Recurring Fantasy Side Post Theater Proudly Presents...
Modern Video Games:
Less Video, More Game!
Less Video, More Game!
Before we get anywhere, just stop that thought right now. Like anybody, I'm allowed to have an opinion on things. This isn't going to be me harping about how old games are superior to newer games. It's not going to be that, so just sit back and read on.
I enjoy video games. I really do. It may not seem like it, but I've almost always enjoyed video games. I started at the young age with just a simple Game Boy. A lot of people I knew had full consoles to themselves, but I had to piggyback on others for the console. Eventually I got my very first console (a Nintendo 64) and life grew from there...
I've played quite a few games since then. More than I could count without having to really ponder on it all. Gaming has and will hopefully always be some part of my life. I like everything about games. The look and feel of graphics and an atmosphere as you play and explore. The music and sounds that help immerse you into the game's world. The action and adventure experienced as I work my way through gameplay. Video games are a great way for me to have fun, make friends, enjoy life, and inspires me in so many different ways. I truly do love video games... or I certainly used to.
This isn't saying my love for games is gone. I still enjoy gaming in general, but I feel like gaming isn't even remotely what it used to be. I'm not talking about multiplayer or all the social networking involved in the gaming industry now. It's how most games are going the route of graphics with an overly convoluted (non-RPG games) and massive number of cutscenes.
What happened to keeping the story short and simple or integrated within the gameplay? I mean... I shouldn't have to stop every four to five minutes for a small cutscene and a handful of lines. (I realize that twinge of irony with this being an RPG blog and complaining about too much story... but I'll get to it soon.) I miss all those times where video games were purely about the gameplay. Where you pick up, click a few screens, and then you are playing! Maybe there's an intro to explain the basic story. Hell, maybe the story is part of the title screen as it loads. There's a time and place for story weaving, and it's not all the damn time!
I guess it comes down to this thought... I want to pick up a game, learn the controls quickly and concisely, and then get going! I don't need a giant tutorial spanning more than 30 minutes of gameplay. I don't always care about this long and interweaving tale of betrayal and woe. It's those times where you want to hop in the cockpit of your ship and start blasting the enemy! Aliens, monsters, enemy soldiers, nazis, and so much more used to be the crazy and faceless (but evil) enemies of the screen. The story was interlaced here and there, but it didn't interrupt or remove gameplay in the process.
Granted, it seems like I'm talking about action and adventure games over RPGs, but even RPGs seem to be losing their edge in a way. (Bit further down.)
This problem feels on the rise for me as games aim to be graphically pretty and superior rather than having balanced and fun gameplay. I don't know about most people, but I'll gladly overlook some subpar graphics in favor of fast, fun, and tight gameplay. It seems that Triple A game design has come to a horrible place of overadvertising their often generic game that releases and ends up not remotely living up to the hype... Or worse, they release something that is broken and is barely a game at all.
And the saddest thing... Is the slow and lessening of RPGs. I mean, they do still exist and many are released, but I haven't really felt the same magic with them as I did with many older titles. You get a few titles here and there like Bravely Default and Child, but anything beyond that just hasn't really been my style. I bought several PS Vita JRPGs and... I didn't really enjoy them. I couldn't get into the characters and the often ridiculous or uninteresting stories. On top of this, a lot of places are moving to the Action RPG style. Nothing against it, but Action RPGs seem to be like a dime a dozen anymore. There's so many of them, and only a few of them truly shine through.
I feel I used to look forward to new games coming out, but more and more I feel either unimpressed or just pure betrayal. They promise more than they deliver, or the game is so much video that it's more of an interactive movie than a video game.
It's not impossible to deliver a game with actual gameplay. Many companies (and indie developers) are delivering them all the time. Hell, my game of the year last year was Shovel Knight. A small group used Kickstarter to deliver a retro-style game that we all both wanted and needed! It was fun, easy to get into, challenging, and just felt like the good days of gaming. More and more I look at the crowdfunded games or the independently made games as my new source of "true" games.
When it comes down to it, I could probably summarize my point of this post into a few basic rules they should follow...
This isn't saying my love for games is gone. I still enjoy gaming in general, but I feel like gaming isn't even remotely what it used to be. I'm not talking about multiplayer or all the social networking involved in the gaming industry now. It's how most games are going the route of graphics with an overly convoluted (non-RPG games) and massive number of cutscenes.
What happened to keeping the story short and simple or integrated within the gameplay? I mean... I shouldn't have to stop every four to five minutes for a small cutscene and a handful of lines. (I realize that twinge of irony with this being an RPG blog and complaining about too much story... but I'll get to it soon.) I miss all those times where video games were purely about the gameplay. Where you pick up, click a few screens, and then you are playing! Maybe there's an intro to explain the basic story. Hell, maybe the story is part of the title screen as it loads. There's a time and place for story weaving, and it's not all the damn time!
I guess it comes down to this thought... I want to pick up a game, learn the controls quickly and concisely, and then get going! I don't need a giant tutorial spanning more than 30 minutes of gameplay. I don't always care about this long and interweaving tale of betrayal and woe. It's those times where you want to hop in the cockpit of your ship and start blasting the enemy! Aliens, monsters, enemy soldiers, nazis, and so much more used to be the crazy and faceless (but evil) enemies of the screen. The story was interlaced here and there, but it didn't interrupt or remove gameplay in the process.
Granted, it seems like I'm talking about action and adventure games over RPGs, but even RPGs seem to be losing their edge in a way. (Bit further down.)
This problem feels on the rise for me as games aim to be graphically pretty and superior rather than having balanced and fun gameplay. I don't know about most people, but I'll gladly overlook some subpar graphics in favor of fast, fun, and tight gameplay. It seems that Triple A game design has come to a horrible place of overadvertising their often generic game that releases and ends up not remotely living up to the hype... Or worse, they release something that is broken and is barely a game at all.
And the saddest thing... Is the slow and lessening of RPGs. I mean, they do still exist and many are released, but I haven't really felt the same magic with them as I did with many older titles. You get a few titles here and there like Bravely Default and Child, but anything beyond that just hasn't really been my style. I bought several PS Vita JRPGs and... I didn't really enjoy them. I couldn't get into the characters and the often ridiculous or uninteresting stories. On top of this, a lot of places are moving to the Action RPG style. Nothing against it, but Action RPGs seem to be like a dime a dozen anymore. There's so many of them, and only a few of them truly shine through.
I feel I used to look forward to new games coming out, but more and more I feel either unimpressed or just pure betrayal. They promise more than they deliver, or the game is so much video that it's more of an interactive movie than a video game.
It's not impossible to deliver a game with actual gameplay. Many companies (and indie developers) are delivering them all the time. Hell, my game of the year last year was Shovel Knight. A small group used Kickstarter to deliver a retro-style game that we all both wanted and needed! It was fun, easy to get into, challenging, and just felt like the good days of gaming. More and more I look at the crowdfunded games or the independently made games as my new source of "true" games.
When it comes down to it, I could probably summarize my point of this post into a few basic rules they should follow...
- Graphics are not godliness.
- Make sure the game doth work.
- Thou story need not be complex to be good.
- Jack of All Trades is a Master of Nothing.
- To reiterate, focus on ONE or TWO kinds of gameplay. Don't branch out because then you end up having a pile of terrible varied gameplay rather than one FOCUSED type.
- Mini-Games rarely bring the joy intended.
- Gameplay is king.
- Above all else, the game should be fun.
And that's all I have to say. Pardon the long winding talk that sounds of angry retro gaming, but I promise it is not. I have hopes for many games that are out there... Just not as much hope as my younger self would have liked to hear. Thanks for reading and feel free to comment about your own personal thoughts on this matter!
~May the Crystals Guide Me~
