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Games were better when I was a kid

jesu said:
Thread isn't what I expected, thank god I read the op.
Everything is better these days, old games are kinda shitty.
When people say PES 2005 is the best football game ever my eyes literally roll out of my head roll down my cheeks re-enter my cranium through my nasal passages and pop back out of my eye ball sockets.
The worst Assassins Creed game is better than 95% of the drivel we got in the 90's.
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Why? PES5 and 6 still recreate the ebb and flow of actual football better than anything even if the animations etc are dated.
 
daniels said:
I dot know how much it is nostaliga googles but i feel in case of jrpgs (FF, Secret of mana evermore, illusion of time, breath of fire, ALUNDRA, wild arms, star ocean, dragon quest, lufia and countless more)
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I've played Secret of Mana and Alundra for the first time recently and they both have TERRIBLE hit detection. Alundra is still enjoyable nowadays but Secret of Mana doesn't hold up gameplay and story-wise. The same goes with the first Breath of Fire imo.
 
In this thread: people who actually read the thread vs. people who post after only reading the title

Yes, it is annoying, OP. Especially when you are trying to have an objective discussion about why certain aspects of games are good or bad.
 
I don't get this thread, is it just to see how many people bother to read the OP?

There were crap games then, there are more now.
There were good games then, there are more now.

People can play something like Earthbound for the first time in 2015 and love it.
People can play something like Turok for the first time in 2015 and hate it.

Some aspects of the industry have gone downhill, others are better than ever.

Some things really were better when I or anybody else was a kid, some things aren't.
 
Nostalgia is not saying anything about the quality of games you are right. It only is a stored feeling which becomes stronger by time. But VR actually brought back that feeling to me. I have always enjoyed electronic entertainment in my adult life too, and gaming today is overall better I think.
 
I think it is okay for someone to genuinely believe games (or whatever medium) were better back in the past. Markets and trends change and they can evolve in to something you just find as appealing anymore. That is fine. Not everyone has rose tinted shades on, but yes, that may be the case with some people. Also, you may think something was better "for its time". A product could be overall better than the one before it, but the one before it may have had the bigger influence etc.

My opinion games however (I have been gaming since Snes days), is that it is just getting better. There are more options, the visuals are great, we have retro inspired games, we can go back and play the classics. Remember in MGS3 there was that glitch that could leave you with arrows sticking out of your face for the rest of the game? Stuff like that can be patched now. Last gen was my favourite generation too. I only see gaming better, but we live in an age where people love to only see the negatives. So yeah, I think the games are better now and I think gaming as a whole is better. It's just an awesome hobby and I couldn't be more enthusiastic about it.
 
Honestly, the gaming scene is pretty great right now. There's a lot of variety out there if you look past just retail AAA gaming and there is almost a genre for every niche. I think things are pretty great aside from a few missteps with pre-orders/ DLC mishandlings and a few other things.

I can't really say that gaming was better when I was a kid. Though I do feel like gaming was more special back then. But then again, I am part of the generation that got to see games evolve from the Atari 2600 to what we have now. I got to be there as it all happened. I still do feel nostalgic about how awesome arcades used to be, and game consoles that didn't require day one patches bigger than the games themselves.

When it comes to music, I feel like the top 40 record companies all crank out trash. When it comes to movies, I feel like most of the big summer blockbusters are more miss than hit. TV? Well, to be honest, TV is pretty decent right now. But the game industry is still just as interesting as it ever was. Maybe because there are so many avenues right now and it is hard to predict where things will go next.
 
I remember waiting 40 minutes for Manic Miner to load, yeah that totally beats playing games at 4K that loads instantly from a SSD.

Watching coloured lines go down my screen was the shit!
 
Eh, I can't agree.

There's definitely more bullshit happening today like unfinished games being released and continually patched post-release (a practice that really needs to stop but seems to be happening more and more) and bogus DLC, but games today are still just as good, if not better in most cases, IMO.

For instance, I love Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64 which are a couple games that define my childhood nostalgia, but recently Super Mario Galaxy and Mario Kart 8 were just as incredible.

Kids today who grew up on the above two games will probably make a thread on GAF 20 years in the future saying the same thing. lol
 
So is this about people who just say that games were better back then without being able to articulate or defend that in any good way, or is this also talking about people who can actually talk about the reasons why they consider an older thing better? The former can't really be disagreed with, but the latter is just looking for easy ways to write off opinions you don't agree with (and actually pretty dangerous to gaming's progress, because it buys into the marketing created idea that games are just a linear march towards the "perfect game").
 
Generally things I loved when I was younger I hate now. Example I loved altered Beast back in the day, played it recently and it was terrible.
 
This just isn't true. Nostalgia is a powerful thing.

That being said, I definitely enjoy movies, tv and cartoons less than I did when I was a kid, but I enjoy games about the same. Music is still the thing that gets me out of bed in the morning.
 
Mman235 said:
So is this about people who just say that games were better back then without being able to articulate or defend that in any good way
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This one. I'm not saying that there weren't awesome games back in the day that many modern games could learn from.
 
I'll just say that it is very naive,sometimes annoying and even dangerous to put all the praise something from the past might get under "nostalgia goggles".

There are reasons why books,movies and games become classic (a word that means that their quality remains relevant regardless of how much time passes) and these reasons have nothing to do with "nostalgia goggles".
 
We'll never be able to escape nostalgia, but hopefully it will be mitigated by 20 year platform cycles and fully digital distribution when they get here.
 
BizzyBum said:
Just look at Jurassic World. Third highest grossing movie in history and it wasn't even good. lol
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Yeah. I just think today is like how it's always been....there's some good stuff and then there's A LOT of bad stuff on top of that. This is true, in my opinion, for any entertainment medium.
 
Games were better as a kid. I had more time to play. I could play games longer, play more types of games, and was excited to play them. Now I dont have the time, i tend to stick to games i like, i dont have the time to try more types of games, and im not that excited anymore anymore because ive been playing games for so long nothing outside of graphics surprises me anymore.

Its not that the quality of games has gone up or down its that the quality of my time has gone down and the newness of gaming has worn off. I have seen it all and everything is simply iterative.

Its just as simple as that to me.

Oddly enough, this effects music, movies and anime to a pesser extent to me than games.
 
Back then there were far more kids in numbers in the West and Japan as well. Birth rates have dwindled since then. If it werent for immigrants things would be even worse. One reason video games and cartoons felt more alive in our minds, despite the mediocre quality being prevalent to a much larger number than we'd like to believe.

That is the main difference to today.
 
I find myself in the position of just the opposite...

I look at my 13 year old self when it comes to music and I say "how the fuck did I ever like that"?

People change as they grow.. At least I would hope so.
 
I am actually surprised at how many people don't read OPs.

Then again, I've done the same thing before so I don't have room to talk.
 
It's much worse with music. The number of people convinced that the best music was being made when they just happened to be between the ages of about 15 and 30 is astounding. They just come across as being borderline dead inside to me.
 
Games as a whole package are unquestionably better now, that said..

For me there's a lot more immediate satisfaction and relaxation playing my favorite games from my childhood. I constantly go back to stuff on my SNES like SF2 Turbo, Super Metroid, Uniracers etc. when I'm not sure what to play and I leave with a smile every time. Zero loading time helps too.
 
King_Moc said:
It's much worse with music. The number of people convinced that the best music was being made when they just happened to be between the ages of about 15 and 30 is astounding. They just come across as being borderline dead inside to me.
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I think music is slightly different. I rarely hear people argue over the objective quality of music. I think it's pretty well understood that most people absolutely do prefer the music of their teenage and early adulthood years, regardless of quality.

Like, I'll never argue that say, the music of the 90s is the best music in history. But it definitely is my favorite decade of music in history, and that's not likely to ever change, no matter how many good bands I find today, because nothing will ever leave the kind of impression music did then.

Videogames, on the other hand, are so specifically constrained by the tech of their time, that I have a hard time believing the best games to be made aren't still far in the distant future.
 
I traveled here from the 70s to tell you gaming has never been better. What is coming in the next 20 years will be even better still.... once we get past this 'phone gaming' thing at least.
 
Vincent Grayson said:
I think music is slightly different. I rarely hear people argue over the objective quality of music. I think it's pretty well understood that most people absolutely do prefer the music of their teenage and early adulthood years, regardless of quality.

Like, I'll never argue that say, the music of the 90s is the best music in history. But it definitely is my favorite decade of music in history, and that's not likely to ever change, no matter how many good bands I find today, because nothing will ever leave the kind of impression music did then.

Videogames, on the other hand, are so specifically constrained by the tech of their time, that I have a hard time believing the best games to be made aren't still far in the distant future.
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You never hear people say that music all sucks now, and it was better when they were young? I hear that all the time, and they literally don;t seem to understand that it's just them.

Videogames is definitely different though, yes. I've been playing since the mid-80's and it's been gradually getting better the entire time. I can't comprehend how anyone could even argue otherwise.
 
Vincent Grayson said:
I think music is slightly different. I rarely hear people argue over the objective quality of music. I think it's pretty well understood that most people absolutely do prefer the music of their teenage and early adulthood years, regardless of quality.
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Pretty much. The reason I find Limp Bizkit so god damn hilarious is because of the era it was from and the entire raprock/nu metal ridiculousness. Same goes for Goldfinger/Millencolin/Papa Roach/Smashmouth being interconnected with late 90's/early 2000s culture and being unable to separate Smashmouth from Shrek.

I can totally see kids/people in the future going 'I don't get it, it's just old bad music.'
 
I agree. For example, I was in middle school when Final Fantasy VIII was released and I absolutely loved it. I loved it so much I refused to finish it and would start over. Last year I decided to finish the game to see the ending. Well, after about a hour in I had to shut it down. I found myself laughing at how cheesy it is. I first played it at the perfect time/age.

The problem now is that my standards are too high. I have over 100 games on Steam. I tried them all, but ultimately a handful are finished. My standards were definitely lower as a child, but that is because I had more fun playing.
 
I've been gaming since the days of Atari 2600, Joystik magazine, and a thriving arcade scene.

This hobby has NEVER been better. It has it's issues, but by and large the content coming out these days is well made and plentiful. People only want to dwell on the bad eggs, when bad eggs have been around since day one.

Now when it comes to toys, movies, and cartoons? Yeah, my childhood shits all over your creatively bankrupt generations. You literally have nothing original to call your own. It's all '70s-'80s stuff brought back. And to top it off the shit's all cheaply made and costs three times more.
 
Nostalgia is a powerful thing.

It's not just part of gaming culture but also in music (we all know people who listen to older music) and food--favorite childhood dishes or mom's cooking.

However, I still enjoy a lot of modern stuff.

I'm an avid retro gamer, but SMG2 is just a good as SMB3 to me.

Nostalgia is great. But if it blinds you to new things it's not productive.
 
I absolutely hate nostolgia goggled arguments. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Mass media in it's entirety is better than it's ever been. It's never been more diverse nor has it ever had as many delivery systems for content. If you have niche tastes odds are you can find content catered specifically towards you these.

You forget all the kinds of media you consume today when you dare to assert that things were better back then.
 
Games will always be as good as the day they released.

So a good game today will be a good game forever, and a good game from the 80s or 90s will always be a good game.

The same goes for bad games.

I have no problem with people who like old stuff, but I do have a problem with all the idiots around Gaf that dismiss anything more than 2 years old, because obviously its physically impossible for anything of quality to retain that quality for more than 2 years.

After 2 years, you pass the magical nostalgia line and everything suddenly turns to shit and there's no merit left, it's all nostalgic garbage.

Classical music?

Nostalgia garbage.

Classical literature?

Of course it's garbage and only nostalgia convincing people it had any value.

The reality is that most stuff WAS better and the same idiots dismissing it because it's old don't realize it was better for merit based reasons rather than the time it released.

And guess what OP, almost all media WAS better in the 90s despite me being an adult then just as I am now.

Media was more creativity driven where as everything now is a temporary disposable experience meant to be replaced one year down the line, rather than long lasting media that speaks for itself.
 
I'm conflicted about this sort of thing. I honestly do prefer the 8bit/18bit eras I grew up with, partially for nostalgia but also because in general I prefer 2D games. I know I can get homebrew, indie, cell phone, XBLA etc games that play in a similar way, but for some reason it doesn't feel the same to me.

In the past couple of weeks I've been to Funspot in NH and Ground Kontrol in Portland, OR; two places with beer and loads of coinop arcade games. Had more fun playing those games than I've had playing games in awhile
 
The nostalgia hit happens for me for specific games or gametypes. Although I try not to post in random threads about it, mainly because I don't have as much time now as I did in the past to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Since we are talking about nostalgia biased comparisons, here are a couple of examples in my mind:
-Drag Racer V3 vs. Any mobile drag racing game
-Soldat and Liero vs. Current 2D competitive multiplayer games

Although, games that rely on specific systems and mechanics (and have dedicated fan bases) can appear to go backwards design wise (to the fan base) when changes are made to the formula.
E.g.
-(Total Annihilation, SupCom:FA) -> (Planetary Annihilation, SupCom 2)
 
Its basically "I perceived games as being better when I was 12"... also relevant from the Funny Pics thread
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Good thread to so who's reading the op lol.

Yeah my girlfriend is one of them. Every movie was better back then. It's sometimes tiresome to discuss things when she just puts on her nostalgia googles.
 
Things were cooler when OP was a kid.

Entire thread shits themselves as they have same realization about their own childhood.




In all seriousness though, I will admit I miss the mascot era. Thats more of a style thing though, as games are just as good as they were back then, there is just more shitty games in between the witchers and mass effects.
 
I love modern gaming and I still play the classics on virtual console and emu. But seriously, gaming is better than it's ever been. Can't go back.
 
I absolutely abhor nostalgia goggles. It just means more consumers ignoring the great things happening currently and pretending that everything was better when they were kids even when it's not true.

That being said, there are PLENTY of old games that hold up. But you have to approach them objectively to know if they do. Saying they do just because you still like them due to nostalgia isn't the same thing as them actually holding up.

They have to actually be able to keep the interest of people who didn't play them as a kid as well. I do think the "dated" argument is almost as stupid as nostalgia goggles. Anytime someone plays something that is a little different than what the current trends are they tend to use the term "dated" as a pejorative. Most older game have unwieldy aspects that aren't necessarily great today and it's important to recognize that, but the ones that actually hold up are the ones whose positives massively outweigh the negative and remain enjoyable due to this.

Something like Thief is still better than pretty much every other stealth game out there. It was that far ahead of it's time, dated or not. There are plenty of other examples of games that actually hold up without the need of nostalgia goggles.
 
Two things I miss from the games I played when I was a kid:

-Hitting "start" and immediately launching into gameplay. No cutscenes. No menus. No loading. Just boot->title screen->playing.

-Sound tests. You know, that option that let you cycle through every sound effect in the game. I would love playing a game to completion, going into the sound test, and trying to remember what action each effect was tied to. It would drive me nuts when I just couldn't recall and it oddly added to replay value as I was going through the entire game again just to nail it down.

But games today are fine. There's a lot of super popular stuff that I couldn't give a bigger shit about, but there's more than enough to keep me interested so whatever.
 
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