Was there ever a Third Party Golden Age?

[Falcon_BlizZACK]

If so, when?

 

For me, the golden age of third party games came in the PS2, GC, Xbox era. That was when I felt I totally needed another console, as a Nintendo-mainer.

 

In that respect, I also feel that todays third party offering are less relevant in the sense that they do not pique the same level of interest as the old era did - but thats probably down to lifestyle changes and time constraints... But yet I feel if I REALLY want to play something, I will - chalk it down to ignorance?

 

Third party gems that sealed that era for me:

 

Final Fantasy X

GTA3

MGS: Twin Snakes, Sons of Liberty, Snake Eater.

REmake

RE0

Capcom Vs SNK

Numerous Pro Evolutions

PN.0.3

 

...Amongst many others.

 

My secondary question is if you feel todays third party offering is equal or superior to previous offerings in the past. And if you are a sole Nintendo gamer, do you have the urge today to play third party games, as you may have once had?

Edited July 29, 2014 by King_V

[drahkon]

For me, the golden age of third party games came in the PS2, GC, Xbox era.

 

I have to agree partly, but I think that was more to the fact that I didn't use the internet as much as today.

 

I usually went to a store and saw a game and was like: "Looks awesome, I need to have that." So I remember them a bit differently than games from today.

It's kind of a "Yeah, I found that game and it is awesome - sensation"

Most of those games were available either on PS2 or GC and most of those third party games were exclusives to either one (never owned an original Xbox, so I don't know anything about that).

 

 

If I really think about it...the golden age might be now. However, you have to do - let's say - a bit of 'research' to identify great games.

Games like CoD, Battlefield, AC are good games, but nothing I'd consider 'golden age material'.

 

There are however some real gems (especially in the Indie "genre").

 

Looking at my gaming shelf I can see Bayonetta, Resonance of Fate, Dark Souls, 3D Dot Game Heroes, Kingdoms of Amalur, Darksiders, Vanquish, Bioshock...I'll stop now.

 

20-30 third party games that are (in my opinion) incredible.

 

 

Well...now that I've thought a bit more about it...third party games have always been great

[Dcubed]

I agree with the general sentiment here, but I wouldn't necessarily say that gen 6 was the best for 3rd party games...

 

In general it ties into the rise and fall of specific developers really. Square used to be an RPG powerhouse to end all RPG powerhouses, but went through a steady decline after hitting their peak during the 16 bit era (falling into a nose dive towards the end of gen 6-start of gen 7.

 

Likewise this is also the same fate that befell Konami, with Metal Gear and their handheld efforts comprising their only noteworthy output once gen 7 started.

 

Capcom is a weird one though, because I feel that they've been a company of two halves. They were always mostly an arcade-first developer (barring some notable exceptions like the Mega Man, Resident Evil and Breath of Fire series) up until towards near the end of gen 5; then, they shifted primarily to console and actually did very well out of it. Even after suffering that massive staff exodus at the end of gen 6, they managed to keep going strong quite a ways into gen 7, but about halfway through, they just completely shit the bed and fell apart. Now they're surviving off the back of low quality outsourced releases, mobile shovelware and the few teams that have somehow managed to survive unscathed (The mainline Monster Hunter team, Shu Takumi's team and Ono's small planning team most notably).

 

In general I'd say that the best 3rd party output collectively came in gen 4 and 5, but Japanese developers mostly carried on producing great content up until gen 7, where everything generally began to fall apart. And while there was a time during gen 7, where western developers really started upping their game; the rise of games like Call of Duty and Uncharted put an end to that as their respective publishers put them to task to forever chase the dragon...

[Grazza]

3rd-party games have always been important, but I'd lean towards agreeing that Gen 6 was the golden age, purely because that was the last time they kept up with the technology and were also true to their roots. At the beginning of the PS2 generation, there were worries about development costs getting out of control. Whilst this may have had an effect, to me, the games that generation got away with it.

 

Fast-forward to Gen 7 and you see the 3rd-parties begin to falter, especially the Japanese ones. Square-Enix failed to match their PS2 output. Games became westernised, less charming and more violent. You can also see evidence of, if not lower budgets, then at least the budgets not being able to cope with the game. RPGs became more streamlined and less thoroughly made - compare Level-5's biggest PS3 RPG, Ni No Kuni, to their best PS2 role-player, Dragon Quest VIII (admittedly you are seeing the difference between Namco-Bandai and Square-Enix).

 

Another example is Team ICO. Although not a 3rd-party, they managed to create two critically-acclaimed games for the PS2 era - ICO and Shadow of the Colossus, which both seemed really important to that console. Now, though, they have spent an entire generation (and counting) trying to make the 3rd game. I'm sure they haven't suddenly lost their talent, it's just that Gen 6 seemed to be better at enabling greatness.

 

In answer to your 2nd question, @King V, I'm not quite a Nintendo-only gamer, but am close to that. 3rd-party games have much less appeal to me than they used to (for the reasons above). However, I am a big Dragon Quest fan - the next one is coming to home consoles, and if that's the PS4, I will buy one as soon as the game is released.

[darksnowman]

16-bit surely had to be THE era for 3rd party output? Cartoon/ film tie in games were genuinely great (also applies to 8-bit) as well as Squaresoft, Konami, EA, Ocean (remember them!) and more firing out some great stuff. It was a fun time when games were colourful and wacky. Of course not every single game was a classic, I'm sure we could name atleast one game we had to convince ourselves was great because we had nothing else new to play til our next Christmas or birthday.

 

Third parties seemed to lose their way for a while with the shift to 3D. It was difficult for them master creating fluid gameplay merged with a seamless camera system. Nowadays though, the stinkers are the exception and the blockbusters the rule. Personally, I'd vouch for the retro generations but you'd be disregarding alot of quality titles if you discounted the current gen. Big studio's doing their thing while indy guys supply the 2D, nostalgic stuff isn't a shabby combo.

[Cube]

For me, it was last gen (Wii/PS3/360), due to games like: Mass Effect, Burnout Paradise, Sonic Colours & Generations, Arkham Asylum, Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty 4, Bioshock, Borderlands, Dead Space 1 & Extraction, Dishonoured, Skyrim, Fallout 3/New Vegas, Far Cry 3, Saints Row 2 & 4, GTAIV, Red Dead Redemption, Sleeping Dogs, Spec Ops: The Line, Tomb Raider, Left 4 Dead, Ninja Gaiden 1, Portal 2 and Rayman Origins.

 

Before last generation, most of my games tended to be first party.

[Falcon_BlizZACK]

If the best of 3rd party came in and around gen 6, is it simply Eastern developers losing their way, and Western developments gaining more appeal/higher quality?

 

Or are there fundamental issues within the gaming industry (or Japan's industry), thats makes us believe past offerings were better?

 

I mean for me:

 

Street Fighter Alpha/3 > Street Fighter 4

Final Fantasy 6,7,8,9 > Final Fantasy X-2,12,13,13-2,13-2.2

Resident Evil 1,2,3,4 > Resident Evil 5, (new one whos name escapes me)

Soul Calibur 1,2,3 > Soul Calibur 4,5

Metal Gear Solid 1,2,3 > Metal Gear Solid 4, Raidens one.

 

Just a matter of opinion of course, but I can sense a 'change' in output or culture from the above developers that doesnt resonate well.

[Cube]

Resident Evil 1,2,3,4 > Resident Evil 5, (new one whos name escapes me)

 

Resident Evil 6?

[Falcon_BlizZACK]

Resident Evil 6?

 

LOL : peace:

[Jonnas]

I'm not quite sure what you mean by a "3rd party golden age". 3rd Parties have been producing a good majority of great games throughout the years, especially when we consider that Playstation, Xbox and PC have always depended on them.

 

If the best of 3rd party came in and around gen 6, is it simply Eastern developers losing their way, and Western developments gaining more appeal/higher quality?

 

Or are there fundamental issues within the gaming industry (or Japan's industry), thats makes us believe past offerings were better?

 

I mean for me:

 

Street Fighter Alpha/3 > Street Fighter 4

Final Fantasy 6,7,8,9 > Final Fantasy X-2,12,13,13-2,13-2.2

Resident Evil 1,2,3,4 > Resident Evil 5, (new one whos name escapes me)

Soul Calibur 1,2,3 > Soul Calibur 4,5

Metal Gear Solid 1,2,3 > Metal Gear Solid 4, Raidens one.

 

Just a matter of opinion of course, but I can sense a 'change' in output or culture from the above developers that doesnt resonate well.

 

I think it's more a case of newer entries being made to fit the series, for the sake of being an entry in that series, instead of being made as a result of an idea. Resident Evil is the prime example of this, with 5 and 6 being made without a shred of understanding of what made previous games good (Resi 4 included)

 

Street Fighter 4 is actually pretty good, considering Ono really was going for accessibility above all (and he largely succeeded). The game clearly has direction, even if that direction is not the same one as Alpha/3.

 

Soul Calibur, on the other hand, lost all and any direction it had since Soul Calibur 2. After achieving that perfection, developers just decided to do useless and confusing junk with the sequels, like changing all of the commands, adding clothing damage and other things, when all they could've (should've) done was stop with SC2, or at least release sequels extremely similar to SC1 (that's what SC2 was, essentially).

 

Can't speak for Metal Gear or Final Fantasy, but it does seem like Square is struggling with understanding what FF is supposed to be. The more recent entries seem to have barely anything in common with older games, while games like Bravely Default and 4 Heroes still remind us old-school Final Fantasies.