Would you go back to the old days? (Current teenagers might not understand)

[Toriver]

Someone earlier mentioned "joy", and THAT's what I think games are getting away from today, aside from Nintendo, that so many older games had in spades, and it was a big part of what made those games so fun. We do have unprecedented technical capability and options for customization in our games today, and that's awesome. But a worrying trend I see is that the price of technical progress seems to be the loss of "innocence" in games, so to speak. Sure, an epic soundtrack and innovative gameplay can be enjoyable, and there is a great variety of genres to choose from. But where have those bright, vibrant colors gone? Why does every character in every game have to have some dark, tortured soul? Why does just about every game with a plot nowadays revolve around the horrors of war? Why is Hell a more common setting than the Mushroom Kingdom in games today? It feels like "hardcore" games today have hit a similar vibe to the crappy '90s "gritty reboot" era in comics, trying to appeal to the more "mature" tastes of their "adult" fans and losing a big part of their aesthetic magic in the process. Games don't have to be "grimdark" or deconstruct previous game tropes to be fun and exciting. I would guess that's why I've been playing far more older games lately while my big brick consoles have been gathering dust.

 

[neonsword13-ops]

Good thing you threw in the "Might" in the title. *Glares*

I wouldn't go back for gaming purposes, I would go back for music. Back in time when music was spot on. (Queen, Boston, AC/DC, etc)

 

[Vault101]

whoa whoah WHOA


did you just say somthing GOOD about todays music?

shit man! dont talk like that...then the universe really WILL imlpode in on itself

I can't tell if you are serious or not.

But, yeah i did. Most kinds of music have their respective merits and modern pop is not exempt from that.

And i like bothering people by supporting villefied things.

really I'm just...sooo surprised

we are on the internet, NO ONE on the internet has anything good to say about "todays music"

but I agree with you, I'm sick of peopel writing off "todays music" I mean does the latest album of your favorite band count as "todays music"?

 

[Vault101]

there nothing I detest more than "nostalga worship" no offence to OP, but its all about persepctive

Maybe I'm in a nostalgic mood or maybe I read too much marketing related decisions regarding games that I want to talk about this but, here goes.

Being born in the early 80s, it was amazing, this new thing called a Nintento came out, I could move a character around in a really weird environment that I used to dream about in bright shiny colors. I watched cartoons about a 13 year old teenager (Mighty max) who opened up portals to other places with a huge sword wielding barbarian, a know it all sage *cough* chicken *cough* to do battle with a bloody Demon who could conjure up Lava creatures.

Now all I see are cooperations running everything that comes out game wise, innovation is a dirty word for investors, main stream is something that became the norm once they could digest innovation and many... MANY movies suck because they want to be friendly to everyone and end up denigrating the generation that made space movies and fantasy movies POPULAR.(ok have a billion eggs you're bound to have a million bad ones in there)

I for one would gladly go back to having low budget games made by some guy in his garrage if only to not feel like a pawn in a massive chess game, forced to try and enjoy crap because that's all I'm going to get for the most part.

1. the past probably wasnt as amazing as your making it out to be, but I imgaine you only remember what was "good" about it...the filter of time you know...

2. you were a kid, kids dont see things ciritically they can enjoy things that adults would find terrible

3. in the end NO....the past was NOT better

and its called change..change is the way of things....I can look back on the past favorably but I dont want to get hung up on it thats not a good way to be....

in the same sense I detest the Idea of "highschool is the best time of your life"

to me the current gen of gaming as SOO much to offer and pretty much all my favorite games are from this gen

I belive the future of gaming also has alot to offer

in conclusion...sorry but I think your suffering from a serious case of nostalga goggles....take them off and the world is a bit brighter...(ok that sounded stupid but I stand by my point)

I hate this argument "oh the game is old, it must be nostalgia".

Allow me to ruin that argument with 2 videos.


Thats harry potter, on the PS1. It was a great gmae.

Here is the latest harry potter
(I dislike his oppinion at times, but)

I dont agree completely with the OP. But older games are sometimes, just better than the shit we see today. They are also being ruined by people after profit e.g DA2, many people n charge dont know a thing about games, jjust at it makes lots of money to make them. A new dev may put much more effort in becuase they NEED the game to sell, so sometimes smaller devs are just better than the big budget guys who spend it all on graphicor other crap.

sorry BUT...

your using a movie tie in game as an example of a lack of quality in todays games

first of all ANY gamer...not just hardcore but almost ANY knows that thease games are often bad by default and dont touch them with a ten foot pole

because they are just cheap cash ins

I mean you look at some of the best games of this gen...and theres some great stuff there

and YES there were amazing games back then as well

but Im sorry peopel who blindly (note the word blindly) worship nostalga are idiots

 

[Smooth Operator]

Why would I want to go back, all that existed 10 or 20 years ago is still around and it's hell of alot more affordable to play those games now.

Plus you got the new games now, sure 95% is shite but that is no different from back in the day, we may only remember the goldies but there is no shortage of crappy oldies.

 

[thepyrethatburns]

Maybe. Looking at it from a total situation perspective, some things about the 80s were better than they are now. Some things were worse.

But, if we're just talking about games, I would like to point something out to the people who keep showing us pictures of today's graphics vs yesteryear's graphics. All the pretty graphics have come at a cost.

And, with certain series, the older games hold up better than the newer ones such as Unreal Tournament.
The beloved one.

the one blamed for destroying the community.

Sure, the graphics got better but everything else kinda didn't. I did like Unreal Tournament 3 and I do think that it was somewhat harshly judged. But I agree that it is the weakest of the Unreal Tournaments.

So, no. Not everything has improved.

 

[Trippy Turtle]

My main problem is that they seem to be running out of plot ideas. I want Jak 4 goddammit!

 

[LittleBlondeGoth]

Born in 1978, so I'm really old compared to most of you.

Back in the late 80's / early 90's, I was the proud owner of an Amiga. And you know what? I've still got it. I still have all the games (complete with code wheels, manuals, copy protection wheels etc), it still works, and every now and then I do still play it. Admittedly on a very small TV, because 1990 graphics just aren't built for a 1080p 50" plasma.

Yes there's a certain amount of nostalgia associated with it. But a lot of the games I had for that Amiga were really bloody good. I shall cite the following:

Speedball II, Cannon Fodder, Eye of the Beholder, Cadaver, Frontier Elite, Ishar, Gods, Rainbow Islands, The Chaos Engine, Zool, Dungeon Master, Ultima V, UFO Enemy Unknown, Populous II, Lure of the Temptress, Secret of Monkey Island. And these are but a few.

Consider the limitations of the media at that time, and some of this stuff was incredible. Games were on floppy disks, remember. 8bit and 16bit colour and sound. Sure, it's all terrible looking compared to what gets published these days, but this is twenty years ago. Everything was still being figured out. If you've grown up with consoles, then you may well scoff at all the games I listed above. But for those of us who grew up with the industry as it evolved, there's a lot of titles from the old days that have stuck with us. Elite for example - set in space, trading goods between planets, upgrading your spaceship... Actually, this sounds a lot like EVE Online, just with worse graphics.

 

[ralfy]

Given peak oil, chronic economic crises, and the long-term effects of climate change, we will go back to the old days.

 

[Zantos]

There are probably about the same proportion of good games now to good games then, it's just the fact we only remember the good ones. Ah nostalgia.

This was only the nineties though so maybe I missed the golden era when only brilliant games came out.

 

[Apprentice88]

I miss my 80's - 90's Cartoons. But I have to admit the games we have nowadays are bloody awesome.

 

[LittleBlondeGoth]

I don't think anyone can deny that some of what gets published these days is incredible - it is. The technology and skills used to design and develop games have come on by leaps and bounds in the past two decades, and it will only get better. Words cannot express my happiness at the fact that some old game mechanics - 3 lives then game over springs immediately to mind - have been consigned to the annuls of history. This is all good news.

But I don't believe you can just take everything that came before, especially if you are too young to have experienced it first hand, and bundle it all up as being crap, because it wasn't.

Some of it was appalling, granted. But I think it's good to have an appreciation for the older stuff - these games paved the way for what we have today. Besides, how many of the old titles are currently being re-released for handheld and mobile devices? Some have had their graphics engines updated, but the essential gameplay and story remains what it once was. Monkey Island for example - you can choose between new or old graphics, but it's the same game that I used to play on that Amiga. Just with less disk swapping.