Thursday 17 March 2016

What the hell is happening to gaming?

Fallout 4, Battlefront, Destiny, The Division, Far Cry 4/Primal, Halo 5.

These are all popular games that are well made games. They look pretty, they feel good, and they just "work".

So why the hell do they feel so lifeless?

Take Fallout 4 for example. There is so much to do in that game, .more than any other fallout to date but there's no consequences to your actions. You find a terminal here, you pick up some loot so you can build that attachment or mod that armour but all that is put right back into the grind to get better this or that.

Or Destiny/The Division. Amazing MMOs which are LOADS of fun with friends. Shoot baddies, get loot, and get ever closer to that legendary gun or roll the dice with an engram. But..other than shoot enemies to get " stuff" to get better guns to shoot harder enemies, what is there?

Or Battlefront...a game that looks and sounds exactly like Star Wars. I never dreamed it would be this realistic...but the game is shallow..you shoot the same eneimes in the same spots in the same ways, a stormtrooper is dropped on the battlefield onefore and immediately blown up by a grenade. Another stormtrooper finds his order to "capture this point".. The life of the game exists in that tiny area of a large battle of an even larger star wars universe.

Its not about the gaming experience anymore, its about ME. its about MY fun, MY grind to a better wepon or a badass ability.

Take Halo 5. I've never seen so many kickass kills and massive explosions in a halo campaign before. Red team does more kickass shit in the first scene, than Master Chief did in all of Halo 1,2 and 3. Its all about pulling of that " sick combo" that sweet Dodge or quad kill feeds...go online and see Spartans kill each other in flashy yet impractical assassinations while you hear an announcer scream with enthusiasm SNAPSHOT! as you land that sniper no scope.

Where has the attention span gone? No longer do we enjoy a game for the experience, it has to be MY journey.No karma in fallout 4, no moral decisions, no slaver camp thats holding women and chuldren hostage.. No button to or not to destrpy an entire town, no desert wasteland twisted with last dying breaths of capitalistic greed...there os no heartbeat in Boston.. Just a Minecraft wasteland full of supplies for MY journey to become the ULTIMATE badass!

TL;DR

Amazing games have their soul ripped out and replaced with lotteries (engrams, burn cards, requisitions) Minecraft like supplies who's only purpose is to build you better tools to get better tools (Destiny/Division grind, fallout loot and crafting system) and a single player focus taken out of a Michael Bay movie and a 13 year olds quick scoping montage (explosions and flashy moves, multiplayer medals to reward basic accomplishelments.)

*EDIT games I enjoyed.

Telltale games (walking dead, wolf among us, game of thrones) I don't mind that my choices don't have that much sway it what happens as long as the story is engaging.

Life is strange: I cheated on this one. I haven't played it but I watched a full let's play of it..amazing game I was hooked the whole way.

Idk if anyone has ever played Tom Clancy's endwar but I absolutely loved that game.

I prefer one of two ways (or both) which kind of contradicte each other. I enjoy a game with possibilities. Whether through upgrades, game mechanics, or effects on the story. A game I can create my own role in the universe (not be "me" in the game). Your fallout 3/new Vegas, mass effect, strategy games.

Or a game that has a linear story to tell but it's messy and grey and maybe emotional. It has depth to it and maybe your character is on one side. Ok, I can do this it's "us vs them" and that's just our lot in this universe. I'm a Spartan supersoldier and its horrible to hear about the grunt rebellion and the suffering the grunts have gone through but I'm still going to shoot him in the face. Me or him.



by Usernametaken112 http://ift.tt/1R0sBR7

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