I'm a gamer, but hardly ever play games nowadays.

[LazyBoy]

11 minutes ago, Goafer said:

Anyway, still haven't had much time to play RDR and there's not many other games I'm excited by apart from Cyberpunk. Maybe I've just grown out of gaming?

Depends why you play games. For me its new ideas, new worlds, new puzzles, and unfortunately its less likely you'll find these in the AAA games, where increasingly ridiculous budgets resulting in a similarly growing risk aversion. Indies are where its at - Banner Saga, Rocket League and Hollow Knight are the best games Ive played this year because they can afford to take risks.

These things go in peaks and troughs however, and I can imagine a near future where major studio games, suffocated by cost and the festering issue of 'Crunch' around AAA games, start to look for cheaper projects that leverage good ideas. 

[Goafer]

11 minutes ago, LazyBoy said:

Depends why you play games. For me its new ideas, new worlds, new puzzles, and unfortunately its less likely you'll find these in the AAA games, where increasingly ridiculous budgets resulting in a similarly growing risk aversion. Indies are where its at - Banner Saga, Rocket League and Hollow Knight are the best games Ive played this year because they can afford to take risks.

These things go in peaks and troughs however, and I can imagine a near future where major studio games, suffocated by cost and the festering issue of 'Crunch' around AAA games, start to look for cheaper projects that leverage good ideas. 

Good shout on Rocket League. That's the first game in a long time where I've thought of it as a brand new type of game (although I know it's a sequel).

Generally though, I just want a decent story that I can get really engrossed in. I'd say my game of this generation is either Witcher 3 or Persona 5. Both had me hooked almost all the way through, which is impressive given the length of both of those games.

I've played games for almost 3 decades now, so gameplay just doesn't do it for me unless it's something truly unique (see Rocket League). I've played all the staple genres countless times before, so the gameplay is just boring to me now. I know some do the core mechanics better than others, but it's still just more of the same. Story is what really stands out to me now, as it's a far more complex aspect of games, so the level of variance is essentially infinite.

The only exception to this might be Nier: Automata. The story was good, but the gameplay was sublime. I don't know whether it was the story, the gameplay or a combination of both that kept me going. Still need to get the last joke ending.

[LazyBoy]

3 minutes ago, Goafer said:

Good shout on Rocket League. That's the first game in a long time where I've thought of it as a brand new type of game (although I know it's a sequel).

Generally though, I just want a decent story that I can get really engrossed in. I'd say my game of this generation is either Witcher 3 or Persona 5. Both had me hooked almost all the way through, which is impressive given the length of both of those games.

I've played games for almost 3 decades now, so gameplay just doesn't do it for me unless it's something truly unique (see Rocket League). I've played all the staple genres countless times before, so the gameplay is just boring to me now. I know some do the core mechanics better than others, but it's still just more of the same. Story is what really stands out to me now, as it's a far more complex aspect of games, so the level of variance is essentially infinite.

The only exception to this might be Nier: Automata. The story was good, but the gameplay was sublime. I don't know whether it was the story, the gameplay or a combination of both that kept me going. Still need to get the last joke ending.

I can totally appreciate a good story, but for me its always more about how its presented rather than the actual quality of the plot or script. Give me the discoverable logs and intriguing mysteries of the world of Metroid Prime over the hammy scenes of an Assassins Creed any day. MGSV's optional tapes and minimal cut scenes please instead of MGSIV's feature length lessons in self-importance. Recently Hollow Knight and Dark Souls 3 have really stood out in the way they have presented their lore (getting me interested in the game and leaving me to discover more if I wanted to).

However if you want something more traditional Banner Saga is certainly the stand out from the last year. Its got the optional exposition if you want it, but the mastery of the game is in the image of the caravan against the vastness of the world. Watching it swell and then thin out, at some points running from danger, at some points just relaxing against the godstones. It perfectly nurtures your investment in the game, which for me is the point of a story in games. Banner Saga takes and builds on a lot of what made the Fire Emblem games great (especially the GBA ones).

[Hero-of-Time]

1 hour ago, Goafer said:

This is the problem. We always just ignore it and pretend everything is fine and nothing gets solved. The same members will just carry on riling people up, causing more issues. It's fucking draining.

 

Well we did have THIS thread back in 2015 to get everything out in the open. The fact that it went on for 27 pages just goes to show how messed up the place was and sometimes still is.

[bob]

I think people have forgotten how dickish people were during the Wii years. Full on insults being thrown and acting like children.

Things right now are a minor disagreement by comparison.

[drahkon]

51 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Well we did have THIS thread back in 2015 to get everything out in the open. The fact that it went on for 27 pages just goes to show how messed up the place was and sometimes still is.

Christ, that was 3 years ago already? 

Time moves way too fast  

[Hero-of-Time]

7 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Christ, that was 3 years ago already? 

Time moves way too fast  

Indeed. I was shocked when I dug up the thread to see it was that old. I quite enjoyed the thread. It was very therapeutic.  

 

[Goron_3]

1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Well we did have THIS thread back in 2015 to get everything out in the open. The fact that it went on for 27 pages just goes to show how messed up the place was and sometimes still is.

Oh good lord I can't believe that thread was from 3 years ago! That said, I do think things are generally better than they used to be, although the damage has kind of been done. It helps that Serebii doesn't post as much, but it's a shame that some of the main problems keep appearing.

On a different note, and one relating to this topic, I've had the last 2 weeks off of work ahead of starting a new job next week. I managed to start (and finish) Yakuza 0 and also start Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Feels good to be getting some quality gaming time in.

[Goafer]

2 hours ago, bob said:

I think people have forgotten how dickish people were during the Wii years. Full on insults being thrown and acting like children.

Things right now are a minor disagreement by comparison.

Honestly, I think this is only because most of the people have left, both good and bad.

I've made some great friends through this place, but hardly any of them post anymore. I know someone said that Dazzy left because of one mod, on the flip side, I know a few people who have left because of certain members' toxic attitudes.

Fortunately, in friends with most ex members on the Facebook, so it's not too bad. I do miss this place as a hub for conversation though.

[Julius]

11 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Well we did have THIS thread back in 2015 to get everything out in the open. The fact that it went on for 27 pages just goes to show how messed up the place was and sometimes still is.

I’ve been reading through that thread, and it’s a shame that things haven’t changed all that much with regards to “fixing” things in this forum since that thread was made. A lot of the problems/arguments mentioned in the first couple of pages of that thread still crop up on a regular basis. 

I still consider myself something of a new member to this forum, despite joining over two and a half years ago. I originally joined because of going down the rabbit hole of trying to listen to new stuff with regards to Zelda U, listened to pretty much everything Gamexplain had on YouTube related to the game, and just so happened to end up watching an N-Europe video. I was seriously ill at the time, and going through a very rough period, and felt a sense of intimacy in reading the posts on this forum which I hadn’t seen elsewhere — likely due to how few members there were frequenting the place, in all honesty. To this day, I still don’t know any of you personally, but I was kindly welcomed despite probably starting a few threads too many...

The intimacy, I feel, is one of the best and worst traits of N-Europe’s forum. On the one hand, it makes for some excellent discussions in a lot of threads here, and it really helps to have an idea of someone’s earlier thoughts on things when it comes to new conversations: “Oh, ______, I know you love _______, and I really think you should check out _______” or “_______, I’m interested on your take on _______ because _______”; it’s just a place where it feels like everyone knows each other to a degree that I think is quite rare in other forums these days. On the other hand, though, the intimacy ends up meaning that, should an argument break out, it can become incredibly destructive to the forum as a whole. Also, because of the low number of members posting, it means that, should someone respond to a post you make in the morning with ill intentions while you’re at work, for example, by the time you return, there have only been a handful of posts since then and the other person’s ill intentions (often not even that, but more commonly a misunderstanding, I guess?) seem somewhat fresh. Twelve hours might have passed since they responded, and they might have cooled off since then, but because so little activity might have taken place since then, I feel like it gives the impression that that person might (intentionally or not) still be in an argumentative mood.

With regards to the thread’s topic: I certainly wouldn’t have considered myself a gamer back when I joined, and honestly have had a very rough time personally since joining, but gaming has become a touchstone for me to return to as I’m sure it remains for many of you. I wasn’t much of a gamer growing up; I was interested in and played games, sure, but I was almost always a generation or so behind, and it was somewhat rare for me to receive/buy games. Since joining this place, I spent a lot of time just reading articles and listening to podcasts - the latter really helped me when I developed some sleeping difficulties last year - because I personally felt the need to become more informed about the industry and gaming history before I could offer substantiated opinions of my own, and this year, I’ve played many more games than I would have previously because I’m comfortable now with developing and sharing my own opinions (in the same way that I enjoy developing my opinions for classical music or movies; I see it as getting to further understand my preferences).

I’ve got plenty of games that I have some interest in playing, and I actually have a spreadsheet of almost all of these, with a few hundred games listed alongside their original year of release, platforms that they’re available on, their developer, and approximate game length (according to howlongtobeat). I’m not giving myself the challenge of completing all of these games by any means, but I found it useful because now, when I complete a game, all I need to do is glance at the spreadsheet and I can figure out what I want to play next. My biggest problem, I feel, was that I was jumping into gaming relatively blind and somewhat paralysed by the sheer number of games available, so this exercise helped my to get my bearings in that regard by narrowing my “pool” of interests. 

[Aperson]

I will agree with @Julius Caesar, gaming is so vast these days and there are so many good games out now due to the general development quality going up and the number of indie gamers inspired by Nintendo's philosophy to innovate and create their own unique weird and wonderful games as well as tributes to old classics that innovate in new ways.

 

I think you have to really decide what type of games you really like. But because of the amount of games out there now, the chances that you and your friends are playing the same games isn't very often so it can be difficult to relate. I play a wide variety of genres from platformers, RPGs, Adventure games, racing games, fighting games, sports games and the odd game or two in other individual genres l enjoy. But generally these have been shaped by the kind of games I played in the first 10 years of being a gamer, with the only "new" franchises I've tried since having some tangible relation to stuff I used to play or related to interests I gained since (Ratchet & Clank is a platformer made by the same developers as Spyro so I naturally went into that, Kingdom Hearts is made by Square Enix and incorporates Final Fantasy characters plus it was a game series that I had been interested in playing for a very long time but couldn't get around to, FIFA came about after I started to get into football although Pro Evo was my initial interest there and the Indie games I've treasure picked have all had some relation to older games or been games I've generally heard good things about like Super Meat Boy, VVVVVV, Shovel Knight, Freedom Planet, Undertale and A Hat in Time). Also, I have a lot of problems trying to convince people that certain games are worth playing, mainly because I don't really have a persuasive demenour about me and everyone has their own preferences. Especially when it comes to Indie games, Undertale's reputation as a good game has been soured by it having a bad fan base but I keep trying to tell people that A Hat In Time is amazing and well worth playing and nobody wants to really give it a go, in spite of the fact that I think it is one of the funnest games I've played and really enjoyable from start to finish, if only a bit short.

 

So, videogames I feel are becoming a more difficult subject to relate over because there's so many games out there now and the chances of finding someone outside of the internet who shares your interests in certain video games can be difficult. It doesn't help that internet forums are dying in general because many "new" members that could replace old members are using social media like Facebook and Twitter as their primary source of communication with other people, leaving forums to keep on running with a few veterans. I can't vouch for how toxic things might have been here because I came over here from a different forum entirely (the old Official Nintendo Magazine forums) but on that forum things eventually nosedived when the veteran members formed their own group chat and developed a group mentality to bully the newer members and harass anyone who was deemed to be a "bad member" of the forums. OK, these newer members had some rather controversial views and were considered easy targets but it's not healthy for any forum to have veteran members who bully the newer guys just to get a kick out of it and because they have "objectively wrong" opinions. Although, being a relatively newer member to this forum I should probably be careful what I say here...

[V. Amoleo]

I've been stuck in this rut for about the past 8 years... so since about 2010.  That was my second year of uni doing Computer Science which means I spent pretty much all day looking at screens and by the time I got home I didn't really want to look at another one.  As soon as I finished uni I went straight into being a Developer so I never got back into it.  I do still play games occasionally but after about an hour I start to think "I could be doing something else" and so I stop.

The Switch, and 3DS, is getting used quite a lot because in portable mode it means I can play while doing something else or just while commuting on the bus.  I'm also pretty happy with room scale VR too as I don't get the feeling of wasting time.

I still love being involved in the conversation so I still buy the consoles and the games with the intention of playing them some day.  Starting to force myself to wait until the games are cheaper now too because there's no point buying a game at full price to not play it.

But now, and I think this is simply because I'm getting old, even the conversation is starting to be a bit grating.  N-Europe is the only forum I still frequent.  Everywhere else seems to be online-this, battle royale-that, twitch streamer-did-this, false nostalgia and esports-are-a-thing.  None of those things are bad (except maybe the false nostalgia) but they're just not for me.

 

[sumo73]

I've been playing video games for many years and despite being quite a bit older than most people here I still want to continue playing video games for sometime to come however overall life balance is important. I don't play video games as much as I used to but am worried in part where the industry and games journalism is going.

YongYea said something like (when talking about greedy publishers) "the customers are the cattle, the video games are the milking machines and the real customers are the investors".

If this is the shape of things to come, I have a large backlog of games to complete regardless but it's worrying nevertheless.

Edited January 12, 2019 by sumo73
checked YongYea's quote

[Ronnie]

On 10/01/2019 at 3:35 PM, sumo73 said:

I've been playing video games for many years and despite being quite a bit older than most people here I still want to continue playing video games for sometime to come however overall life balance is important. I don't play video games as much as I used to but am worried in part where the industry and games journalism is going.

YongYea said something like (when talking about greedy developers) "the customers are the cattle, the video games are the milking machines and the real customers are the investors".

If this is the shape of things to come, I have a large backlog of games to complete regardless but it's worrying nevertheless.

I think the worrying shape of things to come is the community, especially judging by this post  

Greedy developers? Really?

If you’re calling out investors then maybe direct your attention to publishers, not the people hard at work making games you love, all while entitled gamers demand they change the ending, or that they give you an extra costume etc. 

Games are better than ever,

Cheaper than ever,

and with 10x the scale and budget of back in the day. 

The only thing I worry about is dropping retail costs of games and above all, the generally immature side of the gaming community. 

Edited January 12, 2019 by Ronnie

[Sheikah]

I think the worrying shape of things to come is the community, especially judging by this post  

Greedy developers? Really?

If you’re calling out investors then maybe direct your attention to publishers, not the people hard at work making games you love, all while entitled gamers demand they change the ending, or that they give you an extra costume etc. 

Games are better than ever,

Cheaper than ever,

and with 10x the scale and budget of back in the day. 

The only thing I worry about is dropping retail costs of games and above all, the generally immature side of the gaming community. 

I think he meant the publishers/shareholders rather than the developers, because he quoted "the real customers are the investors".

 

[sumo73]

4 hours ago, Ronnie said:

I think the worrying shape of things to come is the community, especially judging by this post  

Greedy developers? Really?

If you’re calling out investors then maybe direct your attention to publishers, not the people hard at work making games you love, all while entitled gamers demand they change the ending, or that they give you an extra costume etc. 

Games are better than ever,

Cheaper than ever,

and with 10x the scale and budget of back in the day. 

The only thing I worry about is dropping retail costs of games and above all, the generally immature side of the gaming community. 

I appreciate the response but please bare in mind that this is not my opinion and I did quote YongYea in my original post. When I posted the original comment I was trying to remember YongYea's original quote and I mixed up 'developer' with 'publisher'. This was an genuine and honest mistake and I have now corrected it after seeing the original video. I apologise about this.

Also in my original post I said "If this is the shape of things to come..." so I'm not saying that it is necessarily right now although I worry about a few elements in the gaming industry such as micro-translations, loot boxes... and what will happen in the future. 

I rarely post anything about video games and I am certainly not the type of person to complain all the time which I fear you maybe alluding to. Thank you.

Edited January 12, 2019 by sumo73