Scientists prove that AAA gaming sucks.

[Mr. Freeze]

Still looking forward to Mortal Kombat 12 tho 

[nolongeramnion]

[blanked]

Edited November 29, 2023 by amnion

[MannerKing]

As someone who grew up through the 2010's I have to say that the entire last decade opened my eyes to AAA game companies. Man, I remember watching YT channels like Angry Joe Show and Jimquisition in the early 2010's about all the bad things this company or that company did. Gamer Gate, Loot Boxes, Microtransactions, Day 1 DLC, Weapon Skins that cost more than a $1 and so much more.

 

I think because of the 2010's I have become a much more jaded person that has run out of hopium for many AAA game companies. That being said, it is not all doom and gloom as there have been several AAA games that I have had fun with and genuinely enjoyed.

 

A little off topic but related to AAA games is that the future of game preservation scares me. Whether the future is bright or dark or if it even has a future at all. Ross Scott of Accursed Farms has made videos on this topic and I would recommend checking him out. Game preservation is a can of worms I won't open here as it is a great topic worth it's own thread. I just thought I would mention it quickly.

[TheFocus]

32 minutes ago, MannerKing said:

As someone who grew up through the 2010's I have to say that the entire last decade opened my eyes to AAA game companies. Man, I remember watching YT channels like Angry Joe Show and Jimquisition in the early 2010's about all the bad things this company or that company did. Gamer Gate, Loot Boxes, Microtransactions, Day 1 DLC, Weapon Skins that cost more than a $1 and so much more.

 

I think because of the 2010's I have become a much more jaded person that has run out of hopium for many AAA game companies. That being said, it is not all doom and gloom as there have been several AAA games that I have had fun with and genuinely enjoyed.

 

A little off topic but related to AAA games is that the future of game preservation scares me. Whether the future is bright or dark or if it even has a future at all. Ross Scott of Accursed Farms has made videos on this topic and I would recommend checking him out. Game preservation is a can of worms I won't open here as it is a great topic worth it's own thread. I just thought I would mention it quickly.

finally, a take from this thread i can agree with fully.

[dasho]

1 hour ago, Mr. Freeze said:

Still looking forward to Mortal Kombat 12 tho 

 

1 hour ago, anon said:

The roster is on Wikipedia and it genuinely looks good.

Pfft

 

 

[Soon2bGlue]

I loved Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal. Also liked Sinking City (not quite AAA) and God of War, Resident Evil 7/8, Ff7 Remake and Batman Arkham Games. There's always been good and bad games, I don't think they are all bad.

 

That said, I hate and micro-transaction pay to win,  games as a service bullshit lol. And quality control is definitely lower now then it was a generation ago. The amount of bugs in some AAA games are unforgivable. 

[Graf Zahl]

5 hours ago, DJVCardMaster said:

AAA games are usually bad because companies just want to make money, and it's easier for them to make more of the same without taking risks and still earn some cash, rather than thinking out of the box. Indie-games prove that thinking out of the box is the go-to, so, in the next years, things will balance, and AAA companies will be forced to make good games again. Everything going as natural as possible, that's how it works.
 

 

One thing here should not be overlooked: Recently, both Microsoft and Sony have been on a buying spree for game studios.

So there's quite a bit of market consolidation going on right now.

And both Microsoft and Sony are heavily investing in game subscription services. On one hand it's a bad thing that competition is diminishing, but on the other hand these subscription services might allow to undertake some riskier experiements once in a while because the financial risk is more evenly distributed. I guess we'll see how this plays out.

At least the business model is more honest than making people pay $50+ for a digital copy of the game the user never really owns.

 

I still prefer older games from the Quake engine (1, 3 and 3) era - I wish there'd be more of them. I find the art style infinitely more appealing than modern games.

 

[GooberMan]

18 hours ago, Rudolph said:

What would that game be?

 

 

This game will kick your ass, ya filthy casul.

 

The entire industry is expecting Elden Ring to take the statue next year.

[QuaketallicA]

Honestly I disagree with this sentiment.

 

Doom Eternal

Mortal Kombat X and 11

Injustice 2

Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order

Titanfall 2

Tomb Raider games since 2013 reboot.

Wolfenstein reboots (i.e. TNO, TNC, etc.)

 

Lots of fantastic, incredible games to come out in recent years. These are just the ones I've played.

Edited August 3, 2022 by QuaketallicA

[QuaketallicA]

2 hours ago, Graf Zahl said:

I still prefer older games from the Quake engine (1, 3 and 3) era - I wish there'd be more of them. I find the art style infinitely more appealing than modern games.

 

 

Why not both? Old school and recent. Jedi Fallen Order is as good as, arguably even a worthy successor to the Jedi Knight series from 90s-Quake 3 days. That game doesn't just look like a movie, it feels like a movie. The experience is so seemless. You never load a level because it all happens in the background when you actually choose your destination and actually put it into the holomap and fly into hyperspace, all in real time in the game. The worlds and planets feel endless (but with expert level design). It's like in the og Half-Life, but without the half-second pause.

[PKr]

43 minutes ago, QuaketallicA said:

Honestly I disagree with this sentiment.

 

Doom Eternal

Mortal Kombat X and 11

Injustice 2

Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order

Titanfall 2

Tomb Raider games since 2013 reboot.

Wolfenstein reboots (i.e. TNO, TNC, etc.)

 

Lots of fantastic, incredible games to come out in recent years. These are just the ones I've played.

Tomb Raider 2013...

 

This particular game is a complete mystery for me. I have no explanation how it survived TR fans and got such a positive feedback from "everyone". It's actually pretty much the second worst game from 2010s I have played (the first place would go to Watch Dogs... I am still bitter that I spent 59,99 on this game for some incomprehensible reason even after all these years).

 

39 minutes ago, QuaketallicA said:

 

Why not both? Old school and recent. Jedi Fallen Order is as good as, arguably even a worthy successor to the Jedi Knight series from 90s-Quake 3 days. That game doesn't just look like a movie, it feels like a movie. The experience is so seemless. You never load a level because it all happens in the background when you actually choose your destination and actually put it into the holomap and fly into hyperspace, all in real time in the game. The worlds and planets feel endless (but with expert level design). It's like in the og Half-Life, but without the half-second pause.

As for Jedi Fallen Order not just looking like a movie, but feeling like a movie - how's that a good thing? Not saying that this game is bad or something, as I haven't played it, but in my book if somebody mentions how the game XYZ feels like a movie (or describes the game as an "experience", etc) then it is a big red flag and an indicator that there might be something wrong with the game.

Edited August 3, 2022 by PKr

[Kinsie]

1 hour ago, GooberMan said:

The entire industry is expecting Elden Ring to take the statue next year.

Probably less "the statue" and more "every statue, all of the trophies, most of the medals and probably also the key to the city of Tokyo".

 

Game done good.

[BGreener]

I’m not entirely dismissive of “AAA” games but I’ve certainly grown up from thinking they were flawless. Some concerns started to arise after the 360 was out for a bit, but some of the releases in 2012-2013 helped solidify that feeling of “disillusionment”: Mass Effect 3, Diablo 3, Dead Space 3 - quite the trio of trilogies! There was Bioshock Infinite as well, another “3”, not a huge disappointment but still fun and nowhere near as frightful as what the previously mentioned trilogy enders did for their series.

 

I understand and anticipated how “microtransacty” games would become but I‘ll always be bummed by it. I used to work retail several years ago and these two 10-or-so year olds came in looking to buy “virtual currency” for an NBA 2K game. While ringing them up I asked what they needed it for because I had never played it: There’s a game mode where your created character can be picked on a team, but the kids said if their player didn’t look awesome or have good stats they wouldn’t be picked. That’s what the currency was going to help with, to boost their character and appearance.

 

I’m not as naive as I was even back then, but I still get disgusted recalling that. I get how much money comes in through these microtransactions but hate how much cash comes through kids. Especially indirect profits like a parent neglecting to erase card history on consoles, then boom - kid puts at least $1k into Fortnite, 2K or Fifa.

[Taw Tu'lki]

All modern games are suck

[Rudolph]

6 hours ago, BGrieber said:

Diablo 3

I actually enjoyed that one and I would even go as far as to say it is the only Diablo game I ever cared about. I liked it even better when Reaper of Souls came out and Blizzard introduced Adventure Mode and the customizable difficulty system while ditching the Auction House.

 

Imagine how disappointed I was when I learned that the game did not do well enough for Blizzard to release the planned second expansion, although a good chunk of its content was then released for free through updates, thankfully enough. I was also disappointed by Diablo IV's trailer as well, as it does not look like it is going to pick up where Diablo IV left off. I wanted to fight Imperius, goddamnit! Diablo Immortal being originally announced as a mobile exclusive was unexpected, but it looked like the closest thing to another Diablo III expansion, so I was cautiously optimistic, especially after Blizzard annoucing a PC port.

 

But then, in addition to revealing itself to be a terrible, terrible employer, Blizzard decided to release microtransaction-laden Diablo Immortal.

[LadyMistDragon]

Diablo III, the game's whose plot made mincemeat of the continuity in a way that piss off long-time fans who actually pay attention to the admittedly thin plot? It's fun enough if you like Diablo I suppose, but the corny dialogue spoken by Diablo is too damn much. So glad I watched an LP of the game instead of buying the worthless thing.

[Rudolph]

1 hour ago, LadyMistDragon said:

plot made mincemeat of the continuity

Fine by me. Diablo did not have much of a plot to begin with - and then it proceeded to make it all irrelevant with its ending - and I hate Diablo II's story with a burning passion. There are things about Diablo III's story that I would have done differently, of course, but it had more than enough fun characters and set pieces to make me care about what was going on and where it was taking me.

 

I would probably be tempted to reinstall it right now if it were not for Blizzard being absolutely the worst as an employer.

Edited August 4, 2022 by Rudolph

[Ozcar]

.

Edited October 11, 2022 by Ozcar

[Ozcar]

Only thing they keep me brothering is Remastered old game, I mean Its cool improved graphics, but Thats its? Is that only improved graphics? Not mention they can ruin art style like call of duty 4.

 

And also all free to play games  {exception tf2, because tf2 used to be paid} Is garbage.

[BGreener]

14 hours ago, Rudolph said:

I liked it even better when Reaper of Souls came out and Blizzard introduced Adventure Mode and the customizable difficulty system while ditching the Auction House.

Bolded for thread relevancy, it was a damning precedent to be see set, and from a AAA studio at that. The changes to droprates, difficulties and their scaling, build flexibility, etc. all showed how shackled they were to not undermining the auction house. The expansion was a step forward after a catastrophic step back.

 

This is all shortly before Blizzard would implement the WoW token, allowing players do buy it with real cash and then sell it to players for gold. The player buying the token can use it to buy a month of gametime. Blizzard has been weird for awhile, but Activision buying them out in 2008 accelerated their silliness.

[DuckReconMajor]

Never change, Doomworld.

I remember reading about a company in 1994 making what amounted to a big expansion pack to their masterpiece, and selling it as its own game

[Rudolph]

1 hour ago, BGrieber said:

Bolded for thread relevancy, it was a damning precedent to be see set, and from a AAA studio at that. The changes to droprates, difficulties and their scaling, build flexibility, etc. all showed how shackled they were to not undermining the auction house. The expansion was a step forward after a catastrophic step back.

And clearly, they must have forgotten about it, as they have more or less brought it all back with Diablo Immortal. 

 

I will still defend Diablo III, especially post-patch 2.0, as I have yet to find another action RPG that is as satisfying to play (and I did try, just so we are clear), but with everything that is going on right now, Blizzard is dead to me now.

 

23 minutes ago, DuckReconMajor said:

I remember reading about a company in 1994 making what amounted to a big expansion pack to their masterpiece, and selling it as its own game

Really not the same thing, I would say.

 

Doom II was almost as long as The Ultimate Doom and it came with enough new features to feel like a new experience. As such, there was nothing wrong with releasing it as a standalone game. In many ways, it is not so different from Westwood's Command & Conquer: Red Alert.

Edited August 4, 2022 by Rudolph

[Kinsie]

My disturbing, bordering-on-sexual lust for specific corporate brands means I will unquestioningly forgive the Doom intellectual property for introducing expandalones and paid mods into the world.

[Rudolph]

1 hour ago, Kinsie said:

paid mods

What are you referring to specifically?

[Gez]

6 minutes ago, Rudolph said:

What are you referring to specifically?

Master Levels for Doom II was the Creation Club long before id was bought by Bethesda's parent company.

[Ozcar]

Cant wait to this thread got locked again.

[mrthejoshmon]

We got any Maximum Doom apologists in the room?

 

[BGreener]

11 hours ago, Rudolph said:

And clearly, they must have forgotten about it, as they have more or less brought it all back with Diablo Immortal. 

They didn’t “forget” a thing, this is just how Blizzard works now. They’re just more blatant about it. The changes to D3 through its expansion weren’t in realizing some form of goodwill and integrity, it was realizing the AH wasn’t worth maintaining and they salvaged the game appropriately. The public backlash didn't matter then and it certainly doesn't now, they don't have much left to lose in the public eye.

Edited August 5, 2022 by BGrieber

[Kinsie]

1 hour ago, Gez said:

Master Levels for Doom II was the Creation Club long before id was bought by Bethesda's parent company.

I was actually thinking of TNT, which was originally intended as a free megawad before signing a publishing deal literally the night before it was planned to be released.

[Rudolph]

2 hours ago, Gez said:

Master Levels for Doom II was the Creation Club long before id was bought by Bethesda's parent company.

But those are not mods, right? Or do they technically count as such because of their custom textures and tracks?

 

2 hours ago, BGrieber said:

They didn’t “forget” a thing, this is just how Blizzard works now.

What I meant is that they seem to have forgotten about the backlash that led to the removal of the Auction House in the first place.

 

Diablo Immortal's announcement was already a PR disaster, so I do not understand how they think they can get away with it now.