But that's the key in my thesis -- the recycled nature of the game(s). That's the reason they exist. Because of the ease in development; brisk and relatively lacking in new content. Year after year.Quote:
Originally Posted by Russman
Which is also why they continue with the insolated castle structure in my view.
Consider how similar all the Metroidvanias are to each other. Then look at, say, Super Castlevania IV as opposed to Bloodlines. Notice something?
Compare many genres and/or franchises (as, I agree with you, we see certain brand names remaining even while they shift their focus of gameplay) as they are today to what they were 10 or 15 years ago.Quote:
Originally Posted by Russman
Doom versus Doom 3. Super Mario Sunshine versus Super Mario Bros. 3 (and the shift came before 3D; look at Yoshi's Island). Castlevania III versus Dawn of Sorrow.
The shift in the above examples is away from adrenaline-driven gameplay to various tones of exploration -- and in each case, I think it's a crashing failure in contrast to what preceded.
I feel more generally favorable towards the NES/Genesis/SNES era or eras because of this. Sometimes I think it's because I'm a fogey, but it's truthfully more because of the change in design focus. And that design focus seems to be shifting, or "maturing", with the industry's age and the age of its audience.
Though I can't figure why an 8 year old or a 25 year old would be more attuned to what amounts to a sedation of design, what we see is prevalency of games that want the gamer to hunt for 500 blue coins rather than to simply and only find a way to survive for one more level.
Games should be at least somewhat difficult to beat -- they should not be interactive comic books or movies, and they should not be considered difficult only because of how drawn out they have become in the artificial length that stems from this new mindset of area exploration in place of survival.
It's like a lowering of standards in our public schools. "We want everybody to graduate."
Implementing difficulty and requiring skill in response is looked down upon by many in the industry as an impediment to better sales figures. Perhaps video games, like so much else in our culture, are slowly being feminized.
This is what it means for games to become ever-more mainstream. You're "hardcore" if you want a game that challenges you and provides a thrill in its mandatory need for good reflexes.
Video games, as they used to be, were not the most universal of entertainments because of baseline skill requirement. If you were inherently uncoordinated then you were shit out of luck.
But this is not a comfortable, over-arcing sales plan. And I think we're seeing the response from the industry.
With bigger companies and bigger stakes, the more the problem deepens.
