"There's no going back. You changed things."

[Widell]

I would like to put out the possibility that Assassin's Creed will be a great influence with its "free-running" system.

While it is true that the game itself is influenced by earlier games, not to mention the Prince of Persia series, I would argue that Assassin's Creed is an entirely new stepping stone.

 

[Caliostro]

I would like to put out the possibility that Assassin's Creed will be a great influence with its "free-running" system.

While it is true that the game itself is influenced by earlier games, not to mention the Prince of Persia series, I would argue that Assassin's Creed is an entirely new stepping stone.

Begs the question: Was Assassin's Creed the true "influence" or Prince of Persia?

 

[Widell]

...it...it is?

Tomb raider, prince of persia...

What did Assassins Creed bring to the table?

The free-running system.

The ability to jump between platforms have existed for very long, and while the games you mentioned perhaps added some acrobatic elegance to the picture I can not say that any Prince of Persia games or any Tomb Raider games (I have not played all of the latter ones) included such an advanced acrobatic system as Assassin's Creed.

Previously you were more or less following a path that lead to where you were heading, I really think a game where you can utilize most of your environment in different ways is something entirely new.

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

Even if you don't believe that Halo changed any game mechanics in particluar, you have to recognise it changed things. It became the flagship game for a console and it's successor. Several games have been labelled 'halo killers', and it was massively popular. Whether or not it changed gameplay significantly you would be lying if you said it hasn't made a big difference to things.

Also, I was wondering: How many majorly successful games can people name which had ideas which had never been used before and wasn't effectively the first game in the genre? It seems to me that most new ideas in gaming arrive via smaller games, where they are labelled 'gimmicks', before they are eventually picked up by a larger game which makes something good out of it.

 

[Widell]

Also, I was wondering: How many majorly successful games can people name which had ideas which had never been used before and wasn't effectively the first game in the genre? It seems to me that most new ideas in gaming arrive via smaller games, where they are labelled 'gimmicks', before they are eventually picked up by a larger game which makes something good out of it.

I agree with this, implementation is far more worth in the long run than innovation. Not saying you can not combine the two, but if you have a great idea which you can not realize later on, it is not worth much.

 

[The Professor]

Please. This forum has fallen into two categories: 1) Your favorite current fanboy obsession, and 2) Your favorite retro game, neither of which ANSWER THE QUESTION. Sure, there have been decent answers, but none really directed at the topic. So...

GoldenEye: A 3-D console FPS FTW (WTFBBQ ETC)
Counter-Strike: If I'm not mistaken, the first intensely popular multiplayer PC game. Props go to Unreal, Doom, Quake (even Wolfenstein) for gameplay style, but CS united nerd-dom under a common flag. Or two flags. Or a bomb.
Tetris: The casual game to end all casual games.

One can comment on subtle advances like how BioShock brought story to FPSing (which it didn't, I'd chalk that up to Half-Life), but again, not the question. If I'm going to put a fanboy game out there, sorry, but most of you fail. It's Portal. A game made by interns. The end.

 

[Widell]

One can comment on subtle advances like how BioShock brought story to FPSing (which it didn't, I'd chalk that up to Half-Life), but again, not the question.

While I do agree with the sentiment of this I do think a discussion, regarding say that if the different narrative techniques used in either of the games have made a new industry standard, is valid.

I did not create the thread, so I can not speak for the author, but I thought we were supposed to discuss if a certain game changed the way others were being made.

 

[Verigan]

For the most part, I haven't see any major improvements in the way games are made in a long time. Improvement comes in slow steps, with small innovations being created, refined, and in turn giving rise to new ones.

Mostly, I just notice the changes in design paradigms that make games worse. A good example is the way the Japs have become so fond of hiding stuff so deeply in a lot of their games that you can't possibly find it without some kind of guide. I don't think I need to name anything in particular on this one, but anyone who recognizes the term "Zodiac Spear" is undoubtedly nodding right now.

I also notice when good ideas die out. A good example of that was Starsiege Tribes. The sequels showed that the quality of the first one was just a happy accident, but the idea of a shooter based heavily around a flight mechanic definitely deserves more exploration.

 

[Finks]

It was finally mentioned on page 4 but Tetris made games that ANYONE would play. It's games like this that brought us the Wii.

One that has yet to be mentioned is Madden, it is the reason why sports games are a viable commodity now with licensing and all.

Pac man for making quarters good for more than gumballs and plastic rings

Super Mario bro's NES it's been said

Mario 64 for bringing platforming and 3d gaming in general to another level

Duck hunt, lazer guns are cool

Zork for in depth story & Myst for coupling that with graphics

Golden eye for as so many said about Halo, bringing the FPS to the console

Unreal Tounament or Quake (what came 1st?) for online play FPS

Ultima Online or EQ for making people pay a monthly fee to play

Halo for saving the Xbox in America (that's all I'll give it)

Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution for making what the controller should be a more liquid idea.

Thief for stealth based game

Prince of Persia the 2nd incarnation (the 1st IMO was just Pitfall on crack)

Grand Theft Auto 1 for reasons mentioned before

Parappa the Rapper for giving us rhythm based games

Man I could go on and on.

 

[Deionarra]

Indeed, there's no going back, I've changed things. I pressed Backspace without properly clicking in the reply box and lost the really long post I was about to make.

To summarize what I was going to say:

- System Shock (the original not the sequel) is a massively influential game. Very few people may have played it but many of the people who went on to make other influential games in the FPS/FPRPG genre did take note of it and it's influence can still be seen very much in games today. I was the origin of good story telling in an FPS, not Bioshock, Half-Life or (lol) Halo.

- I went on to praise both Half-Life and Halo for their influence on the games industry and what they brought to the FPS genre, eg. HL: set pieces, enemy AI. Halo: controls, accessibility. I won't bother saying any more as there's enough people talking about them already, except to say that both deserve mentioning in this thread but neither is worthy of being in the thread on account of their plot/story. (no doubt the respective fanboys will disagree with me)

I can't seem to play CoH anymore. Online play is nothing but everybody meta-games and uses bland strategies. I'd rather play a click fest where multiple strategies are possible than a game where only 1 strategy is doable.

That sounds like a good description of every RTS game I've ever played or seen played at a high level (pretty much all of them). I'd argue that CoH is the most dynamic and least repetitive RTS I've ever played and like goodman, I find it hard to play other games in the genre after experiencing CoH.

However, like many of the games people are mentioning, it's not been around long enough to see how influential it'll actually be so isn't very relevant to this thread.

 

[Dramatic Flare]

gears of war(damn I'm such a fanboy^^)

What did gears of war change...? I'm just...a bit lost there...

It's the game that brought this huge emphasis on cover techniques into the foreground. Hardly any games had a cover system before Gears.

I second.

Nope. Kill.Switch had a cover system. Heck, Kill.Switch might as well be renamed Take.Cover because it's all you do throughout the entire game.

 

[HypnotizedCOW]

Tennis for Two- The first "game"
Castle Wolfenstein- The First FPS
Super Mario 64- laid the Blueprint for how a 3D game should play.
Halo- Made gaming popular with people who had never tried games before.

 

[Skalman]

Mass Effect was the biggest revolution (oh god, I hate that word!) in video games for me, at least in the RPG zone. I can't ever imagine a RPG without that dialogue system again...

Ah Mass Effect, love at first sight!

But let's not forget Baldur's Gate 2 and how insanely immersive and deep that game was and all the small talk between the npcs in your group and the sub plotlines and...oh..OH! Ahh...

Damn... gotta change ma pants now...

 

[Xaryn Mar]

Mass Effect was the biggest revolution (oh god, I hate that word!)

You hate the word that means turning???

 

[Doug]

Here's to hoping that Mass Effect will positively affect rpgs in terms of story etc.

Mass Effect was good, I'll give it that, but not the best so far. Heck, Arachronox had an interesting, amusing, fun story. Deus Ex had a conspiracy theorist's wet dream mixed with great story telling and choices.

 

[Doug]

Mass Effect was the biggest revolution (oh god, I hate that word!) .... I can't ever imagine a RPG without that dialogue system again...

...

....

.....

Neverwinter Nights
Every point and click adventure
The Icewind dale series (however its spelt)

Most RPGs before Mass Effect had dialog systems. Hell, even the old text based one's probably did, given most of the stuff 'invented' now was invented in the text-era.

 

[hefajstos2]

Command and Conquer- First online multiplayer RTS and overall kickass game.

 

[SP MeaslyBinkie]

RTS - Command and Conquer when it was being made by Westwood

FPS - Battlefield series - In terms of online play I doubt much can compare to this

RPG - Fallout - Nuf said

 

[klakkat]

I admit, Halo DID change the FPS genre. I don't like how it changed it, but I guess I'm a minority there.

Starcraft and Diablo II had some impact as well, as may be evidenced by the slew of Diablo clones (cheap and otherwise)

Counter Strike had a big impact on the FPS genre for awhile, but that seems to be dying out in favor of the Halo style. Hence why I've avoided the genre entirely except for Bioshock and Fear, lately. Half-life 2 as well, but again I'm not a fan of that style (though the physics engine is a good start).

That's all I can really think of. My favorite games really didn't have much impact; sales too low generally, or public recognition too low. System Shock 2, Deus Ex, Baldur's Gate 2, Master of Magic, Master of Orion series, Star Control 3, Fallout 2, and Earthbound all rank among my favorite games of all time, but sadly had little impact on the world of gaming compared to other, more mediocre games. At least KotOR 1 and 2 had a decent impact.