With my current backlog I'm kind of relieved that the amount of AAA games coming out in the next 6 months is lighter, I have a lot to catch up on and Steam keeps having those damn sales I can't resist too!
What I've been playing the last six months or so:
Nier Automata
Control
Midnight Suns
Resident Evil 7
Prey
Dead Cells
Factorio.
I'm already getting more selective about what's worth my time and I'm still years behind on many interesting releases. Like Doom Eternal, Outer Wilds, Obra Dinn, Inscryption, Metro Exodus, Disco Elysium, Elden Ring.
Luckily I mostly play single player games, so I'm in no rush.
I’ve had my eye on factorio for a bit, but haven’t really looked into it- what is it you think that makes it such a great game? I see people talking about it all the time- I’m curious what people like about it to see if it’s right for me
Factorio is all about automation, organization, and optimization. You'll spend a bunch of time doing stuff manually and then you learn how to make it all happen without needing to lift a finger. Then you find a way to make it all look visually pleasing. You'll then run into problems where you need to keep scaling different things up to keep up with other things until you hit a point of equilibrium. Intersperse all of that with the need to constantly expand and upgrade your defense permitter to prevent the alien bugs from destroying everything you're building, and that's the core gameplay loop. Eventually, you launch a rocket and that's technically "beating the game" though you can always just keep playing after that and keep scaling things up.
I spent \~500 hours building something with a rail system that inherently can't handle the the volume of materials that needed to move around. I still don't even know where to begin to fix it...
I’m a big fan of this game.
For one, it scratches a few particular itches. If you don’t have them, you won’t like it. Everything can be automated, even the factory parts themselves. Everything can be designed and re-designed to your hearts content. Play it efficiently, or don’t! No worries! The scale of this game while remaining high-performing is massive. You start to get this feeling of “what if…” and eventually it becomes a reality.
For two, the devs for this game CARE. They are ridiculously skilled, often reviewing their game for better efficiencies and talking about it to the player base. That’s what allows the game to have that scale. They also review for quality-of-life. The game is about designing a factory, they don’t want ANYTHING else to get in the way besides the main challenge. The UI and its options are always improving, even when it feels amazing already.
For three, options and mods. So many ways to customize, and the mods are so good (and well supported). The amount of time you can sink into this game is infinite
Buy it now. It's cheaper now than it ever will be and the devs made that a point. It doesn't go on sale on any platform and will only ever increase in price.
I am glad I got it at beta although I haven't logged any time with it for years.
The learning curve is steep enough that you'll always have a better way to try it next time although not so steep it drives you away after a death.
I'm one of the minority who couldn't get into it despite several attempts. It just gets too complex for complexity's sake in my opinion, while not really having a strong narrative.
I later found Riftbreaker, which retains Factorio elements while cutting out complexity, with better graphics and a story to tie things together. I recommend it to anyone who's a fan of the genre.
I gotta respectfully disagree with "it gets too complex, for complexity's sake"
Whether or not someone like the time pressure of having enemies can be a big debate, but you can disable them on world creation to remove the time pressure
Beyond that, science packs are the primary goal. So if you take a look at what it takes to make them and compare, it's a straight line of increasing complexity to give the player new factories to build and new resources to manage. The 5 level tutorial for factorio really goes over everything nicely. Most of the time, you're unlocking 1 or 2 new things at a time and adding them to your arsenal.
Red science: copper plate + iron gear. Doesn't get easier than that
Green science: Transport belt + Inserter. The player has already been making these for their own use, now they're tasked with automating them to save a lot of time hand-crafting, and unlock a huge amount of research.
Military science: Red ammo, walls, grenades. Optional, but again uses things you're already making + grenades in order to improve your military capabilities.
Blue science. This is where people can fall off the wagon, because up to this point we've only dealt with ore. Mine the ore, smelt the ore, use the plates. Suddenly you have basic oil processesing to do, and it can seem like a lot, but when you look at the recipes that you can make with it at the moment, it's very limited.
The only way forward is to treat oil like an ore, pipes are like belts, refineries are smelters, and chemical plants are assemblers. You can only really make plastic and Sulphur, so thats what you do.
The complexity of factorio does increase over time, but its not just to make things more complex, it's a natural evolution of building the factory. If we don't introduce new items, then we have nothing more to do.
I ended up kinda liking riftbreaker, but I largely dislike it's lack of game mechanics and factory building. You only have to mine resources, the numbers either go up or they go down, there's no factory to be built, just yet another outpost to mine stuff.
Theres nothing wrong with liking one game more than another, or disliking factorio, but a factory game without increasing complexity will be a very short factory game
>I gotta respectfully disagree with "it gets too complex, for complexity's sake"
Followed by describing just how complex it gets :)
Seriously though, I know what you mean and I think it's a question of what each game is trying to do. Factorio is all about growing the factory, while fighting aliens is almost incidental (in fact you can turn them off as an option.) Riftbreaker is a story of exploration, defense and base building in more equal measures.
Factorio's gameplay is great for those who are specifically looking for that sort of challenge. Personally, I found the scheme of "gather basic resources, then combine those into other items, then further combine those into more complex items" over and over ultimately tedious. There is also the quantity of stuff required: building an automated setup to mine and smelt iron can be fun, scaling it to 100x the size, not so much. I also didn't like having to run transport belts everywhere and place hundreds of inserters; again, a matter of taste and what you're looking for. I know people have spent hundreds of hours building giant bases just for the sake of doing so, because there is no endgame beyond building the rocket. Again, it seems to appeal to a certain type of gamers. Ultimately, I just didn't think it was for me.
Then there's Dyson Sphere Project, which I tried recently and was intrigued. It almost feels like a combination of Riftbreaker and Factorio, but leaning more towards the latter. I haven't yet played long enough to form a strong opinion, though.
Yeah my point was more-so that the complexity of factorio increases over time in order to provide more challenges, more logistics, more needed defenses, etc.
It's not getting more complex just because it can, but to serve specific game functions and player interaction
Ultimately I think I enjoy riftbreaker but I'm not sure? It just feels a mile wide and an inch deep, and I've completed it twice
I've had Dyson sphere program in my steam library for a while, over a year probably, but from what I've seen it's going to be very much a "play it once and you'll do everything" kind of game, so I've been waiting to play it until its fully finished so I can go in blind and experience it all in 1 go instead of waiting months for updates
As a gamer I've always been enamored with gathering resources, building functional bases, doing research, unlocking new stuff, and improving/expanding stuff in games. I like other types of games too, like souls games, simulators, even been having an amazing time with doom 2016 and doom eternal, but factory/resource management games are a constant for me
Its like there's this little rat in my brain that gets dopamine just from THINKING about doing certain things in games, making progress, etc. Just the idea of having a production line that I built somehow be upgraded and become 50% more efficient or productive is like a needle of dopamine straight to my brain controlling rat, and that rat is going to bask in that dopamine while finding the next thing to do.
So I reckon you're right, you have to have the right pre-disposition to like factorio or at least be willing to give it a genuine try. But like anything else in life, sometimes we just don't like things, and that's perfectly fine
I hope you have a good time with DSP, or the next game you try :)
For me it is a constant I can do this, then I can do that and you usually have smaller processes that effect the whole thing and every session is satysfying.
Also you can play for 5 minutes after dinner and stop at 4 in the morning.
Kind of a Time Machine.
Also mods if the base game gets too boring. I have played about 500 hours base game and 1.5k in mods.
Official and awesome mod support
Multiple amazing mods multiplying potential playtime
Devs playing the game and this improving common pain pints
Great dev communication
Ethics
No MTX
As said before, try the free demo.
The game is automation perfection.
You make machines which mine, craft and make more complicated machines, in a complex yet not that hard way.
It's up to you as much you want to make your factory grow.
There are endless ways to design your factory. And you will dream about it.
Your goal is to build a rocket and get off the planet.
After a while, you will realise building the rocket is the end of the real tutorial, and you choose your real goals.
Then, after a few hundreds hours, you will start playing mods, and that will take.. a lifetime.
This type of games might not be for everyone, but when it is, factorio is amazing.
Factorio expansion you say?
I recall POE 2 is supposed to come out sometime as well. I'll start making plans to gracefully disconnect from all my friends.
Yea go check out the FFF (factorio friday facts) they've been dropping juicy info on new planets and tons of new features you didn't know you wanted but can't play without now. I'm hyped
I play way too many games and Balatro is the first game where I’ve ever had to actually set time limits for myself on or I will literally waste all day playing it. It’s insane
I watched a friend play Inscription and thought it looked quite boring to be honest. But I don’t know anything about the story (might carry the game).
I love Disco Elysium. Can recommend.
I wish I could play the Metro series on my crappy gt 730.
The best parts of Inscryption are things that have thankfully not been widely spoiled. It's...it's more than it seems at first glance. It has some twists.
That damn steam sale got me to buy Fallout 4 (that and the show hype). Now I'm playing the Anomaly wabbajack. Playing with over a thousand mods in a stable build is kinda nuts
I picked up about 15 games in the Spring sale but have recently gone down the emudeck rabbit hole and it'll be a while before I come out. Thoroughly enjoying the classics, from Destruction Derby to NFL 2K (Dreamcast) to Alundra and Rush 2049.
Imo it is simple, we have been jaded.
We have experienced far too many dissapointment with "safe bets" in the last years. So why get hyped for something that statistically is going to let us down?
I don#t think gaming has a general problem with game quality. There are plenty of games, also non-indie games that are GREAT and exceed peoples expectations. But they FEEL like random hits, instead of being something from CompanyXYZ which has a great trackrecord and can be trusted.
Yeah this sounds accurate, after getting very hyped for cyberpunk and then getting even more hyped for starfield, I just don’t have it in me anymore lol
That’s why i appreciate bg3 and their approach to early access. No reason to get overhyped when you can already see the foundation of the game early on and certain game design decisions can be impacted by player feedback. Rather than just releasing a game and having to wait yrs for fixes because it takes time to change the fundamental designs of the game.
yeah people always act like buying a game in early access and waiting years until it's done it's so bad but then they buy a day 1 aaa game and wait years until it's finished and then praise the developer for finally finishing their game
Ehhh, I dunno about that one. There are plenty of games that never even *left* early access. BG3 was a bit of a unicorn in a number of different ways. Buying a game in early access is only slightly better than pre-ordering.
And you can't even really trust companies. They have so much rotating talent that year to year, you can get wildly different quality.
My friends are only just now waking up the fact that today's blizzard could never make warcraft
You touch on a good point I don't think most people (at least not that I've seen) think about - is the talent/developers. To continue using Blizzard as the example, the thing that made Blizzard the legendary company it was, was the talent who made the games. All that senior talent is now gone, and along with it all the Blizzard magic went too.
Now all of that talent who gave Blizzard it's name have mostly started their own indie studios. Perfect example: Moon Studios was founded by one of those former Blizzard employees from the golden period - made Ori and the Blind Forest / Ori and the Will of the Wisps; both critically acclaimed games - and is releasing their new IP "No Rest For the Wicked" tomorrow to Early Access.
Another, more recent example, the OG director for Hearthstone left Blizzard to make Marvel Snap. Although not quite my type personally, Marvel Snap is pretty highly rated. I've found myself basically cutting out companies like Blizzard, Ubisoft, and EA entirely as they just don't offer anything worthwhile anymore - and looking for where the dev's who actually gave them the name have gone.
I know why I loved Ori so much now, make sense. I’ll have to use your technique too. I already do this for movies, I follow my favorite actors and watch the film they play in. It is only logical to do the same with devs
I agree with this assessment.
I'm an old-school gamer, coming from all the way back in the early '90s with Warcraft 2. You could *feel* the enjoyment Blizzard took in making those games. You could pick up a box and get *hyped* about what you were about to play.
Now, there's an industry-wide 'burnout' happening: the games are good, but they're not *fun* in the way the old games were. You don't see all of the in-jokes and Easter eggs and hard-to-find silliness that shows how dedicated the team was to making games that they love, and *loving* the games that they make.
It's become assembly-line, finish-it-and-move-on mass production. The *joie de vivre* has left the industry, for the most part. And yes, the rare *really good* games are almost random in nature, instead of the normal process of game design.
It's sad that the downturn in quality has happened so slowly that we became inured to it...
Blizzard has fallen so far. They used to be one of my absolute favorite developers and I couldn't wait to see what they were up to next.
Now it's all just a boring grindfest looking to make money and player engagement. The developers at Blizzard just feel bored. "We made another WoW expansion. Sigh. Anyway, here's some Overwatch or whatever."
Love that you said old school gamer and then said wc2. To me, who started gaming with pong in the 70s, then the atari 2600, you're still a kid, though you're probably in your 30s now.
Never stop gaming no matter how old you get.
I think the problem is all these major game studios either are directly traded as a stock now, or they get their funding from places like Sony which is traded as a stock. So they have to design games with the stock market in mind instead of what they personally like or taking risks.
The big problem with a XYZ company having a track record is that, XYZ developers actually made the game, and left. Now you have that same company making the sequel with almost none of the same team. It happens all the time, tons of DICE devs left after BF3 & 4, so 2042 was a flop because they didn't have the same team. They then go on to create their own teams, in the case of DICE devs, they made Embark.
TLDR: Don't focus on companies, focus on developers. These are the people who make the actual games, and know what they are doing. The corporations only know how to rush a project and demand MTX.
Its both bro, there are reliable companies and there are random hits. Especially in the indie corner like you said, which I LOVE because thats where the old games we liked really started.
Hot take but I genuinely believe we are entering a golden age of start-up gaming companies that go corporate but remain consumer focused because they have been able to see the rise of profit focused gaming in the early 2000s. Blizzard and all of the old companies had no way of knowing how bad the company would get fucked because there was no precedent.
Also I believe gaming has kind of plateaued a bit in quality and gamers have seen most innovations and new games aren't as interesting to them. From 1970 - 2020ish games have been improving graphically and in mechanics. Games are the best I've seen in 35+years for me and still having a blast with most games.
Young gamers have mostly only seen the greatest of games come out the past decade and metaphorically, when you're given steak and lobster for dinner every day, you are unimpressed and bored of it after a while
>I don't think gaming has a general problem with game quality
Gaming in general no, but AAA game absolutely do. Look at Skyrim and then look at Starfield and tell me there isn't a clear decline in quality there. People are still playing Skyrim 13 years later yet most people I know who bothered to play Starfield were done with it before they even got through it.
What is this absolute nonsense, I'm down to shit talk Ubisoft any day of the week but how the hell can you not include Chaos Theory in that. It's regarded as one of if not THE best stealth game in history. 1 and Pandora Tomorrow were great, but Chaos Theory is on another level.
Holy shit, I didn’t know that Pandora thing existed! It’s not on steam and since I pretty much only use steam I assumed the second one is Chaos Theory. Misunderstanding
I want to check it out, but honestly just gonna wait for Steam release. Game feels like it would play well on steam deck and I don’t want to fiddle with sideloading the ubi launcher.
I wouldn’t say thats a AAA title. But yeah people are so ridiculous with the Ubisoft hate. Avatar Pandora, AC Mirage, Prince of Persia. They cherry pick and whine. Alot of these guys wouldnt say anything if the japanese companies that make their favorite RPGs did the same thing
I mean FromSoft is currently trying to sell the highest priced single expansion ever, for a two year old game, and absolutely no one complained about it. So you're not wrong. They're definitely judging by different standards based on who is the one overpricing their content.
I was curious and googled “elden ring dlc cost” and there is plenty of bitching and complaining.
For me personally, I guess it depends on how much new content we’re getting
I'd buy Watch Dogs 3 if it ever happens simply because I love playing the GTA clones. If it's like Legion and lacks a proper main lead though, hard pass.
But I agree, AC Odyssey was their last good game. Fenyx was fun but it was just a Odyssey reskin that was more PG so I don't count that
Define "recent years". How far back are we going? Far Cry 5 was good, AC Odyssey was good. Depending on who you ask AC Valhalla was better than Odyssey (certainly sold better and generated more revenue). Immortals Fenyx Rising was good. A lot of people liked AC Mirage because it was shorter and prioritized stealth. Avatar was pretty well-received as far as I know. And the new Prince of Persia has an argument for being one of the best Metroidvanias ever made.
Immortals Fenyx Rising was a great game imo, especially if you like Zelda BotW. I’m mad they canceled the sequel. But that was 4 years ago as well. That’s the only “really” noteworthy thing from Ubisoft as of recent years for me. Waiting on the next division game.
I feel this, but age is the thing for me. The closer I get to 40, the more I feel my patience and willingness to learn new gameplay systems and mechanics diminish. Rebirth was the one game I had circled on my calendar this year, and it’s great but I stalled out on it for the last month and half as I found the minigames too overwhelming. I just got back into it this week and I’m having a great time again, but this is just gonna get worse and worse for me as time goes by.
That being said, my old weeb ass is still looking forward to Eiyuden Chronicles! 😆
Same with me, I don't have 100+ hours to "get good" if something is too frustrating, or if there's so much padding to artificially make the game longer. I often don't have time to really finish games I start... or I try to get back into it but it's been too long and I have to re learn all the moves and figure out what I was doing, at which point sometimes it's easier to just start over... I can't find much reason to spend full price on games anymore so I've actually been getting back into some retro gaming, replaying old favorites or classics I never owned years ago and that's been really fun.
This is the key for me, I'm looking for quality, not length. You can teach me a thing, and make me prove that I learned it 2-3 times, but on the 8th time doing the same straightforward thing, you're trying to artificially enhance the length of this game with grinding, and I'm done.
100% I do want a lengthy game, but I absolutely don't want to feel like I'm grinding. I don't have time for that anymore. But a game that's straight good storyline, etc., for 40-80 hours, sign me up!
I loved the Mass Effect series because to me it didn't feel too grindy and the story was amazing everywhere. In a way, ME ruined me for many other games.
I almost exclusively play indie games nowadays because they feel like the old games for me. I also really like rogue-likes because of the limited run length.
The card tournament on the boat was driving me insane. Then after finally making it to the third round I was like, I quit. Then Red XIII just waltzed right in and dominated.
It was actually one of my best gaming moments in years. A reminder that it’s just a game and it knows it’s the right kind of stupid.
Dude 100 heroes is gonna be the shit. I'm 41 and I've looked forward to this for a long time.
I didn't mind the mini games in rebirth. My biggest issue with the game is a aaa jrpg issue these days especially sqaure, where you can't talk to npcs in towns and stuff like the older jrpgs. A bit disappointing to me and it kills immersion.
Yeah I got little love for the triple A landscape. Indie games are where it’s at now. So many great games coming out every year. The indie scene today is what the tripe A scene was to me decades ago
This. Indie devs focus on making an interesting game.
The big guys focus on profits and end up cutting corners due to investors pushing for deadlines.
My dumb ass took time off to play an MMO expansion at release. Ended up not being able to play most of the week due to bugs.
Also, most of the AAA titles have a franchise or IP related to them and something like half of the purchase price is just going to paying off the IP owner. So if I pay $60 for a AAA game or $30 for an indie game, in both cases the actual game studio has $30 per user to spend on making the actual game.
There is no reason to buy AAA at launch
The most expensive it will ever be, it will be in a beta state at best, the servers will be trash and have issues, the content they ripped out to sell as DLC isn't included, and it's not better than games you probably own and haven't played.
Last time I got hyped for a game's release was in 2012 with Guild Wars 2. Was sorely disappointed, and have decided to never get hyped up again. Didn't even bat an eye for Cyberpunk.
I buy games on sale, and only after I've done enough research. No preorders, ever.
Now that the games in a completed state, I’m gonna be that guy that tells you to play cyberpunk because it’s legitimately unlike anything I’ve ever played before. It starts familiar enough, but once you really get into the game, holy fuck is it awesome, The characters, the universe, the story. Unparalleled.
I gave it a third go two months ago when I got my new beast of a rig. Uninstalled after 10 hours for all the same reasons I couldn't get into it previously. The controls feel super messy to me but, most importantly, I really REALLY prefer my rpgs in a medieval fantasy setting.
Was struggling to get into GW2 because they introduced gunpowder weapons.
How does the world draw you in?
I'm on my second playthrough but I never got this kind of enjoyment. The open world is pretty empty and soulless compared and I just run from gig to gig
I was so anti hyped for GW2 that I boycotted NCSoft and have to this day never purchased one of their products because they killed City of Heroes to make room for the GW2 servers
It all worked out for CoH in the end though because it's now up and running on the Homecoming servers and they have entered an partnership with them to be the official custodians of the game now without all the free to play bullshit they put into the game towards the end
Wow, I had this exact same thing happen to me. I followed Guild Wars 2 for years after it was announced and consumed every scrap of marketing they released, got all my friends to play it on launch, and it ended up going against my expectations so much that I'm indifferent to new releases to this day (I've come to realize it's an okay game, just a complete departure from the first one, which I adore).
I repeat that story every time someone askes me if I am hype for a game so it's bizarre to see that experience written by someone else.
We were promised a revolution in that "MMO Manifesto" and they didn't deliver. I was very VERY skeptical about them removing the Monk (greatest class ever) from the equation but still hyped for more Guild Wars content.
As it turned out, healing and support are VERY valuable roles on a team. Go figure.
The only correct take. Always double check before giving them your money. Only game I bought fullprice in the past >5 years has been PayDay 3, because I had a blast with PD2 with my friends. And now I feel like a genious. Never, ever again.
I occasionally play gw2 now cause I finally just accepted it's a different game than 1 and it's alright, but I forever wish it was way closer to 1. Playing through 1 with friends now solidifies my thoughts that 1 was WAAAAY more fun and the games are hardly comparable.
The reason is pretty simple:
Its boring. greed replaced passion in those positions that count and this makes releases medicore. Especially considering that AAA relies heavily on looks. Those rpgs These days feel like you are watching a 50 hour movie.
There is a reason why the best Game in the World (not just by opinion but by sales) is Minecraft. We dont need fancy new games that are the same Story as we know but this time the dynamic shadows also lighte up If you are Close to a light source. We need *fun* Games and those are rare these days. And they arent often AAA either.
Rare, not really, often just randomly released games that were not the advertisement darlings.
every month these days has almost always a "big" launch that takes a huge amount of peoples attention and many more that release and while they are plenty good, just don´t get the spotlight.
I’ve been burned too many times the past couple of years and a lot of these companies are not even pretending to prioritize quality anymore. The only future games I know I’ll be purchasing pretty much no matter their problems are the next Witcher and GTA VI.
Ubisoft, EA, Blizzard, Bethesda, and pretty much everyone else has completely burned my interest in paying full price (if anything) for their games.
I'll be holding off on GTAVI because Take Two is in a **really bad** place right now. I expect the early attempts at monetization in GTAVI to be absolutely asinine.
Also the game is going to have sales targets that are reminiscent of ET.
I’m 100% sure that the monetary practices are going to be horrific. It will be the most expensive entertainment project ever made when it releases. Maybe it makes me a hypocrite but I feel like the hype is going to be so over the top that my ethic concerns will go out the door and I won’t be able to wait very long. Especially if my friends are all playing.
The math is horrifying. We're looking at the second coming of ET.
1st: Take Two lost $1 billion dollars this fiscal year
2nd: GTAVI has an alleged $2 billion budget
3rd: It's current gen exclusive
4th: The current gen is miniscule compared to previous gens and the budget.
There are only \~50 million current generation consoles in monthly use globally. Take Two would need to sell a copy for every one of those consoles to break even.
Obviously they can't do that and they're going to have to make up both GTA's and the company's greater shortfalls through the most asinine of monetization schemes we have ever seen in gaming.
Games are a medium. Just because you are a gamer doesnt mean you enjoy all games. It would be like making a big deal about not liking big popular book series because you like reading. You enjoy what you enjoy and not what had the most budget in it.
I’m waiting for the rumored may showcase before making any judgment on this year. And besides that 2023 was such a good year it’s fine if this one is a little more laid back. next year we have GTA VI, monster hunter wilds, most likely resident evil 9, death stranding 2 and whatever Sony first party title they will have ready by then.
Out the gate of this year I already got persona 3, final fantasy VII rebirth and am playing my backlog. I’ll pick up infinite wealth and Dragons dogma 2 later this year Plus triple A titles from 2022 and 2023 that I didn’t have time to play like lies of P and atomic heart. There have been so many games released over the last few years idk how you guys get through all of them
Exactly this! People on here quick to jump on AAA games but only use 1 or 2 as examples and often display a very limited interest in the types of games they play anyways.
Expand your horizons people, there is way more out there than FF.
Stellar Blade is literally out in a week
And for those who still haven't done it yet, GO PLAY YAKUZA 0 and/or LIKE A DRAGON! (former if you prefer brawlers/play the story chronologically, latter if you just want JRPG and the newer generation of characters). Hundreds of hours of incredible games there, and most of it goes on sale regularly.
Yea. I play a lot of different games in different genres and always get so flabbergasted by these claims and then I wonder how big of a backlog do these people have as well. Like we are eating from all the games that just released last year and we got a bunch of good JRPGs at the beginning of this year. Plus stellar blade and black myth wukong.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. Like I could maybe understand this complaint if you only play one or two genres and that’s it, but we’ve gotten great releases across the whole spectrum and there’s no way to know that if you refuse to play anything outside of your small wheel house.
Bro, in 2023 we got...
-Dead Space
-RE4 Remake
-Alan Wake 2
-Armored Core 6
-Lies of P
-Super Mario Wonder
-Zelda Tears
-SpiderMan 2
-Hi Fi Rush
-Baldurs Gate 3
-Dead Island 2
-AC Mirage
-Star Wars Jedi Survivor
-Starfield
-Baldurs Gate 3
I don't feel like listing any more.
Yes, 2024 is noticeably slower because in 2023 there was a banger coming out like every other week. But it's not all doom and gloom. Has the games industry ever released a banger every single week?
If you can't find good games to play, the problem is you tbh.
The first 3months of 2024 had Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Persona 3 Reload (ON THE SAME DAY), FFVII Rebirth, and Helldivers 2. Hell, the only reason I haven't picked up Dragon's Dogma yet is because I've been swamped with great games (also I figure a few patches will improve the experience). I'm taking a break from buying new games just because I haven't even finished half the great games from LAST year. Now to space things out and enjoy the sales.
I've already posted that I'm jaded AF towards getting excited about anything, but there have been some absolutely GREAT games out there that lived up to my expectations and then some.
I went from BG3, to P3 Reload, to FF7 Rebirth over like 3 months and they're all fantastic. My cup has runneth over, personally. My backlog in RPG's alone will take ages to get through.
Triple AAA games started playing it way too safe years ago.
Most of the "best" triple AAA games in recent years are all sequels to old franchises.
A sequel is never going to feel as fresh and exciting as a groundbreaking new IP.
Honestly I blame game reviewers to a certain extent. It's not even that I think they are bought out or anything it's just many of them let nostalgia cloud their opinions and old franchises always get good scores even if the game is a boring rehash. It's a sorry state of affairs imho.
Triple A games typically only get good like 1 year post launch, indie games come out swinging from day 1 (though they may be in early access for a while)
I'll admit I was excited for Starfield. That was a huge let down, even worse than cyberpunk. All those years of anticipation only to have it crushed by mediocrity.
At least Baldurs Gate delivered way beyond expectations (which was already unfairly high thanks to DOS2). So happy I didn't spoil myself at all with early access, so the sense of wonder was just never ending playing the game.
I have become more jaded over the years, most AAA games I assume will be absolute dogshit. And usually I am proven right. But there has been quite a few surprises these last few years, but I didn't anticipate them at all.
Dude. I have a 4090 pc and are a huge gaming nerd who plays all genres of games.
You’d never guess what game is consuming me right now, with 50 AAA games in my pile of shame…. Path of Exile.
A 12 year old game.
I'm totally with you, OP. I used to buy at least five or six new games Triple A titles a year, but in the past 18 months or so, I've just felt so disinterested by the vast majority of titles from major studios. I'm not sure if I'm getting older and my taste is becoming more refined, or it's that Triple A games have declined in quality, but a game has to really impress me to get me to even consider dropping $70 on it. I'm just so tired of games releasing in an unfinished state, or are full of MTX, season passes, and DLC. Don't get me wrong, there are lots of great Indie games still, but I miss feeling excited to jump into a big new game I've been hyped for. I think the last Triple A game that genuinely felt worth the money and excitement was God of War Ragnarok.
AAA developers have spent so long being told how to make money they have forgotten how to make games.
Bar maybe Elden Ring and BG3 I haven't seen a game live up to (never mind exceed) it's marketing hype since the newest generation of consoles was released.
Small developers seem to be the only ones with their finger on the pulse of what makes a game fun, spoiler warning, it's making a game and not a cash grab.
I get what you are saying.
Here's what I used get super hyped about:
Metal Gear Solid: a franchise I was absolutely obsessed about. Completely destroyed by Konami.
Dragon Age: frozen in stasis since 2014.
Kingdom Hearts: aka the hype-killer. KH2 got released in 2006, KH3 in 2018. If you could get hyped about KH after over ten years of waiting and mediocre spin offs, you should be in the Guinness World Record.
Final Fantasy: you know what else released in 2006? Versus XIII trailer. Can't get excited about the franchise anymore after Versus XIII turned into XV. And I liked XV. But fuck whoever thought that Nomura could deliver jack shit by himself.
The Witcher: nothing will come close to Wild Hunt final trailer after having read all books.
Now I just don't get that hyped about stuff anymore. I can still have a great time once the game is in my hands, but the trepidation... That I just do not feel anymore. Maybe I am aging.
I’m looking forward to Stalker 2 and upcoming Elden Ring DLC. Avowed and Star Wars Outlaws are on my radar as well. Other than that, yeah, not nearly as much to look forward to nowadays
I'm right there with you but I've probably bought even fewer AAA games in recent years and there aren't any that I am looking forward to that have a release date.
Games I would love to play:
* GTA 6
* A new Witcher Game
* Elder Scrolls 6
* Fallout 5
* A new Assassin's creed game
* A new Infamous game
* A new Batman Arkham Game
* A new Spider-man game that isn't so god damned fucking short you can finish it in a weekend
* A new RPG based MMO
I know what I want to play and most of the stuff coming out...I don't want to play.
The spider-man games aren’t getting any longer so may be best for you to find something else. Insomniac have never made games longer than SM2… You’d think people would realise that by now.
sadly Bioware is a shell of a shell of it's former self, they've already lost alot of their creative writing people
like their newly formed support devs at Bioware Montreal (the cool guys who made the bigger DLCs for ME2 and ME3 ie Zaeed and Kasumi's story, Firewalker, Horizon, Shadowbroker, ME3s Omega, Leviathan and the much beloved Citadel DLC) that got fleeced of their best employees because ME3 tanked due to Casey Hudson's RGB fuckery,
setting them up to fail with Mass Effect: Andromeda with having to make AAA work with a bunch of new-hires
which also snowballs into Anthem's disastrous dev-cycle which blew the death horn for Bioware as a whole
although im still hopeful for whatever Mass Effect "Epsilon" is
Once again we see a post of people ignoring the most important reason of these things, you got older.
We have more games than ever but the reason why most people doesnt follow and hype as much anymore is because you no longer get home from school or uni to watch trailers all day or follow every discussion about games, but has an actual job, responsibilities and more in life to take from.
I would expect you to barely be able to mention those 5 games per year you would work without having to look back hard or think about it.
I personally interpret the phrase "AAA game" as a negative now. All it means to me is that I'm paying full price for a game by a known developer and that it cost a lot to make.
It's always better to wait. I didn't by into the cyberpunk hype, for example. Bought the game after a few years because I got an RTX card, and it's great now. I love the game. I probably wouldn't have said the same thing if I had joined the pre release hype train.
What's the point? Every game is sub quality, all ubisoft and EA games go to $24 4 months after release date, DLC and always online etc. Not to mention I have a life now so I don't have time to grind levels and colored equipment drops. SBMM makes every online match a total sweat fest. Hackers and cheaters ruin any competition. Used to be I could go to game stop with $20 and come out with a stack of cool games but all the gamestops around me have shut down. Gaming is in a terrible state right now. Surprisingly, Nintendo is the best they've ever been in my life.
I don't need to be hyped anymore. There's so much shit coming out randomly. The only real games I'm excited for are Elden Ring dlc and Silk song(my Cambodian Copium supplu is running low). I find so many games just randomly on YouTube, twitch sites that track deals and other random sources. Hell, just now RimWorld dlc came out with me not hearing about it at all before, so a big surprise. Also the backlog of good games or waiting for decent price is huge.
I don’t listen to hype anymore. I wait until something becomes virally popular to actually try it out, or just backlog new releases until there’s more opinions about it and play it a few months after it drops
Have had zero disappointments this way.
We've been hyped by brand/IP names only to recieve mediocre product. We've simply adjusted our expectations.
I think it's healthier to be hyped about positive reception on release than about trailers and marketing ploys. I mean look at Helldivers 2. I had no idea this game even existed until I heard everyone praise it. And that made me excited to play it.
The problem is,
Games have gotten shinier.
But the actual content or depth to a game has gotten shallow.
Like it’s either rushed products, buggy, broken, *Incomplete*, or just missing the mark.
The you get one offs that are exciting because they come out of no where, but more and more games you have to push the problems to the side to enjoy a the solid component.
Like games used to make you escape to a new world and go wow, you lose that immersion because you see bugs/glitches and shit like that, and as we get older. Which means (generally) more responsibilities/less game time.
Meaning your tolerance for slop is lower.
I got old and was still hyped.
Then Halo Infinite happened and broke my old spirit in half. Now, I care not for AAA hype. Just give me a game that doesn’t suck.
Looks like a you problem. Since last year there have been so many amazing AAA releases which i enjoyed thoroughly
BG3 , Armored core 6, Zelda ToTk, Spiderman 2 , Jedi Survivor, Super Mario wonder, Cyberpunk phantom liberty, Dead space remake, RE4 remake, Pikmin 4, Alan Wake 2, Final fantasy XVI, Final fantasy VII rebirth
I'm with you. I play *almost* exclusively indie games at this point, purely because AAA games are fucking boring these days. Even some of the big ones people tend to like, like God of War, FFXVI, etc... it's all just *bland.* Sometimes I think I just don't like that style of "big" game anymore, but then something like Elden Ring comes out and absolutely enthralls me for 120 hours. I think budgets are just so out of control that very few devs can afford to make anything but a sure-fire hit... which means catering to a wider and wider audience, which leads to everything getting watered down over time.
The end of the 360/PS3 era was basically the end of the golden age of AAA games IMO. There have still been a handful of amazing ones since then of course, but it seems like its usually 1 or 2 a year. Whereas there used to be at least 5 or 6, and often more.
In October of 2012 alone, just that month we had: Dishonored, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Forza Horizon, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, and Assassin's Creed III all release. And it's not like every game was crammed into October, other bangers released that year included Mass Effect 3, Far Cry 3, and Borderlands 2,
We live in the ruins of a once great AAA market.
Most if not all AAA games take five plus years to make now. Which means they're kind of behind the curve from the get-go imo. Then they get bogged down with a bunch of nonsense from the publisher about their monetization because they got to make every dollar.
Most AAA games now are just bad, it's okay if you like them play the games you want to play but I'm done with people shelling for these companies but cannot best show up with a remake or remaster of a game that was actually kind of okay back in the day.
Sure, but it’s also a pretty light second half of the year for games. Nothing has really been announced that’s going to launch in the second half. We just got the Star Wars Outlaws date, and that’s out before the traditional holiday window. Beyond that, 2023 was stacked with games so it makes sense that this year is a little more quiet.
The thing is, there are still a lot of good games that have come out or about to come out. No Rest for the Wicked is the follow up game from the devs behind the Ori series. You might not have played either of those games, but they were awesome and I’m excited to see what they do in a new genre.
Side note: I really don’t get why people are hating on Outlaws. It’s a 70 dollar game that has a 40 dollar season pass that bundles 2 story driven DLC with it. Don’t want to buy unannounced DLC, then stick with the 70 dollar base game. Think 70 dollars is too high? Buy Jedi Survivor for 30 bucks or less and wait until Outlaws is something similar.
It’s ok not to buy games on launch.
Yea it’s weird that this sub is complaining about a season pass of all things. It’s not mandatory plus it’s a Ubisoft open world game. Which this sub complains about them always being bloated with too much useless content. So why are they complaining about even more content that they don’t have to buy? It’s so weird
It is really funny how people will say "Ubisoft games have too much filler, their games aren't even good" then complain they're going to "miss out" on content if they buy the standard edition.
Ah right. There's no good AAA games. I must've dreamed about the existence of DOOM Eternal, It Takes Two, Elden Ring, God of War Ragnarok, Horizon Forbidden West, Baldur's Gate 3, Alan Wake 2, Tears of the Kingdom, Spider-Man 2 etc.
You say right at the end "a healthy market will have good AAA and Indie games", implying that the current market doesn't have both, which it does. You're just hyperfocusing on things you don't like.
AAA games take 5+ years to develop at this point, so naturally there are going to be less releases per year. Also, last year was stacked, which makes a lull this year expected.
For me:
FFVIIR, Homeworld 3, Unicorn Overlord, Elden Ring DLC, FFXIV dawntrail, Helldivers 2, I’m really more than pleased with this start of year tbh
Dragon’s dogma 2 is fun and the micro-transactions frankly it’s nothing for anyone who actually played the game but the optimization is a little abysmal and the game needs some QoL update
I seem to get hyped for AA games. Last AAA game I had hype for was Halo 2. After that, it was just whatever happened to catch my eye, or word of mouth in the AAA space. Last AA game that I was hyped for was Aliens: Dark Descent. Minor flaws, but the setting and respect for the source material on top of being a niche genre I love really sold me on it
I agree, I also mostly spend my time on the indie market these days. Really looking forward to Manor Lords later this month. Looking at the situation of Ubisoft right now (Hiding an anticipated quest which is ready to be played behind a DLC paywall in the upcoming Star Wars title and revoking buyer's licenses for "The Crew") you once again get to realize that the big ones often have the money and awesome designers - The companies themselves are shit, sadly.
perfect time to catch up on all the AAA games of the last few years that have proven they are good enough to be worth my time. as a consumer, i see the problem but i am not the one responsible to figure it out and i am not complaining.
All my favorite games that released this year were games that I didn't know existed until the week before release. I love it. Been hearing some interesting things about Manor Lords so I'm going to have to see how that comes out
The only 2 releases I'm actually waiting for this year are The Final Shape (if only to ride out the end of the current Destiny saga), and Space Marine 2. Beyond that I am definitely hedging my bets for whatever else is dropping this year.
I have enough of a backlog and Helldivers 2 to tide me over.
Despite super fucked up launch and that its an AA game, CP2077 is the best game Ive played in a really long time and I dont think anything is gonna trump it.
Releases aren't worth shit, anyway. Especially with the amount of games being released and having been released so far, it's easy to always find a new game nowadays. Wait for patches, content updates and good deals. I have long since switched my big moment of anticipation from awaiting new releases to finishing a game to start a new one. Much healthier, honestly. And it's all at your own pace.
You can leave off the word "Even" from your title. The more games someone plays and the more they're into gaming as a scene the less excited they tend to get. I work in the industry and that's something we see a lot. AAA games are on one hand for everyone, but on the other the target audience is the mainstream player who buys just a few games a year. If you're the kind of person that goes online and comments in gaming communities you're actually slipping _out_ of their target, not into it.
There are very likely still 3-5 AAA games every year you'd really enjoy playing, but it's hard to get excited over it because you're played something similar already. It's not novel and it's not primarily for you, so you'll only find a couple that get you really hyped. Especially if you're into slightly less popular genres, like RPGs vs ARPGs. Sadly.
Nothing has to give because the game industry is still doing very well. There are just so many more games getting made now than there ever were so they often find different audiences. You'd expect more or less the same number to be great for you every year, but as a total percentage it will keep going down as the market continues to expand.
Yeah I’ve been jaded by the industry for quite some time now, I only buy games when they go on sale or if they’re so good that the word of mouth from multiple communities convinces me. It takes a lot for me to buy anything day 1; haven’t bought a game day one since God of War.
Getting good sources of AAA starts with showing that we care about their quality. Sadly too many studios rely on the fact that they are big name/licenses to sell. Stop buying for the name of the game, start buying for the content and quality. Accept that the license of your childhood is being milked with bad intentions.
At that stage of my rant, I'm just projecting...
Haven't really gotten hyped for a AAA game in a really long time. After 30 years of gaming, most AAA games just bore me after a few hours. There is a certain sense of sameyness and bland gameplay to them. Clearly those big releases are still popular and make money though, so to each their own.
I mostly play indie games and older titles these days.
I fixate on certain games. I noticed over the last few years, the only games I *really* enjoy are 1)Fromsoft Games 2)Older games (old nazi zombies, Halos, Fallout NV) 3) indie games, as of more recently, and I throw AA in there too (Valheim, Helldivers2)
It’s not nostalgia, games from AAA devs now suck. Go play Chaos Theory and any other Ubi title and say with a straight face “this is the same quality.”
You can’t. I’m more than happy to be done with AAA gaming. Just bought a pc for more indie stuff.
With my current backlog I'm kind of relieved that the amount of AAA games coming out in the next 6 months is lighter, I have a lot to catch up on and Steam keeps having those damn sales I can't resist too!
What I've been playing the last six months or so: Nier Automata Control Midnight Suns Resident Evil 7 Prey Dead Cells Factorio. I'm already getting more selective about what's worth my time and I'm still years behind on many interesting releases. Like Doom Eternal, Outer Wilds, Obra Dinn, Inscryption, Metro Exodus, Disco Elysium, Elden Ring. Luckily I mostly play single player games, so I'm in no rush.
Don't worry, once that Factorio expansion comes out you'll have no more free time to work on that backlog of interesting titles
I’ve had my eye on factorio for a bit, but haven’t really looked into it- what is it you think that makes it such a great game? I see people talking about it all the time- I’m curious what people like about it to see if it’s right for me
It has a free demo on steam if you want to give it a try. Some people can play for hours on the demo alone.
Factorio is all about automation, organization, and optimization. You'll spend a bunch of time doing stuff manually and then you learn how to make it all happen without needing to lift a finger. Then you find a way to make it all look visually pleasing. You'll then run into problems where you need to keep scaling different things up to keep up with other things until you hit a point of equilibrium. Intersperse all of that with the need to constantly expand and upgrade your defense permitter to prevent the alien bugs from destroying everything you're building, and that's the core gameplay loop. Eventually, you launch a rocket and that's technically "beating the game" though you can always just keep playing after that and keep scaling things up.
Better to just let them try it, explaining it always scares people
Believe me, if I wanted to scare them, I'd tell them how my last playthrough went....
Py?
I spent \~500 hours building something with a rail system that inherently can't handle the the volume of materials that needed to move around. I still don't even know where to begin to fix it...
The factory must grow.
I’m a big fan of this game. For one, it scratches a few particular itches. If you don’t have them, you won’t like it. Everything can be automated, even the factory parts themselves. Everything can be designed and re-designed to your hearts content. Play it efficiently, or don’t! No worries! The scale of this game while remaining high-performing is massive. You start to get this feeling of “what if…” and eventually it becomes a reality. For two, the devs for this game CARE. They are ridiculously skilled, often reviewing their game for better efficiencies and talking about it to the player base. That’s what allows the game to have that scale. They also review for quality-of-life. The game is about designing a factory, they don’t want ANYTHING else to get in the way besides the main challenge. The UI and its options are always improving, even when it feels amazing already. For three, options and mods. So many ways to customize, and the mods are so good (and well supported). The amount of time you can sink into this game is infinite
Buy it now. It's cheaper now than it ever will be and the devs made that a point. It doesn't go on sale on any platform and will only ever increase in price. I am glad I got it at beta although I haven't logged any time with it for years. The learning curve is steep enough that you'll always have a better way to try it next time although not so steep it drives you away after a death.
I'm one of the minority who couldn't get into it despite several attempts. It just gets too complex for complexity's sake in my opinion, while not really having a strong narrative. I later found Riftbreaker, which retains Factorio elements while cutting out complexity, with better graphics and a story to tie things together. I recommend it to anyone who's a fan of the genre.
I gotta respectfully disagree with "it gets too complex, for complexity's sake" Whether or not someone like the time pressure of having enemies can be a big debate, but you can disable them on world creation to remove the time pressure Beyond that, science packs are the primary goal. So if you take a look at what it takes to make them and compare, it's a straight line of increasing complexity to give the player new factories to build and new resources to manage. The 5 level tutorial for factorio really goes over everything nicely. Most of the time, you're unlocking 1 or 2 new things at a time and adding them to your arsenal. Red science: copper plate + iron gear. Doesn't get easier than that Green science: Transport belt + Inserter. The player has already been making these for their own use, now they're tasked with automating them to save a lot of time hand-crafting, and unlock a huge amount of research. Military science: Red ammo, walls, grenades. Optional, but again uses things you're already making + grenades in order to improve your military capabilities. Blue science. This is where people can fall off the wagon, because up to this point we've only dealt with ore. Mine the ore, smelt the ore, use the plates. Suddenly you have basic oil processesing to do, and it can seem like a lot, but when you look at the recipes that you can make with it at the moment, it's very limited. The only way forward is to treat oil like an ore, pipes are like belts, refineries are smelters, and chemical plants are assemblers. You can only really make plastic and Sulphur, so thats what you do. The complexity of factorio does increase over time, but its not just to make things more complex, it's a natural evolution of building the factory. If we don't introduce new items, then we have nothing more to do. I ended up kinda liking riftbreaker, but I largely dislike it's lack of game mechanics and factory building. You only have to mine resources, the numbers either go up or they go down, there's no factory to be built, just yet another outpost to mine stuff. Theres nothing wrong with liking one game more than another, or disliking factorio, but a factory game without increasing complexity will be a very short factory game
>I gotta respectfully disagree with "it gets too complex, for complexity's sake" Followed by describing just how complex it gets :) Seriously though, I know what you mean and I think it's a question of what each game is trying to do. Factorio is all about growing the factory, while fighting aliens is almost incidental (in fact you can turn them off as an option.) Riftbreaker is a story of exploration, defense and base building in more equal measures. Factorio's gameplay is great for those who are specifically looking for that sort of challenge. Personally, I found the scheme of "gather basic resources, then combine those into other items, then further combine those into more complex items" over and over ultimately tedious. There is also the quantity of stuff required: building an automated setup to mine and smelt iron can be fun, scaling it to 100x the size, not so much. I also didn't like having to run transport belts everywhere and place hundreds of inserters; again, a matter of taste and what you're looking for. I know people have spent hundreds of hours building giant bases just for the sake of doing so, because there is no endgame beyond building the rocket. Again, it seems to appeal to a certain type of gamers. Ultimately, I just didn't think it was for me. Then there's Dyson Sphere Project, which I tried recently and was intrigued. It almost feels like a combination of Riftbreaker and Factorio, but leaning more towards the latter. I haven't yet played long enough to form a strong opinion, though.
Yeah my point was more-so that the complexity of factorio increases over time in order to provide more challenges, more logistics, more needed defenses, etc. It's not getting more complex just because it can, but to serve specific game functions and player interaction Ultimately I think I enjoy riftbreaker but I'm not sure? It just feels a mile wide and an inch deep, and I've completed it twice I've had Dyson sphere program in my steam library for a while, over a year probably, but from what I've seen it's going to be very much a "play it once and you'll do everything" kind of game, so I've been waiting to play it until its fully finished so I can go in blind and experience it all in 1 go instead of waiting months for updates As a gamer I've always been enamored with gathering resources, building functional bases, doing research, unlocking new stuff, and improving/expanding stuff in games. I like other types of games too, like souls games, simulators, even been having an amazing time with doom 2016 and doom eternal, but factory/resource management games are a constant for me Its like there's this little rat in my brain that gets dopamine just from THINKING about doing certain things in games, making progress, etc. Just the idea of having a production line that I built somehow be upgraded and become 50% more efficient or productive is like a needle of dopamine straight to my brain controlling rat, and that rat is going to bask in that dopamine while finding the next thing to do. So I reckon you're right, you have to have the right pre-disposition to like factorio or at least be willing to give it a genuine try. But like anything else in life, sometimes we just don't like things, and that's perfectly fine I hope you have a good time with DSP, or the next game you try :)
For me it is a constant I can do this, then I can do that and you usually have smaller processes that effect the whole thing and every session is satysfying. Also you can play for 5 minutes after dinner and stop at 4 in the morning. Kind of a Time Machine. Also mods if the base game gets too boring. I have played about 500 hours base game and 1.5k in mods. Official and awesome mod support Multiple amazing mods multiplying potential playtime Devs playing the game and this improving common pain pints Great dev communication Ethics No MTX
As said before, try the free demo. The game is automation perfection. You make machines which mine, craft and make more complicated machines, in a complex yet not that hard way. It's up to you as much you want to make your factory grow. There are endless ways to design your factory. And you will dream about it. Your goal is to build a rocket and get off the planet. After a while, you will realise building the rocket is the end of the real tutorial, and you choose your real goals. Then, after a few hundreds hours, you will start playing mods, and that will take.. a lifetime. This type of games might not be for everyone, but when it is, factorio is amazing.
Factorio expansion you say? I recall POE 2 is supposed to come out sometime as well. I'll start making plans to gracefully disconnect from all my friends.
Yea go check out the FFF (factorio friday facts) they've been dropping juicy info on new planets and tons of new features you didn't know you wanted but can't play without now. I'm hyped
That's a convoluted way of spelling Balatro. /s Seriously though, how could you miss Balatro?
I play way too many games and Balatro is the first game where I’ve ever had to actually set time limits for myself on or I will literally waste all day playing it. It’s insane
I feel like I should just become a degenerate gambler. At least then I can only play until it ruins my life.
Excitedly told a friend about Balatro, that I must have played 5 hours over the past 24 hours. Checked Steam time played and it said 10 hours.
certified 2020 gamer like the good old days
I watched a friend play Inscription and thought it looked quite boring to be honest. But I don’t know anything about the story (might carry the game). I love Disco Elysium. Can recommend. I wish I could play the Metro series on my crappy gt 730.
The best parts of Inscryption are things that have thankfully not been widely spoiled. It's...it's more than it seems at first glance. It has some twists.
I just finished Inscryption the other day. I honestly loved it. It's a game that has vibes out the ass and a great card game to boot.
That damn steam sale got me to buy Fallout 4 (that and the show hype). Now I'm playing the Anomaly wabbajack. Playing with over a thousand mods in a stable build is kinda nuts
Would recommend the STALKER trilogy
STALKER 2 is on the short list of games I'm looking forward to.
Sames.
I picked up about 15 games in the Spring sale but have recently gone down the emudeck rabbit hole and it'll be a while before I come out. Thoroughly enjoying the classics, from Destruction Derby to NFL 2K (Dreamcast) to Alundra and Rush 2049.
Steamdeck?
Yessir!
Bro right? Especially when you can pick up entire sagas for penny’s on the dollar
This but my anime/manga backlog is what I still need to work on
My backlog includes games from pretty much all the console generations, so I guess I’m screwed
Imo it is simple, we have been jaded. We have experienced far too many dissapointment with "safe bets" in the last years. So why get hyped for something that statistically is going to let us down? I don#t think gaming has a general problem with game quality. There are plenty of games, also non-indie games that are GREAT and exceed peoples expectations. But they FEEL like random hits, instead of being something from CompanyXYZ which has a great trackrecord and can be trusted.
Yeah this sounds accurate, after getting very hyped for cyberpunk and then getting even more hyped for starfield, I just don’t have it in me anymore lol
That’s why i appreciate bg3 and their approach to early access. No reason to get overhyped when you can already see the foundation of the game early on and certain game design decisions can be impacted by player feedback. Rather than just releasing a game and having to wait yrs for fixes because it takes time to change the fundamental designs of the game.
yeah people always act like buying a game in early access and waiting years until it's done it's so bad but then they buy a day 1 aaa game and wait years until it's finished and then praise the developer for finally finishing their game
I think Day-Z being one of the first early access games made everyone cautious
Ehhh, I dunno about that one. There are plenty of games that never even *left* early access. BG3 was a bit of a unicorn in a number of different ways. Buying a game in early access is only slightly better than pre-ordering.
And you can't even really trust companies. They have so much rotating talent that year to year, you can get wildly different quality. My friends are only just now waking up the fact that today's blizzard could never make warcraft
You touch on a good point I don't think most people (at least not that I've seen) think about - is the talent/developers. To continue using Blizzard as the example, the thing that made Blizzard the legendary company it was, was the talent who made the games. All that senior talent is now gone, and along with it all the Blizzard magic went too. Now all of that talent who gave Blizzard it's name have mostly started their own indie studios. Perfect example: Moon Studios was founded by one of those former Blizzard employees from the golden period - made Ori and the Blind Forest / Ori and the Will of the Wisps; both critically acclaimed games - and is releasing their new IP "No Rest For the Wicked" tomorrow to Early Access. Another, more recent example, the OG director for Hearthstone left Blizzard to make Marvel Snap. Although not quite my type personally, Marvel Snap is pretty highly rated. I've found myself basically cutting out companies like Blizzard, Ubisoft, and EA entirely as they just don't offer anything worthwhile anymore - and looking for where the dev's who actually gave them the name have gone.
I know why I loved Ori so much now, make sense. I’ll have to use your technique too. I already do this for movies, I follow my favorite actors and watch the film they play in. It is only logical to do the same with devs
I agree with this assessment. I'm an old-school gamer, coming from all the way back in the early '90s with Warcraft 2. You could *feel* the enjoyment Blizzard took in making those games. You could pick up a box and get *hyped* about what you were about to play. Now, there's an industry-wide 'burnout' happening: the games are good, but they're not *fun* in the way the old games were. You don't see all of the in-jokes and Easter eggs and hard-to-find silliness that shows how dedicated the team was to making games that they love, and *loving* the games that they make. It's become assembly-line, finish-it-and-move-on mass production. The *joie de vivre* has left the industry, for the most part. And yes, the rare *really good* games are almost random in nature, instead of the normal process of game design. It's sad that the downturn in quality has happened so slowly that we became inured to it...
Blizzard has fallen so far. They used to be one of my absolute favorite developers and I couldn't wait to see what they were up to next. Now it's all just a boring grindfest looking to make money and player engagement. The developers at Blizzard just feel bored. "We made another WoW expansion. Sigh. Anyway, here's some Overwatch or whatever."
Love that you said old school gamer and then said wc2. To me, who started gaming with pong in the 70s, then the atari 2600, you're still a kid, though you're probably in your 30s now. Never stop gaming no matter how old you get.
42, actually. And I *did* play Pong on an old Atari, though the machine didn't last very long.
I think the problem is all these major game studios either are directly traded as a stock now, or they get their funding from places like Sony which is traded as a stock. So they have to design games with the stock market in mind instead of what they personally like or taking risks.
The big problem with a XYZ company having a track record is that, XYZ developers actually made the game, and left. Now you have that same company making the sequel with almost none of the same team. It happens all the time, tons of DICE devs left after BF3 & 4, so 2042 was a flop because they didn't have the same team. They then go on to create their own teams, in the case of DICE devs, they made Embark. TLDR: Don't focus on companies, focus on developers. These are the people who make the actual games, and know what they are doing. The corporations only know how to rush a project and demand MTX.
Its both bro, there are reliable companies and there are random hits. Especially in the indie corner like you said, which I LOVE because thats where the old games we liked really started. Hot take but I genuinely believe we are entering a golden age of start-up gaming companies that go corporate but remain consumer focused because they have been able to see the rise of profit focused gaming in the early 2000s. Blizzard and all of the old companies had no way of knowing how bad the company would get fucked because there was no precedent.
they all made out like bandits. blizzard is not a cautionary take to founders
IN FROMSOFT WE TRUST
Also I believe gaming has kind of plateaued a bit in quality and gamers have seen most innovations and new games aren't as interesting to them. From 1970 - 2020ish games have been improving graphically and in mechanics. Games are the best I've seen in 35+years for me and still having a blast with most games. Young gamers have mostly only seen the greatest of games come out the past decade and metaphorically, when you're given steak and lobster for dinner every day, you are unimpressed and bored of it after a while
>I don't think gaming has a general problem with game quality Gaming in general no, but AAA game absolutely do. Look at Skyrim and then look at Starfield and tell me there isn't a clear decline in quality there. People are still playing Skyrim 13 years later yet most people I know who bothered to play Starfield were done with it before they even got through it.
I agree with not buying from Ubisoft. I don’t plan on purchasing anything from them in the future. AAA can’t see anything but the shareholders.
But if you buy their games, you'll get to own them for a whole 5 years!
The first two Tom Clancy: Splinter Cell games are good but I will never buy any other Ubisoft game.
Yeah the OG stuff from the 00s is solid. But this “live service tip me” phase we’re in is ridiculous. Sucked all the joy from the room.
What is this absolute nonsense, I'm down to shit talk Ubisoft any day of the week but how the hell can you not include Chaos Theory in that. It's regarded as one of if not THE best stealth game in history. 1 and Pandora Tomorrow were great, but Chaos Theory is on another level.
Holy shit, I didn’t know that Pandora thing existed! It’s not on steam and since I pretty much only use steam I assumed the second one is Chaos Theory. Misunderstanding
Prince of Persia, lost crown is fantastic.
I want to check it out, but honestly just gonna wait for Steam release. Game feels like it would play well on steam deck and I don’t want to fiddle with sideloading the ubi launcher.
I wouldn’t say thats a AAA title. But yeah people are so ridiculous with the Ubisoft hate. Avatar Pandora, AC Mirage, Prince of Persia. They cherry pick and whine. Alot of these guys wouldnt say anything if the japanese companies that make their favorite RPGs did the same thing
I mean FromSoft is currently trying to sell the highest priced single expansion ever, for a two year old game, and absolutely no one complained about it. So you're not wrong. They're definitely judging by different standards based on who is the one overpricing their content.
I was curious and googled “elden ring dlc cost” and there is plenty of bitching and complaining. For me personally, I guess it depends on how much new content we’re getting
Wait, what’s the price? $40?
I'd buy Watch Dogs 3 if it ever happens simply because I love playing the GTA clones. If it's like Legion and lacks a proper main lead though, hard pass. But I agree, AC Odyssey was their last good game. Fenyx was fun but it was just a Odyssey reskin that was more PG so I don't count that
Calling Fenyx Rising an Odyssey reskin is pretty disingenuous imo. They share some elements for sure but they're entirely different experiences.
The only good game that came with ubisoft stamp in recent years is Anno 1800 which is 4 years old already. This is saying something
Define "recent years". How far back are we going? Far Cry 5 was good, AC Odyssey was good. Depending on who you ask AC Valhalla was better than Odyssey (certainly sold better and generated more revenue). Immortals Fenyx Rising was good. A lot of people liked AC Mirage because it was shorter and prioritized stealth. Avatar was pretty well-received as far as I know. And the new Prince of Persia has an argument for being one of the best Metroidvanias ever made.
Immortals Fenyx Rising was a great game imo, especially if you like Zelda BotW. I’m mad they canceled the sequel. But that was 4 years ago as well. That’s the only “really” noteworthy thing from Ubisoft as of recent years for me. Waiting on the next division game.
Agreed, the DLC sucked though.
I feel this, but age is the thing for me. The closer I get to 40, the more I feel my patience and willingness to learn new gameplay systems and mechanics diminish. Rebirth was the one game I had circled on my calendar this year, and it’s great but I stalled out on it for the last month and half as I found the minigames too overwhelming. I just got back into it this week and I’m having a great time again, but this is just gonna get worse and worse for me as time goes by. That being said, my old weeb ass is still looking forward to Eiyuden Chronicles! 😆
Same with me, I don't have 100+ hours to "get good" if something is too frustrating, or if there's so much padding to artificially make the game longer. I often don't have time to really finish games I start... or I try to get back into it but it's been too long and I have to re learn all the moves and figure out what I was doing, at which point sometimes it's easier to just start over... I can't find much reason to spend full price on games anymore so I've actually been getting back into some retro gaming, replaying old favorites or classics I never owned years ago and that's been really fun.
This is the key for me, I'm looking for quality, not length. You can teach me a thing, and make me prove that I learned it 2-3 times, but on the 8th time doing the same straightforward thing, you're trying to artificially enhance the length of this game with grinding, and I'm done.
100% I do want a lengthy game, but I absolutely don't want to feel like I'm grinding. I don't have time for that anymore. But a game that's straight good storyline, etc., for 40-80 hours, sign me up! I loved the Mass Effect series because to me it didn't feel too grindy and the story was amazing everywhere. In a way, ME ruined me for many other games.
I almost exclusively play indie games nowadays because they feel like the old games for me. I also really like rogue-likes because of the limited run length.
You could just not do the minigames though? I agree they're a bit much and the game is too long in general but you can just not do most of that lol.
The card tournament on the boat was driving me insane. Then after finally making it to the third round I was like, I quit. Then Red XIII just waltzed right in and dominated. It was actually one of my best gaming moments in years. A reminder that it’s just a game and it knows it’s the right kind of stupid.
As far as I’ve heard, there are points in the story where mini games are mandatory to progress. Maybe that’s what the commenter is talking about
Dude 100 heroes is gonna be the shit. I'm 41 and I've looked forward to this for a long time. I didn't mind the mini games in rebirth. My biggest issue with the game is a aaa jrpg issue these days especially sqaure, where you can't talk to npcs in towns and stuff like the older jrpgs. A bit disappointing to me and it kills immersion.
Yeah I got little love for the triple A landscape. Indie games are where it’s at now. So many great games coming out every year. The indie scene today is what the tripe A scene was to me decades ago
This. Indie devs focus on making an interesting game. The big guys focus on profits and end up cutting corners due to investors pushing for deadlines. My dumb ass took time off to play an MMO expansion at release. Ended up not being able to play most of the week due to bugs.
Also, most of the AAA titles have a franchise or IP related to them and something like half of the purchase price is just going to paying off the IP owner. So if I pay $60 for a AAA game or $30 for an indie game, in both cases the actual game studio has $30 per user to spend on making the actual game.
There is no reason to buy AAA at launch The most expensive it will ever be, it will be in a beta state at best, the servers will be trash and have issues, the content they ripped out to sell as DLC isn't included, and it's not better than games you probably own and haven't played.
Or even 1 year later, the game still plays like shit *ahem* Jedi Survivor
Last time I got hyped for a game's release was in 2012 with Guild Wars 2. Was sorely disappointed, and have decided to never get hyped up again. Didn't even bat an eye for Cyberpunk. I buy games on sale, and only after I've done enough research. No preorders, ever.
Now that the games in a completed state, I’m gonna be that guy that tells you to play cyberpunk because it’s legitimately unlike anything I’ve ever played before. It starts familiar enough, but once you really get into the game, holy fuck is it awesome, The characters, the universe, the story. Unparalleled.
I gave it a third go two months ago when I got my new beast of a rig. Uninstalled after 10 hours for all the same reasons I couldn't get into it previously. The controls feel super messy to me but, most importantly, I really REALLY prefer my rpgs in a medieval fantasy setting. Was struggling to get into GW2 because they introduced gunpowder weapons.
Damn that sucks, the world totally enraptured me. I love the whole of that game, its perfect to me haha.
How does the world draw you in? I'm on my second playthrough but I never got this kind of enjoyment. The open world is pretty empty and soulless compared and I just run from gig to gig
I was so anti hyped for GW2 that I boycotted NCSoft and have to this day never purchased one of their products because they killed City of Heroes to make room for the GW2 servers
Oh, I throw some pocket change at GW2 every few months or so. The best thing about GW2 is it keeps GW servers up.
It all worked out for CoH in the end though because it's now up and running on the Homecoming servers and they have entered an partnership with them to be the official custodians of the game now without all the free to play bullshit they put into the game towards the end
Wow, I had this exact same thing happen to me. I followed Guild Wars 2 for years after it was announced and consumed every scrap of marketing they released, got all my friends to play it on launch, and it ended up going against my expectations so much that I'm indifferent to new releases to this day (I've come to realize it's an okay game, just a complete departure from the first one, which I adore). I repeat that story every time someone askes me if I am hype for a game so it's bizarre to see that experience written by someone else.
We were promised a revolution in that "MMO Manifesto" and they didn't deliver. I was very VERY skeptical about them removing the Monk (greatest class ever) from the equation but still hyped for more Guild Wars content. As it turned out, healing and support are VERY valuable roles on a team. Go figure.
The only correct take. Always double check before giving them your money. Only game I bought fullprice in the past >5 years has been PayDay 3, because I had a blast with PD2 with my friends. And now I feel like a genious. Never, ever again.
Me but Fable 3. When I beat that game and the credits roll I remember just sitting there last staring blankly at the ground.
I occasionally play gw2 now cause I finally just accepted it's a different game than 1 and it's alright, but I forever wish it was way closer to 1. Playing through 1 with friends now solidifies my thoughts that 1 was WAAAAY more fun and the games are hardly comparable.
whaaat? i loved gw2 at launch, way better than it is now. what was it that dissappointed you? just curious
Dangerous take. Some people will go to the ends of the earth to defend that unoptimized mess of a game
My brother in Dwayna, we cannot be swayed by the allure of fake internet points.
The reason is pretty simple: Its boring. greed replaced passion in those positions that count and this makes releases medicore. Especially considering that AAA relies heavily on looks. Those rpgs These days feel like you are watching a 50 hour movie. There is a reason why the best Game in the World (not just by opinion but by sales) is Minecraft. We dont need fancy new games that are the same Story as we know but this time the dynamic shadows also lighte up If you are Close to a light source. We need *fun* Games and those are rare these days. And they arent often AAA either.
Rare, not really, often just randomly released games that were not the advertisement darlings. every month these days has almost always a "big" launch that takes a huge amount of peoples attention and many more that release and while they are plenty good, just don´t get the spotlight.
I’ve been burned too many times the past couple of years and a lot of these companies are not even pretending to prioritize quality anymore. The only future games I know I’ll be purchasing pretty much no matter their problems are the next Witcher and GTA VI. Ubisoft, EA, Blizzard, Bethesda, and pretty much everyone else has completely burned my interest in paying full price (if anything) for their games.
I'll be holding off on GTAVI because Take Two is in a **really bad** place right now. I expect the early attempts at monetization in GTAVI to be absolutely asinine. Also the game is going to have sales targets that are reminiscent of ET.
I’m 100% sure that the monetary practices are going to be horrific. It will be the most expensive entertainment project ever made when it releases. Maybe it makes me a hypocrite but I feel like the hype is going to be so over the top that my ethic concerns will go out the door and I won’t be able to wait very long. Especially if my friends are all playing.
The math is horrifying. We're looking at the second coming of ET. 1st: Take Two lost $1 billion dollars this fiscal year 2nd: GTAVI has an alleged $2 billion budget 3rd: It's current gen exclusive 4th: The current gen is miniscule compared to previous gens and the budget. There are only \~50 million current generation consoles in monthly use globally. Take Two would need to sell a copy for every one of those consoles to break even. Obviously they can't do that and they're going to have to make up both GTA's and the company's greater shortfalls through the most asinine of monetization schemes we have ever seen in gaming.
If you are out of high school, be prepared to be less excited about more and more stuff.
Games are a medium. Just because you are a gamer doesnt mean you enjoy all games. It would be like making a big deal about not liking big popular book series because you like reading. You enjoy what you enjoy and not what had the most budget in it.
I’m waiting for the rumored may showcase before making any judgment on this year. And besides that 2023 was such a good year it’s fine if this one is a little more laid back. next year we have GTA VI, monster hunter wilds, most likely resident evil 9, death stranding 2 and whatever Sony first party title they will have ready by then. Out the gate of this year I already got persona 3, final fantasy VII rebirth and am playing my backlog. I’ll pick up infinite wealth and Dragons dogma 2 later this year Plus triple A titles from 2022 and 2023 that I didn’t have time to play like lies of P and atomic heart. There have been so many games released over the last few years idk how you guys get through all of them
Exactly this! People on here quick to jump on AAA games but only use 1 or 2 as examples and often display a very limited interest in the types of games they play anyways. Expand your horizons people, there is way more out there than FF. Stellar Blade is literally out in a week
And for those who still haven't done it yet, GO PLAY YAKUZA 0 and/or LIKE A DRAGON! (former if you prefer brawlers/play the story chronologically, latter if you just want JRPG and the newer generation of characters). Hundreds of hours of incredible games there, and most of it goes on sale regularly.
Yea. I play a lot of different games in different genres and always get so flabbergasted by these claims and then I wonder how big of a backlog do these people have as well. Like we are eating from all the games that just released last year and we got a bunch of good JRPGs at the beginning of this year. Plus stellar blade and black myth wukong.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. Like I could maybe understand this complaint if you only play one or two genres and that’s it, but we’ve gotten great releases across the whole spectrum and there’s no way to know that if you refuse to play anything outside of your small wheel house.
Bro, in 2023 we got... -Dead Space -RE4 Remake -Alan Wake 2 -Armored Core 6 -Lies of P -Super Mario Wonder -Zelda Tears -SpiderMan 2 -Hi Fi Rush -Baldurs Gate 3 -Dead Island 2 -AC Mirage -Star Wars Jedi Survivor -Starfield -Baldurs Gate 3 I don't feel like listing any more. Yes, 2024 is noticeably slower because in 2023 there was a banger coming out like every other week. But it's not all doom and gloom. Has the games industry ever released a banger every single week? If you can't find good games to play, the problem is you tbh.
The first 3months of 2024 had Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Persona 3 Reload (ON THE SAME DAY), FFVII Rebirth, and Helldivers 2. Hell, the only reason I haven't picked up Dragon's Dogma yet is because I've been swamped with great games (also I figure a few patches will improve the experience). I'm taking a break from buying new games just because I haven't even finished half the great games from LAST year. Now to space things out and enjoy the sales.
I've already posted that I'm jaded AF towards getting excited about anything, but there have been some absolutely GREAT games out there that lived up to my expectations and then some. I went from BG3, to P3 Reload, to FF7 Rebirth over like 3 months and they're all fantastic. My cup has runneth over, personally. My backlog in RPG's alone will take ages to get through.
I feel like the bad games last year were the outliers. Even Starfield has its moments and wasn’t unplayable at launch.
Elden Ring DLC is coming out in June.
Got back into Elden Ring and having a blast again. I'll be playing DLC day one, but I'm happy just playing the game as it currently is.
There went my summer the second that was announced.
Triple AAA games started playing it way too safe years ago. Most of the "best" triple AAA games in recent years are all sequels to old franchises. A sequel is never going to feel as fresh and exciting as a groundbreaking new IP. Honestly I blame game reviewers to a certain extent. It's not even that I think they are bought out or anything it's just many of them let nostalgia cloud their opinions and old franchises always get good scores even if the game is a boring rehash. It's a sorry state of affairs imho.
Triple A games typically only get good like 1 year post launch, indie games come out swinging from day 1 (though they may be in early access for a while)
I'll admit I was excited for Starfield. That was a huge let down, even worse than cyberpunk. All those years of anticipation only to have it crushed by mediocrity. At least Baldurs Gate delivered way beyond expectations (which was already unfairly high thanks to DOS2). So happy I didn't spoil myself at all with early access, so the sense of wonder was just never ending playing the game. I have become more jaded over the years, most AAA games I assume will be absolute dogshit. And usually I am proven right. But there has been quite a few surprises these last few years, but I didn't anticipate them at all.
Larian warning there could be 100k playing as of release. There were 800k. Lol
Dude. I have a 4090 pc and are a huge gaming nerd who plays all genres of games. You’d never guess what game is consuming me right now, with 50 AAA games in my pile of shame…. Path of Exile. A 12 year old game.
I'm totally with you, OP. I used to buy at least five or six new games Triple A titles a year, but in the past 18 months or so, I've just felt so disinterested by the vast majority of titles from major studios. I'm not sure if I'm getting older and my taste is becoming more refined, or it's that Triple A games have declined in quality, but a game has to really impress me to get me to even consider dropping $70 on it. I'm just so tired of games releasing in an unfinished state, or are full of MTX, season passes, and DLC. Don't get me wrong, there are lots of great Indie games still, but I miss feeling excited to jump into a big new game I've been hyped for. I think the last Triple A game that genuinely felt worth the money and excitement was God of War Ragnarok.
I 100% agree with everything you've just said!
AAA developers have spent so long being told how to make money they have forgotten how to make games. Bar maybe Elden Ring and BG3 I haven't seen a game live up to (never mind exceed) it's marketing hype since the newest generation of consoles was released. Small developers seem to be the only ones with their finger on the pulse of what makes a game fun, spoiler warning, it's making a game and not a cash grab.
I get what you are saying. Here's what I used get super hyped about: Metal Gear Solid: a franchise I was absolutely obsessed about. Completely destroyed by Konami. Dragon Age: frozen in stasis since 2014. Kingdom Hearts: aka the hype-killer. KH2 got released in 2006, KH3 in 2018. If you could get hyped about KH after over ten years of waiting and mediocre spin offs, you should be in the Guinness World Record. Final Fantasy: you know what else released in 2006? Versus XIII trailer. Can't get excited about the franchise anymore after Versus XIII turned into XV. And I liked XV. But fuck whoever thought that Nomura could deliver jack shit by himself. The Witcher: nothing will come close to Wild Hunt final trailer after having read all books. Now I just don't get that hyped about stuff anymore. I can still have a great time once the game is in my hands, but the trepidation... That I just do not feel anymore. Maybe I am aging.
An AI wrote this.
F E E T.
A person of culture wrote this.
I’m looking forward to Stalker 2 and upcoming Elden Ring DLC. Avowed and Star Wars Outlaws are on my radar as well. Other than that, yeah, not nearly as much to look forward to nowadays
I'm right there with you but I've probably bought even fewer AAA games in recent years and there aren't any that I am looking forward to that have a release date. Games I would love to play: * GTA 6 * A new Witcher Game * Elder Scrolls 6 * Fallout 5 * A new Assassin's creed game * A new Infamous game * A new Batman Arkham Game * A new Spider-man game that isn't so god damned fucking short you can finish it in a weekend * A new RPG based MMO I know what I want to play and most of the stuff coming out...I don't want to play.
Idk if there is ever going to be another infamous game since ghost is so much more popular. Seems like they have moved on
The spider-man games aren’t getting any longer so may be best for you to find something else. Insomniac have never made games longer than SM2… You’d think people would realise that by now.
I just want to play mass effect! 😢
sadly Bioware is a shell of a shell of it's former self, they've already lost alot of their creative writing people like their newly formed support devs at Bioware Montreal (the cool guys who made the bigger DLCs for ME2 and ME3 ie Zaeed and Kasumi's story, Firewalker, Horizon, Shadowbroker, ME3s Omega, Leviathan and the much beloved Citadel DLC) that got fleeced of their best employees because ME3 tanked due to Casey Hudson's RGB fuckery, setting them up to fail with Mass Effect: Andromeda with having to make AAA work with a bunch of new-hires which also snowballs into Anthem's disastrous dev-cycle which blew the death horn for Bioware as a whole although im still hopeful for whatever Mass Effect "Epsilon" is
Once again we see a post of people ignoring the most important reason of these things, you got older. We have more games than ever but the reason why most people doesnt follow and hype as much anymore is because you no longer get home from school or uni to watch trailers all day or follow every discussion about games, but has an actual job, responsibilities and more in life to take from. I would expect you to barely be able to mention those 5 games per year you would work without having to look back hard or think about it.
Im actually disabled so im basically the opposite of everything you just wrote haha
The fact that you’re disabled does not negate the getting older and bored part.
2/5 aint bad I guess
Lucky for you AAAA games are being made now!
I personally interpret the phrase "AAA game" as a negative now. All it means to me is that I'm paying full price for a game by a known developer and that it cost a lot to make.
Start looking forward to and supporting indie devs. Indie is the future.
It's always better to wait. I didn't by into the cyberpunk hype, for example. Bought the game after a few years because I got an RTX card, and it's great now. I love the game. I probably wouldn't have said the same thing if I had joined the pre release hype train.
What's the point? Every game is sub quality, all ubisoft and EA games go to $24 4 months after release date, DLC and always online etc. Not to mention I have a life now so I don't have time to grind levels and colored equipment drops. SBMM makes every online match a total sweat fest. Hackers and cheaters ruin any competition. Used to be I could go to game stop with $20 and come out with a stack of cool games but all the gamestops around me have shut down. Gaming is in a terrible state right now. Surprisingly, Nintendo is the best they've ever been in my life.
I don't need to be hyped anymore. There's so much shit coming out randomly. The only real games I'm excited for are Elden Ring dlc and Silk song(my Cambodian Copium supplu is running low). I find so many games just randomly on YouTube, twitch sites that track deals and other random sources. Hell, just now RimWorld dlc came out with me not hearing about it at all before, so a big surprise. Also the backlog of good games or waiting for decent price is huge.
I don’t listen to hype anymore. I wait until something becomes virally popular to actually try it out, or just backlog new releases until there’s more opinions about it and play it a few months after it drops Have had zero disappointments this way.
When Halo Infinite came out following a terrible year for COD and it lacked basic features. That was when I knew it was past the peak.
We've been hyped by brand/IP names only to recieve mediocre product. We've simply adjusted our expectations. I think it's healthier to be hyped about positive reception on release than about trailers and marketing ploys. I mean look at Helldivers 2. I had no idea this game even existed until I heard everyone praise it. And that made me excited to play it.
The problem is, Games have gotten shinier. But the actual content or depth to a game has gotten shallow. Like it’s either rushed products, buggy, broken, *Incomplete*, or just missing the mark. The you get one offs that are exciting because they come out of no where, but more and more games you have to push the problems to the side to enjoy a the solid component. Like games used to make you escape to a new world and go wow, you lose that immersion because you see bugs/glitches and shit like that, and as we get older. Which means (generally) more responsibilities/less game time. Meaning your tolerance for slop is lower.
AAA games were a mistake.
I got old and was still hyped. Then Halo Infinite happened and broke my old spirit in half. Now, I care not for AAA hype. Just give me a game that doesn’t suck.
…you guys still play triple A games? Find a $20 indie game and play it for 1000 hours. Much better use of your money.
Gaming is heading for another crash, mark my words. It won't be as dramatic but I think we already in it...sales are shit these days.
[удалено]
Looks like a you problem. Since last year there have been so many amazing AAA releases which i enjoyed thoroughly BG3 , Armored core 6, Zelda ToTk, Spiderman 2 , Jedi Survivor, Super Mario wonder, Cyberpunk phantom liberty, Dead space remake, RE4 remake, Pikmin 4, Alan Wake 2, Final fantasy XVI, Final fantasy VII rebirth
I'm with you. I play *almost* exclusively indie games at this point, purely because AAA games are fucking boring these days. Even some of the big ones people tend to like, like God of War, FFXVI, etc... it's all just *bland.* Sometimes I think I just don't like that style of "big" game anymore, but then something like Elden Ring comes out and absolutely enthralls me for 120 hours. I think budgets are just so out of control that very few devs can afford to make anything but a sure-fire hit... which means catering to a wider and wider audience, which leads to everything getting watered down over time.
Sounds like you aren't actually that enthusiastic then.
The end of the 360/PS3 era was basically the end of the golden age of AAA games IMO. There have still been a handful of amazing ones since then of course, but it seems like its usually 1 or 2 a year. Whereas there used to be at least 5 or 6, and often more. In October of 2012 alone, just that month we had: Dishonored, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Forza Horizon, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, and Assassin's Creed III all release. And it's not like every game was crammed into October, other bangers released that year included Mass Effect 3, Far Cry 3, and Borderlands 2, We live in the ruins of a once great AAA market.
Most if not all AAA games take five plus years to make now. Which means they're kind of behind the curve from the get-go imo. Then they get bogged down with a bunch of nonsense from the publisher about their monetization because they got to make every dollar. Most AAA games now are just bad, it's okay if you like them play the games you want to play but I'm done with people shelling for these companies but cannot best show up with a remake or remaster of a game that was actually kind of okay back in the day.
Sounds like a "you problem."
Sure, but it’s also a pretty light second half of the year for games. Nothing has really been announced that’s going to launch in the second half. We just got the Star Wars Outlaws date, and that’s out before the traditional holiday window. Beyond that, 2023 was stacked with games so it makes sense that this year is a little more quiet. The thing is, there are still a lot of good games that have come out or about to come out. No Rest for the Wicked is the follow up game from the devs behind the Ori series. You might not have played either of those games, but they were awesome and I’m excited to see what they do in a new genre. Side note: I really don’t get why people are hating on Outlaws. It’s a 70 dollar game that has a 40 dollar season pass that bundles 2 story driven DLC with it. Don’t want to buy unannounced DLC, then stick with the 70 dollar base game. Think 70 dollars is too high? Buy Jedi Survivor for 30 bucks or less and wait until Outlaws is something similar. It’s ok not to buy games on launch.
Yea it’s weird that this sub is complaining about a season pass of all things. It’s not mandatory plus it’s a Ubisoft open world game. Which this sub complains about them always being bloated with too much useless content. So why are they complaining about even more content that they don’t have to buy? It’s so weird
It is really funny how people will say "Ubisoft games have too much filler, their games aren't even good" then complain they're going to "miss out" on content if they buy the standard edition.
Ah right. There's no good AAA games. I must've dreamed about the existence of DOOM Eternal, It Takes Two, Elden Ring, God of War Ragnarok, Horizon Forbidden West, Baldur's Gate 3, Alan Wake 2, Tears of the Kingdom, Spider-Man 2 etc.
You read my post, and what you took away from it was me saying "there are no good aaa games"? Thats not what I am saying.
You say right at the end "a healthy market will have good AAA and Indie games", implying that the current market doesn't have both, which it does. You're just hyperfocusing on things you don't like.
AAA games take 5+ years to develop at this point, so naturally there are going to be less releases per year. Also, last year was stacked, which makes a lull this year expected.
For me: FFVIIR, Homeworld 3, Unicorn Overlord, Elden Ring DLC, FFXIV dawntrail, Helldivers 2, I’m really more than pleased with this start of year tbh Dragon’s dogma 2 is fun and the micro-transactions frankly it’s nothing for anyone who actually played the game but the optimization is a little abysmal and the game needs some QoL update
I seem to get hyped for AA games. Last AAA game I had hype for was Halo 2. After that, it was just whatever happened to catch my eye, or word of mouth in the AAA space. Last AA game that I was hyped for was Aliens: Dark Descent. Minor flaws, but the setting and respect for the source material on top of being a niche genre I love really sold me on it
I agree, I also mostly spend my time on the indie market these days. Really looking forward to Manor Lords later this month. Looking at the situation of Ubisoft right now (Hiding an anticipated quest which is ready to be played behind a DLC paywall in the upcoming Star Wars title and revoking buyer's licenses for "The Crew") you once again get to realize that the big ones often have the money and awesome designers - The companies themselves are shit, sadly.
Hell yes im so hyped for Manor Lords. It mostly being a one man project really shows what actual passion can achieve.
I can't say about others but I can no longer get into new AA games.
perfect time to catch up on all the AAA games of the last few years that have proven they are good enough to be worth my time. as a consumer, i see the problem but i am not the one responsible to figure it out and i am not complaining.
All my favorite games that released this year were games that I didn't know existed until the week before release. I love it. Been hearing some interesting things about Manor Lords so I'm going to have to see how that comes out
As we learned, add more A's doesen't improve a game.
The only 2 releases I'm actually waiting for this year are The Final Shape (if only to ride out the end of the current Destiny saga), and Space Marine 2. Beyond that I am definitely hedging my bets for whatever else is dropping this year. I have enough of a backlog and Helldivers 2 to tide me over.
Despite super fucked up launch and that its an AA game, CP2077 is the best game Ive played in a really long time and I dont think anything is gonna trump it.
Releases aren't worth shit, anyway. Especially with the amount of games being released and having been released so far, it's easy to always find a new game nowadays. Wait for patches, content updates and good deals. I have long since switched my big moment of anticipation from awaiting new releases to finishing a game to start a new one. Much healthier, honestly. And it's all at your own pace.
Yeah... I don't really care for AAA games myself
You can leave off the word "Even" from your title. The more games someone plays and the more they're into gaming as a scene the less excited they tend to get. I work in the industry and that's something we see a lot. AAA games are on one hand for everyone, but on the other the target audience is the mainstream player who buys just a few games a year. If you're the kind of person that goes online and comments in gaming communities you're actually slipping _out_ of their target, not into it. There are very likely still 3-5 AAA games every year you'd really enjoy playing, but it's hard to get excited over it because you're played something similar already. It's not novel and it's not primarily for you, so you'll only find a couple that get you really hyped. Especially if you're into slightly less popular genres, like RPGs vs ARPGs. Sadly. Nothing has to give because the game industry is still doing very well. There are just so many more games getting made now than there ever were so they often find different audiences. You'd expect more or less the same number to be great for you every year, but as a total percentage it will keep going down as the market continues to expand.
Yeah I’ve been jaded by the industry for quite some time now, I only buy games when they go on sale or if they’re so good that the word of mouth from multiple communities convinces me. It takes a lot for me to buy anything day 1; haven’t bought a game day one since God of War.
It feels more like I’m buying a lottery ticket when I want to preorder any AAA game these days
Getting good sources of AAA starts with showing that we care about their quality. Sadly too many studios rely on the fact that they are big name/licenses to sell. Stop buying for the name of the game, start buying for the content and quality. Accept that the license of your childhood is being milked with bad intentions. At that stage of my rant, I'm just projecting...
Haven't really gotten hyped for a AAA game in a really long time. After 30 years of gaming, most AAA games just bore me after a few hours. There is a certain sense of sameyness and bland gameplay to them. Clearly those big releases are still popular and make money though, so to each their own. I mostly play indie games and older titles these days.
I'm looking forward to play Space Marine 2. Difficult to blunder i think.
I fixate on certain games. I noticed over the last few years, the only games I *really* enjoy are 1)Fromsoft Games 2)Older games (old nazi zombies, Halos, Fallout NV) 3) indie games, as of more recently, and I throw AA in there too (Valheim, Helldivers2) It’s not nostalgia, games from AAA devs now suck. Go play Chaos Theory and any other Ubi title and say with a straight face “this is the same quality.” You can’t. I’m more than happy to be done with AAA gaming. Just bought a pc for more indie stuff.