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Post by dsparil on Jun 4, 2024 8:30:56 GMT -5
With the original Tomb Raider games, I think the drop in quality has more to do with the rapid pace that the PSX games came out in. It put a lot of strain on Core, and they didn't want to keep making them either. Then you have the boondoggle of Angel of Darkness capping off the Core era and basically taking the company down with it.
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Post by retr0gamer on Jun 4, 2024 10:19:48 GMT -5
With the original Tomb Raider games, I think the drop in quality has more to do with the rapid pace that the PSX games came out in. It put a lot of strain on Core, and they didn't want to keep making them either. Then you have the boondoggle of Angel of Darkness capping off the Core era and basically taking the company down with it. As someone that just finished tomb raider 3, you can really tell they were rushed. I heard last revelation is pretty good although has some new issues but the Dev team had a lot more time with that one.
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Post by Woody Alien 2 on Jun 5, 2024 5:43:51 GMT -5
Bullet hell games. I'm sad that shmups have become a niche genre but I don't understand why most of that niche has to be swarmed with games with the most absurd bullet patterns and convoluted scoring mechanics. They're games for savants, not for common people, also they 90% look like generic clean streamlined sci-fi stuff or Touhou rip-offs. I miss when shmups had outlandish designs and settings like the cyber-organic landscapes popularized by R-Type or wacky stuff like cute-em-ups, now it's all either generic ships or cutesy girls. I found on Steam a free bullet hell game that serves as a sort of introduction for the genre, it starts slowly and introduces new mechanics every now and then, despite being a sort of continuing tutorial I still don't get the appeal and it gives me a headache if I play it for too long. Maybe the problem is that I never was a competitive person but those kind of games just don't appeal to me on any scale.
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Post by nightdreamer on Jun 5, 2024 23:01:39 GMT -5
for me it's these two:
New Super Mario Bros games -- Don't get me wrong, I grew up with 2D Mario platformers. What these games were missing were any joy of novelty because they all feel like remixes of past material. Right down to the world sequence itself. Let's see, world 1 is plains, world 2 is deserts, 3 and 4 are tropical and jungle... why do all these games look so interchangeable and why are their graphics so unappealingly plasticky? There's so little personality to these games, even the animations are mostly boring (I do like koopas and goombas dancing to the beat of the music at least)
The whole concept of 'git gud' -- I'm sorry, I'm a busy adult. When I work towards excelling at something, I want there to be a tangible benefit. Will it make me a better artist like in photogrpahy? Will it make me make better food like in cooking and baking? Will it make me money or get me paid like in animation? Will it even get me popular with people I meet like when I'm good at socializing or public speaking? I want skills I learn to have a tangible benefit, and even something like building model kits, despite very little returns it result in, is infinitely more satisfying to me because I see a finished model kit that looks great. Getting gud at games that are brutally hard like Soulbourne games... I do get these games, but the chase for this really hard difficulty and gamer's reliance on how many of these games you have beat and platinumed as any measure of credibility is to me such a giant waste of life, and what do you have to show for it after you got done getting good? Nothing but effort.
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Post by chronotigger65 on Jun 6, 2024 15:10:33 GMT -5
The Persona series
Every year there seems to be another re-release of previous games with improvements on other systems or a spinoff game. The latest spinoff game I think is a stategy game. It's gotten so tired of it that I made the decision to stop reading articles, reviews and stuff on it. I'd also do the same for the Trails and Tales series of RPG's since there are so many games in each but I think I have as much a problem with them as Persona but pretty close.
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Post by JDarkside on Jun 6, 2024 16:20:46 GMT -5
Persona has ended up in the same position as mobage trife like Genshin - otaku bait. Whatever merit it had suffocated when it became the only reliable money maker in Atlus' arsenal. It's really sad because they have a lot of interesting games in their backlog, but the one that pandered most to traditional otaku tastes, especially with romances, pretty much overtook everything else.
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Post by nightdreamer on Jun 6, 2024 18:39:36 GMT -5
Persona has ended up in the same position as mobage trife like Genshin - otaku bait. Whatever merit it had suffocated when it became the only reliable money maker in Atlus' arsenal. It's really sad because they have a lot of interesting games in their backlog, but the one that pandered most to traditional otaku tastes, especially with romances, pretty much overtook everything else. I agree with Persona. I was a huge fan of P3/4/5 but the writing gets diminished with each spinoffs and expanded entries that it made me realize I don't actually need to know their character's every mundane thoughts and their dumb inside jokes
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Post by excelsior on Jun 6, 2024 22:51:30 GMT -5
The writing in games like Persona Q2 and Persona 4 Dancing All Night is dismal and mostly unnecessary. Every character needs to 'get their shit in' at every possible opportunity and these games just end up becoming seemingly endless spamming of inane catchphrases. Mostly the gameplay is good but it takes way too long to get to it.
The expanded version of 5 takes the already questionable pacing of the core edition and does everything possible to make it worse. It's almost like the original game was already complete and didn't need a new end chapter plus whatever other additional dialogue is scattered throughout. Almost as if Atlus was looking for a cynical way to push fans into double-dipping. Yeah; almost.
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Post by JDarkside on Jun 8, 2024 10:53:12 GMT -5
You reminded me of the Persona fighting games which have bad writing for completely different reasons of letting the BlazBlue guy write them.
Boy.
That was a mistake. But an interesting mistake. The guy is SUPER otaku in a way Persona games usually aren't, so while there is the usual fanservice (both horny and the more traditional "remember this minor character???" way), his choices for new characters and how to write the existing cast is either really good or completely deranged. I was shocked by who he decided the big bad of the duology should be with this edgy teen boy that's almost charming in how edgy he was, and more shocked by the existing character choices. Adachi is the "wait what" example in a bad way, while the P3 cast minus Junpei (who is just now a himbo) are more "wait what" in a funny way.
Were these stories bad? Yes. But the man took a swing, and sometimes that is all I ask.
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Post by Digitalnametag on Jun 15, 2024 9:18:46 GMT -5
3D platformers. I grew up in the heyday of these and for a couple years my parents bought my brother and I nothing but. We received a PS1 in 97 and that started the stream of mascots. Spyro, Crash, Blasto, Gex, Rayman, and others. Not to mention after we got an N64 with Mario, Donkey-Kong, Banjo, and that Daffy-Duck game. If I had not discovered RPGs I probably wouldn't still be playing video games.
I think Mario 64 is okay but otherwise do not like the genre as a whole. There is a good reason we don't see many of these anymore. I remember the excitement people had for the Yooka Laylee Kickstarter and I could only think "Why?" Banjo Kazooie isn't very fun! Why would we want another one! I have a problem with buying too many games but I won't ever purchase any platformers. I skipped Mario Odyssey. I love Mega Man games but can't be bothered to replay Legends. Sonic 2D? Great. Sonic 3D? Ugh. I've probably made my point.
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Post by JDarkside on Jun 15, 2024 10:46:29 GMT -5
...Mega Man Legends isn't a platformer? It has platforming elements here and there, but that's an adventure game series with more in common with the Zelda series than Mario. Goes down to the dungeons, puzzles, and lock-on focused combat system, and even the focus on town areas for story beats and atmosphere. You also didn't really explain why these 3D platformers never worked for you so I'm not sure what your general issue was with any of these.
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Post by Digitalnametag on Jun 15, 2024 14:27:56 GMT -5
You also didn't really explain why these 3D platformers never worked for you so I'm not sure what your general issue was with any of these. Errrr, is that not the point of the thread? "I don't get it". My general issue with them is I don't think they are fun. I guess I can come up with a couple examples. A lot of these games feature Collect-A-Thon elements which I can't stand. And maybe it's the lack of a sense of progression? Certainly the clumsiness of the original controls for a lot of these games (no analog on original PS1) didn't help. But even with the sticks I don't think these style games are much fun. Interesting factoid; Mega Man Legends actually released before any 3D Zelda game. Like I understand people's love for Mega Man Volnutt and the world around it. I enjoyed the designs and world building. I just don't think the actual game play is much fun. I concede that it is more action/adventure than 3D platformer and certainly an ambitious early take on the genre. It is at least a noteworthy game. Maybe I just don't like 3D action games in general. As others have mentioned I also don't like GTA, Uncharted, nor Assassin's Creed. The Batman/Spider-Man games are about the only ones that I like in the genre. And those kind of blend Beat'em Up into the mix. Oh how about the word 'Sandbox'. I don't like sandbox style games.
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Post by JDarkside on Jun 15, 2024 16:26:08 GMT -5
I can get that. I'm sort of all over the place with 3D platformers, not a ton I feel like finishing outside Sonic ones, which have a more linear structure. The original MML also had really stiff combat, no argument there, the charm of the world did a lot of heavy lifting for the poor camera controls.
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Post by excelsior on Jun 16, 2024 0:31:25 GMT -5
It wasn't until Super Mario 3D Land/World sub-series that 3D platformers really found a formula that consistently works for them. These games successfully bring the 2D Mario series obstacle course design into a 3D space. Most major 3D platformers released now such as Kirby's Forgotten Land, Sackboy's Big Adventure and even the Astro Bot series borrow from that. I do think the genre is in a better space nowadays, with camera issues being eliminated, even if the variety isn't there (outside of the indie space at least).
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Post by retr0gamer on Jun 16, 2024 4:18:42 GMT -5
I do like Mario 64 but there's something really off about PS1 3D platformers I can't put my finger on that makes them way worse than their N64 counterparts. The world just feels janky and not as solid. Maybe it's down to the lack for floating points or the z buffer on the PS1. Even the platformers I love like ape escape feel wonky and have a bad camera.
Crash bandicoot has always been kind of crappy
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