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[LegitMcfalls]

This is probably the greatest era for games we live in.

-dev tools are easier and cheaper creating some of the most exciting indie games out there.

-there will always be big AAA games and they are getting better.

-exciting social online games like Rocket League, PUBG and Destiny are defining this generation.

-more inclusive games for women, people of colour, all ages and lgbt people.

-access to free games each month with psn/live.

-classic games more readibly available with the nes mini, backwards compatible Xbox, psnow and hopefully vc soon.

-with inflation games are actually much cheaper then they were in other generations and go on sale more frequently and earlier.

-vr games are new and exciting and eventually will be the future of console gaming

-and not to mention almost everyone has a portable gaming device with them at all times with their smart phones so you can game whenever you want!

Honestly as gamers its as good as it will ever be.

 

[MatrixMan.EXE]

I mean every generation so far had his game who define it, who create a new genre or make one genre better, what game has done that for this one ?

Destiny and The Witcher 3, Overwatch, to name a couple. Both generation defining games, regardless of how yourself or anyone else feels about them.

 

[Drillary Clinton]

The indie scene is bursting at the seams with creativity and a lot of it has bled over to more popular games. This gen started off pretty rough but it's in a good spot right now.

 

[Honome]

lol, this is perfect.

This just makes me think you don't play indie games.

Also this. I am old too and play games since atari years, and every time people complain about lack of originality in games i always think that they just don't care about looking for it in indie games. The quantity of quality and innovation we have in those games nowadays are better than ever. People should stop complaining and start playing different things and not only what the mainstream industry tries to make people swallow.

 

[Nekki]

This generation gave us the most open world games, so I guess that could be a definition, wether you like them or not.

 

[Spinluck]

I'd say it's more creative if anything.

My biggest problem with this gen is actually that there's too many games and I continue to have less and less time to play them all.

 

[Crazy Diamond]

Can't say I agree. PUBG, Persona 5, RE7, Tekken 7, FFXV, Overwatch ...these games are some of the best in a long time.

And yet the OP is pining for fucking Kojima to ride in on a white horse and save the industry. The dude that made 17 Metal Gear sequels, and would have kept making them if Konami didn't kick his ass to the kerb. Only he can save us, only he is willing to try new things.

What a joke.

His sequels offer more diversity than most big publisher's new IPs. Besides, not like he wanted to be making them. You see what Konami is doing with their very first Metal Gear post-Kojima? Somehow even worse than the Silent Hill treatment.

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

As others of have said, in the AAA space absolutely. Just like with music, you have to dig a bit deeper that what is mass marketed to find the real gems.

 

[CaviarMeths]

So many people saying "but indies" in this thread, as if there isn't a huge amount of content that is neither AAA nor indie. Gaming output is far more than just the two opposite points of the spectrum.

 

[yanipheonu]

Play some indie games and get back to me.

I entirely disagree.

 

[Lindsay]

Is MGSV canonically a current gen game? Swear I played the demo/prologue on my PS3 an could've done the same had I any interest at all in V after playing the demo/prologue.

As for creativity of the 20 games I have between my 3DS & PS4 (an frankly all my PS4 games are PS3 ports so...) only 1 of 'em is a real deal new series started this gen. All the rest are pretty much tried & true continuations of past ones outside of Mario 3D Land and DKC Returns. All a buncha fun games however so its no huge biggie to me. I dun need earth shattering originality just fun!

 

[MattKeil]

You said Nioh twice, besides that what are these games doing that is creative and original and not simply refinement? A refined concept is still the same concept.

And? Innovation is not automatically good, and most of the best games are refinements of what came before, not wholly new ideas. The OP even mentions MGS5, which is more refinement than innovation, and the first MGS was even just a refinement of the existing series with (then) modern tech applied. The gamer obsession with "new and innovative" is an error, mainly driven by years of marketing convincing them that something new is automatically better than an old idea done well. But in truth, good ideas done well are always the best product, regardless of when that idea was conceived.

Also anyone whining about lack of innovation today apparently never stood in front of a shelf of games at a store during the 8-bit era. Legions and legions of 2D platformers with nothing of value to offer. Every era has its curse.

 

[Onemic]

Outside of indies, lets not act like sequels and remakes arent way more prevalent now than they were in the PS2 era and earlier and that the earlier eras didnt have a lot more new IP's than we see today.

 

[CharminUltra]

Phew, I've been gaming since the 80s, but thank dog I'm still not this jaded (yet.)

 

[ajb1888]

I feel like this is the best gen yet

 

[SlimySnake]

OP isnt exactly wrong. He's not saying this has been a bad gen, just not creative enough when it comes to new IPs and FRESH ideas. You look at the generation defining titles last gen and you see stuff like Ass Creed, Mass Effect, Uncharted, Gears of War, Demon/Dark Souls, LBP all coming out within the first couple of years . You look at this gen and all we have our online focused titles like Division, Destiny, For Honor. i love Destiny but when everything is the same then wtf is the point. You can just say hey but we got Horizon this year! Well that's one new franchise. One. I am sure there are a couple more like Bloodborne and Sunset, but that's not the norm.

We had great new IPs last gen in lots of different genres, RPGs, open world stealth/action/parkour, third person shooters, entirely new platformers. Now almost everything new feels like it was made in lab. And seeing as how loot heavy these new online focused franchises are, i wouldnt be surprised if they were indeed made with the help of psychologists.

Those telling the OP to play indie games are way off base. we had indie games last gen as well. that's when they really took off. I dont mind indie games but they are an appetizer, not the main course. i am more interested in B games like Nioh, Nier, Until Dawn but other than a few exceptions it seems everything is either AAA or indie.

I really like this gen so far. We started out really slow in 2013 and 2014 fucking sucked, but since then we have seen some really great sequels that have looked AND played better than they ever have. uncharted 4, MGSV, Batman AK, Witcher 3, DOOM, Battlefield 1 play and look better than their predecessors. But going back to OP's point, when we look back at this gen and try to find those generation defining titles we will point to Destiny, Horizon and maybe Titanfall. All fantastic games, but that's about it. You put them next to last gen franchises i mentioned above and we are looking at a 2:1 ratio.

EA has several new IPs in the works including Respawn and Visceral's star wars games. I have faith in Amy Henning and Stig to deliver fantastic single player games. Bioware's Anthem looks incredible and while we may not get a new IP from naughty dog, we are getting three games from them this gen. Kojima will blow us away with Death Stranding. Beyond good and evil looks fantastic and probably the only new IP from ubisoft that wont be online focused. Spiderman looks awesome and could be the Arkham like success of this gen. Speaking of Arkham Rocksteady's new IP should be incredible and same goes for Sucker Punch which has now become an AAA dev.

So maybe while last gen was frontloaded with new IP releases, looks like this gen might see its best new IPs launch towards the end of the gen cycle. so OP, give it some time.

 

[ForkNetwork]

You might (might) be right about the AAA space

but Indies have never had the power and numbers they do nowadays.

I can reccommend you a few if youre interested. Since 2014 my GOTYs have been indies (Ori, Furi, Shovel Knight).

 

[omgwtfbentime]

I can assure you it's not video games, it's you.

Dig deeper, look for games that appeal to your tastes/sensibilities and forgo games "because people are talking about it." Go back and play the games you like or miss that sparked your creativity. Do literally anything besides go on a primarily current gaming form and complain about games being creatively devoid.

 

[trixx]

I think there's more creativity in comparison to 360/ps3. Use indies

 

[NintendosBooger]

I agree from a local multiplayer standpoint.

Not a lot of good collaboration games or creative competitive games outside of fighters/sports.

 

[GreatestHits]

Phew, I've been gaming since the 80s, but thank dog I'm still not this jaded (yet.)

Lol a blatant jab at OP with some very non-subtle misdirection sprinkled on top.

OP doesn't seem jaded to me. But labelling him that way conveniently ends all discussion about creativity now vs. then (an interesting subject in videogames) and summarizes the entire thread as a simple character flaw in the OP. I won't go so far as to say it's shit posting, but I bet you have more ideas on the subject than that

And again, indies are obviously releasing every idea that pops in their heads. Lots of creativity there. But the console driving games are not as varied, innovative in surprising ways, and balls-to-the-wall different as they used to be. It's obvious in some ways why that is, like millions being on the line. But let's remember it took even Shenmue 2 60 mil to make

 

[Haly]

Outside of indies, lets not act like sequels and remakes arent way more prevalent now than they were in the PS2 era and earlier and that the earlier eras didnt have a lot more new IP's than we see today.

When an industry is underdeveloped of course everything would be new. But an industry can't exist in that state forever. It naturally refines itself as financial sustainability dictates. If there are less new IPs, it's not solely because developers are making less, but because they don't think it's viable, and who's to say it is? You have people like the OP who refuse to try new things, and brush off the indie scene, or write off games as "bland games, infected with microtransations and skins bullshit...", but turn around and buy all the games to long running, tried-and-tested franchises like Zelda and Metal Gear.

What developer would try to "innovate" in that climate?

This is why everyone's parroting "don't forget the indies". Because it's only the indie scene that can take consistently the financial risk of innovation.

 

[Metalmarc]

Cyberpunk 2077 will be out in 2019

There was P.T
Indie games
Friday the 13th (did it borrow feom another game? Was that other game also this gen?)
Theres a game feat Mummies comig from rebellion, when was the last good Mummy game?
The Surge is a bit different

 

[Josman]

Indies and VR, don't be short sighted, VR alones makes up for everything, it's a revolution

Although, I agree about AAA games, but these days they're the minority of my collection

Edit: Oh and of course, Switch and Breath of the Wild are amazing

 

[grumble]

There's been a moderate amount of creativity here - and plenty in the indie space. The issue with creativity in big budget games is that they are VERY expensive. These games have to recoup huge investments in development and marketing. If they do some kind of really quirky game that doesn't sell that well then they are totally screwed. In the old days, games didn't cost as much to make, genres weren't as fully explored, and developers could take more risks.

If you're looking for interesting titles, then there are some great AAA experiences out there, but you might be best served by looking more at the indie scene.

I will say that this is partly due to gamers reliably buying remakes of old games. It's a safe bet, and cheaper than making a new title. Gamers will also buy old IPs over new ones, typically.

 

[darkinstinct]

.

EA has several new IPs in the works including Respawn and Visceral's star wars games. I have faith in Amy Henning and Stig to deliver fantastic single player games. Bioware's Anthem looks incredible and while we may not get a new IP from naughty dog, we are getting three games from them this gen. Kojima will blow us away with Death Stranding. Beyond good and evil looks fantastic and probably the only new IP from ubisoft that wont be online focused. Spiderman looks awesome and could be the Arkham like success of this gen. Speaking of Arkham Rocksteady's new IP should be incredible and same goes for Sucker Punch which has now become an AAA dev.

So maybe while last gen was frontloaded with new IP releases, looks like this gen might see its best new IPs launch towards the end of the gen cycle. so OP, give it some time.

Yes, but Star Wars games are no new IP.

 

[pixelation]

Soon.

Sorry but that looks... bad.

 

[Zemm]

This gen is already better than last and it has a few more years to go. God, last gen was poor.

 

[NintendosBooger]

Sorry but that looks... bad.

What's not creative or innovative about a character escaping from a collapsing skyscraper?

 

[toadsworth]

This year has been absolutely packed with creative games. BOTW, Nier Automata, Prey, Gravity Rush 2, PUBG, ARMS, Splatoon 2, Yakuza 0! And it's only July. And that's not really even diving into indie games. This thread is silly.

 

[SmokedMeat]

I'd prescribe the indie scene on PC to cure your ailment.

 

[CharminUltra]

OP doesn't seem jaded to me.

OP thinks Kojima is "probably" the only dev trying to do new stuff in the entire industry. That earns him the term "jaded" and more. You don't need to get salty on his behalf.

 

[Opa-Pa]

I genuinely don't understand this sentiment unless it comes from people who mostly play western AAA games, and even then if you care about this kind of stuff then I have no idea why you'd limit yourself to that side of the industry in the first place.

Yes, creative and revolutionary (in a non technical sense) mainstream games are mostly gone, but that ship sailed two generations ago.

 

[pixelation]

What's not creative or innovative about a character escaping from a collapsing skyscraper?

I meant visually speaking, it's a AAA title but doesn't look it.

 

[RedSwirl]

That's pretty funny, since this gen has been all about the open world fad. Series that used to be more linear, are now open world. There aren't that many AAA 3rd person action-adventures around, that aren't open world. That's one of the few negatives sides of this gen.

Even most of the open-world games this gen don't feel that new, or more ambitious than open-world games from previous eras. Witcher 3 I guess is a really unique combination of writing quality, level of detail, and world design that had been done before, but not on that scale. MGSV and Breath of the Wild intelligently combine lots of design elements that had also been done before, but not in such big mainstream games and certainly not by Japanese devs. It feels like those games are getting back to where previous ambitious but less successful open-world games were.

 

[Gabriel_Logan]

As someone who owns a PC, I strongly disagree with you.

I agree anyone with a Steam account and a decent PC is living like a king. I saw which ways the wind was blowing and went full on into PC. PS3 was my last console.

 

[SapientWolf]

I agree from a local multiplayer standpoint.

Not a lot of good collaboration games or creative competitive games outside of fighters/sports.

Really? Do you want me to post a list? Because I will post a list.

 

[IcyRhythms]

We can't force someone to be a little more open minded. If they don't like or won't try indie games, then we can't make them. As others have mentioned, their time is valuable and they really only use that time for the big name games. There is a lot of fun to be had in indie games. You're really missing out!

 

[Neith]

Headlines like this are pointless. The main foundation has been set in music long ago, novels and poetry long ago, and now videogames the most infantile of the artforms have done about as much as they can sans future VR stuff for now.

But the creativity within that current form is still very great and exploding so I don't agree with this thread title.

Yes, no one is essentially creating a new genre anymore but whatever.

 

[Lionel Richie]

it baffles me to have to wait for the next Kojima game in years to have some new gameplay concept because he's probably the only one to try something in this fucking industry

OP you mentioned a Yoko Taro game and then you say this? I'm sure you understand the contradiction.

 

[keenerz]

If you think there’s not enough, I don’t think you’ve been looking too hard at all. There’s new games almost every other week, maybe they aren’t too successful or get rave reviews but this is the time where people get to experiment a ton, so creativity wise not shallow at all.

 

[VendettaRed07]

Last generation was a lot less creative

Really last gens innovations were basically motion controls that boiled down to waggle replacing a button press, and rhythm games that went deader than disco after two years.

 

[timetokill]

ARMS like, just came out

And I'm drowning in creative indie games on PC

Poor like a fox



You have to step outside the mega-budget games, because those are the most risk-averse

 

[sflufan]

I just played a great-looking puzzle-platformer that's set in a representation of communist-era Romania.

Nope, no creativity this generation at all!

 

[Haly]

Yes, no one is essentially creating a new genre anymore but whatever.

The industry has long since moved past "genres", I feel, and has begun to treat them as elements of a checklist instead of a fixed category. Destiny is a good example of this, as it ticks off FPS, Online Multiplayer, RPG and Loot. Nier Automata is RPG, Action, Open World, Narrative Driven, SHMUP and so forth.

I think this is another area where the OP and and people who feel the same way as him are stuck in a limited perspective. Discrete concepts like 'genres' and 'generations' are no longer sufficient to circumscribe gaming.

 

[higgsboson1997]

Splatoon alone is enough for me to have this generation over several others.

 

[Glendemonium]

I'm an older gen gamer and I can admit this gen is far more creative.

Let us not forget the slew of "me-too" mascot platformers that flooded the 8-16 bit era, the crappy LJN inspired cash-ins of franchises. At least we had Konami and Capcom doing some western franchises justice. All those damn Mortal Kombat clones that were gimmicky arcade titles with even worse ports. It felt the older gens you were restricted by the genre and had to stay in it or people may get turned off.

I mean, Minecraft was a concept I would of LOVED as a kid, virtual legos? Fallout 3, Skyrim, and NV made me try a different flavor of RPG that wasn't full of underage anime archtypes. Saints Row IV was the first game in a long time that made me laugh out loud at a videogame.

Destiny, for all it's flaws made me fall in love with FPS since the original DOOM. FFXIV turned a flop into a masterpiece and everyone who played since 1.0 were literally a part of it. Arkham Asylum was the first good Batman game since the NES, and it scratched that Metroid itch very well but had it's own unique universe that really helped it grow into it's own. (save for Jokerstein. ) It nailed that exploration type of game that I don't ever recall playing before.

 

[Clear]

If you include all the PSN-only indies theres more stuff coming out weekly on PS4 than anyone can realistically keep up with.

Many of these are ports from Steam/PC and thus get minimal coverage (which is a shame), but they are out there. Unfortunately the closest many of them get to any sort of spotlight is when they are promoted as part of the increasingly ubiquitous sales on the platform.

 

[Theslammer]

I might be able to agree with OP in one area -- I think AAA games are getting less ambitious in terms of tech outside graphics.

Before, new console generations would generally lead to the main publishers going for worlds that were bigger and let you do more. Just generally more ambitious with gameplay possibilities. This gen it seems like AAA games are putting that energy towards finding new ways to monetize things, remixing existing formulas or new formulas that don't necessarily expand the possibility space for games. Even the games that feel like they're doing this: MGSV, Breath of the Wild, Dishonored, Hitman, etc., are really just recycling ideas from PC games 10-15 years ago. The most ambitious games I've seen in the last few years are almost all from smaller developers: NMS, Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen (if it ever gets done), PUBG, Minecraft, etc. Most of the new genres we're seeing are also coming from smaller PC games.

I kind of feel that's exactly what this generation has given. In fact, sometimes it's used against it since the worlds are so big and some are clamoring for smaller and/or more linear experiences.

Example: GTA3 was definitely ground-breaking not in having an open-world (there were already open world games already like Legend of Zelda and Pirates!), but bringing it to 3D and making it feel immersive. But now, that world is not that big. GTAV easily dwarfed it, and look at worlds like The Witcher 3 or Horizon Zero Dawn, which are huge and well crafted AND look good, whereas during the PS2 days, having an open-world meant the game leaps and bounds was likely not going to look as good as a linear game (compare GTA3's graphics with MGS2, for example). None of them I think would have been possible on a 360 or PS3 without major concessions.

Monetization makes sense due to the increased costs of making a game. Instead of getting sequels every year that aren't that much different, you get one game that's continuously supported. And since the cost of a game hasn't changed, there have to be other ways to turn a profit. I'm glad that something like Street Fighter V is one game that's constantly supported as opposed to getting sequels I have to pay for to get new characters, arenas, etc. that can fragment the pool of players available to play.

My two cents. =P

 

[IcyRhythms]

I don't know why people are referring to PUBG as some new and innovative thing. What does it do from a gameplay standpoint that has never been in any other game before it?