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[Men_in_Boxes]

Dead Space Remake
Metroid Prime Remastered
Resident Evil 4 Remake
...and now Diablo 4

Some of the highest rated games released in the last year are (essentially) from 1864. Does anyone else find this a bit problematic? Do we really think game design docs written by Johannes Guttenbergs peers are the pinnacle of the medium?

If I'm not mistaken, critics used to crush timid artistic endeavors with descriptors such as "banal", "uninspired", "formulaic", "cliche ridden" etc... Why has the concept of rewarding ambition, creativity, progress and punishing sameness been completely surrendered over the years?

I've heard 40+ year old games media members at large media companies say the following...

"I'm not a fighting game guy but I can't wait to play Street Fighter VI. It looks so good"

Um, it looks like all the other ones. All the other 2D fighters never grabbed you but your 43 year old *** is going to get into the new Street Fighter?

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Men_in_Boxes, circa 2023

 

[64bitmodels]

"I'm not a fighting game guy but I can't wait to play Street Fighter VI. It looks so good"

Um, it looks like all the other ones.

Ah yes, because every street fighter game looks the exact same. they don't have major differences in artstyle, music, aesthetics, character design, roster, hell even the core mechanics, nope....
just stick to your multiplayer threads please

 

[systemr123]

Because it’s all about diversity and wokeness nowadays. You can not be creative anymore without hurting a single person on the world with anything, so instead of being courageous and execute a possible winning vision, companies bend the knee and cowardly follow the woke rule set that forbids anything that’s creative.

Look at comedy movies the past few years or any movie as well. They’re 100% hurt safe, which means they are as uncreative and unfunny as you can get.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Games media doesnt care about anything other than clicks and making money just like most gaming corporations. Creativity is only found in indies these days. Go look there.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Ah yes, because every street fighter game looks the exact same. they don't have major differences in artstyle, music, aesthetics, character design, roster, hell even the core mechanics, nope....
just stick to your multiplayer threads please

Found the Capcom employee.

 

[ParaSeoul]

Fortnite.

 

[64bitmodels]

Found the Capcom employee.

damn i guess everyone with common sense and clear vision is a capcom employee, no wonder their games are so good when 99% of the earth's population is working for them

 

[hemo memo]

Because they will get blacklisted by the publisher.

 

[Danjin44]

Let me guess, your idea of “ambitious” game is GaaS and battle royal games like Fortnite.

 

[Hendrick's]

Because they are devoid of creativity or talent themselves.

 

[Robb]

If you think it’s bad now the GAAS future where devs only support the same game and never make anything new won’t be kind to you.

 

[SteelCurtain 59]

Because it's what people want? People want sequels to their favorite games, they want remakes of old games they loved. The people that clamor for "New IPs' generally don't actually want a new IP, they just don't like a game series that the dev is currently working on, they'll complain about "just another Halo" while being amped for the next God of War game, or bitch and moan about another Ratchet and Clank while Elder Scrolls 6 is the game they want the most. Also, as somebody who doesn't like fighting games outside of Smash, it seems like an odd complaint that they "look the same" I mean yeah it's a 2D fighting game, it's going to have two people facing each other with health bars, it's super reductive to say they're the same just because they're the same genre. It's like complaining about racing games all being the same because you are controlling a car on a road. Or when people complain that Madden/FIFA/etc. are all the same as if they're expecting the real life games of football/(football/soccer) to drastically change enough for the video game adaptations to be different. I mean look at Rare, they make a super creative/ambitious game and it's super successful, and all people do is complain about it because they want another Banjo/Conker/Viva Pinata/etc.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Let me guess, your idea of “ambitious” game is GaaS and battle royal games like Fortnite.

First, GAAS is a business model, not game design.

Second, Fortnite came out ~6 months after what most people consider the first Battle Royale (PUBG) and they added a pretty unique building mechanic to it, as well as an interesting loot table. Then we just got Creative 2.0 revealed a couple of days ago...so yeah.

The horse and buggy games found at the top of the OP are on trial here, not Fortnite. Let's not be ridiculous.

 

[Oh The Travesty]

I'd rather have iterative and derivative good games than terrible games. If it works, keep refining and keep repeating it.

Fighting games are all terrible, though.

 

[BlackTron]

I don't know -I think people are championing remakes exactly because new games aren't delivering on the fronts we really want.

 

[64bitmodels]

Let me guess, your idea of “ambitious” game is GaaS and battle royal games like Fortnite.

LOL yep

I agree with the sentiment especially when it comes to AAA, but i'd rather hear it from literally anyone on the board who isn't this guy. He's advocating for the exact type of formula that's been copypasted throughout the entire industry

Because it’s all about diversity and wokeness nowadays. You can not be creative anymore without hurting a single person on the world with anything, so instead of being courageous and execute a possible winning vision, companies bend the knee and cowardly follow the woke rule set that forbids anything that’s creative.

You can be creative while also not being offensive.... infact most of the games from the 2000s and 90s weren't offensive or mean to any group, same for many indies. This idea that you have to be offensive and 'stick it to the wokies' in order to be creative is ironically stifling creativity...

Fighting games are all terrible, though.

 

[Banjo64]

Because the games and sports journalists aren’t actual journalists.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

i thought game media was a joke.

 

[Laieon]

Look at comedy movies the past few years or any movie as well. They’re 100% hurt safe, which means they are as uncreative and unfunny as you can get.

Maybe, but realistically it's just become everyone is seeking a global audience now and what is considered "funny" varies tremendously between different cultures. I love An Idiot Abroad, for example, and lived in Korea for a few years; I tried watching a few episodes with Korean friends and they didn't find it funny at all. At a fundamental level, they just didn't understand that kind of humor and thought he was just an asshole.

I don't think what society considers "funny" changing with the times is necessarily new either, I was born in '90 and anecdotally I don't know many people who find apparent juggernauts like Airplane or Monty Python funny, I think the National Lampoon movies are okay at best, and I've always thought slapstick comedy was just boring. If Abbot and Costello debuted today, I doubt they'd be nearly as successful as they were in the 40s and 50s. Throw me Austin Powers or a mid 2000s Judd Apatow movie and we have a party going.

 

[Danjin44]

The horse and buggy games found at the top of the OP are on trial here, not Fortnite. Let's not be ridiculous.

Ummmm….I don’t know about Diablo 4 but other games are not buggy, my experience with those games has been pretty smooth. Also I take those games over that crappy Fortnite any day.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

They do. Dunno who you're listening to, but everyone laments the lack of new game types. Albeit it's more complicated than developers/publishers not being ambitious enough. Consumer expectations are skewed because of the amount of work that goes into creating the highest-end AAA products. Good ideas that showcase high-end quality are far more rare now than previously.

If you want new ideas and game types, you're better off turning your attention to VR and the indie scene. It takes several iterations before a developer's vision truly realizes its potential, and that is the hard truth of the state of the industry.

 

[AmuroChan]

That would require mainstream games journalists to do actual work, which is too much to ask for. It's much easier to regurgitate press releases, make yet another Top 10 list, or write about the lack of diversity and representation in Game X.

 

[UnNamed]

Games media? You mean things like Kotaku?

 

[Jared Mohammed]

That is only true for modern AAA games, since that is what sell. Why innovate and be unique when you can reuse and rehash the same tired formula and have a predictable profit margin; see COD or FIFA as an example.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Ummmm….I don’t know about Diablo 4 but other games are not buggy, my experience with those games has been pretty smooth. Also I take those games over that crappy Fortnite any day.

Horse and buggy...

 

[ProgenitorCastle]

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

Because they are devoid of creativity or talent themselves.

Close thread

 

[Generic]

Let me guess, your idea of “ambitious” game is GaaS and battle royal games like Fortnite.

Fortnite is for more ambitious and innovative than 99% of games nowadays. Did you even play it?

 

[HL3.exe]

Because they (mostly talking about investigative media), understand how incredibly difficult it is to get a project greenlit, let alone ship a game these days. What it takes to get these budgets and risk factors in check, it's kinda unsustainable. Look at the flops of this industry and how devastating that can be for developers and studios.

So when a game comes out and it's good/great, even if it's somewhat derivative, it's a miracle.

I understand the frustration, I feel it sometimes too, but try digging deeper in how development work (though GDC or development post mortem's). You'll quickly figure out how absolutely fucked this industry is from a business and creative standpoint.

 

[Generic]

First, GAAS is a business model, not game design.

Second, Fortnite came out ~6 months after what most people consider the first Battle Royale (PUBG) and they added a pretty unique building mechanic to it, as well as an interesting loot table. Then we just got Creative 2.0 revealed a couple of days ago...so yeah.

The horse and buggy games found at the top of the OP are on trial here, not Fortnite. Let's not be ridiculous.

But why would I play Creative 2.0 when I can pay 70$ for a Resident Evil remake that is worse than the original game?

 

[BrutalTruth_]

Doesn't help that game developers are afraid to take risks due to the brutal backlash from people trying to cancel over the littlest thing, hell so many death threats go out on a daily basis.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Why’s there such a lack of creativity in the gaming industry??

*ignores 80% of game releases because they’re not AAA*

 

[64bitmodels]

But why would I play Creative 2.0 when I can pay 70$ for a Resident Evil remake that is worse than the original game?

because, we're not 9 years old.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Why’s there such a lack of creativity in the gaming industry??

*ignores 80% of game releases because they’re not AAA*

It's more about games media fawning over stale formula (as long as it's pretty) than what you're suggesting.

 

[Generic]

because, we're not 9 years old.

You can make better games in Creative 2.0 than RE4 Remake. For free.

 

[SmokedMeat]

It's more about the fawning over stale formula (as long as it's pretty) the industry participates in than what you're suggesting.

The mainstream gaming media only covers AAA releases and popular indies.

You’ve got people on GAF that hadn’t even heard of Valheim. This is who the mainstream gaming sites all cater to.

The truly creative indie games are only covered by small channel YouTubers. If you’re looking for some new stuff check out Splattercat’s YouTube channel.

As for the big publishers, they’re going with the least amount of risk possible. Especially when games take so much time and money to create. That’s why it’s remasters and sequel City among AAA gaming.
It really doesn’t even bother me. I’ve accepted that AAA is entirely safe sequels, and the only new ideas and risks are coming from indies studios.

 

[hybrid_birth]

Think outside the box op.

Nintendo usually makes games that have gameplay mechanics not seen before. Controlling enemies with Mario's hat in mario odyssey was a new mechanic not seen before in Mario games.

 

[64bitmodels]

You can make better games in Creative 2.0 than RE4 Remake. For free.

yep. it's a shame that i'm not 9 years old, that would be an actual selling point.

 

[Grizzled Ghost]

Why doesn't posts not have coherent titles?

 

[cireza]

Why would they ? We are talking about people whose job is to review games constantly. So they move from an open-world, to a roguelite, to a metroid-like, to a pretentious emotional AAA etc...

They don't want to have something "complex" to review. This will make their job more difficult. Because in reality, they are not reviewing games. They are reviewing their daily professional job.

Having games that are in genres already well known will make things easier. Still reviewing 50 hours games WILL get tedious, so every time a small game brings them "a breath of fresh air", even if it is average, it is likely to get higher than usual scores. A remaster takes the cake : you don't even have to play it ! Can this be any better ?

So as a game developer, if you think that having great reviews is essential, should you really make that super creative and maybe hermetic life-simualtor about rats conquering a fictive video-game world ? Or should you shit another metroidvania roguelite farming or open-world fetch-quest clone ?

 

[kyussman]

Because they are a bunch of useless cunts.

 

[Generic]

yep. it's a shame that i'm not 9 years old, that would be an actual selling point.

"I'm not 9 years old" t. 14 years old

 

[64bitmodels]

"I'm not 9 years old" t. 14 years old

not 14 either, if i were then maybe you would sound smart and reasonable

 

[SantaC]

is RE4 remake bad? I am seeing people blasting it in this thread

 

[Generic]

is RE4 remake bad? I am seeing people blasting it in this thread

It isn't bad, it's just pointless.

 

[64bitmodels]

is RE4 remake bad? I am seeing people blasting it in this thread

It's very good. It's just that Generic and Men_in_Boxes are paid by Epic Games to promote Fortnite, make you buy vbucks, do the default dance, and make you watch youtubers like this

 

[Grizzled Ghost]

It's very good. It's just that Generic and Men_in_Boxes are paid by Epic Games to promote Fortnite, make you buy vbucks, do the default dance, and make you watch youtubers like this

Thanks for the hot vbucks tips bro

 

[systemr123]

LOL yep

I agree with the sentiment especially when it comes to AAA, but i'd rather hear it from literally anyone on the board who isn't this guy. He's advocating for the exact type of formula that's been copypasted throughout the entire industry

You can be creative while also not being offensive.... infact most of the games from the 2000s and 90s weren't offensive or mean to any group, same for many indies. This idea that you have to be offensive and 'stick it to the wokies' in order to be creative is ironically stifling creativity...

I disagree here. The very foundation of humor is describing out of the ordinary situations. Todays best humor is like this comedy sketch: Yeh so I was walking into a store in the morning and the clerk said welcome. I did my groceries and when I paid the clerk said, thank you goodbye. “Waiting a second”, I know right?

Is this humor? No, is this what modern “humor” is, yes. Because it needs to be woke. And imagine even this situation offends people and needs to be cancelled because some person “not kidding here, it was in the news” felt offended entering a store because the clerk said welcome when he comes in. He got triggered by the word welcome!

Imagine, should the clerk be cancelled here? No, it’s the customer that choose to be offended by the word welcome. We are living in a crazy world now where the clerk needs to be fired because 1 person takes offense because of a completely stupid trigger.

The best humor is the most offensive in its very nature, and it’s not even really offensive, words are never offensive, it’s only people that choose to be offended.

Great comedies can not be made anymore because of this very reason, no more Austin Powers, no more The Interview, no more Tropic Thunder, not even something largely unoffensive like Seinfeld.

And the normal thing to do when you don’t like something is: I’ll just not watch movie X or play Hogwarts Legacy, but you don’t go starting campaigns to cancel a certain product because you personally felt offended by something.

Thats what I did after watching Black Panther. Every white person in that movie is either completely clueless or the bad guy. I don’t like that so I just choose to not watch part 2. Why would I cancel this whole thing? It’s just not for me. If other people like it power to them.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Cant badmouth game makers too much or else the ad revenue, previews, gold copies etc... all vanish.

 

[Guilty_AI]

First mistake: Expecting anything from gaming media

Second mistake: Not understanding creative proccess. Why Street Fighter is still the same as it was in 1994? Cause there's still demand for it. And it isn't 'the same' just because the top-most layer of design is the same.