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Games were better when I was a kid
- Thread starter Dio
- Start date
These games constantly making top 100 lists really annoys me. Especailly OoT.
I remember playing games on my C64 and NES when I was 10-13 and I definitely wished the majority of them looked and played better. I hated the gameplay in pretty much every 8 bit platformer that wasn't Mario. None of them really got it right. Don't even get me started on PC platforming (Commander Keen et al). Getting a taste of 3D in flight simulators and the like on a C64 made me dream of a day where graphics were as lifelike as they are today.
Pictured: The sad decline in the quality of video games
That's not to say I didn't have fun, and I do appreciate the pixel art in a lot of games and the unique sound of the soundchips, but the majority were always tainted with a bit of "this could definitely be better if it was the future" right up until the PS3 really. Screw the N64 and it's blur-o-vision, and screw the PS1 and its unstable polys and aliasing. It's ok to be nostalgic about things from your childhood, but to say games were BETTER back then? Garbage.
The kinds of threads referred to by OP in addition to any "Can We Agree, As a People, that X Is the Best Y?" threads are the neogaf equivalent of the Buzzfeed listicle. My eyes just glaze over.
However, I do kind of love the thread titles that present bizarrely specific or presumptuously broad assertions based in the OP's personal opinion, in a sick way.
However, I do kind of love the thread titles that present bizarrely specific or presumptuously broad assertions based in the OP's personal opinion, in a sick way.
Death Metalist
Member
I don't necessarily think they were better but that you had time to experience more of them as opposed to getting older, having responsibilities and ending up picking/choosing what you want to play at the end of the day.
For me, entertainment in general is much better these days in the sense that I have much more appreciation for them since I understand more out of it now than when I was a kid. As far as cartoons go it was much better than nowadays and going back to watch things like Batman:TAS/Gargoyles make me understand as well as notice small details that I wouldn't have as a kid. Games/Movies have always been awesome though since you got a staggering amount of options to choose from and consume them. I'm also a very nostalgic person so having the option to experience games I used to play is always great.
I think it's unfair to say games were better when we live in an age where we have this game.
You know what would happen if you went back in time and gave a kid this game? This would happen.
I think people underestimate the amount of options, choices and how fast we consume our entertainment in general as opposed to back in the day.
For me, entertainment in general is much better these days in the sense that I have much more appreciation for them since I understand more out of it now than when I was a kid. As far as cartoons go it was much better than nowadays and going back to watch things like Batman:TAS/Gargoyles make me understand as well as notice small details that I wouldn't have as a kid. Games/Movies have always been awesome though since you got a staggering amount of options to choose from and consume them. I'm also a very nostalgic person so having the option to experience games I used to play is always great.
I think it's unfair to say games were better when we live in an age where we have this game.
You know what would happen if you went back in time and gave a kid this game? This would happen.
I think people underestimate the amount of options, choices and how fast we consume our entertainment in general as opposed to back in the day.
Walter Matthau
Member
I'm not sure what this thread aims to achieve. You're always going to have people whose nostalgia interferes with their judgment. Likewise, you're always going to have people who discount anything that others say about the past as purely nostalgia bias even when nostalgia plays no part in it. One thing I would point out is that we are on a forum that predominately discusses more recent games. I would find it odd if the vocal part of this community subsisted of gamers who dwell on the past, not ready to embrace modern gaming.
I don't get much time to play at home due to having a baby daughter, but when I do, it's usually for less than an hour and I don't know when I'll get back to it. Because of that, I love putting on 2D stuff like Metal Slug, Contra or R-Type where I know I can start immediately, get some gameplay in and, even if I have to put it down ten minutes later, at least I can get through a level.
Same goes for relatively recent Indie stuff like Heroes of Loot, Gunslugs or Shovel Knight, the 'sleep' function on portables is my most used one! I probably get through maybe two full-length, 3D, AAA games on home consoles a year these days. It does mean I'm really choosey about which ones I pick for my rare Sunday afternoon gaming sessions at home, open-world bloat is off the menu for the foreseeable future
Ehh, not every thread aims to "achieve" things. Think of me just being a complainer and airing out things I am annoyed with.
I want to say that games I the 80s and 90s had a more euphoric creative vibe to them. The AAA publishers have really done away with that vibe for me. Other than Nintendo/Media Molecule and indie devs behind games like Shovel Knight, Cuphead, Fez, Super Meat Boy, etc. I no longer see it.
And the thing is that these huge budget AAA games are still largely great and can be magical but every detail is so explicit that it seems to remove a sense of imagination that games demanded from their gamers I the past.
And the thing is that these huge budget AAA games are still largely great and can be magical but every detail is so explicit that it seems to remove a sense of imagination that games demanded from their gamers I the past.
...Scatter...
Banned
I still remember when we were kids it was tough to convince our parents to get us new NES games for $50-$60. I was so excited when pops finally caved one random (non-birthday or Christmas) day and my brother and I picked out Time Lords for the NES. Big mistake. Game was terrible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajmOLTYmZNM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajmOLTYmZNM
GameWhisperer
Banned
I am the opposite, I think today is an amazing time to be a gamer. I dreamed of games being like they are today when I was a kid. I think some cannot get past nostalgia.
Srey Plaughtered
Member
Nostalgia can be a bitch.
Sonic Adventure 2 The Thread
A lot of people are still clamoring for Sonic to go back to the roots and release a Sonic Adventure 3, but honestly while this was one of the games everyone loved in their childhood, it did not age well or was that great to begin with.
I honestly think modern games are great, in fact many sixth gen games, the generation I fondly look back to, are really rough nowadays and are only excused because the standard was lower as the hardware was weaker. We get a lot of production quality these days, and that really is what makes the gaming landscape so impressive to me nowadays.
A lot of people are still clamoring for Sonic to go back to the roots and release a Sonic Adventure 3, but honestly while this was one of the games everyone loved in their childhood, it did not age well or was that great to begin with.
I honestly think modern games are great, in fact many sixth gen games, the generation I fondly look back to, are really rough nowadays and are only excused because the standard was lower as the hardware was weaker. We get a lot of production quality these days, and that really is what makes the gaming landscape so impressive to me nowadays.
*finger snaps*
I think the bigger problem is people who cling too much to what's recent to the degree that they are unable to appreciate the artistry of the past. There's that EDGE top 100 list from a couple weeks ago that consists almost entirely of games from the last ten years; it just seems plain ignorant to believe that the art form had so little to offer before 2005. The reason most of us (and, indeed, most of the people creating games) are into games is because of a foundation of older videogames.
The mindset that really needs to die off is the notion that nostalgia goggles is always the reason why people prefer older games. When I look at my favorite films, most of them are decades old and a lot of them are in black and white. Conversely, I primarily listen to jazz and almost all of my favorite music was released in the forties, fifties and sixties. People seem to acknowledge readily that there is merit from older eras in other art forms, but in videogames we're obsessed with the contemporary; you can't, as the discourse of this and other threads like it suggest, believe that the golden age of arcades was the peak of the industry without being accused of being "blinded by nostalgia goggles".
Well, ya'll blinded by good graphics.
The mindset that really needs to die off is the notion that nostalgia goggles is always the reason why people prefer older games. When I look at my favorite films, most of them are decades old and a lot of them are in black and white. Conversely, I primarily listen to jazz and almost all of my favorite music was released in the forties, fifties and sixties. People seem to acknowledge readily that there is merit from older eras in other art forms, but in videogames we're obsessed with the contemporary; you can't, as the discourse of this and other threads like it suggest, believe that the golden age of arcades was the peak of the industry without being accused of being "blinded by nostalgia goggles".
Well, ya'll blinded by good graphics.
The best game.
TheSpoiler
Member
I really don't think it's a bigger problem. It's just more consistent. It happens with every generation - the one before it was bigger, better, had x and y while this one didn't. It happened with me and the PS1, the PS2, and the PS3.
The truth of the matter is, people should just enjoy games from all eras without shoehorning them into quality based on when they came out. That goes for new or old games.
Every generation comes with a long list of issues that get corrected in the next, but then that gets a long list of shit to deal with as well. Back in the SNES era, there were many, many terrible games, some based on licensed material, and others bloating the market with copied sprites and slight variations to popular games. Today, you have a lack of games in different genres and titles that come out in dubious quality. Same shit, different flavor, as they say.
Of course, as people get older, it's harder to notice either side. You find your tastes, and some prefer Chrono Trigger, and some prefer Bravely Default. The real issue is that people just plain refuse to play both of them and instead rally behind one flag. It must be real sad to have all these games to play and not get to touch them because it wasn't made in a particular era.
(Of course, this isn't to take potshots at people who have a genuine love for whatever era. I find myself preferring fighters made recently, of no fault of the predecessors.)
I even find myself holding a lot of bias for the fighting game genre - patching has absolutely spoiled me. And I no longer have to wade through kusoge after kusoge to find something good that the community and I can partake in. Even then, I catch myself realizing that modern fighters aren't perfect - too reliant on gimmicks, not teaching the player how to play the actual game, and overpatching.
Vincent Grayson
Member
I mean, I hear occasional people say shit like that, but it's usually the kind of empty opinion that merits no further discussion. In talking about music more seriously, I don't think I've heard anyone make that suggestion.
That said, it is funniest when people talk about pop music that way, as though the era of 80s pop was somehow better than modern pop, or that all modern pop is just garbage.
remasters and hd remakes are probably a good mirror showing us how many these days are buying those.
back then compilations and collections werent bought that much... nowadays those are big announcements and people are ANTICIPATED!!!!
why the fuck!?!?
never understood this, but hey its en vogue to play games from last gen on current....
back then compilations and collections werent bought that much... nowadays those are big announcements and people are ANTICIPATED!!!!
why the fuck!?!?
never understood this, but hey its en vogue to play games from last gen on current....
Yes, there's a broader point to be made here about making an effort to overlook your own biases in order to expand your horizons. But I think the idea that an enthusiast forum would be struggling with the concept of older games still having merit is just bonkers.
Iva Demilcol
Member
Always-honest
Banned
So you basicly died when you became an adult.
You probably take life too seriously.
You probably take life too seriously.
"All games were better in the past" is super nostalgia. I mean, sure, I'm interested to read a legit argument as to why the majority of games being made in the 80s and 90s were better than the majority of games being made in recent years, but I have a hard time believing a good argument can be made there.SonyToo!;180687730 said:
That being said, my favorite games of all time are generally pretty old by now anyway.
VendettaRed07
Member
If I had stuff like Smash for 3DS and P4G when I was 8, I would have thrown my gameboy color in the garbage.
loaf of bread
Member
Last generation was honestly probably the best generation in gaming easily in terms of the sheer number of great games. People who act like it was better in the SNES or N64 days are lying to themselves.
Not that it's your fault given the lack of punctuation, but he's saying that people dismiss all "games were better in the past" arguments as being based on nostalgia, not that all games were better in the past.
In other words, it's possible to believe that the current generation is not the best generation without basing your opinion on nostalgia.
...He's arguing against this kind of thing.
Iva Demilcol
Member
I won't say all games were better in the past because we had things like ET and all those adult games that looked pretty awful (and they are from a time that precedes me too) but in my case, games from the NES, SNES/Genesis era looked incredible and I must say I was totally disappointed when games with ugly polygons began to appear. I know that to a lot of people those early 3D games blew their mind at the time, but to me, those early 3D titles just looked awful. That's totally subjective though, but I'm pretty much okay with that.
It goes both ways with the technology addicted that think modern=good. I mean are 3D TVs still considered an amazing revolution? How's motion controlled gaming doing? Does everyone have Google Glass yet?
Also the dismissing of things as nostalgia just because they're old can get pretty bad too. You have to understand that games and experiences with games are personal and relative to their time period.
Also the dismissing of things as nostalgia just because they're old can get pretty bad too. You have to understand that games and experiences with games are personal and relative to their time period.
nkarafo
Member
People who don't really have an argument so they use this "nostalgia" thing to downplay any arguments someone else has, because he prefers something that is older for whatever reason, are the worst.
New things are automatically better, right?
This is such a dismissive load of shit.
If there was any grain of truth to this I would be slobbering all over first and second gen, which I dont remotely care about outside a tiny handful of titles. Didnt care then, don't care now.
Fifth gen in general was shit outside a handful of titles, thanks to a serious downgrade in design due to a lot of studios coming to grips with understanding how to work in 3d.
And seventh gen to present is shit because it by and large panders to mentally lazy, complacant, morons, shitting out a constant factory line stream of homogeneous garbage that fails to engage mentally.
The difference between then, and now, is that even those gens that were shit, were because that was the best they could do, with their experience and technology. Doesnt make the experience any better, not then not now... But its a hell of a lot better than where we are right now, where we are CLEARLY capable of so much more than the stream of diarrhea dog shit thats designed the way it is, because its cheaper, faster and easier than real design with modern technology, and can be marketed until bought.
And THAT is why this is the worst generation. Not because there werent any generations that sucked in the past, but because of the bullshit reason design has nose dived, despite having the tech, and experience, to do infinitely better.
If there was any grain of truth to this I would be slobbering all over first and second gen, which I dont remotely care about outside a tiny handful of titles. Didnt care then, don't care now.
Fifth gen in general was shit outside a handful of titles, thanks to a serious downgrade in design due to a lot of studios coming to grips with understanding how to work in 3d.
And seventh gen to present is shit because it by and large panders to mentally lazy, complacant, morons, shitting out a constant factory line stream of homogeneous garbage that fails to engage mentally.
The difference between then, and now, is that even those gens that were shit, were because that was the best they could do, with their experience and technology. Doesnt make the experience any better, not then not now... But its a hell of a lot better than where we are right now, where we are CLEARLY capable of so much more than the stream of diarrhea dog shit thats designed the way it is, because its cheaper, faster and easier than real design with modern technology, and can be marketed until bought.
And THAT is why this is the worst generation. Not because there werent any generations that sucked in the past, but because of the bullshit reason design has nose dived, despite having the tech, and experience, to do infinitely better.
They never was, and nobody even said it was (in the big picture outside pr).
But I digress..
Fantastapotamus
Wrong about commas, wrong about everything
Get off my lawn!
Megadragon15
Member
The thing about old games that I liked the most were cheat codes, game genie, pro action replay, and other similar things. We don't get those anymore, so in that sense they were better.
There are some entries/franchises that had games that have not been topped imo and were better in a sense back when I was a kid (SSX 1-3, Crash 1-3 etc), but the average quality of games is actually better right now imo.
If I had the same amount of time and energy as I did back then, I think I'd probably enjoy gaming right now more.
If I had the same amount of time and energy as I did back then, I think I'd probably enjoy gaming right now more.
NoMoChokeSJ
Banned
My Brother (or sister)!! I find mself listening to more motown or 50's era doowop than anything lately. I've gone through the gamit of music listening to everything from rap to screamo, but honestly I starts to all sound the same after a while. I also think being almost 40 and having young kids has made me cherish my quiet/chill time.
DannyDanger
Member
My issue with nostalgia whores is when they start to berate ppl that like modern stuff. Or even start to use a condescending tone.
nkarafo
Member
Fixed. Works both ways see?
DannyDanger
Member
You have a point
The Baron Count
Member
One happens far more than the other. I don't see how one could argue that point.
The reasons are pretty clear. A lot of people that love older games and aren't into new ones see the gaming landscape as a sad place for them and sometimes they resent the people that they see as enabling it, while the people that love new games and aren't into older games don't feel like they've "lost" anything. The ones that are shitty to people that like older games tend to just be ignorant brats.
Dumb behavior either way.
nkarafo
Member
Dunno, i hear the nostalgia goggles "argument" far too often.
But my point is that both sides can have good arguments. It's true that modern games are more impressive and technology allows for things that weren't possible before. But it's also true that, for the most part, games have become too mainstream and dumbed down for many people.
And it's true that many old games haven't age well and they are archaic. But it's also true that some experiences haven't been improved since then. Games like Dungeon Keeper still don't have a modern equivalent. I also made a thread about how the Doom/Quake 1 level design style is pretty much dead today. And it turned out that it is indeed dead.
Now, i can explain why i love Doom more than 99% of modern shooters. I can give arguments. It's when someone dismisses all my arguments by saying that i'm blinded by nostalgia that angers me. Because it's like my arguments don't matter and i'm a stupid individual who doesn't realize he is blind or something. Nostalgia goggles "argument" can be the most condescending and dismissive thing, like it automatically cancels/deletes everything one might have brought up.
Gaming as a whole is getting worse. There are too many poorly made games coming out. It is making it harder and harder to search for quality video games.
Hell, I'm sure the reason why some of y'all are on GAF is to find good games. But my point is, the flood of these video games is overwhelming.
Yet, instead of the increase in overall good games. It is roughly the same amount of good games as previous generations, while now having to wade through tons more of garbage games.
Hell, I'm sure the reason why some of y'all are on GAF is to find good games. But my point is, the flood of these video games is overwhelming.
Yet, instead of the increase in overall good games. It is roughly the same amount of good games as previous generations, while now having to wade through tons more of garbage games.
I'm not having too hard a time. The beauty of the internet is we can read impressions on games we're interested in and watch other people play them. When I was younger, I'd accidentally buy terrible licensed shite all the time but I can't remember the last time I bought a bad game. Sonic Lost World maybe?
That and there are definitely less shitty licensed games today. Developers realised it's easier to exploit the F2P crowd so now all that stuff is free on mobile.
The Baron Count
Member
I get it and I agree with you for the most part.
There is a difference between someone making a legitimate argument for something and someone just making a blanket statement about how games have gotten worse or saying blank game is the best game ever. FF7 and OoT fans are probably the most guilty of this. A hell of a lot of them refuse to acknowledge the very real flaws in those games compared to now and keep treating them as sacred things.
Like I said, it's important to recognize what still works in older games and what doesn't. I think your example of Doom is a good one. I remember that thread and I agreed with that sentiment having recently played through Doom and Quake again. Those games are timeless, but one of the reasons for that is that they were doing things in a way that has simply been abandoned, nobody has tried to improve on it, they have just gone in a totally different direction. And personally I'm fine with that, though I do wish there were more games still doing that kind of level design out there.
That is very different than an old PSX game just being a worse version of what we have today with less responsive controls and an awful 90's 3D camera.
Danny Dudekisser
I paid good money for this Dynex!
Y'know, I suspected I might've been falling victim to that mentality last gen. I swore that gaming was the worst it's been in a long time, and hated the PS3 and the 360. I figured that maybe, I was just letting nostalgia blind me. Well, as it turns out... no. I wasn't. In the last few years, PC gaming's gotten way better, the Wii U has given me some incredible games I want to play, Japanese development's finally getting back on track -- gaming is pretty rad right now.
So actually, I think that last gen being 8 years of dog shit is what's convinced some people that gaming is worse than when they were younger more than some magical rose-tinted glasses.
So actually, I think that last gen being 8 years of dog shit is what's convinced some people that gaming is worse than when they were younger more than some magical rose-tinted glasses.
nkarafo
Member
I agree with this. Most of my complaints about modern gaming is 7th gen centric. I wasn't complaining during 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th gen. Sure, during 3rd and 4th gen i was a kid but in 5th and 6th i was aware of things. There are very few 7th gen games that stand out for me. Current gen seems more promising, on the PC front at least.