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[DoubleClutch]

Would they be pleasantly surprised or sad to see what gaming has become?

In terms of considering gaming as a whole (not just multiplayer or single player for example).

 

[Danjin44]

Things haven't changed much for me, I mostly played Japanese games when I was younger and I still play them today.

Only thing that changed is I care less about Sony exclusives compare to back then.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

If my last self from 2000 got fast forwarded 25 years, a few things that would stand out…

- Graphics look nearly as good as movies now (Last of Us 2, Hellblade 2)

- Online gaming looks more boring than I imagined

- What happened to arcade racers?

- Wow, Sega ended up ever worse than I expected

- Christ, what a shithole Britain turned in to

 

[Hunter 99]

It's a good question but if your talking 90s me playing streets of rage on megadrive and then flashing forward to see 2024 I would think the graphics and gameplay were out of this world.also vr would be mind blowing for 6 year old me.

 

[Hookshot]

Depends how long ago you mean. Sonic 2 - 3 and Knuckles me would probably be devastated at how badly the games went.
Westwood/Bullfrog me would probably cry
Metroid me would be amazed but annoyed by the delays and massive gap in 2d games.
Zelda me would be completely mind blown.
PS2 me would miss the mid range games that defined genres without needing massive budgets.

 

[cireza]

This :

 

[xVodevil]

Well that depends.. gaming industry is kinda greedy & shit with all the preorders+dlc+early access kinda AAA release with mandatory apology posts..
But actual good games are fucking mind blowing compared to pre 2004 (basically pre DOOM 3, HL2 release) but here comes the depends part, because that was the first time in my early gaming years when my mind was blown for good after 5 or so years of getting into it.

 

[Hunter 99]

If my last self from 2000 got fast forwarded 25 years, a few things that would stand out…

- Graphics look nearly as good as movies now (Last of Us 2, Hellblade 2)

- What happened to arcade racers

- Wow, Sega ended up ever worse than I expected

I agree with the sega comment.that would be dissapointing

 

[IDKFA]

"is this it" would probably be my reaction. Especially if you took me from 2004 to now.

 

[semiconscious]

back when i was my past self, there were no video games. so i'd likely've been pretty darned impressed...

 

[HRK69]

 

[Magic Carpet]

Depends on how many decades, 3 decades ago I would be freaking out.
1 decade ago, I would think things would be more impressive. This is it?

 

[Guilty_AI]

"Why are you a weeb?"

 

[Draugoth]

We were all expecting the game landscape to continue to evolve graphically and in size. ( I was there)

No one expected Horse Armor DLC to evolve into $99 cosmetics

 

[EverydayBeast]

If your past self could arrive and see the present gaming world, what would they think of it?

 

[MostlyPeaceful]

Why is every main character a woman now, and why do most of them look like men

 

[March Climber]

The juxtaposition of everyone online being in a perpetual culture war and negative on almost everything vs the benefit of having hundreds of fun game options, old and new, across all genres?

I think he would be fine as long as he kept social media(including forums) to a huge minimum and had fun instead.

The less time a person spends reading what others online have to say and getting angry at it, the better, more carefree life they will live.

 

[Kagoshima_Luke]

 

[Gorilla Shark]

"Wow. Everything is so fucking gay"

 

[Damigos]

"Why is everything worse ?"

 

[Cert.in.Death]

I'd be dumbfounded that games save on their own. Do you know how many times I used the excuse "I have to find a save point" so I could keep playing?

 

[killatopak]

Definitely worse. Like a LOT.

Quality is subjective but game releases fucking take too long.

Just a reminder that the release of SH 2 to SH 4 was in the span of three years.

Basically a year for every release.

I can probably list a ton of games here like FF, Onimusha, Fatal Frame, Tekken, Megaman, .Hack etc. You get the point. These game series released up to six games in a span of a generation.

 

[ReBurn]

"So instead of spending 60 bucks for a game you finish in an hour you spend 60 bucks for a game you finish in 10 hours? Seems like a good deal!"

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

If only men in suits and shareholders have looked elsewhere...

 

[Last Hearth]

I would be amazed at the technological advancements and aghast at the utter bankruptcy of passion and creativity,

 

[Paasei]

I think it's a mixture of all options really. Some games are great, some are bad or even terrible. Good graphics but also a lack in creativity.

Less games made for pure joy and more so leaning towards a story.

 

[tommib]

Not enough dark sci-fi games.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Past self?

It consisted of this

I don't think I would've believed you

 

[Puscifer]

"is this it" would probably be my reaction. Especially if you took me from 2004 to now.

Pretty much. I tell people all the time you could stay at the PS2/GC/XBOX/PC pre 2005 and have enough interesting variety of games you'd never have to worry about anything modern

 

[Trogdor1123]

probably be blown away by all the change to online and think it's just amazing at first… and then it would sink in… no codes… no secrets to find… everything monitized… lots of people pushing agendas.

 

[Laptop1991]

if you told me in 2013 that Bethesda would only care about online with stores and MTX and abandon Single Player basically for ESO and Fallout 76 and their mobile money makers, and not make any Elder scroll games for up to 20 years, i would of thought you were insane, but here we are!, it's way worse for me.

 

[SJRB]

50% amazed at the visual fidelity, 50% horrified at how many legacy games are dead, how utterly shit a lot of big publisher games have become and how much ideology, politics and "the message" have penetrated the industry.

 

[Plies]

I thought Skynet would have taken over by now, so I gotta say better than expected.

 

[BennyBlanco]

I remember playing Morrowind and AOE2, and thinking gaming would just keep getting better and more complex/ immersive.

Now 20 years later I still play Morrowind and AOE2.

 

[RAIDEN1]

I mean who knew 2004 would end up being a better time in gaming than 2024.....back then you got what you paid for..and more diverse genres around....especially with the likes of Ridge Racer, Metal Gear still alive and kicking...yet now look at it, Konami has to retread old ground with MGS3, to revive the glory years..

 

[jshackles]

My past self would be amazed that

a) So many awesome games exist
b) You can play them anywhere
c) On a huge variety of devices

 

[intbal]

"How did they fuck up a formula as simple as Duke Nukem?"

 

[MarV0]

 

[Akuji]

if my 12 year old alter ego would be dropped into todays gaming world, it would be very much disapointed at first. when i show the amount of great games that fly under the radar of big games, which wasnt really that big a deal back in the 90s and early 00s then it would start to love the current gaming age. You can buy game that are incredible good for like 5-10€ and there are dozens if not hundreds of games that rival the very best of all time for that pricepoint.

Gaming is only boring or "there are no games" when u dont look whats really out there.
Hollow Knight, Until Dawn, Pubg, Northgard, Path of Exile, Valheim, Vampire Survivors, Catherine, Fall guys, Rocket league, Among us, Dead Cells, Cult of the Lamb, Dont Starve and so many more. just what comes to mind.
Also there are still a shitload of great big games, Astrobot just releasing, God of War 2018, Bloodborne, Elden Ring, Dark Souls 3, FF7 Remake, FF7 Rebirth, FF16, Persona 5, Breath of the Wild, Luigis Mansion 3, Ori Games, Returnal, Ratchet and Clank,
Cuphead, Witcher 3, Cyberpunk, Tunic, Kena, Stellar Blade, Bulders Gate 3, Wukong and many more. Its actually insane.

Cant imagine playing all those games, literally just have the time to play a few of the games that i think are very intersting.

 

[Rockondevil]

There's the obvious offenders like GAAS etc. but personally, I miss game chat. Nobody talks anymore and hasn't for many years now.
I used to love FPS games before that, and I wish they had a game mode that was only for people with mics in.

 

[reinking]

My past self would be amazed just at how far phones, VR and video game console tech have come. He would also be disappointed with the way microtransactions and predatory practices have become a norm for the industry.

 

[DAHGAMING]

 

[Zannegan]

Past me wouldn't have figured on the massively ballooning budgets that so cut down on the number and varuety of games in the AAA space.

 

[TintoConCasera]

I would probably piss and shit myself when seeing stuff like the Steam Deck, VR or how graphics look today.

I'll probably be quite disappointed when actually playing modern games, since they play basically the same if not worse than games from the past.

 

[Bry0]

Some games would blow me away with the scale and graphics but a lot of the monetization would be gross.

 

[Ozzie666]

Where the hell did Epyx, Accolade, Microprose, Origin Systems and Cinemaware go?

 

[DirtyBast8rd]

Technology wise, way better than expected. Creatively and culture wise, it sucks.

 

[digdug2]

5 year old me would be blown away by the evolution of the Nintendo franchises that I played in 1989.

18 year old me in 2002 would be impressed with the graphics but disappointed with the direction that they went though (buggy as fuck launches, corporate greed leading to having to pay 100 bucks to get a full game, and battle passes would annoy the fuck out of me).

23 year old me in 2007 would not have believed how quickly cell phones, internet, and computers would advance in such a short time.

40 year old me is always tired and one sneeze away from throwing out my back.

What will the technology landscape in 10 years look like for 50 year old me?

 

[danklord]

I didn't expect the 2010's to be a gaming renaissance, and the cold corporate world of the 2020's to be so soulless in creativity.

 

[Arsic]

One thing I always wanted when I was little, and we are on the cusp of it, is any name you put in for a character would be voice acted and said in game.

I always thought that would be such an immersive thing to hear your name and not just read it.

Instead I get fat fucks named Daw in a game called concord for $40, dragon age including non binary characters, and paying $100 to play a game 3 days early.

Worst timeline. I could drone on like you all could forever on a million things gone wrong from JRPGs becoming donkey shit, final fantasy xi now being a turd, and dozens of amazing franchises ruined.