Current gen fads, trends, and gimmicks that need to be improved or go away next gen

• Motion controls - it just hasn't been done that well or in an interesting way. Either improve it or eliminate it next gen!
• Squeeze though segments - you know those parts where you have to squeeze through cracks to get to the other part of the level? What is so fun about that? Time to do something better!
• Red barrel - yes, let's finally end this. It's been used less this gen, but it needs to be gone completely!
• Open world - I'm not saying eliminate it, but it's gotten stale. Make the worlds more interesting and lively.
• DLC/Microtransactions - it's gotten better this gen, but it still needs work. I'm ok with cosmetic stuff, but make the most important parts (levels, characters) accessible to everyone.

I'm sure I have more, and I'll update it when it comes to mind! How about you, SW? Current gen fads, trends, and gimmicks that need to be improved or go away next gen?

Regeneratinghealth it's time to take the training wheels off.

Scripted events I rather have things happen organically in a game.

Remasters it's ok to have a full remake built from the ground up but there's to many cash grab remasters that are worthless.

COD clones we still have them and they need to go and change the formula shit is getting old.

Konami

OMG, I agree so much with you. The remasters thing is getting out of control.

My pick is boring open world games. I'm sorry but this fad is crazy. I can't believe the genre hasn't evolved since GTA3.

What is "red barrel"?

I'd be beyond happy if they just got rid of the Micro-transactions.

Microtransactions, easily. That whole storefront shit needs to go.

Won't happen, though.

Explosive barrel. Been a thing since classic Doom (though the barrel isn't always red).

Get rid of Pee Salty Seas for gaming. Everyone should know by now they're for work only. lol :P

Okay serially, it's only happened this gen but that's mooaar than enough. Stop pretending a mobile gaming device is a Console.

Motion controls need to go away. 95% of the time they are useless BS that take away from the experience; the opposite of what they were going for.

Two notable games that did it well... Wii Sports and Warhawk (flight controls). That's it for well done motion controls.

Get rid of VR and stop wasting resources on that gimmick.

Get rid of FPS they are just a waste of time.

Enough with these story heavy games with cutscenes every 5mins (looking at you Sony)

Stop changing the fucking dashboard, MS its a trend you have that has to stop, hopefully the SeX has a fully customisable dashboard from the get go.

- The over-use of 8-bit and 16-bit graphics in indie games.

- The over-sexualization (scantly-clad) of female characters in some Japanese RPGs, especially if their breasts are disportionate to their body.

There are still valid reasons why you'd want "squeeze through segments" in games.

It's still a relatively good way to separate two different visual areas (in particular if you're working with natural environments as opposed to lets say something that can have a door or some other man-made navigation) while providing the gamer with visual context and a sense of action.

I guess a "more natural" way could be to extend the amount of time between the two areas so that you can slowly transition the visual context etc but, then you just made someone navigate for a longer period of time for the same effect or lesser effect. That can sometimes work but, it isn't always effective. It can have several negative side effects to pacing etc.

motion controls work for vr only. it immerses you in the world more and provides more actions to do in fps games instead of point and shoot.

I rather see squeeze through than force slow walking or a load screan. I prefer a slow cool looking door opening.

this is why ssd will change this well only sony first party games because there not making there games on last gen systems or pc.

until developers drop the hdd you will see this in games.

open world needs to improve yes it is getting stale.

Put I do love them.

Crafting is annoying. Just give me the final product or money. Unless it's a survival game. I don't want to rummage through a million drawers or piles of scrap.

RPG elements need to be stripped away from alot of games. Even if they aren't there to make the game grindy (cough Ubisoft cough) they generally just make a game more tedious.

I'd prefer devs stop focusing on story and cinematics and try to focus more on making something fun to play.

All I want from next gen is more emergent gameplay. It's nice to have better graphics and SSDs that render triangles when the game is moving but I want games to be more reacting and spontaneous. I want games that by the end, when I'm sharing a story with someone, we're not talking about the same scripted event that - and lets be honest here! - if you don't play exactly like the developer intends ends up being super clunky and awkward. Yes I'm looking at you Naughty Dog!!!

That's basically why regardless of all my problems with Death Stranding I still recommend it to anyone. And why BotW is my favourite game this gen.

@phbz:

Played MGSV at all? I have so many "stories" from that game that have nothing to do with the story.

It and BotW felt comparable in a lot of ways. I feel BotW is the better all around game, but MGSVs deeper systems allow for more emergent scenarios to play out.

But yeah man, definitely agree. Would love to see more games with layered synergistic systems like that.

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On topic, I'd say it's high time we do away with these clunky overpriced GPUs now that we know SSDs are the real deal.

@ConanTheStoner: GPUs are so last gen. pff

I tried MGV, by the end of that hospital prologue the amount of corny and silly stuff that happened just made me unwilling to give the game a chance. I did the first mission in Afghanistan and when things started going silly again by the end I just uninstalled the game. I just couldn't. Even if a second Death Stranding comes it will be difficult for me to play it. I think Kojima's talent as a game designer is inversely proportional to his talents as a writer.

@virusvaccine21: Really gonna compare GTA3's world to San Andreas, GTA V, Red Dead II etc?

@phbz:

Yeah, his stuffs always been goofy. Used to be enjoyable at least, but MGS3 was his last hurrah. Been a mess since.

That hospital is the absolute worst possible opening the game could have had. Antithetical to everything the game is about.

"Hey guys, how should we ease players into a highly systemic, free form stealth action game that is almost pure gameplay with little story? I know I know! Have them trudge through a scripted cutscene filled slog with cinematic crawling and all!"

Yeah not sure what they were on lol.

But yeah if you do get the urge for that type of game again, can't really think of any that do it better. The wack story bits pretty much cease for long stretches after the part you were at, it's almost all game. Was one of the bigger fan complaints actually, not enough story. Idiots lol. What little story is there definitely only gets worse, but it's almost funny at least.

Can read up on vocal cord parasites copulating in your throat. Good times.

Movie games need to die out.

I'm sick of doing repetitive side missions in an open world game.

I want to do unique missions that are handcrafted. Like the ones we encountered in the Witcher 3 or AC: Origins. Or in fact any memorable RPG ever made.

Not repetitive missions that pop up once or so often, and just involve doing the same thing in a different location. AC Odyssey just has the same camps, where you have to kill the same looking captains, burn the same supplies, over and over.

Go kill 5 sharks across Greece... because that's fun.

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Also please stop it with the retro pixel style graphics as some kind of throwback.

If your game looks like it could run on Gameboy, it's probably because you got lazy with the graphics, not because of some nostalgia trip.

• Micro-transactions and season pass crap
• Remasters (do a proper remake instead)
• Platform-exclusive content for a multiplatform title
• Open world just for the sake of it
• Make a proper VR game, or don't make it at all
• Make use of that "next gen" for something better than just goddamn graphics

Day one patches. I get it, sometimes it happens and a developer needs to put one out there but it seems like every game has one these days and many of them seem to be quite big. It’s not so much of a problem for me to download these time wise, it’s the fact that I like to get my games on physical formats and collect them. All these day one patches make me feel like I’m getting an incomplete product.

Ghost4ever threads.

microtransactions.

The squeeze through segments are there for hiding loading screens. Even the Unreal 5 tech demo had it.

You forgot VR.

Remasters

Loot boxes

Scripted Events

Season passes

Stay away from my red barrels.

Going to share similar sentiment to others in here; improve upon the open-world design. While I am excited for Tsushima, I predict the game is eventually going to devolve into the same old chore-laden checklist tedium borefest that's been the hallmark of Ubi games. 0/10 Harbors burned. 8/10 Shrines found. 3/15 towers unlocked. The Ubi curse. At least the natural elements and their physical interactions in BotW and the emergent gameplay in RDR2 through Euphoria kept things fresh throughout.

Don't know why developers (aside Nintendo) have such a difficult time making the gameplay in their open worlds feels interesting and naturally organic instead of hamfisted, manufactured and artificial, but here's to hoping it will change. It's 2020, this shit's been long past tiresome and it destroys the illusion the genre is so good at presenting when done well.

Less open-world. Or more specifically, less huge open world. I would prefer to see medium-sized, highly-detailed zones with a central hub area than just one massive but diluted world.

Less "games as service". Make the game, release it in good condition, and then make content packs, DLC, or whatever. Stop drip-drip-dripping us fake content with "daily missions" and stuff like that. Go back to basics, focus on making a good game, then make DLC.

Fewer to no rRemasters. Maybe I am biased because I am on PC and we don't need remasters due to infinite BC and modifications, but I would prefer to see real work put into a remake than just a slightly-fancy-but-not-really-different game. I mean most remasters are essentially ports; ports to get a game from the PS3 era to run on the PS4 era.

I would rather see a loading screen.

Turn off scripted boss events in NG+.

@MirkoS77: lol, you like a perfectly placed explosive barrel?

I don't know, I've been enjoying just about every remastered I've purchased so far lol. But I get the sentiment.

Do you think next gen will eliminate the need for loading segments?

Doom, last of us, a laundry list of third person action titles, even the more recent wolfenstein don't have straight up regen health. That's just off the top of my head. That goes without saying that it's hardly a training wheel, it's a reasonable design decision to keep up the pace of the action, because if you're going to create enemies with hit scan weapons, the player has reasonable way to dodge attacks, ergo the player will be hit, so the player has to have a reliable way to stay in combat and still maintain health.

The larger issue is if the game can actively give the player tools to make the most of regenerating health, be it how Halo multiplayer works or Vanquish.

Remasters you people could literally not purchase. Shit is first world problems as ****.

And I'd be hard pressed to think of one major game as an actual CoD clone at this point.

champ, this friend live in 7th gen LOL!.

those things were way common 10 years ago than now. especially Regen health and COD clones.

so for todays fad/gimmick. I want open world fatigue, nearly every game getting RPG elements, bulletsponges mechanics, loot RPG shooters gone now.

@R4gn4r0k: As far as pixel graphics it's more of a style choice than anything else.

Also, when you really get deep into those games, you'll that just because they look like NES/SNES games, that doesn't mean those game are that limited.

Most newer pixel games will have better audio, larger worlds, better save features, and numerous visual effects not found on the Genesis/SNES.

@Star67: Oh yeah, Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario World 1&2 are some of the best looking games I've ever played.

I love high quality 16bit sprites.

It's some of those lower quality 8bit sprites or even gameboy inspired modern games, with lack of variety in their graphics and sprites that I want to see less of.

Options for 60 fps

In theory, perhaps. But, I'm sure someone will come around with wild game mechanics or design that might require the game to load a new segment.

Yea, I'm curious as well since Sony is touting the SSD as super fast.