Re: Can Games Get Any Better (2024 Ed)

On 3/22/2024 9:54 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

 In August 2013, I asked a question of this newsgroup: did you think
that games were going to get significantly better in the future? My
thesis was that - despite radical advancements in visuals and
quality-of-life features - actual gameplay of a lot of the games of
the time didn't feel fundamentally different from games of ten or even
twenty years ago. Sure, "Elder Scrolls: Oblivion" looked far better
than 1995's "Elder Scrolls: Arena", but was it really that different
an experience to play? Had the games matured to the point where we
just weren't going to see any significant changes in the hobby?
 That question sparked a lively discussion (mostly revolving around
what 'better' meant ;-). So - with ten years under our belt - why not
ask it again, with an added caveat. Not only do I ask, 'Do you think
that games are going to get significantly better', but also, 'Do you
also think we've seen significant improvement - in gameplay, not
visuals - to modern games over the ones we were playing back in 2013?'
 In other words, are modern games better? More advanced? More fun? Do
you think games will be better or different in the future? Or are we
perpetually stuck in the doldrums?
 (And finally, do you think we'll all be around to revive this topic in
2035? ;-)

Same as always.  There will be good games and bad games.  There's been some significantly better games IMHO than there were.  Witcher 3 feels much better than 1 or 2 to me.  CP2077 is finally a good game.  Elden Ring brought souls play to the masses (even I think it's a worse game than my favorites.) I liked Skyrim better than Oblivion, and Oblivion better than Morrowind, but Starfield sounded so bad I wouldn't even buy it on steep discount. Larian came out of left field with BG3 which may even be cleaned up and modded enough to let me play it to the end.
Meanwhile AC and FC games are cranked out mostly the same as always, and my kids still play Roblox.
--
-Justisaur
  ø-ø
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