Video games and their decline, from my point of view.
Posted 12-13-2013 at 01:26 AM by lovesthebass
After reading a post on this subject, I decided to blog about it.
IMO, developers and creative teams are simply lazy and lack creativity nowadays. I don't know if they know it or just don't realize it, but they need to open their eyes. It could be the large distribution companies that have a stranglehold on some developers that cause this by forcing the issue of releasing the game ASAP, but if I were a developer, I wouldn't have it. It's pretty bad that "guy in his basement" indie games can be better and more fun than high budget corporation games.
I have been disappointed by every new iteration of my favorite series since GTA IV, Final Fantasy X, SimCity Societies and Diablo 3. If you look at each one of those series, the game before that release is far, and I mean far better than that release.
GTA: San Andreas, an instant classic. Massive content increase from GTA 3: Vice City and far superior to GTA IV, which even came on a new, more powerful system. How sad is that? You have twice the data storage yet you put in half the content. Yes, the graphics were a little prettier, but if you buy a car, are you going to look at it or are you going to drive it? Now, GTA V is an upgrade for IV, by far, but still, most people who've played that game also agree that it could have been so much more.
Final Fantasy IX, the last decent FF. While X wasn't exactly awful, XII and XIII were a step down each time. XII you could just let the game play itself while you push your stick forward and XIII was nothing more than a movie and switching roles mid-fight. No true exploration, not much extra content, nothing but disappointment. Then again, it might be because I don't want my RPGs to play themselves or become an action game. I want Final Fantasy to be what it always has been, or at least Squeenix to remember the fans who got them to where they are and give us something that we'd enjoy. Have you seen videos of FFXV? It looks like God of War with Final Fantasy characters..
SimCity 4, was the epitome of city simulators. I fear that nothing will take it's place. Societies was just plain bad. Why did it carry the name? It was hardly a city simulator, rather than a social simulator. Don't get me started on the new SimCity. While it's pretty and had a decent idea, that idea was poorly implemented. The game is so flawed, it was pretty much unplayable for quite a while after release and while I haven't checked much on it lately, is probably still highly flawed. Why? Because EA was probably breathing down their necks to release the game when it wasn't ready. IMO, this game shouldn't have been released for at least three more years with the ideas they had concerning the engine.
Diablo 2, was the epitome of ARPGs and really put them on the map. It's pretty bad when other developers create a better sequel to your game than Blizzard did with Diablo 3. I was horribly surprised. I expected a lot more out of Blizzard. Games like Torchlight 2 and especially Path of Exile were far better ARPGs compared to D3. Why? I don't think it was because a distributor was hassling them. I think it was simply because the creative directors were lacking creativity. I, after playing through all of the content (about a week after release), had a ridiculous amount of ideas that could have made that game so much better, not just for me, but for many, many people. I couldn't tell you how many ideas I posted and how many people agreed with me. I find it silly that a billion dollar corporation like Blizzard couldn't have done better regarding the creative department of this game. I would have been embarrassed to release this game as a sequel to a legend.
What happened? When I bought Final Fantasy IV for SNES and I beat that game for the fourth time, I wasn't thinking to myself, "That's it? It could have been so much better." The same with Final Fantasy VI, Diablo 2, the SimCities up until 4, GTA 3 up until San Andreas, Empire Earth, Tropico, Half-Life and it's mods, Civilization and the list goes on. Every one of those games were well thought out, implemented and had a considerable amount of content.
It seems now that you look at every game like... "I could have made a better game than that." Hell, look at some indie developers. Take Minecraft for example. The content in that game is unreal. Combine that with the highly creative notion of a completely sandbox world and you have yourself an amazing game that put Mojang on the map. I can't look at Minecraft and think, "I could have made a better game than that."
I don't know. If I were a developer, I would be really looking to completely outdo myself every release. Maybe they're deluding themselves, maybe I'm deluding myself. Though, I'm pretty sure it's not the latter.
IMO, developers and creative teams are simply lazy and lack creativity nowadays. I don't know if they know it or just don't realize it, but they need to open their eyes. It could be the large distribution companies that have a stranglehold on some developers that cause this by forcing the issue of releasing the game ASAP, but if I were a developer, I wouldn't have it. It's pretty bad that "guy in his basement" indie games can be better and more fun than high budget corporation games.
I have been disappointed by every new iteration of my favorite series since GTA IV, Final Fantasy X, SimCity Societies and Diablo 3. If you look at each one of those series, the game before that release is far, and I mean far better than that release.
GTA: San Andreas, an instant classic. Massive content increase from GTA 3: Vice City and far superior to GTA IV, which even came on a new, more powerful system. How sad is that? You have twice the data storage yet you put in half the content. Yes, the graphics were a little prettier, but if you buy a car, are you going to look at it or are you going to drive it? Now, GTA V is an upgrade for IV, by far, but still, most people who've played that game also agree that it could have been so much more.
Final Fantasy IX, the last decent FF. While X wasn't exactly awful, XII and XIII were a step down each time. XII you could just let the game play itself while you push your stick forward and XIII was nothing more than a movie and switching roles mid-fight. No true exploration, not much extra content, nothing but disappointment. Then again, it might be because I don't want my RPGs to play themselves or become an action game. I want Final Fantasy to be what it always has been, or at least Squeenix to remember the fans who got them to where they are and give us something that we'd enjoy. Have you seen videos of FFXV? It looks like God of War with Final Fantasy characters..
SimCity 4, was the epitome of city simulators. I fear that nothing will take it's place. Societies was just plain bad. Why did it carry the name? It was hardly a city simulator, rather than a social simulator. Don't get me started on the new SimCity. While it's pretty and had a decent idea, that idea was poorly implemented. The game is so flawed, it was pretty much unplayable for quite a while after release and while I haven't checked much on it lately, is probably still highly flawed. Why? Because EA was probably breathing down their necks to release the game when it wasn't ready. IMO, this game shouldn't have been released for at least three more years with the ideas they had concerning the engine.
Diablo 2, was the epitome of ARPGs and really put them on the map. It's pretty bad when other developers create a better sequel to your game than Blizzard did with Diablo 3. I was horribly surprised. I expected a lot more out of Blizzard. Games like Torchlight 2 and especially Path of Exile were far better ARPGs compared to D3. Why? I don't think it was because a distributor was hassling them. I think it was simply because the creative directors were lacking creativity. I, after playing through all of the content (about a week after release), had a ridiculous amount of ideas that could have made that game so much better, not just for me, but for many, many people. I couldn't tell you how many ideas I posted and how many people agreed with me. I find it silly that a billion dollar corporation like Blizzard couldn't have done better regarding the creative department of this game. I would have been embarrassed to release this game as a sequel to a legend.
What happened? When I bought Final Fantasy IV for SNES and I beat that game for the fourth time, I wasn't thinking to myself, "That's it? It could have been so much better." The same with Final Fantasy VI, Diablo 2, the SimCities up until 4, GTA 3 up until San Andreas, Empire Earth, Tropico, Half-Life and it's mods, Civilization and the list goes on. Every one of those games were well thought out, implemented and had a considerable amount of content.
It seems now that you look at every game like... "I could have made a better game than that." Hell, look at some indie developers. Take Minecraft for example. The content in that game is unreal. Combine that with the highly creative notion of a completely sandbox world and you have yourself an amazing game that put Mojang on the map. I can't look at Minecraft and think, "I could have made a better game than that."
I don't know. If I were a developer, I would be really looking to completely outdo myself every release. Maybe they're deluding themselves, maybe I'm deluding myself. Though, I'm pretty sure it's not the latter.
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