Veterans .Who thinks pc gaming have really evolved in the last few years ..

[bfar]

While the state of gaming is pretty decent, one thing that hasn't aged well is gaming journalism. It's become a shady industry in its own right.

The independence is gone, and media events, freebies and ndas are the name of the game. No one admits it, but the publishers have the media in their pockets.

The quality of reviews are laughable, seriously, some of them have become fierce hipster, kind of like reviews for high end audio, full of meaningless rubbish. There are some really mediocre games getting great reviews because they have some trendy hook rather than any real originality.

 

[davewhite04]

You've not modded your skyrim right then, 'cause PS4 can't even hope to run that

Haven't played it for a while, but since I'm nearly done with Dark Souls, might relax with a bit of Skyrim

 

[Cold_And_Miserable]

Alien Isolation has been the only good AAA title since 2005 and there won't be a sequel. Obviously most of the masses want trash like COD or Battlefield and certainly don't want strategy, especially RTS.

 

[FoxEye]

Anybody who says that gaming right now is 'terrible' or lacking creativity or whatever is either just a cynical whiner, has ultra narrow tastes or just isn't looking in the right places.

I'd say we're in a golden age of gaming. I dont know how the quality of releases can keep up for much longer before we hit something of a lull, where we'll look back at 2015 and 2016 as some of the best years in gaming for a long time.

Easy enough to look purely at the AAA scene and point out the sequels and boring franchise exploitation and 'cinematic gaming', but that's such a small picture of gaming as a whole. And it ignores that there are still lots of good AAA titles that were made or are getting made, sequels or not. They're not ALL like that by any means. We've gotten GTA V, Souls games/Bloodborne, Dying Light, Alien Isolation, The Evil Within, Wolfenstein: The New Order, The Witcher 3, etc while coming up we have Dishonored 2, the new Deux Ex, Mirror's Edge Catalyst, Dark Souls 3, Mass Effect Andromeda, Doom and on and on.

And all the great AA games, including the resurgence of the CRPG. Thinking about games like Xcom 2, Divinity Original Sin, Pillars of Eternity, Wasteland 2, Legend of Grimrock 2, The Talos Principle, Grim Dawn, Dirt Rally, Project Cars, Elite Dangerous, Shadowrun: Hong Kong, etc etc.

I shouldn't have the list the insane amount of great indie games that have been coming out recently. It's absolute saturation right now and I honestly have a hard time just keeping up with the rate of releases(Hyper Light Drifter comes out tomorrow by the way!).

Gaming is fantastic right now. And PC gaming is better than ever, with more options and games coming out than ever before. Unless you're just burnt out on gaming, I'd say something is wrong with you if you cant appreciate what we have going right now.

Quite a few games on your list there are over-hyped and distinctly average.

I guess that makes me a "whiner with narrow taste" tho, so I'll just stop there.

 

[phil675]

I just find that most games are made for teenagers now and as a result, gameplay is dumbed down or is an afterthought with marketing being the main focus. I like games that are easy to pick up but have a lot of depth behind them, unfortunately new stuff is just repeat the same thing over and over until the end cutscene.

And then you have these glaring problems in the gaming industry like the practice of releasing unfinished games even on consoles, charging money for small in-game things, political correctness in gaming 'journalism' and all that just really puts me off now.

Having tried a Vive, I'm hoping that VR will bring out some real creativity, but it may just burn out as an expensive fad.

 

[Richdog]

Threads like this always make me scratch my head in wonderment.

PC gaming has evolved yes, but not in originality or storytelling... that age of true innovation and scripts that wouldn't be out of place in the finest comedies are long gone.

The fact is that you cannot say you have experienced any kind of PC Golden Age™ unless you were a gamer from around 1990 to approximately 2003.

That's not anyone's fault, it's just simply due to the fact that this period was the time when almost all of the concepts we know and love were invented, and the games you played were truly original and derived from almost nothing else. This means that the sense of wonderment when you played many of the games was real because there had literally never been anything recognisably like it before. Dune II, Monkey Island, X-Wing/TIE Fighter, Wing Commander, Dungeon Keeper, Baldurs Gate, the list could go on for hours.

Now, we are left with big budget derivatives that rarely if add anything truly new or original simply because as an industry we are now averse to taking risks, and creative freedom is something that exists only in a very small numbers of game developers outside of the Indie scene. It used to be that the big house publishers were the Indie developers and were basically allowed to do what the **** they wanted with (at the time) great resources to do so. On top of that you had knee-trembling talent in storytelling and scriptwriting such as from Lucasarts et al which was truly awe-inspiring, bordering on genius. Blockbuster quality at its finest.

Nowadays the gaming industry is ruled by like the likes of SEGA, EA and Ubisoft who do not care about originality, who do not care about taking risks, and who are happy to churn out variations of the same thing with upgraded graphics year on year because they have no respect for the user-base, they have turned into corporations that know that people will buy things regardless on the strength of recognisable branding and past glories. We are in the age of the franchise.

Of course I am generalising as I haven't got time or energy to list each and every exception such as in the RPG world which by it's very nature allows great creativity, and there are still some notably (but still, comparatively few) good games being produced in most genres and even now and then some sparks of real originality to be seen. There are also still some great ideas from books and movies which could be translated to gaming.

The current 2.5D model of gaming, while still alive, has entered a twilight period. VR and similar room-based technology will be the next golden age, putting you directly into the action. 4D is the future, where you enter the game and experience it as though you were actually a character.

So please, don't say PC gaming is going through any kind of golden age of originality or storytelling unless you were a gamer during the years I mentioned above, because however good games have been since then you will never experience the heady wonderment of those days when everything was new.

PS: I was also a Spectrum gamer and played on my friends Amiga, but do not consider those comparable experiences even back in the day.

 

[One Vision]

^You owned a spectrum but played on your friends Amiga? You missed out, also not owning a C64 you missed out again. Spectrum was great (yes i owned 2 of them) but the C64 blew it out of the water
Tbh ive gone back to playing the Golden Age of gaming. Im now playing MAME and the games i used to play way back in the Arcades, getting more fun out of it.

Sega have not been the same company since failing with the dreamcast, the dreamcast was not the failure. The failure was the 32x stepping stone to the Saturn. They got it right with the dreamcast but loyal fans had had enough of Sega and there antics. They failed to adapt to a mature gaming audience by still trying to force games like Sonic and other cutesy crap on mature players. Sonys PS1 was to target a much wider mature audience (remember Wipeout and the Orb) and it worked. Sega once a heavyweight major player in the Coin-op division were forced to take a back seat and never have truly recovered even to this day. They will never return to the days of when Yu Suzuki and AM2 ruled the world with ground breaking titles. They failed to adapt and there nothing today tbh. Nintendo were the same and only just survived, they still are not in touch with mature gamers of today. Nobody cares about new Mario games anymore or Sonic. Adapt or die.

 

[Haggisman]

I just find that most games are made for teenagers now

I think they have always been made for teenagers... the problem is, us "veterans" are no longer teenagers!

The fact is that you cannot say you have experienced any kind of PC Golden Age™ unless you were a gamer from around 1990 to approximately 2003.

That's not anyone's fault, it's just simply due to the fact that this period was the time when almost all of the concepts we know and love were invented, and the games you played were truly original and derived from almost nothing else. This means that the sense of wonderment when you played many of the games was real because there had literally never been anything recognisably like it before. Dune II, Monkey Island, X-Wing/TIE Fighter, Wing Commander, Dungeon Keeper, Baldurs Gate, the list could go on for hours.

Got to agree there tbh... games like Ultima Online, where you could "log in" and be in the same "world" as thousands of other players, one moment buying a couple of horses from someone California, the next locked in a life or death battle with a couple of murderers from Norway. The scale of it was amazing, and it was all new - these days it's just taken for granted.

Then there was the emergence of WASD/mouse controls and (IMO) true 3D shooters. The first FPS I got on PC was Star Wars Dark Forces - great game (at the time), but the controls weren't really suited to 3D, looking vertically was challenging (as with many games of that era), and the games were often a "pseudo-3D", where although the environment was rendered in 3D, nothing really happened above or below the player.

Half-Life & Unreal of course changed all that, with mouse look as the default controls (pretty sure there were a few games which support it before them - e.g. Quake, but HL & Unreal were where it became mainstream).

Unfortunately, these days, it really does seem a case of "it's all been done before"

 

[bloodiedathame]

I still would prefer to play Dungeon Keeper or Quake than most new releases, and do so.

 

[Surfer]

was also a Spectrum gamer and played on my friends Amiga, but do not consider those comparable experiences even back in the day

wow i mustve read that incorrectly? Did you just sweep aside the entire Zx Spectrum and AMIGA golden years? Not comparable to the PC?

 

[Richdog]

wow i mustve read that incorrectly? Did you just sweep aside the entire Zx Spectrum and AMIGA golden years? Not comparable to the PC?

Amiga was certainly good fun and gave me my first multiplayer experiences (split screen settlers, hah) but I didn't personally own one and the impact of the games on me when I was young was nothing like when the PC later got into full swing. Spectrum was also good fun but again, on me personally it didn't have so much impact or capture my imagination. Bear in mind that at the same time the NES and SNES was ubiquitous and if one of your friends had one of those along with SFII and F-Zero then they were OMGCOOLESTFRIENDSEVER.

I think Monkey Island was the first game that really made me go "Wowwww" as it just completely captured my imagination... also all the other Lucasarts and Kings/Space Quest etc point and click stuff. Duke Nukem also came and then Wolfenstein 3D etc and I think Dune II was the moment where I thought "EPICCCCC" and also really got me into Sci-Fi.

 

[meldarthx]

What I miss is games like Monkey Island and Grim Fandango. Not the pixel hunting and weird combination of items part (although I did enjoy that), but the witty writing. Humour seems to have vanished from gaming these recent years, and I'm not sure why..

Unepic.....graphically not the best; but writing is awesome and the game play is brutal on harder settings I love the game; pretty much created by one guy; lots and lots of pen and paper humor in it

 

[davewhite04]

PS: I was also a Spectrum gamer and played on my friends Amiga, but do not consider those comparable experiences even back in the day.

Exactly the same Loved my Speedball 2 and North and South sessions with my mate Great times indeed.

 

[Dogoid]

^You owned a spectrum but played on your friends Amiga? You missed out, also not owning a C64 you missed out again. Spectrum was great (yes i owned 2 of them) but the C64 blew it out of the water

I can't imagine not having owned a C64. games like , Last Ninja 2 , Target Renegade, Double Dragon , R-Type were my childhood.

also C64 had a great sound chip.

 

[meldarthx]

A lot seemed to missed some of the classics being brought back; and are just as good if not better. Pillars is awesome throw back to Balder's Gate - writing just as good if not better; is it as good as Torment? *Which is regarded by many the best rpg ever put out* That's also being continued kinda.

Shadowrun Returns: Dragonfall was my game of the year for 2014. Fixed a lot of issues that were in Shadowrun Returns - and the writing was better than anything that was put out there. Shadowrun: Hong Kong - ties for my game of the year last year with Witcher 3. Far better writing in Shadowrun than in Witcher 3; but the mechanics in Witcher 3 are better. They also cleaned up some issues left over from Shadowrun Returns.

Wasteland 2 - was amazing; caught perfectly the feeling of Wasteland - the artwork and gameplay all improved from the last one. Remember; without Wasteland - there would be no Fallout

I've been gaming since I was 6ish so around 1982; I played everything in what was called first Golden Age of PC gaming from 1990ish through 2000; hell alittle before and little after that.

There were stuff done that wasn't ever done before - storytelling was amazing; because it had to be; as gameplay was limited by PC power.

I see storytelling still there; still amazing if you're willing to look around; sometimes graphics are not amazing - but the gameplay and story more than make up for it; as in Unepic

I think - we are cusp of another golden age - VR will help lead that. Others scoff and say VR is just like 3d and will go that way. No - one - 3d was pretty much limited to gaming and you needed a massive amount of power to usually run it. VR isn't limited there - same as AR. That's one of the big differences - two first time VR attempted to break into PCs; we didn't have the power to run VR stably along with the fact puke factor for a lot of people.

Puke factor is still there; but has been really taken into account this time and they are doing their best to counter it.

Three - only a couple companies really got behind 3d; *that includes new push in 3d tvs* The entire industry; not just PC; but console among other industries are involved as they know how game changing VR will be - hell I was 14ish to 16ish first time VR attempted; I'd made my own hacked VR goggles out of shutter glasses and 2.5d glove out of an nintendo power glove.

Also don't forget - one industry that really drives things........Porn - you may laugh; but it was porn that drove DVD sales - they were the first to adapt from VHS - same with bluray - porn again will adapt faster than anyone else and are pushing VR heavily. Never ever underestimate the power of porn

We still have a long way to go - but we'll get there and there are a lot of games out there that are waiting to be played...... so lets play

 

[Haggisman]

I'll have to remember that one next time my GF catches me... "I'm just helping with the advancement of technology!"

I'm skeptical about VR to be honest... I'd be very happy to be proven wrong, but given the extremely high cost of the hardware, there are going to have to be a lot of high quality games which use it to its full potential. Enthusiasts aside, no customer in the mainstream market is going to spend £5-600 on a peripheral to play a couple of tech-demos...

 

[davewhite04]

I'll have to remember that one next time my GF catches me... "I'm just helping with the advancement of technology!"

I'm skeptical about VR to be honest... I'd be very happy to be proven wrong, but given the extremely high cost of the hardware, there are going to have to be a lot of high quality games which use it to its full potential. Enthusiasts aside, no customer in the mainstream market is going to spend £5-600 on a peripheral to play a couple of tech-demos...

I think it will be like 3D in terms of popularity. Can't see myself using it as I like to see my cuppa and cig while I play.

 

[Raumarik]

I'll have to remember that one next time my GF catches me... "I'm just helping with the advancement of technology!"

I'm skeptical about VR to be honest... I'd be very happy to be proven wrong, but given the extremely high cost of the hardware, there are going to have to be a lot of high quality games which use it to its full potential. Enthusiasts aside, no customer in the mainstream market is going to spend £5-600 on a peripheral to play a couple of tech-demos...

I've used DK1 and 2 of the rift and it's good but I couldn't use it for more than 30mins at a time, just not comfortable enough for me personally, felt it was too bright on the eyes, too warm on the face and hated having cables attached to me.

I doubt see the price tag as much of an issue, I just don't think the tech is quite there yet. I'll give it 5 more years and stick with TrackIR for now.

 

[Richdog]

I think it will be like 3D in terms of popularity. Can't see myself using it as I like to see my cuppa and cig while I play.

Somehow I doubt that: "not being able to see me cuppa and cig" will be attributed to the downfall of VR.

 

[MINUS12]

Threads like this always make me scratch my head in wonderment.

PC gaming has evolved yes, but not in originality or storytelling... that age of true innovation and scripts that wouldn't be out of place in the finest comedies are long gone.

The fact is that you cannot say you have experienced any kind of PC Golden Age™ unless you were a gamer from around 1990 to approximately 2003.

That's not anyone's fault, it's just simply due to the fact that this period was the time when almost all of the concepts we know and love were invented, and the games you played were truly original and derived from almost nothing else. This means that the sense of wonderment when you played many of the games was real because there had literally never been anything recognisably like it before. Dune II, Monkey Island, X-Wing/TIE Fighter, Wing Commander, Dungeon Keeper, Baldurs Gate, the list could go on for hours.

Now, we are left with big budget derivatives that rarely if add anything truly new or original simply because as an industry we are now averse to taking risks, and creative freedom is something that exists only in a very small numbers of game developers outside of the Indie scene. It used to be that the big house publishers were the Indie developers and were basically allowed to do what the **** they wanted with (at the time) great resources to do so. On top of that you had knee-trembling talent in storytelling and scriptwriting such as from Lucasarts et al which was truly awe-inspiring, bordering on genius. Blockbuster quality at its finest.

Nowadays the gaming industry is ruled by like the likes of SEGA, EA and Ubisoft who do not care about originality, who do not care about taking risks, and who are happy to churn out variations of the same thing with upgraded graphics year on year because they have no respect for the user-base, they have turned into corporations that know that people will buy things regardless on the strength of recognisable branding and past glories. We are in the age of the franchise.

Of course I am generalising as I haven't got time or energy to list each and every exception such as in the RPG world which by it's very nature allows great creativity, and there are still some notably (but still, comparatively few) good games being produced in most genres and even now and then some sparks of real originality to be seen. There are also still some great ideas from books and movies which could be translated to gaming.

The current 2.5D model of gaming, while still alive, has entered a twilight period. VR and similar room-based technology will be the next golden age, putting you directly into the action. 4D is the future, where you enter the game and experience it as though you were actually a character.

So please, don't say PC gaming is going through any kind of golden age of originality or storytelling unless you were a gamer during the years I mentioned above, because however good games have been since then you will never experience the heady wonderment of those days when everything was new.

PS: I was also a Spectrum gamer and played on my friends Amiga, but do not consider those comparable experiences even back in the day.

I totally agree on the golden age of gaming from 1990 to 2003 , they were some of the best gaming yrs of my life , maybe its the consumers we should be shouting at as most seem to be happy with current state of gaming . But I d find a similar argument even with today's movies but that's another topic 4D would be amazing Bring on the next golden age