Martin wrote:Good point! Basically what I meant was that I question the notion that the games have gotten 'worse'. They haven't (other than the storyline). Quite the contrary - and therein lies the problem.
I dunno about that, theres a whole lot on every end of gaming that has gotten worse. Sure good games exist "they don't make em like they used to." applies in a lot of ways look at Square-enix for example. The technology is better but because they develop their games in a very backwards way nothing comes together fully. Its more then nostalgia that has people talking about games like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 6 and Front Mission 3 even today. As more people become aware of them and begin playing them for the first time discussions pop up about how great they are even now. Do you think people Will be saying the same about 13-2?
Now if you believe that all Japanese developers are no longer relevant, then I can use an American example that i understand quite well. R* spent years making Max Payne 3 and pumped tons of money into Team Bondi to create L.A.Noire. Neither game is bad, actually I quite like Max Payne 3 but despite offering mechanical, systematic, visual and cinematic greatness the game didn't fully resonate with me the way the original had. I'm not the only one either, as sales of the game were very weak and R* ate a big loss. For all the little details that R* sought to rub clean they missed the big problems the game had mainly in its core narrative and especially in it's writing.
Now I'm not hating on new games, but I really do see something missing, well a few things. I don't think gamers should go off the deep end for every mistake (see Bioware) but there is something missing, and if gamers become complacent, then things will continue to get worse.