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Old games have charm. New games don't or am I getting old?

Electivirus said:
Something that's been bothering me for a while... what is this "charm" I keep hearing so much about? I've never heard a concrete explanation for it, and yet I hear it flung around everywhere nowadays.
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"Charm" and nebulous terms like it are often an attempt to bridge a gap of understanding, to explain why things no longer amaze and captivate us like they did when we were young. Are the games different now? Certainly, but so are we. We were less demanding as children, less jaded, had less experiences to colour and shape our virtual ones. We'd like to think that we haven't changed and that it's the games that are wholly changing for the worse, but I think that's myopic. Amazement and captivation are still out there aplenty, even if they don't feel like that memorable trip to the store as an eight-year old, each shelf bursting with treasures and perfect adventures.

Nuclear Muffin said:
There are still games being made that are as good as the classic stuff, you just have to dig deeper than before (which we shouldn't really have to do, but that's another topic all together). It's not about new games being bad and old games being good, it's just that there are less games being made that are destined to be cherished forever and they're harder to find than before.
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Frankly, I don't think any of us are in a position to decree that. The Golden Age is a myth, and has always been so. It will continue as we carry our current greats forward with us through time, and the mountains of dreck and uninspired shovelware will gradually be forgotten and fall out of our reckoning of this period. It isn't something unique to games, either, it applies to virtually all of our cultural creations and is the root of a universally appreciable sentiment: "They don't make 'em like they used to, didn't make 'em as bad as they do now".

History would beg to differ. Even if most of us choose to forget it, the inventory of derelicts is long and very old.
 
_Alkaline_ said:
What's that got to do with charm?
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Well, I was more addressing his post in regards to the dislike of "hand holding" or "level scaling" (to make things easier).

But if you want to talk charm, even better. Demons/Dark Souls has that in spades, probably more so than anything else it does. From it's implementation to visuals, art design, audio, multiplayer, everything about it is unique. And I think in that uniqueness is where the charm comes from.
 
I kinda feel like you, as a matter of fact, it was little gems like (Bioshock, Dead Rising, Demon's Souls) who gave me the desire to give this generation another chance.
 
Speevy said:
Yeah but current 2D has another problem which hurts its charm, either it's too aware of its own retroness or too artsy.
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I agree with this. I absolutely love pixel art but hate the majority of the super retro indie games. Either do it incredibly authentic like MegaMan 9 or do something impressive with it. Most of the time it's just feels cheap and lazy or like they're trying too hard to be edgy and cool with the retroness. I'm playing through Super Meat Boy right now and while the gameplay is great, the graphics and everything else about it just makes me upset
 
OP should play ilimilo

ilomilo1-21.jpg
 
Botolf said:
"Charm" and nebulous terms like it are often an attempt to bridge a gap of understanding, to explain why things no longer amaze and captivate us like they did when we were young. Are the games different now? Certainly, but so are we. We were less demanding as children, less jaded, had less experiences to colour and shape our virtual ones. We'd like to think that we haven't changed and that it's the games that are wholly changing for the worse, but I think that's myopic. Amazement and captivation are still out there aplenty, even if they don't feel like that memorable trip to the store as an eight-year old, each shelf bursting with treasures and perfect adventures.
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Nicely put! I was going to post pretty much the same thing. It's just nostalgia playing tricks on your mind. I believe it's because we've grown up and changed, become more jaded with shifting expectations, not necessarily because games are decreasing in quality, or are any less "charming". I don't think there were any less bad games put out in the late 80's, early 90's than now; we just selectively cherish the games that were great and let everything else fall into obscurity, just as gamers will do ten years from now regarding this generation. There are plenty of memorable, charming experiences from this generation alone that will stand the test of time. Games (and/or franchises) like Portal, Super Mario Galaxy, Braid, Bioshock, Mass Effect, numerous indie games, the list goes on and on.

You're just getting older and more critical. You're jaded. Your expectations are high, and the amount of information (and misinformation) at your fingertips with the internet let us know more about upcoming games than we've ever known before, thus some of the charm is lost when you know almost everything about a game before you even play it. Actually, I believe overall game quality is the best it's ever been right now, but we as players have changed, grown, and the world has changed with us.
 
*shameless plug*
if you think games are losing their charm then you should check out the game me and my buddies are making www.molecats.com!

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Some new games do, but yeah uncanny valley graphics (the bad lighting, poor animation and weird face shapes trying to be close to human faces etc) suck.
 
GrotesqueBeauty said:
Needless to say I disagree. Let me make it clear first of all that I don't believe all modern games lack charm, or that all older games have some sort of inborn charm. That said, I think that there are identifiable characteristics that contribute towards certain games being charming vs. games that may be polished yet come across somewhat empty or uninspired, although the criteria can vary from game to game. There are also reasons (some of which I already started touching upon briefly) why certain creative trends occur during different eras. I feel like there is a recognition of this in other art forms, but the fact that games are so closely tied to the march of technical progression muddies the waters.

Also, you seem way too attached to the idea that your age, or anyone else's age dictates their views on games. I don't think it's a simple matter of chronology, just like I don't think you have to have been born into a certain time to appreciate various periods of film, literature or painting. Creative work from different times have flavors of their own completely apart from warm and fuzzy memories they evoke.
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Well said.
 
The old games that have charm are suffering from a lack of modern equivalents. There are new ones to take their place, but you have to make yourself immune to games that use pandering and raw appeasement of base desires to find them in plain sight.
 
verbatimo said:
Is it just me or is games now a days dull. I mean, sure graphics are good but the content and handholding is something that I don't want. I bought new games and haven't continued playing them after few hours. This has happened many new games. I start them and after few hours I stop and almost never return to play them.

I recently bought for GOG, Might & Magic IIV and Might & Magic VIII and these games have some strange magic, that when I started VIII I lost 5 hours without noticing. Game looks awful today standards but there is no hand holding, freedom to go anywhere, dungeons and caves have no level scaling, that is something what is missing from new games.
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Games are MUCH more diverse today and in greater numbers. Finding what you like might take more exploration. But games still have charms. I am 32 years old, grew up with the Atari and NES generations and I still find alot of charms in many games. It all depends how to look at things and wich games you play. Your problem is probably you becoming jaded, annoyed. You might want to try and play completely different things than you normally do, try types of games you are less familiar with, sorta "re-explore" gaming. Your tastes are still out there, the probably just changed clothes so you can't see them from afar in a crowded place.
 
I think old games you had to use your imagination more than today. Now everything is in 3d so you don't have to fill in the gaps with your mind. You know have everything is suppose to look.
 
I'm playing Muramasa right now, and it's like a beautiful fever-dream of how I imagined sidescrolling platformers to be back in the day. I'd say it has MORE charm!
 
Old games do have charm but so do new ones. Now a days we have way more games to play so you just have to look more. I say look at more reviews, and do more research before you buy a new game.
A while back I got this game on sale called Machinarium. Its one of those point and click adventure games(a genre which I'm not too keen on) for pc, it had had so much charm that I loved it.
 
In some cases, yes. For example, RollerCoaster Tycoon 1+2 is much more charming than RCT3, and Stronghold Crusaders is much more charming than CivCity: Rome. I somtimes think that 3D graphics ruin a lot of classic games.
 
Whenever I read the word "charming" related to videogames I think of some gamecube exclusives.

Zelda wind waker
Skies of Arcadia
Baten Kaitos

Those games are as charming as a game can be.
 
If you feel this way, you probably need to broaden your horizons. Maybe mainstream console gaming isn't all that inspired right now, but there are other platforms and other subsets of gaming that are thriving. There are some genres that have devolved, but any general statement about the entire industry, like the one in the title, are objectively false.

It's just the "they don't make 'em like they used to" mentality that's popular with people who are out of touch with the current.
 
Bentendo said:
In some cases, yes. For example, RollerCoaster Tycoon 1+2 is much more charming than RCT3, and Stronghold Crusaders is much more charming than CivCity: Rome. I somtimes think that 3D graphics ruin a lot of classic games.
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Again, this is quite completely subjective. I am a huge fan of RCT2 and CivCity Rome but my experience is different than yours. RCT3 is bad to me but not because of it's graphics, because they are stuff that controls and works WORSE than RCT2 and the added things aren't enough to make up for the whole thing. It's simply a worse game.
CivCity Rome is uber excellence, I discovered the dev with it and played Stronghold after while backtracking what they done. While I am eagerly waiting for the new Stronghold to come out, CivCity Rome was a better and more refined game to me than the old Strongholds.
 
I used to think it was me too op, that I was just getting old and I wasn't into these new games like my old favorites. Then Catherine came out, and I fell in love with the game. I now realize that most new games are just dull experiences that are masked by big budget presentation
 
for me it's probably because they didn't shoot for realism because there was no point to it. modern games try to be realistic and 'adult' that's why a lot of them aren't as charming anymore. i also think you could get away more easily with quirky funny characters in a more serious game back in the days than you can do now.

sphinx said:
Those games are as charming as a game can be.
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the gamecube in general was a pretty charming console :)
 
LittleBigPlanet and Valkyria Chronicles are some of the most charming games out there, so it depends on what "new games" you play.
 
Lactose_Intolerant said:
I think old games you had to use your imagination more than today. Now everything is in 3d so you don't have to fill in the gaps with your mind. You know have everything is suppose to look.
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This is very true. Back in the day when I played jrpgs I imagined the characters how I wanted. Today they all the characters seem like a bunch of emo whiney bitches and I cant pretend to see otherwise :/.
 
subversus said:
You are getting old. And all those who agree with you too.
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I hear ya man - and in like 10 years people will look back and say the same thing about current games. This nostalgia goes for anything that people are passionate about; music, film, books, etc. Due to the variety of variables in what makes gaming charming, the idea of a classic is subjective.
 
I don't know, outside of a few REALLY good old games, I don't really prefer them to newer games ( or the other way around). Maybe its because I always go back to them to play games I missed, they don't feel all that special. They were just different back then, not really better though.

But I'm wierd, I find the least likely games charming sometimes. I just played Just Cause 2 for the first time in like six months, and I found some charm in that.

BTW, what is tye cut-off point between old and new? Its seems like a lot of people are just focusing on this gen.
 
The problem with videogame development as since mainstream games have so much bigger budgets that risks in developing game that dont play it safe are rarer this generation than the previous one. But those kind of games will never disappear because whenever one developer leaves the area, another will pop up to take its place.

I love the nostalgia argument people try to push. I can go back and play old games that have aged well. What are you going to tell me now? That the nostalgia is making this game I just played recently better than it actually is? Thats not how nostalgia works.
 
verbatimo said:
Is it just me or is games now a days dull. I mean, sure graphics are good but the content and handholding is something that I don't want. I bought new games and haven't continued playing them after few hours. This has happened many new games. I start them and after few hours I stop and almost never return to play them.

I recently bought for GOG, Might & Magic IIV and Might & Magic VIII and these games have some strange magic, that when I started VIII I lost 5 hours without noticing. Game looks awful today standards but there is no hand holding, freedom to go anywhere, dungeons and caves have no level scaling, that is something what is missing from new games.
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Uncharted, Mass Effect, Fallout 3, Limbo, Braid, Bastion, Donkey Kong Country Returns, etc. all have plenty of charm. Your probably just playing the wrong games.
 
verbatimo said:
Is it just me or is games now a days dull. I mean, sure graphics are good but the content and handholding is something that I don't want.
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It's just you. There's always been handholding, they've just gotten increasingly good at it.

Yes, I said good.

(don't believe me? Miyamoto recently stated that world 1-1 of SMB was created last, because by then the designers knew everything a player had to learn in order to understand how to play the game)

If games were more charming back then it's because they were more often cartoony, relying on as distinct characters as a couple of pixels would allow, pandering to archetypes to convey meaning with limited tech, and you filling in the rest.
 
OP, you are correct and I agree with you.

The problem is that myself and others who grew up with games from the 90s are suckers and continue to fool ourselves into believing that games nowadays hold as much charm as before, hence why we can still enjoy them.

These newly introduced gamers of the 21st century just don't fucking know any better. To put it simply for them: ignorance is bliss.
 
It is in part nostalgia,but the issues with handholding and loss of deph is true too.Whoever denies this today is an idiot

I started playing never winter nights 2 the other day and almost lost the entire day on that game.I can't say the same for many newer titles,including dragon age
 
I put a lot of blame on the sheer amount of games that get turned out now.

"Back when I was a kid" we'd get a game if we were lucky. We'd play it over and over and really enjoy it because it'd be a while before we got another one. Now it's like as soon as you get a game you cross it off your checklist and move toward anticipating the next...


Also, get off my lawn.
 
SensualSeduction said:
It is in part nostalgia,but the issues with handholding and loss of deph is true too.Whoever denies this today is an idiot

I started playing never winter nights 2 the other day and almost lost the entire day on that game.I can't say the same for many newer titles,including dragon age
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You can't or you won't? And how does the latter corroborate the former?
 
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