2018: A Year in Gaming

[Ganepark32]

With many outlets now putting out their obligatory GOTY awards, I thought it was time to see what everyone here at N-E thought of this year in gaming. The highs, the lows and everything in between along with what we all thought were the standout games of 2018.

Out of the hardware manufacturers, it's been a strong year for Sony in particular. While the end of the year hasn't had a big AAA exclusive, they front loaded the yearbwirh God of War and Detroit: Become Human and followed that up with Marvel's Spider-man along side VR titles such as Moss, Astro Bot and the fantastic Tetris Effect. Though the Vita may officially be dead in the water, the PS4 has had a great year from first and third party devs, AAA and indie titles to cover everyone's tastes.

Nintendo have had a more muted year, with what could arguably said their B tier titles carrying the Switch through the early months and bigger hitters in Pokemon and Smash landing in recent weeks to provide those looking for strong first party titles the substance they were seeking. Third party support may not be quite up to the level of the other consoles yet, with some developers till hesitant to jump in fully, but strengthened support from Japanese developers and continued support from Bethesda alongside Blizzard jumping aboard gave the Switch more breadth with its games. That's on top of what has been a fantastic year of indies on the platform, many of which are platform exclusives currently.

Microsoft have had the weakest year of the 3 And while they're forward thinking for what's to come next, with a slew of big studio acquisitions, it's to third party releases that many have looked to throughout the year. The rough launches of both State of Decay and Sea of Thieves didn't put a strong door forward for Microsoft but from the sounds of it, Forza Horizon 4 once again hits it out of the park. They've been the most progressive, however, with the introduction of the Adaptive controller which is something that will hopefully become more wide spread across all of the platform holders, especially given Microsoft's willingness to sit and talk with anyone wanting to make use of the tech.

While there's been a fantastic mix of games, this year has also sadly seen us lose the likes of TellTale Games, we've had developers in the UK unionize to combat long work hours in the wake of the long hours needed to get the likes of Red Dead Redemption 2 out the door and we're now seeing strong competition for top dog on PCs with the Epic Game Store and Discord giving developers a bigger slice of the pie.

So what are some of your favourite moments of the year? And what have been your favourite games to play of 2018?

Personally, while I've done my best to keep up with as many of the big releases as possible, this is definitely been a year of trying to keep up and not managing because of the sheer volume of great games being released, whether AAA or indie. I've got a big list of games I'd wished I'd been able to get to/play this year but haven't managed. The likes of The Messenger, Return of the Obra Dinn, Where the Water Tastes Like Wine, Astro Bot, Into The Breach, Banner Saga 3, the list goes on. Some, like Hitman 2 and Dead Cells, I'll get to over the Christmas and New Year but I can see myself with a healthy backlog into next year, which is handy as the first big release I'm looking forward to is Metro Exodus in February so I've plenty of time to pick away at the list.

I'm still putting together the list of my favourite games this year. Probably won't be a top 10/20 thing like years passed but rather just a list of the games that I've enjoyed the most along with some of my favourite moments from them.

[Hero-of-Time]

I think it's been an amazing year for games. Here are a few highs and lows off the top of my head.

The Good

God of War, Detroit, Dragon Quest XI, Spider-Man, Spyro Trilogy, Assassins Creed: Odyssey, Mega Man X Legacy Collection, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Reverie, Ni No Kuni II, Far Cry 5 and Monster Hunter World. That's just some of the fantastic games I have played this year and that's just on my PS4! 

The PSVR has been on my radar this year, mainly thanks to the love Astro Bot has been getting. The price point has come down to a reasonable level and there have been a crazy amount of games released for it this year. There are a fair few outlets highlighting what a strong year the product has had and its just silently going about its business. It's great to see Sony actually supporting their product for a change. I may have to finally take the plunge with it soon.

A thing that I have enjoyed this year is seeing just how healthy sales are for all the console makers. The recent NPD numbers just highlighted how well all 3 companies are doing and it makes me happy to see my main hobby doing so well. 

Microsofts Adaptive Controller. This thing was a revelation when it was first shown. It was truly inspiring seeing one of the big 3 not only taking note of the issues that many disabled gamers have when it comes to their hobby but actually doing something about it. This is the kind of thing I would love to see more of in the industry, companies for once just thinking about their audience without trying to fleece them for money.

The Meh

My Switch didn't get as much love as I had hoped but I have been playing catch up in recent weeks. It was a weak year for the console, IMO. Kirby was pretty meh and things like Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze and Captain Toad I absolutely love but I have played before. Luckily both Pokemon and Smash Bros arrived before the year was out and I enjoyed both of them immensely. This year highlighted my problem with the platform in that I have another console that gets the games that are either better versions or arrive sooner. The ability to play on the go just isn't a selling point to me and without Nintendo's own output then the console falls a little flat. Next year is shaping up to be far better though.

The Bad

The death of E3 and surprises at shows. This isn't really anything to do with Sony not appearing next year but more that these types of shows are losing their appeal to me due to just how much stuff is now known before hand. Insiders have ruined a lot of the surprise and publishers are taking it upon themselves to tell you about stuff early in order to get ahead of any leaks. There are still a few surprises here and there but things are getting leaked more and more these days.

The Switch's online. This year saw Nintendo join the party in charging for online services and it's been a wreck. The Nintendo games I have played online are a bit of a mess connection wise, not to mention the lack of options. There's also the complete lack of communication about when we are going to see these special offers/discounts that were promised for the service. I have no issue being charged for a service that is worth the money but this has been a disaster from the start. Many outlets have complained about the service so hopefully Nintendo will get their fingers out next year and make it worthwhile.

This one is a little closer to home but I think this year has been pretty rough on N-E. Despite being a cracking year for games I think the amount of conversation on here is at an all time low. It begs the question, just how long can this place remain active and seen as a viable place for gaming conversations? I've kept an eye on a few people on here who have Era accounts and it's sad to see them post more on there than over here, showing that people do have time to post things but they go where the conversation is. Sad times.  

As for the best games I've played in 2018, I'm still in the process of playing a few things so I'll hold off posting until closer to the end of the year.

Edited December 22, 2018 by Hero-of-Time

[Hero-of-Time]

John over on Digital Foundry has put up his top games of the year. Chuffed to bits with his number one!  

 

[Ronnie]

In the Microsoft column, Game Pass is a pretty huge deal and ridiculous value for money. They may be lacking on the exclusive games front at the moment but they're making tons of good decisions outside of that. Can't wait to get started on Forza Horizon, it looks like one of the prettiest games I've ever seen.

Nintendo definitely had a quiet year, apart from Tennis, Octopath Traveller, Pokemon and Smash, but after the incredible year last year and what's shaping up to be an even more packed 2019, they're allowed a quiet one imo. Switch is the fastest selling console of the generation, which is pretty crazy to go from the Wii U to that. I paid £13 a year for their online service so I'm not fussed but they need to improve it next year and get more legacy titles in there. Their loyalty scheme (gold points) leads the way.

Sony knocked it out of the park with God of War and Detroit. Conversely I think Spider Man is one of the most overhyped games of the generation, but otherwise the first two started the year off fantastically. Their PS Classic was a disappointing, joyless, cash grab. The news of them skipping E3 next year came as no surprise, they've been cruising the last couple of shows, showing the same games over and over and they're at the end of the gen anyway.

The Telltale closure is sad, the anti-Bethesda crusade is typical and tedious regardless of whether they f-ed up or not (they did).

The past few years of games have been so good, quality wise that it really makes it hard to bother with anything under an 8 or 9/10. There's just so much amazing stuff to even consider some of the not so amazing these days, especially in the AAA space. Breath of the Wild last year, God of War and Red Dead this year, Celeste, Dead Cells, Hollow Knight etc, all outstanding titles.

2019 is shaping up to be pretty special too, Nintendo have a ton of stuff, I can't wait for Anthem and Sony still have a couple of first party games to go.

It's an amazing time to be a gamer.

My top 5 favourites of the year:

1. Hollow Knight
2. God of War
3. Red Dead Redemption 2
4. Celeste
5. Detroit Become Human

Edited December 22, 2018 by Ronnie

[Ashley]

There's obviously been a lot of highlights but honestly Florence has been my favourite gaming experience this year. It is unlike a lot of other things I have played and it managed to integrate mechanics with the story and emotion in a way that made me actually say "oh shit, that's so clever!" when I realised what they were doing.

[bob]

My game of the year is defo Spider-Man. Probably Pokémon after that.

[Happenstance]

Unless I get some more games that I love over Christmas, this is my 2018 top 10:

1. Marvel’s Spider-Man
2. God of War
3. Yakuza 6
4. Monster Hunter World
5. Yakuza Kiwami 2
6. 428 Shibuya Scramble
7. Shenmue I & II
8. Megaman 11
9. Ni No Kuni II
10. Red Dead Redemption 2

[Aperson]

Personally it's been a poor year for new games. After buying so many last year there weren't so many this time around that I was interested in. Most of the games I played were ones that came out last year or were much older games, mostly of which were part of my back catalogue. In the end I only actually got 5 games that came out this year, maybe 6 if you count the time I downloaded Fortnie, so...

1. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

2. Marvel's Spider-Man

3. Soulcalibur VI

4. Deltarune

5. Spyro: Reignited Trilogy

6. Fortnite (oooh)

 

I realise I skipped many games that were lauded this year like God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2 which won accolades but... game series which focus on blood and/or being a jerk to people don't appeal to me so I never was interested in the God of War or Rockstars games even though I recognise their impact on the industry. The funny thing is that I thought I would once grow into them because they were considered the "mature" games until I realised there was nothing really mature about gratiose violence 

 

The Switch in particular had a poor year although Nintendo did release Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze which is a fantastic game and I'm glad it got a platform in which more people can get a chance to play it. PS4 ended up being the console that I played the most on, what with Spider-Man, Soulcalibur VI, Spyro and A Hat in Time which ended up being the game that I enjoyed the most this year in spite of the fact that it came out last year. If anyone's holding out for it on the Switch, you've got something to look forward to, these developers have made a great game, albeit a bit short.

 

2019 is shaping up to be so good though off hand it's only Kingdom Hearts III, Team Sonic Racing and the new Pokemon game that's coming out next year that are the games I'm currently looking forward to. Luigi's Mansion 3 is a maybe and Metroid Prime 4 is something that I'm really looking forward to but not something I think will be out next year.

 

[Ganepark32]

@Ronnie, I completely forgot about Game Pass on the Xbox One. Don't know how as it's getting advertised like crazy at the moment but I totally agree, fantastic value for money and really pits into perspective how poor quality PlayStation Now is by comparison. Man, I wish it had been around when I had my Xbox One as I look at it now and think about just how much use I'd get out of something like that. You certainly can't fault Microsoft on the consumer side of things (minus an absence of big hitting first party titles this year) as Game Pass and the Adaptive controller are brilliant examples of then opening gaming up for people. I can definitely see Game Pass as an idea being extended to Sony next gen and even to Nintendo possibly with their online setup.

@Ashley, I keep forgetting about Florence. I keep seeing it getting mentioned around the place as one of the games that should be played but with most things mobile, it just seems to have slipped my mind. It's on my list to try either before the end of the year or at the start of next but I'm look forward to seeing what's what with it and experiencing that story. Something a little different.

Sitting trying to nail down my favourites for the year and there's just so many I've missed. A lot are indie games either platform exclusive or on PC or are ones that have slipped by just because of the shear volume of games this year. That and I don't have a PSVR to play Astro Bot but I've been sorely tempted the last few weeks. I thought I'd done a decent job of keeping on top of releases but it always seems to be the case that I've missed loads. I've got Hitman 2 set for playing over Christmas and that seems to be getting good mentions in GOTY lists around the net so I can't wait to get stuck in and see if my thoughts match up.

I'd personally say I think it's been a fantastic year for games. There's been a huge variety of things released on all formats, enough for people to get a taste of everything, and I am enjoying seeing that in games nowadays that there really is an openness and an entry point for all types of gamers to try things out.

The one award that I would like to hand out is the Corporate Asshat award which I'd happily give to EA (for their continued shilling of gamers, their arrogance to go against laws in Europe with regards to loot boxes and the way in which Coldwood Studios kind of got thrown under the bus for the release of Unravel 2 at E3), the managers/owners of TellTale Games for their complete mismanagement of that developer (even more heartbreaking with having played The Wolf Among Us this year and loving it, getting excited for the sequel next year and them then shutting down. Also means there'll never be a sequel to Tales from the Borderlands :() and Rockstar for the Houser brothers being arses and for not taking better care of their staff (RDR2 is a phenomenal piece of work but I can't help but feel that 8 years of work and quite a lot of over time, just not the 100 hours being touted, for that painstaking detail wasn't worth it if it's meant people being overworked in some of their studios).

[Hero-of-Time]

Thanks for the reminder about Rockstar, @Ganepark32. That definitely should have been on my list as well. It was certainly one of the biggest bad points for gaming this year.

When all of those stories started to break I was disgusted how many outlets either swept it under the rug or didn't follow up on what had been reported. Eurogamer earned a lot of respect from me for delving into it ( everyone should give the article a read ) and getting first hand experiences from people who worked on the game and wanted to talk about the awful working conditions they have had to put up with in the various Rockstar studios.

On the flip side, Easy Allies, mainly Brandon Jones, showed his true colours during this event. He has long been a fan of Rockstar games and you could tell he was quite happy to disregard a lot of what had been reported about in relation to how this game was made, purely because of his love for the developer. Love and Respect, indeed.

I was on the fence about buying the game but once these stories popped up I was quite happy to take my money elsewhere. No game is worth the amount of hours people had to work, the abuse they had to put up with and the important family moments that were missed. I've been saying for a while that games need to be scaled back and if by doing that these kind of things can be avoided then it's a no brainer what needs to happen.

[Dcubed]

Nintendo

 

2018 was definitely a quieter year for Nintendo that the past couple of years.  I previously likened Nintendo's 2018 to their 2012 and I still think it's a pretty apt comparison.

 

That being said though, if you didn't own a Wii U (and lets face it, most Switch owners didn't) you were absolutely drowning in riches this year! Imagine a year where Captain Toad, Bayonetta 1, Bayonetta 2, Hyrule Warriors, Mario Tennis Ultra Smash Aces, Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze and Super Smash Bros For Wii U Ultimate all came out as brand new titles within the same year; plus add on the three Labo releases, Kirby: Star Allies, Super Mario Party and Octopath Traveller (Plus Let's Go if you want to count remakes).  That was the reality for most people who owned a Switch!

 

While Switch had very little new to offer most of us here (let's face it, the only truly new games released this year were Super Mario Party, Octopath Traveller, Labo and Kirby: Star Allies - and even then, the latter was almost certainly a port of a cancelled Wii U game), the lineup that it did offer for most Switch owners was immense!

 

Of course, the lineup of indie titles has been superb though (even if most of them are multiplatform releases).  Celeste in particular just blew me away! And then there is the larger 3rd party titles like Monster Boy (which I haven't been able to play yet, but am really looking to getting stuck into!), Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, Valkyria Chronicles 4 and Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum N' Fun! There have been some good releases on Switch this year, even if the grand, grand majority of them are re-releases of older titles...

 

Really though, this is all just building up to 2019, which is looking to be a serious contender to Nintendo's 2013! The lineup is already scarily similar, and we haven't even started the year yet! If they can pull off at least one first party release every month, like they did back in 2013 (and it's looking very likely that they will!), it's gonna be an incredible year next year! Almost all of their dev teams are due to release something next year, so I expect 2019 to be a real blow-out year!

 

Sony

 

This hasn't really been Sony's best year.  While they have had some big titles published this year, the publisher was marred by controversy; not least of which being the whole debacle surrounding cross-platform online play.  The PS4 Pro also hasn't really taken off quite like how they wanted to, while the Xbox One X has really stolen its thunder as the high-end hardware choice for enthusiasts.  They also had an utterly disastrous E3 showing that was so bad, that they have officially cancelled their E3 2019 showing.  Their strategy of selling the PS4 based off of promises of future releases announced years in advance has finally come back to bite them in the arse.

 

And to finish off their joke of a year, they decided to ripoff Nintendo with the Playstation Mini... just... you know, without the quality emulation.  It was really sad to see them completely bungle this project, but bungle it they did.  What a terrible way to round off a terrible year!

 

That's not to say that they haven't had some good releases this year.  This year saw the release of the absolutely superb remake of Shadow of the Colossus, as well as the long awaited Detroit: Become Human, God of War and Spider-Man; while Astro Bot was a surprise hit for PS VR.  It's a small lineup, but its one that packed a punch!  Tetris Effect was the one big exclusive 3rd party title this year, but it was at least a really good one!

 

Overall, it was a pretty awful year for Sony, despite the release of a few good games.  Sadly it looks like 2019 will not be reversing this trend so far; with signs pointing to a small lineup and a total lack of communication going forward (especially with the confirmed lack of an E3 showing).  It really does feel like Sony are winding down the PS4 now in preperation for something else to come in 2020...

 

Microsoft

 

Microsoft actually had a pretty bangin' year! The surprise introduction of Game Pass turned out to be a real trump card that nobody saw coming! While their lineup of new titles was pretty threadbare (Consisting solely of Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2 and Forza Horizon 4), Game Pass was the real star of the show; especially with the expansion of the Xbox One's backwards compatibility functionality!

 

The Xbox One X hardware and functionality also really stole the show for them this year, not only making their console the defacto choice for everyone who wanted the best experience with 3rd party multiplatform releases (obviously not counting PC or Switch here, which bring their own unique advantages to the table), but also breathing new life into older titles with its newfound ability to up-res Original Xbox and Xbox 360 titles to full (or near full) 4K! A huge boon for long-time Xbox fans that went a long way towards justifying the console's high price! (and is no doubt one of the big factors that lead to the Xbox One X outselling the PS4 Pro).

 

On a wider level, Xbox fans also have a lot to be excited about.  Not just for the upcoming lineup of exclusives (which includes a new Battletoads game! New Cuphead DLC, Gears of War 5, Halo Infinite and Ori and the Will of the Wisps), but also for the future of the Xbox ecosystem in general.  Microsoft outright confirmed their intention to remain in the console market and that they were working on the next Xbox; on top of that, they've also been on a mad shopping spree this year! Aqquiring ALL of the developers mentioned below...

 

Quote

The Initiative

Playground Games

Ninja Theory

Undead Labs

Compulsion Games

inXile Entertainment & inXile New Orleans

Obsidian Entertainment 

... and with word spreading of them putting more developers on their shopping list... The future of Xbox is looking a lot brighter than this time last year!

 

Outside of Game Pass, you also had the introduction of the Xbox Adaptive Controller too, a fantastic initiative for the disabled! The new upcoming Project xCloud, a really promising initiative that expands the Xbox's reach outside of its own platform, a recommitment to the PC platform (with almost all of their first party Xbox One releases now being available on PC!) and almost across-the-board support for cross platform online play with Switch!

 

They've even won back a lot of lost marketshare ground against Sony in their key markets! (US and UK), with not too much seperating them now!

 

So yeah! 2018 was a great year for Microsoft; and 2019 looks to be another humdinger of a year for Xbox fans.  Game Pass really has changed everything and the whole business model behind it just makes so much more sense for them, given their market position and the stance of the company as a whole (as-in, Microsoft, outside of the Xbox division).

 

3rd Party Multiplatform Publishers/developers in general

 

Just one controversy after another for all of the big 4 western publishers and all of them deserve everything they got.  From EA being EA (and outright breaking Belgian law), to Rockstar’s shambolic mistreatment of its staff (with outright slave labour conditions), to the absolute incidious misogyny that plagues the industry; they’re all run by a bunch of absolute inhuman cunts.  The AAA market in general can fuck right off and the sooner it dies out, the better.

 

As for smaller publishers and the Japanese side? THQ Nordic really have gone from strength to strength! Quietly becoming a force to be reckoned with! They've pumped out some great titles this year and have aqquired pretty much the entierty of AA western development it seems! Hopes are high now for a revival of Timesplitters!  

 

Capcom had one massive release that really disappointed me, but I can't really argue that 10 million sales says that it was the right decision... Still, we finally got Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate at least! That's a nice consolation prize! And Mega Man 11 turned out really well too.

It's all about 2019 for Capcom though, and it promises to be one of the best years that they have had for a LONG time! Can't wait for both RE2 Remake and DMC5!  

 

Namco had a decent year, with the release of DB FighterZ (which turned out way better than anyone expected!) and two new Taiko No Tatsujin games in the west!  Unfortunately they bungled the release of Dark Souls Remastered on all platforms (and tremendously so on Switch), while Soul Calibur 6 was a high profile bomba.  Some other low-key bombas also marred the year, like Ni No Kuni 2, but overall, they did ok.

 

Square Enix had a pretty disastrous year really, only seeing any real success with Octopath Traveller (and that was really thanks to Nintendo).  They lost IO Interactive, bungled Final Fantasy 15 and Dissidia NT and really just did poorly all round the year.  Their biggest release of this year (Dragon Quest 11) was also marred by controversy and ended up really underperforming... hopefully they will be able to salvage something out of it with the (incredibly late) upcoming Switch release...

 

SEGA had a good year though.  With releases like Yakuza 6 (despite the demo debacle), Sonic Mania Plus, Shenmue 1&2 HD, Valkyria Chronicles 4 and Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise; they had a strong lineup of critically acclaimed releases, even if they didn't end up being big sellers in general (they will likely do well over time though).  This year also saw the beginning of their new SEGA AGES initiative on Switch, a successor to their SEGA 3D Classics and Virtual Console line of high quality re-releases from M2; and while it's taking a bit of time to really get going, to be this good takes ages!

Next year is promising too, with Sonic Team Racing headlining the year alongside Judgement, Puyo Puyo eSports in the west, a new Sakura Taisen game and the continuation of SEGA AGES; as well as the promise of a (newly delayed and completely re-engineered) Megadrive Mini.  Here's hoping that it turns out better than Sony's attempt...

 

So yeah! That covers the landscape broadly! 2018 wasn't a great year overall, but 2019 looks to be one to remember! 

Edited December 24, 2018 by Dcubed

[Ronnie]

1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I was on the fence about buying the game but once these stories popped up I was quite happy to take my money elsewhere. No game is worth the amount of hours people had to work, the abuse they had to put up with and the important family moments that were missed. I've been saying for a while that games need to be scaled back and if by doing that these kind of things can be avoided then it's a no brainer what needs to happen.

Fully respect your decision but isn’t your boycotting of the game making everybody lose? You miss out on an amazing game, Rockstar loses a sale and the devs hard work don’t get to be appreciated by someone. I imagine they’d rather you played it than avoided it based on some comments by a handful of employees. Full disclosure I haven’t read the eurogamer investigation but I will do. I’m just a little wary of things being blown out of proportion which happens pretty much every other day in the industry/community. Not saying overworked employees isn’t a problem, of course it is, but it’s also something that happens pretty much everywhere, in any industry, when there’s a deadline that needs hitting. 

Edited December 24, 2018 by Ronnie

[Glen-i]

For me, Smash Bros saved a pretty crappy year for me. But then again, any Smash saves any year for me really.

Apart from that, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate was my main game. Wouldn't nearly have played it as much if it wasn't for N-Europe Peeps, but still.

I've only dipped my toe into Monster Boy, but it's already looking great, I'm looking forward to digging into that soon.

Biggest disappointment for me was easily Pokémon Let's Go. Everything I dislike about Pokémon games these days without any of the redeeming qualities that would otherwise allow me to overlook it. It all came together to become an unbalanced mess that even this 19 year long Pokémon fan won't pony up for.

[Hero-of-Time]

20 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

Fully respect your decision but isn’t your boycotting of the game making everybody lose? You miss out on an amazing game, Rockstar loses a sale and the devs hard work don’t get to be appreciated by someone. I imagine they’d rather you played it than avoided it based on some comments by a handful of employees. Full disclosure I haven’t read the eurogamer investigation but I will do. I’m just a little wary of things being blown out of proportion which happens pretty much every other day in the industry/community. Not saying overworked employees isn’t a problem, of course it is, but it’s also something that happens pretty much everywhere, in any industry, when there’s a deadline that needs hitting. 

It's a tricky one because, as you said, you want to support the hard work but from my point of view I don't want to reward the bosses who treat their staff like garbage. It's a bit of a Catch 22. 

As for missing out on a great game, I'm not a huge fan of Rockstars more recent output and found their games to be pretty overrated, with gaming press giving them a pass on many things purely because of who they are.

Yeah, read the Eurogamer report. It's a shocking insight in to how these places are run and sadly I doubt it will ever change. I think it was called something like The Human Cost of Red Dead Redemption 2.

[Ronnie]

7 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

It's a tricky one because, as you said, you want to support the hard work but from my point of view I don't want to reward the bosses who treat their staff like garbage. It's a bit of a Catch 22. 

As for missing out on a great game, I'm not a huge fan of Rockstars more recent output and found their games to be pretty overrated, with gaming press giving them a pass on many things purely because of who they are.

Yeah, read the Eurogamer report. It's a shocking insight in to how these places are run and sadly I doubt it will ever change. I think it was called something like The Human Cost of Red Dead Redemption 2.

I just think if you said to the thousand (or whatever) developers who worked on the game “I’m not going to buy the game you spent years working hard on, just so it means one less sale for your boss” most would tell you to just buy and enjoy the game. That’s just my suspicion though, maybe I’m wrong. 

I’ll read it but a couple of things Eurogamer has done recently has rubbed me up the wrong way. Stuff like hiring women just because they’re women. I always say, hire on merit. Hire the best person for the job, regardless of their gender, race, sexuality etc. Eurogamer seem to lean a tad too far left for me.

As for the game, its my first Rockstar game and I can’t see the openworld they made being bettered any time soon. Just masterful, genius design. But from what I hear their games can be a bit marmite so fair enough if you’re not too fussed. 

[Grazza]

2 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I've been saying for a while that games need to be scaled back and if by doing that these kind of things can be avoided then it's a no brainer what needs to happen.

 

This is my instinct too.  Not that I can prove anyone has been overworked on any one project, but games seem to have got out of hand.  With open world games, they often feel too immense to even play, and I can only imagine how hard they were to make.

 

30 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

I’ll read it but a couple of things Eurogamer has done recently has rubbed me up the wrong way. Stuff like hiring women just because they’re women. I always say, hire on merit. Hire the best person for the job, regardless of their gender, race, sexuality etc. Eurogamer seem to lean a tad too far left for me.

 

Yes, I do very much agree with this part.

[Ronnie]

4 minutes ago, Grazza said:

This is my instinct too.  Not that I can prove anyone has been overworked on any one project, but games seem to have got out of hand.  With open world games, they often feel too immense to even play, and I can only imagine how hard they were to make.

Games definitely need to scale back, the quality would improve as a byproduct of that as well. Trouble is the “urgh it’s ONLY 20 hours long, fuck that” crowd would never let it happen. Especially with the entitled chunk of the community sadly getting more and more power each year, demanding and telling developers what to do. Sad times. 

[Aperson]

20 hours is a solid length of time for any game to last. Especially since it's these kinds of games you can expect to reasonably finish within a month if you have a full time job.

This is why I think RPGs are so unappealing to people with jobs, because they can take over 80 hours to finish and are clearly designed for people who have nothing better to do than sit around and play video games all day. And in the case of JRPGs they seem specifically catered towards otaku culture to absorb that specific time. Such games can take years to get around to completing. Then you have Dark Souls which combined with employment and a hard difficulty does not seem reasonably finishable within the space of a year especially if the job you do is something that can cause frustration. The last thing you want to do after coming home from a frustrating day at work is to play a game which makes you even more frustrated.

That being said I was able to beat Xenoblade 2 within about two months of it's sprawling length in spite of also having to commit to work at the same time. I think the save anywhere feature helped in that regard, though I didn't touch most of the sidequests...

[Hero-of-Time]

3 hours ago, GenericAperson said:

20 hours is a solid length of time for any game to last. Especially since it's these kinds of games you can expect to reasonably finish within a month if you have a full time job.

This is why I think RPGs are so unappealing to people with jobs, because they can take over 80 hours to finish and are clearly designed for people who have nothing better to do than sit around and play video games all day. And in the case of JRPGs they seem specifically catered towards otaku culture to absorb that specific time. Such games can take years to get around to completing. Then you have Dark Souls which combined with employment and a hard difficulty does not seem reasonably finishable within the space of a year especially if the job you do is something that can cause frustration. The last thing you want to do after coming home from a frustrating day at work is to play a game which makes you even more frustrated.

That being said I was able to beat Xenoblade 2 within about two months of it's sprawling length in spite of also having to commit to work at the same time. I think the save anywhere feature helped in that regard, though I didn't touch most of the sidequests...

JRPGs are one of my fav genres. I manage to get through them easily enough and work 40+ hours a week and have done for years. 

I also knocked out and platinumed Bloodborne in around a week and that was my first Souls game. 

 

[Ashley]

2 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

JRPGs are one of my fav genres. I manage to get through them easily enough and work 40+ hours a week and have done for years. 

I also knocked out and platinumed Bloodborne in around a week and that was my first Souls game. 

 

You don't seem to obey the laws of time and space though.

[Glen-i]

19 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I also knocked out and platinumed Bloodborne in around a week and that was my first Souls game. 

Humble Brag! And I can call him out because he'll never know!

Seriously though, I'm not too sure that a long game is such a bad thing. If a game manages to not bore me with it's gameplay loop, I can literally spend hundreds of hours on it.

I mean, loads of you losers did the same for BotW. Which I guess is a prime example for me of a game that needed to end a lot sooner then it did.

I'm not making much of a point here...

Games be-ing long might not be a bad thing,

Fa la la la la, la la la la!

[Ronnie]

Finishing games quickly isn’t anything to brag about, humbly or not. It’s just how H-O-T personally likes to play games.

Back on topic, If the content is good and the gameplay loop keeps you engaged for a long time then I think that’s fine. JRPGs I personally find incredibly repetitive and not worth the enormous time investment. Especially ones with random turn based battles every thirty seconds. Can’t believe I managed to stick with Octopath as long as I did, the somewhat puzzle based battle mechanic probably kept me invested more than I usually would be.

And as for western games, the prospect of playing the new Assassin’s Creed and having to sink 100+ hours into it is really putting me off, and that’s the game that reviewed brilliantly. I’ll probably skip it, too much else to play and I wish devs would stop thinking bigger is better. 

Edited December 26, 2018 by Ronnie

[Grazza]

1 hour ago, Glen-i said:

Seriously though, I'm not too sure that a long game is such a bad thing. If a game manages to not bore me with it's gameplay loop, I can literally spend hundreds of hours on it.

I mean, loads of you losers did the same for BotW. Which I guess is a prime example for me of a game that needed to end a lot sooner then it did.

 

I agree.  Plenty of long games have held my attention - Dragon Quest IX, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, to name two.  It's just something about the open world ethos, which has probably only been about since Wii/PS3/Xbox 360, seems excessive.  A game with an addictive gameplay loop holds my attention too, but I always find open world games revolve around not particularly "designed" maps, with way too much choice of direction, and an enormous array of side quests which really amounts to a list of materials to collect.

[Hero-of-Time]

1 hour ago, Ronnie said:

Finishing games quickly isn’t anything to brag about, humbly or not. It’s just how H-O-T personally likes to play games.

It's not really a question of finishing them quickly/rushing through them (as you know I do try to 100% the games I enjoy), it's more a question of the crazy amount of hours I put into them in such a short space of time. 

For example, I've been on holiday most of December and my days off have pretty much consisted of getting up at 5am, going for a swim, coming home and then pretty much playing games non-stop until late at night, with perhaps a session at the gym after lunch. How many other people on here play games this intensely or are crazy enough to get up at that time while they are off work? Not many.

My post wasn't to brag but more show that it's more than possible to get through a lot of these long games while working full time. Hell, my eldest brother is 49, married with 2 kids and travels up and down the country for work. He's currently 90+ hours into Assassin's Creed Odyssey on his Xbox. Again, showing it can be done.

Its like anything in life, if you're passionate about it then you'll somehow make time to fit in what you enjoy doing.

 

[Ronnie]

15 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

It's not really a question of finishing them quickly/rushing through them (as you know I do try to 100% the games I enjoy), it's more a question of the crazy amount of hours I put into them in such a short space of time. 

For example, I've been on holiday most of December and my days off have pretty much consisted of getting up at 5am, going for a swim, coming home and then pretty much playing games non-stop until late at night, with perhaps a session at the gym after lunch. How many other people on here play games this intensely or are crazy enough to get up at that time while they are off work? Not many.

My post wasn't to brag but more show that it's more than possible to get through a lot of these long games while working full time. Hell, my eldest brother is 49, married with 2 kids and travels up and down the country for work. He's currently 90+ hours into Assassin's Creed Odyssey on his Xbox. Again, showing it can be done.

Its like anything in life, if you're passionate about it then you'll somehow make time to fit in what you enjoy doing.

 

Sorry when I said "finish them quickly" I meant sink a lot of time into them so that you're done with them quicker than most . Didn't mean to come across negatively, my point was that everyone has their own way they like to play and so the suggestion you were bragging wasn't really accurate I don't think.