What happened to gaming in general?

No more classic RPG's where you can immerse yourself in the world, with the characters, ambience and doesn't seem to be much romance or deep emotions involved. Market seems to be predominent now with smash, bash, shoot em up games.

That's how I see games like Far Cry 3, Dark Soul, Tomb Raider even the Batman series. I mean are you old enough to played any of the classic, charming, unique games like Spyro, Crash Team Racing and so on. Those for example were not RPG's or had any story, but the gameplay was a blast. Most importantly the replayability, collecting platinum relics was fun to do.

Now, all I see is plain, emotionless, shallow products overwhelmed with generic stories, generic features. Can any developer out there release a product where the player at the end will be WOW, what a great experience. A product where the world, the characters involved will be something to look up to. A truly engaging, conflicting story and epic battle and struggles between forces about a true purpose.

I have not seen a great game released in a long long time...

I hear ya about the gameplay but I sincerely doubt writing in video games is worse. I think its much better now. Games are popular now !

Also I strongly doubt classic RPGs were like that.

You are judging while looking through rose-tinted goggles; it's more about nostalgia than anything else.

There have been great games in recent history, some very refined titles over the last few years.

In fact, Dark Souls is one of those, escaping the current RPG tropes while embracing the old-school approach, coupled in with great lore and superb world design.

As for storyline, there is a masterful story coming from the most unexpected of places - Spec Ops: The Line has one of the deepest and most compelling narratives in gaming yet.

Point is, there are always good games in the bunch, you just have to know which ones are made with heart and soul. Otherwise, you might have stopped liking video games altogether; unfortunately, that's a common thing nowadays.

#I'd disagree about a lack of immersion, if you pick the right game its still there; Skyrim or Mario Galaxy (1 & 2) for example. I also think that immersion will have a decent opportunity with new tech like the Oculus Rift, plus new titles (assuming they deliver) such as Dayz & Star Citizen. I own a PS3, 360, PC & a Wii & have been gaming since the days of 8-bit machines; by far the best games I own from an immersive point are on the PC, over the years I've found that the PC has provided me with the best choice for games I enjoy, especially now with the type of games available via Steam; there are some great games on the consoles though - Mario Galaxy & God of War for example. That said I'm not going to bother with next gen's such as Xbone or ps4 as I 've found the PC games library & quality of content to be vastly superior to consoles for games I enjoy over the years.

I do see what you are saying about generic games & a loss of the wow factor, part of the problem is that the gaming industry is what 35 years old? & you're going to get more than a fair bit of recycling & bandwagon jumping in that until technology moves further forward. Take COD & the FPS style franchise for example, what can you honestly do to that product that would make it original, fresh, immersive & still keep people playing & make the publisher money? oh and HASNT been done EVER before in any way - on current hardware.

Recent or New games that offer a decent story & good game content you may want to consider

The Walking Dead & Wolf Among us

Skyrim

Dayz ( I'm saying this as the story is what YOU make it)

Mass Effect Series

I've been gaming for 35+ years and I have more great games to play these days then ever before.

You should play deadly premonition. Thank me later.

@Kopogero: Those game are still being made. They are just presented in a different genre of game. Tho you are correct about the mass of dull games with no emotions tied.

Dues Ex HR is an amazing game with an amazing story. Ni Nu Kuni is one of the best emotionally told jrpg last gen. The last of us has an amazing story with tons of emotions attached. Guacamelee is one the best castlevania-ish game last gen. Darksiders is more or less the best Zelda esque games last gen. Dragon Age Origins is yet another great rpg.

Those games are out there, they are just over shadowed by the games that are made to appeal to the masses.

@Kopogero: This is a great time for gaming, and can only get even better. There's a whole bunch of games out there and not everyone likes emotionally envolving stories in a game, some people want a quick fix of high octane action, some people like a more slower paced thoughtful game, it's up to you to research and find the games that most appeal to you, they are out there.

It's funny how you talk about "no more classic RPG's" and them being cold and emotionless these days, but you compare them to to spyro, and crash team racing, would be nice to know what classic RPG's you've experienced that gave you these wonderful experiences. :)

Also if you can't find any games nowadays that are "a blast to play" then I think your done with modern gaming and should just stick to games of the past.

For me personally, with the types of games I like, it's as good as ever. I loves games with great narrative and strong character development, and this has improved drastically over the last generation.

@ hrt_rulz01

What about gameplay ? Wheres the love for gameplay ? :(

They do make charming games still. Puppeteer for PS3 is amazing. If you want old classic RPG's then play Bravely Default on 3DS. As far as kart racers go, I believe Mario Kart 8 is coming out next month. You could also try playing Modnation Racers, Little Big Planet Karting, and Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed. F1 All Stars is also ok. Honestly, I do not get your point.

You haven't been looking hard enough.

I guess we were way overdo for another "GAMING SUXS NAO" thread in GGD. We used to get these at least once a month back when the forums were more active.

@ Lucky_Krystal

Hey You're Back ! :D its been a while !

I enjoy gaming today more than ever before, but I can share the sentiment even though I think it's a view borne from nostalgia. The thing that's bothered me most since gaming has hit it bigtime is that certain niche genres are no longer catered to as the small amount of people that will buy are just not enough to justify investment of AAA budgets. I can only ever dream of having a new AAA SWAT game, or an old school Rainbow Six title. Or a new Silent Hunter with near photo realistic graphics and top production values. Or top of the line 2D games. Or isometric RPGs. Etc etc.

Indies and Kickstarter kind of address this problem but only so much. It's just the price for gaming becoming mainstream. With such investments needed, creativity and risk are usually bypassed for sure bet LCD games.

@ MirkoS77

Isn't Isometric just a different viewing Angle ?

Can't Mods make a quick fix for that ? And does Diablo 3 count ?

My tastes are quite different from the tc's with flight sims as my favorite genre. The PC used to have a ton of them back in the 80's and 90's. Now, there's just a steady trickle. But, a steady trickle is better than none at all. The genre still makes up the core of my gaming. But, it's been supplemented by modern games in other genres.

My only beef with current games is the insane amounts of hand-holding and training wheels. But, on the PC at least, there are ways to eliminate them and tailor the games more to my tastes.

Dark souls , Skyrim , The Witcher , Mass Effect ...

there you go ...

There is more money in games now, that's why. But what games have you been playing? Games like Ni No Kuni, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, etc all have awesome stories. There are good stories in games if you look for them

There are a ton of games out there of the kind you´re asking for but i think the problem is more your state of mind, than a lack of good games.

So perhaps you just got different interests now or simply grown out of gaming

@ Jacanuk

"Growing out of Gaming"

I've been thinking about this alil bit. Maybe people game to fufill a certain hunger or need. I think people grow out of gaming when something else slides into your life that satisfies that same need or even supercedes it.

@Kopogero: been thinking the same exact thing, and I LITERALLY just made a post about it not knowing you were feeling the same. please comment on my post as well :)

Gameplay is just as important, of course. But to me, this aspect hasn't really gotten worse. Maybe games are more on the easier side of the difficulty curve nowadays, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing... IMO anyway.

@ hrt_rulz01

They lower the Difficulty to reel in more gamers.

Anyway, back to story. The writing and plots and characters have certainly gotten better but most story driven games still deliver the story passively, usually by cutscenes. I think cutscenes don't belong in gaming.

In general, yes, I prefer little to no cutscenes in games. Games like Half-Life 2 & Bioshock did it best I think.

However, if cutscenes are done right, they can be good. The Naughty Dog games come to mind, as well as Mass Effect.

@ hrt_rulz01

But its not the best use of the medium. Its like a comic book that doesn't use a alot of image driven narrative.

Think of it this way... When a feature from one medium transitions into another medium... It should respect what that medium specializes in. If comic books borrow written texts from books then they should intergrate them in image form since imagery is what comic books specialize in. So if you must read something, it might be street signs or a birthday card with in the images.

If video games must borrow cutscenes then they must intergrate them interactively, since interactivity is what games specialize in. If they can't do that then whats the point ? Might aswell just watch movies... They're better at doing that.

Oh and as for Half Life and Bioshock... And Dead Space, it isn't as much interactive narrative as it is just narrating the story in way the doesn't get in the gameplay's way. The story is still delivered passively but its no longer obstrusive the way Uncharted or Metal Gear Solid were with cutscenes.

TL:DR Version: Beyond Two Souls is the way to go. :p

Well what games do you think do it the best? Games like Half-Life & Bioshock don't have cutscenes, but deliver the story in-game while you still control the character. So what's wrong with that?

Maybe don't have games with stories? Just play Mario. I don't get it.

Ya i know "growing out of gaming" i normally hate to use it, but it i think it describes what has happened here, because its not the games and particular RPG games have become a lot better than the earlier versions.

But ya its just to describe the fact that people find other interests, which it seems OP have done.

@ hrt_rulz01

As I've mentioned, simply delivering the Story is not enough. All cutsceneless games like Bioshock and Half Life managed to do was solve the Problem of obtrusive narrative.

They're only half way there.

I better example would be Beyond Two Souls, its not even a game, its an Interactive Drama. In Beyond, all interactions are focused towards driving the plot foward, the "gameplay" is designed to be more intuitive to each context than to be challenging to satisfy your inner competitor. it also doesn't undermine the story by using it as some sort of reward. Its the 1st step at true interactive narrative where you can actually partake in the story instead of experiencing from the outside looking in.

theres plenty of good classic style rpgs its just you people only play whats popular give some of the niche stuff a chance

there a game called disgaea 4 you should try it some time (because god knows who did)

I can truly relate to everything you said... games today really are losing what made them so special, and they really are lacking in depth and emotion... like I said, I can truly relate to everything you said.

If all you follow is every mainstream release, then I could see how you'd think that, TC. But there are a lot of great games out there that are destined to become classics. Hell, some of the really mainstream ones are great and reminiscent of old games (Super Mario Galaxy games, anyone?)

Do some research, ANY amount of research beyond the mega popular games and you will find a lot of great games worth playing. For instance, you said there's a lack of great RPGs? Well, you're wrong. Buy a handheld. There are almost too many great, worthy RPGs to play on handhelds.