Yeah, as far as I’m concerned most AAA games might as well be part of a totally separate hobby that I don’t pay much attention to.
Also the craft of game-making has improved, so that even an average modern game is in many ways better than the best games from 25 years ago. For example, consider Diablo II. I played the remake a lot and large parts were as good as I remembered but what really stuck out to me was how boring the boss battles are. The height of skill is running in a circle around Diablo when he does his lightning hose attack. It’s far worse than pretty much any modern ARPG, not because the technology has improved but because people have learned from Diablo II’s mistakes.
Diablo II blew my mind in 2000 in a way that a better ARPG wouldn’t today, but that doesn’t mean that games have gotten worse. It means that I have gotten used to playing great games.
I seriously have nothing to say to anyone who doesn’t see it that way. If all you play is big budget corpo horseshit and your first instinct is to blame a generational cohort, that says more about you.
And also, the rate of good AAA games coming out is still the same, it’s just they’re drowning by the see of identical boring cashgrabs.
It’s the same with all the other media, cool shit is still there, you just have to learn to filter the bullshit out.
Indie gaming is the best it’s ever been. AAA gaming was always going to devolve into cashgrabs.
Yeah, as far as I’m concerned most AAA games might as well be part of a totally separate hobby that I don’t pay much attention to.
Also the craft of game-making has improved, so that even an average modern game is in many ways better than the best games from 25 years ago. For example, consider Diablo II. I played the remake a lot and large parts were as good as I remembered but what really stuck out to me was how boring the boss battles are. The height of skill is running in a circle around Diablo when he does his lightning hose attack. It’s far worse than pretty much any modern ARPG, not because the technology has improved but because people have learned from Diablo II’s mistakes.
Diablo II blew my mind in 2000 in a way that a better ARPG wouldn’t today, but that doesn’t mean that games have gotten worse. It means that I have gotten used to playing great games.
I’ve had a similar experience.
For me it was more accessibility issues like timely checkpoints and not forcing the player to button mash.
I realized that a lot of my childhood gaming was possible because I just put up with gaming mechanics that need a lot of time and patience.
The past: don’t know what to do? Spend an hour just trying things and if that doesn’t work, try again tomorrow.
Today: don’t know what to do? This game has half an hour to give me a hint or I’m moving on to the next game cause I’m here to have fun damn it!
I seriously have nothing to say to anyone who doesn’t see it that way. If all you play is big budget corpo horseshit and your first instinct is to blame a generational cohort, that says more about you.
AAA games are made by companies that have boomers and early gen x in charge
Indie games are more likely to be made by people actually doing the development, i.e. millennials & early gen Z currently
Indie games have been having a great decade, AAA keeps getting worse
Thanks for attending my TED talk
AAA gaming shows the effects of late term capitalism on gaming.
And also, the rate of good AAA games coming out is still the same, it’s just they’re drowning by the see of identical boring cashgrabs.
It’s the same with all the other media, cool shit is still there, you just have to learn to filter the bullshit out.
Indie gaming now is great for players, but for gamedevs it is a saturated market and most of them don’t make a profit