Mainstream Games A Meh?

[Toar]

Most Mainstream games are a disappointment b/c of the growing number og gimmics and lazy developers. In the far gone days of the PS1, any little thing that the game added was seen as revolutionary, but now, they are seen as cheap. For example, Transformers The Move the Game had diffrent content for diffrent consoles. WHY? THe games wasn't good enough to buy three or four times. Fallout and Oblivion aren't even finished when you buy them. They promise extra content that you have to continually purchase.

Titles that aren't mainstream are more inclined to be completed and sometimes better(at least the 1st time) b/c they can't rely on previous popularity.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

I only play Atari 2600 games made by south american philosophers. These days, it's hard. You have to take extreme measures.

 

[Pingieking]

No.
I thought Mass Effect 2 could easily stand on the same level as the older classics. While the mainstream games have certainly been simplified compared to previous generations, I don't think they're necessarily worse. Most of my favorite games aren't part of the mainstream crowd, but it doesn't stop me from recognizing that some mainstream games are really really good.
I think it's more so that the mainstream isn't your style.

 

[tetron]

Mainstream games these days are more about making money and appealing to the masses since gaming as a whole has become more popular. You know what all this high end technology means ? Developers can let graphics and mechanics sell their game instead of gameplay and story. Modern games barely keep me interested long enough to justify having rented/pirated it.
I'm very thankful that no matter how bad games get I can still play the snes/genesis/nes games I've played 100 times before and know that they're going to be more enjoyable than the generic crap they pump out today. That's not to say all modern games are horrid but it's extremely rare for me to consider a modern game better than decent.

 

[hermes]

I think we have reached the originality saturation point. Most of the good ideas have already been done...to death. It isn't just with games but with all media. Music, TV, movies and literature has reached a point where we are being bombarded with clones. And at the same time we expect more since we have better technology.

That is a fallacy. There are a ton of good ideas no one has thought of (don't make me give examples, that is the "no one" part). The problem is that most mainstream games (and movies, TV, etc) cost a lot of money, so the risks of new ideas coming from that direction are very controlled.

 

[ZeLunarian]

Among the fodder labelled mainstream, I will say that there is so much MEH material out there labeled as a great gaming experience. But lose not faith less you condemm yourself to a private hell <3

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

i'd say that because of the general hype, people tend to buy more mainstream games, just like tuna follows it's own bank of tuna, or a sheep that follows it's flock.

 

[Righteous One]

This argument comes up every generation, maybe because you tend to forget all the crap old games while all the crap new ones are still fresh in your memory.

On the other hand the costs of games are increcing and some developers are less likley to risk that much money on a game that potentialy won't sell.

Personally, a good percentage of the 'worst games I have ever played' have been in this current generation. But, then again, that might just be because I'm getting old and grumpy and harder to please.

 

[Knottyboy470]

Mainstream = popular = good?

If you won't play a game or don't enjoy it or even change your perceptions of it because you think it's mainstream, then you're pretty stupid.

 

[Booze Zombie]

I would argue that Assassin's Creed 2 was a pretty amazing game, but that's not the point of this thread, is it?

It's not because they're mainstream, but it's because making a linear "play it once and buy another one" means people buy more, so that's probably how people who make games approach making said games.

 

[UnSeEn60]

Mainstream = popular = good?

If you won't play a game or don't enjoy it or even change your perceptions of it because you think it's mainstream, then you're pretty stupid.

I think there's something wrong with your equation, friend. Frankly, I don't trust the mainstream public when it comes to whether or not a game is 'good', because for the most part, their views don't coincide with mine. Therefore, popular doesn't always equal good.

Example - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Amazing sales. Extremely popular. Good? Not in my opinion. Lacks story and innovative gameplay. Not BAD, but certainly not good.

 

[hermes]

You seem to forget why mainstream games became mainstream in the first place... it is because they were PRETTY DAMN GOOD.

Granted, MW2 is not something to write home about but, when it first came out, Call of Duty was a lot better than any other FPS in the market. Name me one console FPS that had a better multiplayer than the first Halo when it came out. People start following franchises because they are good, voice spread, and other people hear they are good (or because they have a pretty good marketing). Its the reason why Batman (despite the original disbelief) sold a ton of copies and is going to became a franchise; its the reason why games like Valkyria Chronicles and Demon's Souls are going to became franchises despite poor sales on the first weeks.

And people seems to overwrite originality with nostalgia. Sure, now we have an oversaturation of rythm and FPS clones, but it is hardly new. Back in the NES era, it was a time of platformers/Mario and Contra clones. The SNES and PS1 saw the time of the JRPG clones (where everyone was trying to be Final Fantasy). The arcades had the time of the Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat clones (some of which were actually better than Street Fighter, but no one played them). So, stop saying "in the good old times, games were more original and people recognised that."

 

[Anticitizen_Two]

Most mainstream games ARE a meh NOW, but they weren't ten years ago. That's why I usually stick to older titles.

 

[AVATAR_RAGE]

people pay too much attention to reviewers, letting many good games slip under the radar and by good i mean fun.

nuff said realy make up your own mind on games.

 

[UnSeEn60]

@hermes200 - I agree with you to an extent. It takes a great original IP like Halo to start a super-popular series. Unfortunately, especially in the case of Halo, the companies begin to milk the IP until it becomes stale. Halo 1 was the best in the series - it was all downhill from there. Halo: Reach? Excited? You might get one or two new weapons, some new maps, but ultimately, you're playing the same game from years ago.

I agree that Demon's Souls and Valkyria Chronicles were great games, regardless of poor sales. I wouldn't consider them mainstream popular, but maybe that's a good thing - hopefully their respective developers have enough sense not to destroy the magic...

 

[RJ Dalton]

Not because they're mainstream, but just...because. I'm not sure why, but my recent forays into popular games like Call Of Duty and such have just ended badly.

The popularity or "mainstreamness" of a game is a bad thing to use for judging criteria, because they are totally arbitrary and do not relate to quality. It's like Mark Twain said, "Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident."
That said, I, too, find games that people consider mainstream to be of much lower quality recently than games have been in the past. There's just not enough to them to make them interesting to me. It's the same problem with TV shows. Too much production run by committees: bureaucracies in charge of bureaucracies.

 

[stok3r]

Star Ocean 4 was a very crappy rpg. Awesome games nowadays are sporadic at best but there are tons of awesome games out there. Such higher production values nowadays. Epic and fun games that come to mind....

Saints Row 2
Red Faction: Guerrilla
Brutal Legend
Lost Odyssey
Mass Effect 1 & 2
Fallout 3

The list goes on and on.

It seems we have a different taste in games here. Star Ocean 4 is a very good game IMO. And of the ones listed I only like Fallout 3, and maybe Lost Odyssey. I'll bet all your examples of good RPGs are western ones, excepting Lost Odyssey.

 

[Quiet Stranger]

Star Ocean 4 was a very crappy rpg. Awesome games nowadays are sporadic at best but there are tons of awesome games out there. Such higher production values nowadays. Epic and fun games that come to mind....

Saints Row 2
Red Faction: Guerrilla
Brutal Legend
Lost Odyssey
Mass Effect 1 & 2
Fallout 3

The list goes on and on.

It seems we have a different taste in games here. Star Ocean 4 is a very good game IMO. And of the ones listed I only like Fallout 3, and maybe Lost Odyssey. I'll bet all your examples of good RPGs are western ones, excepting Lost Odyssey.

have you never played the first Star ocean? Sure SO 4 was good but it was shit compared to the third one