What happened to Strategy?

[Mr.Switchblade]

Is it just me, or am i seeing a frightening lack of caring in the real time strategy wold? I know Starcraft 2 is coming out but it really seems that only Korea actually cares, and even then Starcraft 2 isn't the only rts out there. Even reviewers like Yahtzee barely give them notice. Maybe its related to the boom of systems like the wii which box out PCs. Is the genre going the way of the puzzle game? Played only by the few traditionalists and not featured mainstream. What do you think?

 

[Fineldar]

Maybe because there really aren't any coming out? But that's probably because I don't pay attention, which is kind of the point, but I just ignore bad stuff, so there's your problem.

 

[Fightgarr]

RTS is still pretty alive and well. The hype for Dawn of War 2 seems to still be huge. I'm pretty sure it has a ways to go before it goes the way of the adventure game.

 

[Incompl te]

Strategy is just too hard for a majority of people to grasp. They prefer the easy 'spoon fed' method of how to get through a FPS.

 

[oni565]

I'm hyped for Starcraft 2, and I'm not Korean

 

[Projekt Spartan]

Well Red Alert 3 just came out, and thats an RTS. From what I hear, its doing fairly well.

 

[TundraWolf]

I dunno. Dawn of War 2 is on the way out, and it's looking pretty sweet. Also, I can think of two forays into RTS territory developed exclusively for console gaming: EndWar and Halo Wars (though the latter is yet to be released). On top of those, we've had Red Alert 3 that just came out. Hell, even the guys who did Sins of a Solar Empire are releasing a downloadable expansion sometime in the foreseeable future. And then we have Starcraft 2 on the way.

I think it just seems like there aren't as many RTS games anymore because the recent trend these days has been towards FPS games. I don't think there's a substantial drop in the quantity of them that are coming out; it's just the comparison to the overwhelming numbers from other genres that make it seem that way.

 

[Damolition]

Tim Curry would like a word with you.

RTS games are everywhere.

 

[pantsoffdanceoff]

Hell, if you REALLY want strategy and you live and breath tactics, go buy yourself the Warhammer: the battle for skull pass kit. It may not be a videogame but it's really quite enjoyable.

 

[Kuraigekage]

I've had C&C: Red Alert 3 since Christmas. I've beaten all the campaigns and can beat any AI of any skill level. My buddy and I have yet to check out the online community but hope to do so soon.

See, the thing about RTS is the amount of replayability there is. That is, if the game offers a decent enough AI build to allow for sufficient replayability. Strategy is dynamic; there may be one or two ways to 'always win' but with random map generators and difficulty settings, the possibilities are truly endless if the game's built right (in no other game is this better demonstrated than Civ III: Complete. Civ IV, by the way, is for panzies with short attention spans who don't care for simple micromanaging and mathematics).

The 90's and early 00's were dominated by the likes of Age of Empires, Command and Conquer, Starcraft/Warcraft, and other RTS greats. I feel that the RTS scene has lost mainstream focus not because of a lack of talent or resources in the development department, but because of an overall decrease in the average attention span of today's teenager.

 

[Marv21]

Strategy Died with Halo

 

[the_tramp]

Is it me or did Red Alert 3 seemingly fly by without anyone really noticing. The day before it was released I thought 'oh, I wonder what happened to that', only to find that it was released the next day. No hype (which isn;t necessarily a bad thing) but people need to be made aware of them - I think that's the major issue, a lack of funding in order to promote. Didn't Left 4 Dead have a $10 million marketing campaign or something stupid like that?

 

[vid20]

RTS is still pretty alive and well. The hype for Dawn of War 2 seems to still be huge. I'm pretty sure it has a ways to go before it goes the way of the adventure game.

DoW 2 has a hype outside of DoW, and the WH40k's fanbase?

 

[vid20]

Hell, if you REALLY want strategy and you live and breath tactics, go buy yourself the Warhammer: the battle for skull pass kit. It may not be a videogame but it's really quite enjoyable.

Wooot. Druichii general here, with nearly 4000 pts of Dark elves at my command. Muhahaha. Also some 2500pts of Britonians.

 

[pantsoffdanceoff]

Hell, if you REALLY want strategy and you live and breath tactics, go buy yourself the Warhammer: the battle for skull pass kit. It may not be a videogame but it's really quite enjoyable.

Wooot. Druichii general here, with nearly 4000 pts of Dark elves at my command. Muhahaha. Also some 2500pts of Britonians.

Very nice. I play myself a mean skaven army at 5000 points. Lol, I need to tote around a fraking van to hold that kind of army. Warhammer is awesome.

 

[vid20]

Hell, if you REALLY want strategy and you live and breath tactics, go buy yourself the Warhammer: the battle for skull pass kit. It may not be a videogame but it's really quite enjoyable.

Wooot. Druichii general here, with nearly 4000 pts of Dark elves at my command. Muhahaha. Also some 2500pts of Britonians.

Very nice. I play myself a mean skaven army at 5000 points. Lol, I need to tote around a fraking van to hold that kind of army. Warhammer is awesome.

Skaven make me the sad's. Warp lightning still gives me nightmares... I'm looking forward to the new Skaven book, so you can do more exciting things with Skaven then just Skyer heavy lists.. seriously.. WTB clan Moulder love... getting off topic..

back on topic.

There is still some good strategy out there? right? CoH anyone?

 

[RenegadeRed]

RTS are starting to fade, I agree. Personally I blame the shift away from PC gaming to console gaming. RTS is only great on the PC because the mouse is STILL a more accurate pointer than any controller currently on the market - incredible, considering the mouse is more than 50 years old.

Don't even get me started on the death of RTS's precessor, the TBS. Well I guess the Civilization and Heroes series are still around, but a release rate of 1 game per year is hardly enough to satisfy an enthusiast. Seriously, what happenned to TBS? It just seems like when RTS rolled around, everybody forgot about TBS and ditched it. Why? It was fun!

So what happenned was that every studio began developing RTS and oversaturated the market... so now people are sick of RTS's because they all seem too much alike and the only ones getting any attention are the ones innovating and radically evolving the RTS formula (e.g. Dawn of War)... assuming you can call glorified 3rd person capture-and-hold FPS gameplay innovative.

 

[pantsoffdanceoff]

Skaven make me the sad's. Warp lightning still gives me nightmares... I'm looking forward to the new Skaven book, so you can do more exciting things with Skaven then just Skyer heavy lists.. seriously.. WTB clan Moulder love... getting off topic..

back on topic.

There is still some good strategy out there? right? CoH anyone?

First to be on topic: Age of Empires is an oldie but goodie and I'm sure they plan to release another.
Back off Topic: don't be silly sir, I am clan pestilence, plague monks FTW!

 

[TundraWolf]

There is still some good strategy out there? right? CoH anyone?

I forgot about Company of Heroes! They're developing a new installment for it, too. Looks pretty cool, from what I've seen of it.

 

[Raven28256]

I know what you guys mean. I love RTS games, but we have been in an RTS drought for the last few years. There used to be a lot of great RTS games released every year. Now, we only get a few good, moderately high budget RTS titles per year. Even then, RTS games are getting more simplistic. EndWar, while fun with a unique concept, is about as bare bones and simplistic as RTS games get.

I think it is just that too many gamers these days don't like to think while they play. RTS games don't sell nearly as well as they used to, while shallow action titles can push many, many copies. So, RTS games aren't as commercially viable as, say, Generic Shooter Dude 25. Therefore, developers shy away from the genre more and more. While RTS gaming isn't dead yet, I wouldn't be surprised if it gets there within the next few years. High profile RTS games, hell, even low profile ones, are getting fewer and further between. The fact that most developers are turning towards console gaming over PC gaming doesn't help; RTS games are generally pretty weak on consoles.

Actually, really good Western RPGs are getting less common too, but that is a debate for another time.