dazzybee Posted May 9, 2013 Posted May 9, 2013 The nostalgia excuse is such a cop-out. What about those of use who have only recently played retro games for the first time recently? I played Castlevania Rondo of Blood for the first time about 2.5 years ago and I consider it to be one of the finest 2D platformers I've ever played; similarly, I played Chrono Trigger for the first time back in 2006 and it became my favourite RPG of all time, despite playing much more modern RPGs before it. Not only that, but there still great games with truly great gameplay coming out in modern times (Nintendo Land, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Metal Gear Rising and Xenoblade - which is joint in first place with Chrono Trigger as the best RPG of all time for me), so it's not a matter of nostalgia defining my preference. I don't think it is a cop out. Fact is you have played old games, maybe not them all, but you've played them, you're familiar with how they work, you understand the graphical and aural limitations of the time, the conventions etc. So you're attuned to them. Same way my grandad hates new films and will only watch really old films; he hasn't seen them all, but he's more tapped into them so likes them ALSO, I did say that old games ARE amazing. So yeah, play old games, think they can be incredible. My point is that games have always been amazing and bad. The nostalgia bit was more about people who say games/films/music/cartoon etc used to be amazing and now it's crap! This line of thinking goes generation after generation after generation. Same also goes for life; people think "that wouldn't have happened when I was kid" etc etc Untrue. Kids have always been cunts. It's just a bizarre trope of ageing!
Dcubed Posted May 9, 2013 Posted May 9, 2013 I don't think it is a cop out. Fact is you have played old games, maybe not them all, but you've played them, you're familiar with how they work, you understand the graphical and aural limitations of the time, the conventions etc. So you're attuned to them. Same way my grandad hates new films and will only watch really old films; he hasn't seen them all, but he's more tapped into them so likes them ALSO, I did say that old games ARE amazing. So yeah, play old games, think they can be incredible. My point is that games have always been amazing and bad. The nostalgia bit was more about people who say games/films/music/cartoon etc used to be amazing and now it's crap! This line of thinking goes generation after generation after generation. Same also goes for life; people think "that wouldn't have happened when I was kid" etc etc Untrue. Kids have always been cunts. It's just a bizarre trope of ageing! True, a lot of people do have a fondness the old and a refusal to accept the new, but its still a lazy retort to those who don't like the direction that something has taken in modern times. The reason why I don't like games like Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider or Uncharted is not because I'm looking at games like Joe & Mac, Castlevania or Super Mario World (which I just played through again a few days ago) with rose-tinted glasses, it's because those 3 modern games have shitty or almost non-existent gameplay! There are lots of good modern games, like the ones I mentioned before. It's not a matter of a black and white "modern" vs "retro" dichotomy, but rather it's a newly emergent trend that I hate with a passion. "AAA" movie games and F2P games are equally damaging cancers that need to be either wiped from the industry or exorcised entirely into their own separate categories; F2P games should be treated like gambling machines (and regulated as such) and narrative driven experiences should be called interactive movies and not games. Am I so crazy that I value gameplay first and foremost in a "game"? You don't need to be Cranky Kong to recognize the difference between the new Tomb Raider and its predecessors...
nekunando Posted May 9, 2013 Posted May 9, 2013 Fact is you have played old games, maybe not them all, but you've played them, you're familiar with how they work, you understand the graphical and aural limitations of the time, the conventions etc. So you're attuned to them. As much as I may complain about a lot of things these days not being as great as they were back in the 90s, it's hard for me to find any fault with that comment I was introduced to gaming at 5 years old when my brother got a Super Nintendo for Christmas and I have loads of affection for it and the N64 in particular. The NES, on the other hand, I have little to no fondness for because I never really played one before. Any time I have tried to play a game from that era, it generally does feel kinda 'old'.. but then there are SNES games I had never played until recently and love them. I can completely see what you are saying!
Rummy Posted May 10, 2013 Posted May 10, 2013 (edited) I don't think it is a cop out. Fact is you have played old games, maybe not them all, but you've played them, you're familiar with how they work, you understand the graphical and aural limitations of the time, the conventions etc. So you're attuned to them. Same way my grandad hates new films and will only watch really old films; he hasn't seen them all, but he's more tapped into them so likes them ALSO, I did say that old games ARE amazing. So yeah, play old games, think they can be incredible. My point is that games have always been amazing and bad. The nostalgia bit was more about people who say games/films/music/cartoon etc used to be amazing and now it's crap! This line of thinking goes generation after generation after generation. Same also goes for life; people think "that wouldn't have happened when I was kid" etc etc Untrue. Kids have always been cunts. It's just a bizarre trope of ageing! You fucking retract that bit about my cunt fucking kids! /inbruges I do somewhat agree with your point though, it's difficult to distinguish between how things really are or if you're just lookin through the old retro-specs. I know next to no 'young' gamers on which to base my views of current gaming, without nostalgia. Castlevania I think I got this on my Wii, having never played any of them. It was a gem at its time I can see, but personally I tired quite quickly; dunno why. The ones on the DS were freaking awesome imo, though. Edited May 11, 2013 by Rummy Automerged Doublepost
dwarf Posted May 10, 2013 Posted May 10, 2013 As long as I'm wowed, I'm happy. I've always been wowed by freedom in games with each generation: N64: bounding around Bob-Omb Summit in Mario 64 Cube: being able to morph ball around the space station in Metroid Prime PS3/Xbox/PC: staring out into the wasteland in Fallout 3 for the first time. It was all there and it was all mine. Tons of current-gen games use sky boxes to trick you into thinking the world is bigger than it is. We'll always have them, but these false promises are everywhere. With more power and more memory, I want the next consoles to take me to those distant skies and show me how real they can be. Blow my mind.
Londragon Posted May 12, 2013 Posted May 12, 2013 I know next to no 'young' gamers on which to base my views of current gaming, without nostalgia. Haven't read the point of this discussion, but I teach 1st graders all the way up to Uni. students. The younger kids have no idea what games are except for Smart phone games. Temple Run, Subway and some single player MMO-type game are their favourites (2 years ago it was Angry Birds). I pick them up and quickly come to the conclusion that Temple Run is the biggest pile of shit I've ever played, but as my students point out, it's free and that's all that counts. Their parents will not buy them a dedicated gaming console when their cellphone plays 'GAMES'. I feel sorry for the little bastards, never having played, or likely to play, a game with any complexity of depth like the old NES classics of my youth. I think this might be mistaken nostalgia on my part, but when I fire those games up again, no I'm right Mario Bros. is substantially better in every department than that f***ing Temple Run.
Rummy Posted May 12, 2013 Posted May 12, 2013 Haven't read the point of this discussion, but I teach 1st graders all the way up to Uni. students. The younger kids have no idea what games are except for Smart phone games. Temple Run, Subway and some single player MMO-type game are their favourites (2 years ago it was Angry Birds). I pick them up and quickly come to the conclusion that Temple Run is the biggest pile of shit I've ever played, but as my students point out, it's free and that's all that counts. Their parents will not buy them a dedicated gaming console when their cellphone plays 'GAMES'. I feel sorry for the little bastards, never having played, or likely to play, a game with any complexity of depth like the old NES classics of my youth. I think this might be mistaken nostalgia on my part, but when I fire those games up again, no I'm right Mario Bros. is substantially better in every department than that f***ing Temple Run. Thanks for this, it pretty much was the point of the discussion. How we, more seasoned gamers from the 16 bits and before, tend to wear our retro-specs looking back at those games compared to now. However that's also associated with our childhood and 'good old days' and I wondered what kids opinions are of games these days. I know a lot of people mention/talk about the smartphone and tablet market encroaching on the more dedicated video game system market, but I had never thought of it the way you mentioned. Spend £200 on a games console, or spend a little more on a phone that does games too?? That competing attention for a parent...well I can certainly understand it. Quite shocking to think, really. What will those kids be like in 10, 20 years though? Will the games even have mattered to them? Or are they just the social 'in' thing? Will we have as many gamers like us, in the future?
Cube Posted May 12, 2013 Posted May 12, 2013 I feel sorry for the little bastards, never having played, or likely to play, a game with any complexity of depth like the old NES classics of my youth. I think this might be mistaken nostalgia on my part, but when I fire those games up again, no I'm right Mario Bros. is substantially better in every department than that f***ing Temple Run. I don't like the old Mario games but I still think they are a bajillion times better than Temple Run.
sumo73 Posted May 12, 2013 Posted May 12, 2013 I've seen a lot of things happen in the video game industry from when I got my Commodore 16 onwards until the present day but I'm not so keen on the big push for online (and then switching that service off), dlc (can't complete the whole game without it) and purging/punishing people who buy second hand video games. I can only see this increasing in the future. In the far future, I see us just buying a video games box (with the words Sony, Nintendo...on it) that will allow us to buy games that we can only play online. We won't own anything, just the box and the controller because everything else will be cloud based.
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