A bit of background first. My first gaming experience was in the '80s at arcades and my first home gaming system was a Laser 128 (an Apple II clone), followed by my personal favorite - Amiga 500. From then on I went to PC (a 386) and stayed there. I haven't played much in the past ten years or so and when I did, it was mostly older titles (UT99 and adventure games). I kept following the gaming scene, though, and constantly increase my Steam/GOG backlog, hoping to catch up to some of the more popular titles now that I'll have some more time.
I have noticed a disturbing trend and a change in what is considered the norm these days. I do not recall having the following things before, which seem as something that came from the console world, but that may be my nostalgia memory failing me. I find these highly annoying:
1) achievements - I wouldn't mind if they simply existed in the background, even if I don't understand the appeal, but the constant popups on the screen feel like something aimed at a child playing on consoles (not that I would want them then, either) and make me cringe. The amount of popups during/after kills in e.g. new Battlefield and CoD games look like some arcade shooter/platformer, not a PC FPS.
2) unlocks - I hate these with a passion in multiplayer FPS games! WTF?! That would never fly in the old days. Skill separated newbs from good players (ultimately still does, I know) and all started with a level playing field.
3) QTEs - a can't think of a more anti-gaming mechanic. Pulls you away from the game and its immersive gameplay and starts something that feels like a retard button hitting minigame.
4) "press X to do Y" and similar popups - again, something I feel belongs on the consoles. Give me a manual and/or a tutorial at the beginning and let me play the game myself. This kind of hand-holding makes me feel as if the game considers me too stupid to figure things out by myself. If there is a lever, I know I should try to pull it. I've seen this in e.g. latest Tomb Raider videos. I don't remember it being in the original, but even if it was, I don't think it should be there.
5) "interactive movies" - pretty much anything Quantic Dream puts out. Not so prevalent, but some new ultra popular titles are getting dangerously close, like The Last of Us. Basically all games that rely too much on the story and cutscenes, are mostly linear and provide little actual (meaningful) gameplay.
Is it just me?
I have noticed a disturbing trend and a change in what is considered the norm these days. I do not recall having the following things before, which seem as something that came from the console world, but that may be my nostalgia memory failing me. I find these highly annoying:
1) achievements - I wouldn't mind if they simply existed in the background, even if I don't understand the appeal, but the constant popups on the screen feel like something aimed at a child playing on consoles (not that I would want them then, either) and make me cringe. The amount of popups during/after kills in e.g. new Battlefield and CoD games look like some arcade shooter/platformer, not a PC FPS.
2) unlocks - I hate these with a passion in multiplayer FPS games! WTF?! That would never fly in the old days. Skill separated newbs from good players (ultimately still does, I know) and all started with a level playing field.
3) QTEs - a can't think of a more anti-gaming mechanic. Pulls you away from the game and its immersive gameplay and starts something that feels like a retard button hitting minigame.
4) "press X to do Y" and similar popups - again, something I feel belongs on the consoles. Give me a manual and/or a tutorial at the beginning and let me play the game myself. This kind of hand-holding makes me feel as if the game considers me too stupid to figure things out by myself. If there is a lever, I know I should try to pull it. I've seen this in e.g. latest Tomb Raider videos. I don't remember it being in the original, but even if it was, I don't think it should be there.
5) "interactive movies" - pretty much anything Quantic Dream puts out. Not so prevalent, but some new ultra popular titles are getting dangerously close, like The Last of Us. Basically all games that rely too much on the story and cutscenes, are mostly linear and provide little actual (meaningful) gameplay.
Is it just me?