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[jayj]

Honestly I have been very disappointed with the latest generation of video games lately, and I think the release of the new Forza Motorsport has made me really reflect upon this. The fact that I can go back to the prior entry, Forza Motorsport 7 on my Xbox One X, and not only say it sounds better but looks better than the latest entry on my Series X, is not something I should be able to say with a straight face. If it's not for instances like that, then it's all the remasters and remakes of games that I honstly still considered quite good looking and very playable in their original forms. Sure I could be cherry picking here a bit, as there's plenty of exceptions where games are still pushing boundaries, but generally speaking I can't help but to have this feeling like the gaming scene plateaued in a sense, where advancements are getting harder and harder to detect, and latest entries in franchises aren't exactly all-around improvements anymore.

That and I can't help but to notice how well a lot of games have aged from the PS3/360 generation onward. If you play them on a PC or in the Xbox's case upscaled in 4K with FPS boost, it's amazing how well some of them have aged. Going back to prior generations, the advancements were a lot more prominent with the differences standing out as being obvious. Yeah I will admit that despite all of this, you could still easily say games have never been better looking, generally speaking at least, but I can't help but feel like a lot of the latest tech has been overhyped and not exactly delivering on the expectations some would give you. To top it off, when it comes to PC gaming, the size of parts, heat production, and power usage has really gotten out of hand, with me asking how much further we can push things in that direction.

Don't get me wrong, I am sure things will continue to get better over time, but this reminds me of a philosophy someone told me about technological improvements. Basically, they said that improving things can be a lot like trying to shave off edges to create a round ball, and that the rounder it gets, the harder it will be to detect improvements, and one day you will have a perfectly round ball where you can't improve the shape of it anymore. So while we might not be at that perfectly round state yet, I think we have shaved it down enough to where it is getting hard to notice improvements, and the expense as well as the demands to be on the bleeding edge has become more extreme as we continue to chase after ways to round it off more.

 

[Danjin44]

Not for me even this gen I continued highly enjoy games, this year alone we got crazy amount of games and still not fucking done yet and next year Feb is stupidly packed......so I cant complain.

But one thing I would say with each generation I start lose more interest in western games and I see myself buying less and less of them with each year.

I just feel western games going more further away from what I personally enjoy out of video games.

 

[LostInTime]

But one thing I would say with each generation I start lose more interest in western games and I see myself buying less and less of them with each year.

I just feel western games going more further away from what I personally enjoy out of video games.

I agree, the Japanese have been making the best games recently. The only western games I've liked have just been a few AA/Indies.

 

[DaleinCalgary]

NOPE

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Nope.

Though some developers have been pretty disappointing, others are excellent

This year has been generally great

 

[existensmaximum]

Honestly I have been very disappointed with the latest generation of video games lately, and I think the release of the new Forza Motorsport has made me really reflect upon this. The fact that I can go back to the prior entry, Forza Motorsport 7 on my Xbox One X, and not only say it sounds better but looks better than the latest entry on my Series X, is not something I should be able to say with a straight face. If it's not for instances like that, then it's all the remasters and remakes of games that I honstly still considered quite good looking and very playable in their original forms. Sure I could be cherry picking here a bit, as there's plenty of exceptions where games are still pushing boundaries, but generally speaking I can't help but to have this feeling like the gaming scene plateaued in a sense, where advancements are getting harder and harder to detect, and latest entries in franchises aren't exactly all-around improvements anymore.

That and I can't help but to notice how well a lot of games have aged from the PS3/360 generation onward. If you play them on a PC or in the Xbox's case upscaled in 4K with FPS boost, it's amazing how well some of them have aged. Going back to prior generations, the advancements were a lot more prominent with the differences standing out as being obvious. Yeah I will admit that despite all of this, you could still easily say games have never been better looking, generally speaking at least, but I can't help but feel like a lot of the latest tech has been overhyped and not exactly delivering on the expectations some would give you. To top it off, when it comes to PC gaming, the size of parts, heat production, and power usage has really gotten out of hand, with me asking how much further we can push things in that direction.

Don't get me wrong, I am sure things will continue to get better over time, but this reminds me of a philosophy someone told me about technological improvements. Basically, they said that improving things can be a lot like trying to shave off edges to create a round ball, and that the rounder it gets, the harder it will be to detect improvements, and one day you will have a perfectly round ball where you can't improve the shape of it anymore. So while we might not be at that perfectly round state yet, I think we have shaved it down enough to where it is getting hard to notice improvements, and the expense as well as the demands to be on the bleeding edge has become more extreme as we continue to chase after ways to round it off more.

Yeah I agree 100%

 

[ChiefDada]

 

[Elder Legend]

You must be utterly insane if you think that gaming has plateaued in the year 2023. So many amazing releases, what are you smoking?

 

[semiconscious]

it plateaued last gen. it's been mostly downhill this gen...

 

[Represent.]

It could be much better than it is. Developers are refusing to push the envelope, graphics are stagnant, game design has remained the same for nearly 2 decades now, and the only thing motherfuckers complain about is framerate and performance. So, devs think they're doing great, and everything remains status quo.

We need a game that comes out and changes everything. Another Mario 64 type release. But seems impossible as of now.

 

[hinch7]

It could be much better than it is. Developers are refusing to push the envelope, graphics are stagnant, game design has remained the same for nearly 2 decades now, and the only thing motherfuckers complain about is framerate and performance. So, devs think they're doing great, and everything remains status quo.

We need a game that comes out and changes everything. Another Mario 64 type release. But seems impossible as of now.

Idk Phantom Liberty dlc just came out.. and on PC, that pushes the boundries. At least as visuals are concerned with a peek into the next generation of 3D game rendering; using Path tracing. People expecting much more from devs with consoles in mind are setting themselves up for disapointment. Seeing as the hardware in the PS5/XSX/S just isn't equipped to handle RT nevermind PT. And there's only so much you do with regular rasterization and baked assets. Then there's there the skill set and understanding and time invested to make a good looking game on fixed hardware with what baseline GPU's we have right now.

Unfortunately a lot of power is being wasted trying to hamfist RT into games with poor results or chasing high framerates and/or resolutions. And developers/publishers playing it safe using the same forumula that has largely worked for them or others and we have a bunch of copy pasta games without so much innovation but only updated graphics. I'd say we might get some more interesting games with UE5 being as user friendly as it is and all the QoL features and tools that may aid them.. giving them more time for more experimental ideas and projects. At least one can hope.

 

[Gamerguy84]

I just bought Spider Man 2 dude. It looks like it's going to be a highly polished good game.

 

[Aces High]

Absolutely.

And no matter with whom I speak, friends, family, co-workers, they all say that the gaming industry has turned to shit.


The typical AAA launch is something like this:

- Game takes forever to develop.
- Game gets hyped like crazy by social media bots.
- Game launches for $100 for the non-crippled version.
- Game has amazing graphics and looks crazy good
- Game pacing is slow as fuck and plays like a sloth with superficial gameplay mechanics targeted at troglodytes
- Too long cutscenes with cringe dialogue everywhere.
- Input lag from hell, bad overall controls, but a gazillion accessibility options.
- Game takes 50 hours too complete but you're already bored after 2 hours.
- Game gets uninstalled after 10 hours.
- Game gets hyped like crazy by social media bots because of new content addon that will make everything better.
- Game content addon launches for $50 in the non-crippled version.

 

[LectureMaster]

Not for me even this gen I continued highly enjoy, this year alone we crazy amount of games and still not fucking done yet and next year Feb is stupidly packed......so I cant complain.

But one thing I would say with each generation I start lose more interest in western games and I see myself buying less and less of them with each year.

I just feel western games going more further away from what I personally enjoy out of video games.

Satisfying gameplay, diverse genre, in depth stories, room for indie, AA, and high production value games to coexist, and WAIFU, all of those only happen in Japan.

Western? Western is only interested in feeding me with protagonists like in that fucking new Fable trailer, and and they can fuck off.

 

[Zathalus]

BG3 came out this year, Elden Ring came out last year.

So no.

 

[TexMex]

You picked a really weird year to make this thread.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

lol at all the people referring to the great games released this year as somehow nullifying the hypothesis of the OP. He talks about a plateau, yet people don't seem to know what that word means. It doesn't rule out 10/10 games that replicate the established formulae.

 

[Doom85]

Baldur’s Gate 3 alone would make me disagree and think OP has picked one of the worst years to say this. Also loved the hell out of Resident Evil 4 Remake.

And I still have these games to get to which made quite a few people satisfied:

Street Fighter 6
Lies of P
Jedi Survivor
Hogwarts Legacy
Octopath Traveler 2
Diablo 4

Final Fantasy XVI was a let down for me but plenty enjoyed it, Tears of the Kingdom and Starfield wouldn’t appeal to me but again plenty of people having fun with those two.

And Spider-man 2, Alan Wake 2, and Mario Wonder are right around the corner.

Stop focusing on graphic improvements and shit like that, and just enjoy gaming for gaming. Lots of other people are, so I don’t think the games are at fault here.

 

[TransTrender]

My knee jerk reaction is NOPE!
Stop playing shitty AAAIDS games.

 

[TwiztidElf]

Like I've said before, there are only one or two really great games made per year in the last decade.
I don't get all the love for 2023, maybe it's coming off the horror covid years? This year, only Tears of the Kingdom and SF6 (oh and maybe BG3 - i'm yet to play it).

 

[John Bilbo]

It is crazy how fast and far the technology has been developed in the last 30 years.

 

[GigaBowser]

nopes

 

[Vblad88]

Nah, mostly it is because you’re the adult and you have to cherry-pick what you want to play. Almost every previous generation of games Topped max 20 titles worthy to be remembered and replayed again as for general consensus, the rest is more or less shovelware with variable level of charm to it. As it were 30 years ago.

 

[arkhamguy123]

Oh of course. But not because of gaming itself.

Game makers/designers/creators now frankly. Well. They suck. A lot of talent has left and post Fortnite gaming hit the mainstream big time. That means the corporatization of gaming began. And now we’re here where it’s mostly stale corporate mayonnaise with the same tired ass, bereft of any sexuality, post Anita sarkeesian industry wokeness.

Contrary to what some of these fuckers on this board will say, you didn’t lose your wonder and imagination. Games themselves did. It’s not worse because you’re older. It’s worse because gaming has gotten stagnant as you’ve happened to get older. A lot of the highest rated games this gen are remakes. Like you said, they stopped pushing boundaries. Stopped innovating. Nothing exciting. It feels like there’s ~10 big franchises we just get on loop. What are we on far cry 7 now? God of war 6? Ratchet and clank 9? Call of duty 23?

Occasionally you’ll get a Tears of the Kingdom or an Elden Ring but it’s just not at that frequency. Nobody can watch crowbcats “the glory days of the xbox 360” or whatever that video was called and look at gaming the last few years and tell me there’s no decline. It was so stacked he even left out a few 90+ meta, 5+ million units sold titles in that video.

 

[Heisenberg007]

I think the improvements have been relatively incremental recently, because of diminishing returns, but games are still improving -- at least games coming from the right studios and publishers who are not afraid of spending AAA money.

However, then there are games, like the one you mentioned, that take steps back, cuts out corners, and don't polish their games enough, yet still sell them at the next-gen $70 price tag. Those releases make us feel like games have plateaued.

 

[Danjin44]

And I still have these games to get to which made quite a few people satisfied:

Street Fighter 6
Lies of P
Jedi Survivor
Hogwarts Legacy
Octopath Traveler 2
Diablo 4

Add this to the list….

One of the best game I played this year and my personal GOTY.

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

Misleading thread.

You aren't talking about gaming... you are talking about graphncs. And some of us has been screaming diminishing returns for a while now but people don't wanna accept it.

Some perspective though, it shouldn't be lost on anyone that the biggest graphical innovations in the last 5 years are two things, are RT and fake resolutions.

You can tae a game from last gen, and with a full suite of RT features, that game would look proper next-gen and even better than anything we have seen so far, but the computational cost required to do that, is simply not something these current-gen consoles can-do.

This gen, like the PS360 gen, is another .5 generation. And is probably the best case as to why generations should probably be 12-15 years instead of still trying to be 5-7 years.

 

[AV]

Fuck no. BG3 is probably my favourite game in 18 years and there's still a million ways you could improve even that.

Gaming has almost unlimited potential.

Edit: never mind, you're literally just talking about graphics. People's obsession with chasing the graphics dragon will only ever lead them to disappointment.

 

[Danjin44]

You aren't talking about gaming... you are talking about graphncs. And some of us has been screaming diminishing returns for a while now but people don't wanna accept it.

Honestly really don’t care about that type of crap, I play games like Armored Core VI that gives me amazing experience thats packed with content without being broken or incomplete….it hard for me care about high tech graphics and especially the fact it’s only going one direction….towards realism, what part of that i should be excited about?

 

[Physiognomonics]

It has probably plateaued on Xbox. But not on the others platforms.

 

[Doom85]

Add this to the list….

One of the best game I played this year and my personal GOTY.

Watched quite a few of the gameplay videos, don’t think it would be for me. Honestly, while I enjoy mecha anime, rarely do mecha games click with me for some reason. I got a bit of fun out of one of the Gundam games on the Vita, but I think a good deal of the enjoyment was purely seeing the characters from all the anime series/continuities.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Gaming is a medium that's too broad and diverse to boil it down to one simple equation. Some of the things you're saying are not false but overall, people will always appreciate different things about video games and a lot of them sure as heck don't really care if technology is getting better and how quickly this progress is being made.

Graphics especially have been at a point for a long while now, where they don't need to get all that better, and personally I would prefer to see some significant evolution in different areas now, such as physics and interactivity. Looking into the future, I'm sensing that both VR/AR, and AI technologies are the right direction for gaming to go in if we want to see something truly innovative and never-seen-before. Ultimately, for as long as I was gaming, the Holy Grail was always to be as immersed in your games as possible. But we still have a long, long road ahead of us before we'll ever get to a point where game worlds will feel alive, and not just visually but in the way that you can interact with them and get believable reactions in return.

 

[Danjin44]

Watched quite a few of the gameplay videos, don’t think it would be for me. Honestly, while I enjoy mecha anime, rarely do mecha games click with me for some reason. I got a bit of fun out of one of the Gundam games on the Vita, but I think a good deal of the enjoyment was purely seeing the characters from all the anime series/continuities.

For me as huge Mecha fan especially Gundam series, this game is soooo fucking fun especially the mission design you get. This game does better job make feel like playing Gundam game than actual license Gundam games.

This game even has funnels you can use for your mech.

 

[Doom85]

For me as huge Mecha fan especially Gundam series, this game is soooo fucking fun especially the mission design you get. This game does better job make feel like playing Gundam game than actual license Gundam games.

This game even has funnels you can use for your mech.

Tell you what, you play 10 hours of Baldur’s Gate 3, I’ll play 10 hours of Armored Core 6. Then we can both reach a level of enlightenment most mortals can only dream of. Deal?



(don’t get upset, I know you also said prior that BG 3 just didn’t seem like a game for you and don’t want to be pressured about it, I’m just being silly)

 

[AZRoboto]

Gaming has had its best year in... such a long time. Quality of gaming discussion has gone through the absolute shitter.

I don't think there's another hobby out there where the people that love it seem so miserable about it.

 

[Bloobs]

AAAA has destroyed gaming

 

[Danjin44]

Tell you what, you play 10 hours of Baldur’s Gate 3

 

[wolffy66]

There's been some good games but I agree. There hasn't been this huge technical breakthrough. The games just look a little better, run a little more smoothly.

 

[64bitmodels]

We need a game that comes out and changes everything. Another Mario 64 type release.

I mean, come on bru

 

[Doom85]

 

[DenchDeckard]

This year for game has been pretty amazing tbh.

I feel like while there aren't crazy advancements in games. The look and feel has finally been realised and performance is more or less there for the experiences to be even better.

This year has been awesome for games.

 

[rofif]

Yeah of course.
360/ps3 era introduced us to many man games that we are still seeing or playing today.
Most of the stuff has been done already and you can hardly make new stuff. But you can make existing concepts better like Elden Ring.

 

[64bitmodels]

and this is exactly why you dislike western AAA games.

"here is this super cool really polished western developed game you should play"

"no i won't play it"

 

[Danjin44]

 

[64bitmodels]

Almost every previous generation of games Topped max 20 titles worthy to be remembered and replayed again as for general consensus, the rest is more or less shovelware with variable level of charm to it. As it were 30 years ago.

... I can think of way more than 20 games from the 16 bit generation worth replaying. same for 32 bit, 6th gen, 7th and so on and so forth. and that applies to the gen now.

 

[rofif]

I mean, come on bru

Ever played Icewind Dale 2 and Morrowind ?

 

[Danjin44]

and this is exactly why you dislike western AAA games.

"here is this super cool really polished western developed game you should play"

"no i won't play it"

Sorry I’m just not in to isometric CRPGs, also there are western games I do enjoy like Dead Space and planning to buy Alan Wake 2.

 

[Doom85]

and this is exactly why you dislike western AAA games.

"here is this super cool really polished western developed game you should play"

"no i won't play it"

Calm down, I was just having fun. Don’t pressure Danjin into something they’re not interested in.

Also, IIRC Danjin plans to play Alan Wake 2, so no, Danjin does not rule out all western games (my bad if I’m remembering wrong).

 

[Doom85]

 

[Team Andromeda]

LOL at trolling threads like this People need to go back and play Forza 2. It was hardly a graphical masterpiece and the 1st Forza couldn't even handle 60 FPS and anyway who thinks Forza 7 looks better is just talking piss