Why don't console gamers complain about dumbing down?

My friends, I recall Dragon Age 2, the rage, the passion, the scorn. Fallout 3, mature hardcore gamers rebelled. Refusing to acknoldege the paid for reviews. Bioshock, gamers of a mature System Shock 2 players, inquisitively perturbed, raising eyebrows at Bioshocks praise.

It seems commonly accepted pc gamers are highly critical when it comes to video games. With a keen eye taking both contemporary and the history of the genre into account.

Why don't console gamers care? They never seem to have a voice of distention.

Spoon fed.

I actually agree with this. Most "console gamers" have either just gotten into gaming since maybe the PS2 area at earliest, or they are just too young to have experienced older games. Games from the NES to the N64/PS1 era were all pretty difficult in their own right.

Are we on the same internet TC? The same internet that was extremely vocal about Mass Effect 2? Seems to me you've made this situation up by looking at things extremely selectively.

1) They don't know any better. When a game doesn't lead them by the hand like a child with Downs syndrome it's "too hard" and give up.

2) They haven't played earlier games in a franchise that was once great, so have nothing to compare it to. I know several people that FO3 was their first Fallout game.

3) They don't like hard games. Like it or not, some people enjoy easy games with 10 hour campaigns that they can go immediately sell at Gamestop for credit after they beat it. Sure, some games like the Souls series and XCOM have been in direct rebellion of this trend, but it's far from the norm for most console titles.

I have been a cow for a little over a decade, and I'm admitting these simple truths.

*sigh*

I'm probably going to become a hermit this gen.

Because they don't know any better. Consolites are like children.

It has all been said. They don't care because the game has been brought down to an acceptable level for them.

Only PC gamers have standards for games. Console games are more akin to a hivemeind that just accepts blindly whatever the developer spoon feeds them.

Only PC gamers have standards for games. Console games are more akin to a hivemeind that just accepts blindly whatever the developer spoon feeds them.

There is backlash everytime a publisher slightly changes something from a major franchise, and there is backlash if they rehash a game from a major franchise, what messageboards are you guys reading? Because you arent reading Neogaf or System Wars.

That title... you MUST be kidding!

I've seen plenty of console only franchises being regarded as "dumbed down". Examples:

-Ninja Gaiden (see the poor reception of III)

-Mario (yes, even Nintendo is not safe from this)

-Zelda (Eiji Aonuma broke the base quite far, I'll admit)

-Several fighting games (too many to name)

It never cease to amaze me when you see so many ridiculous people such ridiculous things.

As long as I enjoy the game, I really don't care if it's "dumbed down".

@princessgomez92:

agree..and if dumbing down means more fun and less struggle...hermits really have too much time on their hands..go play some of your steam games.

I was sort of wondering why p_c gamers don't demand the developers make more exclusives for pc. It must be quite tiring always petitioning for ports of console games.

Spoken as if that's a bad thing. With such a vast and interesting library of great games, we frequently enjoy the many games available on the platform.

I'm sure some games get dumbed down but what I play on pc or console are way better than decades ago no contest.

Rebelled or whined? :O

And I don't know why console gamers are "less" critical than PC gamers. Quite the broad generalization. Maybe priorities are in different places?

They do actually. But people shouldn't look at it in black and white. Just because a system in a game is simplified doesn't mean it's inherently bad. You need to look at it and see how it effects the game and how it's played.

It depends on the franchise. A lot of games were born on PC and then after a couple of releases, the series expands to consoles. Each new game release sees a good amount of streamlining and "dumbing down" but things take a sharp turn, most of the time, when developers expand to consoles or mobiles. It is a brand new audience that needs to be catered to and consoles are suppose to be simple, not complex.

So PC gamers complain the most because that certain series has been present in PC landa for quite a while, it has some history. Console gamers base their view on the first entry that hit their platforms.A lot of console born serieses has been dumbed down though.

The common thing between both is that; it is always a niche minority that complains vocally while the masses don't care or enjoy it the new direction.

This^

Example: The Witcher 2 is dumbed down and streamlined in so many ways compared to Witcher 1, but that doesn't get trashed talked much.

We all whined, but you better believe we bought it day 1 and all the DLC on release.

Then we get on the Bethesda boards and complained. Did Bethesda listen? LOLOLOLOLOLOL no

Bethesda already had our money and didn't give a shit about a few nerds raising hell on the internet for FO3 being a failure in every way except commercially.

Because it's acceptable to us. Don't ever think that everybody have the same opinion.

Well because as far as I remember playing DA1 on a game controller with crappy frame rates wasn't exactly an amazing experience to begin with. DA2 was bearable but still people still complained about it's repetitive use of environments along with a list of other things.

I really admire pc gamers. They are a much needed voice against the tyranny of corporate greed and cynicism. These fellows should be admired.

Because they don't care. So long as they are getting their action fix, they couldn't care less about depth or complexity of mechanics.

Because they don't know what they're talking about.

I've never heard console gamers care about deep mechanics in a game anyway. Hell you have so many people praising the recent Tomb Raider and that couldn't have been more dumbed down

I did enjoy it but wtf happened with complex puzzles from previous titles xD,it was just "no-brain usage" type of game.

It was a lot better than the past shitty tomb raider games. You praise Metro LL and that was dumbed down and worse than the first one.

Consolites are either young or just bad at video games. THey are used to QTE and AutoAIM. They are not real gamers, just casuals who want thier 1 hour of CoD in.

Pretty sure everyone hated Dragon Age 2, including consolites.

Kinda sad to see some more "level headed" posters on here agree with such a blanket (and obviously troll) statement.

If a person is a console video gamer and they can never be a PC video gamer for whatever reason, they may be thankful for whatever they can get and not nitpick about what they do not have or what could be better.

This thread is hilarious. Hermits are bragging about playing "hard" games yet all they play are dumb easy RTS, point and click adventures and super easy button mashing MMO's. LMAO.

PC gamers are the ones who have ADD and just button mash/hack and slash dumb lv 78 mages. NERDS!

Nice to know nothing has changed. Hermits still coming to System Wars to get their eogs stroked

what's an eog?

PC gaming belongs in the 90's where it died there. Every hermit I know in real life is a virgin loser and I feel so bad for them. All they do is hunch over and button mash "Oh man, were going to raid a dungeon!.....again for the 500th time". Losers.

You're an idiot

I admitted it was dumbed down but it also did a lot of things better than the first. It afforded more freedom in a lot of the levels and the stealth while easy was a LOT better than 2033's as was the shooting. Some other things then were just easier to understand like your air meter and whether you were in the dark or not.

Metro is one of those guilty pleasure games for me, I know it has major flaws in places but I still enjoy it.

Tomb aider 2013 did some things that were horrible even as a standalone game let alone as a sequel to a great series. It had a better movement system but did **** all with it. It had better combat but that's not really a good thing for a TR game when it's abused and overdone.

All games get streamlined, because thats what the general public wants. PC gamers included. People want to spend more time playing and enjoying the game and less time micromanaging and in menus.

Occasionally games go too far, which is bound to happen. Pretending like consoles are at fault is asinine.

Just look how much easier unit management and using abilities is in SC2 compared to SC1. Look at how they dumbed down Diablo 3, completely removed the skill trees. Let me guess all because of consoles? No they dumbed it down because PC gamers want easier games too.

The only one I would say is Crysis 2, but the other possibility is that Crytek are fucking stupid

I can't get enough of the combat in Tomb Raider. Its so fun. What they need to improve in the next one is the stealth and making the world more open and fun to explore. Also, more reasons to explore. Im playing through Tomb Raider for the 2nd time right now and this time on PC and its still really good.

What did Tomb Raider do horrible?

@lostrib: maybe, maybe not... games are just trending to simpler controls in general. Even a game like guild wars 2 you have only a handful of abilities vs the the 30-40 icons you had all over your screen in WoW.

I cant think of a single game that hasnt followed this trend. Its quite possible that had crysis 2 remained pc exclusive there might have been some different implementations in how they managed the powers. But i would be surprised if the abilities werent streamlined in some fashion and the levels made more linear in an attempt to one up the graphics of their previous title without excluding all the gamers using a mid range rig.

Hell most people still werent able to max out crysis 1 even when crysis 2 was released. Consoles may have influenced it but I doubt crytek would have bucked the trend even if they were out of the equation.

@mems_1224: having played tomb raider legends prior to the tomb raider reboot. They toned down the puzzles and platforming quite a big and added alot more combat sections.

That said it was a far superior game imo as the controls in legends made the platforming a nightmare, though i did miss the puzzle heavy nature.

but overall the new tomb raider was a much much better game as far as im concerned.