Things Older Games Got Right

[Danbo Jambo]

It's the mathmatical approach to the game which it encourages which I don't like mate. By all means have that type of system, but I'd have it running invisibly in the background and the choices you make be presented with no pre-judgement attached to them. I much prefer dialogue trees for this reason.

So by all means have that system, just don't allow us to see how we're unlocking Paragon/Renagade options, and don't highlight them when they are unlocked either. Allow it to fit in to the game naturally via the gamer's choices.

Personally, I don't really try to play the math, so having it upfront doesn't bug me. I guess I would understand more if there were serious gameplay advantages to going all-in, to the point where it would break role playing. But outside of some potential stat bonuses from characters (e.g. Dragon Age, Xenoblade Chronicles), we seem to be moving away from that. At that point, it seems like the only people who'd care are those actively going for a pure run in either direction, and those people would probably appreciate knowing what path they're taking before they get 60 hours into the trilogy and realize they screwed up ten hours in. For everyone else, I would think the desire of playing the role instead of the math would be a non-issue.

For me the way the likes of Mass Effect & Deus Ex HR approach their "choice" system forces the player to think mathmatically. With Mass effect it makes a clear seperation between Paragon/Renegade, with DE:HR it makes a clear distinction between rewarding a player for stealth and not.

Kudos to you if you can detatch yourself from that, it's something I can do with various gaoming aspects and you're dead right it helps when trying to enjoy the game. But these are two examples where it's so plainly in sight that it's hard to do so for me.

It'd be nice to see newer games adapt the older approach where there were less absolutes, and certainly as many rewards for walking a grey path as opposed to a pure one.

 

[Lindale FF]

Not true. Steam Offline Mode lets you play steam games without connecting to a server indefinitely. The only games on steam which you have to be online for are online multiplayer games (obviously) and games with other DRM added.

Obviously, Skyrim must be one of those DRM games. Steam did ask me to login, just to play Skyrim, which is a single-player game. In that case, the point I made about always-online DRM still stands.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

Part 2:

The other problem the vast majority of today's games seem to have is the need to always be online. I can understand when you buy something from Steam, you need to be logged into Steam for that game to work. Granted, games such as Star Trek Online can completely bypass steam if you know how to create a shortcut, and make that shortcut linked to a certain thingy.

But if I buy the physical copy of a game from Amazon, or from Gamestop, I expect that game to entirely operate from the disc. But NOOOO. I bought Rocksmith 2014, and it needed to be linked to Steam. I bought Skyrim, and it needed to be linked to Steam. Why? Because Capitalism.

And what happens when Steam goes down? You cannot play ANY of those games.

We saw this come to the erupting point when SimCity was forced to be online to play the SINGLE PLAYER game. And Spore could only be installed 3 times per disc, and then you would be forced to buy the game again. That is why these games were the #1 most-pirated games the year they come along.

I understand having the install code, which guarantees you have a genuine copy. But when the code on the box only works once, that is stupidity. And it ruins the ability to buy and sell used games. Even a few months ago, I bought several used Playstation 2 games. Let us keep doing that with PC games.

That is the same as the developers sitting beside you any time you want to play, and said developers check your receipt every 10 seconds. And if you cannot provide your receipt every 10 seconds, you go to jail. Again, this is pure Capitalism, and it needs to stop.

Or, what would happen if Steam completely shut down? With sites such as GOG.com, you get a folder of installers. But with Steam, you get downloads. So if Steam goes away, all those games you paid for go away, too.

My trusty Playstation 2 has never been connected to the internet. Even still, I can put in any PS2 disc, and I will be able to play that game with no problems. And any XP-era games I have all still work perfectly fine if run them in an XP virtual machine.

Game developers, you need to stop with this online dependence. If I buy the physical copy of a game, it needs to be able to run perfectly without any internet. So, for example, if I am on a long flight, I had better be able to install that game on my laptop, and have it run perfectly for the entire flight.

In short, stop the Capitalism stupidity.

Do you really think Steam is going to go down though? I mean In the unlikely case Valve is headed down the pipe, Im sure there would be plenty of people keen to take the store off their hands, with their big established market who have a reason to stick with it(their investment). And Valve would have to do really, really badly for that to be an eventuality because theyd be too big to fail by now. Big companies dont die they just shrink and grow.

 

[Trunkage]

Non-voiced characters in RPGs: Don't give some bullshit about how "we've come too far", if you have to do any guesswork on dialogue THE SYSTEM HAS FAILED. And yes, this includes anything from Mass Effect to Alpha Protocal. I do not accept the idea I should have to make a choice while having to guess what the fucking choice is.

RPGs where my character isn't already decided by the developers: I play RPGs to play as different characters with differing histories, personalities and skills. Not different flavours of the same retarded twat. Yes, it's hard to code and design well. Boo hoo developers. Baldur's Gate, Fallout 2 and PLanescape: Torment managed to do things in the 90s with absolute shit tech that you can't with today's technology and a vastly bigger budget, and quite often the AI even manages to be more intelligent (after all, it doesn't mindless attack every blind, crippled, elderly, mentally retarded bandit that so much as happens to be on the other side of the map, which says more the "AI" of modern "RPGs" than it does games made in the 90s that in some cases, had AI that couldn't fucking open doors).

Okay, So I really don't get the love for the old written out dialogue systems of Baulders Gate and Fallout. They have exactly the same problem as Fallout 4s sarcastic response. You have no ability to control how sarcastic it is. It's even worse as sometime you can't tell the tone or they have to overemphasise the tone making it sounds silly. I also seem to remember that the specific words you selected were changed or added to frequently. I definitely remember it happening in Wasteland 2, which I played after Fallout 4. And I found it more immersion breaking, and I think it was because people keep thinking this written is he better way so I tried it and it failed. I couldn't finish the game

In Baulders Gate you are the chosen one whose been hidden away so bad guys can't find them. That history doesn't change not matter what skills you pick.. In fallout your a vault dweller trying to find a chip. They gave you backgrounds of the character you are playing. Because if you have been alive for 18 years, you will have a past. Both backgrounds shaped the story just like Fallout 4. You never got to play "your" character in those old game, they hand held you just like today. As for skills, I like that Bethsheda literally lets you play how you want. You can be a sneaky tank or a magical archer. But there are also games like pillars of eternity, dragon age and mass effect that you have your skills restricted. Now I understand you want to play a certain type of game, so don't support games you didn't like. I like and see the benefits of both ways.

 

[FPLOON]

It's possible to unlock everything within the game itself... and all the "expansions" did was add even more shit to unlock because it wasn't just handed to you with a drop of the dolla-dolla-make-ya-holla method...

Other than that, unintended intended replayability TO THE EXTREME!

 

[Lindale FF]

Do you really think Steam is going to go down though?

No. I am saying a what if scenario.

 

[step1999]

Not true. Steam Offline Mode lets you play steam games without connecting to a server indefinitely. The only games on steam which you have to be online for are online multiplayer games (obviously) and games with other DRM added.

Obviously, Skyrim must be one of those DRM games. Steam did ask me to login, just to play Skyrim, which is a single-player game. In that case, the point I made about always-online DRM still stands.

Googled it, and an article by Engadget confirms that was added by Bethesda in a patch which also disabled use of certain mods for some reason.

 

[Overusedname]

To sum it up in one word: Focus.

Games feel the need to be so many things at once. You can't just be a pure FPS, you need unlockable RPG content. You can't have turn-based strategy or JRPGs anymore, needs more action and Quick Time Events. You can't have a single player action game without spending 5 months half-assing an online multiplayer mode that will die out in less than half a year. Not every game needs to be 10,000 things all at once. That focus was a good thing. From Snes to Ps2 I feel like that era of about 15 years was a very good year for polish and quality, just because games were allowed to focus on their core ideas and refine the hell out of them.

Some of these packaged deals end up very fun (like Dark Souls) but not every game needs to mash elements together in a clumsy attempt to reach a mass market. It's a waste of resources at best, and an active detriment to a game's success at worst.