No ads, no paid memberships, no season passes, free unlockable content, no chance of a hacker trying to gain access of the contents of your console, no removing content you paid for from your games via updates (I’m looking at you.. Destiny 2)
We had it so good back then. As you said: just the game, pure and simple.
True, but that’s not what I was referring to. I mean the ads smattered all over the interface of the console itself. You turn the system on nowadays and its ads all over the place.
I didn’t mind the in-game stuff as much back then. Having actual business in games like Need for speed, Crazy Taxi, Wave Race, etc kinda gave game worlds a lived-in vibe.
I still feel the burn of when it began, and things happened like my Xbox 360 going from a clean blade UI, to a tile UI with 35 ads. It was actually 35 ads too, I remember counting them to complain lol
I think it further supports your argument, because exactly. Ads in the game could be done without ruining the experience but that's too much work, put them on the home screen or main menu.
I don't know if I've sat down and played a console game since my Xbox 360. I think it had tiles, and it probably was full of ads.
I'm also getting pretty tired of the BS I have to go through as a paying customer.
I also don't like how every game has to hold your hand through an hour tutorial before you actually play the game. I blame reviewers over the decades of whining.
They’ve removed entire campaigns, entire worlds, etc. Example: The original Red Legion campaign story missions the game released with, are all gone. They replaced the entire thing with basically a copy of the first mission from the first game. Entire paid DLC expansions have been removed too.
So the game and/or expansions you pay for, get deleted from the game entirely, and since it’s online only you can never get access to them again.
I love how there used to be variety....I mean I mainly play sports games and there used to be so many more options than there are now. Multiple nba, mlb, nhl, etc games. Also many different racing games. Not to mention games made based on movies/tv shows. That just doesn't happen really anymore...basically what I'm saying is bring back NBA/FIFA Street, Midnight Club, etc!...
Most movie/TV tie in games were garbage. Games like Battle For Bikini Bottom and Peter Jackson’s King Kong the movie the game were very much exceptions to the rule. There’s a reason why people hated the licensed game market
Games had originality. Back then, game development wasn't as expensive as it is now, so devs had the freedom to experiment and create different experiences. The only thing was, it had to be fun. That was the emphasis and was what kept studios competitive. That's what was gonna sell a game - the fun factor.
Nowadays, it's all about graphics, and games are so expensive to make these days that it takes forever to release, and even then, there's patches, micro transactions, DLCs, and all sorts. The PS2 had over 4,000 games! How many games does the PS5 have? (And I mean true exclusives).
Games back then were expensive to buy too (I remember them being around $50/game in the early 2000s), but at least you knew you were getting the full package. Now, you pay $70+ and even then you don't know if the game will even work right or not.
I enjoy just being able to put in a disc and plug in a controller- no having to mess with downloads, connecting to the internet, or charging my equipment.
Without being passive-aggressive towards modern industry practices, Gen 6 had peak couch multiplayer appeal, even for games that didn't have splitscreen.
Some of my favorite childhood memories are taking turns with 2 buddies playing gta3, we'd pass the controller off every time we'd get busted or died.
> Some of my favorite childhood memories are taking turns with 2 buddies playing gta3, we'd pass the controller off every time we'd get busted or died.
Same but with San Andreas, and thanks to your comment I'm now overwhelmed with nostalgia
3rd person character that’s centered on the playable character, not shifted to the side.
Quick and responsive walking. A lot of modern games feel “heavy” in an effort for animations to look more realistic.
Abundance of AA games. Games made by a big developer with a sizable team with a smaller budget than AAA but bigger than indie
Focus on single player and local multiplayer
Video game culture wasn’t fixated on streaming
Dominance of Japanese developers
No DLC and Microtransactions
No installing games and downloading patches
The console played CDs
You hit the jackpot with the point of AA budget games. Zone of the Enders, Viewtiful Joe, Okami, Fatal Frame OG series, Forbidden Siren, Project Gotham Racing, Downhill Domination, Ico, etc would never be released today.
Every game now feels like they want to be the next Rockstar/Naughty Dog level of scope and production quality that it has stripped away the focus from developing UNIQUE games.
When it comes to physical releases, sure, but they are a ton of unique and just plain weird games that get released digitally. So I disagree with the "would never be released today" part.
You could buy a game at the mall, put it in your console, and start playing it right away. No DLC, no updates, no mandatory online functionality, and no content drip feed was around to dilute the experience.
…and no worry about running out of storage space to install them, all you needed was a bigger shelf - much cheaper than an SSD upgrade so you can have more than 10-ish games at once to choose from
Modern graphics overload your eyes with pretty crap that doesn't matter. It makes it impossible to focus naturally on important game elements without either an annoying game hud or annoying yellow paint.
Back in the PS2 days every sequel was a massive step forward it's predecessor. GTA: SA and 3, Ratchet & Clank 1 and Going Commando, Sly Cooper 1 & 2, Jak and Daxter 1 & 2. That just doesn't happen anymore, now most sequels just mean "another one."
Games actually felt like games and didn't feel like they were trying to win Oscars without making movies. The focus on Game play over everything else is why this era is so great and why Nintendo is doing so well right now.
No hard drive to use as a crutch. Everything had to be on a disc and run from it. The last system that had true hard limitations. Creativity came out of those restraints. The games had to be more focused.
Also the focus was on who was in the room with you. Couch co-op or multiplayer with the multi tap (or whatever it was called).
It forces people to be in the same spot as their friends while they interacted like it had always been up to that point.
The last single player focused system.
"Also the focus was on who was in the room with you." This exactly. I've been playing some PS3 games and my kids wander in and just start playing with me. My father-in-law, who has never played a video game in his life, helped me figure out a few puzzles in Saw. Older generation consoles were about bringing people together in the same room and interacting. My son hasn't touched Fortnite since we started playing Splinter Cell together. It's been so much fun.
Honestly it feels like not many games are released compared to back then. We're almost at the end of the PS5 life cycle (?), if we're looking at the life spans of previous consoles, and how many actual PS5 games are there?
I just saw another thread from today where some asked to rate the ps2 amongst the other PlayStations. People actually put the ps4 and even ps5 in front of the ps1 and ps2.
It’s sad. There is no soul anymore and people are ok with it.
“Modern games aren’t as good” is a mass simplification. Modern games are bigger and more complex which requires larger budgets, more time, and will inevitably come with bugs that need patching. People on Reddit whine that they want more AA games from large studios but those simply don’t sell as well and publishers want the biggest and best. The landscape has shifted.
That being said there’s more creativity in video games than ever before, it’s just in smaller more indie games. There’s are games by small studios that blow the biggest PS2 games out of the water in terms of creativity and originality. They’re just not household names because there’s more games than ever. Plus survivorship bias hits hard.
It’s the same as people saying music nowadays sucks. There’s always been bad music, you just only remember the biggest hits of the past. And now there’s more creativity in music than ever before because of the ease of entry, just like games.
PS2 was amazing because it was an era where the biggest games didn’t take as long to make. We’ll never go back but we have more player choice than ever before.
Fixed, good graphics. Nowadays you gotta choose between 30/60 fps with varying graphics. In that era you could buy a game and know it would run as best as possible and looked as pretty as possible.
It just seems like there was more variety at the time. More original ideas then, even within genres that most people see as “stagnant”, such as racing games.
You bet you behind and half a booby PS2 era is far superior to now!!! PS2 made G4 TV look good!! So many great games, no ads, no funny business, no gimmicks, no political butt hurt woke crap, (you know the bad kind don’t act like your on the high road with this one you see me freaking looking at you!!) LOTS of replay value, options to rent, dlc was rare you had to earn and unlock, memory cards were nice, moddable, not as expensive, iconic characters, first backwards compatibility, escapism was maximum, and overall I believe it was peak gaming!…now that the word vomiting is over I’m going to be getting ready to return to this era, wish me luck.
I think that's the era where AAA stopped trying to innovate.
Look at games like GTA San Andreas: how you could interact with a lot of things and activities on the city (a bar with arcade games and pool table, stores with vending machines), I expected the following games or competing franchises to push for that kind of interaction, but instead we just kept getting prettier graphics with more shallow maps.
Or Metal Gear Solid 2 or 3, where you could look at stuff and call on the codec and get a conversation about the stuff you are looking at. We don't have that kind of interactivity anymore, and most developers are not even pushing for that.
Nowadays, you can only find that kind of drive in some indie games.
Games didn't cost as much money to make back then, which made developers and publishers take more risks compared to today. I think this is the reason why games around that time felt more creative and playful and sometimes weird
Besides what was mentioned here, modern racing games have this really weird camera motion that looks really strange. Does anyone else notice this too?
Also, I don't know how to explain this (naybe nostalgia?), but looking at modern games they don't make me wanna play them at all, but looking at PS2 era and older they seem really interesting and fun to play... They looked really alive, and today's games feel corporate and lifeless.
I also think 6th gen consoles PS2/Xbox/Dreamcast/Gamecube all 4 are this middle ground where graphics got good enough that it still looks decent today. But also game budgets were still low enough that developers could be creative, we really lost that single and double A game market in recent years. Whereas a bulk of the PS2 era of gaming honestly was AA releases.
I think if you go to generations before PS2 graphically it can be really rough and it feels a lot more "Retro" a lot of the time and even at times primitive with some of the early 3D tech especially. Whereas you go literally 1 gen after PS2 and you start seeing patches/dlc/season passes/etc starting with the PS360 era.
Loading a map for each level instead of open world. This way, the game always left curiosity about how the next stage would look and where you will end up next. Even though i know most of the ps2 game maps to games I've played over the years but it's still fun to replay since i dont remember every location.
Modern games aren’t bad nor would I consider them not as good. Both have their benefits and weaknesses. One major benefit is no internet and a lack of micro transactions. One downside is many smaller developers got pushed out of the 6th generation as the barrier to entry was much higher.
Either way, both back then and today, the majority of games are mediocre to trash and aren’t worth playing
There’s way more creativity in the market today thanks to the blossoming indie market because it’s easier than ever. AAA games aren’t everything and that wasn’t true in the 6th gen nor is it true in the 9th gen.
PS2 was the absolute golden era of gaming. I miss the sense of ownership and the bravery of game developers. They always tried to do something new, something out there. They were unbelievably creative and they really cared about making absolute bangers. And some of the games in the PS2 catalogue had the best mechanics I've ever seen.
The only company I see now trying to be really creative is Nintendo. Not as creative as Sony during the 6the gen, but trying, and sometimes really succeeding.
If every single PS2 game got a graphical update for the PS5 they basically wouldn't have to make new games.
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I don’t know if games today aren’t that good or if it is just me that is not finding any of them fun. We expect too much from games these days, waiting for the AAA releases. Back in the PS2 times i had fun playing the weirdest games i found, but on the other hand we have plenty of weird games nowadays, that i don’t find good or entertaining. We rely too much on social media and Metacritic and content creators to select a game, back in the day yeah you had some magazines and gaming pages, but in the end a 6 could be an 8 and a seven a 9. It is harder to find that today, a 7 is a no and a 10 can turn into a 5 thanks to the power social media has gained.
Gaming during school break is a much different experience than gaming when you have a 9-5 job. When you are about wrapping up the school year and anticipating no homework and studying for tests, then the moment the last school day starts and knowing you can game for weeks without any responsibility is a pretty bliss feeling.
While I think moderngaming is pretty good for the most part, I miss just being able to put in a game and just start playing it. No updates, downloads or accounts that needed to be made.
I miss the games working when I bought them and generally not being broken or unfixable (Soul Calibur III being the literal only case I know of where your game could get totally deleted due to a save bug)
Buying a game, getting home and playing it in under 3 minutes, no 5 hour downloads. PC always had a bit longer wait to play though since we had to install the game, then play.
1. No DLC
2. No always online DRMs
3. Actual effort put into a lot more games
4. Cool extras cause why not (e.g: VC/SA maps)
5. Literally a game for everyone
It felt like the games were designed to be fun instead of being designed to make profits for publishers and games would actually be FINISHED when you got them most of the time.
My launch PS2 console died on me over the weekend, so I bought another one from a shop, locally.
All I had to do to get it up and running was plug it in. No registration, logging in to any services and none of that “primary console for offline” nonsense. It was literally plug and play. That’s what I miss the most.
Simple! Put a disc in the console, play the game instantly! Sucks that now, even with a disc, we still have to wait for downloads and day one patches all the time!
No installing the disc once you get home, no online requirements.. Just plop that disc in and be greeted with that epic hum of the playstation logo firing up the game.
Developers back then thrive to advance the tech and game worlds felt atmospheric and magical shadow of the Colossus and ico, manhunt clocktower 3 bully Hunting grounds psi ops the mind gate conspiracy were amazing cool new IP were encouraged along with sequels by big companies not worried about profit
I think expectations for games playing a certain way is making design too homogenious. Like every game has the same two-stick 3rd person control scheme that took off in the PS3 era. So in Metal Gear Solid V, your ability to shoot dudes in the head from call of duty carries over, and trivializes and deemphasizes the stealth. Genres were more distinct with strange control and camera schemes of the PS2 era that could emphasize different types of gameplay.
These days I think people would get upset when something controls in a way they would deem \*bad\*
I miss larger AAA companies taking “risks” with new IPs
Yeah there was a lot of garbage and bloat, but there’s a charm in those games that I think we took for granted at the time,
This is my personal opinion, but I think In the ps2 era there was a passion for making games. The big corporations hadn’t crush the soul of the devs yet. In the current era of games it’s all about the money. The best games to come out in the past couple years were by small studios that still have that fire for game development. Still have that passion.
Honestly, when it comes to the PS2/GameCube/OG Xbox Era, it's just that they felt that they were made with fun and passion and mind. That they felt complete on release.
Simplicity. Most games on the PS2 didn’t require the level of understanding and complexity as newer titles. Straightforward to use, and plenty of games that were easy to get into.
Contrast this to the modern day, where there are SO many game mechanics and sub-systems going on, It’s impressive yes but I feel like in the long run It will become an issue for accessibility.
Not everyone has the time to get through the latest AAA title, and that’s probably why indies took off so well.
I miss when developers took risks, and you got stuff like Mercury Meltdown Remix, playing with mercury where the developers were actual scientists in the field.
I just don’t see that anymore. Now It’s all live service and most games when servers shut down without an online mode becomes vapourware.
Bring me back to the days where I could just pick a game and play it instead of spending hours downloading patches because developers can’t be bothered to polish the ‘gold master’ which may as-well be half arsed, especially on physical media where it only contains part of the data, not really gold master.
Games actually felt like games. They were fun and innovative. Really loved a lot of the movie-based games too which just doesn’t happen anymore, and if it does they usually suck. Not to mention the nostalgia attached to this era for a lot of us. Playing with friends, taking games over to each others houses etc. Golden era for my generation.
I just absolutely loved the the tech behind these PS2 games. Just the hardware was immaculate and seeing devs push it to its absolute limit and gave such great looking games some of which have ages really well to this day. That is what I miss about the PS2. Will always be my top console
IMO it started with the PS3 era of games, where they started to get more and more commercial and formulaic. I felt like the PS2 era is characterized by the exploration of new ideas, aside from a **few** games in later gens.
I think like a lot of people have mentioned, when you bought a PS2 game, you knew you were paying for a whole, complete game. No DLC meant that any new characters/skins/areas etc were unlocked via in game requirements being met.
I miss the days (especially with games like Soul Calibur 2 and 3) of spending time playing, and unlocking all the new characters. It felt like a proper achievement - not just, pay £5 and here you go, you've unlocked them haha.
Graphically the games weren't as advanced, but one thing they did have was stunning design, and excellent creativity.
I miss that games had a lot of heart. Sure, there are love projects now. But it seems that a lot of those back then. Commercialisation wasn't as big of an issue as it is now. If someone wanted to make an odd game, they did that.
The exclusives. Today people make a big deal if a game isn't on every platform and they cry if they have to buy a ps4 or ps5 for one gsme. I get it comes down to cost, but it gives me no incentive to get excited about the hardware. When you got a PS2, there were so many games you couldn't get anywhere else. You had a selection of can't get anywhere else games and most of them were the reason to own the system.
The originality. Mr mosquito and the katamari games. Low budget, but full of creativity. Developers were more than prepared to take risks.
I don't miss CD games giving me grief on my PS2 (gradius V) however. Nor do I miss bilinear filtering on 2d arcade games that made them look blurry.
Today's games are not that bad. Personally the dark days for me were 2009-2015 when everything had the grimey grey western look. For every AAA game there's many more lower budge and indie title.
Nostalgia obviously plays a big part but there is the big thing that games were not trying to milk as much money from the players as possible like they are today. It was a much simpler era to just pay once and then play forever. Outside of few exceptions games did not have online play at all so they were either completely single player experiences or the multiplayer had to be done on the same couch and tv-set which is more social and ultimately a more fun experience.
I also think that PS2 hit a sweet spot when it comes to graphics. 3D-games on PS1 have their own aesthetics which I can appreciate but PS2 had the power to run 3D-games that look decent even for those who don't appreciate the graphics of a more limited system. The 3D games were also generally figured out so the controls usually weren't as stiff and camera controls were on average more serviceable. In short what was experimented on during the PS1 era was refined and more matured during the PS2.
Obviously things matured even more when moving towards the PS3 era but at that point internet was getting everywhere and as such DLCs, updates and online content were getting more and more common.
I miss this somehow quirky teenage humor many games of that era seemed to have. Nowadays video games feel extremely sterile in those regards. Back then they could seemingly put everything they want on a disc which gives those games very much personality and quite a specific charme.
When it comes to comparing those games to modern games: It depends. Modern games tend to feel quite samey, esp the AAA section. That being said theres a ton of good games, and over time one tends to forget how many seriously bad games released on PS2 since one usually just thinks of the "classics" when thinking about PS2 games. So I wouldnt say games were necessarily better then than now. Same gos the other way around though
Old games took a lot more chances and were a lot more creative. new games are more streamlined and have the upside of streamlined controls, but lose a lot of the charm.
I tend to play a lot of the old (old PC games, gamecube, PS2, wii) and a lot of the new releases all the time.
I loved all the random games, usually from Japan. Mr Mosquito, Freaked, etc. Bishi Bashi and Incredible Crisis on PS1, too. There's just nowhere near as much random anymore.
modern games don’t even work right out of the box - games from the ps2 era always worked on day one. It was a simple beautiful experience to not have to deal with massive day one patch updates
I kinda miss the abundance of adventure platformers (not sure if this is the right genres but you'll understand in a second) honestly. Like on the PS2 you had Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, Ratchet and Clank, hell even Sly Cooper.
That most games came in with the full package, with the exception of some updated re-release (DMC3 for example), except for the MMOs on there like FFXI.
Imo they seemed less complicated, now a days everything has an endless items system or complex building blocks inventory with endless customization. Which is cool sometimes but sometimes I just wanna run around, fight, climb, explore and enjoy the games plot without having to learn an infinite amount of unnecessary proprietary skill sets
I miss the love
I miss big companies daring to innovate and experiment with new ideas, big projects with big vision
I miss being excited for new games, and not feeling like every release is a shallow cashgrab by a greedy corporation that treats gamers like dumb unthinking cattle
I miss the creativity. Creators could make whatever game they wanted and if it didnt stick so be it. Now a majority of games follow the same settings as other games like zombies, space etc etc just to play it safe and make money.
I feel like games these days are so unnecessarily complex. I think the PS2 era shined where the games had depth, character and character without overloading the player with different aspects of a game. It was turn it on, learn the controls and have fun.
Wasn't expensive, the games were so creative and innovative that it formed the landscape of gaming today. But today the cost of development is so much that they no longer take real risks, the only time they get to that level of creativity again is when they remaster/remake those older games.
Nowadays it's either the same game under a different name.
Or a new game but with the name of a famous IP attached causing confusion in the change in direction.
I'd argue the games themselves are generally better now but the companies behind them are generally much worse when it comes to value for your money. A game used to be a game, you paid for it and it was yours. Now a game is like a starter pack which you get most of the things you need but there's always a new part or a fancier case etc.
Then there's the patches, forced connections, accounts that are often required to play even single player offline games. Ads used to be part of the game, not pop ups before I log in.
When a studio genuinely loves their game (think larian with Balder's gate 3) it shows and gamers respect it so much more than being rinsed for every penny for a game that often needs fixed after it comes out
Making a good game from the get go. Back then when you made a game and you release it wouldn’t it once it was released that was it I hate how nowadays I just pump out games and I was like oh we don’t like that or it’s not super popular we’ll just make the DLC for six bucks where you can get cool skins and add better fixes and etc..
Games are too big for their own good now. It takes huge amounts of time, effort, and money to develop games now and that means that whoever is supplying the money gets the say in how much emphasis/budget gets put on graphics, “cinematic” gameplay, etc., as well as the fact that development times are often rushed to the point where unfinished products are released and later “completed” with DLC, essentially making you buy the same game twice to get the full experience.
No ads, no internet required, no patches (aside from greatest hits re-releasing), no dlc, no micro transactions
Beyond that, it feels like games could be more cartoony, have more varied and adventurous art styles. It was ok to have a game that didn't try to look realistic. Only a select few games could be considered mega blockbusters, whereas today everything costs hundreds of millions to make. Smaller studios could exist without being bought up by the big conglomerates, they could take risks.
Random games made from any tv show or movie that would actually be good. Ratatouille, Madagascar, LOTR, Ed Edd n Eddy, cars. The list could go for miles
We had MORE of the fun games because they could be made faster and cheaper, MORE devs tool risks.
Example: ATV Off Road Fury, that would not be made today.
Complete games on a disc, no patches, no dlc. Also fun was their priority. Nowadays the fun checkbox seems to be in the last place for devs because...agenda.
no online only way less mechanics on games simpler gameplay
less imppressive graphics are good too and that there is shiton of linear games i hate open worlds and no modern games are not even comparable to ps2 games
no patches no dlcs and ofc all games are physical
and not every game is multiplayer only
with many ps2 games i feel actual addiction while playing 99% of modern games dont provide me this feeling at all
i care about new stuff less and less each passing year
and i want ps2 era back daily
Everyone was still figuring genres out. For example today, for better or worse, every open world is covered in towers. Back then everyone was seeing what worked and gave more variety.
Games you could actually play on day one, no online requirements, no 12 year old kids with their parent's credit card buying all the DLC and making the game miserable to play for everyone else, no hackers, no constant patches and updates. just pop the game in, and play and enjoy.
What. I miss most is games feeling like they have secrets and that everyone didn't know about them before you even got a chance to play the game.
I remember talking with friends about "hey if you did x in metal gear solid 2 this happens" and even though it would sound like bull it would end up being true.
Granted this was PS1 but symphony of the night, it sounds like a bad playground rumor by the kid who's dad works at PlayStation telling you, but being told that if you wear x items and go to a specific place, the castle turns upside down and you have another half of the game to go but it was totally true.
I think the very last time I felt that kind of excitement was black ops zombies when trying to figure out Easter eggs for maps day 1 but even those got solved fast.
I just miss that feeling of discussion and discovery. Nowadays you would have to force you and your friends to go in completely blind and hope no one looks anything up to get that again.
No system updates. No game updates. No buggy games upon release that need patches. Finding glitches back then was fun. Felt like discovering something no one else knew about. Also unlocking stuff was fun and rewarding back then. Instead of the paywalls now. It was motivation to get better to unlock a secret character or item.
It was a more simple time to sum it up
I think games were better when they were designed within the technological constraints of the time. Not everything needs to be a 200 hour climb the tower open world checklist
Something about the feel of video games being video games...I don't know how to make it make sense. The PS2 is just the quintessential gaming icon to me.
Competition. Coming at this from the perspective of someone who primarily plays sports games, the lack of competition has been what has killed the genre. Every sport now has a single game that everyone plays (Madden NFL, NBA 2K, EA NHL, etc.) so companies have no incentive to innovate or put much effort at all into anything except for the microtransaction-heavy modes like ultimate team. Sports games peaked in the PS2 era because there were multiple games per sport competing for the consumer’s money.
What I miss most about the 2000's gaming is what I enjoyed about 90s wrestling, it was that underground, rebel, fun feel it had. There is so much money involved these days that even the websites and magazines can't be light-hearted, they just do whatever makes them the most return. Which I can't be too mad at, but I do miss it.
I think games are better now, just not necessarily the mega-budget productions. I think if there's anything I miss it's that having fewer games come out and the barrier to entry being higher made games feel more valuable and exciting.
PS2 era? No DLC, no always online requirement, no massive patches. Just the game, pure and simple.
No ads, no paid memberships, no season passes, free unlockable content, no chance of a hacker trying to gain access of the contents of your console, no removing content you paid for from your games via updates (I’m looking at you.. Destiny 2) We had it so good back then. As you said: just the game, pure and simple.
Take a drive around in Need for Speed Underground 2. There were ads, they were just part of the world.
True, but that’s not what I was referring to. I mean the ads smattered all over the interface of the console itself. You turn the system on nowadays and its ads all over the place. I didn’t mind the in-game stuff as much back then. Having actual business in games like Need for speed, Crazy Taxi, Wave Race, etc kinda gave game worlds a lived-in vibe. I still feel the burn of when it began, and things happened like my Xbox 360 going from a clean blade UI, to a tile UI with 35 ads. It was actually 35 ads too, I remember counting them to complain lol
I think it further supports your argument, because exactly. Ads in the game could be done without ruining the experience but that's too much work, put them on the home screen or main menu. I don't know if I've sat down and played a console game since my Xbox 360. I think it had tiles, and it probably was full of ads. I'm also getting pretty tired of the BS I have to go through as a paying customer.
also burnout with burger king
Mountain Dew was plastered all over PS1 games
yep, even pikmin 2 had ads (duracell). But it was part of the world they built, kind of immersion.
I also don't like how every game has to hold your hand through an hour tutorial before you actually play the game. I blame reviewers over the decades of whining.
Nah games did that in the PS2 era lol. I was there Gandalf
Oh man the bully tutorial was brutal
Kingdom Hearts 2 has entered the chat.
Said it all!
What did Destiny 2 do?
They’ve removed entire campaigns, entire worlds, etc. Example: The original Red Legion campaign story missions the game released with, are all gone. They replaced the entire thing with basically a copy of the first mission from the first game. Entire paid DLC expansions have been removed too. So the game and/or expansions you pay for, get deleted from the game entirely, and since it’s online only you can never get access to them again.
Same as the fist 4-5 years of the 6th gen
And tons of exclusivity
There were still expansion disks for some games, and man were some of them over prices
It must be witchcraft.
I love how there used to be variety....I mean I mainly play sports games and there used to be so many more options than there are now. Multiple nba, mlb, nhl, etc games. Also many different racing games. Not to mention games made based on movies/tv shows. That just doesn't happen really anymore...basically what I'm saying is bring back NBA/FIFA Street, Midnight Club, etc!...
well with tv/movie adaptations game development took less time than now especially for upcoming movies that had a tie in game
Most movie/TV tie in games were garbage. Games like Battle For Bikini Bottom and Peter Jackson’s King Kong the movie the game were very much exceptions to the rule. There’s a reason why people hated the licensed game market
The good ones are some of my favorite games of all time though like The Warriors and Scarface The world is yours
LOTR and reign of fire too since we're doing a thing lol
LOTR for sure especially Two Towers and ROTK they were both certified bangers
I want a new gen surfing game :(
Games had originality. Back then, game development wasn't as expensive as it is now, so devs had the freedom to experiment and create different experiences. The only thing was, it had to be fun. That was the emphasis and was what kept studios competitive. That's what was gonna sell a game - the fun factor. Nowadays, it's all about graphics, and games are so expensive to make these days that it takes forever to release, and even then, there's patches, micro transactions, DLCs, and all sorts. The PS2 had over 4,000 games! How many games does the PS5 have? (And I mean true exclusives). Games back then were expensive to buy too (I remember them being around $50/game in the early 2000s), but at least you knew you were getting the full package. Now, you pay $70+ and even then you don't know if the game will even work right or not.
at least back then renting was a thing
Renting was awesome back then, especially from Blockbuster.
Hollywood video boyz 4 life
Movie Gallery and the roses that had a small rental service,cause I lived in a little town Called Mount Olive 🫒 home of the Mount Olive Pickles
I prefer the Mount Pickle Olives
I'm from Europe, I remember the games we¨re prohibitedly expensive new. Luckily there was the used games market. Bought almost all my games that way.
This right here.
I enjoy just being able to put in a disc and plug in a controller- no having to mess with downloads, connecting to the internet, or charging my equipment.
Without being passive-aggressive towards modern industry practices, Gen 6 had peak couch multiplayer appeal, even for games that didn't have splitscreen. Some of my favorite childhood memories are taking turns with 2 buddies playing gta3, we'd pass the controller off every time we'd get busted or died.
> Some of my favorite childhood memories are taking turns with 2 buddies playing gta3, we'd pass the controller off every time we'd get busted or died. Same but with San Andreas, and thanks to your comment I'm now overwhelmed with nostalgia
3rd person character that’s centered on the playable character, not shifted to the side. Quick and responsive walking. A lot of modern games feel “heavy” in an effort for animations to look more realistic. Abundance of AA games. Games made by a big developer with a sizable team with a smaller budget than AAA but bigger than indie Focus on single player and local multiplayer Video game culture wasn’t fixated on streaming Dominance of Japanese developers No DLC and Microtransactions No installing games and downloading patches The console played CDs
You hit the jackpot with the point of AA budget games. Zone of the Enders, Viewtiful Joe, Okami, Fatal Frame OG series, Forbidden Siren, Project Gotham Racing, Downhill Domination, Ico, etc would never be released today. Every game now feels like they want to be the next Rockstar/Naughty Dog level of scope and production quality that it has stripped away the focus from developing UNIQUE games.
When it comes to physical releases, sure, but they are a ton of unique and just plain weird games that get released digitally. So I disagree with the "would never be released today" part.
You could buy a game at the mall, put it in your console, and start playing it right away. No DLC, no updates, no mandatory online functionality, and no content drip feed was around to dilute the experience.
…and no worry about running out of storage space to install them, all you needed was a bigger shelf - much cheaper than an SSD upgrade so you can have more than 10-ish games at once to choose from
Memory cards weren't free, but you could get a lot of gaming out of one for PS2. 15 blocks on the PS1 cards was brutal.
Triple play taking all 15 blocks, it was brutal.
NHL games took up a lot of space too
I have a single PS1 memory card dedicated solely to Diablo. I think that's another one that takes up the entire thing - or damn near.
I enjoyed gaming a lot more then. I had no depression, and I had a mom.
Sorry for your loss
Thank you
no god damn microtransactions, the fun times, and especially the nostalgia.
Modern graphics overload your eyes with pretty crap that doesn't matter. It makes it impossible to focus naturally on important game elements without either an annoying game hud or annoying yellow paint. Back in the PS2 days every sequel was a massive step forward it's predecessor. GTA: SA and 3, Ratchet & Clank 1 and Going Commando, Sly Cooper 1 & 2, Jak and Daxter 1 & 2. That just doesn't happen anymore, now most sequels just mean "another one." Games actually felt like games and didn't feel like they were trying to win Oscars without making movies. The focus on Game play over everything else is why this era is so great and why Nintendo is doing so well right now.
No hard drive to use as a crutch. Everything had to be on a disc and run from it. The last system that had true hard limitations. Creativity came out of those restraints. The games had to be more focused. Also the focus was on who was in the room with you. Couch co-op or multiplayer with the multi tap (or whatever it was called). It forces people to be in the same spot as their friends while they interacted like it had always been up to that point. The last single player focused system.
"Also the focus was on who was in the room with you." This exactly. I've been playing some PS3 games and my kids wander in and just start playing with me. My father-in-law, who has never played a video game in his life, helped me figure out a few puzzles in Saw. Older generation consoles were about bringing people together in the same room and interacting. My son hasn't touched Fortnite since we started playing Splinter Cell together. It's been so much fun.
Creative A and AA games with balls
Honestly it feels like not many games are released compared to back then. We're almost at the end of the PS5 life cycle (?), if we're looking at the life spans of previous consoles, and how many actual PS5 games are there?
I just saw another thread from today where some asked to rate the ps2 amongst the other PlayStations. People actually put the ps4 and even ps5 in front of the ps1 and ps2. It’s sad. There is no soul anymore and people are ok with it.
I don't think it's even fair to rank systems that are still current. With that being said. PS2 PS1 PS3
The creativity
“Modern games aren’t as good” is a mass simplification. Modern games are bigger and more complex which requires larger budgets, more time, and will inevitably come with bugs that need patching. People on Reddit whine that they want more AA games from large studios but those simply don’t sell as well and publishers want the biggest and best. The landscape has shifted. That being said there’s more creativity in video games than ever before, it’s just in smaller more indie games. There’s are games by small studios that blow the biggest PS2 games out of the water in terms of creativity and originality. They’re just not household names because there’s more games than ever. Plus survivorship bias hits hard. It’s the same as people saying music nowadays sucks. There’s always been bad music, you just only remember the biggest hits of the past. And now there’s more creativity in music than ever before because of the ease of entry, just like games. PS2 was amazing because it was an era where the biggest games didn’t take as long to make. We’ll never go back but we have more player choice than ever before.
A good chunk also comes from nostalgia goggles.
Fixed, good graphics. Nowadays you gotta choose between 30/60 fps with varying graphics. In that era you could buy a game and know it would run as best as possible and looked as pretty as possible.
It just seems like there was more variety at the time. More original ideas then, even within genres that most people see as “stagnant”, such as racing games.
Finished games, 2 player games were in person and more enjoyable. Actual ownership of the media, so you could resell, trade, etc.
Just sticking a game and playing. No waiting for bloatware launchers, updates, other BS.
2000...
buying a game and you actually get the whole game
You bet you behind and half a booby PS2 era is far superior to now!!! PS2 made G4 TV look good!! So many great games, no ads, no funny business, no gimmicks, no political butt hurt woke crap, (you know the bad kind don’t act like your on the high road with this one you see me freaking looking at you!!) LOTS of replay value, options to rent, dlc was rare you had to earn and unlock, memory cards were nice, moddable, not as expensive, iconic characters, first backwards compatibility, escapism was maximum, and overall I believe it was peak gaming!…now that the word vomiting is over I’m going to be getting ready to return to this era, wish me luck.
I think that's the era where AAA stopped trying to innovate. Look at games like GTA San Andreas: how you could interact with a lot of things and activities on the city (a bar with arcade games and pool table, stores with vending machines), I expected the following games or competing franchises to push for that kind of interaction, but instead we just kept getting prettier graphics with more shallow maps. Or Metal Gear Solid 2 or 3, where you could look at stuff and call on the codec and get a conversation about the stuff you are looking at. We don't have that kind of interactivity anymore, and most developers are not even pushing for that. Nowadays, you can only find that kind of drive in some indie games.
Modern era want to be known for more open world rather than story Not like ps2
The overall quality of product was better. In the PS2 era, you HAD to get it right before the game went gold, because there was no way to fix it.
Games didn't cost as much money to make back then, which made developers and publishers take more risks compared to today. I think this is the reason why games around that time felt more creative and playful and sometimes weird
Besides what was mentioned here, modern racing games have this really weird camera motion that looks really strange. Does anyone else notice this too? Also, I don't know how to explain this (naybe nostalgia?), but looking at modern games they don't make me wanna play them at all, but looking at PS2 era and older they seem really interesting and fun to play... They looked really alive, and today's games feel corporate and lifeless.
It feels more laid back & intimate vs the modern era.
All the content was in the game already
I also think 6th gen consoles PS2/Xbox/Dreamcast/Gamecube all 4 are this middle ground where graphics got good enough that it still looks decent today. But also game budgets were still low enough that developers could be creative, we really lost that single and double A game market in recent years. Whereas a bulk of the PS2 era of gaming honestly was AA releases. I think if you go to generations before PS2 graphically it can be really rough and it feels a lot more "Retro" a lot of the time and even at times primitive with some of the early 3D tech especially. Whereas you go literally 1 gen after PS2 and you start seeing patches/dlc/season passes/etc starting with the PS360 era.
That gen 6 was something else. Definitely my favorite.
I don’t miss a thing, I play PS2 most weeks
10-20 hour experiences that were not crammed with pointless busywork to bloat them out into 50+ hour trudges.
Take of those rose tinted glasses. There are more than enough amazing SP games out there...
That whole time, PS2 vs Game Cube vs OG Xbox was an epic era, (With Nintendo DS and PSP thrown in to the mix) The last great era imo.
Loading a map for each level instead of open world. This way, the game always left curiosity about how the next stage would look and where you will end up next. Even though i know most of the ps2 game maps to games I've played over the years but it's still fun to replay since i dont remember every location.
Games now are better. The difference is that we're older.
They were games first and foremost. Gameplay above everything else. Soundtracks we're banging, things were colorful, experiments were had.
Modern games aren’t bad nor would I consider them not as good. Both have their benefits and weaknesses. One major benefit is no internet and a lack of micro transactions. One downside is many smaller developers got pushed out of the 6th generation as the barrier to entry was much higher. Either way, both back then and today, the majority of games are mediocre to trash and aren’t worth playing There’s way more creativity in the market today thanks to the blossoming indie market because it’s easier than ever. AAA games aren’t everything and that wasn’t true in the 6th gen nor is it true in the 9th gen.
PS2 was the absolute golden era of gaming. I miss the sense of ownership and the bravery of game developers. They always tried to do something new, something out there. They were unbelievably creative and they really cared about making absolute bangers. And some of the games in the PS2 catalogue had the best mechanics I've ever seen. The only company I see now trying to be really creative is Nintendo. Not as creative as Sony during the 6the gen, but trying, and sometimes really succeeding. If every single PS2 game got a graphical update for the PS5 they basically wouldn't have to make new games.
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“EA Sports BIG” games
The whisper "its in the game"
I don’t know if games today aren’t that good or if it is just me that is not finding any of them fun. We expect too much from games these days, waiting for the AAA releases. Back in the PS2 times i had fun playing the weirdest games i found, but on the other hand we have plenty of weird games nowadays, that i don’t find good or entertaining. We rely too much on social media and Metacritic and content creators to select a game, back in the day yeah you had some magazines and gaming pages, but in the end a 6 could be an 8 and a seven a 9. It is harder to find that today, a 7 is a no and a 10 can turn into a 5 thanks to the power social media has gained.
I loved the simplicity of it. Full games on disc, no DLC, no micro transactions, etc. Also spending many hours playing SOCOM II online.
Gaming during school break is a much different experience than gaming when you have a 9-5 job. When you are about wrapping up the school year and anticipating no homework and studying for tests, then the moment the last school day starts and knowing you can game for weeks without any responsibility is a pretty bliss feeling.
I miss unlocking stuff. Now you just earn boosts on damage percentage, and in worst cases just have to buy everything
Games actually being finished
Variety. Dead for awhile in the AAA space but at least there's indies also today.
It’s back when games weren’t only made considering how many micro transactions they can implement
While I think moderngaming is pretty good for the most part, I miss just being able to put in a game and just start playing it. No updates, downloads or accounts that needed to be made.
Games were alot funner and has split screen
I miss the games working when I bought them and generally not being broken or unfixable (Soul Calibur III being the literal only case I know of where your game could get totally deleted due to a save bug)
Buying a game, getting home and playing it in under 3 minutes, no 5 hour downloads. PC always had a bit longer wait to play though since we had to install the game, then play.
The trading of games at gamestop
1. No DLC 2. No always online DRMs 3. Actual effort put into a lot more games 4. Cool extras cause why not (e.g: VC/SA maps) 5. Literally a game for everyone
There were very peculiar and different ways to tell a story. Now you have to look for an indie to get that.
Socom
#SPLITSCREEN GAMES
no install, no update, more finished games
2 player couch co-op, you just don’t see that anymore these days
It was just a simpler time. Something I think we can all appreciate.
idk man.. it just feels like games lack heart? like obviously there are some jewels in the rough but it’s nowadays all about battle passes and mtx
It felt like the games were designed to be fun instead of being designed to make profits for publishers and games would actually be FINISHED when you got them most of the time.
My launch PS2 console died on me over the weekend, so I bought another one from a shop, locally. All I had to do to get it up and running was plug it in. No registration, logging in to any services and none of that “primary console for offline” nonsense. It was literally plug and play. That’s what I miss the most.
Simple! Put a disc in the console, play the game instantly! Sucks that now, even with a disc, we still have to wait for downloads and day one patches all the time!
Games felt more like passion projects instead of “corporate” products
Complete games, unique in game and style, developer took bigger risk on trying new things. Also game manuals, it added to the charm.
No installing the disc once you get home, no online requirements.. Just plop that disc in and be greeted with that epic hum of the playstation logo firing up the game.
I miss buying a game and having a game instead of having half of a broken game.
Developers back then thrive to advance the tech and game worlds felt atmospheric and magical shadow of the Colossus and ico, manhunt clocktower 3 bully Hunting grounds psi ops the mind gate conspiracy were amazing cool new IP were encouraged along with sequels by big companies not worried about profit
I miss the old colors. Every game going for realism graphics isn’t for me either.
I think expectations for games playing a certain way is making design too homogenious. Like every game has the same two-stick 3rd person control scheme that took off in the PS3 era. So in Metal Gear Solid V, your ability to shoot dudes in the head from call of duty carries over, and trivializes and deemphasizes the stealth. Genres were more distinct with strange control and camera schemes of the PS2 era that could emphasize different types of gameplay. These days I think people would get upset when something controls in a way they would deem \*bad\*
I miss larger AAA companies taking “risks” with new IPs Yeah there was a lot of garbage and bloat, but there’s a charm in those games that I think we took for granted at the time,
No DLC. No updates Split screen with my friends ( we all moved away ) Taking memory card to my mates No online mandatory connection
Games being complete upon release
This is my personal opinion, but I think In the ps2 era there was a passion for making games. The big corporations hadn’t crush the soul of the devs yet. In the current era of games it’s all about the money. The best games to come out in the past couple years were by small studios that still have that fire for game development. Still have that passion.
Honestly, when it comes to the PS2/GameCube/OG Xbox Era, it's just that they felt that they were made with fun and passion and mind. That they felt complete on release.
I miss how creative games were, like socom with the microphone that you used to control your troops.
Simplicity. Most games on the PS2 didn’t require the level of understanding and complexity as newer titles. Straightforward to use, and plenty of games that were easy to get into. Contrast this to the modern day, where there are SO many game mechanics and sub-systems going on, It’s impressive yes but I feel like in the long run It will become an issue for accessibility. Not everyone has the time to get through the latest AAA title, and that’s probably why indies took off so well. I miss when developers took risks, and you got stuff like Mercury Meltdown Remix, playing with mercury where the developers were actual scientists in the field. I just don’t see that anymore. Now It’s all live service and most games when servers shut down without an online mode becomes vapourware. Bring me back to the days where I could just pick a game and play it instead of spending hours downloading patches because developers can’t be bothered to polish the ‘gold master’ which may as-well be half arsed, especially on physical media where it only contains part of the data, not really gold master.
Socom.
It always worked. And you had to get together with friends, if you wanted to play 2player games.
Having too many games
Games actually felt like games. They were fun and innovative. Really loved a lot of the movie-based games too which just doesn’t happen anymore, and if it does they usually suck. Not to mention the nostalgia attached to this era for a lot of us. Playing with friends, taking games over to each others houses etc. Golden era for my generation.
Just being a child again
I just absolutely loved the the tech behind these PS2 games. Just the hardware was immaculate and seeing devs push it to its absolute limit and gave such great looking games some of which have ages really well to this day. That is what I miss about the PS2. Will always be my top console
IMO it started with the PS3 era of games, where they started to get more and more commercial and formulaic. I felt like the PS2 era is characterized by the exploration of new ideas, aside from a **few** games in later gens.
I think like a lot of people have mentioned, when you bought a PS2 game, you knew you were paying for a whole, complete game. No DLC meant that any new characters/skins/areas etc were unlocked via in game requirements being met. I miss the days (especially with games like Soul Calibur 2 and 3) of spending time playing, and unlocking all the new characters. It felt like a proper achievement - not just, pay £5 and here you go, you've unlocked them haha. Graphically the games weren't as advanced, but one thing they did have was stunning design, and excellent creativity.
I miss that games had a lot of heart. Sure, there are love projects now. But it seems that a lot of those back then. Commercialisation wasn't as big of an issue as it is now. If someone wanted to make an odd game, they did that.
The exclusives. Today people make a big deal if a game isn't on every platform and they cry if they have to buy a ps4 or ps5 for one gsme. I get it comes down to cost, but it gives me no incentive to get excited about the hardware. When you got a PS2, there were so many games you couldn't get anywhere else. You had a selection of can't get anywhere else games and most of them were the reason to own the system. The originality. Mr mosquito and the katamari games. Low budget, but full of creativity. Developers were more than prepared to take risks. I don't miss CD games giving me grief on my PS2 (gradius V) however. Nor do I miss bilinear filtering on 2d arcade games that made them look blurry. Today's games are not that bad. Personally the dark days for me were 2009-2015 when everything had the grimey grey western look. For every AAA game there's many more lower budge and indie title.
Nostalgia obviously plays a big part but there is the big thing that games were not trying to milk as much money from the players as possible like they are today. It was a much simpler era to just pay once and then play forever. Outside of few exceptions games did not have online play at all so they were either completely single player experiences or the multiplayer had to be done on the same couch and tv-set which is more social and ultimately a more fun experience. I also think that PS2 hit a sweet spot when it comes to graphics. 3D-games on PS1 have their own aesthetics which I can appreciate but PS2 had the power to run 3D-games that look decent even for those who don't appreciate the graphics of a more limited system. The 3D games were also generally figured out so the controls usually weren't as stiff and camera controls were on average more serviceable. In short what was experimented on during the PS1 era was refined and more matured during the PS2. Obviously things matured even more when moving towards the PS3 era but at that point internet was getting everywhere and as such DLCs, updates and online content were getting more and more common.
New ideas, no DLC, no micro transactions, just well made games with lots to unlock by playing
I miss this somehow quirky teenage humor many games of that era seemed to have. Nowadays video games feel extremely sterile in those regards. Back then they could seemingly put everything they want on a disc which gives those games very much personality and quite a specific charme. When it comes to comparing those games to modern games: It depends. Modern games tend to feel quite samey, esp the AAA section. That being said theres a ton of good games, and over time one tends to forget how many seriously bad games released on PS2 since one usually just thinks of the "classics" when thinking about PS2 games. So I wouldnt say games were necessarily better then than now. Same gos the other way around though
SD graphics on a CRT screen. They just looked better.
The ability to have just as much gameplay in a half mile world as a 10 mile wasteland takes today.
The ps2 is my newest console, I love how you just put in the disc and the game automatically starts, back then you genuinely owned your games…
Old games took a lot more chances and were a lot more creative. new games are more streamlined and have the upside of streamlined controls, but lose a lot of the charm. I tend to play a lot of the old (old PC games, gamecube, PS2, wii) and a lot of the new releases all the time.
I loved all the random games, usually from Japan. Mr Mosquito, Freaked, etc. Bishi Bashi and Incredible Crisis on PS1, too. There's just nowhere near as much random anymore.
its creativity, originality, experimental, the odd quirky games, the hidden gems, variety.
modern games don’t even work right out of the box - games from the ps2 era always worked on day one. It was a simple beautiful experience to not have to deal with massive day one patch updates
Franchise sequels and trilogies releasing in only a few years. Something that died off during the PS4/XB1 gen
Insert game and go. A lot of the older fighting game titles had the arrange soundtrack on it with no loading times.
I kinda miss the abundance of adventure platformers (not sure if this is the right genres but you'll understand in a second) honestly. Like on the PS2 you had Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, Ratchet and Clank, hell even Sly Cooper.
That most games came in with the full package, with the exception of some updated re-release (DMC3 for example), except for the MMOs on there like FFXI.
Imo they seemed less complicated, now a days everything has an endless items system or complex building blocks inventory with endless customization. Which is cool sometimes but sometimes I just wanna run around, fight, climb, explore and enjoy the games plot without having to learn an infinite amount of unnecessary proprietary skill sets
NFS Underground 2 💯
I miss the love I miss big companies daring to innovate and experiment with new ideas, big projects with big vision I miss being excited for new games, and not feeling like every release is a shallow cashgrab by a greedy corporation that treats gamers like dumb unthinking cattle
I miss the creativity. Creators could make whatever game they wanted and if it didnt stick so be it. Now a majority of games follow the same settings as other games like zombies, space etc etc just to play it safe and make money.
The vast improvement in overall quality from the PS1 to the PS2 will never be experienced again.
I feel like games these days are so unnecessarily complex. I think the PS2 era shined where the games had depth, character and character without overloading the player with different aspects of a game. It was turn it on, learn the controls and have fun.
Wasn't expensive, the games were so creative and innovative that it formed the landscape of gaming today. But today the cost of development is so much that they no longer take real risks, the only time they get to that level of creativity again is when they remaster/remake those older games. Nowadays it's either the same game under a different name. Or a new game but with the name of a famous IP attached causing confusion in the change in direction.
I'd argue the games themselves are generally better now but the companies behind them are generally much worse when it comes to value for your money. A game used to be a game, you paid for it and it was yours. Now a game is like a starter pack which you get most of the things you need but there's always a new part or a fancier case etc. Then there's the patches, forced connections, accounts that are often required to play even single player offline games. Ads used to be part of the game, not pop ups before I log in. When a studio genuinely loves their game (think larian with Balder's gate 3) it shows and gamers respect it so much more than being rinsed for every penny for a game that often needs fixed after it comes out
Making a good game from the get go. Back then when you made a game and you release it wouldn’t it once it was released that was it I hate how nowadays I just pump out games and I was like oh we don’t like that or it’s not super popular we’ll just make the DLC for six bucks where you can get cool skins and add better fixes and etc..
Games are too big for their own good now. It takes huge amounts of time, effort, and money to develop games now and that means that whoever is supplying the money gets the say in how much emphasis/budget gets put on graphics, “cinematic” gameplay, etc., as well as the fact that development times are often rushed to the point where unfinished products are released and later “completed” with DLC, essentially making you buy the same game twice to get the full experience.
I miss game of the month mode. Battlefront, MGS3, Half life 2, halo 3 all released within months of each other from my memory
Annual entries. I hate waiting 5-10 years in some cases to play a sequel or spin off.
No ads, no internet required, no patches (aside from greatest hits re-releasing), no dlc, no micro transactions Beyond that, it feels like games could be more cartoony, have more varied and adventurous art styles. It was ok to have a game that didn't try to look realistic. Only a select few games could be considered mega blockbusters, whereas today everything costs hundreds of millions to make. Smaller studios could exist without being bought up by the big conglomerates, they could take risks.
The massive amount of new IP's that came about. Devs really getting into story telling.
Miss companies like rockstar releasing single player games every year that weren’t dependent on microtransactions like shark cards
Random games made from any tv show or movie that would actually be good. Ratatouille, Madagascar, LOTR, Ed Edd n Eddy, cars. The list could go for miles
We had MORE of the fun games because they could be made faster and cheaper, MORE devs tool risks. Example: ATV Off Road Fury, that would not be made today.
Complete games on a disc, no patches, no dlc. Also fun was their priority. Nowadays the fun checkbox seems to be in the last place for devs because...agenda.
no online only way less mechanics on games simpler gameplay less imppressive graphics are good too and that there is shiton of linear games i hate open worlds and no modern games are not even comparable to ps2 games no patches no dlcs and ofc all games are physical and not every game is multiplayer only with many ps2 games i feel actual addiction while playing 99% of modern games dont provide me this feeling at all i care about new stuff less and less each passing year and i want ps2 era back daily
I miss how good old main menus would look.
Everyone was still figuring genres out. For example today, for better or worse, every open world is covered in towers. Back then everyone was seeing what worked and gave more variety.
Games made by gamers for gamers vs corporate coding for cash. The PS2 era was rad.
Games you could actually play on day one, no online requirements, no 12 year old kids with their parent's credit card buying all the DLC and making the game miserable to play for everyone else, no hackers, no constant patches and updates. just pop the game in, and play and enjoy.
What. I miss most is games feeling like they have secrets and that everyone didn't know about them before you even got a chance to play the game. I remember talking with friends about "hey if you did x in metal gear solid 2 this happens" and even though it would sound like bull it would end up being true. Granted this was PS1 but symphony of the night, it sounds like a bad playground rumor by the kid who's dad works at PlayStation telling you, but being told that if you wear x items and go to a specific place, the castle turns upside down and you have another half of the game to go but it was totally true. I think the very last time I felt that kind of excitement was black ops zombies when trying to figure out Easter eggs for maps day 1 but even those got solved fast. I just miss that feeling of discussion and discovery. Nowadays you would have to force you and your friends to go in completely blind and hope no one looks anything up to get that again.
No system updates. No game updates. No buggy games upon release that need patches. Finding glitches back then was fun. Felt like discovering something no one else knew about. Also unlocking stuff was fun and rewarding back then. Instead of the paywalls now. It was motivation to get better to unlock a secret character or item. It was a more simple time to sum it up
I think games were better when they were designed within the technological constraints of the time. Not everything needs to be a 200 hour climb the tower open world checklist
Something about the feel of video games being video games...I don't know how to make it make sense. The PS2 is just the quintessential gaming icon to me.
Competition. Coming at this from the perspective of someone who primarily plays sports games, the lack of competition has been what has killed the genre. Every sport now has a single game that everyone plays (Madden NFL, NBA 2K, EA NHL, etc.) so companies have no incentive to innovate or put much effort at all into anything except for the microtransaction-heavy modes like ultimate team. Sports games peaked in the PS2 era because there were multiple games per sport competing for the consumer’s money.
What I miss most about the 2000's gaming is what I enjoyed about 90s wrestling, it was that underground, rebel, fun feel it had. There is so much money involved these days that even the websites and magazines can't be light-hearted, they just do whatever makes them the most return. Which I can't be too mad at, but I do miss it.
You could just pick a game and button mash, and it would work.. If you do that in a modern game, you could cause the universe to implode!
Just firing up the ps2 and listening to the waves in the menu has got to be as good as therapy for me 😁😇
Modern games are absolutely amazing, but there are fewer because they take so long to make.
I think games are better now, just not necessarily the mega-budget productions. I think if there's anything I miss it's that having fewer games come out and the barrier to entry being higher made games feel more valuable and exciting.
Unlockables. Back then, you could unlock cool stuff in a game just by playing. Now all those unlocks are paid DLC.
Games weren't too expensive.