Gaming trends you want gone in 2014
polycounter lvl 5
For me, it's the juvenile sense of 'difficulty' that's been pervading most of my steam purchases. I beat most these games without breaking a sweat, and this is coming from someone who never beat any of the mega man games growing up.
Particularly these games that say they're about 'solving puzzles', but really it's not a puzzle, it's more like putting a block in an extremely obvious place. Using physics in some cute way to unlock something. This happens so much, even games that I like, like Rochard and Quantum Conundrum. I don't know if I'm getting older or it's all just being mass marketed to the lowest age group.
I want to see games that actually use their potential instead of trying to sell it to you in the amount of 'hours' the playtime is or some other form of "content".
Particularly these games that say they're about 'solving puzzles', but really it's not a puzzle, it's more like putting a block in an extremely obvious place. Using physics in some cute way to unlock something. This happens so much, even games that I like, like Rochard and Quantum Conundrum. I don't know if I'm getting older or it's all just being mass marketed to the lowest age group.
I want to see games that actually use their potential instead of trying to sell it to you in the amount of 'hours' the playtime is or some other form of "content".
Replies
Difficulty has always been something i wish would be ramped up.
Less focus on multiplayer would be nice as well.... single player games are getting shorter and shorter because the focus is on the multiplayer component, it seems.
Excessive DLC.
Also, Zynga.
this to the extent that I'm assuming you're talking about online mp (god forbid one would want to play split screen racing games..)
and
If that's the case you better just add it to the actual game. Because it comes off as just a quick money gouge.
I'm not 100% against DLC later on. But on day one... that is pretty ridiculous.
Personally I think the model will be quite revolutionary in the future and I love it for many reasons. For starters, if I'm tired of the games I'm currently playing and want to take a break from the game I'm currently focusing on, I literally have hundreds of options of games that I can play without spending a single cent. Not all of them will be great, but it allows me to try a more varied amount of games that I would never even look at if I had to pay to play them.
I would also like to see more challenging games, and the important thing is "challenging but fair" games. If you load up a CoD game and set the difficulty to veteran, it'll be difficult simply because you're getting shot at from perfect accuracy bots that kill you in two shots rather than going up against AI that is actually outsmarting you.
I've got nothing against DLC being added to games as more content is always a nice thing but I'd like to see more of a focus on DLC that actually adds new major content to a game rather than tiny skins or cheats that some studios push out.
I would also like to see an end to cheaters in gaming communities. I play a lot of CS on PC and every other match I go up against a team with a blatant aimbotter that is constantly talking trash for the entire 30-40 minute duration of the match while running around the map and getting 1 bullet negev headshots. I have nothing against trash talking in games as most of the time its just because of the competitive nature of the game itself.
Lastly I'd like to see an end to fanboyism. It's stupid and pointless but every other forum I go to is plagued with it. Every gaming platform has flaws and so does every game but nothing is going to fix that. People should just play what they like and not put down others for having a different opinion.
I'm sure none of this will change anytime soon lol.
..and all of the above.
Voice Overs (yesss I hate what they do to my precious RPGs...),
Releasing 127836 DLCs for 15$ that bring 30 min of content.
Hand Holding - I can really manage to without telling me what I have to do.
Cut scenes every 5 mins. I don't want fucking cut scenes that take my controll from game every fucking 5 mins. /rant.
Linear-corridor design - I just can't stand it anymore. Clear one room, go to next, clear room, go to next. I'm out.
Like everyone else, I would like to see games getting harder again. The culprit that really stands out to me is Nintendo, obviously since they are targeting the casual crowd more and more. The new Mario games are TOO easy, if you're playing with friends no one dies unless everyone dies, you just get trapped in a bubble and get a free pass through the level. That never happened with older co-op games. I realize those games are now targeting a broader audience and want to lower the difficulty so everyone can play but the games aren't fun anymore
Most of all I would like to see some sections of the community grow up and mature a LOT.
ya ya! Definitely online mp. Actually, the brings me to another thing. Getting rid of couch play in a lot of games. F any company that does that. Stop trying to make me less social and taking away my ability to play with my friends in the same room!
I'm not a big Multiplayer guy, so I kinda feel as though games should either be MP or SP...not half-assing both. Also, enough with the damn Zombie games already.
If someone created game A, and it's good, people can make game B and C (let's say those are variations on the matter). Don't create D. E. F. G etc. (being exactly the same like A, B or C). That's what is happening to mobas. Lol clones everywhere and nobody cares that Lol and Dota 2 are already here...
'We need to have a piece of that cake!' - ...yeah...
Agree with that. They should be banned and forgotten forever.
They're not fun at all, especially in cut scenes. I was really scared Tomb Raider would be another one of those as there are two cutscenes full of QTEs at the beginning, but once you pass these there aren't many other thankfully.
On the other hand, Resident Evil 6 is full of it, it makes the game ATROCIOUS on the PC, while the scenario is stupid and overly complicated, the gameplay is a pain. You're sometimes forced to get a QTE while you could totally avoid it with your gun (like not being able to shoot on "sleeping" zombies).
Turning games into extended cut scenes.
Super obvious quick time events, I don't mind them if it's like Ryze and the color coded or something, but don't tell me hit x to dodge this every time it happens, I only need to be told once.
Bad PC ports.
Too much hand holding.
Every main protagonist being a late 20's, short hair, white guy with a bad side.
Every character / background character looking they they are based on the same model.
Depending on the situation this doesn't bother me as much, I suppose. How many FPS games are out there? How many MOBAs? MOBAs are still pretty new and unsaturated (to me at least) as I can really only think of LoL, Dota2, Smite, and Blizzard HotS. Doesn't really feel that saturated to me. I guess there are more but having more and then being successful are two different things.
The thing that I want to see go away are paid betas and founders packs. It just feels really shady to me to charge people a ton of money up front for something that isn't complete. Also, unskippable cutscenes, unpausable cutscenes, and GFWL
And F2p hate. Hate badly implimented free to play games, but recognize those who do it well.
this shouldn't happen any more.
**WARNING: RANT RIDDLED WITH UNCONFIRMED FACTS**
this is a game that is NOT AAA (not a fault against it, just a fact)
this game will NOT be widely distributed in retail locations (so requires no mass production of physical goods)
this game's initial funding WAS crowdsourced on kickstarter.
this game DID get ASSETS crowdsourced via the unity store (so they didn't have to pay more than unity store prices for things they essentially contracted out)
this game is currently roughly 3 months behind on its promised playable release date (i understand it happens...but just adding another point)
this game IS charging 60 DOLLARS(AAA price)
FOR EARLY ACCESS (ie unfinished, but give us money anyway)
on what is basiaclly a DOWNLOAD ONLY GAME (costs them very little to distribute)
and they're offically INDIE. which means they don't give most of their profit to their PUBLISHER or DISTRIBUTORS.
they have a trailer on the steam page that portrays Fargo talking to a game publisher (played by a small kid in a suit) and then they turn and pull the aforementioned list of crap.
happy new year.
ps. this is a game i would like to play. I was looking forward to it coming out. but this has pissed me off. a great deal.
if I got any of my statements wrong and anybody knows more than i do then please call me out and let me know.
/rant
Who cares if something is AAA or not, maybe we should value more than graphics. There's plenty of AAA games that ship with a $10 story and game play experience.
Yeah, when I saw this pitched initially I couldn't believe it.
"Hey, if we could get you to make some assets based on our concept art, you might be able to make a cool $15 off of it...if you're lucky. I know we made just shy of $3 million even though we only asked for $90K, but we can't afford to pay people for their time. Thanks."
Fuck. That.
but there are reasons they do it...systems in place and suits to feed.
this game has no reason to charge 60 dollars except that "that's what games cost these days right?"
Remember when our FPS games were stuff like Dark Forces, Deus Ex, and System Shock 2?
Yeah, I miss that.
Why? If pricing kept up with inflation they'd cost $70-$80 right now. I see alot of gamers just looking at the numbers and complaining about price rather than looking at their huge library of games.
$60 is the upper range gamers will pay, why not let them charge what they want?
^THIS! A thousand times, this!^
Seriously, why are there still meetings where "Hey guys, lets make a zombie game!" sounds like a fresh idea?
Also
Things I'd like to see continued in 2014:
- unskippable custcenes
- unpauseable cutscenes
- cutscenes that play out after a save point but before a boss
- save points
- no challenge/mini-game restart in menu
- no instant restarts
- unloading a level/mini-game
- reloading a level/mini-game if you lost
- economising thing that don't need it (points-scales for things that have no effect)
- slow pause menus
- saving/contacting the server after every little thing
- excessive grind
- missing side-quests you never knew about
- letting you throw important items away without giving any indication of their importance
- can't switch difficulties mid-playthrough
- providing important unique items only via hidden challenges
- terrible controls
- terrible camera
- cheap as fuck bosses
- timed missions
- impossible and obtuse ranking systems that consider C normal and S perfect
hmmm. This list will increase.
Not totally accurate. You could sell the assets you make as many times as you want so it wasn't limited to a single $15 or whatever price sale. You can sell dozens, or sometimes over a hundred, of a single low-priced asset package.
The only problem with that is only a limited number of post-apocalyptic games get made vs. the huge number of high fantasy games. Nobody's fault, that's just the reality of the market. It actually makes me sad because I love post-apocalyptic settings. They tried a few things to encourage more submissions suitable for the game but most of the successful asset store artists know what they need to do to reach their financial goals.
It will be interesting to see a post-mortem from inXile on how they approached the asset store. I'm glad to see the game is near completion and will probably buy it.
It was even worse with planetary annihilation. First early access game costed like what, 90$? And it was also kickstarted. I mean, sorry guys, i respect all the effort they put into game but....that price tag for kickstarted game, for EARLY ACCESS, just sounds like a kick in the nuts of all the players who are interested in the game if you ask me. Sorry, but that move was just stupid. Giving totally unfinished game priced of almost two AAA titles? I mean seriously...this needs to stop.
I still say, MC did it right. The earlier you got the game, the worse condition it was (naturally), but the price tag was also lower. Which kinda makes sense if you think about it....
And yeah cutscenes....I liked Max payne 3 but FFS man, that game had so many cutscenes and so long, that it just completely ruined the game for me.
Hm yeah, QTEs....others already mentioned that one.
UF, yeah, something mentioned zombies. Look, ok, make a zombie game here and there if you really must, but cmon, can't we have something just a tiny bit more interesting and different now?
Would be cool to see more games like stanley's parable, Brothers:A tale of two sons and some other games with cool and unique art style, or focus on story and characters, without making it interactive movie rather then actual game. I think the Brothers did great here (unlike certain zombie game that seems to be popular :P).
Yeah but soon we will have Dota with every franchise possible. Also gaming industry is always pushing it a bit too far. Amount of mobas will soon reach level of ridiculous. I just wish studios would use their time creating something new.
Unskippable and unpausable cutscenes are great choice!
sorry justin - I misspoke and left something out. I had meant to specify that I don't think even AAA games should charge 60 bucks for a DOWNLOADED game.
I fully understand that the publisher only sees a fraction of a retail sale, and the developer even less - and in that case I fully understand why games run at the prices they do - and i wouldn't complain about that.
along the same point; asking a game to sell for less on steam then it does at Gamestop is just asking for drama - so that's not going to happen any time soon (especially right around the release date)
BUT.
a game that has no major retail distribution...and that has no publisher (the two main factors that inflate the price) is asking me to pay 60 dollars for no apparent reason and I start to get annoyed.
The same people do a marketing campaign that pivots around how they're rebelling against the system and doing things their way and stickin it to the man and whatnot...and then this. and i'm peeved.
i'll buy it when its finished and goes on sale.
I'm all for crowdsourcing assets. I've made and sold items for dota - but i'm guaranteed a percentage of all sales...from players.
I'm not accusing them of being shady. It was experimental, and i'm interested to see how it worked out..did they get what they needed? did the artists feel they were getting a decent enough return to justify the investment of their time and effort? or did it basically just end up praying on people who were excited to get their stuff in the game?
just...respect your players. without them you've got no job and no outlet to do what you love to do. I guess it all boils down to that.
TLDR: in 2014 I want to see MORE companies respecting their players.
also:
just a couple of years ago there were a TON of MMO's. then people realized they were both EXPENSIVE and RISKY..the competition was just too steep and most of them folded. now there's not nearly as many. Give it a little time - MOBA's will fall out of favor after more fail.
but probably not this year.
The measurement for entertainment in km² in RPGs (Skyrim looks good but no Woooah Effect, nothing remains in the memory)
Silly Rewards/Archievments
Okay i killed the enemy and the door is free, but when i use the ventilation shaft i can have 100 Bonus XP. 1 Mission 1 Reward and let the player choose the way, dont make a Science for a balanced XP gain for every small detail in Story driven Games.
Gameplay for everyone
Is Gameplay for nobody! When you have a idea make it 100%. The gameplay in Dishonored or Skyrim is only medicore.
Multiplayer. I'm in Australia and get bad lag whenever I've tried to play multiplayer games, so that stuff can go.
High game prices here in Australia. We get robbed here, hard. Even if its a digital download we still pay more than the US.
Hexen!
+1 for no more zombie titles XD
Justin I just want to commend you for the large dose of common sense you are bringing to this thread, over several topics.
5 months post launch and rome 2 co-op is still unplayable, the entire reason I bought that POS.
I don't like the DLC peddling but I am getting worried that games now are releasing in Alpha and Pre Alpha state, and I dunno how I quite feel about this, its honest in that its still in development, and helps fund the game, yet it helps perpetuate the unpolished games "coming out".
Don't hype your game years before release. By the time it gets published, technology will alreay have surpassed your benchmarks.
How about waiting until 90 days out?...With an actual launch date?
I mean good on them for trying, but i expect at least an 80% functionality, sadly most are way below that.
Next it will be "Early Access" for $99.95, you buy it and its just a .pdf of their design document
And somehow i still get roped into buying them.