Chefelf.com Night Life: bored with current-gen PC games.. - Chefelf.com Night Life

Jump to content

Page 1 of 1

bored with current-gen PC games.. PC Games, state of PC Gaming

#1 User is offline   GaijinGweilo Icon

  • New Cop
  • Group: Junior Members
  • Posts: 1
  • Joined: 13-May 08
  • Country:Australia

Posted 13 May 2008 - 12:47 PM

Ok, i'm giving fair warning so as to not have 'too' many complaints afterwards, but this post is a rant. One long big rant about the state of 'PC-specific' gaming today.

But, if you're feeling anything like me about the current slew of pc games, then maybe you'll find it useful. This will also probably be the first & last thread i'll make on this forum, so if you've got something to say, make it count.

It was about this time last year that i got my brother to build me this new computer
(i couldn't post specs because i don't really know about all that junk) & so far i've really struggled to find games i 'want' to play.

There's a whole bunch of new games that i've tried but never really gotten into for some reason, here's a list of the games i've played so far but found wanting;

Bioshock : I gave it a good 3 & a half hours, & made some progress in it, but when i realised that the aim was much better on the pistol than the friggin' machine gun, i kinda got sick of it. New weapons are supposed to be upgrades aren't they? adding a bit of variety to the very BASIC gameplay, not setbacks?

The game was pretty, but it was boring. I don't know if there's some correlation between the better the graphics, the worse the gameplay but there it is. I mean, i'm not 'trying' to not enjoy these games, but this one i didn't.

The Witcher : my god, worst one of the lot. I was looking forward to this based solely on its screen-shots, but the first warning-bell went off when i heard it was based on the NVN 2 engine.
When i actually played it i though 'why isn't this in 1st perspective?' I thought the whole reason behind 3rd perspective view is because you wanted to get as many units in view as possibly (i.e. RTS), but when the entire focal-point of the action is based around the one unit then what's the point? I fucking hated the point & click interface of the original NVN games & figured the only reason they'd resorted to that was because of the graphical limitations of rendering everything in first-person 3d.

In future, publishers, if you're going to make an 'epic storyline' single-player rpg, then make it first person (with 3rd-person camera angle options), it does a hell of a lot for immersion. To me, this is the one thing that Oblivion (& the elder-scrolls series) has gotten right. I played this game for about 45 minutes before i just couldn't handle the annoying dialogue, combat & camera angles.
Huge dissapointment.

Unreal tournament III : god-awful, & I only played the demo.
I used to like original UT1, what the fuck happened?

TF2 : this one i actually played for a while.. until they decided to start messing around with the core elements of the gameplay & then i've kinda played it a lot less since then. Sometimes my brother gets me to play online with him but that's not often.

If you stop playing this for a couple of months, then you may discover they've completely altered the gameplay, AGAIN. Way to hemorrage players on a weekly basis valve.
How often did TFC change since its release? & for how long afterwards were people still playing that game? I mean, i played it a good 5 years before i stopped, & i think that was 3 or 4 years ago. Basically its like this; people want you to RELEASE CONTENT & fix bugs, that's it.

Give us more maps, stop fucking with the gameplay (& adding 'achievements to a pc release, what the fucking hell?) & give back soldier ammo!!! Oh yeah, & grenades, that was the one basic thing that made the original TF mod for Quake revolutionary;
actually throwing a physical object into the environment & killing stuff was great 1st person shooter interaction, & was also the main thing that balanced the classes (i.e. engy being the best class to kill a heavy with e.m.p grens, scouts with conc grenades & caltrops to run away etc.)

Its kinda sad that i'd prefer the 9 yr old (how ever many years, i don't really fucking care) gameplay of the original iteration of the game than to the 'almost vaporware' version of the sequal.

what else...

Gave Half life 2 & Episode 1 a cursory try, no thanks.
I never even bothered to finish the original half-life single-player campaign & this wasn't much of a revolution over that; same basic 1st person gameplay, same scripted events, same stoic/boring hero-type who never says nothing.
Seriously valve, pretty soon you'll be delving into that 'produces great engines, makes terrible games' scenario like id, because you're not making anything very 'revolutionary' gameplay-wise.

Something tells me that the whole gordan freeman, master che(i)f, snake-eyes 'silent badass' archetype is just a product of lazy plot-writing. They can't really be bothered at any actual character-development so they give us the same old shit again (a'la Bioshock) which to me shows a huge flaw in the typical FPS mold. I mean, its not like its impossible; the first Deus Ex game was great, compared to all the previously mentioned games, & that had successfully melded fps elements into a First-person rpg with a character who actually TALKS!!! i've never played the sequal, so i won't bring it up (yeah, i heard its bad too, hence i never played it).

ok now for some of the good, i want this to be balanced (not unbiased, i'm very biased) just to show that i actually 'like' some stuff.

Oblivion : i think i previously touched on this a little before, this game i actually did invest some time into (if only because of a lack of alternatives in choice) & i enjoyed it, for what its worth, around 2-3 weeks.
Many many many things wrong with the game but its exactly what i EXPECTED to see on my new system; a completely 3d/immersive world, typical character-developing single-player RPG game, looked pretty.

In the end though, i had to have so many add-ons just to get over some obscene flaws in the original core gameplay (like not being able to sell things at full price, or have anywhere to store the loot) that it got too buggy to play, so i gave up on it.

If you have to download player-made add-ons just to be able to properly enjoy the SINGLE-player version of a game, then take a fucking good long hard look at yourself because you're doing somwething wrong.

KOTOR : i've never liked star wars. Well ok, i probably enojoyed the first 3 (original) movies when i was a kid, but nothing much more beyond them just being 'good movies' (& probably liked the Indiana Jones filmes better anyway). But it seems to me the one good thing about Star Wars has is the games.

Kotor is amazing. For a single-player rpg it hits all the right buttons; immersively 3d, character inventory & progression, a whole party of player-characterss, a proper storyline (taking place on different worlds with many sub-plots/quests & mini-games) & no ham-fistedly transplanted MMORPG elements (looking at YOU elder-scrolls series!!)I can't recommend this game highly enough.

I think it was the first game in a small number of years that i've actually bothered to complete (the previous one being in i think 2005 when i played Resident Evil 4 over one summer on the gamecube, & the only reason i stuck at that was because i was playing it alongside my dad, of which we kept egging each other on).

The one game in this list that i might possibly consider re-playing from the beginning (other than resident evil 4, but 5 will be out soon enough so i might just get a PS3 or something). Developers: Make More Games Like This, but better (holding out for Mass Effect but i guess that could go either way).

KOTOR2 : not so good. Not as well done as its predecessor, but then again i think a different company did it this time. From the beginning i didn't like being stuck with that Hag, i didn't like her attitude & her apathy (how ironic tongue.gif), i didn't ever take her advice or have her in my party, & i thought it was the BIGGEST fucking anti-climax to have to face her at the end (uhh yeah, spoiler warning? fucking whatever), but sequals are only ever really half as good as the first one & so was this, if that.

Republic commando : Having played KOTOR 1 & 2 i was hungry for more star wars games, just in case there were any more gems hiding in the rough (you can tell how starved i was at this point, going back to 3 or 4 year-older games), & this one wasn't too bad actually. I bothered to beat it, for one, so i guess it held my attention span long enough for that (& that's saying quite a lot).

Quite fun, some neat & interestingly new ideas (for a star wars game & especially for a 1st P.Shooter), gets kinda samey near the end (last 3rd or quarter) but by that time you've invested enbough time into it to want to see how it all ends... Well, the ending's not so great, but this is a 1st person shooter so the action/gameplay takes place over storyline & that's the reason you play it.

Arr & yeah that's about it.

No wait, i played NVN 2 & kinda enjoyed it, i beat it so i must have, but it was sorta short (compared to storylines like Baldur's Gate 2 & Planescape Torment, games these days are far too lacking). I also played the expansion but never finished it. Nuff said.

So here i get to the Crux of the issue, & my whole reason for posting this in the first place;

What games are going to make the most out of my new PC (i.e. from 2006-'07 onwards) without boring me to death like the above-mentioned failures?

Preferably either games that are good single-player games, or that i can play co-operatively with my brother, either over the in'ernet or lan (because that was the whole point of me getting this computer in the first place, so we could play more games together, we just haven't FOUND any yet beyond TF2, which is now wearing quite thin because of the developer's constant meddling).

Oh yeah, & just for the MMO crowd, no i'm not entirely 'against' online-RPG's, we (that is, my brother & i) used to play WoW for a summer when it first came out (on the old comp), then quit for a whole (i think it was) eleven months before the expansion came out, which we quit again after a month & a half because it wasn't anything terribly new.

I possibly would pick up an mmo again, but only if it were a completely radically new take on the whole mmo thing & the typical lvling-up grind affair of Mmo's today (possibly one without any need for lvls at all). I mean really, who honestly thought Garriot's 'Tabula Roncho' thing was going to be THAT different? The man's in a fantasy world himself, he's not even English! (Lord British my arse).

Speaking of which, i tried out the LOTROnline free trial when it first came out.
I didn't need any more than a week, i gave it up after the first 2 days.
Same ol' same ol' same ol' SHIT!

***NOTE: I posted this on another forum, just to get a different set of replies,
so don't get too uppity if you 'just happen' to see it somewhere else***
0

#2 User is offline   No Idea Icon

  • New Cop
  • Group: Junior Members
  • Posts: 30
  • Joined: 24-April 08
  • Country:United States

Posted 15 May 2008 - 02:22 AM

I think it is very very likely that you don't really like video games that much anymore. I mean this as no insult but considering that of the well critically acclaimed games of the last half-decade you liked 2 of them it seems that maybe you should serious consider that you just don't really care for video games anymore.

Tastes change as we grow, it isn't a bad thing.
0

#3 User is offline   SimeSublime Icon

  • Monkey Proof
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Group: Moderators
  • Posts: 6,619
  • Joined: 06-May 04
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Perth, Western Australia
  • Country:Australia

Posted 17 May 2008 - 11:47 AM

I'd have to agree with that. I used to love RTS games, now I barely touch them. As for some of the specific games on your list. You found Bioshock boring? I'm sorry to hear that. I thought it was an excellent immersion. As for the Witcher, there was a third person option. Just put the camera in 'over the shoulder' mode by selecting mouse and keyboard playstyle, or pressing F3. It's how I played the game, and it worked brilliantly.
The Green Knight, SimeSublime the Puffinesque, liker of chips and hunter of gnomes.
JM's official press secretary, scientific advisor, diplomat and apparent antagonist?
0

#4 User is offline   Slade Icon

  • Full of Bombs and/or Keys
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Group: Head Moderator
  • Posts: 8,626
  • Joined: 30-November 03
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Columbia, SC
  • Interests:I like stuff.
  • Country:United States

Posted 17 May 2008 - 01:04 PM

tl;dr

No, I actually read about half of it, but I don't have the time or patience to call you out on all of the nonsense involved in that ridiculously long and disjointed rant. You also did raise some good points, but again, too long, no patience to point those out either.

One quick thing:
-TF2 rockets/grenades: Boo hoo. Now you actually have to either think about where you're firing your rockets, or actually go pick up ammo once in a while instead of being a constant one-man arsenal of exploding death. You know, like almost every FPS expects you to do? Not including grenades is a sad state of affairs, though. You could do whatever you want if you modded it, too. *shrug*
This space for rent. Inquire within.
0

#5 User is offline   Phoenix Icon

  • New Cop
  • Group: Junior Members
  • Posts: 11
  • Joined: 18-May 08
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:U.S.
  • Country:United States

Posted 18 May 2008 - 01:15 PM

I can understand where you are coming from, I used to love playing older games such as Starcraft and Diablo 1 and 2, but as of recently many games in the same genre just don't make the cut. It seems that instead of making a good game and trying to hook people on video games as they had to in the past, the developers already know that people will buy the game that they make, even if that game has almost no entertainment value. World of Warcraft has spawned a new genre of MMORPG's which may change the industry. As for me, i am eagerly awaiting the release of Starcraft II which should be the best RTS since the original Starcraft.

This post has been edited by Phoenix: 18 May 2008 - 01:16 PM

0

#6 User is offline   Dr Lecter Icon

  • Almighty God Of All Morals
  • PipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Group: Members
  • Posts: 2,132
  • Joined: 03-January 05
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Crawley/Hull
  • Country:United Kingdom

Posted 24 May 2008 - 10:35 AM

*yawns* I like my games the way I like my sex, 1-3 players.
0

#7 User is offline   David-kyo Icon

  • Goatboy
  • PipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Group: Members
  • Posts: 2,305
  • Joined: 18-June 06
  • Gender:Male
  • Interests:None of your business.
  • Country:Hungary

Posted 25 May 2008 - 02:58 AM

Aha, so you prefer single player games the most.
0

#8 User is offline   Dr Lecter Icon

  • Almighty God Of All Morals
  • PipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Group: Members
  • Posts: 2,132
  • Joined: 03-January 05
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Crawley/Hull
  • Country:United Kingdom

Posted 25 May 2008 - 01:41 PM

Damn straight cool.gif
0

Page 1 of 1


Fast Reply

  • Decrease editor size
  • Increase editor size