Gaming today
Posted in Gaming and tagged with final fantasy, games on 02/23/2009 12:52 am by MissAthenaHollowAs any good gamer from the past 15 years can tell you, gaming has come a very long way. It has gone from 8bit to nigh realistic graphics, explosive render times, and the ability to play with people across the planet without having to pay long distance charges.
Unfortunately, game companies seem to have lost sight of the idea of a convincing storyline. Don’t get me wrong, I love my games that are built more for multiplayer than solo, but that doesn’t mean I want EVERY game to be like that.
I remember the first time I beat Final Fantasy 7. It took around 40 hours of game play just to do the main storyline. Now, mind you, at least 10 of that was beautiful cutscenes, but none the less it was amazing. In-depth story, as convoluted and contorted as a conch shell, with murder and love mixed with a bit of whimsy and fun. It was one of a kind, unfortunately.
Since then, developers have seemed to dwindle to 13 hour (max) single player stories that really aren’t more advanced than a run of the mill children’s book. There’s no twists or turns, no hooks, nothing to really keep you going except for that achievement you get to display on your gamer profile that proves nothing more than you had finish the game so it doesn’t look incomplete.
Every bit of budget is spent on graphics, which is fine and dandy, but when you look back at the fact that some of the biggest selling games of all time had top of the line graphics for their time period and could STILL work in a fantastic work of literary art, it saddens me.
And I won’t even get STARTED on what’s wrong w/ the phrase “Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game“, except for the fact that there’s no role being played. You are hacking and slashing your way across the map just to make sure you are level 50 before your buddy in your 4th period English Class.
We need new blood, or really old blood, in the gaming industry now. Everyone seems to think that going to DeVry or any other college that teaches you video games, will somehow make you the most awesome developer ever. Problem is, they teach you how to make the same exact game that the class an hour earlier was taught. Everything is cookie cutter. There’s no innovation. But, why should someone be innovative when people are buying up the same crap with a different title and skin?
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:56 am
I fully agree the way modern games are decided apon by the companies needs to be redone, we need good games as well as games any idiot can play
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Having gone & studied Video Game Art & Design I can tell you I feel the same way. The problem lays in how money flows.
There are plenty of great artists and designers out there who have AMAZING ideas for games, GOOD GAMES. See, some of your favorite games are the favorites of these designers as well. So, we model our new games after them. The ideas get put down on paper, characters are developed, story lines all planned out, the Claw Design Bible is put together & its all prepped for its pitch to see if it can get the money to back it.
The Video Game industry companies very seldom like to put their money on risky ideas. They like to give the budget to “sure” bets they know will sell. So although that guy who pitched the idea for the next great “FF7″ type game has a good idea, the risk factor involved is greater than a game that is 3rd party i.e. a movie re-made into a video game.
This is why we see so many crap games out there based on movies. This is the reason why we don’t see those games we like anymore less and less. The economy does have to do with it, but it was like that even back in the day so I cant imagine how much more the publishers have stepped away from taking risks even further.
The ideas are out there, the concepts and game play is there, we’ve seen it, we’ve played it. But like most things sadly, it comes down to money.
*shakes fist at the stubborn publishers who rather have “”_____ movie: the game!” instead of the next new blockbuster game that lives on for generations (like FF7) because it *might* flop. They need to grow a pair.
March 19th, 2009 at 9:51 am
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December 4th, 2009 at 7:37 am
Nice one! I agreed and I also love my games that are built more for multiplayer than solo, but that doesn’t mean I want EVERY game to be like that.