Is the 8th Generation of gaming terrible?

Time to stir the controversy pot.

By 8th gen, I mean games that have came out since the release of PS4/XBox1/Wii U+Switch. Wikipedia says it here.

I feel like this gen sucks.

Reviewing all the games I've had for each gen, there's barely any I can think of noteworthy for this 8th Gen. (I only have like 5 games for PS4 compare to the near 20 for PS3) Maybe it's just my gradual declining interest of videogaming, but I can't name a vast list of noteworthy titles as I could with the other generations. Even with including PC games released in this generation, I can't get as vast of a list as prior gens. Mind you, there's obviousn facts that GOOD GAMES still exist (Doom2016 is this), and will continue to exist. But the amount of hits I've enjoyed in 8th gen is rather low compared to gens prior. Like that good title achievement is become more and more difficult to find...

I guess I'm an old fart. But this gen seems uninspiring. Maybe too many company meddling of microtransactions, incomplete games, neverending sequels, reboots, and other shit that plagued gaming as of recent.

In term of companies bullshit yeah...it's the worst for sure.

In term of games though? It's friggin outstanding.

Emmm...no.
WHy?

Bloodborne.

IDK man, there were bad games at all times, but they haven't stood the test of time and no one remembers them now, including you. But in this present age you get to know about all games when they are released, both good and bad.

So I guess you can only make the judgment in some 2-3 generations?

Make up your own mind.

However, for the sake of discussion I'll express my own thoughts - In my honest opinion, no, "the current generation" does not suck. Games are becoming games again, with more emphasis on things that are fun. Arcadey style gameplay in some instances, some more colourful / wild shooters are coming out, multiplayer games are finally being more open to being cross platform, and with the sales that happen even relatively new titles are becoming surprisingly affordable.

Admittedly, we're somewhat living in the "era of the HD-Remakes", which is a bit hard to use as a measurement since they're not really new games, but they're GOOD games that're getting freshened up. To me it feels that the games that ARE being remastered are very much serving as inspiration for new titles.

Games now are like 50,000,000x as good as the first few.

6 minutes ago, Doge Sword said:

Games now are like 50,000,000x as good as the first few.

I could play Unreal Tournament (the first one, from 1999), it's awesome, crazy, fast-paced, funny! I play it since I was 5. And it released before I was born. I am now 15, for reference.

Just now, Gustavo6046 said:

 

I could play Unreal Tournament (the first one, from 1999), it's awesome, crazy, fast-paced, funny! I play it since I was 5. And it released before I was born. I am now 15, for reference.

I didn't say games from back then were bad.  Didn't we all come to these forums because of games from '93 and '94?

I didn't insinuate you said games from back them were bad.

While I don't necessarily think the modern crop of games are 'bad' I do struggle to find games that I like. Part of my problem is that I don't like playing multiplayer and the it seems a majority of games are geared around multiplayer play. I love rpgs and arpgs but shudder at the thought of playing mmorpgs. The natural shift of gaming to mulitplaye, online play means that games have shifted away from the formats that I enjoy (points to Doom for staying single player focused)

There's also the nostalgia/rose tinted glasses factor to consider. The standout games from way back when will loom large in your mind and always cast a shadow. It's easy to forget about the games that were only kind of OK 10 years ago because they haven't made a lasting impression on you

1 hour ago, Mr. Freeze said:

Old thing good, new thing bad

This is so sad. Can we get 50 likes?

So brave, gamers rise up

BOTTOM TEXT

This truly shows that we live in a society

8 bit games are the best!

8th Gen doesn't suck nor is it the worst for shady practices, this generation is simply the one where almost everyone started giving a shit about (and by extension started paying more attention to) said shady practices and therefore comes the illusion of this gen being buttfuck awful.

The 8th gen for gaming is basically summarized as WAR FOR DEM EXCLUSIVES!!!

We've grown cynical about the entire industry. 

We readily condemn things as soon as we see concept art.

We can watch a let's a play video or a stream instead of actually playing it.

A meme about one second of gameplay is more important than the game itself. We're obsessed with cult of personality reviewers, and outrage for clicks. 

We're more concerned about a developers twitter feed and what they said six years ago on August 7th @2:00pm and taking it completely out of context than we are the games they work on. 

Much like the movie industry it's safer to invest in an existing franchise then sink capital into the unknown. 

If you look only through the lens of 8 bit graphics - everything sucks. But as a whole, it's never been better. 

The main problem I find with the HD remasters these days are they are for games which weren't released that long ago, like only one gaming generation away. For an example there were 4 Red Faction games and the current HD remaster is of the third game, not even the first game is even getting a remaster and it needs one more than the third game.

I think 8th gen games are generally amazing but there surely have been a few disappointments. Mostly thumbs up though, right? Geez, apart from a few hiccups (crazy expensive DLC, microtransactions, online lag) there's not much to complain about. Certainly there's more variety in games than ever before.  After an increase in PC culture in the past decade, I was really worried that games were going to lose their edginess. Thank god they still make visceral games like the new Wolfenstein. 

Sure i miss the good old days of putting in a cartridge and the game just played without any fuss. There were "DLC" in the form of secret levels which you had to unlock by being good at the game. Wish more games still had that feature. 

On occasion I still play some of my games from PS1 / Xbox original......some are still good, most are lame though. LOL But hey they were decent in their day. I look at the bright side: they'll always be there to play if you feel nostalgic. Some games are timeless and will always be fun (Doom!)

So I'm an optimist and i just imagine how good games will become in decades. Games are just getting bigger and better and more detailed and i love it. I dream about games that will become huge and all-encompassing. I can't wait for a Star Wars game that's like a combination of No Man's Sky / SW Battlefront II / Mortal Kombat / Farming simulator / GTA V / Rage / Skyrim / WoW / and some awesome RTS.  Hope that happens in my life time.

Every generation has it's ups and downs and even just a little bit of reading will show that shady practices and subpar / rubbish games are nothing new. For all the (totally valid) complaints we see about DLC and 'bought reviews' and everything else, we actually have access to information about games before we buy them now. In the past, sometimes the one and only lead you had was word of mouth and just maybe if all the planets aligned, you might even have had access to Nintendo Power or whatever, but even then we were essentially seeing ads disguised as reviews. Garbage was peddled right there alongside gold with the same price tag.

tl;Dr only the classics stand the test of time and the grass is always greener on the other side.

I think that the 8th generation games are good, although the bullshittery by the game companies is definitely worse.

4 hours ago, Avoozl said:

The main problem I find with the HD remasters these days are they are for games which weren't released that long ago, like only one gaming generation away. For an example there were 4 Red Faction games and the current HD remaster is of the third game, not even the first game is even getting a remaster and it needs one more than the third game.

That's the only HD remake I can think of that isn't at the very least as old as the PS2 generation (if google is correct, sixth generation? I didn't know they were actually numbered but that's cool, I guess.) Most titles that're seeing new life are from the fifth generation, so PS1, N64 etc.

My point is I don't understand why some companies think it's better to remaster a game which wasn't released that long ago as opposed to an even older title.

Yeah, that's a fair assessment. Plus RF1 was probably the best in that franchise so a remaster would have been great; though that might be nostalgia speaking since I've not played it for a fair few years!

While I wouldn't claim the 8th generation is terrible or even mediocre, I definitely feel the 8th generation is uninspired. People have been more observant and critical of industry practices and the games themselves, effectively demanding higher average quality. As a result, 2017 was a notable year. We had a lot of games that range from good to great, but none truly stood out. This generation does have a few more years to become impressive though, and I'm hopeful for 2019's lineup of games.

Regardless, I'm quite satisfied with this generation. Some of the best games I've ever played come from this gen, which is something I can't say for most console generations before the 6th one (PS2/XBox/Gamecube). Fighting games are quite strong (if not stronger than ever), indie games are booming, and AAA games are absolutely trying their damndest to improve.

I'm on the fence whether the 6th or 7th gen is my favorite. The sheer quality of the best 6th gen releases is unmatched, while the sheer number of quality releases from the 7th gen is impressive. Both are definitely better than the current gen, but I'd take these three generations (and the 4th) over any other.

This generation is 100% better than generations with half the game genres in limbo.

14 hours ago, Bridgeburner56 said:

I love rpgs and arpgs but shudder at the thought of playing mmorpgs.

I'm currently losing every available free moment to Grim Dawn.

brief review that nobody asked for: cheap ($23 for it and all dlc when on sale), great music, great design, crap story, 99.99% clientside (aside from an option to save character to TEH CLOWD), bullshit nonlinearity once you get into act 2... it feels like I am exploring a mandelbrodt fractal.

16 hours ago, Shanoa said:

In term of companies bullshit yeah...it's the worst for sure.

In term of games though? It's friggin outstanding.

This one I fully agree with. But ultimately it's the bullshit that keeps me from buying them.

I say this as someone who grew up with the Atari 2600 and that generation of gaming is terrible despite how great it was at that time.

This generation will only get better, even if business practices get worse. Games cost a lot more to make, when they're making the same games. Artists, modelers, animators, riggers, scene designers, cape physics programmers and the list goes on and on. More jobs, more costs, same games. The catch is the story elements that cost a lot of money for little progress.

At least the majority of programming is done since they continue to use the same engines. Skyrim / Fallout 4 are supposedly the Elder Scrolls 3 engine just enhanced over time. The WWE games are the same engine for the past 20 years, just enhanced and upgraded.

1 hour ago, Vorpal said:

 

I'm currently losing every available free moment to Grim Dawn.

 

I know exactly what you mean. Great game, the best of that genre. (Dungeon-crawling?)

Nah it got boring fast after a while unless the updates saved it. I'd rather replay Diablo 2 or Path of exile for the one hundredth time ;p.