What do you LIKE about the current state of gaming?

[Guitarmasterx7]

Plenty of things actually.

The free to play model in multiplayer games
Allowing the player to decide if they're invested enough to spend money on the game and how much as well as providing a constantly evolving multiplayer experience? When done right it's not only good business but also results in multiplayer games with vastly more content than ever before.

Newfound emphasis on setpieces and presentation
You know how really cool stuff that varies from the regular gameplay or plot and character relevant things now frequently happen outside of cutscenes? That didn't used to be very common.

Indy Games
Maybe a lot of these games are way behind the AAA titles in terms of actual quality. Maybe the amount of praise they get is not proportional to the actual experience a lot of the time and people just rave about them for hipster cred. In the end, a team of people scraped together some cash and made a videogame without the support or creative limitations of working under a publisher because they wanted to do something new. The fact that these games are not only now being seen but also lavished with praise is sending the message to the AAA gaming industry that we as gamers value originality, or at very least games off the beaten path, and that's undeniably a good thing.

Open world games are marginally better than previous generations
I remember in the PS2 era when a GTA style game with multiplayer where both players could go wherever they wanted was something that didn't exist and everyone was super bummed out about it. Crackdown became the go-to game for me and my friends for over a year just on that concept alone. Fucking Crackdown.

Also, Skyrims and Farcries and that kinda thing.

 

[Pink Gregory]

This is the kind of environment in which absolute gems such as The Binding of Isaac, Hotline Miami, Lone Survivor et al can thrive, sometimes through word of mouth alone.

 

[scorptatious]

Plus, I kinda like how some old and outdated concepts, like extra lives, are slowly being abandoned. Sure, games like the Mario and Sonic series still hold onto it, but I feel it's only a matter of time.

I dunno, considering how token the lives are to the actual game (at least in Sonic; All that happens is you go back to the beginning of a level, which is the same thing that happens if you die normally unless you got a checkpoint), I kinda appreciate those particular franchises holding onto the lives system just for a little bit of a retro throwback. That may not be why they do it, but it's still neat.

I can agree about using lives as a retro throwback. It kinda fits with games like Sonic Generations.

Beyond that though, I just feel that it's kinda necessary now. Lives made sense with arcade machine games that require you to pay every time you lose all your lives, now though, all that happens is that you're sent back to the beginning of a level that doesn't even take that much time to complete.

 

[lord.jeff]

I'd say that this generation is a big step up from the forgettable Gamecube generation in terms of game quality.

I disagree with that because the Gamecube generation also includes the PS2 which is my favorite system.

I generally like the current state of gaming. It has a lot of issues that but at least we have more power to take on those issues, during snes it was pretty much take it or leave it.

 

[shrekfan246]

Plus, I kinda like how some old and outdated concepts, like extra lives, are slowly being abandoned. Sure, games like the Mario and Sonic series still hold onto it, but I feel it's only a matter of time.

I dunno, considering how token the lives are to the actual game (at least in Sonic; All that happens is you go back to the beginning of a level, which is the same thing that happens if you die normally unless you got a checkpoint), I kinda appreciate those particular franchises holding onto the lives system just for a little bit of a retro throwback. That may not be why they do it, but it's still neat.

I can agree about using lives as a retro throwback. It kinda fits with games like Sonic Generations.

Beyond that though, I just feel that it's kinda necessary now. Lives made sense with arcade machine games that require you to pay every time you lose all your lives, now though, all that happens is that you're sent back to the beginning of a level that doesn't even take that much time to complete.

Oh, I agree that it's unnecessary for most games. I was more talking specifically about Mario and Sonic, since they pretty much bank entirely on nostalgia and their name for selling more numbers. I just wish Sonic games would still do the 1-up music every time you got one.


So triumphant.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

I've never noticed before, but those are some mighty fine sounding kettle drums for the Megadrive.

 

[AgentLampshade]

Voice actors are good now.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

What do I like about the current state of gaming?

The indie BOOM. So many small, amazing little games coming out...Seeing new ideas and fresh spins on old ones that the AAA industry would usually never consider...It's great.

Steam: This is digital distribution done RIGHT. If I can own over a hundred games on steam, not have time to play them all, and STILL want to get more, you have to be doing something right. And I love it.

The rare AAA masterpiece: I'm talking Infamous 2, Deus Ex Human revolution, Xenoblade, ETC.

 

[ChemicalAlia]

I like my large screen TV and the easy access to classic games. Other than that, of the small handful of games I've actually bought over the past few years, I've only actually finished two of them. If I had all the time in the world again like I did when I was a teenager, I'm sure I'd be at no loss for games to play, though, and at some good prices.

 

[Dead Seerius]

Storytelling has seriously increased in quality this gen.

Graphics are better in general, but I'd say open-world RPGs have REALLY benefited from this. Even if you don't like RPGs, I can't think of a single person who wasn't impressed with how visually captivating Skyrim was.

The indie market has led to some fantastic innovations in gaming, and it's great that people are supporting that.

 

[Pulse]

I like the visuals. I'm glad I can play good games which are also pretty.
I like the mixed genres. Stealth-brawler, stealth shooters, action-rpg, fps-rpg, etc.
I like the mutliplayer (well, sometimes).
I like the emphasis on a story playing out, not having to read pages of script to get anything.
I like the customisation, from characters to cars to weapons.

 

[redmoretrout]

I like that this terrible generation is ending soon. HA, see what I did there?

Seriously though, I there are a lot of great things going on outside of the AAA releases. Indie developers seem to be getting recognized and have the abilities to turn out great games. Kickstarters have given many developers the chance to create their vision free from corporate meddling.

 

[Little Gray]

I like how pretty much every single aspect of gaming minus the community has improved.

- Graphics are so much nicer and it creates some truly amazing environments.
- Consoles being online means games actually get patched.
- Customization in games seems to have gotten much better and more varied.
- There are multiplayer games now that dont completely suck.
- The increased use of voice acting. There is nothing I hate more then one sided conversations.
- Open world games have greatly improved from the advances in technology.
- DLC means that I dont have to wait two years for an expansion to a game I liked.
- Post release support of games.
- So many quality games are coming out that when I finish one game there is always another that I want to play.
- There seems to be so much more variety in games now.

 

[Karoshi]

1. Services like GOG allow me to buy games with relative ease at a very cheap price.
2. Thanks to kickstarter I now have plenty of cRPGs to look forward to.

That's it really.

And bigger and experiences at that, as much a stink as people made about Mass effect 3 it's still remains an incredibly ambiotious project tieing together two other games and a bunch of interesting characaters.

That's not ambitious. That's just what sequels are meant to do.

There's a big difference between normal sequels and what Mass Effect did. Since each playthrough could be imported into the next game, your decisions carried into other sequels. That's a very big deal, especially in RPGs.

You may argue about how much those decisions mattered or the quality of the writing, but it is damn ambitious and something what I would love to see in other games.

 

[Combustion Kevin]

I guess I'm with ol' Jim on this one, I love the games that are coming out, but really don't like the new business aspects of it.

then again, we got steam now, and they at least make DRM bearable.

 

[thethird0611]

I love the huge amount of games that are coming out that all cater to different crowds.

I love that there are games like CoD and Planetside which are easy to learn, but slow to master. Full of tactics while bringing something new to the table. Also.. bacon camo, heh.

I love that my xbox does more than play games. Holy... crap... My N64 never did that.

I love that Steam has found a model that uses sales to its advantage. That one I really like cus of my interest in I/O Psych.

Binding of Issac, FTL, Half Minute Hero, Dont Starve, just a few of the awesome games that are extremely small, but can have hours and hours of entertainment.

DoTA and DayZ. Whats one main thing they have in common? They started as Mods. Modders are getting jobs as designers. Da heck man, thats awesome! Oh, and also, I had the ability to get DoTA 2 for free, and it is one of my favorite games now.

I love that many game series are able to continue being developed because publishers fund them. That is really awesome.

I love that someone is going to disagree with something I said up there. People actually have -differing- opinions over games. Now think about that, this industry has gone from a small amount of people to a -huge- group of people, with every ability to like one genre and not another. Everyone can find something they like, from a mom who barely knows technology, to the hardcore PC gamer who has to have 100 fps.

Yeah... so thats just a few awesome things.

 

[thethird0611]

1. Services like GOG allow me to buy games with relative ease at a very cheap price.
2. Thanks to kickstarter I now have plenty of cRPGs to look forward to.

That's it really.

And bigger and experiences at that, as much a stink as people made about Mass effect 3 it's still remains an incredibly ambiotious project tieing together two other games and a bunch of interesting characaters.

That's not ambitious. That's just what sequels are meant to do.

There's a big difference between normal sequels and what Mass Effect did. Since each playthrough could be imported into the next game, your decisions carried into other sequels. That's a very big deal, especially in RPGs.

You may argue about how much those decisions mattered or the quality of the writing, but it is damn ambitious and something what I would love to see in other games.

Im just gonna add on to what you said here. Not only was it ambitious, but it was extremely subtle but awesome what Bioware would do for the fans with that. Think of just a few times in the game where a few lines would be different just out of the blue in the game, depending on your past decisions in other games. Bioware catered heavily to us so that we would feel at home with our character, that our decisions mattered in even small contexts, throughout -3 games-. So yeah, thats awesome.

 

[Pandabearparade]

You'd need to be more specific about what you mean by the current state of gaming. I haven't bought a single game for nearly a year because nothing has interested me, and that pretty much sums up my feelings on gaming currently. I'm a fan of RPGs, survival horror, strategy games and MMOs. There haven't been any RPGs, survival horrors, or strategy games worth a shit released on consoles since... 2010, ish.

 

[Floppertje]

I do a lot of complaining about publisher business models, blandness, DRM, you know how it goes... but every month I find myself saying: Oh, ..... is coming out soon! I want it! so i guess it's not all bad. right now i'm looking forward to getting SC HotS and company of heroes 2, after that i'm sure they'll cook up something nice to make me upturn my wallet again. isn't that star citizen thing out somewhere this year?

 

[Edl01]

I like the increased focus on character and story. Stories in games are starting to feel more adult rather than feeling like a 12 year olds idea of the word "adult". Games like Spec Ops and the new Tomb Raider have great and mature stories, while just a few years ago the idea of "adult" simply meant having a space marine with a really large muscled man growly voice swearing every two minutes.

I am not going to lie; I also like the new graphics, games are starting to look so good nowadays. I will always have love in my heart for 16 bit games, but given the choice I wouldn't go backwards.

The introduction of Indie games and Kickstarter allows for developers to develop unique and origional games cheaply, which means we are getting more games that are taking risks, which is good since at the start of the Generation it because too expensive to take any risks with your games lest you become liek Psychonaughts.

More and more games are incorporating elements of choice into the game,which is great because the ability to choose what you do is what seperates games from movies and what seperates the Call of Duty's from the Deus Ex's. However this is a double edged sword in many ways, because a proper groundwork hasn't really been made quite yet for the "choice" system, and a lot of games seem stuck with the "good" and "evil" system which is really flawed in my opinion.

The nostalgia fanboys get funnier every day with their claims that the origional Mario had a brilliant story and that Starcraft Broodwar has better graphics than starcraft II.

I feel I am going on a bit now. I could probably come up with just as many problems if asked by overall I am quite happy with the current state of the industry.

You'd need to be more specific about what you mean by the current state of gaming. I haven't bought a single game for nearly a year because nothing has interested me, and that pretty much sums up my feelings on gaming currently. I'm a fan of RPGs, survival horror, strategy games and MMOs. There haven't been any RPGs, survival horrors, or strategy games worth a shit released on consoles since... 2010, ish.

PC gaming master race.