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[jayj]

Anybody else have this realization? I have spent a lot of money on games I had an interest in on various platforms lately thanks to all the sale events that have been going on for the past month, and looking back I think about 90% of it has been spent on indie and AA games. I mean I could have easily spent that money on some big AAA releases, but I have no interest in most of them for the most part. "AA" games have been really grabbing my attention especially, games with good/decent graphics that standout over the typical retro-esque indie stuff, that lack big publisher backing and massive budgets. It just seems like that's where the majority of games that grab my attention have been coming from. When I take a look at big hyped up AAA games lately, so much of it just fails to appeal to my personal interests for various reasons. It's at the point where I no longer have any faith in big developers/franchises that I used to enjoy.

I guess this is my answer when people try to act like I can't enjoy games when I am critical of the AAA industry. I clearly do have an interest still, I just can't relate to all the big video games media hype anymore.

 

[bender]

I think all budget sizes are guilty of chasing the latest trends which gets really stale really quickly. How many Vampire Survivor knock-offs do we really need? I do agree that the smaller the budget size, the more apt you are to see new ideas but that new idea will almost always get knocked off within a few weeks with few exceptions. I still have excitement for some AAA titles coming out of Japan thanks to the likes of Nintendo, Capcom, and Fromsoft. But more than anything, I find myself appreciating older games more these days.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

I think I realized how little I like most AAA games some time around mid last gen. Last AC I really enjoyed was Black Flag, and FC games was 3.

 

[jayj]

I think all budget sizes are guilty of chasing the latest trends which gets really stale really quickly. How many Vampire Survivor knock-offs do we really need? I do agree that the smaller the budget size, the more apt you are to see new ideas but that new idea will almost always get knocked off within a few weeks with few exceptions. I still have excitement for some AAA titles coming out of Japan thanks to the likes of Nintendo, Capcom, and Fromsoft. But more than anything, I find myself appreciating older games more these days.

Yeah all the trend chasing is why I have mixed opinions about the indie scene. Some of it is some genuinely great stuff where you can really see how passionate the creators were, others just feel like lazy cash grabs that try to copy and paste the formula for other popular indie games. Then you got all the lazy mobile gaming ports that can infest digital stores. On top of that I have noted a lot of inconsistency among indie devs, where they will create a great and original game, then their follow-ups or sequels just fail to capture the magic or feel like they became infested with the kind of nonsense I see in AAA games as they grew or got acquired by a big publisher.

 

[Danjin44]

I personally dont pay attention to whats considered AA or AAA, I play what I like.

 

[Mr Hyde]

I play less and less AAA as the years go by. Overall, I play maybe 3-4 depending on size of the game. I almost never buy day 1 either, I usually wait, sometimes up to a year or two before I pull the trigger. I tend to gravitate more towards retro, indie and AA. I think they are way more fun these days. I can definitely see myself in 10 years not giving a fuck when it comes to AAA/modern gaming. Aside from pretty graphics, it's a segment of gaming that's stagnating rapidly.

 

[DeliciousDoc]

Indie games have that PS2 era magic to them where you get people trying a lot of new ideas or they try to copy games from that era.

You get stinkers too but without stinkers, you get bland safe modern games. Also, those indie games are generally not made for everyman Andy but for a specific demographic. Andy then buys games based on hype within a community then complains its not an action/cinematic/shooting game with rpg progression like his Sony games.

It's either nostalgia for that era or people are (re)discovering why it's great.

 

[Kupfer]

With so much money now going into and behind AAA gaming, most games just feel like a calculated checklist that ticks off the most promising and profitable points. No one can tell me that in studios with hundreds of employees, everyone works on a project with euphoria and enthusiasm, for many it's probably just a job.
Suits who have nothing to do with gaming and who don't know the clientele have to be satisfied.
As a result, the games are not very innovative, are in a way standardized, don't dare to do much and are often simply boring.
It is precisely in these times that small developers with new ideas stand out, who may have a limited budget at their disposal, but who put all their dedication and love into the project.

 

[Crayon]

Some are really good but it's a long time between those.

 

[semiconscious]

Some are really good but it's a long time between those.

yep. hogwarts legacy & re4 remake were the only 2 big titles i genuinely enjoyed this year. & i played a few...

 

[Laptop1991]

AAA games keep coming out unfinished and broken now, so i end up waiting up to a few years for them to be fixed and full, so i might as well wait and buy them complete at the end for a cheaper price, that sums up most modern AAA games now in my opinion.

 

[Aces High]

AAA games have become the McDonald's experience of gaming.

Pretty much the worst way to spend your hard earned money.

 

[Fess]

For me it’s the story and cinematics focus.

If telling a story is a big focus then what if someone don’t find the story and themes interesting?

For me it’s like reading the synopsis of a movie and finding out that it sounds boring. Then I just move along to something else. Zero interest.
It’s a real bummer that AAA gaming has fallen into that trap.

So I just think gaming in general needs to start focusing on gameplay mechanics instead.

I started playing Cocoon a couple days ago. I’ve had more fun with that than almost all big games I’ve played this supposedly best year in gaming.
What’s the story about? No idea.

 

[Mr Reasonable]

What’s the story about? No idea.

I feel broadly the same, it surprises me how often I see people talking about the story dictating even part of their enjoyment in a AAA game, because generally speaking I think a game's story is one of the least important parts of a game.

There are, I'm sure, many examples of games being limited in some way to make a game's story work and I have no idea why developers do it. Some of the most played and enjoyed games don't have any story at all, and I wish more games focused on making something fun to play first and telling a story a distant second.

AAA games are plagued with cutscenes, slow walking and, my least favorite by far, emails from characters that the player is encouraged to read to flesh out the story during a play through. I think of the effort and time that went into making sure those emails are rendered through a mock up 8bit green screen interface, or through an imagined OS that has an interface to get used to, all so players can sift through nonsense "security reports" where nothing happens for days on end before you get to one email that says "that weird red light is back again, I wish maintenance would fix it, now I've got to go check the security gate again. I'm going to be late for my daughter's birthday now" or something similar, only for no more emails to arrive from the head of security. Leading you to conclude that the monster that you already know is out there has claimed another victim.

Like, I get trying to tell a story and how appealing that is for developers, but for players? I just don't know why Gamers who are being sold an action game are being given cutscenes to watch or emails to read between gameplay sections. People surely want to actually play games, right? Interactivity is key.

I might be wrong and that people actually love those cutscenes and emails. If that was the case, why don't games advertise it? 3 hours of cutscenes! And over 1000 emails to read! That would be on trailers or on the back of boxes if people actually wanted it, right? Personally, I couldn't care less when developers show photographs from their mocap studio, I also don't really care when a Hollywood actor is announced to be in a game.

Does it play well? That's all that matters.

 

[LostInTime]

The only modern AAA games I like these days are the remakes and a few other Japanese ones. I'm the same way going through all these sales. Most of these games on sale I have no interest in or I already own them.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

I personally dont pay attention to whats considered AA or AAA, I play what I like.

Pretty sure OP didn't go to the Steam store thinking "oh my, where is the section for these great AA games?". It's the other way round, he bought some games and then realized they can all be categorized like that. Big difference.

 

[Danjin44]

Pretty sure OP didn't go to the Steam store thinking "oh my, where is the section for these great AA games?". It's the other way round, he bought some games and then realized they can all be categorized like that. Big difference.

The point of my post is it doesn't matter if the game is AAA or AA. There are AAA games I enjoyed like RE4 and Elden Ring and there are AA games also equally enjoyed like Armored Core VI and Octopath 2.

To me all "AAA" means it has bigger budget in both development and marketing compare to AA games, heck being AAA doesn't even mean its more polished, just looks at Cyberpunk 2077 which when its first released it was downright broken.

 

[Fess]

I feel broadly the same, it surprises me how often I see people talking about the story dictating even part of their enjoyment in a AAA game, because generally speaking I think a game's story is one of the least important parts of a game.

There are, I'm sure, many examples of games being limited in some way to make a game's story work and I have no idea why developers do it. Some of the most played and enjoyed games don't have any story at all, and I wish more games focused on making something fun to play first and telling a story a distant second.

AAA games are plagued with cutscenes, slow walking and, my least favorite by far, emails from characters that the player is encouraged to read to flesh out the story during their play through. All rendered through a mock up 8bit green screen interface, or through an OS that has an interface to get used to, so they can sift through nonsense "security reports" where nothing happens for days on end before you get to one saying "that weird red light is back again, I wish maintenance would fix it, now I've got to go check the security gate again" or something similar only for no more emails to arrive from the head of security. Leading you to conclude that the monster that you already know is out there has claimed another victim.

Like, I get trying to tell a story and how appealing that is for developers, but for players? I just don't know why Gamers who are being sold an action game are being given cutscenes to watch or emails to read between gameplay section. People surely want to actually play games, right?

I might be wrong and people actually love those cutscenes and emails. If that was the case, why don't games advertise it? 3 hours of cutscenes! And over 1000 emails to read! That would be on trailers or on the back of boxes if people actually wanted it, right?

When did all this - let’s stop playing and enjoy the story - thing start?

Cadaver on the Amiga had some journals of past adventures struggles.

Resident Evil had the journals when people wrote about turning into zombies.

In Horizon Zero Dawn and Rise of the Tomb Raider they turned the deeper story into an exploration collectathon of voice recordings.

Then there is the slow talk walks in Gears and rides in RDR2 and Ragnarök and climbing in Uncharted etc only there for story-telling but not actually fun to play.

I feel like AAA games in general these days are wasting my time to tell a story I might not even find interesting.

In Skyrim you can at least close the books and in Starfield you can mash through dialogue and the voice recordings are playing while you keep playing.

But I enjoy games where the story is told in other ways. Or not at all.

Not the best example since it’s a slow game (but also short). Scorn will probably never leave my mind. Not a single spoken line and still full of story-telling through the environment and themes and design and animations. Weird, unique, unforgettable.

 

[ahtlas7]

Reminds me why I like NCAA sports more than Pro sports. It’s like money replaces heart in the pro or AAA level of corporate drivel.

 

[existensmaximum]

Anybody else have this realization? I have spent a lot of money on games I had an interest in on various platforms lately thanks to all the sale events that have been going on for the past month, and looking back I think about 90% of it has been spent on indie and AA games. I mean I could have easily spent that money on some big AAA releases, but I have no interest in most of them for the most part. "AA" games have been really grabbing my attention especially, games with good/decent graphics that standout over the typical retro-esque indie stuff, that lack big publisher backing and massive budgets. It just seems like that's where the majority of games that grab my attention have been coming from. When I take a look at big hyped up AAA games lately, so much of it just fails to appeal to my personal interests for various reasons. It's at the point where I no longer have any faith in big developers/franchises that I used to enjoy.

I guess this is my answer when people try to act like I can't enjoy games when I am critical of the AAA industry. I clearly do have an interest still, I just can't relate to all the big video games media hype anymore.

Could you give us some context, what are some of the AA games and indies that you enjoy?

 

[Mr Reasonable]

When did all this - let’s stop playing and enjoy the story - thing start?

Cadaver on the Amiga had some journals of past adventures struggles.

Resident Evil had the journals when people wrote about turning into zombies.

In Horizon Zero Dawn and Rise of the Tomb Raider they turned the deeper story into an exploration collectathon of voice recordings.

Then there is the slow talk walks in Gears and rides in RDR2 and Ragnarök and climbing in Uncharted etc only there for story-telling but not actually fun to play.

I feel like AAA games in general these days are wasting my time to tell a story I might not even find interesting.

In Skyrim you can at least close the books and in Starfield you can mash through dialogue and the voice recordings are playing while you keep playing.

But I enjoy games where the story is told in other ways. Or not at all.

Not the best example since it’s a slow game (but also short). Scorn will probably never leave my mind. Not a single spoken line and still full of story-telling through the environment and themes and design and animations. Weird, unique, unforgettable.

I didn't like Scorn much but I take your point, and agree. I'd much rather see storytelling done through experiences and environment.

I think Gears was one of the first slow walks I can remember, and I assume lengthy cutscenes come from PlayStation/PlayStation 2 era games where storing fmv was suddenly more viable, and a great marketing tool. Which meant lots of big games ended up including them.

I think you've made a good point with Resident Evil's Journals but I also think that because they were more respectful of player time (they were shorter) and far less numerous it's less of an interference and actually does add something. In some games it seems like every other room has a computer with a dozen new emails to read.

You can of course not bother reading them, but then I feel like I'm missing out on something.

I guess, the problem isn't necessarily the cutscene or the email. It might just be the frequency. If you had a cutscene every 6 hours of gameplay - maybe 3 times in a game, you might think it was important or noteworthy. Every 30 minutes? Not so much.

I'm not averse to good stories in games, but I think storytelling method and medium is important.

If you went to see a film and every ten minutes you had to read a block of text on screen, people would start to question the film's ability to tell a story. I think the same question could be leveled at some games. If you can't tell the story without dramatically altering the experience of playing the game, is the story heading for the correct format?

 

[Team Andromeda]

Yes, because we never had game sales or big discounts back in the so-called glory days. Hell I remember the days when consoles used to be heavily discounted after its launch, remember them ?

 

[Banjo64]

AAA gaming is now in the pop music stage.

Only exception being Japan, which doesn’t surprise me when you look at the values they prioritise over the West.

 

[Hypereides]

AAA games have become the McDonald's experience of gaming.

Pretty much the worst way to spend your hard earned money.

Well put. AA and A games these days are often like that old fashioned homemade meal made with care and homegrown produce.

Meanwhile, modern AAA is like a sloppy Big Mac that only looks great in the adverts.

 

[Fess]

I guess, the problem isn't necessarily the cutscene or the email. It might just be the frequency. If you had a cutscene every 6 hours of gameplay - maybe 3 times in a game, you might think it was important or noteworthy. Every 30 minutes? Not so much.

I'm not averse to good stories in games, but I think storytelling method and medium is important.

If you went to see a film and every ten minutes you had to read a block of text on screen, people would start to question the film's ability to tell a story. I think the same question could be leveled at some games. If you can't tell the story without dramatically altering the experience of playing the game, is the story heading for the correct format?

Agreed on that last bit. Too many game devs seems to want to make hollywood movies. Maybe that’s what they should do instead?

If all I’m doing is pushing forward while listening to characters talking then it feels like my time is wasted if all I wanted to do was playing a game.

They even do these triggered cutscenes in action sequences now, with slow down and some flashing icon so I should know what button to press, even in fighting games.
I mean cutscene action was interesting in the 80s in Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace, I played them over and over, deliberately dying too to see some cool scenes. But 40 years later I’m kinda over that.

I really just want more hands on gaming. I don’t think I have a single story-focused game on my all-time top 10, it’s just not why I play games.

Besides already mentioned Cocoon, which is already on my GOTY list after 2 hours, I’m replaying Hollow Knight as well - Absolute masterpiece. Story-focus? Not so much.

And after plowing through the fairly mid story in Starfield in roughly 80 hours I started over and have since spent 130+ hours building outposts, spaceships, raided pirate nests and just explored the universe, with one main quests done.

Spent 400+ hours in Elden Ring and I’m still playing it on and off enjoying it a ton. If someone would ask me to summarize the story I would go silent lol

I just rather keep playing games like that than the usual 10/10 AAA linear movie games I play once and never touch again.

Idk maybe I’m just getting old a grumpy

 

[Mr Reasonable]

Agreed on that last bit. Too many game devs seems to want to make hollywood movies. Maybe that’s what they should do instead?

If all I’m doing is pushing forward while listening to characters talking then it feels like my time is wasted if all I wanted to do was playing a game.

They even do these triggered cutscenes in action sequences now, with slow down and some flashing icon so I should know what button to press, even in fighting games.
I mean cutscene action was interesting in the 80s in Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace, I played them over and over, deliberately dying too to see some cool scenes. But 40 years later I’m kinda over that.

I really just want more hands on gaming. I don’t think I have a single story-focused game on my all-time top 10, it’s just not why I play games.

Besides already mentioned Cocoon, which is already on my GOTY list after 2 hours, I’m replaying Hollow Knight as well - Absolute masterpiece. Story-focus? Not so much.

And after plowing through the fairly mid story in Starfield in roughly 80 hours I started over and have since spent 130+ hours building outposts, spaceships, raided pirate nests and just explored the universe, with one main quests done.

Spent 400+ hours in Elden Ring and I’m still playing it on and off enjoying it a ton. If someone would ask me to summarize the story I would go silent lol

I just rather keep playing games like that than the usual 10/10 AAA linear movie games I play once and never touch again.

Idk maybe I’m just getting old a grumpy

Ha, I was thinking recently how I used to look at people saying how much they enjoyed retro gaming, but I think I'm starting to get it now. Retrogaming is all about the gameplay. There isn't anything else there.

I'm not saying that pacman and space invaders are it for me, but your Starfield description could be my Totk. I'm not really sure what the plot is, but I'm enjoying making things, having little battles and exploring.

 

[Three]

I can't keep up with this crap anymore. People would complain about pretty much the smallest things and whip themselves up into a frenzy to not enjoy themselves. When the PS4 released everybody complained about the "Indiestation", how the games early in the gen were not AAA and state of plays were the "state of indies" or whatever. Now we hate AAA big games instead. We complain about the dumbest smallest things there now too just out of hate, oh no I had to play as MJ or the boy for a small fraction of a 17hr game. Meanwhile some don't mind playing as somebody else entirely in a game named after the main character Alan Wake for the entirety of the game. There is nothing wrong with it. It's just constant complaining about the most mundane things in a game rather than enjoying what we're getting.

 

[HL3.exe]

I try to at least appreciate a new AAA release. But for some reason they stopped focussing on the stuff I liked about AAA: showing off new animation/physics tech. Implementing in such a way that it creates interesting or new mechanics.

Using AAA budgets (or even AA budgets) to create a reactive world. Stuff like that happened quite often in the 2000's. An era where innovation was the main selling point, and competition was fierce. From MGS2 -> ICO -> GTA 3 -> Riddick escape from Butcher Bay -> Far Cry 1 -> Doom 3 -> SC Chaos Theory -> F.E.A.R -> Shadow of The Colossus -> Crysis -> GTA IV -> Far Cry 2, etc. Trying new mechanics or design structure in big and small ways to compete with other game studios, using (back then) leaps in tech innovation (ai, animation, physics, dynamic lighting, etc)

But with the budget being unsustainable, and the audience getting larger and less nerdy, they somehow stopped focussing on that, and focus mainly on the visual fidelity, while the world's become more static and mechanics more arcade-y.

 

[IAmRei]

Anybody else have this realization? I have spent a lot of money on games I had an interest in on various platforms lately thanks to all the sale events that have been going on for the past month, and looking back I think about 90% of it has been spent on indie and AA games. I mean I could have easily spent that money on some big AAA releases, but I have no interest in most of them for the most part. "AA" games have been really grabbing my attention especially, games with good/decent graphics that standout over the typical retro-esque indie stuff, that lack big publisher backing and massive budgets. It just seems like that's where the majority of games that grab my attention have been coming from. When I take a look at big hyped up AAA games lately, so much of it just fails to appeal to my personal interests for various reasons. It's at the point where I no longer have any faith in big developers/franchises that I used to enjoy.

I guess this is my answer when people try to act like I can't enjoy games when I am critical of the AAA industry. I clearly do have an interest still, I just can't relate to all the big video games media hype anymore.

Samey, i often skip AAA or trending Indies. I often see underrated, overlook, or obscure games to find something to pique my interest. But still, id like to try if there is new AAA that attract me. Although, its getting rarer and rarer these days...

 

[Soodanim]

I'm definitely less interested in the big names than I used to be. But I'm not a teenager anymore and lots of things change over time - both for the individual and the industry.

The only game I've picked up this sale season is God of War on Steam.

 

[KXVXII9X]

I'm not personally fond of the current Sony and Ubisoft third person open world action adventure AAA template but I do like AAA games that break out of that. It is either that or some live service shenanigans.

I would personally say there isn't as much variety in the AAA space. Not that Indies aren't plagued with the same genres over and over and over and over again.

Like someone else mentioned, there has been little innovation on gameplay and tech advancements like physics, animations, AI, and new gameplay ideas. I think it is why I took an interest to VR and like what people call "gimmicks."

 

[Rickyiez]

You grown up, that's all.

BG3, FF16, RE4:R, Spiderman 2, Zelda TotK are pretty solid this year isn't it?

And I'm absolute hyped for next year AAA
Granblue Fantasy Relink
FF7 Rebirth
Persona 3 Reload
Dragon Dogma 2
Metaphor Refantazio
Black Myth Wukong

Japan by itself pretty much saves the AAA industry

 

[lughnasadh123]

Judging from sales there's a good amount of people who clearly do enjoy playing AAA games including me. Indies generally tend to bore more me a whole lot faster. Great thing is there's a lot to enjoy regardless of what kind of game you prefer.

 

[Evil Calvin]

You grown up, that's all.

BG3, FF16, RE4:R, Spiderman 2, Zelda TotK are pretty solid this year isn't it?

And I'm absolute hyped for next year AAA
Granblue Fantasy Relink
FF7 Rebirth
Persona 3 Reload
Dragon Dogma 2
Metaphor Refantazio
Black Myth Wukong

Japan by itself pretty much saves the AAA industry

Actually, FF16 RE4 SM2 and TOTK didn't get universal praise (although many GOTY lists) for being a little redundant. Those were all a bit 'more of the same'. BG3 was a sequel to a 20+ year old game, and really nothing like the originals.

 

[mdkirby]

Yeah probably somewhat similar here. The big AAA single player narrative games I like are somewhat few and far between, and I start a new game based on what matches the mood and vibe I’m looking for at the time, it could well be something somewhat “comfort food” like. So yeah a good 70-80% of the time that means I’m playing AA or indie. Plenty of options these days tho.

 

[nemiroff]

Nah, I don't really get it. I like good experiences, and in my case I get them in all kinds of games, "A", "AA" or "AAA".. I enjoy Red Dead Redemption 2 and I enjoy Dead Cells. A good experience is a good experience, labels don't matter much to me, at least in this context.

 

[MarkMe2525]

*Takes off VR headset....

"What's a AAA game?"

 

[Morrie’s wig shop]

I personally dont pay attention to whats considered AA or AAA, I play what I like.

Totally, I pay no attention to budgets or weather a game is A, AA, AAA and when devs and publishers tout about the cost of production. It’s like you’ve totally mistaken me for someone who gives a shit.

 

[Fbh]

Personally I liked to keep it varied.
This year I played big AAA releases like Tears of the Kingdom, FFXVI and Hogwarts Legacy, great indie games like Chained Echoes and Rogue Legacy 2 , mid budget games like Fire Emblem Engage and Kena: Brige of Spirits.

There's no one type of game I'd want to play exclusively.

 

[SHA]

I think we haven't reached a point where we are done with older games yet, if we actually reached that point, it would be a catastrophe and we shall see a transition in the industry asap where newer games wouldn't make us second guess ourselves for the possibility of making bad choices, it should be safe or there'll be another huge collapse in the gaming market, cause running on survival mode as we see from talented devs isn't a good sign for the future.

 

[jayj]

Pretty sure OP didn't go to the Steam store thinking "oh my, where is the section for these great AA games?". It's the other way round, he bought some games and then realized they can all be categorized like that. Big difference.

Yeah I see some people acting like I went out of my way to seek out AA and indie games, or to avoid AAA, and that was not the case. I simply bought what I found interesting or appealing, and looking back, most of it could be categorized as AA or indie. So many of the big AAA games being advertised just didn't appeal to me at all.

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

I personally dont pay attention to whats considered AA or AAA, I play what I like.

Absolutely this.

It's all about the games, not the "budget" they belong.

 

[cartman414]

Well put. AA and A games these days are often like that old fashioned homemade meal made with care and homegrown produce.

Meanwhile, modern AAA is like a sloppy Big Mac that only looks great in the adverts.

 

[Astral Dog]

Switch had a good year

 

[GeeseGoose]

My haul this Christmas consisted of Alan Wake Remastered, GTA V and a year of PS+ deluxe since it covers most of what I want to play.

I really think that the next AAA title I will buy may end up being GTA6 since everything else from now until then that’s announced is not to my taste

 

[Feel Like I'm On 42]

Personally I liked to keep it varied.
This year I played big AAA releases like Tears of the Kingdom, FFXVI and Hogwarts Legacy, great indie games like Chained Echoes and Rogue Legacy 2 , mid budget games like Fire Emblem Engage and Kena: Brige of Spirits.

There's no one type of game I'd want to play exclusively.

Is chained echoes worth buying on sale for like $18?

 

[Fess]

I can't keep up with this crap anymore. People would complain about pretty much the smallest things and whip themselves up into a frenzy to not enjoy themselves. When the PS4 released everybody complained about the "Indiestation", how the games early in the gen were not AAA and state of plays were the "state of indies" or whatever. Now we hate AAA big games instead. We complain about the dumbest smallest things there now too just out of hate, oh no I had to play as MJ or the boy for a small fraction of a 17hr game. Meanwhile some don't mind playing as somebody else entirely in a game named after the main character Alan Wake for the entirety of the game. There is nothing wrong with it. It's just constant complaining about the most mundane things in a game rather than enjoying what we're getting.

Who’re ”we” and ”people” and ”everybody”?
I don’t think you’re talking about the same people there.

Like I generally don’t enjoy story-focused games. And I’ve not played Alan Wake 2 because, well, it’s said to be a talky story-focused game.

Give me great controls, interesting gameplay mechanics, good sense of progression or fun creative elements or rewarding exploration, a nice world and nice visuals in general is always great. There! The recipe for a 10/10

The highly linear AAA movie games I play once and never touch again is not doing it for me. It’s kinda backwards that they’re seemingly the most expensive games to make but imo the games I least want to pay full price for. $70 for 10-20 hours of gameplay over 1 or 2 weeks. Compare this to Elden Ring which I’ve played on and off for over a year and my playtime counter says 500+ hours.

 

[KuraiShidosha]

I really hate when people say "oh you just have nostalgia for the old stuff, the new stuff is just as good or even better." It's absolute bullshit. Very rarely does a game come out anymore that is made with genuine passion and creativity because everyone is chasing the crazy amounts of money getting thrown around in the videogame industry. It's not the low key phenomenon it was over 20 years ago, it's not a multibillion dollar industry and the most scumbag people are behind the significant decisions that lead to product development. Think about a game like Vampire Masquerade Bloodlines. The original is genuinely one of the best RPG of all time, but the sequel is in development hell and probably will be a steaming pile of shit when it releases because the soul behind the original simply doesn't exist in today's market anymore. It can't when you are constantly outsourcing everything to India for asset creation and your coders and writers are under skilled idiots who only care enough to ship a product so they can get paid. What a mess.

 

[simpatico]

Minimal these days, but for my tastes we're in the midst of an indie renaissance. I use to be able to head cannon the AAA slop and still have a good time, but right around the time of AC Valhalla and Watch Dogs 3, the slop became too sloppy. For the first time in 30 years of gaming I just started skipping some big releases. I've found plenty to play between getting into retro gaming hardware and finding a ton of great indies. I beat the SNES pantheon this year on OG hardware and a CRT. It was a blast.

 

[Drizzlehell]

I realised that the only games that I ended up buying during the holiday sale were some AA and indie games. I completely skipped on all of the major triple-a games that came out in the last quarter because none of them looked particularly enticing for the kind of price that you have to pay for them. 70 bucks for a Spider-Man game that's basically the exact same thing as the last two, plus I'm constantly hearing what a terrible writing it has? Yeah, that's a hard pass for me, bro. I'd rather shoot some punks in the dick in an awesome Robocop game.