Was 1998 the best year for video games?

[Pissmaster]

So when I was on my way home after a productive day of harassing and mocking all the fat people at the ice cream parlor, I started thinking about how great old video games are.

All things considered, if I had to pick the best five-year block for video games, I think it'd be 1997-2001. Konami and Squaresoft were on fire at the time, and so many games that'd end up considered the magnum opus of their genres, inspiring game developers to this very day were released around then. Konami alone released Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Metal Gear Solid, Dance Dance Revolution, Silent Hill, and Suikoden 2 all within a couple of years of one another (MGS, DDR, and Suikoden 2 all within 4 months of each other). Rare was on top of their game at the time, single handedly making the N64 worthwhile with Banjo Kazooie, Goldeneye, Blast Corps, Perfect Dark, and Diddy Kong Racing. Capcom was also hitting their stride with fighting games, launching Marvel vs. Capcom and Street Fighter 3 around then, and also releasing Resident Evil 2. Even Activision and EA started up their hugely successful Tony Hawk and The Sims franchises, respectively.

Pokémon and Half-Life also came out at that time, and, you know, those games are kinda big. Shit, a lot of the games I mentioned came out in 1998 alone. What was it with that year? Like, what made specifically 1998 such a golden age for video games? I guess 3D was really hitting its stride, finally getting away from looking just horrendous, but even by '98 it was still pretty damn ugly. The entire 5th generation wasn't easy on the eyes. I've considered Chrono Cross to be the best looking game on the PS1, and, well, the game looks like this:


Chrono Cross was released in 2000.

But that didn't seem to matter much. Timeless games came out of that era, and mostly seemed to culminate in 1998. Did everything just hit a perfect equilibrium at the time? Developers finally getting comfortable with how to work around low-end 3D graphics tech? The state of the world being at a peacetime, with Clown World still well over a decade off and the end of the cold war happening in '91? I'm just spitballing thoughts here.

Regardless, all those fat people I was hassling earlier need to play Dance Dance Revolution, a 1998 game that can help you lose weight if you git gud at it. Also, they need to go on a diet. Don't be greedy, put down that fettuccine.

 

[Elric of Melnibone]

I believe its, because that was back in the goldy locks zone right after gaming, was getting into the mainstream but before the soulless hacks in suits came in and took over. Back in this era the people making the games were actually big nerds and gamers themselves. They got into making games because they loved to play games, not because they wanted to confirm their social agenda or make boat loads of money. They just wanted to make fun games, and that passion drove them to strive for excellence. This was also the last era before developers could just patch their game after the fact, so they had to be ready on launch hell or high water, which means they finished their games rather than lazily inventing "games as a service".

TL;DR The people making the games actually gave a shit whether or not they were good.

 

[Martys_not_smarty]

Don't forget one of the greatest wrestling games of all time came out in 98'; WCW/NWO Revenge.

 

[Spamy the Bot]

What I miss from that era is you could make games not even an indie studio would touch.
I am more personally experienced with the PC side of things but there were so many military sims, management games etc that got turned into niche or specialist genres.

Not to mention nobody would do stuff like this anymore.

G-Police - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Agent Abe Caprine]

You forgot another important stealth game. Thief The Dark Project.

 

[Tookie]

StarCraft came out that year too.

 

[TFT-A9]

It wasn't a bad year, to be sure. Fallout 2? StarCraft: Brood War? Half-Life? Descent: Freespace?

Yeah, you could do worse.

 

[NOT Sword Fighter Super]

I believe its, because that was back in the goldy locks zone right after gaming, was getting into the mainstream but before the soulless hacks in suits came in and took over. Back in this era the people making the games were actually big nerds and gamers themselves. They got into making games because they loved to play games, not because they wanted to confirm their social agenda or make boat loads of money. They just wanted to make fun games, and that passion drove them to strive for excellence. This was also the last era before developers could just patch their game after the fact, so they had to be ready on launch hell or high water, which means they finished their games rather than lazily inventing "games as a service".

TL;DR The people making the games actually gave a shit whether or not they were good.

Also it was that sweet spot where you had to focus on gameplay because graphics and cutscenes were ok, but not amazing.

 

[NIGGER ASS PEE POOPY RAPE]

1996 had SM64, Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, Mario Kart 64, Diablo, Bubsy 3D, Crash Bandicoot, Daggerfall and Resident Evil so it was the best year. in an alternate universe Super Mario 128 and Duke Nukem Forever were released in 1998, making 1998 the best year.

 

[Red Hood]

The original Baldur's Gate came out that year. Damn, it WAS a good year.

 

[Tim Buckley]

No, you're just a boomer

 

[LightDragonman1]

Ah the 90s. A much more free, prosperous, and golden time for gaming as far as I'm concerned, since the industry was still growing, and just mainstream enough without being bogged down by corporations or activists. Developers could make the games they wanted, how they wanted.

Not to say that the later decades haven't had awesome years mind you. 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017 come to mind. But around the time GTA III and Halo Combat Evolved came out, while still awesome games, that's when the industry started getting tons of mainstream attention. Heck, I think that those two titles are one of the main reasons for the state of the industry nowadays, due to how much coverage they got, and suddenly, the industry started to pivot more towards what made the maximum profits over creativity, culminating in the breakout success of Call Of Duty 4 Modern Warfare, which, while still one of my favorite games, ultimately led the industry down the dull and overly corporate path it still hasn't yet broken away from.

 

[Elric of Melnibone]

Ah the 90s. A much more free, prosperous, and golden time for gaming as far as I'm concerned, since the industry was still growing, and just mainstream enough without being bogged down by corporations or activists. Developers could make the games they wanted, how they wanted.

Not to say that the later decades haven't had awesome years mind you. 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017 come to mind. But around the time GTA III and Halo Combat Evolved came out, while still awesome games, that's when the industry started getting tons of mainstream attention. Heck, I think that those two titles are one of the main reasons for the state of the industry nowadays, due to how much coverage they got, and suddenly, the industry started to pivot more towards what made the maximum profits over creativity, culminating in the breakout success of Call Of Duty 4 Modern Warfare, which, while still one of my favorite games, ultimately led the industry down the dull and overly corporate path it still hasn't yet broken away from.

Don't forget World of Warcaft. It can't be understated how much of an effect this had on the industry as a whole. For one it made so much money that it became the entry point for all the blood-sucking parasites known as shareholders to come out of their coffin and seek blood.

 

[Dom Cruise]

I agree that 1997 to 2001 was gaming's absolute peak, which is ironic because so many of those games are dated on a technical level now, but great game design shines on through.

2001 is my personal favorite year in gaming, I really believe Silent Hill 2 is the Citizen Kane of video games from an artistic standpoint, Metal Gear Solid 2 was a mind expanding masterpiece and Grand Theft Auto III was such a leap on a technical level in a way that I don't think has really been seen again in the almost 20 years since, it's been a lot more gradual refinements.

2002 to 2007 was really great as well, it's been mostly a mixed bag ever since 2008 though sadly, although 2017 was a year worthy of being counted among years like 1998 and 2001 as gaming's best.

 

[Spamy the Bot]

Game budgets got big, so the product had to be streamlined so it will appeal to more people while maximizing how much of the game is being exploited for extra cash.

The downfall of the games industry come from the fact that the frog was boiled slowly and each small iteration of bad business practice got more and more mundane. See how Horse armor was looked at as something weird and fast forward 10 years and you have random loot crates. Map packs and "muh cosmetic dlc" cancer killing most of modding and so on.

I would say even cosmetic dlc is crap.
1) you either had in game achievement skins to show off see Halo 3 and Reach's armors
2) you are on pc so in Unreal tournament and Quake you could have Sailor Moon running around with a rocket launcher, in a map based on the Simpsons' house.

You had the worst of both worlds coming together. PC games turned into weird console titles, we don't even have fancy installers because steam is a monopoly and console games are retarded PC games so no more just pop in the disk and play. Gotta have the forced in rpg system unlock skinnerboxes because kids nowdays only play games if there is a bar that goes up.

Meh.

 

[LightDragonman1]

I agree that 1997 to 2001 was gaming's absolute peak, which is ironic because so many of those games are dated on a technical level now, but great game design shines on through.

2001 is my personal favorite year in gaming, I really believe Silent Hill 2 is the Citizen Kane of video games from an artistic standpoint, Metal Gear Solid 2 was a mind expanding masterpiece and Grand Theft Auto III was such a leap on a technical level in a way that I don't think has really been seen again in the almost 20 years since, it's been a lot more gradual refinements.

2002 to 2007 was really great as well, it's been mostly a mixed bag ever since 2008 though sadly, although 2017 was a year worthy of being counted among years like 1998 and 2001 as gaming's best.

2001 was a great year huh (MGS2 is one of my favorite games for a reason)? Don't forget that it also gave us Devil May Cry 1, Rogue Squadron 2, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Ico, Final Fantasy X, Halo Combat Evolved, Return To Castle Wolfenstein, Twisted Metal Black, Conker's Bad Fur Day, and Max Payne.

There's a reason why it could be considered the last year of the golden age of gaming. After all, for all their awesomeness and genre redefining, both Halo and GTA III pretty much marked the exact moment the industry began to turn more mainstream and corporate, and not for the better.

Still though, that's not discount years like 2004 (Metal Gear Solid 3, Paper Mario Thousand Year Door, World Of Warcraft, Half-Life 2, Halo 2, Escape From Butcher Bay, Thief Deadly Shadows), 2005, (Resident Evil 4, God Of War, Shadow Of The Colossus, F.E.A.R., Devil May Cry 3), 2007 (Super Mario Galaxy, Call Of Duty 4 (though this is a huge contributor to the state of modern gaming), Bioshock, Mass Effect, The Orange Box, Crysis, Halo 3, The Witcher, Metroid Prime 3), and 2017 (Breath Of The Wild, Nier Automata, Persona 5, Super Mario Odyssey, Cuphead, Horizon Zero Dawn, Resident Evil VII, Evil Within 2, Prey 2017, Hellblade, Gravity Rush 2, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Hollow Knight, Nioh, Yakuza 0).

Heck, I'd say that 2017 is up there with the golden years of gaming. It's just a shame that it was completely ruined in terms of reputation all because of Star Wars Battlefront 2.

 

[Dom Cruise]

Game budgets got big, so the product had to be streamlined so it will appeal to more people while maximizing how much of the game is being exploited for extra cash.

The downfall of the games industry come from the fact that the frog was boiled slowly and each small iteration of bad business practice got more and more mundane. See how Horse armor was looked at as something weird and fast forward 10 years and you have random loot crates. Map packs and "muh cosmetic dlc" cancer killing most of modding and so on.

I would say even cosmetic dlc is crap.
1) you either had in game achievement skins to show off see Halo 3 and Reach's armors
2) you are on pc so in Unreal tournament and Quake you could have Sailor Moon running around with a rocket launcher, in a map based on the Simpsons' house.

You had the worst of both worlds coming together. PC games turned into weird console titles, we don't even have fancy installers because steam is a monopoly and console games are retarded PC games so no more just pop in the disk and play. Gotta have the forced in rpg system unlock skinnerboxes because kids nowdays only play games if there is a bar that goes up.

Meh.

I remember playing games growing up because I wanted to see how the story ended.

I wonder how alien a concept story in games is to the Minecraft and Fortnite generations and it really worries me.

2001 was a great year huh (MGS2 is one of my favorite games for a reason)? Don't forget that it also gave us Devil May Cry 2, Rogue Squadron 2, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Ico, Final Fantasy X, Halo Combat Evolved, Return To Castle Wolfenstein, Twisted Metal Black, Conker's Bad Fur Day, and Max Payne.

There's a reason why it could be considered the last year of the golden age of gaming. After all, for all their awesomeness and genre redefining, both Halo and GTA III pretty much marked the exact moment the industry began to turn more mainstream and corporate, and not for the better.

Still though, that's not discount years like 2004 (Metal Gear Solid 3, Paper Mario Thousand Year Door, World Of Warcraft, Half-Life 2, Halo 2, Escape From Butcher Bay, Thief Deadly Shadows), 2005, (Resident Evil 4, God Of War, Shadow Of The Colossus, F.E.A.R., Devil May Cry 3), 2007 (Super Mario Galaxy, Call Of Duty 4 (though this is a huge contributor to the state of modern gaming), Bioshock, Mass Effect, The Orange Box, Crysis, Halo 3, The Witcher, Metroid Prime 3), and 2017 (Breath Of The Wild, Nier Automata, Persona 5, Super Mario Galaxy, Cuphead, Horizon Zero Dawn, Resident Evil VII, Evil Within 2, Prey 2017, Hellblade, Gravity Rush 2, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Hollow Knight, Nioh, Yakuza 0).

Heck, I'd say that 2017 is up there with the golden years of gaming. It's just a shame that it was completely ruined in terms of reputation all because of Star Wars Battlefront 2.

2001 was when the first Devil May Cry released, not Devil May Cry 2 and you forgot Gran Turismo 3, Dead or Alive 3, Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and Ace Combat 4 to the list of stellar 2001 games.

The trouble with 2004 is it was so insanely bifurcated, yes the fall season was amazing, but the trouble was they saved almost everything for the fall, the rest of the year, especially the summer, was largely a very dry period.

To be fair 2001 was the same way, but on a personal level they impacted me differently, I wasn't as hardcore a follower of games in 2001 until that fall as I was throughout all of 2004, I also spent the summer of 2001 playing catch up on N64 games thanks to a trade with a friend, whereas I was miserably bored in summer of 2004.

But of course that's all just personal experience, objectively 2004 was a great year for games, it's just in my personal memory I tend to remember the dry periods more, I like it when years like 2005 or 2017 have the great games more spread throughout the year than all saved for the fall.

 

[BananaSplit]

Heck, I'd say that 2017 is up there with the golden years of gaming. It's just a shame that it was completely ruined in terms of reputation all because of Star Wars Battlefront 2.

It may have been a better year in a decade that was overly mediocre, but I wouldnt throw it together with the years of "vidya golden age" because back then, regardless of the platform you were playing, you were still a winner. Be on the SNES, Megadrive, PS1, N64, Gameboy, PS2, Gamecube, Xbox or PC they were all pretty much worth your time because of the sheer amount of quality titles. Whereas nowadays, you're more trying to find diamonds in all that drought alongside of dealing with greedy practises.

There is a reason why I loved handhelds very much (specifically the DS and PSP) because they were reminiscence of an old era gone with the apparence of the 7th gen, on top of the whole portability thing.

 

[sasazuka]

Star Ocean: The Second Story came out in Japan in 1998 so I guess that means the year was pretty good. I prefer 1999 overall for arcade games that were soon to be ported to the Sega Dreamcast like F355 Challenge, Crazy Taxi, and Hydro Thunder.

I wonder how alien a concept story in games is to the Minecraft and Fortnite generations and it really worries me.

Didn't The Last of Us 2 just come out like last week? Isn't that game all story (even if it seems to be a grimdark story I have no intention of ever experiencing)?

 

[Spamy the Bot]

I remember playing games growing up because I wanted to see how the story ended.

Yeah. There are many things that can pull in and touch the player. Be the characters, tone, setting or even the art direction.