Have games become too easy/mindless?

[Reincarnate]

Re: Have games become too easy/mindless?

Which games do you feel were linear, Arch? When I think back to many of the greats, I see many elements of nonlinearity.

[Arch0wl]

Re: Have games become too easy/mindless?

Most of my RPG/Adventure favorites from the SNES to PS2 days, such as Earthbound, Star Ocean III, the Zelda series, and so on had a primarily linear storyline. There were elements of nonlinearity such as sidequests, but the storyline did not progress in a nonlinear way.

I actually prefer it that way. I think when games try too hard to be nonlinear they lose the advantage of a strong central narrative and become a kind of cheesy choose-your-own-adventure book. Who would want to watch a classic story, like Titanic, with a different ending? It's a classic in part because of the way the events proceeded.

[Reincarnate]

Re: Have games become too easy/mindless?

Well what I mean isn't so much a choose-your-own-adventure type of game. I enjoy games with strong central narratives, but I don't like feeling as if I'm just taking a single path to get there.

Consider OoT -- it had a linear narrative but the individual stages that made up that story were expansive and circuitous themselves. You also had lots of cool mini/side-games.

Nowadays, I feel like at any given point there is always one, obvious route -- no exploration required. And that's what I dislike. Play a game like FFXIII or Black Ops and you'll see what I mean. There is no room for exercising any control over where you take the game next.

[Arch0wl]

Re: Have games become too easy/mindless?

Oh, I see.

Yeah, games need quasilinearity. They need to feel as if you can go and do anything while still making the things you do have a guided purpose, like you mentioned with OoT. That tends to produce classics.

[ddrmaniacaaa]

Re: Have games become too easy/mindless?

I defenitley think they're running out of ideas. Seems everything is a sequel to something before it. Same thing has happened to movies in the last 2 years.

[kommisar]

Re: Have games become too easy/mindless?

there's a reason I don't play any games made after 2003 ever


I'm dead serious


Even games that have no storyline back in the day had some challenge or appeal to it. Games now don't make you go back and play it over and over to get better, it just kinda gives it to you. Let's take Diddy Kong Racing for example. Jesus christ that game gets hard. But back in the late 90's, you just had to go back and keep playing until you got good enough to pass the levels. This applies even more so back during the nes/early snes days. A challenge and feeling of success was always given back then. You really worked hard to beat those games and could actually call yourself a gamer.


A gamer isn't someone who pulls all-nighters playing halo3, sorry.

[Valance]

Re: Have games become too easy/mindless?

there's a reason I don't play any games made after 2003 ever

A challenge and feeling of success was always given back then. You really worked hard to beat those games and could actually call yourself a gamer.

Metal Gear Solid 4. Can I leave it at that? The game is easy to beat on any difficulty if you know what to do. Once you start aiming for the medals though, that's where it begins showing that it is just as amazing as the rest of the "old-school" stand-out games.

It can't really be said that the entire market has been going downhill. There are modern developers who still give us games that are just as good as our favorite classics.

[SKG_Scintill]

Re: Have games become too easy/mindless?

Games in general? no. FPSs? yes.

[BeatofIke]

Re: Have games become too easy/mindless?

I think, to some extent, that games have gotten easier. There are still a few hard games out there. Yes, games from the 80s and 90s were harder and more non-linear than games today. I remember playing a game called Uz 3.0. The puzzles and obstacles just gets harder and harder and harder and HARDER, until your brain explodes. I quit out. >_< Games like Halo was the first game to introduce the modern "2-gun" system. Which basically triggered a new gaming era (today). There are now MLG players WTF. Ultimately, I still play these games just for fun, not for competition (fuccen MLG players). Based on my insights, none of these would have existed if there wasn't Halo. MLG won't exist either.

[Elite Ninja]

Re: Have games become too easy/mindless?

Gotta love great exploring games like Donkey Kong 64, Super Mario 64, and Megaman Legends .

[Reincarnate]

Re: Have games become too easy/mindless?

Oh, I see.

Yeah, games need quasilinearity. They need to feel as if you can go and do anything while still making the things you do have a guided purpose, like you mentioned with OoT. That tends to produce classics.

I think this is maybe a good way to look at it -- quasilinearity. An overall linear game but with a sort of localized nonlinearity.

But, to be fair, against my own argument, OoT frustrated a lot of gamers when it came to stuff like the Water Temple. Even local nonlinearity annoys some, which is why the linear stuff does so well.

[Jousway]

Re: Have games become too easy/mindless?

there's a reason I don't play any games made after 2003 ever

same here, the only games that are exceptions are indie games

[SKG_Scintill]

Re: Have games become too easy/mindless?

I have to say, there's one thing I miss nowadays. Lives, and if you were out of them, game over and start from stage 1.
I liked that, gave more of a challenge.

[who_cares973]

Re: Have games become too easy/mindless?

Fuccen Contra.....

[vro]

Re: Have games become too easy/mindless?

I defenitley think they're running out of ideas. Seems everything is a sequel to something before it. Same thing has happened to movies in the last 2 years.

Definately. A lot of the biggest selling games(and movies) right now are remakes of older games. Prime examples:
New!SuperMarioBros.
Donkey Kong Country Returns(I think that was the name...you know what I'm talking about)
Legend of Zelda: OoT 3D
Final Fantasy(series)
Persona 3:Portable
Pokemon HG/SS
...and there are more being announced. Apparantly there's even gonna be a Spyro the Dragon collection for the 3DS that will have the first 3 PS1 games.

Regardless of how cool all of these games may be, they are still just remakes of older games