Yes.
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Is it just me or was 2004 to 2009 some of the dullest years in gaming.
- Thread starter mdzapeer
- Start date
Banjo-Kazooie
Member
Wut? 06/07 were amazing years
shark sandwich
tenuously links anime, pedophile and incels
Yeah man this was one of the highlights of that period for me. I'm not saying it was completely devoid of quality JRPGs, but the frequency of great JRPGs suffered a MASSIVE decrease in this period, and most of the established players proved that their best days were behind them.How can you say that when we got one of the greatest JRPG's of all time?
Like, I feel like today, if you said "the classics like Final Fantasy VII, Chrono Trigger, and Xenogears will never be topped" most hardcore JRPG fans would agree. Whereas back in 2004 there was still this palpable sense that we were just getting started and we hadn't yet seen what the JRPG genre was really capable of.
It's just you. Although I do see where you're coming from, I think there are a lot of trendsetters in those years and as a result probably more copycats in there ever have been in the industry. I'm talking about copycats of modern warfare and gears of war in particular, which led to some decent games but a whole lot of garbage.
Ignoring the way the industry went as a whole though, I don't think it was any different than any other area of gaming. It probably set us up for our current era more than anything, and which I think we have the most widespread amount of variety that there's ever been.
Ignoring the way the industry went as a whole though, I don't think it was any different than any other area of gaming. It probably set us up for our current era more than anything, and which I think we have the most widespread amount of variety that there's ever been.
SOME-MIST
Member
Also disagree - I nabbed some really awesome titles in that time frame.
It's when cave's console output started ramping up:
Espgaluda
Mushihimesama
Ibara
Dodonpachi Daioujou
Deathsmiles
Mushihimesama Futari
Got Sin & Punishment: Star Successor, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Hidden: Source, Damon's Souls, Okami, Shadow of the Colossus, Devil May Cry 4, Mother 3, Contra 4, etc.
I'm sure a lot of those have been listed
It's when cave's console output started ramping up:
Espgaluda
Mushihimesama
Ibara
Dodonpachi Daioujou
Deathsmiles
Mushihimesama Futari
Got Sin & Punishment: Star Successor, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Hidden: Source, Damon's Souls, Okami, Shadow of the Colossus, Devil May Cry 4, Mother 3, Contra 4, etc.
I'm sure a lot of those have been listed
semiconscious
Member
there's op's just gotta have something in mind other than 'dark ages' when he uses the expression 'dark ages' 
...
...minkymuskyslyoldstoaty
Member
Objection
I assume someone mentioned the Ace Attorney games
I assume someone mentioned the Ace Attorney games
Airola
Member
It could be an age thing (I turn 35 this year).
Around that time the screenshots in the back covers went more and more in the direction of showing images of cutscenes or some effect shots without actually much showing what the actual gameplay would look like. I remember looking at the Final Fantasy VIII box and thinking what's the point in showing these pictures if they are not showing the actual GAME parts of the game. There were just some cutscene screenshots and a couple of summon monsters.
Now, that game actually blew me away with its animations on the cutscenes, so I guess they tried to milk on that. But that was also the last time I've been blown away by graphics.
I remember lending that game to a friend of mine. He laughed that the game sucks and the only reason to play that game was to see the cutscenes and it was perfectly valid reason for him to want to endure the whole game. Even though I thought the cutscenes looked amazing I couldn't understand that point of view at all. I thought what's the point of playing the game at all if that's all one can get out of it. I wouldn't bother playing the game if that was all there was for me. But little did I know, games and gamers were going in that direction where graphics were often sealed the deal.
Now, surely they have focused on graphics before even in the 8 bit era, but I feel that then we were still able to see from any screenshot what the game was supposed to be like. And it was quite impossible to show a screenshot that showed something else than what the game was all about because that is what most, if not all, of the games' content was in those older games.
Let's get back to 1999 when Final Fantasy VIII came. The pictures in video game magazines were starting to show more and more images that didn't show the actual gameplay. And whenever gameplay pictures were shown, they either looked the same than before but more polished or I couldn't understand what was happening in those pictures. It was easier to see what the point of the game was when looking at 2D games or early 3D games where the screens couldn't yet be filled with tons of stuff.
I held out hope for Final Fantasy X. I had liked VIII and IX even though I felt the quality wasn't where it was in earlier games in the series. I had lost almost all hope for new games, but I still hoped FFX would be something amazing. When I got to see the game in around 2003 I got disappointed so bad. It was then when I made my final decision to drop out from modern gaming completely and I just continued playing my C64, NES and PS1 games.
I occasionally played some games from that era though. My neighbour loaned me their Gamecube and I thought Resident Evil Remake was really good and I loved playing the Target minigame on Smash Melee - I was greatly disappointed in Mario Sunshine though. On N64 Mario 64 had been amazing and Ocarina of Time horribly disappointing (I learned to like that game in around 2008 when I bought my own N64 from a flea market), so even the Nintendo flagship titles couldn't get me hooked in anymore. Then Metroid was announced to be a First Person game. I didn't even bother to try it because I generally disliked First Person games (Duke 3D was the last FPS I liked and even that I enjoyed more when putting just the map on and imagining it was a top down shooter
)Still when I look for some "retro" gaming magazines on flea markets I always notice how the general interest to them gets smaller at around the magazines from 98 or 99. I still tolerate reading them but even when compared with magazines from 96 or 97 there is a clear difference in their content to me. And anything after 2000 is mostly a waste of time for me.
As I said, maybe it's just an age thing. Nostalgia and all. I don't know. All I know is that while still continuing to play with the systems I already owned I had zero interest to get any console on that era.
And then the next machines seemed to be just an HD upgrade on the same old things. I tried some Xbox 360 games at some store around 2006 and just thought yeah I'm done, this does nothing for me. I had no interest to jump back in the modern gaming wagon, but Wii Sports eventually took me back
Well said.
Yeah, I think those other eras have been somehow more distinct.
And yeah, I think we are kinda getting back to the "intermediate space" again. I thought Nintendo would've made things more interesting with the "NX" but I'm a bit disappointed all we got was basically an upgraded Wii U. I love my Wii U, but it feels like the jump from PS1 to PS2 is happening all over again what comes to games just being mostly all about being a bit prettier than before but with the core mechanics being just the same old thing.
Manmademan
Member
It could be an age thing (I turn 35 this year).
Around that time the screenshots in the back covers went more and more in the direction of showing images of cutscenes or some effect shots without actually much showing what the actual gameplay would look like. I remember looking at the Final Fantasy VIII box and thinking what's the point in showing these pictures if they are not showing the actual GAME parts of the game. There were just some cutscene screenshots and a couple of summon monsters.
Now, that game actually blew me away with its animations on the cutscenes, so I guess they tried to milk on that. But that was also the last time I've been blown away by graphics.
I remember lending that game to a friend of mine. He laughed that the game sucks and the only reason to play that game was to see the cutscenes and it was perfectly valid reason for him to want to endure the whole game. Even though I thought the cutscenes looked amazing I couldn't understand that point of view at all. I thought what's the point of playing the game at all if that's all one can get out of it. I wouldn't bother playing the game if that was all there was for me. But little did I know, games and gamers were going in that direction where graphics were often sealed the deal.
Now, surely they have focused on graphics before even in the 8 bit era, but I feel that then we were still able to see from any screenshot what the game was supposed to be like. And it was quite impossible to show a screenshot that showed something else than what the game was all about because that is what most, if not all, of the games' content was in those older games.
Let's get back to 1999 when Final Fantasy VIII came. The pictures in video game magazines were starting to show more and more images that didn't show the actual gameplay. And whenever gameplay pictures were shown, they either looked the same than before but more polished or I couldn't understand what was happening in those pictures. It was easier to see what the point of the game was when looking at 2D games or early 3D games where the screens couldn't yet be filled with tons of stuff.
I held out hope for Final Fantasy X. I had liked VIII and IX even though I felt the quality wasn't where it was in earlier games in the series. I had lost almost all hope for new games, but I still hoped FFX would be something amazing. When I got to see the game in around 2003 I got disappointed so bad. It was then when I made my final decision to drop out from modern gaming completely and I just continued playing my C64, NES and PS1 games.
I occasionally played some games from that era though. My neighbour loaned me their Gamecube and I thought Resident Evil Remake was really good and I loved playing the Target minigame on Smash Melee - I was greatly disappointed in Mario Sunshine though. On N64 Mario 64 had been amazing and Ocarina of Time horribly disappointing (I learned to like that game in around 2008 when I bought my own N64 from a flea market), so even the Nintendo flagship titles couldn't get me hooked in anymore. Then Metroid was announced to be a First Person game. I didn't even bother to try it because I generally disliked First Person games (Duke 3D was the last FPS I liked and even that I enjoyed more when putting just the map on and imagining it was a top down shooter
Still when I look for some "retro" gaming magazines on flea markets I always notice how the general interest to them gets smaller at around the magazines from 98 or 99. I still tolerate reading them but even when compared with magazines from 96 or 97 there is a clear difference in their content to me. And anything after 2000 is mostly a waste of time for me.
As I said, maybe it's just an age thing. Nostalgia and all. I don't know. All I know is that while still continuing to play with the systems I already owned I had zero interest to get any console on that era.
And then the next machines seemed to be just an HD upgrade on the same old things. I tried some Xbox 360 games at some store around 2006 and just thought yeah I'm done, this does nothing for me. I had no interest to jump back in the modern gaming wagon, but Wii Sports eventually took me back
This sounds like you decided that you were "done" with that generation of gaming without actually playing any of the games- relying on magazine screenshots of random games and some in store demos.
That's not even Nostalgia, that's just straight up being a luddite- and I'm saying this as a gamer that's a good bit older than you are.
The PS3/360 era had some balls to the wall OUTSTANDING games. edit: hell you dropped out after FFX which was 2001. You missed virtually all of the PS2 which is just...what? what the hell
Pupperbabysassy
Member
What year did Elite Beat Agents come out?
Huge Succeeded
Banned
2004-2009 might be the best five year stretch in gaming, this side of the year 2000. with respect, fuck outta here my dude
How can you say that when we got one of the greatest JRPG's of all time?
I would give anything to be able to play this thing on my Xbox One. I feel this would never be backward compatible.
OrbitalBeard
Member
Yeah, you need to try more games.=p I played lots of games in those years so I know that I found a lot to like. Also, as for age thing, I'm going to be 30 next year and I find Gen 6 to be one of the best gens IMO.It could be an age thing (I turn 35 this year).
Around that time the screenshots in the back covers went more and more in the direction of showing images of cutscenes or some effect shots without actually much showing what the actual gameplay would look like. I remember looking at the Final Fantasy VIII box and thinking what's the point in showing these pictures if they are not showing the actual GAME parts of the game. There were just some cutscene screenshots and a couple of summon monsters.
Now, that game actually blew me away with its animations on the cutscenes, so I guess they tried to milk on that. But that was also the last time I've been blown away by graphics.
I remember lending that game to a friend of mine. He laughed that the game sucks and the only reason to play that game was to see the cutscenes and it was perfectly valid reason for him to want to endure the whole game. Even though I thought the cutscenes looked amazing I couldn't understand that point of view at all. I thought what's the point of playing the game at all if that's all one can get out of it. I wouldn't bother playing the game if that was all there was for me. But little did I know, games and gamers were going in that direction where graphics were often sealed the deal.
Now, surely they have focused on graphics before even in the 8 bit era, but I feel that then we were still able to see from any screenshot what the game was supposed to be like. And it was quite impossible to show a screenshot that showed something else than what the game was all about because that is what most, if not all, of the games' content was in those older games.
Let's get back to 1999 when Final Fantasy VIII came. The pictures in video game magazines were starting to show more and more images that didn't show the actual gameplay. And whenever gameplay pictures were shown, they either looked the same than before but more polished or I couldn't understand what was happening in those pictures. It was easier to see what the point of the game was when looking at 2D games or early 3D games where the screens couldn't yet be filled with tons of stuff.
I held out hope for Final Fantasy X. I had liked VIII and IX even though I felt the quality wasn't where it was in earlier games in the series. I had lost almost all hope for new games, but I still hoped FFX would be something amazing. When I got to see the game in around 2003 I got disappointed so bad. It was then when I made my final decision to drop out from modern gaming completely and I just continued playing my C64, NES and PS1 games.
I occasionally played some games from that era though. My neighbour loaned me their Gamecube and I thought Resident Evil Remake was really good and I loved playing the Target minigame on Smash Melee - I was greatly disappointed in Mario Sunshine though. On N64 Mario 64 had been amazing and Ocarina of Time horribly disappointing (I learned to like that game in around 2008 when I bought my own N64 from a flea market), so even the Nintendo flagship titles couldn't get me hooked in anymore. Then Metroid was announced to be a First Person game. I didn't even bother to try it because I generally disliked First Person games (Duke 3D was the last FPS I liked and even that I enjoyed more when putting just the map on and imagining it was a top down shooter
Still when I look for some "retro" gaming magazines on flea markets I always notice how the general interest to them gets smaller at around the magazines from 98 or 99. I still tolerate reading them but even when compared with magazines from 96 or 97 there is a clear difference in their content to me. And anything after 2000 is mostly a waste of time for me.
As I said, maybe it's just an age thing. Nostalgia and all. I don't know. All I know is that while still continuing to play with the systems I already owned I had zero interest to get any console on that era.
And then the next machines seemed to be just an HD upgrade on the same old things. I tried some Xbox 360 games at some store around 2006 and just thought yeah I'm done, this does nothing for me. I had no interest to jump back in the modern gaming wagon, but Wii Sports eventually took me back
Those were the years to bail from PC, while retail channels were shrunk, DD wasn't developed yet, Steam was a PoS, the likes of Stardock existed, Before indie games took off, Force registration on multiple sites for games, patching still be scattered between sites like Gamespy, the generation jump between PS2-360, massive flux of consolized versions, and the higher prices on PC parts, budget items lacking, etc, etc, etc.
2003-2007 was terrible, 2007 was the rebound year, and 2009 basically cemented the direction PC was taking.
LegendofLex
Member
Are you just...purposely ignoring how huge and weird and diverse the catalogs on both DS and Wii were during that time?
No that is crazy talk. 2004-2009 had some of the best games I've ever played. ME1 and 2, Bioshock, Oblivion, Demons Souls, Dark Souls, Uncharted 1 and 2. I could go on and on but you get my point. There were some seriously great games that came out during that time.
Edit: Dark Souls came out in 2011 my bad but you get my point.
Edit: Dark Souls came out in 2011 my bad but you get my point.
petran79
Banned
Those years I remember I liked to watch others play games on PS2 instead of playing games myself, so I agree.
Dreamcast was the last classy console. Even up to 2006 we were still playing Dreamcast games.
At least I could still play Virtua Tennis 3 and House of the Dead 4 in arcades. Last good games I remember.
Dreamcast was the last classy console. Even up to 2006 we were still playing Dreamcast games.
At least I could still play Virtua Tennis 3 and House of the Dead 4 in arcades. Last good games I remember.
Hidden One
Member
But MW2 and Uncharted 2 came out in 09.
curiouscharles
Member
seriously wtf op - you just picked one of the best 5 years in gaming.
like... are we not still recycling all the franchises that debuted in those years today?
[hence why i think this generation fucking sucks balls]
like... are we not still recycling all the franchises that debuted in those years today?
[hence why i think this generation fucking sucks balls]
Airola
Member
FFX was 2002 in Europe and I had a chance to try it in 2003.
I tried a few games on PS2, the biggest disappointment being FFX.
What should've I done then? Just buy a machine anyway even though none of its advertisements made me want to buy it? Gaming magazines and in store demos were pretty much all we could get to have information about new games. And gaming shows on television. And of course if a friend had a system then we could play with those.
This is like saying that if a movie's concept doesn't interest me and the trailer interests me even less, I should still be obligated to check that movie out. And if it seems that every new movie concept I hear and every trailer disinterests me as much, then why bother continuing to look for the one rare game from them. I had other things to do.
Continuing to buy games for my old machines was constantly proving to be quaranteed quality entertainment. It was cheap back then. So why bother if there was still much ground to cover from the previous eras and all those experiences were constantly better than what I got to experience with the newer systems.
Sure there are people of my age who have enjoyed all eras. I'm just thinking that maybe age can have something to do with it in a sense that maybe it's just more probable that if someone in my age loses interest in new games it would've happened around that time. Note the word probable. I don't mean it's quaranteed but maybe it's more likely that someone would lose their interest of new games (or music or movies) when they are get to a certain age. And then they would enjoy the things they grew up with more.
Like, if a person is going to lose interest in new games, music or movies at some point in their life, maybe it's more likely it will happen when they are around 20-27 years old. Maybe if they can get through that, it's less likely for them to ever lose interest in new things.
Anyway, if I understood the word "luddite" correctly, it would mean I just wanted to bash new things just for the sake of bashing them or because I just didn't want to lose the old and get in with the new. Like if it was more of an ideological thing than anything more genuine.
I don't think that's the reason because the gradually growing disinterest was very genuine and real, at least to me it was. I would've loved to be interested. I tried to be interested. I subscribed to gaming magazines until about 2003. I wanted to like them. I tried to give things a chance. But you can't force yourself to have more interest in things when you just genuinely don't get it from anywhere. I still had huge interest in playing video games, but the way the games seemed to evolve just didn't work for me at all. Whatever changes the games would get, it was like someone had put a veil in between me and the game. The game is still there but I can't quite understand it in the way I should. I can see the game through the veil but it constantly loses me. Through the veil it either looks more boring or more confusing. I couldn't help it but that's how it was.
Pupperbabysassy
Member
Thanks. Yeah Iliked that era of games.
PuppetMaster
Member
Almost feel bad for the OP at this point.
Almost...
Almost...
Airola
Member
Maybe at some point I will. But seeing as I still haven't started to enjoy FPS games (Fallouts are great though) and most 3rd person action games I've tried also are something I'm not able to enjoy, I don't quite see how I would like earlier versions of the same type of games more now.
I have to clarify though that it's not as if I suddenly started to like modern games after that generation. No, I still dislike or have general disinterest in most(?) modern games. I have currently have over 500 games on Steam and while most of them probably are cheap crappy bundle games there are also some "newer" AAA games in my steam library. Batman games, Dead Space, Mass Effect... I tried them all and didn't like them. I got an Assassin's Creed game on my Wii U to try it out. Didn't like it.
So if I still can't get myself to enjoy modern games, I can't see how I would enjoy modern games from an era where 3D stuff wasn't new and innovative anymore and more or less was a bit flashier stuff than what had already existed, and at the same time is probably clunkier than the next generation games I also don't like even after trying.
During that time span I was absorbed in WoW for a few years, then I got super depressed and developed a drinking problem... So gaming seemed weak and uninteresting to me at the time. (hashtag fatcampfeels)
Looking back though, the mid to late 2000s saw the establishment of some of today's greatest franchises, and there was plenty of great stuff going on. Goddamn, the content of the Orange Box alone...
Looking back though, the mid to late 2000s saw the establishment of some of today's greatest franchises, and there was plenty of great stuff going on. Goddamn, the content of the Orange Box alone...
Everybody's gonna have their own opinions on this. I don't have a lot of time at this very minute so I'll dome back and elaborate later, but I've got some points to make on "greatest years of gaming" or what I consider to be the "best" periods of gaming or whatever.
--1998 is still the best year of gaming ever. Let's stop arguing about this. 2001, 2004, 2007, and 2011 were pretty damn cool too, but they don't beat 1998.
--In my personal opinion the "golden age" of 3D game design was roughly between 1998 and 2005, with a bit of an afterglow occurring in 2007. That goes for both PC and console games.
--I think AAA games started to get safe and somewhat uninspired from 2008 to around 2014. There are always bright spots in there, but that's my general feeling of that time period. That feeling really kicked in around 2012-2014.
--Since 2015 retail console games have been getting quite a bit more interesting overall.
I'll try to be back later tonight to explain why I think this.
--1998 is still the best year of gaming ever. Let's stop arguing about this. 2001, 2004, 2007, and 2011 were pretty damn cool too, but they don't beat 1998.
--In my personal opinion the "golden age" of 3D game design was roughly between 1998 and 2005, with a bit of an afterglow occurring in 2007. That goes for both PC and console games.
--I think AAA games started to get safe and somewhat uninspired from 2008 to around 2014. There are always bright spots in there, but that's my general feeling of that time period. That feeling really kicked in around 2012-2014.
--Since 2015 retail console games have been getting quite a bit more interesting overall.
I'll try to be back later tonight to explain why I think this.
frankie_baby
Member
The poor unfortunate OP has obviously never played Galaxy
immortald3ath
Member
2004-2009 Peak years of the greatest game ever made, World of Warcraft. So I would say NO.
Personally maybe 5-10 of my favourite games ever released from 2003-2009 (slighty extending the OPs period by a few years. I played none of them on release and didnt play any them until 2013 at the earliest. I cant speak to your tastes but id wager you would find a great many games from that Era that you would probably like.
Games like Super Mario Galaxy, KotOR, Mass Effect 1, Mirrors Edge (its a first person platformer so it might not be what you are looking for) Vanquish, prince of persia sands of time ect.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
It's definitely the era I like the least.
Bald space marines, brown FPS and Japanese games trying to act western.
There's a couple of my favs in there: Galaxy, FFXII, Valkyria, Bioshock, Fallout 3.. but generally I agree with the OP.
Bald space marines, brown FPS and Japanese games trying to act western.
There's a couple of my favs in there: Galaxy, FFXII, Valkyria, Bioshock, Fallout 3.. but generally I agree with the OP.
Airola
Member
Mario Galaxy was great (I was disappointed in it for about the first 20 stars but then it got great).
I've tried Mass Effect 1 and 3 and Mirror's Edge. Didn't like them.
People often say Vanquish is great. I haven't tried it but I have a feeling I might not enjoy it as what little I have tried of Platinum Games games, I can't say I'm into their more hectic gameplay (Bayonetta 2 was the last I tried and it went way over my head).
Kotor, hmmm... maybe I should try this type of a Star Wars game. I used to love Rogue Squadron on PC and that's pretty much the newest Star Wars game I have tried as I don't have much interest in that franchise except for watching the new movies.
Prince of Persia could be something I might try some day, if only just to see if there's any connections to the classic game.
By the way, my all time favorite game is from 2005 (and the remake from 2012).
It's La-Mulana
toddhunter
Member
Well you included Okami and Odin Sphere on a list of games claiming not to be dull, so I guess the OP wins.
^ Vanquish isn't great. It is a largely uncontrollable mess (claw required!) that is super retitive with an awful story. However it is so short that people don't really realise this before it is over.
Iva Demilcol
Member
Looking at FPSs alone in 2007:
That's one genre, in one year.
This is like the reason why OP is not wrong
How can you say that when we got one of the greatest JRPG's of all time?
A great game for sure, but it was just one of the few truly great JRPGs we saw on consoles during the first years of the 360/PS3 gen. Another reason why OP is not exactly wrong.
T.Slothrop
Member
I feel like 2011-2013/14 was my personal dark ages. There were some bangers, but it was kinda dead to me.
rakkadakka
Member
The only real question is..
What came out in 2010 to break this streak for OP?
What came out in 2010 to break this streak for OP?
