Need coping mechanisms to deal with gaming's massive decline

[Lemming42]

2020 had a swarm of good games

Titles?

Desperados 3 - personal GOTY, it's just as good as the original Desperados IMO
Gears Tactics - pretty straightforward but can be a lot of fun, and genuinely punishing on higher difficulties
Hades - i think basically everyone liked this one, roguelite Diablo
Wasteland 3 - another Brian Fargo "Good For What It Is" classic, better than WL2
Crash Bandicoot 4 - it suffers from an overload of features, but for the most part, it's around the same sort of quality level as Crash 3

Others that aren't the best, but are still worth mentioning:
Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord - i didn't get much playtime out of this because it's just too similar to Warband (and released in a pretty sorry early access state), but it's still a solid Mount & Blade experience, with good multiplayer
Resident Evil 3 remake - this isn't bad, it's just about 4 minutes long and not worth paying full price for
XCOM: Chimera Squad - everyone gives this one a lot of shit for a number of reasons, I think it's fun as a casual timewaster kind of thing, only problem is it gets far too easy far too quickly
Black Mesa - this is cheating since it came out years ago, but it technically reached final release in 2020
Crusader Kings 3 - i'm sure it'll pick up when Paradox brings out £900 worth of shitty DLC
Assassin's Creed: Valhalla - basically just Odyssey again but slightly less fun, good if you want to kill 150 hours doing something entertaining but mindless
Flight Simulator 2020 - play in VR, fly above your house a few times, uninstall
Half-Life: Alyx - mandatory mention just because it's one of the few VR games that isn't oppressively shit
Mafia: Definitive Edition - sit back and enjoy it as a B-movie. see how badly they fuck up the plot of the beloved Mafia. laugh in shock and dismay as they add a fucking motorbike chase to one of the levels. i hated this, but the amount of ironic fun to be had in taking the piss out of the terrible design decisions can't be overstated. fucking armoured car chase in Trip To The Country, what the hell was that.

 

[curds]

There are literally thousands of good games, you'll be fine.

 

[Norfleet]

Title.

Aren't you supposed to be a developer now? You're supposed to either be fighting the decline or contributing to it. In your case, you seem to be contributing to it, Weeaboo Filth.

BECOME THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE.
REJECT MODERNITY, EMBRACE TRADITION.

 

[WhiteShark]

Title.

Aren't you supposed to be a developer now? You're supposed to either be fighting the decline or contributing to it. In your case, you seem to be contributing to it, Weeaboo Filth.

BECOME THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE.
REJECT MODERNITY, EMBRACE TRADITION.

Lol the decline of his game isn't the anime art it's that it's a degenerate hrpg. Otherwise it looks pretty good.

 

[Morgoth]

The ever permeating Internet is killing literacy rates, and with declining literacy comes declining ideas and writing, so you all know where this is going.

 

[WhiteShark]

The ever permeating Internet is killing literacy rates, and with declining literacy comes declining ideas and writing, so you all know where this is going.

This reminds me about how my adopted black step-brother only learned how to read halfway through elementary school in order to play Gaia Online.

 

[good fucking shit happen]

Also secondary question, did any good games even come out in 2021 so far?

Sure did and it is cheap too.

 

[Poseidon00]

Just play old shit lmao

 

[Tyranicon]

Title.

Aren't you supposed to be a developer now? You're supposed to either be fighting the decline or contributing to it. In your case, you seem to be contributing to it, Weeaboo Filth.

BECOME THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE.
REJECT MODERNITY, EMBRACE TRADITION.

Lol the decline of his game isn't the anime art it's that it's a degenerate hrpg. Otherwise it looks pretty good.

Who doesn't like porn? If porn is decline, than I fully embrace degeneracy.

Also I got this quote from PC Gamer, so I'm gonna say this whole venture was a win.

“Don't judge a book by its horny weeb-ass cover, I guess.”

-PC Gamer

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Do what I do. Look out for stuff that looks interesting to you and get it. When it doubt -- get on sale.

Start poking old games, I can say for sure that there are at least dozens of cool games that you've missed when you were younger. Unless your interests are limited to isometric visual novels, that is.

Start learning foreign languages and start digging up games that were made in these languages and never got localized. Early Japanese RPGs (before they went full dragon quest / final fantasy) weren't designed around any standardized systems and developers just went with what they thought RPGs should play like -- in quite a few cases this resulted in near-unplayable messes with good ideas that you can adopt and incorporate into your work, but make the implementation less stupid.

Learn Japanese and romhacking and translate Hungry Ghosts for us (me)!

Hungry Ghosts had a translation in progress, but it looks abandoned (or no actual progress is being shared). Which is a shame -- this game is special and deserves wider recognition.

 

[anvi]

Learn an instrument. The only escape from life's constant shitstorms is music's warm embrace. Also weed.

 

[Tyranicon]

So, what did you do?

Me? There's a few good suggestions on this thread that I added to my list, but otherwise I just went back to work.

Be the change you want to see in the world and all that shit, I guess. Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I really want to see a headline on Codex or another site that says "The best RPG in the last [x] years was made by one man, in his basement, on RPGmaker, and it's a fucking porn game."

I think I have a pretty good chance actually.

 

[forumvisitor#451]

How the fuck can you even have enough time to get bored of good games? I think that if you open your mind a bit then you discover that almost every console of past, every genre offers something truly great. If not, then you have mastering of great games and their systems and multiple playthroughs. I don't think you can have enough time to actually experience it all.
I have opposite problem - I am actually afraid to start a new game (4X, Paradox games, Dwarf Fortress, Kenshi,...) because they will be massive time sink.

 

[Tyranicon]

How the fuck can you even have enough time to get bored of good games? I think that if you open your mind a bit then you discover that almost every console of past, every genre offers something truly great. If not, then you have mastering of great games and their systems and multiple playthroughs. I don't think you can have enough time to actually experience it all.
I have opposite problem - I am actually afraid to start a new game (4X, Paradox games, Dwarf Fortress, Kenshi,...) because they will be massive time sink.

I just want something good that's new. It's discouraging that the general gaming audience has moved away from quality games and instead focused on just consuming whatever streamers/tubers tell them to.

Those beautiful old games will always be there. But I want at least some of those high-budget AAA games to provide something of substance.

Yeah, also wishful thinking.

 

[Morenatsu.]

become furry

 

[Comrade Goby]

How the fuck can you even have enough time to get bored of good games? I think that if you open your mind a bit then you discover that almost every console of past, every genre offers something truly great. If not, then you have mastering of great games and their systems and multiple playthroughs. I don't think you can have enough time to actually experience it all.
I have opposite problem - I am actually afraid to start a new game (4X, Paradox games, Dwarf Fortress, Kenshi,...) because they will be massive time sink.

I just want something good that's new. It's discouraging that the general gaming audience has moved away from quality games and instead focused on just consuming whatever streamers/tubers tell them to.

Those beautiful old games will always be there. But I want at least some of those high-budget AAA games to provide something of substance.

Yeah, also wishful thinking.

It's why I give Cyberpunk somewhat of a pass because it looks nice enough to to be tolerable. I like AAA graphics and pushing that frontier but the games are so soulless compared to the shinyness. Hopefully in a few more years it'll be even easier to make budget games that look AAA so at that point it will just take a creative team.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

There are a few gems being made here and there (e.g. ELEX2, BotW2, KCD2, Elden Ring, Cyberpunk once its fully patched, Expeditions: Rome), but yeah, mostly the industry is in the dumps. It was already bad before, and Covid made it even worse. In the West, it's almost completely dead besides a few indies, because it became all 100% about the business side, and 0% about the art side. Fortunately, the non-JRPG Japanese devs and the Eastern-Central Euros are still making games for the sake of games. And some of them are even good.

 

[lightbane]

How the fuck can you even have enough time to get bored of good games? I think that if you open your mind a bit then you discover that almost every console of past, every genre offers something truly great. If not, then you have mastering of great games and their systems and multiple playthroughs. I don't think you can have enough time to actually experience it all.
I have opposite problem - I am actually afraid to start a new game (4X, Paradox games, Dwarf Fortress, Kenshi,...) because they will be massive time sink.

I just want something good that's new. It's discouraging that the general gaming audience has moved away from quality games and instead focused on just consuming whatever streamers/tubers tell them to.

Those beautiful old games will always be there. But I want at least some of those high-budget AAA games to provide something of substance.

Yeah, also wishful thinking.

Aren't you making your own game? Double-down on it to ensure it is the best thing ever. Hell, hire Chris Avellone if you can afford it for extra funsies.

 

[luj1]

The best days of gaming are long gone. Be happy that you experienced the Renaissance first hand (1996-2004). There won't ever be anything like it. Now go out, have fun, meet women. Exercise, etc.

 

[G.O.D]

@OP - I dunno, maybe take it to the next level and start playing games with people's feelings instead?

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Play old games. Like Call of Duty.

 

[Tyranicon]

Hell, hire Chris Avellone if you can afford it for extra funsies.

Ha, I can barely afford to hire myself. Despite what everyone says, I don't think he'll have much trouble finding work.

 

[Daemongar]

There is a line in the movie Billy Madison (1995) where Adam Sandler and Bradley Whitford have some kind of play. I'll never forget this line as I think it was pretty good writing for an Adam Sandler movie:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles

What I suppose AS was saying is that you can either put up with what is given you, or you can take up arms against fate - that is to say, act. I believe by action he meant you should start taking action - that is maybe not be so passive and work on a game, or let your thoughts be known on shit titles direct to the producers - ie: not buy them, and let them know why.

Spoiler

sorry

 

[anvi]

Half-Life: Alyx - mandatory mention just because it's one of the few VR games that isn't oppressively shit

What are the others?

 

[Tavar]

I just want something good that's new.

Try Ghostrunner.