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Next Generation Gameplay

P.T.

A mystery of a game, riddle with puzzles that were meant to be solved (and was solved) via the colaboration of players and viewers while streaming from the console itself, using the microphone to trigger events, and still filled with secrets. Plus, it has near photorealistic graphics and an amazing sound design.

That's kinda the only unprecedented experience we've had.


And while MGSV was released on last gen consoles, the next-gen versions combines the already near perfect fluid gameplay with FullHD/60fps in an open world with beautiful graphics, that are only possible on next gen. So it is also a next-gen experience.
 
Arkham Knight

  • no loading screens
  • switchable FreeFlow characters mid combo
  • seamless Batmobile integration

It would be impossible on last gen.

the loading is hidden and sometimes causes the game to stutter, going out of bounds and gliding around shows how the loading system works which is quite simple to do.

As for switching players and batmobile stuff, I would think that scaling it down it could work on older gen hardware but it would not be half as good, personally i'd not call the batmobile calling a next gen feature because many games have had open worlds and vehicles together.
 

yuraya

Member
I can't even think of a linear game that gives you so much control of your character let alone an open world game like MGSV. The shooting, diving, rolling and grabbing is incredible. There is also combat like punching, kicking, slamming people into the ground and slamming them into walls. Its pretty great. I mean how many open world games let you dive to the ground and roll around while prone? How many linear or semi-open world games let you do that?

I watched a lot of gameplay from The Division a few days ago and the first thing I noticed is the gameplay in that game is literally a generation behind MGSV. I know they're not the same game and I don't want to diss other developers n all that. Its just crazy to see how KojiPro are head and shoulders above everyone else.

.......

Also I think Divinity: OS deserves a lot of props for its turn based gameplay. Its the best turn based combat ever made and should easily be considered next gen imo. The AI is also incredible in that game. Seeing enemy orcs pick up health packs off the ground which appeared after you killed another enemy orc was pretty cool. And they do stuff like that all on one turn.
 
Is something i said wrong?


I would not imply that 3D Mario is a natural evolution of 2D Mario, it's very, very different, and was the result of serious creativity and forward thinking. The jump to 3D allowed all sorts of things, but if the N64's flagship Mario was just a 'simple application' of the 2D Mario formula in 3D, then we'd have been playing 3D World back in '95 instead, so I firmly believe that even if technological advances made SM64 possible to begin with, they still deserve all the credit in the world for their achievements there.
And yours is one of the most reductive descriptions of VR that I've seen in a bit. Literally anything since the advent of black and white television and joystick controllers could be reduced to mere iterations on how we viewed and interacted with entertainment over the years. VR's value isn't in simply offering a new method to control an in-game camera or some other game-centric line of thinking, it's in offering the illusion of presence and enabling fundamentally new and divergent experiences that can't be achieved, whether at all or with as much impact, elsewhere.
 
Gameplay & design innovations aren't automatically negated just because you can scale back graphics, performance, the amount of assets on screen, etc.. enough to get a game to run on older, weaker hardware.

It says in the OP that what the poster has seen so far can also be done on last gen systems, MGSV can be done on last gen systems, unless the gameplay is drastically different then it's not really applicable.

I think this whole next gen gameplay term is dumb though so what do I know.
 

Chola

Banned
So a game that simply controls well is considered next gen now? That should be normal, not next gen. Also it's not THAT good, god damn is this game over rated. The gunplay for example isn't even that good.

That is not the only thing MGS 5 does, you should go back and play some more
 

BadWolf

Member
I watched a lot of gameplay from The Division a few days ago and the first thing I noticed is the gameplay in that game is literally a generation behind MGSV.

Funny you should say that because Assassins' Creed Syndicate was aping mechanics from MGS4. A generation behind indeed lol.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
The Crackdown 3 cloud-assisted destruction.

Crackdown 3 is still Crackdown, but with a bigger scale. We've applied that to every genre, and it still hasn't made it "next gen", its just bigger.

GTASA is GTA5 with less things to do in it and worse graphics, but its still the exact same concept.

What people need to think about before throwing around terms like "Next generation gameplay" is what exactly is different about the gameplay that makes it new gen? If you can dismiss certain examples as being able to be done on last gen or the gen before(like MGS5 has proved) then there should be some relevant distinction
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
I would not imply that 3D Mario is a natural evolution of 2D Mario, it's very, very different, and was the result of serious creativity and forward thinking. The jump to 3D allowed all sorts of things, but if the N64's flagship Mario was just a 'simple application' of the 2D Mario formula in 3D, then we'd have been playing 3D World back in '95 instead, so I firmly believe that even if technological advances made SM64 possible to begin with, they still deserve all the credit in the world for their achievements there.
And yours is one of the most reductive descriptions of VR that I've seen in a bit. Literally anything since the advent of black and white television and joystick controllers could be reduced to mere iterations on how we viewed and interacted with entertainment over the years.

This is true, which is why "NEXT GEN GAMEPLAY" is not a real concept. Everything is a mere iteration of what came before. Thus there is no point where you can say, "everything before this was literally a generation behind, literally nothing could be done like this just before now" because everything is evolutionary based on previous iteration, not revolutionary.

Using hardware console generations as an example of 'next gen gameplay' and pointing to the jump between PS3 and PS4 and saying that this is why games suck nowadays, while ignoring that such a thing was completely applicable in current generations where 3D was already commonplace is completely ridiculous.
 
I would argue Ground Zeroes is a better game than The Phantom Pain. TPP adds a whole lot more stuff but the mechanics are pretty much the same and while GZ is incredibly short I didn't find any segment of TPP to be more enjoyable or replayable. Plus it's crossgen so I'm not sure it qualifies for Next Gen gameplay.

I mean the second-to-second gameplay & mechanics in TPP are more smooth, and responsive than in GZ. I don't mean the mission structure, etc.
 

Havoc2049

Member
I think next-gen gameplay is a pointless label used by people to whine more or criticise games they don't like. The closest I can think of is "No Man's Sky", that is an idea that wasn't possible on last-gen games. You're on a planet, you can mine, trade, shoot and explore then when you're bored take off and head to countless other planets.

The sandbox space exploration game has been done numerous times, going all the way back to the 8/16-bit computer game generation, with games like Elite and Starflight. And as far as depth and gameplay features go, I would bet that No Man's Sky is probably dumbed down and has less features than past games in the genre. When it is all said and done, I would also bet that Elite Dangerous and Star Citizen have deeper gameplay and more features than No Man's Sky.
 

K' Dash

Member

Uuhh... What?

Gameplay is the only redeeming aspect of that clusterfuck of a game, but what does it do that is NEW or Groundbreaking? It just take old ideas and refined them, the result is amazing, but hardly anything that can be called Next Gen Gameplay.

My vote goes to TP.
 
I'm not sure but since MGSV is also on last gen I know that ain't it.

Idk man, it was the only game that felt next gen to me. I played it on PC, and you could play it there with a graphic card from 2007, that doesn't change anything. I think we're talking about next gen gameplay here, not console gens.

So many systems working like a charm on MGSV, I wish every game felt like that.
 

DorkyMohr

Banned
This is true, which is why "NEXT GEN GAMEPLAY" is not a real concept. Everything is a mere iteration of what came before. Thus there is no point where you can say, "everything before this was literally a generation behind, literally nothing could be done like this just before now" because everything is evolutionary based on previous iteration, not revolutionary.

Using hardware console generations as an example of 'next gen gameplay' and pointing to the jump between PS3 and PS4 and saying that this is why games suck nowadays, while ignoring that such a thing was completely applicable in current generations where 3D was already commonplace is completely ridiculous.

If you look as "next gen gameplay" as a marketing term then yeah there's reason to be critical and point out examples that could be done on last gen. But it's not a useless term for discussion about how game design evolves. Like a previous poster mentioned, cover-shooting and parkour could be done on gens decades back but they didn't exist as concepts until last generation. Technology plays a part in how game design moves forward but it's more like a jumping-off point for how we think about gameplay design.
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
This mission is literally impossible on last gen consoles. Uncharted 4's set pieces seem to have seamless branching paths, something that would be incredibly hard to do if not impossible on last gen. Witcher 3's world is huge and has no loading screens except when you fast travel. The rendition of Manhattan in the Division as well could not be done on last gen consoles. People will be really surprised. I'd say most of what devs are doing with open worlds these days is not possible at all on last gen, and not just from a rendering standpoint, lots of systems would have to be changed.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
If you look as "next gen gameplay" as a marketing term then yeah there's reason to be critical and point out examples that could be done on last gen. But it's not a useless term for discussion about how game design evolves. Like a previous poster mentioned, cover-shooting and parkour could be done on gens decades back but they didn't exist as concepts until last generation. Technology plays a part in how game design moves forward but it's more like a jumping-off point for how we think about gameplay design.

Uh, what about killswitch on PS2, where the entire point of the game was cover shooting? Gears was basically just a combination of Killswitch and RE4 in alot of ways.

This mission is literally impossible on last gen consoles. Uncharted 4's set pieces seem to have seamless branching paths, something that would be incredibly hard to do if not impossible on last gen. Witcher 3's world is huge and has no loading screens except when you fast travel. The rendition of Manhattan in the Division as well could not be done on last gen consoles. People will be really surprised. I'd say most of what devs are doing with open worlds these days is not possible at all on last gen, and not just from a rendering standpoint, lots of systems would have to be changed.

That is an evolution of previous concepts though, all of your examples, not a revolution of gameplay design that literally could not be done. As you say yourself, they could be done with downgrading, but that is the point. Everyone could be with downgrading to some degree, unless we're talking about literal 2D to 3D dimensional concepts, and even that technically could be simulated by 2D artwork to some degree
 
i think we are talking something along the lines of pong > space invaders (move and shoot and levels) > ultima/zelda (open worlds) >wolfenstein\ mario 64(holy shit real working 3d worlds) > VR (where am I? Is this realish?)

(Forgive me if i didnt choose the exact game the you feel matches the category but i hope you see where i am going)
 

Shredderi

Member
Idk man, it was the only game that felt next gen to me. I played it on PC, and you could play it there with a graphic card from 2007, that doesn't change anything. I think we're talking about next gen gameplay here, not console gens.

So many systems working like a charm on MGSV, I wish every game felt like that.

Sure it has great gameplay. I define "next-gen gameplay" as something that leans on beefier tech to invent new ways to play in a way that would have not been possible on older tech. MGSV does not fit into that.
 
There's no such thing imo. That's just bullshit that people use to express their feelings regarding a game (usually their disappointment). Same thing as when they say the game "has no soul". lol
 

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
The warp ability in Final Fantasy XV. Can't wait to see what ideas they come up with for the final game to utilize it.

Ebs7ndJ.gif
 
Crackdown 3 is still Crackdown, but with a bigger scale. We've applied that to every genre, and it still hasn't made it "next gen", its just bigger.

GTASA is GTA5 with less things to do in it and worse graphics, but its still the exact same concept.

What people need to think about before throwing around terms like "Next generation gameplay" is what exactly is different about the gameplay that makes it new gen? If you can dismiss certain examples as being able to be done on last gen or the gen before(like MGS5 has proved) then there should be some relevant distinction
It controls like crackdown, looks like crackdown, however it has a layer of destruction added that does not resemble previous crackdown games. This isn't your average everyday destruction. This is destructibility on a level we really haven't seen in games to this point. My opinion is that advancements in physics is more interesting at this point than just looking better visually.
 

digdug2k

Member
Edit: In regards to this gen, physics driven by the GPU could be what defines gameplay of this gen.

IlliterateComposedFreshwatereel.gif

TheseTotalJackrabbit.gif
Heh. I remember people being excited about this exact same stuff (with basically the same rubber duck demos) last gen. I'm sure someone could do something interesting with it too. Will they? Probably not.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
From generation to generation, we have an massive increase in processing power which leads to increased scale, more complex physics, more complex procedural systems, and detailed rendering systems. The key is tying gameplay into these improvements to give it a novel feel.

The most overlooked post in here.
 

DorkyMohr

Banned
Uh, what about killswitch on PS2, where the entire point of the game was cover shooting? Gears was basically just a combination of Killswitch and RE4 in alot of ways.

Was too specific in my wording when I said "didn't exist". Again my point isn't that types of gameplay that could have / did exist on previous gens don't negate thinking about them as a leap generationally. When someone says that MGSV has a next-gen gameplay element it's less to do with the technology underneath it and more to do about breaking out of the slow incremental steps that games take from year to year.
 

Kaako

Felium Defensor
I don't know about "next generation" gameplay but MGSV has the best core gameplay there exists today imo. It feels incredibly tight and satisfying just to move in that game. Absolutely nailed it.
 
There is another thread going on about games that give you "next gen" feels. Yes, we all know games have improved visual quality overall. What is truly lacking in that thread is examples of good next generation gameplay.

Almost everything I've seen so far this generation could have been done last gen, with less visual quality. I play a wide variety of games myself, and the only decent example that I've seen so far is the Nemesis System in Shadow of Mordor.

Does GAF have any other good current/upcoming examples of true next generation game mechanics?
If not, what would qualify as next generation gameplay for you?

Edit: Don't just list games. Please give reasons why.

the nemesis system i love it, I want more work on AI stuff...so much gameplay improvements are needed but graphics seems to be the obsession, thankfully indie games take a few risk

but yeah i love the nemesis system.
 

JordanN

Banned
Heh. I remember people being excited about this exact same stuff (with basically the same rubber duck demos) last gen. I'm sure someone could do something interesting with it too. Will they? Probably not.

Well... there is one game.... (warning: lewd alert)
















































EnchantingLazyGecko.gif
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
The warp ability in Final Fantasy XV. Can't wait to see what ideas they come up with for the final game to utilize it.
Should be noted that that is pre-rendered. I actually expect teleportation to be quite limited based on Duscae and the other demos. The monsters however, that's next gen as fuck.

Well... there is one game.... (warning: lewd alert)
It's kinda astounding how bad that still looks.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
Was too specific in my wording when I said "didn't exist". Again my point isn't that types of gameplay that could have / did exist on previous gens don't negate thinking about them as a leap generationally. When someone says that MGSV has a next-gen gameplay element it's less to do with the technology underneath it and more to do about breaking out of the slow incremental steps that games take from year to year.

Well that's what people have to think about before inventing nebulous terms even they can't agree on.

Sometimes people use it for defining console gens, other times people use it to reference systems in already existing games and franchises that have been upgraded to take advantage of things that were not possible on previous technology, and there are those who just think something that literally could not be done period in any sense is the only thing that defines "next gen gameplay".

We've had all 3 in this thread, and it should be narrowed down
 

Greddleok

Member
Uuhh... What?

Gameplay is the only redeeming aspect of that clusterfuck of a game, but what does it do that is NEW or Groundbreaking? It just take old ideas and refined them, the result is amazing, but hardly anything that can be called Next Gen Gameplay.

My vote goes to TP.

Why does it have to be ground breaking? It does what it tries to do perfectly. Just like with everything in this gen of consoles: nothing is smashing through boundaries, it's just building on what already existed.
 
Arkham Knight

  • no loading screens
  • switchable FreeFlow characters mid combo
  • seamless Batmobile integration

It would be impossible on last gen.

seamless Batmobile integration, lol. And in every GTA you can pick up and rive a car in the middle of the city, seamlessly. I don't think that can be considred "next gen gameplay".
 

Broritos

Member

Kureransu

Member
Mario was simply applying the platforming genre Mario had always been in a 3D environment. The jump to 3D allowed that sort of thing, but it was not defined by hardware generations specifically, and Mario has not had a jump that big since.

You'd need an industry and technological change on the level of going to 2D to 3D to have something similar to that i'd say happen again.

I don't even personally think VR could go that far. Its just another form of controlling what we've been doing with a controller already.

I think we have different definitions as to what qualifies as "simply"

VR Is exactly the technological change that would be on the level of going from 2d-3d. It adds another dimension.. Space.

It's not "another form of controlling what we've been doing with a controller already" In current gaming the world moves around you the actual player (not to be confused with the avatar in the game that represents you in said world. , meaning that if you want to see whats to the left you hold left and the world rotates.

In VR the world is static and you the player maneuver around the world. when you want to look left in VR, YOU the player would turn left to see what's to your left. It's a completely different experience.

But even if that weren't the case, Having the world around you as opposed to being cast on a 2d plane (the tv) would completely change the experience alone in itself.
 
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