Making peace with liking very few games?
Making peace with liking very few games?
I love my favorite games and have been playing them for years, but I disliked about 99% of the games I played.
I don't think I have FoMO or anything; I just find it weird because my taste in music, film, or art/media in general is usually fairly broad. I guess I just wonder why my taste in games is aggressively limited.
It's not for the lack of trying new games; I've tried more or less anything I could find, sometimes because it's popular, other times because it looked interesting, but nothing really hits the mark like my favorite games.
I just don't like what most developers create, I guess?
I'm hoping, by posting this, maybe I can find others who are having a similar experience, and we can share thoughts.
You're viewing a single thread.
I have a very similar experience to @[email protected]. When I was younger, I'd play just about anything I could get my hands on. But now, it's like you, where 99% of what's out there doesn't interest me.
I think this happened for a few reasons for me:
- Games are a pretty big time commitment compared to other media, and my time has only become more valuable as I get older. I'm just not willing to invest it in a game that isn't really scratching an itch effectively
- There are more games out now than ever before in history. Combined with the previous point, there's never been a better time to be picky.
- AAA games are stagnating pretty badly due to profit incentive. While there a still some that break the mold and show artistic value, most of them are so commodified and painfully derivative, it's difficult for an older gamer who has already played things like it to get excited
- I've become more attuned to my preferences in genre, and know what I will and will not enjoy, which is something I didn't have as much when I was younger, since everything was still relatively new and therefore, interesting enough to play.
But this last one is the biggest reason for me: games are not reaching the potential they have locked within them.
I say that as someone who is a massive fan of storytelling, good writing, and immersion in games. Compared to books and movies, writers are still given extremely low priority in the gaming industry, which results in a tremendous amount of cognitive dissonance, simplistic writing, and a lack of innovative gameplay inspired by said writing.
Indies have been the most willing to experiment, but that's mostly with pure mechanics or themes, and writing is still often neglected.
There have been a few titles that I think reach that potential, but most of them are quite old now. With so few to truly tickle me in that way, I'll instead opt for arcade type games that manage to create a tight gameplay loop, as it let's me not lament the lack of a good story so much.
There have been a few titles that I think reach that potential, but most of them are quite old now.
Don't leave us hanging! Quality endures the ages, well, mostly.
Personally, I would say:
- Thief 1, 2 & 3
- Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis
- Mafia 1 (not the remake)
- Gemini Rue
- Deus Ex (Game Dungeon has a great video on why the story punches so high, link to relevant segment here)
- Disco Elysium (even though I personally didn't really care for the game due to the setting, the writing is undeniably high quality)
- A Mind Forever Voyaging
All of those games have, IMO, a tremendously good sync between gameplay and story, where everything lines up to the point where you can become fully absorbed into whatever experience the writer/designer crafted. I would say Thief accomplishes it the best, while Mafia's and Deus Ex's clunky gameplay hold them back, but I can see what they were trying to achieve, and overall are close enough to my ideal.
That's a fun mix, Gemini Rue was a pleasant surprise to see!
You might also enjoy Primordia given that.
Oddly enough I actually pre-ordered a physical copy of Primordia, and got a ways into it before stopping for some reason. I should really go back and finish it!