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Hardcore Gamers - Living In The Past?
Thanks to NTSC-uk for their editorial arguing that overly nostalgic gamers are failing to appreciate the videogames of today. The writer suggests that "...this breed of 'l337' gamers refuse to look at today's games", and complains about their unjust criticism of titles such as Final Fantasy X, saying of these retro-focused gamers: "It seems, to them at least, as time passes, all the faults and niggles of yesteryear's games mysteriously vanish, as age irons out the flaws. Rose-tinted glasses donned, we can forget the 'far too flawed' modern games, because the 'golden era' of gaming did it better."
I see two reasons why people complain:
1. They are spoilt. Way back in time they maybe just had the one machine, and had to pay for most of their games, so they forced themselves to like it more. Now, with more money, all the consoles, warez by the gigabyte, no time to play anything properly, they pick on any little fault, remembering the golden days when they had no choice but to enjoy the little they had.
2. They are snobby. These guys will no doubt be the ones getting modded up in this thread, about how they still play Ultima IV or M.U.L.E. once per month, or will talk about how everything is now just cut-screens and renders, no content, not like back then when they had their 160 x 120 B&W screen on their half-a-mega-hertz wind-up computer so it had to be all content, not glitz.
I accept there might actually be some people who genuinely enjoy regularly playing old PC games, but for each one that does, there's no doubt 10 more chipping in about their rose-tinted memories, not their experiences. I rememer the last three times recently I tracked down some old games I had really fond memories of. I tried replaying them, and realised they were actually really awful, knowing what I know now about what is available!
But people just enjoy complaining. We feared the XBox because the industry never supported 3 consoles before.
What happened? Well, none of them faded away, instead it gave each supporter twice as many competitors and turned their fanbase into overly supportive, defensive and blind customers shunning anything that doesn't match their demographic.
"It's not on the _console I bought_, therefore it sucks" is the main attitude today. People are blinded by their fervor to save a couple hundred dollars. Look at how many people flock to complain about exclusive titles? You've seen it all here before, even I'm guilty of it.
You'd have to live in an incubation chamber to not be sick of discussion about GTA or Halo by now. They're both years old, but the hardcore people refuse to move on, because like most humans, they fear change.
The sooner we get Sony or MS to leave the console industry the better, so we can all get back to our normal complaining lives devoid of blind debate and focused back on a simple version choice rather than a tri-fecta of nerd-criticism.
movies and music are just the same, and the only reason we notice this as gamers is because we all knew the days when gaming was a niche. I think that a lot of people don't dig mainstream because they want do differentiate themselves from the rest of the world, define themselves in some way. I have always had a problem with following the same direction as the masses, I like having my own ideas about stuff wether it's about music, politics, movies and games. So why should we all follow mainstream again??
Given the choice between:
- a modern Squaresoft RPG drama, joining a bunch of ragtag characters as they embark upon an epic adventure, or
- an old-style "twitch" game played on reactions alone, no story to speak of, no reward besides beating an arbitrary high score, and "game over" if I lose concentration for so much as a millisecond,
I'll take the modern game any day of the week. I didn't like classic games back in the day, and I don't like them now.-Stephen
I agree. At the time when everyone was making either Tomb Raider clones or FPS's, Abe's Odyssee came out - a 2D side scroller. It was brilliant. Innovative game play. Very addictive.
I thought it would be the start of a revival or the genre - wrong. No matter what type of game you make these days, it seems like it's a prerequisite that it HAS to be 3D. No-one is willing to take a chance on 2D anymore, and I think we're missing out on many potentially good games because of this.
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I believe Time is the reason why most ppl who have been playing games for a long time doesnt play the new ones.
You either need to be a college boy to play 8 straight hours of the new FPS or RTS on your couch, call for a pizza and not worry about anything the next day (night).
I can hardly think of a day that I have 2 or 3 hours free to play any game (and I still purchase them but hardly play them).
I remember playing the original Wing Commander for 6 straight hours without remembering to eat or sleep.
How many games are on my playing stack now that I havent even able to load up?. Close to 10.
Of course money is an issue, but I remember purchasing Atari Cartridges with my savings money, and now all my PC/PS2 games come from the remaining money after paying the bills.
There are also games like Viewtiful Joe (side scrller) or Ikaruga (vertical shooter) for GameCube. The world isn't lost.
IMO the best transition from 2D to 3D was made with Metroid Prime. The gameplay is classic and fresh at the same time.
I agree with you to some extend. There are just too many ego shooters these days. Almost no innovation. But luckily every few years one or two good ego shooter are released, like Half-Life 1, Metroid Prime (OK, it's not a "real" ego shooter, but an ego action-adventure), and hopefully soon HL2 and Doom3.
While it's not the newest game anymore, there's also a 2D Castlevania game for PlayStation 1 (called Symphony of the Night, IIRC).
But noone is making "real" adventures anymore (either of the text type, or in the Sierra/Lucas style), with a very small number of exceptions (I'd count Deus Ex and System Shock 2 as worthy successors to the adventure genre. Too bad the game industry doesn't seem to 'get' that it isn't about shooting, it is about thinking...).
As for shooters and platform games, they just don't work for me in 3D. You miss the pixel-perfect control you had in the old 2D games. Aiming is difficult. There are camera issues. FPS'es I usually enjoy, but they feel different.
The proof that this isn't about nostalgia came recently when I got a GBA and some games for it. Those games are simple, presentation is fairly basic, but boy do I have fun playing them!
- a modern Squaresoft RPG drama, joining a bunch of ragtag characters as they embark upon an epic adventure, or
- an old-style "twitch" game played on reactions alone, no story to speak of, no reward besides beating an arbitrary high score, and "game over" if I lose concentration for so much as a millisecond,
I'll take the modern game any day of the week. I didn't like classic games back in the day, and I don't like them now.He compares an RPG with a twich fighting game and his conclusion is that new games are better than old games?
Whoever modded that insightfull needs to stop moderating drunk.
You can't take the sky from me...
Most of the successful arcades in the area (including kids places like Chucky Cheese) still have a lot of these 'old nostalgia' games. I would say it has less to do with nostalgia and more to do with quality; a child can still be entertained by a game of PacMan, same as they could have twenty years ago.
Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.