borborygmus
Member
A recurring pattern in games and in life is that many people's standards too easily erode over time, if they even had them in the first place. They downplay things that were loved by chalking them up to nostalgia because for various reasons they need for the new, shiny thing to be the best in every way and are unable to look at it critically, whether it be for the sake of console wars, "rewarding the developers' hard work," or trying too hard to avoid being that guy who "fears change" (a very effective meme, much like the expression "making excuses" seems to allow people to avoid having to hear someone out and short-circuits the discussion). These people gaslight themselves.
Others were never even actually invested in the original thing and just showed up because it was in, and now have their chance at claiming the thing for themselves by aligning with the now-more-popular remake, which is not too unlike the demands for an easy mode in that it's an attempt at passing oneself off as the target audience, replacing the original "elitists." They didn't get the easy mode, but at least they stuck it to the purists with the other changes introduced by the developers (and they wish things were even more different).
I am aware of how pretentious this sounds, but I truly believe this. But we find ourselves more and more frequently asking "why are things so bad these days?" and, well, what I described above is why. This sounds super-serious but it isn't. It's only moderately serious insofar as I wish there was less consumerist behavior (with people unable to cope with a big series that doesn't cater to their consumerist proclivities even existing) and fewer weaselly people trying to signal to the developers that they should cater to them instead of the original audience.
Maybe if we stopped pretending the outstanding past contributions in this space were just nostalgia bro (I cringe every time I read the expression "rose-tinted glasses") we would stand a better chance to reach those heights again.
Others were never even actually invested in the original thing and just showed up because it was in, and now have their chance at claiming the thing for themselves by aligning with the now-more-popular remake, which is not too unlike the demands for an easy mode in that it's an attempt at passing oneself off as the target audience, replacing the original "elitists." They didn't get the easy mode, but at least they stuck it to the purists with the other changes introduced by the developers (and they wish things were even more different).
I am aware of how pretentious this sounds, but I truly believe this. But we find ourselves more and more frequently asking "why are things so bad these days?" and, well, what I described above is why. This sounds super-serious but it isn't. It's only moderately serious insofar as I wish there was less consumerist behavior (with people unable to cope with a big series that doesn't cater to their consumerist proclivities even existing) and fewer weaselly people trying to signal to the developers that they should cater to them instead of the original audience.
Maybe if we stopped pretending the outstanding past contributions in this space were just nostalgia bro (I cringe every time I read the expression "rose-tinted glasses") we would stand a better chance to reach those heights again.
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