Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.
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2 years late to the party but I've started playing Elden Ring.
Long story short, I mostly agree with the majority sentiment, that it feels like how games used to feel like. It's not exactly controversial to assert that modern triple A games are terrible. Much has been said and written about why modern triple A games have regressed in quality and how Elden Ring was a breath of fresh air because it didn't make those same mistakes.
But here's my shower thought. And it might be dead obvious but I'll share nonetheless. It doesn't have to be that way!
Elden Ring feels more like the games from the 90s than games from the 90s. And that's obviously because we have better tooling and hardware in just about every aspect. It's infinitely easier to make good games now than it was in the 90s, we just don't make them.
It's also infinitely easier to write good software now. We have gpt, forums with decades of content, ides, YouTube, etc. Why do we keep on writing bloated shit? We don't have to.
Macdonald's fries would still be good if they used beef tallow.
Just about every way In which the quality of things regressed, it's easier now than ever to make an even higher quality version.
Something is wrong with us, that we don't. And I don't believe it's an eternal September the masses want slop situation, that's a copout. Elden Ring is one of the best selling games of 2022. It's a culture thing.
I think what you identify as "feeling like games from the 90s" is the lack of shame of letting you feel the designer's hand. Western designers seem obsessed with making games that feel like systems piled on top of systems. Levels that feel like they they were designed by following rules rather than just "being how they are" because a designer wanted it so. To create difficulty, a western developper create a class of boss or miniboss enemy with tweaked numbers to make it more difficult. To create difficulty, a From Software level designer puts a normal trash mob like a dog around a corner so you don't see him and he blindsides you, then makes another dog fall from above on you because haha funny! Western games barely ever do this anymore, they don't want you to think about (curse) the level designer.
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