Outgrowing videogames...

[Ace of Spades]

I've never outgrown a genre, but I have started to like more genres as I grew up.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I can't say I've honestly outgrown any genre... and I'm probably older than most of you.

Your younger than me, just. But still I've not out grown any genres, I still like JRPGs although I never get a nice long stint to my self to get to play them. I even enjoyed the newest tomb raider, even though it was too short.

There are some games that you could say I have out grown, such as FF7, but its less out growing them more replaying games from my youth makes me more critical of the flaws a game may have.

Now lets be fair, you're JUST older than me, but 24 is still pretty old on this forums.

But I agree, I have trouble playing FFVII anymore because of the aweful translation, but age has INCREASED my enjoyment of Final Fantasy 9 and it's cleverness and made me absolutely love the complex, realistic fantasy world of Final Fantasy 12, despite the lack of an instant gratification story.

Frequently I find myself drawn to the Suikoden Series for replaying, since it consitantly puts forward a mature plot about politics, war and betrayal.\

EDIT: I should note that I get annoyed at purely twitch based games nowadays. I'm looking for a deeper OR more varied experience. I also find I don't have time for games with a really high difficulty and a low fun factor.

 

[LaxLuster]

I don't think it's that I've outgrown most game genres, but mostly outgrown their stories. I'm much pickier about what I pick up and read or sit down to watch these days simply because between work and parenthood, I don't get much time to myself. The sad thing about JRPGs is that the stories are either very complex or very cliched, although typically a mixture of the two.

As I grow up, it's harder and harder to find characters that I relate to or even like in this genre. The whiney underage protagonist and his following of archetypes follow the same formula time and time again since the time of Dragon Warrior.

FPS never have much room for story, it's a side-note... like the ranch dressing on the side of a plate of buffalo wings. You can indulge if you want, or you can completely skip it and get straight to the heat of things.

I like the sandbox games because, although they do have their fair share of side-missions and mini-games, i don't feel like I'm spending what little free-time I have grinding through hordes for experience or running through halls shooting the same enemies time and time again for no reason other than to see some high-definition wall-splatterings.

 

[Kukakkau]

if by outgrown you mean become a lot more critical of the games i play. then yea ill point out all the good and bad to myself and not have as much fun if its not within my design plans

 

[LordKraven]

Most of the games I liked when I was young are still good now, but I am sure if I played any game of any type enough it would get boaring. FF games are a perfecr example, like 8 and 9 I loved them, even tactics. But think on it, each game takes about 30-60 hours to beat depending on how grind happy you are, and if you play though it like a fan three of fore times that a good clean 120+ hours of games play. And me personaly, I would get board of any game or game type after that much run through.

 

[ElTigreNegro]

I think the nostalgia factor is big here, and in the case of RPG's there are some good titles these days. It's just that it was some specific titles that you liked back in the days, it's not that the genre has nothing good to offer anymore, is just the fact that you are not a kid anymore, and the experience is not going to be the same.

In my case there isn't a genre i have "outgrown". Sure, playing an RPG for hours and hours is not a possibility now having more stuff to do. But i still play and enjoy the hell out of them, right now i'm enjoying Persona 3 and Valkyria Chronicles a lot.

 

[pigeon_of_doom]

I am now much more discerning of what I play now, but I would never claim to have outgrown a genre. I just expect a higher quality game than I used to.

 

[HuntingWolf_01]

i find that i've grown bored of overly complecated games as i have no time to fully enjoy them anymore
responslibilies and other more intersting things have drawn me away for RPGs as i just give up on them because they take to long to get into
while FPS and arcade style games as well as Mario games i still play coz u an jus pick them up n play without needed to spend huge amounts of time working on it

 

[wedrinkritalin]

Outgrew most FPS except TF2, that game is always updating and curing my boredom

 

[ElegantSwordsman]

I can't bring myself to even touch an RTS or FPS anymore, the genres have stagnated for a while now and I can't help but compare new titles to the pinnacles of the genre, leaving me bored before I would even begin.

Fortunately, my gaming library is pretty huge and I have tons of backlog when it comes to good games I already own but never had a chance to play through, so it's all good.

 

[ElTigreNegro]

First of all, the whole "J" abbreviation to the genre doesn't make sense to me in terms of using it as a way to judge these games just because they come from a certain country. Second, many RPGs use teens as the main characters, but not all use androgynous teens. This is a silly trend that concerns mostly a couple of games, not every single RPG that comes out of Japan does this. There's also games that even while using a all teen cast like Persona 3 they actually have a pretty good story.

Like in any other genre, not everything is gold, it's as simple as that. There are good and bad titles. No big shocking discovery there.

 

[P1p3s]

I remember spending hours debating with my cousin who was a NES kid when I had my Mega drive about how Sega was the better console, right down to the sexier presentation of the machine and more ergonomic controllers (although I doubt I used the word ergonomic when I as 12), sonic was clearly the cooler out of him and a fat Italian plumber and as a sega-ite I had a better choice of games such as James Pond and (the yet UNCOMPLETED! Ah the one that got away) Toe-Jam and Earl. However time has poked me in the eye with that one and has left me disillusioned about all console rivalry.

That being said once I'd fallen passionately in love with Star Craft you couldn?t keep me from my PC, once completed though I abandoned it to the dusty annals of my mind, like the fickle wench that I am ? aching for SC2 though.

The Sims ate chunks of my life until I realised the futility of it all and summarily had all of my 'people' killed and now having missed a generation of console gaming am trying tragically to catch up and am currently enjoying my affair with gears of war, so when GOW2 is completed it'll probably be the same sad story all over again.
In short then, I?ve outgrown every game I?ve ever played. The only game that haunts me is Star Siege, it's the only game I 'clanned' up for, the only game I dedicated any significant online time too (SC was always a LAN game for me) it's like a lost love, a relationship I never wanted to be over but fizzled out when I had to prioritise other parts of my life. If it were a man I would have made a "if we're both single when we're 30" type pledge as it will always have a small piece of my heart.

 

[EzraPound]

Likewise: I didn't 'outgrow' games, per se; it's just that my appreciation for them became more skewed toward those that favoured immediacy when I realized how monotonous and silly most games that attempt to take the Sega-CD route of storytelling - FFX, for example - are; perhaps a symptom of reading books. This is especially irksome since there's a derth of "pick up n' play"-style titles out there, with designers often opting instead for high-pretentious fodder like GTA IV or Final Fantasy XIII. But hey, atleast the Wii is trying.

The kind of genres or games I typically still find fun:
- well-designed 2D platformers: i.e. Mario, Sonic, Mega Man, Jurassic Park (GEN)
- well-designed rail shooters: i.e. HotD III, Panzer Dragoon Orta, StarFox 64
- well-designed sim or strategy: i.e. Pirates!, The Sims 2, Civilization IV
- well-designed fighters: i.e. Soul Calibur II, Tekken 5, Super Smash Bros.
- well-designed puzzlers: i.e. Pokémon Puzzle League, Bust A Move, Columns
- well-designed tennis games: i.e. Virtua Tennis, Tennis 2K2, Wii Sports Tennis
- well-designed western RPGs: i.e. Morrowind, Jade Empire, Fable, Deus Ex
- well designed misc. fun shit: i.e. Endless Ocean, Katamari, Trauma Center

The kind of genres or games I typically don't find fun
- almost any recent FPS: i.e. Halo 3, Gears of War 2, Quake 4, CoD 4
- almost any recent JRPG: i.e. FF XII, Lost Odyssey, Suikoden V
- almost any recent sports game: i.e. Madden '08, NHL '09, NBA Live '09
- almost any recent RTS: i.e. Red Alert 3, WarCraft III, C&C3: Tiberium Wars
- almost any overwrought 2D fighter: i.e. Capcom vs. SNK 2, Samurai Shodown V
- almost any recent 3D platformer: i.e Banjo-Threeie, Ape Escape 2, Crash Bandicoot: MoM
- almost any GTA-style sandbox game: i.e. GTA IV, Saint's Row 2, The Godfather (shame)
- almost any hack n' slash RPG: i.e. Baldur's Gate: DA II, Gauntlet: SS*, inevitably Diablo 3
*I used to really, really love this series

 

[ElTigreNegro]

First of all, the whole "J" abbreviation to the genre doesn't make sense to me in terms of using it as a way to judge these games just because they come from a certain country. Second, many RPGs use teens as the main characters, but not all use androgynous teens. This is a silly trend that concerns mostly a couple of games, not every single RPG that comes out of Japan does this. There's also games that even while using a all teen cast like Persona 3 they actually have a pretty good story.

Like in any other genre, not everything is gold, it's as simple as that. There are good and bad titles. No big shocking discovery there.

The "J" is there to differentiate between the RPG sub-genres. There is a big difference between the Oblivion/Fallout RPG open-world quest-driven style to the linear narrative-driven style of games like Final Fantasy.

The thing is, not all japanese RPGs are linear, Final Fantasy is not the beginning and the end of the genre over there. Also, not all western RPGs are open-world like Oblivion and Fallout. Not to mention that being linear or open does not make or break the game.

 

[DarkRyter]

I used to love those point and click adventure games involving that purple car.

It's the earliest game in my memory.

 

[I Stomp on Kittens]

I know there probably is some for me but i cant think of them right now :/

 

[barryween]

Platformers. Not that they are bad its just FPSes seem more tended to nowdays.