These Things We Call Video Games

[Red XIII]

Hello. My name is Red XIII. I consider myself a 'gamer.' This means that I play and enjoy video gaming on a regular basis. If this handle describes you, please continue reading.

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I am very fed up with the current state of the video game industry. This is mostly attributed to the fact that I am a very poor person, and I am not able to own all the modern consoles or buy lots of games for them. However, there is also a lot of crap out there right now that doesn't deserve my attention. If you agree with this statement, please continue reading.

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There are new games coming out that I want to play, but I do not have the means necessary to obtain them. There are older games that people tell me I should play, and I get a hold of them if I can. The more games I play, the more I find are bland and not entertaining. Without a leg-up from nostalgia or fond memory, many of these older games especially become completely crippled with age, and I find myself stuck in a rut between new games I can't find, and old, lackluster games that don't hold my attention long enough.

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The state of the Role-Playing Game is a sour one for me especially. Being one of my favorite genres, I hate to see it twist, morph, and bend over backwards to suit the Imperial Order willed by the evolving gamer, whom the industry follows as well as controls the behavior of.

THE POINT

I believe that a game's age, strongly dictates how much should be expected of it. If a game is extremely old--say NES, GameBoy, or even SNES era--it can be expected that there are oversights in the making of it that should be granted some leniency. Whether it be a typo in the dialogue, a small glitch in the gameplay, or a slow start, these older games deserve some babying and second chances. When you get closer to modern games--say Playstation era--I personally expect a little more. Now that the game isn't as old as me, I'm a little less lenient with slow starts, lack of attention grabbers, rehashed ideas, and little things like typos and glitches.

I want to know if everyone else feels this way, too.

I feel like a modern game--talking current consoles now--should be judged much more heavily than any other. But by the same token, this is why I find myself playing fewer and fewer modern games as the generations go by. If I go out and pick up even a PS2 game that someone tells me to try, and I play it for 2 or 3 hours and virtually nothing has happened, I'm probably not going to continue playing. It frustrates me to be that way, but I just can't force myself through something that is doing absolutely nothing for me and I could be spending my time on something else.

I don't feel safe purchasing games anymore. I haven't purchased any game in a very long time without having played it first.

And as for all of these old classics that I'm just now getting to, I'm started to question the big deal. I hear all of these great things about Xenogears and that it's literally the greatest game of all time. I get a hold of it and play for probably 3 or 4 hours and do a considerable amount of playing, and I'm still waiting for something to crack open. Call me impatient, call me what you will, but I really don't feel like I'm being too unreasonable when I just have to put the game down and go play something that isn't plunging me into more boredom than playing absolutely nothing.

Help me, fellow gamers.

[Ephemeral]

What do you expect?

Most game's, new and old, focus on how long you can play them.
The old one's are a lot shorter, but that's because at the time of their release a ten to twelve hours playing was considered a long time

The modern games are all about how long you can play them for and not how good they are.
I know everyone uses this as a whipping boy, but it's relevant. Think about how long FFXII goes on for with nothing happening.
Think how long you could play any of the games without actually having to do anything.
In the past, that was the players choice, but now it seems to be mandatory to add a load of boring or long drawn out sequences that have nothing to do with the actual game. Either that or running about for hours on end, just so someone can say that they've played the game for over 60 hours. That is NOT playing.

The whole reason that classic games are thought of fondly and are still sought out and played today is that, despite the graphics or old fashioned gameplay, they are really good. The story in RPG's moves along at a fairly brisk pace, the graphics are what you expect of an old game, but after playing it for maybe 30mins, you ignore that and get caught up in the game. Yeah there is a lot of hype surrounding a "classic" game. Something that I think people should take with a pinch of salt. People play those games, not because they are the greatest (although they might have been at the top in their time) but because they like to reconnect with their younger self. Classic games are real nostalgia pieces and playing them reminds us why we like gaming in the first place and why we still play games when we get older.

I find it difficult to find a really good, absorbing modern game to play. My xbox is currently gathering dust because I can't find a game that I want to spend more than ten minutes on.
My ps2 is getting more of a workout that ever and it's not even my ps2 games that I'm playing.
Having ditched many of my ps1 games over the years, I still have a wide and varied collection that I would play at the drop of a hat. At the moment they are the only games getting my attention.

When I walk into a branch of GAME I find that there is nothing to interest me. The new xbox games are basically crap that I don't want to play. Beat-em-ups or racing games. There hasn't been a decent RPG released since before xmas and the fact is I don't even want to play one of them either.
What's worse it that I can't find a decent PS2 game to play either. It's all football bollox.
It makes me remember why I only buy my games online now. Any dencen older game is for sale there because buyers recognise their value and sellers can get their proper value for them. Although this is annoying when you get pipped at the last minute by someone willing to pay an extra twenty pence more that you are.

The newest RPG's (the one's I can remember anyway) are all lacking in atleast one area:
The Last Remnant, looks crap and every video clip I've seen of it convinces me that it's not my type of game. The cut scenes seem very forced, like the makers weren't sure what they were doing.

Eternal Sonata, Apparently good, but very cutesy cartoony. Although I have been trying to buy it on ebay. (I'm not paying more than a fiver for it though) It just seems like the best of a bad lot.

Infinite Undiscovery, Seems okay, with an alright story-line, but the characters have to constantly shout out their special moves in every battle. Which would be annoying. That and there seem to be waaaaay too many characters. Reminiscent of Suidoken and the 108 (whatever) stars that you have to collect to get a decent ending. (which was crap anyway)

These are the only three RPG's that have stuck in my head that are recent and they all suck in their own unique way. I know I'm not the only one who's pinning all their hopes on FFXIII being a smash hit. We need a good RPG to be released. One that doesn't drag on so you forget the story-line. One that doesn't go overboard on graphics and forget the characters are what we are paying attention to, not a small piece of whatever in the distance that "looks fantastic". One that doesn't sound like a bad translation spoken backward. One that doesn't go on for hours with no direction.

All we need right now is a good game that doesn't suck. I mean how hard can it be?

[Feenux]

Lost Odyssey, that game is the sh1t.

RPG's, or at least traditional RPG's just isn't where the money is at anymore. Try to play Oblivion, Mass Effect, Fallout 3, the list goes on and on. Not turn based, but have huge amounts of "RPG" material inside them.

I dunno, to be honest, I cant play turn based games much anymore because they dont keep my interest. Not because of plots or horrible battle systems, just not as exciting as say; Call of Duty, or Uncharted.

[Red XIII]

Thanks so much for your post, F.

I'd like to know what old games you are playing, because I'm really having trouble getting anything going that extends beyond the 16-bit era. I just don't have that much patience for a PS1 game that still takes half its length to get going. Whereas if I play an old cartridge game, I'm willing to play for 5-10 hours without really seeing much of anything. But it seems like even when I find something that does surprise me, like a quick start, or a story that opens up really early, I still have trouble keeping interest for whatever other reason.

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And Feenux:

I know what you mean. I'm not so focused on the revival of turn-based games. I find a lot of them hard to play sometimes, too. But I do miss the elements that always piggy back on turn-based games that you don't really see in non-turn-based RPGs. I'm loving that Western RPGs are becoming more of something that appeals to me, but I don't want to give up on the JRPG. I feel like they can conform to the Western audience enough to still seem far more 'hardcore' or 'traditional.'

[Feenux]

Final Fantasy VIII, Metal Gear Solid series, Resident Evil, Legend Of Dragoon. I also play my Zeldas a lot.

But to be honest man, and I know that I'm going to get ripped a new one for it. I have a hard time playing older games anymore. The graphics kill me, in the post Mass Effect era, the text bubbles kill me. I dunno, I spent so much time on these new games that I have a hard time going back.

I do play OoT all the damn time though, also I do replay through FF 8 every couple of months.
I also love the Tales games.

Also Red, look into gamefly, its the netflix of games. Have only heard great things about it.

[Ephemeral]

Yeah I kinda want a girly RPG to be released. Which is why I'm so pumped for the release of XIII. Just coz the main character is a girl. Makes a nice change from having to follow a bunch of boys about all the time.

Red the old games I'm playing are on my seriously old megadrive that just won't die. (Clever old thing) It got locked in the attic for years until I found and rescued it.
I'm obsessed with alex kid. Love that kid.
I've got california games, castle of illusion with mickey mouse, chuck rock (I still have the cheats to go with it too) cutthroat island, Aladdin, the golden axe trilogy, lemmings, bombermen, sonic, streets of rage.

Yes a lot of them are childish, but that's coz I haven't bought any since I was a kid. I love each of these games and can play them for hours. Alex kid is the most frustrating, annoying game in existence, but I love it.
These old games are the type that I would like to see again.
Streets of rage was the only beat-em-up type game I would play and that even had a story line in it.

Game makers need to look back to where they came from and take some of this old-fashioned excellence and put it in something new.

You know I would really love it if they released a new streets of rage. I would totally buy that.

The PS1 games I'm playing are Gallerians, broken sword (when it's not destroying my memory card), worms (love those worms, hate the 3d version), FF (obviously) bomberman (again) crash bandicoot, micro machines, mortal combat, vagrant story, sims.

I have had other games, but sold them and can't remember what they were called.

[CEK]

I know how you both feel, my 360 is gathering dust too. Mainly I confine myself to handhelds these days, a lot of really great DS rpg's around now with classic feel to them as well. You've got that hacked PSP Red, get back into it the range for decent rpg's on there has increased dramatically and it won't cost you a penny ;-)

However, there are a few decent games on the 360 worth giving a go to Feenie named most of them.

I tried playing Gallerians last month, played about 2 hours but the controls were pissin' stupiud I eventually got fed up with the way he moved so I dumped it into oblivion where it belongs.

I also know exactly how you feel about GAME, I too walk in there look about and see nothing new that I would be interested in. There's 2 games out currently that I would like to add to my limited (14 titles) 360 collection; Red Faction and Star Ocean 4.

Last Remnant isn't too bad Ephie, though I've not played it much to be honest. Still not finished Infinite Undiscovery either.

[Kikigurl]

Eh... I'm having such a hard time with Infinite Undiscovery. I don't know why, but it is making me want to bang my head against the wall. For me, and I don't have a small TV :P, the text is ridiculously to small, it's kinda confusing, the on/off voice acting is annoying, etc... The battle system is something I've grown to really like about this game though.

Anyway, I completely agree with everything you said, and I've been feeling that way for quite some time. Which is why I've made myself branch out of RPG's on my 360. Nothing will be like the classics, but then they didn't have so much pressure on them for making games, so they could make quality games. Now it's just been reduced to quantity instead of quality.

[Mongoman]

IMO, platformers and run & gun games are where its at in terms of old school games.

If I want to sit down and play a video game for say... half an hour at a time, a platformer is what does it for me, as opposed to having to sit down and get involved in a storyline.

That's one of the main reasons I'm not so much into modern games, because the platformer genre has died.

[Tidus1979]

First off REDXIII I know the way you feel. I fell pretty much the same.

I've found that the key to making games fun is variety. Don't over do it on the RPG's. You have to take video games for what they are too. Don't just stick on one genre. Whether it's racing, RPG's, or FPS you need to switch it up every now and then. They will all start seeming the same. You start to notice similarities and flaws with the designer's game.

Another important thing to do is step away from the TV. I know it may be hard to do for some. If you don't play video games as often then when you do it will be much more enjoyable. A good way to get away from the TV would be going on this site. Now I know it's not much of a difference but it's a step. Find another hobby that is less expensive.

I find that if I do those things and I start enjoying videos games much more than I did before. No matter how old it is.

Hope this helps.