What's going on with games lately?

J

jyi786

Supreme [H]ardness
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Jun 13, 2002
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I just bought my first ever flagship video card in my entire computing career: the GTX 980 Ti, so that I could enjoy a backlog of games which I had been compiling for about half a year now. This included games like Far Cry 4, Dying Light, and others.

Far Cry 4 was a complete disaster. It would have been enjoyable, but the game mechanics really soured me, but not as much as the constant crashes. The game is completely riddled with bugs. Dying Light was a bit better (no crashes), but it truly reeks of consolitis. From the slanted game menus to the keyboard button mashing, it was absolutely maddening. Don't even get me started on the "cutscenes" that each of these games had, and the absurd "boss" fights, and the ridiculous loot mechanics (animations). The storylines are both quite pathetic also, and very shallow.

I can understand Far Cry 4 being subpar (I did read reviews on both games), but I really expected much more out of them for the price I paid. I did get them both slightly discounted, but paid enough for both games to have truly soured my experience with them. The most fun game I've recently played has been Wolfenstein (the newest one); even though it's a run and gun game, the story line was way better (which is very surprising to me that Far Cry 4 and Dying Light weren't), and didn't suffer from ridiculous console mechanics.

I know I bought my GTX 980 Ti for future proofing, but I can't help but feel kinda pissed that I wasted money on these games. I know, my loss, but still, I can complain about it. Next time around, I will be 100% certain that any follow up for these games that come out I will only buy when they hit an absolute bargain bin.

Anyone else share my feelings on this?
 
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Pick games you like instead of games that are popular but not necessarily good.
 
rive22 said:
Pick games you like instead of games that are popular but not necessarily good.
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I love the Far Cry series (except 2 of course). I've always had a blast playing them. Even 3 was great; I read that 4 would completely fix all the qualms I had about that one. Needless to say, it didn't.

Dying Light, I wanted to try the zombie genre and USER reviews on the game (including here) were generally excellent, so I wanted to try it out. Don't get me wrong, the game was completely stable (zero crashes with all settings maxed to high hell both in game and in NV CP), but the gameplay was sorely lacking.
 
Based on your statements, I would give Dragon Age Inquisition a shot, or the Witcher 3. They will both stress your cards and give you a compelling story line and world to enjoy.

If neither of these tickle your fancy, then either sticking with indie games or anything published before 2006 will be your best bet.

One last piece of perspective, if you play a game with zero expectations or previous dispositions, you will more than likely enjoy it more.
 
I've been enjoying top down games like Divinity Original Sin and Wasteland 2.

Fallout 4 is going to be a riot I hope

The video game industry is trying really hard to get away from the first person shooter nausea.
 
ajm786 said:
I love the Far Cry series (except 2 of course). I've always had a blast playing them. Even 3 was great; I read that 4 would completely fix all the qualms I had about that one. Needless to say, it didn't.
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Ahh I got ya. It's annoying when a great game gets crappy. What I usually do then is mod the older version to make it even greater.
 
Shantarr.Dalrae said:
Based on your statements, I would give Dragon Age Inquisition a shot, or the Witcher 3. They will both stress your cards and give you a compelling story line and world to enjoy.
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The problem is that they are 3rd person. I just can't do that genre. I played a few of them, and could never really enjoy it. It's just not my thing.

Shantarr.Dalrae said:
One last piece of perspective, if you play a game with zero expectations or previous dispositions, you will more than likely enjoy it more.
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I agree with this in general, but if I had expectations or dispositions, I wouldn't have paid the money for it. But the issues just get TEDIOUS.


Comixbooks said:
Fallout 4 is going to be a riot I hope
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Yes, I'm waiting with bated breath for Fallout 4.
 
What I suggest to people is watch some gameplay videos before buying. Not reviews from sites like IGN or Gamespot, but actual real world live gameplay videos on YouTube or Twitch. This is hands down the best way to get a true impression of what the game is like, and whether or not you will enjoy it.
 
Outsider said:
What I suggest to people is watch some gameplay videos before buying. Not reviews from sites like IGN or Gamespot, but actual real world live gameplay videos on YouTube or Twitch. This is hands down the best way to get a true impression of what the game is like, and whether or not you will enjoy it.
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And just to think, we used to have these things called DEMOS. :mad:

Yeah, I guess I'll just start doing that from now on. Thanks for the tip.
 
Yeah demos are long gone unfortunately.

I think game publishers just decided they weren't worth the development time and money to make them anymore. Its just a different industry now.
 
Outsider said:
Yeah demos are long gone unfortunately.

I think game publishers just decided they weren't worth the development time and money to make them anymore. Its just a different industry now.
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But it's really simple. Just take the game, axe out everything, and just have a single level. Or even part of a level. They do it already with the games out there by giving you the ability to play through single levels if you wish. Can't see how difficult it would be. I think it's more of "they'll know what we're putting out is s***, so let's take it away".
 
Ubishit has been making unstable shit the past few years. Just avoid anything from them. And EA. Buy and enjoy Witcher 3, that will push your 980Ti to the max, I had to upgrade from my 980 cause it couldn't do 60fps anymore on my 1440p monitor
 
I don't really understand how 3rd person games aren't your thing? Aren't most games a 3rd person variant like isometric, top down? Do all strategy games, RPGs etc bother you if they aren't first person?
 
I think Far Cry 4 would look better to people who never played Far Cry 3...Dying Light looks fun and I plan on picking it up once the price hits a point I'm comfortable with...with any game you need to do your homework and not blindly buy it just because it happens to be heavily hyped
 
GTA5. That will allow your new 980ti to stretch it's legs. You can also play first person on the PC.
 
ajm786 said:
I think it's more of "they'll know what we're putting out is s***, so let's take it away".
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That could be part of it as well.

I think I remember reading something years ago which claimed demos actually hurt sales numbers, believe it or not. The argument was that with demos, you could potentially lose out on game sales from suckers that would buy the game without knowing what its like first, who would otherwise try the demo and not buy it since they hated the game.

That, combined with the extra effort to developing a separate demo makes the whole thing not worth the effort.
 
MikeRotch said:
GTA5. That will allow your new 980ti to stretch it's legs. You can also play first person on the PC.
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I played through the entire game in 1st person, it's totally doable. A lot of the big mass-market FPS games have devolved into boring duck/kill/repeat loops. It seems like they're all trying to cater to the "people who like Call of Duty" demographic, because it's the highest selling game. This is of course stupid, because Call of Duty exists. Because of this I find myself playing more little indie games. If half the games on the market are boring braindead shooters we have a problem. When did they decide FPS games couldn't be interesting anymore?
 
Outsider said:
That could be part of it as well.

I think I remember reading something years ago which claimed demos actually hurt sales numbers, believe it or not. The argument was that with demos, you could potentially lose out on game sales from suckers that would buy the game without knowing what its like first, who would otherwise try the demo and not buy it since they hated the game.

That, combined with the extra effort to developing a separate demo makes the whole thing not worth the effort.
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I suppose Youtube/Twitch replaced demos and accomplish all the same goals except finding out if it will run on your system or not.
 
I'd say you chose well on playing Wolfenstein. Did you play just The New Order, or did you also play The Old Blood? Both are excellent.

GTA V is great, so I'd second/third whatever, the recommendations from others above.

Give the Metro Redux versions a shot. Good games, advanced engines.

Maybe grab a space sim like Elite: Dangerous for a change of pace?

Otherwise, I've been playing a ton of indie games lately for the most parts. Wolfenstein was the only big game that I felt like playing recently. I'm excited for Doom 4, Fallout 4, more Star Citizen modules, etc. in the nearer future though. Those will all be great on that card.
 
Outsider said:
That could be part of it as well.

I think I remember reading something years ago which claimed demos actually hurt sales numbers, believe it or not. The argument was that with demos, you could potentially lose out on game sales from suckers that would buy the game without knowing what its like first, who would otherwise try the demo and not buy it since they hated the game.

That, combined with the extra effort to developing a separate demo makes the whole thing not worth the effort.
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IIRC they stopped demos because of the expense both the fact that people would try the demo then just get the initial thrill of playing it then wait for a discounted sale afterwards to buy it if they liked it or not buy it at all cause they hated it.

The effort comes from the DRM they need to add to the demo executables, not just the stripping of the data. Most would wonder why would you need to DRM and encrypt demo binaries, but the reason is it gives clues to the crackers out there when the full game comes out which would mean that game cracks could come out faster because of the information found inside the demo executable if not also protected. This may or may not also incur royalty payments from the DRM supplier.
 
demos are now released as alphas or betas...or sometimes a demo is released after a game comes out like 'The Evil Within'
 
AJM, sounds like you're rushing too much and not giving these games a chance. It's going to take some time to get used to mechanics and gameplay style with any game, especially huge open-world ones like what you mentioned. I haven't played either of those yet, waiting to get them on sale.

The last few I've played that I'd highly recommend if you haven't tried yet:

Witcher 3 - 180 hours my first playthrough, can't wait to go again, amazing detailed game world
Dead Rising 3 - mindless zombie slaughtering fun, I liked it, maybe a better alternative to Dying Light
Vanishing of Ethan Carter - Just started this one last night, stunning graphics, but the gameplay is a little bland
Assassins' Creed: Black Flag - I love pirate games, and open-world to boot! Not sure how Unity compares, but might be another good one to check.
 
I think GTA 4 and Battlefield 4 are the only games worth a GTX980ti. Those games would make good use of the VRAM, although BF4 is a better looking game by far. I think the gameplay on Witcher 3 sucks. Witcher 3 looks good but doesn't play well. I think Star Wars Battlefront will also warrant the 980 the eye candy looks pretty good so far.

I think DX12 may improve the situation as it slightly increases the install base for games by alleviating some CPU requirements. However, I tend to agree the state of PC gaming is pretty poor. So far the bar has not been raised much even with XBOX1 and PS4 on the market for a while. I think we are still pretty limited by those machines.
 
charold said:
I don't really understand how 3rd person games aren't your thing? Aren't most games a 3rd person variant like isometric, top down? Do all strategy games, RPGs etc bother you if they aren't first person?
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Yes, you got it right. I pretty much play FPS only. I absolutely hate point/click games and 3rd person.

J3RK said:
I'd say you chose well on playing Wolfenstein. Did you play just The New Order, or did you also play The Old Blood? Both are excellent.
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I played only The New Order, but I'm going to definitely play Old Blood next. I think I'll buy it shortly.

GTA V is great, so I'd second/third whatever, the recommendations from others above.

J3RK said:
Give the Metro Redux versions a shot. Good games, advanced engines.
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I have both Metro games. Is Redux really worth it?

madFive said:
AJM, sounds like you're rushing too much and not giving these games a chance. It's going to take some time to get used to mechanics and gameplay style with any game, especially huge open-world ones like what you mentioned. I haven't played either of those yet, waiting to get them on sale.
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This is untrue. I always give games the benefit of the doubt, and tend to play on hardest settings right out of the box. This usually exposes a game's design shortcomings pretty damn fast, in my opinion.

I give the games time to "progress", and definitely don't rush it. I invest lots of time in character development to make sure that it's not me being simply unfair or whiny.

That being said, loot animations. THEY NEED TO DIE IN A FIRE. Boss fights in which the game purposely takes all your stuff away MULTIPLE TIMES in the game (once is enough, thank you...it gets old real fast) for no reason. And thank the game for saving right when I'm near death in a boss fight with the dumbass auto saves. And button mashing. The list goes on and on and on.

I want to enjoy the game, not be held back by ridiculous artificial gameplay barriers.

To compare, I've played the following over again within the past month:

Borderlands:TPS
Deus Ex Human Revolution + all DLC
Metro Last Light
Crysis 3

Although each one of them do suffer from some level of consolitis, they are actually pretty damned good compared to Far Cry 4 and Dying Light. The gameplay is balanced. There aren't any really annoying loot animations (except Borderlands with the loot chests). So when I compare to games like those, which are kind of old now, my sentiments are that things are just going south, and I really wish it could stop. That's why Fallout 4 can't come soon enough.
 
I built a new machine with a GTX980 in December and Pacman never looked so good. Asteroids on the other hand looks the same.
 
Unless you've been in a coma the last 5 years, you should know PC gaming is now console ports on a shoestring budget, What's even more insulting is a lot of companies showing off games at E3 and the like decked out on a killer PC, only to nerf them back down to console level graphics at release time. We are used and abused, red headed step children.

There is no place for $500 video cards anymore, anyone who has bought one in the last 5 years has been hoodwinked. Luckily (for Nvidia) they know the PC community will always have an e-peen complex, and buy these cards regardless of the minimal benefits over a $200 card.
 
ajm786 said:
But it's really simple. Just take the game, axe out everything, and just have a single level. Or even part of a level. They do it already with the games out there by giving you the ability to play through single levels if you wish. Can't see how difficult it would be. I think it's more of "they'll know what we're putting out is s***, so let's take it away".
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no, it's not that simple.
 
alienate said:
Unless you've been in a coma the last 5 years, you should know PC gaming is now console ports on a shoestring budget, What's even more insulting is a lot of companies showing off games at E3 and the like decked out on a killer PC, only to nerf them back down to console level graphics at release time. We are used and abused, red headed step children.

There is no place for $500 video cards anymore, anyone who has bought one in the last 5 years has been hoodwinked. Luckily (for Nvidia) they know the PC community will always have an e-peen complex, and buy these cards regardless of the minimal benefits over a $200 card.
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I find this untrue. My old GTX 570 would not allow me to play games at an enjoyable pace without having to make major sacrifices in the graphics department...or accept really poor performance. Not to mention it was hot and loud.

DPI said:
no, it's not that simple.
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Yeah, I know it's not that simple. :( But I was just pointing out that demos used to really serve their purpose.
 
alienate said:
There is no place for $500 video cards anymore, anyone who has bought one in the last 5 years has been hoodwinked. Luckily (for Nvidia) they know the PC community will always have an e-peen complex, and buy these cards regardless of the minimal benefits over a $200 card.
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Yeahhhh, the era of "you NEED a new card every 18 months - 2 years" is long gone.

I've had this 6950 for over three years and I'm just now starting to feel the need to upgrade.
 
horrorshow said:
Yeahhhh, the era of "you NEED a new card every 18 months - 2 years" is long gone.

I've had this 6950 for over three years and I'm just now starting to feel the need to upgrade.
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No kidding. I've got a GTX690 and I wanted to buy a Titan X.

...But I didn't want to sidegrade. Three years later, and a $250-300 card is on par with a thousand dollar card in most situations. I'll just have to wait for next gen, I guess!
 
Whats going on with games lately? And you're talking about 2 whole games? :confused:
 
rive22 said:
Pick games you like instead of games that are popular but not necessarily good.
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Problem with this is that it's completely subjective. I love games that you likely have hated and vice-versa. OP's frustration is simply buyer's remorse. There is no way you could have known you wouldn't like it until you tried it, and since demos are harder and harder to come by it's no wonder most of us have a huge backlog of games that are mediocre.
 
horrorshow said:
Yeahhhh, the era of "you NEED a new card every 18 months - 2 years" is long gone.

I've had this 6950 for over three years and I'm just now starting to feel the need to upgrade.
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You must not game at high resolutions and or settings because you would be singing a different tune.

Or you must prefer playing PC games at console quality levels, which not everyone will agree with.
 
Outsider said:
Yeah demos are long gone unfortunately.

I think game publishers just decided they weren't worth the development time and money to make them anymore. Its just a different industry now.
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How hard would it be to take out 95% of the levels in a game to make it a demo? I don't know that's why I'm asking.
 
Hulk said:
How hard would it be to take out 95% of the levels in a game to make it a demo? I don't know that's why I'm asking.
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Its not hard, it simply costs money. Devs and pubs don't like spending money on demos anymore
 
BlueSaber80 said:
Its not hard, it simply costs money. Devs and pubs don't like spending money on demos anymore
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So not only did they do away with demos, they now want to do away with the gameplay videos. Didn't some game developer threaten someone with a takedown order over some gameplay videos on YouTube/Twitch or something recently?
 
BlueSaber80 said:
Its not hard, it simply costs money. Devs and pubs don't like spending money on demos anymore
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That's bullshit. That is one reason I still really like consoles b/c I could use Gamefly if I wanted to try out a game, or just wait until it shows up in a nearby Redbox, or go on Craigslist and Ebay and find them as cheap as possible. People on the PC forum bitch a lot about gimped graphics, but if the gameplay sucks then who cares?
 
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