Unpopular Opinions about Video Games

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

Some enemies or enemy combinations are still a pain in the ass though

Oh yeah, no doubt. The game isn't easy by any means.

Why anyone would enter a dying industry?

Ask Nintendo.

 

[skykiii]

So I was just re-watching this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o87ttqRQB58

Is it weird that I actually kinda like how Oblivion looks on its lowest detail setting? Granted its weird seeing these dark underground places looking fully lit, but the game now has almost a Witchaven vibe (and there's my daily reference to a game I'm sure nobody in this topic has ever played or heard of).

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

Sony more or less succeeded because PlayStation showed up when Nintendo was going full retard with the N64, using overly powerful oddball hardware and no discs.

And then the next generation happened, so they put a DVD in the PS2 that you could control with the gamepad, while Nintendo didn't support DVDs at all (i know about the panasonic Q shut up) and Microsoft demanded you buy a DVD remote. Being the only console with backwards compatibility was nice, too.

And then PS3 came along and it was 'tarded, but then everyone quit caring about the Wii's gimmicks and Microsoft went full retard with the Kinect, so PS3 eeked out a 2nd place result.

And then Nintendo put out another console but forgot to advertise it and let everyone know it's not a weird tablet for dead gay Wii, and Microsoft wanted to shove a camera up your ass and 24/7 monitor your living room with a mandatory internet connection.

Sony's strategy has more or less been that "Luigi wins by doing nothing meme"

Fate really did favor Sony for some reason. Imagine the sheer luck it takes to have both the juggernauts stumble THAT hard simultaneously, and no truly significant 4th contender challenges you either (there were other 5th gen consoles, but they never made a dent unlike 4th gen with TG-16, which at least seemed notable).

On top of that, they launch before Nintendo and shortly after the premature ejaculation of Sega. It could hardly have went much better for them.

But now PC's really catching on, and the Switch was a crazy runaway success that didn't die after a few years like the Wii. With Xbox apparently ditching physical copies altogether, that leaves the PS5 as the only console where you can get physical copies of games that run in 4K, but even that's a little fractured with how so many games are reliant on updates and internet connections. It's apparently a better Blu-ray player than any Xbox, but that's pretty niche at this point. I don't think Nintendo and Valve are gonna screw up this time around. It'll be interesting to see where PlayStation lands in a few years.

Things are definitely getting interesting again, finally, though now not in a hype way but a train wreck sort of way. It's been over a decade since I've really given much of a shit about home consoles, but now we might see the first major shakeup since 6th gen.

 

[Seventh Star]

Stun mechanics are fine, people are usually just out of position.

 

[MembersSchoolPizza]

Those guys still believe in those gods, even if they aren't priests.

... I never said thieves were atheists? Hell, atheists really don't exist in The Elder Scrolls. Basically anyone can talk to a Daedra, for example, if you really want to. The Aedra are a little less chatty, but no less in doubt. People quibble over exactly how to worship them, which ones do what sometimes, the domains people attrbute to them change, but the fact that Aedra and Daedra exist is to a resident of Nirn like saying that the Moon exists to us.

... ironic, given what the "moons" are in The Elder Scrolls....

Every time I hear that someone just had a better time with Morrowind than Skyrim, I think they're one of two people: either they're the kind of guy who'd enjoy a pen-and-paper DnD game more than an action game, or they're being hipsters. In the case of the former, I feel that a pen and paper DnD is the far better option.

Or we can like both?

Among people born pre 2004 yes, mostly. Lot of newfags and oldfags alike are drifting towards 5 for some reason. I dont like V I think its physics is very jank, its too large in file size for the content offered, mechanically shit and too scripted among other things. SA has better gameplay as well personally, fog is universally better, the writing is better in a lot of places, the map is a lot more liminal space like (You can remember your way around the neighborhoods once youve played enough instead of using the map), theres a lot of extra mechanics cause SA was the most experimental GTA (stuff cut from later games off my head since Im replaying it now - taxi minigame, night robbery minigame, vigilante police scanner minigame, the hood wars mechanic, NPC categories, the RPG stats system, jetpack, custom radio station, plane traversal, train traversal, positive/negative responses). It also helps that the world design is fucking great with the deserts, chiliad, the different locales, towns and all the conspiracy theories/myths which people propagated back in the day.

GTA:SA was the last of the mainline GTA games that were basically cartoonish Tarantino-esque settings. 4 was a little borderline in places, but by 5 they had completely shifted to being more of an HBO-y, Breaking Bad / The Sopranos type thing. Still over the top violence, but less "exploitation movie" feel and more big-budget focus-group-tested media.

 

[The Ugly One]

Every time I hear that someone just had a better time with Morrowind than Skyrim, I think they're one of two people: either they're the kind of guy who'd enjoy a pen-and-paper DnD game more than an action game, or they're being hipsters.

Also, as someone who enjoys PnP RPGs a lot, no. A key feature of PnP games is they abstract away huge amounts of time with dice rolls. Want to search for herbs? One roll of the dice, and six hours have passed, and you've found three bunches of herbs. In a Bethesda game, searching for herbs for six hours means sitting your ass on the chair for six hours and staring at the ground.

I think the type of person who loves Bethesda RPGs is the type of person for whom the high concept of the game (world building, story, etc) are more important than the actual minute-to-minute gameplay. I knew a guy who loved herb-hunting in Morrowind and Oblivion. "It makes the world come alive." Bored me out of my mind. He also read every book he came across in those games.

But on the flip side, I can stare at units on a hex map for hours as I position my Panzers and infantry for a perfect strike on the enemy's flanks, and lots of people hate that shit with a passion.

The cliffracers annoyed me, so I used enchanted gear to nuke them whenever they showed up to bother me. Once I learned that fatigue affects *everything* I started using alchemy until I could make a permanent Restore Fatigue amulet.

The type of person who experiences annoying bullshit in a game and then decides he'll invest hours and hours of time into finding rare gear and leveling up skills so he can craft an item to finally make the game suck a little less loved Morrowind. The type of person who experiences annoying bullshit in a game and turns it off to go play something that doesn't take hours upon hours to become fun didn't like Morrowind. There are a lot more people in the second category, which is why it wasn't all that popular.

 

[TVB]

Why anyone would enter a dying industry?

Valve and Nintendo

 

[The Hardest R]

Project Gotham

I miss these types of games. Rallisport Challenge 2 on Xbox kicked a lot of ass too.

If Xbox leaves the console industry like Sega, who would be the third party? Maybe Steam as an indirect competitor in the console market. Pick up where the OUYA failed with a prebuilt console with Windows/Steam OS akin to the Steam Deck. If Value focuses on exclusives again, they could really make a punch.

The market is proving there’s not room for a third console. The thing that sucks is that Sony makes a lot of retarded decisions when they no longer feel there’s competition and Nintendo is content keeping the Switch going for several more years if they could (and so far appears that they can). If you’re a gamer, owning a PC is essential. I think another gaming industry dark age is approaching us.

 

[MembersSchoolPizza]

The market is proving there’s not room for a third console.

I think it's more that the PC is becoming "the third console", particularly with the Steam Deck (and the knockoffs).

The problem is that there isn't a real reason to have both the XBox and the Playstation. As much as I hate Nintendo, even I'll admit their console offers something different. There's no significant difference between a current-gen Microsoft and Sony console.

If there was a substantial difference, I think the market could support it. There just... isn't.

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

Or maybe some people just enjoy a game that is more closer to classic RPG

I'd argue they could play far better RPG's though.

I can understand why someone could enjoy an RPG over an Action/Adventure game with light RPG elements, but I don't understand why someone would enjoy Morrowind over any other RPG.

It'd be like me saying that Adventure of Link is the best Zelda game because it was the best side scrolling action game in the series. Yeah, okay, but that doesn't make it the best Zelda game, and if that is such an important thing to me why the fuck don't I play better side scrolling action games?

 

[The Ugly One]

I think it's more that the PC is becoming "the third console", particularly with the Steam Deck (and the knockoffs).

The longevity of PC hardware has really changed the game. In 2002, if you had a 3-year-old computer, there were very likely already quite a few games on the market you could not even play. For example, Splinter Cell (2002) would not even run on a GeForce 256 (1999). Any games coming out in 2024 that won't run on a Geforce 3080 Ti (2021)?

Fate really did favor Sony for some reason. Imagine the sheer luck it takes to have both the juggernauts stumble THAT hard simultaneously, and no truly significant 4th contender challenges you either (there were other 5th gen consoles, but they never made a dent unlike 4th gen with TG-16, which at least seemed notable).

Big business success comes by being less retarded than your competitors, not smarter. I recently worked for a big business that took aim at an even bigger business. They failed because they didn't understand they needed to be less retarded. They instead decided to be aggressively more retarded and just assume that our "better branding" would win the day.

 

[Kerr Avon]

but the game now has almost a Witchaven vib

The daedra towers especially.

I only tinkered with Witchaven because the same developer worked on TekWar.

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

... I never said thieves were atheists? Hell, atheists really don't exist in The Elder Scrolls. Basically anyone can talk to a Daedra, for example, if you really want to. The Aedra are a little less chatty, but no less in doubt. People quibble over exactly how to worship them, which ones do what sometimes, the domains people attrbute to them change, but the fact that Aedra and Daedra exist is to a resident of Nirn like saying that the Moon exists to us.

Depends. There was one person who was an atheist in Oblivion, but then she becomes pro-Daedra after Kvatch.

Or we can like both?

Sure. But people saying that Morrowind beats Skyrim clearly don't enjoy the game aspect of a video game.

I think the type of person who loves Bethesda RPGs is the type of person for whom the high concept of the game (world building, story, etc) are more important than the actual minute-to-minute gameplay. I knew a guy who loved herb-hunting in Morrowind and Oblivion. "It makes the world come alive." Bored me out of my mind. He also read every book he came across in those games.

I'd argue they could play far better RPG's though.

I can understand why someone could enjoy an RPG over an Action/Adventure game with light RPG elements, but I don't understand why someone would enjoy Morrowind over any other RPG.

That's my point exactly. They seem to really love the smaller things and the high concept of the game rather than the actual gameplay itself, which, sure, go knock yourself out. But don't come to me and say that Morrowind is better than Skyrim, because judging Morrowind as a game, it sure as fuck is not.

The way its fans speak of it, Morrowind's value lies more in its sandbox or story, not in the actual gameplay.

 

[Pissmaster]

The longevity of PC hardware has really changed the game. In 2002, if you had a 3-year-old computer, there were very likely already quite a few games on the market you could not even play. For example, Splinter Cell (2002) would not even run on a GeForce 256 (1999). Any games coming out in 2024 that won't run on a Geforce 3080 Ti (2021)?

I've got an old GTX 970, a card that turns 10 years old this September, and I don't think there's anything that it can't play on at least low settings.

The notion of playing anything modern back in 2002 on even the best home PC money could buy from 1992 would have been laughable.

 

[Road Work Ahead]

But don't come to me and say that Morrowind is better than Skyrim, because judging Morrowind as a game, it sure as fuck is not.

If you're playing a warrior and just want to swing a sword Skyrim is better, but Morrowind beats it handily if you want to play a mage.

 

[MembersSchoolPizza]

The longevity of PC hardware has really changed the game. In 2002, if you had a 3-year-old computer, there were very likely already quite a few games on the market you could not even play. For example, Splinter Cell (2002) would not even run on a GeForce 256 (1999). Any games coming out in 2024 that won't run on a Geforce 3080 Ti (2021)?

I've got an old GTX 970, a card that turns 10 years old this September, and I don't think there's anything that it can't play on at least low settings.

Yeah, I've got a 960, and the rest of my computer was contemporary with it. I played Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p on a mix of settings that still looked darn good and managed 30-40fps, which for me is still playable. I'm playing Baldur's Gate 3 and other than unbelievably bad* loading times despite being on an SSD, the gameplay itself actually plays just fine.

Yeah, there's a few games I'm just not even going to try to run, and particularly really high-intensity FPSes I'm sure would just be a fool's gambit. But I'm still able to play a surprising amount of games with a very dated rig.

*Seriously, there are times when I go to start a dialog with an NPC and I have to wait in excess of 60 seconds. The game isn't "froze", animations still play, the music is playing, I can move my camera around. I think it's loading the high-detail conversation animations, or something. It's ridiculous. The game itself plays great, except for how long it takes to load cutscenes and conversations.

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

If you're playing a warrior and just want to swing a sword Skyrim is better, but Morrowind beats it handily if you want to play a mage.

I suppose so, but the game's still janky as fuck. I still had fun playing as a mage in Skyrim, just as much as I had fun playing as a warrior.

Big business success comes by being less retarded than your competitors, not smarter. I recently worked for a big business that took aim at an even bigger business. They failed because they didn't understand they needed to be less retarded. They instead decided to be aggressively more retarded and just assume that our "better branding" would win the day.

That's because if you have someone who is genuinely skilled, the unskilled morons at the top feel threatened and want to get rid of him right away. So the best you can afford to be is to be less retarded than your competitors, because anyone who actually pulls their weight 110 percent is seen as a threat by the morons above him.

The market is proving there’s not room for a third console. The thing that sucks is that Sony makes a lot of retarded decisions when they no longer feel there’s competition and Nintendo is content keeping the Switch going for several more years if they could (and so far appears that they can). If you’re a gamer, owning a PC is essential. I think another gaming industry dark age is approaching us.

I wouldn't go so far as to call it a Dark Age. More like a slow-down as gaming becomes less innovative and more comfortable just repeating familiar notes.

 

[Bunny Tracks]

The remake lost the heart the original had:

The colors are also very oversaturated, and bright which makes it genuinely hurt your eyes sometimes.

Thread Tax: Modern games have become too focused on making their characters relatable to their audiences. A character doesn't need to be exactly like the irl person playing them to be likable, or compelling.

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

Thread Tax: Modern games have become too focused on making their characters relatable to their audiences. A character doesn't need to be exactly like the irl person playing them to be likable, or compelling.

Welcome to Modern Writing 101. The character has to be relatable so that the struggle of women, gays, trans, and people of color can be related to something that has nothing to do with them at all. Note that back in gaming's golden age, your average hero was either some overpowered anime character or a buzz-cut space marine. It was them wanting to work towards an ideal; Bayonetta is beautiful. Marcus Fenix is strong. Now it's all about subverting that trope and making it so that it's all about relating gaming to ''oppressed'' minorities, even though said minorities were either fine with gaming as it was or don't even give two shits about it.

 

[God of Nothing]

Modern games have become too focused on making their characters relatable to their audiences. A character doesn't need to be exactly like the irl person playing them to be likable, or compelling.

Modern writing

Welcome to Modern Writing 101. The character has to be relatable so that the struggle of women, gays, trans, and people of color can be related to something that has nothing to do with them at all. Note that back in gaming's golden age, your average hero was either some overpowered anime character or a buzz-cut space marine. It was them wanting to work towards an ideal; Bayonetta is beautiful. Marcus Fenix is strong. Now it's all about subverting that trope and making it so that it's all about relating gaming to ''oppressed'' minorities, even though said minorities were either fine with gaming as it was or don't even give two shits about it.

goddammit

But to go into further detail, this is more a case of people being retarded and needing characters to be totally them to be interesting. It is the most asinine shit. I cannot think of a more boring character than one that is me in every way.