FA+
Shop
Gamer Blog -- State of Affairs
17 years ago
General
Here's to a gaming blog.
Okay, I'll admit I'm a picky gamer. I only like games that are fun and entertaining and feel unique. I understand that's a pretty tall order in today's market of mainstreamed look-alikes and remakes of popular games.
But riddle me this: why are so many of the newer games that are coming out all the same?
The answer is in the community.
As the ages of gamers -- particularly those who play online games such as MMOs -- continues to lower, developers are being pushed to make more child-friendly and mainstreamed games. No longer do we have complex environments with deep story lines filled with the unseen horrors of some dark force so rife with violence and mayhem that you and you alone can stop it.
Things are explained through animated and interactive tutorials instead of guide books. Everything from moving to picking your nose in-game is explained by some adorable little character on your screen.
Worse yet, themes have shifted from epic tales to cutesy fantasies with more and more childish-looking avatars, graphics, and monsters. Now, don't get me wrong; games like Ragnarok Online made cute monsters into a cult hit -- and I can tell you I do enjoy cute graphics... but sometimes it's too much for my teeth.
Even the overall spirit of games has faltered. When once, you had to assemble a carefully selected party and grab a bunch of items to make sure you'd maybe, maybe get the boss this time, now you simply have to power-play and look up the latest broken build on the forums. Achievement and fulfillment are no longer the stratagems of online gaming; they have been replaced by number-crunching, loot-whoring, and power-leveling to be the biggest, baddest, shiniest thing out there.
Now, we all understand that the focus of many games is a level and class-based system in which the character must gain experience in various ways in order to gain strength to thus progress through the game. But spending hours on end wailing on the same damned monsters to get that next level isn't just tedious, it's stupid. Worse yet, this has become a common "Filler" for quests in which we must kill either X of some monster, or collect Y of another mob's drops.
In games where attributes and stats play a key role, these tasks can become even more difficult. In the popular game Trickster Online I managed to go from level 2 to level 7 off the same damned fluff red spike-puffs without even finding that stupid pair of socks... over 20 minutes. Who does that? Heck, my dumb-as-a-plank bunny-girl managed to get them after 4 kills and this crazy-luck lion can't even get it in 30 (and manages to get the mid-chance drop at an 80% rate)?
This has lead to one major oversight in the gaming world. While we strive to streamline games and make them more mainstream and open to players of all ages, we often detract from the actual gameplay. The aforementioned Trickster was rebuilt to include your first 24~30 levels being a massive, drawn out tutorial (I stopped on day three at Lv26 after grinding over 5 different chars before deciding that the game was even more unbalanced than the first version).
If you're still reading this rant, prepare to get peeved. This is where I'm going to hope my Dexterity modifier is high enough to dodge all your mice and keyboards -- and maybe desk-lamps if I'm unlucky.
While many classic games have become the iconic parents of others, I can't help but notice that a lot of new games are doing something wrong. While they may build on the fun and innovative ideas and features of these older games, they lack one very necessary piece in particular: CONTENT.
Games like World of Warcraft, an obscenely popular popularity contest of douche-bag 12-year-olds with too much allowance has little more than a pissing-contest for a story line and graphics that looks like like a renovated version of Mario 64 (Hey, that nose was still badass and you know it!).
Sure, WoW has some nifty features like epic mounts, high-level glowy armor, multiple races, factions, racism, and guilds.... but that's kind alike ordering a gourmet Vegi-Burger. It's pretty, but it's not real.
Even FFXI lacks in this department. Its graphics are sub-par, the control system is designed for a console, and overall, it's impossible to play without a party after level 10 (In fact, waiting for 3 hours to get a party that lasts for 5 minutes is considered "Good").
This holds true for a lot of new games, where story is along the lines of "(Adjective) shit happend, and now (Adjective) adventurers must band together to save the world from (Noun/Adverb)!". Story is the element of every game designed to hook you. Not the flashy (or cartoony graphics), not the cool classes or races, or that awesome ram-looking thing that flies. If there's no story, all you're doing is having a pretty grind-fest.
I guess the last thing I'm gonna bitch about is the fact that every game looks alike. I dare you to cruise through a list of games (ex: mmosite.com) and tell me how many Ragnarok Online, Lineage II, World of WarcraftEverquest, Rising Force Online, and Maple Story dupes you find. The numbers are saddening.
While I have nothing against attempts to best the competition, many games and game companies are faltering with sub-par graphics, content, and game play. I've seen more games where I've said "Oh, this looks fun", but immediately after seeing a few reviews of the Closed Beta or playing it for a day or two, I can't help but say "Wow, this sucks."
Here's hoping that the developers pull their heads out of their asses and start coming up with exciting new games.
MMOs I've Played:
Guild Wars
Lineage II
Rising Force Online
Ragnarok Online
Ragnarok Online II
Maple Story
Lunia
Sword of the New World
Diablo II (Battle.net/LAN)
Trickster Online
Trickster Online - Revolution
Planeshift
PiStory
Fly For Fun
Rappelz
Holic
Rohan Online (buggy piece of shit)
Mabinogi (= Runescape)
Dofus
Dungeon Runners
EVE Online
Final Fantasy XI
Grand Chase
Games I am Anticipating (Developer):
Aion: Tower of Eternity (NCsoft)
Blade and Soul (NCsoft)
Guild Wars 2 (NCsoft)
Okay, I'll admit I'm a picky gamer. I only like games that are fun and entertaining and feel unique. I understand that's a pretty tall order in today's market of mainstreamed look-alikes and remakes of popular games.
But riddle me this: why are so many of the newer games that are coming out all the same?
The answer is in the community.
As the ages of gamers -- particularly those who play online games such as MMOs -- continues to lower, developers are being pushed to make more child-friendly and mainstreamed games. No longer do we have complex environments with deep story lines filled with the unseen horrors of some dark force so rife with violence and mayhem that you and you alone can stop it.
Things are explained through animated and interactive tutorials instead of guide books. Everything from moving to picking your nose in-game is explained by some adorable little character on your screen.
Worse yet, themes have shifted from epic tales to cutesy fantasies with more and more childish-looking avatars, graphics, and monsters. Now, don't get me wrong; games like Ragnarok Online made cute monsters into a cult hit -- and I can tell you I do enjoy cute graphics... but sometimes it's too much for my teeth.
Even the overall spirit of games has faltered. When once, you had to assemble a carefully selected party and grab a bunch of items to make sure you'd maybe, maybe get the boss this time, now you simply have to power-play and look up the latest broken build on the forums. Achievement and fulfillment are no longer the stratagems of online gaming; they have been replaced by number-crunching, loot-whoring, and power-leveling to be the biggest, baddest, shiniest thing out there.
Now, we all understand that the focus of many games is a level and class-based system in which the character must gain experience in various ways in order to gain strength to thus progress through the game. But spending hours on end wailing on the same damned monsters to get that next level isn't just tedious, it's stupid. Worse yet, this has become a common "Filler" for quests in which we must kill either X of some monster, or collect Y of another mob's drops.
In games where attributes and stats play a key role, these tasks can become even more difficult. In the popular game Trickster Online I managed to go from level 2 to level 7 off the same damned fluff red spike-puffs without even finding that stupid pair of socks... over 20 minutes. Who does that? Heck, my dumb-as-a-plank bunny-girl managed to get them after 4 kills and this crazy-luck lion can't even get it in 30 (and manages to get the mid-chance drop at an 80% rate)?
This has lead to one major oversight in the gaming world. While we strive to streamline games and make them more mainstream and open to players of all ages, we often detract from the actual gameplay. The aforementioned Trickster was rebuilt to include your first 24~30 levels being a massive, drawn out tutorial (I stopped on day three at Lv26 after grinding over 5 different chars before deciding that the game was even more unbalanced than the first version).
If you're still reading this rant, prepare to get peeved. This is where I'm going to hope my Dexterity modifier is high enough to dodge all your mice and keyboards -- and maybe desk-lamps if I'm unlucky.
While many classic games have become the iconic parents of others, I can't help but notice that a lot of new games are doing something wrong. While they may build on the fun and innovative ideas and features of these older games, they lack one very necessary piece in particular: CONTENT.
Games like World of Warcraft, an obscenely popular popularity contest of douche-bag 12-year-olds with too much allowance has little more than a pissing-contest for a story line and graphics that looks like like a renovated version of Mario 64 (Hey, that nose was still badass and you know it!).
Sure, WoW has some nifty features like epic mounts, high-level glowy armor, multiple races, factions, racism, and guilds.... but that's kind alike ordering a gourmet Vegi-Burger. It's pretty, but it's not real.
Even FFXI lacks in this department. Its graphics are sub-par, the control system is designed for a console, and overall, it's impossible to play without a party after level 10 (In fact, waiting for 3 hours to get a party that lasts for 5 minutes is considered "Good").
This holds true for a lot of new games, where story is along the lines of "(Adjective) shit happend, and now (Adjective) adventurers must band together to save the world from (Noun/Adverb)!". Story is the element of every game designed to hook you. Not the flashy (or cartoony graphics), not the cool classes or races, or that awesome ram-looking thing that flies. If there's no story, all you're doing is having a pretty grind-fest.
I guess the last thing I'm gonna bitch about is the fact that every game looks alike. I dare you to cruise through a list of games (ex: mmosite.com) and tell me how many Ragnarok Online, Lineage II, World of WarcraftEverquest, Rising Force Online, and Maple Story dupes you find. The numbers are saddening.
While I have nothing against attempts to best the competition, many games and game companies are faltering with sub-par graphics, content, and game play. I've seen more games where I've said "Oh, this looks fun", but immediately after seeing a few reviews of the Closed Beta or playing it for a day or two, I can't help but say "Wow, this sucks."
Here's hoping that the developers pull their heads out of their asses and start coming up with exciting new games.
MMOs I've Played:
Guild Wars
Lineage II
Rising Force Online
Ragnarok Online
Ragnarok Online II
Maple Story
Lunia
Sword of the New World
Diablo II (Battle.net/LAN)
Trickster Online
Trickster Online - Revolution
Planeshift
PiStory
Fly For Fun
Rappelz
Holic
Rohan Online (buggy piece of shit)
Mabinogi (= Runescape)
Dofus
Dungeon Runners
EVE Online
Final Fantasy XI
Grand Chase
Games I am Anticipating (Developer):
Aion: Tower of Eternity (NCsoft)
Blade and Soul (NCsoft)
Guild Wars 2 (NCsoft)
Games are just lacking...ya' know. Soul.
It's why I love games like Katamari Damacy, Megaman, and Metal Gear. They still retain their SOUL. They're still true to what their origins were! There's no real 'side-quests' to these games. There's nothing like, "We have to band together with these douchebags to save the world!!!" or "NEW in Metal Gear Solid! Play the 'Chibi Metal Gear Dance Off!". It's all SOUL. And anytime you're working together with someone in these games, it's either by choice or one of those, 'Well, I don't like you, but we need each other to do this.' And lot of times, anyone helping you isn't even shown nearby! They're off doing their own thing!
Games are making me sad now. D:
NWN looks quite fun, though I've never gotten my hands on it before. As for old games, I have to say, they really bring back the memories of when "gamers" were actually cool kids.
but you're right...there is such a drive to market everything to the broadest possible # of people...and ratings dont help...it forces games to lower content to reach more users..which is just sad and pathetic...I'd rather be challenged, freaked and up to my hips in video gore
loved Half Life...at least at first...the lower levels were boring, but the upper levels and final boss took forever to beat...nice plot and graphics too
Gygax is rolling around in his grave, still.... poor guy.