of Empires, Counterstrike, and Starcraft were in their hayday.

I feel like gaming (for good or for worse) has moved towards MMOs, which are currently in their hayday. Who knows what we'll get next!

 

[ZzZGuy]

After Oblivion, the graphics reached the "good enough" level. As the graphics wars taper off with diminishing returns on the effort put into graphics you will see a renewed focus on gameplay to capture part of the market. I foresee a increased demand by developers for ready to go graphics engines because the quality they want is available now, and with these new graphics standards and demand will come competition that will increase quality and lower prices for developers.

I think in 5 years we will have the golden age of PC gaming despite console ports with bizarre low gameplay standards and MMO's sucking up many peoples gaming time.

 

[lozina]

gaming has been on a steady decline since the days of master of magic, master of orion and x-com

 

[skace]

I miss the general competitiveness in games. RTS and FPS genres used to be so hotly contested. The only saving grace I have is SF4 which is a real nice port on the PC and actually has some competitive spirit alive in it.

 

[Modelworks]

Not enough focus on gameplay.

 

[coolVariable]

Originally posted by: zerocool84
What pisses me off with most modern games is that the single player element is only like 5-10 hrs and they substitute multiplay for "replayability". I want a great singleplayer experience which most recently released games lack.

yup

 

[biostud]

Type of games I would like to see more of are:
1. FPS where the singleplayer part can be played as co-op missions
(playing doom on extreme hard difficulty with a friend were really fun)
2. Turn based strategy especially with hot-seat (like HOMM)
3. Fligt/Space sims that are action oriented also with co-op missions
4. Good adventure games

For consoles:
Action RPG's (diablo like) with couch multiplayer. (Currently playing Dark Alliance and Champions of Norrath on the PS2 for the 2nd time with my GF, and wondering why these type of games aren't made any more )

 

[coloumb]

Originally posted by: Mem
We have to work with DRM issues plus boring ports from console games etc.. do you think quality of PC games over last decade has gone downhill in general,are software game companies to blame,whats your thoughts on the subject?

Define "Quality" from your standpoint. What exactly are you asking?

- # of bugs in the PC version - this is expected considering the sheer # of different combination of hardware that each person has installed in their computer [not to mention the instability of overclocking various components] coupled with using beta drivers. [this is where consoles have the huge advantage]

- game play - old school games were very repetitive, new games are also repetitive.
- graphics - improve each year as the hardware improves
- sound - pretty much remained the same with minor improvements
- presentation - I'd rather play a reworked version of an 8/16 bit game than the original [Bionic Commando, The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, etc]. Exact copies of 8/16 bit games are only enjoyable on handhelds IMHO.

Console ports are boring? What exactly type of game are you looking for then if you find games such as Bionic Commando, Wolfenstein, GTAIV, Batman Arkham Asylum, Fallout 3, Bioshock, Call of Duty 4, etc boring? [I for one found all of those [and more] to be enjoyable - except for Batman - have to wait until that's released on the PC].

Do you want games to have storylines such as the original Fallout series... or adventure games to go back to being text based only [where you're imagination is your graphics display]... or extremely repetitive platform games [which could literally be labeled as ports from arcade games ]

DRM issues - I really feel sorry for those who have had DRM issues - but quite honestly, I've had nearly zero problems with DRM in PC games.

Other than the # of bugs related to pc games - I don't think the quality has gone downhill - rather it's improved and will keep improving thanks to improvements in hardware technology.

 

[Pelu]

Originally posted by: coolVariable

Originally posted by: zerocool84
What pisses me off with most modern games is that the single player element is only like 5-10 hrs and they substitute multiplay for "replayability". I want a great singleplayer experience which most recently released games lack.

yup

wow, this is so true....

 

[JasonSix78]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
................While programming quality seems to have slowly gone up over the years, gameplay quality has plummeted horribly...............

This pretty much sums up my opinion on the subject.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: coloumb

Originally posted by: Mem
We have to work with DRM issues plus boring ports from console games etc.. do you think quality of PC games over last decade has gone downhill in general,are software game companies to blame,whats your thoughts on the subject?

Define "Quality" from your standpoint. What exactly are you asking?

- # of bugs in the PC version - this is expected considering the sheer # of different combination of hardware that each person has installed in their computer [not to mention the instability of overclocking various components] coupled with using beta drivers. [this is where consoles have the huge advantage]

- game play - old school games were very repetitive, new games are also repetitive.
- graphics - improve each year as the hardware improves
- sound - pretty much remained the same with minor improvements
- presentation - I'd rather play a reworked version of an 8/16 bit game than the original [Bionic Commando, The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, etc]. Exact copies of 8/16 bit games are only enjoyable on handhelds IMHO.

Console ports are boring? What exactly type of game are you looking for then if you find games such as Bionic Commando, Wolfenstein, GTAIV, Batman Arkham Asylum, Fallout 3, Bioshock, Call of Duty 4, etc boring? [I for one found all of those [and more] to be enjoyable - except for Batman - have to wait until that's released on the PC].

Do you want games to have storylines such as the original Fallout series... or adventure games to go back to being text based only [where you're imagination is your graphics display]... or extremely repetitive platform games [which could literally be labeled as ports from arcade games ]

DRM issues - I really feel sorry for those who have had DRM issues - but quite honestly, I've had nearly zero problems with DRM in PC games.

Other than the # of bugs related to pc games - I don't think the quality has gone downhill - rather it's improved and will keep improving thanks to improvements in hardware technology.

OMG don't meantion Biocrap(Bioshock) one of the most hyped rubbish games I have ever purchased,I could name a long list of disappointing games (Fallout 3 was disappointing too) but my point is they are running out of original ideas plus making some of the important parts too easy with auto finder markers ie in games like Oblivion etc...(exploration in finding places is part of the fun and increases playing time) also games released way too early where lot of games need some serious patching,playing time seems shorter too compared to the old days.
I'm not talking about graphics as you can see.

I'm still a PC gamer and will be for a longtime but even I have seen the changes over the years.

Do you want games to have storylines such as the original Fallout series... or adventure games to go back to being text based only [where you're imagination is your graphics display]... or extremely repetitive platform games [which could literally be labeled as ports from arcade games ]

I want more good games like Planescape Torment,BG series,Deus Ex,Syndicate,KOTOR to name a few.