How have your tastes in video games changed over the years?

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GartarkMusik

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So, Mass Effect 3 is coming out in about 40 days and I gotta say, I have never been this excited to play a game in a very long time, at least not to this degree. I then realized that the last game that I got this excited for was Halo 2. I then saw just how much my views and tastes in games have changed over the years, partially thanks to the wonderful community of The Escapist. These thoughts prompted the question you see before you now: How have your views and tastes changed or expanded over the years? Do you like the same games that you liked when you first started playing games, or have they changed drastically?
 

NerfedFalcon

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Mar 23, 2011
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When I was a lot younger, I usually went for casual games or anything with a "Lego" label on it. The shift started around when I got my Nintendo DS, my first actual gaming console. Now I'll pretty much go for everything, but don't usually play that many casual or licensed games. Popcap are still awesome though.
 

Hazy992

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I didn't like FPS games as much as I do now. Other than that I don't think my tastes have changed all that much.
 

Domehammer

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It's not as much as taste of games have changed for me but games have. Rarely do I find specialized niche games like zoo tycoon a zoo management simulation game as one example in stores.
 

krazykidd

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Nope, still love jrpgs over anything else . I used to really like fighting games , then i stopped liking them , now i like them again . Mostly due to the online thinggy going on now. A friend got me into UMVC3 and the last fighting game i really played was street fighter alpha 3 on the ps1. Ive also been a gaming masochist ( read: likes difficult games) since a young age due to my dad . I will always remember what he said to me that on time .

Dad: hey son what are you doing?
Me: playing contra 3
Dad: really? That looks pretty easy, what difficulty are you playing on?
Me: easy
Dad: haha , really ? Your playing on easy? I guess you are still an amature.
Me: *sad face * but...
Dad: when you become a pro like me , you'll be able to play games on hard.
Me: *resets snes and start contra 3 on hard*

It might seem harsh , but i'm glad my dad said that to me when i was a kid . He didn't mean any harm by it , but i have learned to appreciate a challenge . Never since that day have i played a game on easy mode . Now i even start games on hard mode. BEST DAD EVER!
 

Zhukov

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1993 - "Oh my god, I pressed the button and the picture moved! This is so awesome!"
1996 - "Blood! Explosions! Whoo!"
2002 - "Wait, is this thing trying to tell me a story...? Shut the fuck up and make with the explosions. Also, boobs if you have any."
2007 - "Whoa, that story (Bioshock) was actually comparable in quality to some books I've read."
2009 - "Meh, this game is a generic CoD-clone. When are game developers going to learn to write dialogue that isn't embarrassingly bad?"

Perhaps I was better off revelling in explosions and pixelated blood, but there's simply no going back now...
 

PinkiePyro

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I went from only cute kid friendly type games (pokemon spyro kirby etc)
to also playing more vilolant games (like L4D)in the past few years
 

pilouuuu

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I started playing and enjoying arcade games like Double Dragon and Operation Wolf. Then I started to play FPS games like Doom and later Half-Life.

Nowadays I don't like FPSs all that much and prefer RPGs. It's also a lot harder for me to get some fun from games or to spend as much time like I used to. I guess I've got to demanding and lose interest to easily. Maybe games are worse too, but I think that the main problem is that games are more comercial and less innovative.
 

CrimsonBlaze

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For a while, I only played less-realistic, not-so violent games (even when I got the PS2). Over time, I found violent games to be fun (not at all in a homicidal way) and there was a lot of humor and charm to those games.

I also started liking FPSs more, as many contained a worthwhile campaign, a great story/concept, and an interesting multiplayer.
 

RJ 17

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Nov 27, 2011
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GartarkMusik said:
So, Mass Effect 3 is coming out in about 40 days and I gotta say, I have never been this excited to play a game in a very long time, at least not to this degree. I then realized that the last game that I got this excited for was Halo 2. I then saw just how much my views and tastes in games have changed over the years, partially thanks to the wonderful community of The Escapist. These thoughts prompted the question you see before you now: How have your views and tastes changed or expanded over the years? Do you like the same games that you liked when you first started playing games, or have they changed drastically?
For starters, just want to say that I'm eagerly awaiting Mass Effect 3 as well...can't flippin' wait for that game to come out.

But that's kinda always been the case with me, RPGs have, in general, always been the thing I've looked forward to the most. I grew up watching my older brother play the first Final Fantasy and FF2 (4 in Japan). Sure, I played platformers, I loved the Megaman games and Sonic games, but mostly I've always enjoyed a good RPG. Stuck with the FF Series till FF10 and at that point I couldn't take it anymore and washed my hands of Square-Enix forever (but that's another story). At that point I got sucked into WoW for about 3 or 4 years, came out just in time to pick up Mass Effect 1...and so my love affair with RPGs continued on.

Edit: As for the last game I looked forward to as much as ME 3? I'd probably say Skyrim...but that should seem obvious given what I had just said. :p
 

Orks da best

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Oct 12, 2011
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I have changed, everyone has changed in one way of another,but I still love killing things, and fire makes more enjoyable.

my tastes in game have not changed, but what games I play have changed.
 

Arkley

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Mar 12, 2009
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Actually yeah, tremendously. In fact, my outlook on a particular genre of game was drastically changed, and said genre drastically changed my outlook on video games in general.

I used to enjoy JRPG games. When I was younger I enjoyed FF VII, so I started playing those that came before it in reverse order. I didn't much care for FF VI (the glaring, brain-shakingly bad flaw in its character progression system was obvious to me even then and I couldn't get over it), but I eventually played FF V on the GBA when it rolled out and I loved it, mostly because it seemed more intent on mocking itself than anything else.

After that I tried IV, and III, and I hated both of them. I tried some other JRPGs like Chrono Trigger, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Legend of the Dragoon, Golden Sun, and so on. It just became more and more apparent that it was the same shit everywhere, just in a different pair of pants. The first nail in the coffin came when I tried replaying FF VII with a fresh set of eyes, and saw more than a few flaws that I'd overlooked the first time. I don't think I played another JRPG 'till FF X, and that game put me off playing them 'till someone persuaded me to try Tales of Vesperia, and that just seemed to confirm everything I'd grown to loathe about them. I rented FF XIII, but to be honest, I all but knew I was going to hate it before I started, and that was when I thought it was at least going to allow me the illusion of freedom.

So, in short, the generation-spanning stagnation of the JRPGs turned me - a player previously optimistic about the genre - into the kind of person who just plain hates things that look like they might be Japanese-ish. When I refuse to play JRPGs, people call me narrow minded, but shit; I've probably played more JRPGs than they have, just trying to find one I like.

Don't blame me for my instant dismissal of JRPGs, it's a learned response. Blame JRPGs for evolving less in five generations than the FPS - the more popular target for accusations of stagnation - evolved in 2.
 

LilithSlave

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Sep 1, 2011
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How.... ?

Errrr.... uhhhhhh..... does not at all count for an answer?

I've been playing video games for almost two decades now, and I haven't noted much change.

Let's see here.
At about 6-7 years old, I liked Pac-Man, Atari Circus, Super Mario Bros., Adventures of Lolo, and Kirby's Adventure.

At about 9-11, I liked The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Mario World, and Final Fantasy "II". Oh, and Sonic the Hedgehog, Disney's Magical Quest, and some other Super NES games that surely existed at that time.

At about 12-14, I liked Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, and all the other later SNES video games. And Final Fantasy VII, Nights into Dreams... so many things.

At about 14-16, I liked Final Fantasy X, Kingdom Hearts, and ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, lots of games.

At about 18-22, I didn't play many video games. I decided to cut everything "geeky" out of my life, like video games and anime, I only listened to Jpop and studied Japanese. As well as tried everything possible outside of that to be "normal" and "cool" and was fairly ashamed to have once watched anime or played video games. That didn't work out too well and everyone on the internet hated my guts. Not that things are much better now...

24-now, I like Touhou, Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss, Tales of anything, Disgaea, Shin Megami anything, pretty much anything moe otaku related.

Nope, I'm pretty much the same person. Though I do seem to play more STGs now than I used to. I played and like them back then, one of the few PC games I was able to afford was Desert Storm. But still.
 

Thorpheus

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Apr 26, 2010
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Zhukov said:
1993 - "Oh my god, I pressed the button and the picture moved! This is so awesome!"
1996 - "Blood! Explosions! Whoo!"
2002 - "Wait, is this thing trying to tell me a story...? Shut the fuck up and make with the explosions. Also, boobs if you have any."
2007 - "Whoa, that story (Bioshock) was actually comparable in quality to some books I've read."
2009 - "Meh, this game is a generic CoD-clone. When are game developers going to learn to write dialogue that isn't embarrassingly bad?"

Perhaps I was better off revelling in explosions and pixelated blood, but there's simply no going back now...
My thoughts exactly xD
 
Oct 25, 2010
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My tastes really haven't changed. I like and play almost exclusively JRPGs and some platformers and get frustrated with almost anything else. I like music in games. I like textboxes better than voice acting. I like to choose commands in a list.
My favorite games growing up were Final Fantasy VII and Super Mario World. Today it's probably Radiant Historia.
 

Clive Howlitzer

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Jan 27, 2011
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Mine really haven't changed, that's the big problem. There are less and less games I am interested in, because the primary ones I liked when I was younger, I still love now but they are mostly a rare breed.
 

natster43

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I used to not like zombie games due to being scared of Resident Evil, now Resident Evil is a series I really like. The old games still scare me, but I can actually play them without having nightmares, and Dead Rising is one of my favorite game series.

I used to love Mortal Kombat, then got sick of it and felt it was shit, then the new one came out and I love it again.

I used to love GTA games because they were just fun games where I could just go and kill stuff and use oil slicks to watch cops slide though a group of pedestrians, now I can't play the new ones because they have too much plot and try to be realistic.

I used to love Dynasty Warriors back around 3, didn't like 4 and never played much of 5, never could get into 6, and last year 7 came out and it was my Game of the Year.
 

omglazorspewpew

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Nov 14, 2011
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I don't think my tastes have changed moreso that my priorities have. I have been playing video games since I was really young but by the time I got to high school I pretty much only played JRPG's and Fighting games.

Now my tastes have broadened a bit and I will play pretty much anything. I don't spend much time playing lengthy RPG's because my time has become very limited (school, work, gym, life) but I do tend to play them a lot on handhelds since I can take it with me and/or stop whenever I want...plus this console generation has been pretty bad for RPG's, even though there are a few notable exceptions, but there definitely aren't as many as in the PS2 era.

I tend to favor games that I can play in chunks (life FPS and platformers) or are just about competition (fighting, sports and music)
 

The Abhorrent

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My tastes have changed somewhat over the years, but only in very few cases have I grown to dislike any particular genre; in other words, I've expanded the types of games I've played instead of moving from on type to another.

Early on, I started playing games on the SNES; first console I ever had as a kid. So that means mostly Mario platforming and adventuring in Zelda. I didn't really branch out beyond that until much later, but a notable game was SM:RPG. I didn't really think much of the RPG genre at the time (literally, didn't really know it existed), but I enjoyed this gem.

The next generation of consoles, I was again dominated by Nintendo's console; in this case, the N64. The prevalence of high-quality 3D platformers certainly played a role, and I had fun with the two Zelda games on the console as well. I didn't bother much with the PS1, but my cousin introduced me to Final Fantasy IX... and so began my interest in the RPG genre, especially it's focus on telling a good story. I actually went back to all the fantastic RPGs on the SNES.

The next generation, I actually acquired all three consoles. The Gamecube with it's superb library of titles, but I also got a PS2 to play many RPGs as well. The genre I branched out into for this time was FPS, with the superb Halo CE; I haven't really played many other FPS titles outside that series, but I don't automatically disregard the genre anymore.

The current generation is a bit of an odd case. Before this time, my idea of what the RPG genre meant was just that of a JRPG. I was pleasantly surprised to find out about western RPGs, which are a little closer to the tabletop-roots and have a more gritty spin on things. MMORPGs at first were interesting, though it didn't take too long for me to decide that it can't crash & burn soon enough. Another discovery of this generation were hack & slash games, though only a handful of those have gained my attention for any length of time.

---

Currently, I'm beginning to re-focus back onto RPGs; specifically, JRPGs. I've passed over a lot of them this past generation, but I'm starting to settle into the mood where I just want to enjoy a good story. This mostly means replaying older titles, particularly those I didn't get around to finishing, but a few modern titles are getting into the mix; the backlash and very disappointing starting areas of FFXIII put me off the game near it's release, but I'm now finding out it's definitely not as bad as people made it out to be.

On the whole though, my tastes in games has predominantly expanded... but what I've focused on has been fairly transient. Sometimes I'm looking for rich storyline, other times I just want fast-paced action; sometimes I want simple & elegant gameplay mechanics, later I want something with more depth. Or maybe a little bit of everything.

As for right now?
The Robo-Roll beckons.

Chrono Trigger -- Robo's Theme[/youtube]