Why I feel recent games aren't as good

This topic has been discussed over and over again, but here's my take. What is the main thing you see in games that improves from console to console? The graphics. I keep thinking to myself: "This is a 360 game, why do I feel like this isn't as good as a last gen game. It's newer, it can't be worse".
Sometimes I think it's the nostalgia, but it's not.

No matter how much consoles improve graphics, consoles do not improve gameplay. It seems recently, developers have put so much of their focus on making the game look pretty that they think they can put an 'okay' game underneath. Now obviously this is not the case for everything, there are a lot of really great looking and playing games out right now. The kinds of games I'm talking about are Resident Evil 5 and Star Ocean IV (as examples, don't rant on about those too much.)

Basically, it's not so irrational to say "this game isn't as good as the one before it that came out 6 year ago". It doesn't just have to be nostalgia. I feel that most games nowadays that are being hyped so much look great in trailers, they come out and people act like they love them, but then in a couple of months time it turns out they have the 'actually, that game wasn't as good as I thought' feeling.

Discuss.


EDIT: I'm talking 360 and PS3 here, because obviously the Wii isn't a graphical powerhouse. LOL.

Nowadays, I mostly play older games because there hasn't been as many great games coming out like there was in the old days. Hell, my top 5 games of all time are all SNES games and there's only one current-gen console game on my top 10. The DS is the worst platform graphically this gen, and yet I think it is the best gaming platform this generation.

Because graphics matter so much these days.


I'm discussing a game with my friend, and guess what he says? "Oh that game has bad graphics".


Look at the past, gameplay was amazing back then, now, not so much. To prove this, look at the Sonic franchise, back then, he was a rival to many top gaming companies, now look, he has to team up with Mario to get a "good" game out.


Some of the best games of all time happened in the 1987 to 1999. Like Ocarina Of Time, Golden Eye, Earthbound, Super Mario Bros., Legend of Zelda, Chrono Trigger, FF titles, and alot more. That is why some people call that era the golden era of video-gaming. The companies were trying to impress North America after the video game crash of 1983, which apparently, succeed, video-gaming once again became an industry.

Your point is extremely valid, GK. I believe this is exactly why I've felt kind of empty as a gamer as of late. I've bought plenty of games in the past two years, and have purchased both a good PC and a Xbox 360 console.. In retrospect however, the only really fun games I can say I have bought have been Super Mario Galaxy, Left 4 Dead, the Orange Box, and to a small extent Grand Theft Auto IV, the later of which isn't even all that revolutionary aside from detail in an open world environment..

I honestly don't know what to say. For all of my life Gaming has been my second major hobby, but as of late I have felt a little tired of it.

Aren't you just comparing yesterday's best with today's average?
The first time I heard the graphics versus gameplay argument was eleven years ago in a magazine where some reader had sent in a letter discussing how recent games were all about the graphics instead of the gameplay and how everything used to be so much better back in his day. It always sounds the same, so I take rants like these with a pretty big grain of salt.

The best example of graphics over gameplay I can think of is still Donkey Kong Country.

It happens a lot with sequels though too, which is why I used to sequels in my example. It doesn't necessarily have to be Wii Music vs Goldeneye.

I seem to recall people playing MegaMan 9, and finding that the gameplay was great in that game.

Sometimes it seems that when you remove all the extraneous material from certain games and go back to the core of what made games so good back in the 80s/90s, you'll STILL make a good game. So I don't really think it's people's imagination-- it could very well be that the games of yore had better mechanics. Obviously this isn't always the case, but I think there's at least a little truth to it. (Hint: Sega, take my advice and make another Genesis Sonic like Capcom did.)

EDIT: Also, people are now largely in an experimental phase in gaming, so we don't really know what could happen from this point.
Also, I agree with Dread that the DS is one of the best, if not the best gaming platform this gen.

GK, you've got a great point.

Nowadays, I mostly play older games, as Dread does, as well as Team Fortress 2. I have noticed that many games are focusing more on graphics, and while graphics are nice, they should never be the top priority. The most important thing in any game is that it's fun to play. To me, good graphics are more of a bonus, though if a game both looks and plays great (à la Team Fortress 2), I certainly won't complain.

I'd say nostalgia plays a part in it, but it's not the whole thing, as i feel Metroid Prime and Super Metroid, which I only played last year, are better than most games released today.

Even console RPGs, my favourite genre by far, are getting dull. I've played nothing like Skies of Arcadia or Final Fantasy VIII recently, and it's kind of saddening. I just have a feeling that all of the new ones coming out are going to be incredibly average, but look nice. I don't know. This kind of happened with Killzone 2 too. It looked great and was hyped so much, but it didn't do amazing in the end.

You know, I rather like the games that have been released in the last 5 years, or so. Back when consoles were new, the games weren't nearly interesting enough to keep me involved for more than a couple hours.

What time frame are you looking at?

The past 2 years or so. Plus, I'm not surprised since you just recently got into gaming a lot (:

Yeah, I honestly don't have a lot of "nostalgia," so I feel like I can judge all games on, basically, the same playing field.



Of course, when I think "how games used to be," I remember KROZ (ZORK), that text-based game I played on the old Apple computer.

O.o

I have a feeling in order to test this we'll have to find someone who's new to video games in general and subject them to both and ask them which ones were more fun.

Obviously there are inherent problems with this (especially since people now seem all about the eye candy).

Originally Posted by Tonchiki

I have a feeling in order to test this we'll have to find someone who's new to video games in general and subject them to both and ask them which ones were more fun.

Jehanne, do you like GCN/PS2 games best so far or Wii/360/PS3?
(This is pretty much the comparison I'm going for in this thread.)

... The PS1 and PS2 games are better than games I've played on the Wii, DS, and PSP. But that's just soooo far. I have high hopes for games that are coming out in the next few years.




Maybe I'm being too optimistic.

Originally Posted by Jenova

You know, I rather like the games that have been released in the last 5 years, or so. Back when consoles were new, the games weren't nearly interesting enough to keep me involved for more than a couple hours.

What time frame are you looking at?

This is how I am, since I really didn't seriously get into video games completely until around 5-ish years ago. I'd played them before, but I wasn't as interested. And I usually only watched people play. So, I agree with you.

Originally Posted by GK: 5895/9999

and Star Ocean IV (as examples, don't rant on about those too much.)

Except for those extremely long cutscenes. =(

Well yeah, those systems are fine too. This is proof!

I can honestly say if half the games I play now had last-gen graphics, I probably wouldn't even bother with them. Playing SNES games is almost on par with the DS, since it's like a handheld but on the TV. I do have to agree that the efforts of DS are really great recently though.

Originally Posted by Ben

Except for those extremely long cutscenes. =(

I'm still at the start pretty much since it just came out this month, but apparently the whole game is kind of broken. You're way too overpowered, the dungeons are hours and hours long and the story is incredibly bland. Star Ocean III was nothing like that, really. It's one of my favourite games.

I had more fun so far on my GameCube than with the Wii, 360, or PS3.
Granted, I only have a Wii of those three, and I haven't played much PS3 at all.
But even then, there's not terribly much that interests me on either of them (I just have a Wii for the first-party Nintendo games, which are my favorites), whereas I still really want to get a PS2.

EDIT: And if you ask me, they could have stopped at GameCube/Xbox graphics and I would have been perfectly fine with it.

Originally Posted by GK: 5895/9999

I'm still at the start pretty much since it just came out this month, but apparently the whole game is kind of broken. You're way too overpowered, the dungeons are hours and hours long and the story is incredibly bland. Star Ocean III was nothing like that, really. It's one of my favourite games.

Yeah, I forgot the European release date was later. I got it in I believe March. But yeah, the dungeons are pretty long. Where are you at specifically, because the game actually get very good. And, depending on where your at, the story gets a lot better. Also, what game setting are you on?

I very much agree with the OP. I get the most fun out of SNES, GEN and PS2 games now a days.

Though DS does have an incredible library.