- Every AAA game looks the same.
Not truth.
- AAA Games take 5-7 years to make.
True, and engines like Unreal are being improved daily to combat the inflation of time and costs and also allow smaller teams to attempt something close to AAA. We are in a growing pains period of a cost ratio.
- Everything is a fucking secret.
Because you're impatient and expect a 2 years turnaround time with a gigantic budget after a game is announced. Even Disney is struggling to keep their quality of Marvel and Star Wars shows consistent by trying to make it a giant yearly release machine.
- Gaming culture is an embarrassment.
Sometimes. There are people who genuinely enjoy the hobby and that's all. Stop browsing twitter.
- There hasn't been any new game mechanics/formulas introduced in AAA gaming since the PS360 era.
Kojima tried to make a new type of game and people made fun of him and the game he made. The climate has changed, thanks to CoD, Skyrim Battlefield, Madden, Fifa, etc. People want familiarity and remakes. To add on top of that, companies like Capcom and Ubisoft are struggling to keep their gigantic ships afloat and because of these gigantic budgets, every new risk they take has to sell millions or else it's a net failure and makes them closer to mass studio closings/firings, and closing down completely.
- The PS360 era was the last time game design evolved. Its been the exact same since then with better graphics.
Read above.
- Why are 99% of Open World games still following the basic GTA 3 mission structure and design formula?
It's what sells. Publishers want money.
- What happened to destructible environments and physics?
To keep it short: The gameplay has to revolve around said mechanics or else those two things make every game fall apart. Not every game wants that. Light physics and destruction is what people are doing for now, but graphics are still a larger priority with AAA. Now advanced enemy A.I. like in F.E.A.R. should and could be implemented more, but again it's more cost.
- Why the FUCK does BOTW have some of the best physics in gaming? On that weak ass console?
The game was developed around it. Read above.
- Speaking of graphics, only a few studios actually make great looking games now. 80% of them are under Sony control.
Sony has the right amount of money to sink into it. So does MS and you will see that one day from them too.
- Why does every Japanese character-action game look like some anime ass shit with putrid visuals?
Because Genshin Impact sold billions and fans of anime aesthetic have tons of money and are much more vast in numbers than you think. For the east, that's their PUBG.
- Why does FROM have amazing art design and shit ass tech? Why can only select few companies achieve both?
They're a middleware developer with a middleware amount of staff who won the lottery and who's now being treated like a AAA developer. They also aren't good with their engine but are too familiar with it to change engines.
- Why is nothing as cool as the last 40 minutes of Top Gun 2022?
Try VR.
- Why do so many indie games use the same artstyle?
Look at more video games.
Where are the talented up and coming game developers?
Some are deciding to stay quiet and not put their names out there too fast, because people on this site and other social media tend to want to run them out of the building the minute they make a single mistake or bad choice.
Where are the Ari Asters, Matt Reeves, Roger Eggers, Jordan Peele, Ryan Coogler, Nia DaCosta, Chloé Zhao, Alex Garland's of the game world? Talented game up and coming directors with ambition and the desire to push the medium forward with great gameplay design, new ideas, and just pure quality?
They're currently making the indie games that you're ignoring. They're trying to get their big break in the industry, but tons of people like yourself decide to talk down to indie devs and say that their games all have the same art style or are bad, but at the same time celebrate indie filmmakers. Funny how that works
Better yet, where are the James Camerons, Ridley Scotts, Tarantino's, Christopher Nolan, Alejandro González Iñárritu's, David Fincher, Martin Scorsese's of the game world? World renowned game developers who have produced top quality shit and pushed the medium forward.
Read up on gaming history and icons. Matter of fact, watch G4's icons archives or Easy Allies' hall of fame on youtube. Secondly, there are quite a few game dev veterans who will tell you that the job is soul-sucking, from the gigantic amount of overwork to the negativity from fans, they end up simply leaving the industry without much love or adoration for it anymore because it has become somewhat of a masochistic career.
Miyamoto is the most famous person the industry has ever seen, but he's stuck making shit for terrible and outdated hardware. Imagine if James Cameron was limited to making movies that could only be viewed on an iPhone screen and shot with a Canon T5i. Thats Miyamoto.
Someone would have to run the numbers again, but I'm pretty sure Nintendo is having the most success this gen because of that decision. They realized that the graphics race isn't really worth it and were better off for it. Mass audiences don't care because they just expect fun games from Nintendo.
Why is no one trying to develop new gameplay mechanics, better more interactive worlds, new AI, better moment to moment gameplay loops, More visceral and immersive combat??
Read above.
Why was Ghost of Tsushima praised so much? It had basic ass combat and every single enemy had the same exact death animation, the standoffs were all identical too, and the stealth gameplay was stuck in 2003 with auto-fail missions once your character is seen. Why is "hide in tall grass, throw stone" still the hallmark of every fucking stealth game? Why is everyone still following the same third person cover shooter mechanics that Gears of War introduced in 2006? Why does Starfield look exactly like No Mans Sky? Why is The Last of Us still basically the benchmark for storytelling in games a decade later?
They managed to convey a really well told Samurai story reminiscent of a movie and that hasn't been done in a very long time, because Japanese samurai games tend to go to the extreme arcadey side of storytelling, cutscenes, and history, like Nioh and Samurai Warriors.
Why can no game make you cry? Or genuinely laugh? Why are there NO new ideas anymore? Why is everything just bigger and not better? Why is everything so ... mediocre.
Play more games than just AAA titles and you will get your wish.
Procreation.
I guess the medium is still young. But I feel theres simply not enough talent.
This medium is way, way younger than Hollywood, to the point where it's still compared to the toy industry and game preservation is still absolutely terrible compared to movie preservation. Give everything time. Technology has been moving at an alarming pace since the late 90s and we'll keep moving along.