As we grow, our tastes change. Also, sometimes the flavor of something changes to one that we no longer enjoy.
For either reason, or both reasons, we may love something at some point, but then depart from it as time goes on.
For me, it's JRPGs. When I was younger, the stories of games like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, VII, and X reeled me in, I really enjoyed the strategic feel of the turn-based combat. Now? It's the storytelling in the Bioware games or FPSs like the Portal and Bioshock series that I find so much more compelling. Add to this that, to me, it's a lot harder to find menu-based combat that is fun, interesting, and challenging, especially when I've played so many games of that kind.
My guess is that studying the art of storytelling in college (creative writing major here) soured me on a LOT of video game storytelling. It becomes exceedingly apparent how poor video game story writing is when you've studied the craft, and the JRPG genre is one of the biggest offenders.
And as far as becoming disenchanted with the gameplay, menu-based combat feels very, VERY samey once you've played a good number of games that use it. I supposed this is true for any game, but even if say, two FPS games play very similarly, the dynamics of how the weapons work and how the levels are designed can go a long way towards making the games feel different in terms of gameplay. Having been a gamer for most of my nearly three decades of life, it's hard to not be disenchanted with samey-feeling gameplay experiences, and menu-based combat is the worst offender in this regard.
Granted, I haven't played any of the Persona games yet (on my backlog, I swear!), so maybe that's what I need to appreciate the genre again.
This isn't meant to be a hate-thread. It's more of a reflection thread. How have your gaming tastes changed and do you have any idea why?
For either reason, or both reasons, we may love something at some point, but then depart from it as time goes on.
For me, it's JRPGs. When I was younger, the stories of games like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, VII, and X reeled me in, I really enjoyed the strategic feel of the turn-based combat. Now? It's the storytelling in the Bioware games or FPSs like the Portal and Bioshock series that I find so much more compelling. Add to this that, to me, it's a lot harder to find menu-based combat that is fun, interesting, and challenging, especially when I've played so many games of that kind.
My guess is that studying the art of storytelling in college (creative writing major here) soured me on a LOT of video game storytelling. It becomes exceedingly apparent how poor video game story writing is when you've studied the craft, and the JRPG genre is one of the biggest offenders.
And as far as becoming disenchanted with the gameplay, menu-based combat feels very, VERY samey once you've played a good number of games that use it. I supposed this is true for any game, but even if say, two FPS games play very similarly, the dynamics of how the weapons work and how the levels are designed can go a long way towards making the games feel different in terms of gameplay. Having been a gamer for most of my nearly three decades of life, it's hard to not be disenchanted with samey-feeling gameplay experiences, and menu-based combat is the worst offender in this regard.
Granted, I haven't played any of the Persona games yet (on my backlog, I swear!), so maybe that's what I need to appreciate the genre again.
This isn't meant to be a hate-thread. It's more of a reflection thread. How have your gaming tastes changed and do you have any idea why?
