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[Lambhalf]

While we had the classic retro times and PSOne/Ps2 Era (arguably great), we often view times with rose-tinted glasses.

However, I have to say as a gamer, this is the best time to be a gamer.
In 360/Ps3 era we had brown/gray, washed out textures, growing pains for HD games.

But now, consoles like PS5 have fast loading SSDs, tons of games on all consoles and even more to come! (I remember game droughts in long past)
Despite it's price controversy, people are excited about the Switch 2 and the games themselves look fun.

Remember fun? Not just the graphics, but fun.

Baldur's Gate 3... Clair Obsur... Stellar Blade.... tons and tons of great games. And even then, great indie games so you never get bored on consoles and PC!

Do you agree? Disagree?

 

[Crayon]

If not the best, it's really good.

I could take any laptop, pair a controller, and have a gaming system that would keep me busy for the rest of my life. As long as I focused on the things I CAN play and not the ones I can't. And focus on the GOOD ones instead of bellyache about the bad. That's to say nothing of the ps5 and switch that could also keep you busy for a long, long time.

 

[Akuji]

Easily, gaming is superb, has been for the last decade.

Been playing since i was 2 years old in 94 with Mario and Thanks to my bigger Brother Player pretty much everything ever since.

I dont get my Starcraft or Warcraft 3 times back. I cannot come Home from school and Play wow classic again but Overall there were Never as many Great Games as there Are now. Its insane.

 

[Isa]

It'll always be subjective to each person. In terms of convenience sure, the fast loading and such is nice. However,

1. PS1/2 Retro & classic? Ha. So many youngsters in here.
2. You mention the PS360 era of dull colors and such and then say that games are about fun and that graphics don't matter. Bit of a contradiction. Much of modern gaming hasn't changed much since that gen when it comes to game design sadly.
3. People like to drop lists of games but again, one man's treasure... for me BG3 was awful, I've yet to start up Logan's Fantasy though I did buy it. Stellar Blade rocks but that is a rarity in a sea of mediocrity.

I'm happy that you're happy. I'm not. I'm sick to death of being nickel and dimed by untold scores of greedy assholes. I miss when we forked over the cash for something it was all on cart/disc and didn't necessitate massive day 1 updates. I miss when systems were unique with their own libraries, including pc. I miss legitimate competition in the industry rather than mafia bullying tactics that stop competitors from releasing better products.

Technologically things are fine, but the lack of talent and ambition paired with greed is just to much for me to take anymore. Thankfully there are prior generations that exist, but that can be a whole adventure unto itself. I've never gamed(vidya, tabletop is fine) less in my entire life. Some people are just easy to please and will continue to consume.

 

[RoboFu]

I sir ....... disagree.

There is absolutely nothing of interest for me out now / this year.

 

[The Cockatrice]

I assume you were born yesterday. "best time for gaming" has been a thing almost every year for the past 40+ years.

 

[LazyParrot]

I'd agree, but only thanks to the unprecedented accessibility of indie and retro games. I can probably count the number of big budget releases that I've cared about in the last five years on one hand.

 

[clarky]

I sir ....... disagree.

There is absolutely nothing of interest for me out now / this year.

If you can't find something to play from the last year or the upcoming one then maybe its time for a break.


Gaming is awesome. Always has been, always will be.

 

[SomeNorseGuy]

I do agree in the sense that gaming gets better for every year because we get more and more choices of games to play. If new releases aren't your jam there's decades of content to choose from, and the list of bangers just keep on growing.

But if you only enjoy brand new games then you milage may vary depending on trends.

 

[Guilty_AI]

The best year for gaming will be 2036 and it'll all be downhill from there on

 

[RoboFu]

If you can't find something to play from the last year or the upcoming one then maybe its time for a break.


Gaming is awesome. Always has been, always will be.

What games should I be playing ?

 

[jshackles]

I assume you were born yesterday. "best time for gaming" has been a thing almost every year for the past 40+ years.

Came here to say this. Every day that goes by we get new games released that are added to the list of potential games you can play.

Just like music, everyone seems to have their favorite year / decade, but as time goes on you can listen to "90s music" aka "of the tens of thousands of songs that released in the 90s, here is a list of what are generally considered to be the top 100 from that decade".

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

Best time right now

Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, Fallout 4 with tons of mod options from Nexus.

Stellar Blade and its sequel coming

Space Marine 2 and its sequel

Final Fantasy Rebirth and its sequel

More Resident Evil games.

GTA VI coming and Elder Scroll VI coming after.

Witcher 4 and Fallout 5 coming.

 

[LakeOf9]

Gamer79 get in here and fight OP

 

[Plies]

I agree.

Mostly because there's now a ton of gaming history to fall back on and enjoy.

With a well suited PC, I can literally play anything !

 

[clarky]

What games should I be playing ?

If you can't find something to play from the last year or indeed you are not looking forward to anything at all coming up, then like I said maybe time for a break or maybe you've just grown out of it.

I'm not going to provide a subjective list. There are modern bangers in every genre.

 

[Zacfoldor]

The thing is we can only play so many games. We only had so much time and money when we were young. So our perception of the games were only of the games that we played.

Today we have many more games to play than we had back then with a much more active release schedule and higher quality due to evolution of gaming, qol, competition, budgets, technology, past libraries being maintained, and generally accepted standards.

However, if the snapshot of the games we play today doesn't stack up well against the snapshot of a golden time in our nostalgia, we can easily be tricked into not seeing the clear and obvious truth.

That clear and obvious truth is that gaming is far better in almost every way today than it was when we were young. The hobby of our youth has grown up.

However, it turns out that just because the games are better doesn't mean we can recapture that feeling in our lives. It was never really about the games. However, that aside, if you also love games and happen to still enjoy them(I'm certain many of us do not), then they are better and more plentiful today than ever.

 

[CrimsonTide]

The best year for gaming will be 2036 and it'll all be downhill from there on

Why that year? That when Elder Scrolls 6 come out and GTA 6 Enhanced version?

 

[Killer8]

It's pretty great and i've been beating this drum for a while.

The PS360 gen was absolutely terrible. Bad image quality even compared to PCs in the same timeframe. Framerates could not keep up. Uninspired sequels. Ugly art styles. We basically lost Japan for the generation to mobile games and waggle. Absolute dark ages as far as i'm concerned.

Nowadays even if the output from certain developers has been disappointing, there is more than enough new blood filling the void. My yearly list of what I want to buy never shrinks and in fact I am struggling to keep up with releases for a while.

What games should I be playing ?

Last year + this year so far:

Spoiler:

Animal Well
Astro Bot
Balatro
Baldur's Gate 3
Black Myth: Wukong
Clair Obscur Expedition 33
Crow Country
Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake
Dynasty Warriors Origins
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Hades 2
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2
Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth + Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Metaphor: ReFantazio
The Midnight Walk
Monster Hunter Wilds
Mouthwashing
Ninja Gaiden 2 Black
Persona 3: Reload
Rise of the Ronin
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance
Silent Hill 2 Remake
Split Fiction
Stalker 2
Stellar Blade
UFO 50
Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition

Rest of year + next year:

Spoiler:

Battlefield sequel
Cronos: The New Dawn
Crimson Desert
Doom: The Dark Ages
Death Stranding 2
Dragon Quest 1+ 2 HD-2D Remake
Donkey Kong Bananza
The Duskbloods
Fable
Ghost of Yotei
Grand Theft Auto VI
Hollow Knight Silksong
Jet Set Radio reboot
Mafia: The Old Country
Marathon
Mario Kart World
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
Mouse: P.I. For Hire
Ninja Gaiden Ragebound
Ninja Gaiden 4
Onimusha: Way of the Sword
Ratatan
Reanimal
Rhythm Heaven Groove
Saros
Silent Hill f
Slay the Spire 2
Thrasher (VR sequel to Thumper)

I would like to meet the person who has time for all of this.

 

[Spukc]

I sir ....... disagree.

There is absolutely nothing of interest for me out now / this year.

 

[Fake]

Not the best.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Why that year? That when Elder Scrolls 6 come out and GTA 6 Enhanced version?

All console brands will be practically dead by then and in the midst of it all Sega will release the Dreamcast 2. Except it'll suck and will be discontinued shortly after

 

[Aenima]

What games should I be playing ?

Expedition 33, the GOTY ofc.

 

[CrimsonTide]

All console brands will be practically dead by then and in the midst of it all Sega will release the Dreamcast 2. Except it'll suck and will be discontinued shortly after

lol dare to dream


IT'S THINKING *whispered like the dreamcast commericals

 

[Danknugz]

you could remove this entire generation and nothing would change for me, be fine playing mame and emulators

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

 

[YugiBoomer]

It's only the best in the context of being able to play every game from the past, current games are mostly disappointing, there are outliers for sure, expedition 33 and BG3 were genre defining games, but I struggle to find many more.

I specially dislike the sea of remake/remasters we're getting, for fuck's sake do we REALLY need a remake of RE game? Does every single persona game really need to be remade in the P5 engine?
I personally would prefer to be getting new IPs like metaphor for example, but that's just my opinion.

TL;DR: It doesn't feel like the BEST time for gaming, but it's not bad either.

 

[RoboFu]

It's pretty great and i've been beating this drum for a while.

The PS360 gen was absolutely terrible. Bad image quality even compared to PCs in the same timeframe. Framerates could not keep up. Uninspired sequels. Ugly art styles. We basically lost Japan for the generation to mobile games and waggle. Absolute dark ages as far as i'm concerned.

Nowadays even if the output from certain developers has been disappointing, there is more than enough new blood filling the void. My yearly list of what I want to buy never shrinks and in fact I am struggling to keep up with releases for a while.




Last year + this year so far:

Spoiler:

Animal Well
Astro Bot
Balatro
Baldur's Gate 3
Black Myth: Wukong
Clair Obscur Expedition 33
Crow Country
Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake
Dynasty Warriors Origins
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Hades 2
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2
Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth + Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Metaphor: ReFantazio
The Midnight Walk
Monster Hunter Wilds
Mouthwashing
Ninja Gaiden 2 Black
Persona 3: Reload
Rise of the Ronin
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance
Silent Hill 2 Remake
Split Fiction
Stalker 2
Stellar Blade
UFO 50
Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition

Rest of year + next year:

Spoiler:

Battlefield sequel
Cronos: The New Dawn
Crimson Desert
Doom: The Dark Ages
Death Stranding 2
Dragon Quest 1+ 2 HD-2D Remake
Donkey Kong Bananza
The Duskbloods
Fable
Ghost of Yotei
Grand Theft Auto VI
Hollow Knight Silksong
Jet Set Radio reboot
Mafia: The Old Country
Marathon
Mario Kart World
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
Mouse: P.I. For Hire
Ninja Gaiden Ragebound
Ninja Gaiden 4
Onimusha: Way of the Sword
Ratatan
Reanimal
Rhythm Heaven Groove
Saros
Silent Hill f
Slay the Spire 2
Thrasher (VR sequel to Thumper)

I would like to meet the person who has time for all of this.

A list filled with remakes and ports of older decent games.

Nothing in the past 5 years can compete with the ps1 /2 eras of awesome games flooding the market month to month. That was probably the best time if you wanted constant releases of great games most of which spawned great series that lasts years after.

What new games that came out 5-6 years ago that spawned great sequels ? Not many.

 

[Hideous Snake]

We hear this every year though. I have to admit that this year is off to a mental start and we're only in May

 

[MiguelItUp]

Has it been the worst? Not at all.

Has it been the best? IMO, not at all.

It's definitely had some highlights though, and more than other times. Plus there's more stuff on the horizon or waiting to be revealed soonly.

 

[Killer8]

A list filled with remakes and ports of older decent games.

This is simply not true.

9 out of the 61 games listed is a remake / port.


And two remakes in that list, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Silent Hill 2 Remake, are a) so radically different from the original and b) so highly rated by people that you would be a fool to avoid them just because they are a remake.

 

[SpokkX]

I think gaming is in a good spot

But only if you play on Steam - there are lots and lots of great games..

AAA however- has become stale and mostly boring. Sony has lost their momentum completely and every other AAA is Ubi Shit

On PC you got it all
Warhammer Total War 3 for example is probably the best stategy game ever
Baldurs gate 3 was amazing
Rouge Trader was almost better
Helldivers 2 is an actual new type of multiplayer
KCD2 is amazing
New Doom is about to drop
And the mods. Doom, Quake and Half life 2 ray traced. Tie Fighter remake

 

[touchfuzzy]

It will be the best time for gaming starting June 5th.

 

[Crayon]

But if you only enjoy brand new games then you milage may vary depending on trends.

I'd qualify even further: If you're only into brand new, AAA games. Waaaaay too many people have blinders on beyond that and crying about how awful "the industry" is. Maybe the 10mil+ sales blockbuster "industry".

Today's "AAAA" games did not exist in the good old days. It was extremely rare to have budgets approaching what's done on the regular today. Those games have to be made for the lowest common denominator to have a chance at making money and it's no surprise that they are dull and samey for hardcore enthusiasts. Seems like a lot of hardcore enthusiasts suck at this hobby and can't break free of hype cycles to find good games.

 

[Fbh]

I'm pretty happy with gaming currently. Lots of great games and I agree the hardware itself is nice. The consoles finally have good and responsive interfaces, fast loading and 60fps made a big comeback as an almost standard feature.

The only thing I really miss is more innovation and new IPs in AAA gaming, specially in the west. You look back 2 console gens and the early years were filled with new stuff: Assassins Creed, Gears of War, Mass Effect, Bioshock, Uncharted, Resistance, Portal, Dead Space, etc.
These days a lot of the new ideas are coming from AA, indies and asian studios.

 

[March Climber]

Killer8 He didn't really want a list, he wanted to fish for an argument and you took the bait.

That's why clarky knew this and didn't post a list. It's the classic forum trap. Don't fall even further by getting into a list war.

 

[Esppiral]

Young people these days....

 

[Gamer79]

Gamer79 get in here and fight OP

No need. I have a master plan. Going to watch as the Nintendo geeks are all giddy about the Switch 2 selling out at launch. Going to watch as they spank each other on the ass and gloat about how "successful" the Switch 2 is. This will happen for about a year or so. Then watch as they get self owned after Switch 2 sales struggle because the mass consumer fails to pick it up. Going to watch as even the Scalpers cannot find any profits and bother buying it no more. Within it's 3rd year they will be on store shelves collecting dust. I predict less than 50 million life time sales of the Switch 2.

 

[Wildebeest]

If gaming is good now it mostly isn't because of new games and hardware. Which is not healthy.

 

[Skifi28]

Between a huge backlog of great shit and good modern releases I can't even keep up with, it's hard to disagree.

 

[Killer8]

No need. I have a master plan.

 

[Danjin44]

As long as I can find game to enjoy then I would it's good time for gaming.

 

[Judge Magister]

In 360/Ps3 era we had brown/gray, washed out textures, growing pains for HD games.

I agree that textures are way better now, but we still get beauties like this:

I heard that brown / gray argument about Killzone 2 for example, when that game is one of the best games of all time. Literally no colors:

 

[Sooner]

Everything is always the best ever or the absolute worst. Usually both if you believe NeoGAF.

 

[Gp1]

 

[clarky]

If gaming is good now it mostly isn't because of new games and hardware. Which is not healthy.

This makes no sense.

 

[Avid Reading Horse]

I got a 200hz 1080p fast IPS monitor for $120 just for gamering on my laptop just for use while visiting me mum resulting in a perfectly cromulent R6 Siege and Rocket League experience. Destiny 2 frames are still a little rough, hey that's Bungo for ya, but still totally playable.

Cheap and plentiful the gaming is, and if you're into the old shit and that was your favorite era of gamering well then just play the old shit, no big deal m8.

Unless you were unhealthily married to some now-dead or mangled multiplayer game, how could any other era be better?

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

It's ok.

 

[KenaiPhoenix]

Ridiculous take

This has been by far the worse time for games:

- Games not only cost more, they also ask you money after your purchase. Skins that would be a secret or a challenge reward are now shipped on an online score.
- Games now sold its identity/mood to sell shitty silly skins/effects so they can get more money. Aesthetic integrity is throw up from the window so they can get more money. And even worse, even if you buy a game at first they can (and probably will) fuck it in later updates. Case: with MW19 they promises to maintain the aesthetic of the game. This lasted like 3 months.
- Everything is seasoned impulsed with FOMO. Most of stuff challenge is gated with a timer so you MUST play THIS video game. Got something else to do? Too bad, unless... you can spare a coin ofc. Playing a game is almost like a work now.
- We are full of activists that not only impulse their ideas on other people, they usually have crap ideas and parade them like they are the brightest people in the world. Sometimes they even hijack others people work and use for their own agency like what localization have been doing.
- Invaders/Tourists are now joining communities only to stir drama and political issues transforming places were you can talk about something the game into a place full of insufferable new comers. GG Strive (and probably the whole IP) will never recover from these past years.
- Ownership of games have been almost destroyed... on PC it is almost impossible to actually own the thing that you pay. Yes, Steam is awesome and GabeN an angel that loves games. But he is not forever. And on a similar topic: Always online games will just close their servers and good bye to your crap.
- Games just optimized to being a consume product rather than something to enjoy: Corpos have decided that games are not to be enjoyed, they are to be consumed. This way just having endless content is way better than just a 1 release game. Example: on previously Gran turismo games you would just finish what you liked and then, when there is nothing more, explore. Try events with cars that you didnt like. Not any more, you will just get more content. On paper is awesome, but in reality it makes games and endless task and forces devs to just push content rather that a good designed game. And this have fried "gamers" as well, people will claim "[X] game failed because season 1 was too long/delayed/bad"... no, a game doesnt need infinite "seasons", you are just addicted to getting a flash screen with "NEW!" on it. Counter-Strike still uses the same map, people still exploring the world of Oblivion/Skyrim, or crafting new stuff on Breath of the Wild.
-Expanding this point, corpos have discover (with like CoD 4 tbh) that they can trigger your brain to make you addictive to their products with possitive feedback. Why there are always "legendary", "epic" and "common" types of shit even if they get outclassed immidietly? because the system must reward you from time to time. This is why you level up and games are easy. They werent the first, but Destiny 2 started exploiting this on a proffesional level even hiring a psicologist to develop a better "engagement" with the player.
- You can just take your time... You really liked a game? You better rush it. Just now, people are already posting spoilers and video with all secrets/endings/characters of DooM The Dark Ages... and the game is not even out. The same happened with the last DLC of Eternal, people will try to get the views/likes/reposts by blatlanlty puting spoilers of whatever game is trending. And if you have lapse in judgement and take the bad decision of just googling/searching a video a review or just liking some official posts of it, you are on the algorythm now. So now you can just take your time (add this to the endless task of live service games ofc) to finish a game or just enjoy it by doing all side quests. No, you must dedicate your time to it and finish it as soon as possible.
-Standarization of games: 2000s games were awesome because devs had enough money and tech to try to make new things. Devil May Cry 1 can show some weird stuff that Capcom tried to do with a clearly RE engine. Demons Souls was even doubt it as something that would resonate with players but was greenlighted. Now everything is standarized so it can appeal to as many people as possible, lowering the difficult bar even more so anyone can thrive. Games are becoming simplier so it can be easier to consume and it can attract more people. A good example of this are MMORPG, specially FFXIV, they abandoned the "virtual world" vibe to become an instant reward machine (told by Yoshi P btw) and following what WoW did instead of being true to what it was with the core designs of FFXI.

"but... there are some great games!"

Yes, but if you look at the 90s-2000s you will see many incredible great games that makes you wonder "why did this blow up!" and then realize that weeks laters another incredible game that become a classic launched, followed by another classic. We used to have incredible quality in games, and even have room for more. Now, there are great thing these times as well. And on the game side just this year we already got some great games like Monster hunre Wilds, Xenoblade Chronicles X and Oblivion remastered (and im missing a lot ofc).

But like you say games are more than graphics and more about fun. Idk if you were there, but community games were great, casual lobbies games were great, midnight release were you will meat other people just as exited as you to play a game were great.

Most games today are better products, but not better games even with all its technical advancement.

 

[Griffon]

Every new year is a better time for gaming since we also can play all the previous video games from all previous times combined.