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Cool moments of this generation?

Negative poll choice for the negatives

  • Is bad

    Votes: 10 66.7%
  • Not good

    Votes: 8 53.3%

  • Total voters
    15

Portugeezer

Member
I know this generation has been somewhat underwhelming, but what were some of your best moments this gen?

For me, Demons Souls remake at launch. There was no need to have this at launch, yet there it was: a premium single player game at launch, to your graphics showcase and SSD showcase.

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Loved finding my way into the Volcano Manor in Elden Ring. Also the boss of that area was absolute cinema.

Loved the story in Earth Defense Force 6, and the last few stages were, then again, absolute cinema.

No lifing my way through Path of Exile 2 during a 2 week vacation, what a game.

edit: and VR, playing HL Alyx, Pavlov and some other games sure felt like a next-gen experience
 
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The days of big moments matter to some people, I remember high school college, ps2 and 3 happened, 3 was ahead of the curve, today I don't need the gimmicks, to me gaming is always dependent on AAA games do you want a company that's afraid to take risks? No, but AAA games is a requirement

Bill Goldberg Mic Drop GIF by WWE
 
There's… not a lot, honestly. I did think Demon's Souls was very impressive just from how smoothly it ran and how clean it looked, even though I still find that game dreadful to actually play. A good showcase, at least, and it felt like a huge improvement over what we were getting on ps4 in terms of polish with high-end game.

I'm genuinely drawing a blank as to big spectacles that were impressive this gen. AAA shit the bed. Platform holders seem allergic to hardcore gamer-focused showcases. I absolutely adored games like Silksong recently, but I wouldn't call that a cool moment.

I dunno, man. I think you figured out the malaise right now - there's just nobody driving cool *moments* anymore.
 
For this gen anything related to Resident Evil 3 Remake, Resident Evil Village, Resident Evil 4 Remake, Space Marine 2, Stellar Blade, FFVII Rebirth, and Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart had the coolest moments.
 
When OP asks the question, I think of things like the ending of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 where you pull a knife out of your own chest and throw it into General Shepherd. To that point, the last few years of Call of Duty campaigns have really pulled back on epic set-pieces compared to the OG Modern Warfare trilogy. My guess is budget pullback for the campaigns. I mean, they don't seem to do things like this sensory overload bombast anymore (time-stamped):


Or some of the many set-pieces in Naughty Dog's games (Uncharted and to a lesser extent, The Last of Us). Doesn't help that Naughty Dog hasn't released a game since The Last of Us Part II.

Real hype moments.

Which reminds me, the ending of Death Stranding 2 where you're on the beach, actually reached that level of hype, although I didn't love that game.

But thinking back to my favorite games of the past few years: Baldur's Gate 3, Kingdom Come 2, Clair Obscur, Silent Hill 2 Remake, Persona 3 Reload, they didn't go for those epic moments. They were mostly solid and plain old interesting the whole way through.
 
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Yasumi Matsuno working with Square Enix again. Yes, it only entailed remasters of Tactics Ogre and FF Tactics, but still.

Edit: And various moments in Tears of the Kingdom. The physics are robust as fuck. Even the most retarded solution I could come up with, worked.
 
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Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous - Ascending/choosing mythic path and getting mythic powers was pure nerdgasm. Loved planning out builds and making wild commanders with amazing abilities. So much so that it took me months to be able to enjoy "lesser" games again. 😅
 
There's… not a lot, honestly. I did think Demon's Souls was very impressive just from how smoothly it ran and how clean it looked, even though I still find that game dreadful to actually play. A good showcase, at least, and it felt like a huge improvement over what we were getting on ps4 in terms of polish with high-end game.

I'm genuinely drawing a blank as to big spectacles that were impressive this gen. AAA shit the bed. Platform holders seem allergic to hardcore gamer-focused showcases. I absolutely adored games like Silksong recently, but I wouldn't call that a cool moment.

I dunno, man. I think you figured out the malaise right now - there's just nobody driving cool *moments* anymore.

Why wouldn't you consider Silksong finally releasing a "cool moment"? Of course it was a cool moment!

There's been all kinds of cool things this gen:

  • Elden Ring blowing up in ways no one could've anticipated
  • Baldur's Gate 3 coming out twenty three years after it's predecessor and immediately being considered one of the greatest games of all time
  • The glorious return of the Silent Hill franchise
  • Microsoft going full third party and Sony releasing their first party games on PC
  • A whole new gaming hardware category (PC gaming handhelds) emerging
  • Not to mention GTA VI and Half-Life 3 right around the corner


Gaming cynicism is just at an all-time high right now and the gaming community is literally impossible to please.
 
Microsoft buying Activision. When I woke up that morning and saw the meltdown I actually called in sick, cracked a beer and laughed all day. Boy that thread was a ride.
 
Why wouldn't you consider Silksong finally releasing a "cool moment"? Of course it was a cool moment!

There's been all kinds of cool things this gen:

  • Elden Ring blowing up in ways no one could've anticipated
  • Baldur's Gate 3 coming out twenty three years after it's predecessor and immediately being considered one of the greatest games of all time
  • The glorious return of the Silent Hill franchise
  • Microsoft going full third party and Sony releasing their first party games on PC
  • A whole new gaming hardware category (PC gaming handhelds) emerging
  • Not to mention GTA VI and Half-Life 3 right around the corner


Gaming cynicism is just at an all-time high right now and the gaming community is literally impossible to please.

To me, a cool moment would be "here's a huge announcement during some showcase that you didn't see coming, it's out within the next year, and then it actually delivers." The closest thing for me has been the Switch 2… which quickly proceeded to have a drought of meaningful exclusives, and then they've been doing their damndest to botch Metroid after all these years of waiting. But they were so close!

Announce something cool, don't drag it out, and actually DELIVER.
 
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If Switch belongs to this gen (even with SW2 replacing it) I'd say that my favourite experience was with Breath of the Wild. I played it during covid and it was magical.
 
Does Half Life Alyx count? I think that actually released before the gen. But I got to play it 3 years late.
Really cool moments in that game.
 
Only thing that can top Astro Bot having a VIP bot based on Boku from Boku no Natsuyasumi is a new Boku no Natsuyasumi getting announced.
 
  1. CD Projekt Red's Phantom Liberty expansion + large patches that fixed the base game, and gave people something close to what the initial trailers did.
    • Cyberpunk Edgerunners anime was cool too.
  2. Elden Ring's launch hype hit mainstream numbers, while a press whining about accessibility were are still getting laid off.
    1. Then releasing a good expansion.
  3. Every No Man's Sky expansion that's come out for free, and made it better than what the initial game promised.
  4. Larian making Baldur's Gate 3, where not only did they knock it out of the park, but they just kept adding additional content and features post v1 launch. Then they said they'd stop, and later anyway just added a Linux build to make it more playable on Steam Deck because an employee wanted it.
  5. Boomer Shooters becoming a sub-genre, and more of them just being good: ULTRAKILL, Trepang2, Metal Eden, Mortal Sin, W40k: Boltgun, Turbo Overkill, Dusk, Mullet Madjack, Amid Evil, Selaco, etc.
  6. GoG releasing their Protection Program, to bring back a growing collection of old games to just work out of the box.
    1. Breath of Fire IV is $10 on GoG DRM-Free, instead of $100+ on ebay that I've seen for a PS1 copy.
  7. Suikoden 1 & 2, Dragon Quest + other classic JRPGs coming back with HD-2D versions that provide convenience features, and give a new audience a chance to play great games.
    1. Trails in the Sky and Persona also having bigger success this gen.
  8. Ninja Gaiden 4 getting announced, and then on the same day Ninja Ga.iden 2 being remastered and shadow-dropped the same day.
  9. Hogwart's Legacy releasing to large acclaim, marketed by developers straight to the consumer over press outlets, and none of the sanctimonius backlash working at all.
    1. Stellar Blade and others doing similar.
  10. Cross-platform multiplayer becoming fairly common this generation.
  11. Sony and Microsoft's games getting released on more platforms.
 
Too many to list.

I think my defacto moments will be:

Elden Ring

Ninja Gaiden 4 existing

Clair 33 rejuvenated my love for jrpg and wanting more of this kind of things from say final fantasy

Silent Hill 2 Remake. Never played original so for me it was one of my favorite stories ever in a game.

Diablo 2 Resurrected being my most played game this whole gen. Timeless crack.
 
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Instant loading times where magic, tho. Even after being 4 year into a 3.000MB+ PCIe SSD in my PC nothing prepared me for Demon's Souls in PS5.
 
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