I wish more recent games didn't take themselves so seriously.

Rod

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A few minutes ago, I had a 3-hour marathon of House of the Dead: Overkill with my brother. And you know what? We has a blast, we has a real f***ing blast and enjoyed yourselves a lot through the whole game. That (as well as finishing No More Heroes last week) remembered me of something I has known for quite a while, but hadn't thought about recently: how I wished more games nowadays didn't take themselves so goddamn seriously. I wish they could once again remember what they really are: just games.


Ever since systems like the Sega CD, Saturn and PSX started pushing optical media for games, lots of things changed. Games now could have FMV scenes, full-voiced dialogue, CD-audio music, a whooping lot more space available, and lots of other neaty stuff. That made possible more ambitious and intricate projects as well as stories in games, such as the cinematique Metal Gear Solid, the Jill-Sandwichy background pre-rendered Resident Evil and the 3-CD epic Final Fantasy VII with all its glorious CGs. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, 'cause it's not, and these are great examples of games that did it well. Thing is, not every game has done such a good job.

Due to the rising sucess of these kinds of games, some of these characteristics became gaming standards. It didn't take long so that almost every game out there had full-voiced dialogue, a nifty FMV intro that took almost a third of the whole game space and HAD to have a story so that the public could take the game seriously, even though the story itself wasn't something to be serious about. Lifeless, cliché-filled stories presented stale characters with uninteresting motivations. Role-Playing Games now spawned dozens of hours to be completed, most of themracking up 100 hours or more. Complex systems were placed upon complex systems, spawning gigantic tutorials and more button functions then what was needed, throwing simplicity out of the window. Later on, we've come to an age where the presentation counts more towards selling a game than the game itself - the gaming part of it was starting to become a chore.

===

Ok, perharps I've overreacted a little there, but I think I have made my point clear for the most part. Am I the only one who thinks that lots of games have gone too far from what they were supposed to be? My most loathed aspect is without a doubt the ridiculous amount of attention stories receive in gaming, as I've seen some good games getting annoying because of their unusual focus in a terrible story. My most recent example is Sonic Unleashed: at its core it could be a decent experience, but the horrible story told in the cutscenes (which are both looong and UNSKIPPABLE!) and a time-waster "there and back again" gimmick in some cities turned it into a crapistical waste of one's time.
I just think most games shouldn't be so god-damned serious about their own job, it's not like we need to see the end of the world at every single game we play and find it interesting. I've noticed most stories/settings in games I've enjoyed lately are either light-hearted, for comedy purposes or are simply there for the FUN, not taking a dead-serious tone for its most part. Games such as this new HotD I just finished (it just simulates a B-movie all along, taking a cool approach, curseful writing and some of the bizarrest ending dialogue I've ever seen), No More Heroes, God Hand, TimeSplitters: Future Perfect (hilarious!) and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year-Door (which has some great writing, and it's a MARIO game!). When it isn't that, I'd rather not have a story and go straight to the meat of it: one of the reasons why I love the Metal Slug series so much.


As I said, it's not like I completely despise gaming stories and complex systems, they are two aspects than when done great create real masterpieces, I just think most devs shouldn't cut down the fun we're supposed to get out of a hobby because of that. To me, that's missing the point of what makes games... games.
Sorry about the gigantic rant, and thanks for the attention of those who have read all of it. =P
 

m3rox

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Fortunately, AI hasn't progressed to the point to where a game can take itself seriously.
 

Raestloz

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Well, I actually think games should take themselves seriously, not for all games though.

Heavy-duty games need to take themselves seriously, especially RPGs, for story is the core of an RPG, and gameplay is the runner up with slight difference in votes. But I don't mean everything have to focus at story. A great example would be Call of Duty 4, the story and the gameplay blends, and it's a serious one. Grand Theft Auto series is another great example.

Maybe it's because I love stories, but I don't really like pure-games, except if they're something fun or with goals. Take for example Team Buddies and Taiko no Tatsujin, both are pure games, and I love them. take Raiden DX and Metal Slug and I feel bored just looking at them, because what I have to do is repetitive, nothing seems to change and the challenge is not for Pick Up and Play

I like story-filled-games because it gives me interest, I wanna know more, and as a bonus, I know where do I have to go, what do I have to do, and once I got to them, I know my interest will be satisfied.

Well, to tell you the truth, I feel that games should have their own world, the world where we can go in while playing, and truly feel the game, not just for fun or to kill time
 

xcalibur

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m3rox said:
Fortunately, AI hasn't progressed to the point to where a game can take itself seriously.

QFT. This is even more annoying now we have more co-op games. RE5 will be a fucking pain with AI.

I don't mind that the amount of games that take themselves too seriously has increased. What bothers me is that the amount of games which DON'T take themselves serious has decreased. The previous gen we had countless fun games which knew they were games to give us a good time. Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, Katamari Damacy, Psychonauts, Phoenix Wright etc etc. The list goes on and on. These were the kind of games you'd keep coming back to for "just one more go" and find yourself wasting over 3 hours in a sitting. Now we've only got sequels or remakes of such great games and no decent IP is coming out any time soon...

I'm also missing those moments when games break the 4th wall and give you a smile or just freak you the fuck out. The most memorable moment was towards the end of MGS2 when the colonel told you you've been playing too much and you should really stop playing to reduce eyestrain or w/e. Eternal Darkness also fucked with your mind by "messing" with your tv. Then we also had straight-up action titles which didn't even NEED a story. Imagine playing through Metroid Prime with 1 hour cutscenes about the fate of that ancient civillization or whatever? The need to embellesh such stories is also ruining quite a few games. I would love to play through GOW2 without hearing Dominic cry about his wife or some lame shit.

My only explanation for this is the current economic crisis. Smaller developers who would usually provide with memorable and quirky titles don't have room to experiment anymore. Any possible failure could mean bankruptcy so everyone is making sequels or things which appeal to the casual crowd. Going for the sure thing is probably the reason why the gaming business isn't suffering as much as all other sectors but this has lead to a noticable decrease in the quality of new games. Things like Portal probably won't come around again this generation and there is nothing we can do about it. Mirrors edge is the an exception to this and even that fell flat on its face. Don't get me wrong, it was a fun game but not worth a purchase. Various aspects of the game we're frustrating as hell but damn was it polished. My only hope is that we get more games like Skate. That game was a great example of creativity. Of taking an existing concept and reinvent it by looking at it from a different angle.

I just realised this post came out a lot longer than I expected it to so for those who say TL;DR, a quick summary:

THIS GEN SUCKS ASS. WE NEED MOAR FUN GAEMS.
 

Trolly

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QUOTE said:
Maybe it's because I love stories, but I don't really like pure-games, except if they're something fun or with goals. Take for example Team Buddies and Taiko no Tatsujin, both are pure games, and I love them. take Raiden DX and Metal Slug and I feel bored just looking at them, because what I have to do is repetitive, nothing seems to change and the challenge is not for Pick Up and Play

I like story-filled-games because it gives me interest, I wanna know more, and as a bonus, I know where do I have to go, what do I have to do, and once I got to them, I know my interest will be satisfied.

I have to agree there, most games have awful stories, and no matter how great the gameplay is (unless it's a fun minigame kinda thing - WarioWare, Rhythm Tengoku - or rhythm games as you mentioned Taiko), I'll end up getting bored if there isn't a memorable, exciting story to keep me hooked. A living, breathing game world feels like a much fresher experience too.

So to a certain extent I agree with you, but I think games like the Mario & Luigi RPGs, Retro Game Challenge and others that are very comedy-based and not particularly serious are important to have. Some games like House of the Dead are the sort of party games you'd want a fun, silly storyline in like the OP has mentioned.

So yeah, I think it's important we have a balance at the end of the day.

QUOTEMy only explanation for this is the current economic crisis.
Well, sure, that's a good explanation for the lack of original games in the coming year, but the main problem is at the heart of the games industry. As the consoles get bigger and more powerful, more impressive, expensive technology and larger dev teams are needed to make games with graphics that are up-to-scratch. If you mess up, you lose more money than ever, simple as. So only the big corporations can afford to gamble on new IPs, and most are intent on keeping up the profits dependably by bringing out shovelware constantly which they at least know will sell a certain amount.
 

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