Games now are better than ever

[AaronChance]

You've got a point there. I'm playing Gallop Racer 2004 right now and man is this game complicated. Horses, riders, venues... all come with a pile of stats, but in the end it's not more complex than the average RPG. It's just complex in a way that I'm not used to.

I'd still say KD is complex in its own fashion, but it's complex in a way that's completely intuitive, like the ball of stuff moves how it would likely move in real life. There's some big number crunching behind the scenes for that to happen, but to the player it seems completely natural.

[Diff-chan]

Dipstick, youre talking about something that NG used to touch on a bit, and I think a development of some sort of critical theory of videogames should address it (and I think such theory would be useful to game development and progression). There is a certain language based mostly on tradition and past games, and some games try too hard to change it, and just end up alienating people. But this is poor design. Remember that POS FFT clone Hoshigami? It had so many stupid subengines and different systems and shit and it just collapsed under its own weight.

Also, if you look at the first Total War game, Shogun, yea it tried a lot of cool things, but the interface was a miserable attempt at abstraction. It used yin-yang symbols, lots of other Japanese symbols, etc., to try to add atmosphere but it just got weird and stupid. They worked it out with the next game, mostly, but yea, poor design. Compare that to the way Blizzard implemented upkeep in War3, which radically changed the way the game is played (for the better, Id argue).

Its just a question of design.

[AstroBlue]

Why don't you hump Dave Perry's leg while you're at it.

[callous]

A lot of people say they play 8 or 16 bit games because they're so easy to pick up for just a short while when you don't have much time. This may be true, but most of those games are also a lot more difficult than games are today, and if you want to get any real enjoyment from playing them, you probably have to practice.

If you're going to pick up a game for only 20 minutes and suck at it every time because you don't have time to practice and learn patterns, wouldn't you be just as well off playing a new, easier game? It's difficult to find a game these days that can't be saved at least every 20 minutes and it's not difficult to find games that are easy to get into.

I love playing older games and I'll always go back to them in between playing new games, but not because the old ones are more convenient. I think it's an over used and clichéd excuse. Granted, a cartridge loads up faster than a DVD, but if that's your main concern then GBA has most of the classic genres well covered, often with much better graphics.