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| ▲ | leguminous a minute ago | parent | next [-] | | I disagree. There are some new (sub-) genres and great games since that period. * Roguelites have proliferated: Hades is the most obvious example, but there are a variety of sub-genres at this point.
* Vampire Survivors (itself a roguelite) spawned survivors-likes. Megabonk is currently pretty popular.
* Slay the Spire kicked off a wave of strategy roguelites.
* There are "cozy" games like Unpacking.
* I don't recall survival games like Subnautica or Don't Starve being much of a thing in the PS2 era.
* There are automation games like Factorio and Satisfactory.
* Casual mobile games are _huge_.
* There are more experimental games, sometimes in established genres, like Inscription, Undertale, or Baba Is You. Not to mention that new games in existing genres can be great. Hollow Knight is a good example. Metroidvanias were established by the SNES and PS1 era, but Hollow Knight really upped the stakes. I'm sure I'm forgetting things and people will have some criticism, but I really don't believe games have stagnated in general. | |
| ▲ | Novosell 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Outer Wilds, Baba is You, Blue Prince, Hades 1&2, Disco Elysium, Hollow Knight, Slay the Spire, Vampire Survivors, Clair Obscur, What Remains of Edith Finch, 1000xResist, Return of the Obra Dinn, Roboquest, Rocket League, Dark Souls, etc. I could go on, and on, and... Not rehashes. Original, phenomenal games covering damm near every genre and if there is a genre you're missing, I can find a modern game to match. Do you actually engage with modern games? | | |
| ▲ | chongli 42 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | Those may be some amazing games you listed but none of them scratch the itch that some folks have for twitchy NES games. For some reason, modern indie developers never try to emulate the tight, twitchy, highly responsive controls of NES games. Instead, they go for floaty, slow acceleration-based, more forgiving controls. The puzzle games in your list have no equal though. The NES is pretty light on puzzle / adventure games, though it did receive really nice ports of the MacVenture games (Deja Vu, Uninvited, Shadowgate) as well as Maniac Mansion, and it has a couple of unique ones with Nightshade and Solstice that blend in a bit of action while remaining primarily adventure games. | | |
| ▲ | CoolGuySteve 20 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | A large part of this is because the latency on modern TVs can be anywhere between 4.7ms and 150ms so games have to allow for a lot of slack in their input. The NES and SNES had 1-3 frames of latency depending on the game. | |
| ▲ | anyfoo 24 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] | | Dark Souls and Hollow Knight were among the listed titles, come on. |
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| ▲ | phatfish 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Of course there are good modern games, but I agree there was something special about the first 3D generation of hardware (hardware cheap enough to be in home consoles at least) and the games it enabled. Only VR has come close recently, but that hasn't hit in the same way because it is still too expensive and cumbersome. | | |
| ▲ | reactordev an hour ago | parent [-] | | This. Half-life was amazing, and not because it was Quake 2. It was a story. Less about blowing stuff up with guns and more about uncovering the secrets of Black Mesa. Then came along mods… The first one was Team Fortress. Remember that? Still strong today as a ftp title TF2. The second one was a spec-ops style delta force mod (I can’t remember the name) but it gave the 3rd modder the idea that a modern setting could work. Counter-Strike was released as an early alpha on my forum and the rest was history. I mention this because this was a tuning point from fixed function pipelines to programmable pipelines (shaders). There was this awe of what we can do, what could be possible, and today’s modern games are a fulfillment of that. I feel this same sense of awe when it comes to some of these foundational models. It’s just incredible what they are capable of. In reality, while AAA titles have been pumping out annual titles to keep shares high and pigs fat, there have been some wonderful indie titles, smaller budget games, that have made a significant impact on the games industry as a whole. | | |
| ▲ | anyfoo 19 minutes ago | parent [-] | | I loved Half Life 2, and it was highly influential, but that influence lives on. Outer Wilds, Disco Elysium, Dark Souls, and Return of Obra Dinn were among the mentioned titles. All of these games tell a story, each of this game does it in its own, magnificent way. You act a bit like those kind of games are hard to find, but some of them are highly popularized best sellers that keep getting remasters (I don't mean remakes), and still find a huge audience in entirely new YouTube Let's-Plays alone. |
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| ▲ | reactordev 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Ok, I’ll give you Rocket League. That’s an entirely new spin on a genre I didn’t see coming. The rest are just RPGs or platformers you like. Good games, but not innovative. Yes, some new franchises have been born and some successful indie titles have been launched but most of the market share in the games industry is held by the top 5. Yes, I have over 1,000 games in my Steam library going back to 1999. I engage in most games that make the top 500 and have so since I was a teenager making games myself. | | |
| ▲ | mietek an hour ago | parent | next [-] | | So, is Outer Wilds a RPG or a platformer? | | |
| ▲ | reactordev an hour ago | parent [-] | | Open world game but also a mystery game as we’re a couple others mentioned above. Those go back to Carmen San Diego and Sherlock homes series. Open World, we’ve seen plenty of those. | | |
| ▲ | gambiting an hour ago | parent [-] | | Well, nothing new has been invented since checkers, if you really think about it hard enough and reduce everything to a few buckets of games that everything can fit neatly into, then everything is just a mystery game or just open world or just a platformer. Again, I have a feeling like you're just looking at it mechanically and not how these elements work together to produce a game that is larger than just the sum of its parts. Outer Wilds has puzzles and open world and mystery element to it - and all of those have been done before. But has anyone else combined them this way to produce a game with this narrative? No, I don't believe so(happy to be proven wrong, as always). Like the other commenter said - I hope I don't become jaded like this about video games, it still brings me joy to see how every new game twists the known formula a little bit more and in new and exciting ways, I believe there are several nieches where we haven't seen the game of that genre yet and I can't wait to see it emerge and how and who is going to do it. | | |
| ▲ | reactordev an hour ago | parent [-] | | Have other games put together open world and mystery? Yes. I have a feeling you haven’t played those games otherwise you’d see the similarities. Yes, I am ABSOLUTELY looking at the mechanics of the game. I’m also looking for innovation. Take something someone tried (maybe it was a big part of their design) and make a full blown out version of it. Pushing the genre in either a new direction or opening one up. Outer wilds did neither. Not to say it wasn’t a good game. That’s not at all what I’m saying. I’m saying outside of those that played it, it will be forgotten. It changed nothing. It came, it endeared, it left. |
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| ▲ | TimorousBestie an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | I hope I never become this jaded and cynical about video games. | | |
| ▲ | reactordev an hour ago | parent [-] | | Keep playing them for 20 years :D | | |
| ▲ | anyfoo 14 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | Into the Breach only came out 8 years ago, but I'm still playing it vigorously. I'm sorry to say, your nostalgia-colored-glasses are so strong, you're actually blinded by them. I grew up in the same gaming era as you (started around early to mid 90s, but the peak was later), and I too have fond memories. But there undeniably has been some magnificent progress in pretty much all aspects of gaming. Somewhere between 2005 and 2010, I thought I had outgrown gaming, and that no game would have anything to offer to me right now. But years later I learned that that was just because I was stuck thinking that JRPGs were the pinnacle of gaming, it turned out that I had grown out of those. Obviously your story will be different, but I bet there is some story to you somewhere. | |
| ▲ | Novosell an hour ago | parent | prev [-] | | I've been playing games since I could hold a controller basically, so 26-ish years, and I think modern gaming is phenomenal. I feel sad for you, but it is what it is. Just your loss in the end. | | |
| ▲ | reactordev an hour ago | parent [-] | | Modern gaming is a micro transaction DLC hellscape. Are you serious? Are they fun? Yes, they are designed to be addictive. So you spend money on pixels. | | |
| ▲ | Novosell 27 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | None of the games I mentioned have micro transactions. Outer Wilds, 1000xResist and What Remains of Edith Finch all moved me to tears. I still can't casually listen to the soundtracks of Outer Wilds or 1000x, as they simply evoke too many emotions. Stop conflating Call of Duty and the like with "modern gaming". You're jaded, and I feel sad for you. | |
| ▲ | anyfoo 12 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Maybe give it another try? I have been playing lots of games for the past few years, some vigorously. Not a single one of them has a single microtransaction, because that's an immediate turnoff for me. | |
| ▲ | charcircuit 36 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] | | What’s wrong with paying for entertainment? | | |
| ▲ | reactordev 21 minutes ago | parent [-] | | Nothing, that’s why I bought the game. Don’t shake me down for more money because you couldn’t forecast. |
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| ▲ | anyfoo 19 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | So Dark Souls is just another RPG, and not innovative? | |
| ▲ | gambiting an hour ago | parent | prev [-] | | >>Good games, but not innovative Calling outer wilds or Clair Obscur "not innovative" just tells me you haven't played these games from start to finish, and I don't mean any offence saying this.
Unless you mean just mechanically? | | |
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| ▲ | haunter 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | >The only innovative thing that has happened since storytelling died lol There are countless already classic modern story driven games which pushing the boundaries of video games forward. I know nostalgia is a very strong drug and I also love the games I grew up with in the 90s but it's pure ignorance to say that 1, "storytelling died" 2, no innovation happened in video games in modern times (whatever that even means) | | |
| ▲ | reactordev an hour ago | parent [-] | | You are misconstruing my love for nostalgia games for when you think I believe storytelling died. It didn’t die in the 90s, it died in 2010s. Everything since 2018 that I have played has been relatively easy to guess the plot line or it didn’t ever materialize to begin with. | | |
| ▲ | josephg 39 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | These days there's 200-350 new games released on steam every week. There's plenty of excellent narrative driven games if that's what you're after, mostly from indie developers. If you're looking for deep narrative from AAA games, then the best you'll find are games like Cyberpunk 2077 - which have some decent writing in between all the action. But if you want something that'll really scratch a strong narrative itch, you gotta go deep on indies. That's where all the experimentation is happening. You might also just be getting more genre savvy with age. When you're a kid, story beats are mind blowing. But most narratives - especially in games - tack pretty close to classic hero arcs. Once you've seen 100 of them you can often predict out how a story will end from the end of the first act. In other words, it might not be that games have gotten worse. It might just be that you've gotten better at understanding story and as such your standards have gone up. | | |
| ▲ | reactordev 25 minutes ago | parent [-] | | It’s definitely an age thing. Wisdom of experience and being able to dissect storytelling elements for what they are. Don’t get me wrong. I love games. Obviously. I just see, as you said, 300+ games being released weekly and have really no desire to pursue them. I’ll occasionally jump on the bandwagon of steams top 100 but I don’t feel connected to the games I play anymore. I still play them. It’s good entertainment. I don’t care about buying battle passes, season passes, trinkets, cosmetics, DLC content, etc. If the game is good, sell the game. |
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| ▲ | gambiting an hour ago | parent | prev [-] | | >>Everything since 2018 that I have played has been relatively easy to guess the plot line Be honest- you guessed the plot of Claire Obscure before you got to Act 3? Or the plot of Death Stranding 1 & 2 before you finished them? What kind of games have you played since 2018? Because yeah, there is a lot of predictable cookie cutter AAA games out there, sure. But each year there are games which are surprising in their storytelling, same as somehow there are still new and surprising films despite film being much older than gaming. Not to mention books. | | |
| ▲ | reactordev 39 minutes ago | parent [-] | | Yup, town plagued by supernatural, everyone depressed, just another Ubisoft title they could have had but didn’t. By Act 2 the story was already falling apart. The game just leaves you feeling depressed. I guess since you felt something that makes it GOTY. |
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| ▲ | bluescrn 20 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | It's called getting older. As a grown adult, nothing can recreate the feeling of exploring a new game as a child/teen. Especially during the 80s/90s, where gaming as a whole was new and rapidly-evolving. But revisiting old favourites for the nostalgia can still be enjoyable. | |
| ▲ | mlyle 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | For the oldies but goodies in my list: - Any one of the 194_ games - Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past - Super Mario World - Final Fantasy VI, VII, IX - Chrono Trigger (agree) - Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition - Metal Gear Solid 1-3, MGS: Peace Walker But I think there's been good stuff since. - The Super Mario Galaxy games - Super Monkey Ball - MGS4, MGS5 - Witcher 3 - The Bioshock games - Minecraft-- probably the game with the most replay value of anything of all time. I don't know what will stand the test of time. I don't want to play any of these games now, since I've burnt them out, but at some point I'll likely want to play them again... - Undertale - Bravely Default - The Octopath games - Dispatch - AstroBot - Clair Obscur | | |
| ▲ | reactordev 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition (whichever was the one with the most characters) as well as Street Fighter Alpha were great for the arcade machine. Most of my buddies at the time would come over, have a beer, immediately hang it on the boat-coozy cup holders (the ones that gyro) and go to town shoulder to shoulder playing SF2. The cup holders gyro would prevent the beers from spilling as the arcade cabinet rocked back and forth from two grown men having a virtual fist fight. Best times. |
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| ▲ | chongli 38 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | If you're struggling with keeping your attention, you ought to try making a list of games you never finished (or never played) and commit yourself to playing through them in order. I have been doing that with NES games and really enjoying it. I alternate between RPGs/adventures and action games, to mix things up a bit. Recently, I have played through Faxanadu, Dragon Warrior, Blaster Master, and am now working through Fire Emblem (translated from Japanese). | |
| ▲ | RGamma 42 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Baldur's Gate 3 has awesome story telling for video game standards. Plan 100+ hours for a reasonably complete first playthrough though. | |
| ▲ | fragmede 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Paradox of choice. When you were single digit/low double years old, and you only had 3 games, you had to play the shit out of them. With every game available at your fingertips, there's no such compunction. | | |
| ▲ | reactordev 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | Blockbuster and Funco Land gave me all the titles I could get my 7 year old fingers on. |
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| ▲ | irishcoffee 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | > N64/PS1/PS2/Xbox was peak and it’s been rehashed franchises ever since. Shame. The only innovative thing that has happened since storytelling died has been Battle Royale Looter Shooters. I was a kid when ps1/n64 came out so I also have a lot of nostalgia about that era of gaming. However… There are a ton of great games out there from this era. Hell, the Uncharted series and Expedition 33 will get you 100-200 hours of excellent gameplay, Elden ring is another 200. Lies of P is a fantastic game, 50-100 more. The star wars Legos and star wars Harry Potter games are a lot of fun to play with kids, and Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom are the Zelda games we wanted on n64 as a kid, I love those games. And they’re not a rehash, at all. There’s a lot of fun things out there to play if you poke around. Your local library might surprise you with the collection for completely free games you can borrow. Modern games even. | |
| ▲ | techpression 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | What? Dreamcast was a marvel when it came to games, Crazy Taxi, Virtua Tennis, Power Stone, Jet Set Radio, Grandia, SoulCalibur etc. | | |
| ▲ | reactordev 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | SoulCalibur was better on PlayStation. Dreamcast’s only hit was Crazy Taxi. |
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| ▲ | wahnfrieden 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | The Demons Souls lineage titles are another valuable innovation (I understand the earlier inspirations it had but those aren't playable like these modern ones) For MAME I recommend trying Pang and Super Buster Bros |
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