For the past week I have played a grand total of 30 minutes. I shut my PC off on Sunday and turned it on once to pay some bills and try 15 minutes of Pure Farming 2018 (which is garbage at this point).
Why the semi retirement? Gaming sucks right now to me. I see new stuff coming out and it’s just the same shit with a new outfit.
Pure Farming was touted as Farm Sim’s competition and was my last hope for something new. It’s crap. There’s a handful of equipment to buy whereas Farm Sim has armloads. Sure there is mod support now but i’m fucking tired of having to add all this shit myself just to make a game fun for me to play.
This just got me on the train of thought that most games are like this now. They seem to be rehashing old games with new twists just to keep costs down so they can stay solvent. As a project manager, I get this. You need to make money to keep your employees and their families afloat.
I’m ready for better. Much better. Need to double the cost of games to make that happen? Do it. I’m perfectly ready to pay more for a game that will last me longer and keep me from having to do a bunch of shit on my end to keep me interested.
I don’t know if this rant made sense to anyone else but It’s just something I thought I’d share.
Maybe I’m the odd man out, maybe it’s the fact I got my ‘super cranky card’ when I turned 40 this week, maybe it’s just spring fever…
I see you’ve caught the Grumpkin! Prepare for people giving you shit for expecting a polished, decent product.
You think games are bad now? We’ve just scratched the Battle Royale game mode! And that’s easy peasy for developers. Create a simple large map. Drop players in. Randomize weapons. Prepare for the influx of clones.
Thankfully I still enjoy some shooters and ESO is working as an MMO to keep my busy on non shooting nights.
As for $100 games? It’s debatable and my not even be needed. Look at Fortnite with their Battle Pass system. The Battle Royale mode is 100% free. I feel they perfected the free to play mode with the skins they have for sale and the battle pass ($10 per season if you want to participate). Neither of those are even required to have full access to the game.
As for $100, we already hit that a long time ago. It’s just called season pass.
I hear you. The problem with the games I like is the season pass is usually map packs. Of course not everyone will buy the map packs, and player population gets all screwed up for the new maps. It actually ruins the experience for everyone.
What I think they should do in situations like that is to open the Map Packs for all but only allow Season Pass holders to earn XP, Loot, skins and whatever. This way the player population stays and people may consider buying the new maps.
But will $100 games equal fun or working games??? Doubtful. Most games released now are either broken, lacking in content (promise to fix later???) or just a clone of some other successful games. I think what needs to happen is for the smaller devs or indy devs to have an easier access to release and promote their stuff. I think those companies are more willing to take a risk and create something new or exciting.
You also have to stop looking at Star Citizen’s promos and just wait until that game ships.
LOL. Ya know, I think they might have the right idea. They’re approaching it from “you want giant fucking game that does everything? here’s what we need from you to make that happen. Also you’re gonna need serious hardware upgrades”
I just watched a two part documentary on Digital Extremes (makers of Warframe) and they tried something very similar at Warframe’s meager beginnings and it didn’t go well.
…maybe that’s the video that set me off. It had some really good shit in there about the gaming industry and how they finally said ‘fuck you all. we’ll do it ourselves’
@GrumpyInUt that is how I have been lately too . I am forcing myself to play a couple hours of day. I am getting FC5 on Tuesday and I know it’s just the same old shit with a new face. I want to be excited for it but I know it will be another game that doesn’t get completed. SOT is fun with the right people but can and will get old fast.
I don’t think the price really matters. They will then just try to sell us the SOS for more money. At least some Devs will.
I think for me the problem is I have gamed every day for 30 some years and and probably just need a break. There is nothing new on the horizon really. Breaking that habit isn’t easy though.
The problem will persist until one thing happens - people stop buying half-baked or re-skinned games.
Everyone bitches and moans about the buggy shit that is being released or the latest ‘remastered’ game that was originally released years ago. Problem is that gamers as a race are weak-minded, hypocritical creatures of habit who aren’t willing to give up the hobby.
I say that fully knowing I support that same model from time to time (I’ve bought my fare share of sequels that aren’t anything more than the prior game in a new setting…and am doing again with Far Cry 5). I’m just as much a part of the problem as the next guy. Problem is that I enjoy gaming and have enough disposable income that even when a game doesn’t hold my interest more than a month or two, I’ve gotten enough ROI out of it so that I don’t care and it doesn’t change my buying habits. Tack on the hordes of Timmies who have parents who’ll buy them anything they beg for and … yeah … ain’t ever going to change.
Fuck you @GrumpyInUt…now you got me all depressed on the state of affairs in gaming. LOL
Here’s my question: Do you really think for 100/120 you’ll get a polished product? We already pay that between games and season passes/DLC, and we’re far from anything polished coming out unless it’s a sequel that’s just new skins on the same old engine. Like Lala said, the most polished game out right now is Fortnite, and it’s free.
If I honestly thought that companies would put more money into development if game prices went up, then I’d be all over it. However, my experience working in technology have proven time and time again that extra revenue from price increases goes straight to marketing or upper levels, and not into development costs. Higher priced games will just mean more people pissed off because they spent ever more for a broken mess.
Lol The new grumpkin has arrived…after who could blame anyone doing a 6 month journey into random space. Time to rehatch the real classics and enjoy the simple gaming.
Played super mario world some this past weekend with my kid. Was pleasant and enjoyable enough. Realized that modern gaming messed up all my old timing skills.
And other then that…finding a mmo that you enjoy is probably going to be the best solution until the next ‘new’ game that is worth your attention. And as many mmos there are now…including free to play…just a matter of searching one out.
Does anyone in GRG know programming? I’m sure @Lala_Calamari can start a production company and we can all be his support staff. Lmao we have all ya need.
All that said…I’m willing to pay $150 or more for something polished and good…but sadly i think we will get many less great epic beautiful 4k games and get alot of meh shit with cell shading and $40 price tag
Sadly, I believe you’re right. Greed is the killer.
I was thinking about that as one of the problems but didn’t bring it up because that’s just the last nail in the coffin if that becomes the norm and that’s depressing.
I think that’s why you’re seeing such a surge from indies. They’re all about development and ideas. When do you see an indie title start to have issues? When marketing and publishers get in the way. Lala is absolutely right - when it gets nearly seamless for indies to release and promote without a major group in the way, you’ll see a complete shift in quality and what “brands” will be at the top.
Ive been bored for a while. I keep trying new games here and there and always end up back to ESO and Overwatch. I even took time off ESO because of the grinding fatigue. Gaming feels bland right now, but I have those two ganes that i love and rely on.
I think the wider problem with gaming today is the descent into utter depravity of the AAA industry which has started to swallow up independent studios and ruined major franchises left and right. Most of the games I enjoy today are indie titles-because those are the developers who still value creativity and trying something new. All of this pre-order/microtransaction/season pass/map pack/unfinished product bullshit is ruining the whole industry.
Game developers are simply rehashing the same design. Jim Sterling perfectly shows this with his Ubification video: https://youtu.be/bYfYLR2PL68
I remember the days when you bought a video game and it was polished and finished (except Elder Scrolls lol they are never polished) on launch. I remember buying expansion packs that were meaty and worth the price.
To put it metaphorically, think of video games as a hamburger. Back in the good ole days you paid one price for the full hamburger (bread, meat, toppings, and condiments). An expansion pack would come along that would add fries and a drink, or sometimes even another full burger! Today, we pay $60 bucks for maybe the meat and bread, most likely only one of the two. Then we get dinged for each topping and condiment. Modern DLC and expansion packs are like paying for single sticks of fries and an ounce of a drink at once.
Pre-orders are definitely a massive part of the problem. Developers don’t have to finish a game or polish it if they make enough in pre-order sales. There is ABSOLUTELY NO NEED to pre-order a video game-especially since you download everything digitally these days. It amazes me how many people continue this practice even after getting burned.
What about those sweet ass preorder bonuses? Can’t go without those!
Sarcasm but I preorder cause Bestbuy gives me $10 in points for every preorder. So that plus the 20% off ends up saving me money. I normally pull 1-3 free games a year from BB with points.
