Donating my Xbox • Hacker News Board

Re: Donating my Xbox

#31

Post by pyre » Sun, Apr 07, 2013, 1:17 PM UTC

vanderZwan wrote: post #20

thomholwerda wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"When Halo came out"? As opposed to the endless steam of first person shooters that came before it that were even more straightforward, simplistic, and violence-driven? Blaming Microsoft for this is insane. There is virtually no difference between Wolfenstein and Doom on the one hand, and Halo and Gears of War on the other - except for better graphics. If you think this is a trend of the past decade, then you either…

If you think there's virtually no difference except graphics, I'm not convinced that your perceptions are that unclouded either.

Halo and Wolf3D have about the same amounts of 'whimsy' to my recollection.

Re: Donating my Xbox

#32

Post by lloeki » Sun, Apr 07, 2013, 1:19 PM UTC

baby wrote: post #13

> Strategy over button mashing! That made me think of QTE. We never needed those things, but still they gave it to us. And keeps giving it to us. It's lazy gameplay, it's a "I'm a developer, I have a cutscene and I'm too bored to integrate real gameplay into it".

As always there's balance to be had: done right it gives a sense of urgency and involvement in what would otherwise be another "lean back and watch things happen" cutscene, whereas done wrong it annoyingly interrupts the flow at best. Personal experience: God of War QTEs feel entirely disconnected and over the top, whereas (Square's) Tomb Raider QTEs help in breaking the fourth wall and draws me into the scene.

Re: Donating my Xbox

#33

Post by Gigablah » Sun, Apr 07, 2013, 1:20 PM UTC

kenshi wrote: post #8

iMark wrote: post #7

I'm not a games developer, but I can relate to what Daniel wrote about game forms, after playing Bioshock Infinite. I love the game, but I did so mostly for elements of the design and story, rather than the game play. That it was an FPS connecting the story rather than a puzzle game, for example, was almost incidental to my enjoyment of it, and given the story, I think a series of Myst-style puzzles would have been a…

The reason I am not going to buy Bioshock Infinite is precisely because it seems like a pretty mediocre FPS, married to an interesting narrative and/or exploration game. Don't get me wrong, I love FPS shooters. So when I want to play one, I want it to be good. I also enjoy exploration games, and from what I have seen of Bioshock Infinite (I watched the ending and playthroughs on Youtube), it seems like it would have…

Eh, there's a history behind the franchise. It's not like Irrational started out with a story and turned it into an FPS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Shock_2

Re: Donating my Xbox

#34

Post by maked00 » Sun, Apr 07, 2013, 1:27 PM UTC

True, true. This also applies to most game publishing houses, not just the mothership.

There is a group-think mob mentality that ravenously follows the whims of top management as 'hip' and mere players are referred to as scrubs and considered not worthy to make suggestions or criticize.

Go to any popular MMO forum and criticize any portion of the games supposed backstory, and prepare for the waterfall of developer lead fanboy rage in response.

There are various tropes baked into this culture. All the 'bros' know that universally pet classes must always be second class citizens. Don't overlook how pay to win, and lottery style 'mystery boxes' that asian cultures are so fond of, almost overnight became fixtures in almost every online game now.

Re: Donating my Xbox

#35

Post by spacemanaki » Sun, Apr 07, 2013, 1:29 PM UTC

baby wrote: post #13

> Strategy over button mashing! That made me think of QTE. We never needed those things, but still they gave it to us. And keeps giving it to us. It's lazy gameplay, it's a "I'm a developer, I have a cutscene and I'm too bored to integrate real gameplay into it".

Agree with lloeki to some extent, but with a different game in mind: the Walking Dead. All of the action sequences are done with QTEs, but they are sprinkled through the game and are pretty varied in style. I think in the context of an otherwise slow-paced adventure game it works pretty well.

Re: Donating my Xbox

#36

Post by hollerith » Sun, Apr 07, 2013, 1:35 PM UTC

We do not like to discuss it, but a lot of people get a kick out of inflicting harm -- "fucking shit up" in other words -- and some game developers pander to that.

I remember a blog post from the late 90s or early 00s that pointed out that the marketing material (trailer or ad copy) for one FPS bragged about the realism of the gore, e.g., of the blood that spurted from the wound when you shot someone.

Re: Donating my Xbox

#37

Post by ChiperSoft » Sun, Apr 07, 2013, 1:37 PM UTC

unalone wrote: post #23

thomholwerda wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"When Halo came out"? As opposed to the endless steam of first person shooters that came before it that were even more straightforward, simplistic, and violence-driven? Blaming Microsoft for this is insane. There is virtually no difference between Wolfenstein and Doom on the one hand, and Halo and Gears of War on the other - except for better graphics. If you think this is a trend of the past decade, then you either…

Wolfenstein and Doom were simple, playful, colorful. Even as game devices became more powerful, there was a playfulness to FPSes that you can see in titles like Perfect Dark and the Unreal series. One of Halo's major innovations was that it removed the health bar. In a shooter like Doom or Goldeneye, you have let's say 100 HP, and different weapons deal a different amount of damage. It's just like any fighting game w…

Just a minor nitpick, but Halo did have a health bar. It was Halo 2 that removed it. Bungie briefly brought it bak in Halo ODST (which was why my friends and I loved its firefight the best).

Halo 2 wasn't the first game to remove the health bar either, Red Faction 2 had an almost identical vitality system to Halo's shields.

Re: Donating my Xbox

#38

Post by astar » Sun, Apr 07, 2013, 1:40 PM UTC

thomholwerda wrote: post #18

unalone wrote: post #15

When I was a kid I hated the Xbox, hated Halo, and hated how it seemed to create a new model for playing games. It was released when I was in middle school, and I remember there being a sudden and abrupt shift in what kind of gaming mentality there was. Prior to the Xbox, console games were largely focused on lush, whimsical landscapes with mechanics that required some puzzling to figure out. At least, the games that…

"When Halo came out"? As opposed to the endless steam of first person shooters that came before it that were even more straightforward, simplistic, and violence-driven? Blaming Microsoft for this is insane. There is virtually no difference between Wolfenstein and Doom on the one hand, and Halo and Gears of War on the other - except for better graphics. If you think this is a trend of the past decade, then you either…

Halo was a standout because of it brought multiplayer to console, wasn't it the first console game to have 16 players? The coop campaign was also really fun.

Maybe the article-writer thinks that Halo made FPS too mainstream? Unlike Doom/Quake, it was cleaned up enough in a pretty blockbuster-wrapper to make it the new model of gaming to follow?

Re: Donating my Xbox

#39

Post by rayiner » Sun, Apr 07, 2013, 1:44 PM UTC

unalone wrote: post #15

When I was a kid I hated the Xbox, hated Halo, and hated how it seemed to create a new model for playing games. It was released when I was in middle school, and I remember there being a sudden and abrupt shift in what kind of gaming mentality there was. Prior to the Xbox, console games were largely focused on lush, whimsical landscapes with mechanics that required some puzzling to figure out. At least, the games that…

What you're lamenting is not the change in gaming, but the passing of your youth. Games aren't less whimsical and more realistic, you are. Childish preoccupations have been replaced by adult concerns and to an extent you mourn that.

Re: Donating my Xbox

#40

Post by joosters » Sun, Apr 07, 2013, 1:45 PM UTC

lloeki wrote: post #32

baby wrote: post #13

> Strategy over button mashing! That made me think of QTE. We never needed those things, but still they gave it to us. And keeps giving it to us. It's lazy gameplay, it's a "I'm a developer, I have a cutscene and I'm too bored to integrate real gameplay into it".

As always there's balance to be had: done right it gives a sense of urgency and involvement in what would otherwise be another "lean back and watch things happen" cutscene, whereas done wrong it annoyingly interrupts the flow at best. Personal experience: God of War QTEs feel entirely disconnected and over the top, whereas (Square's) Tomb Raider QTEs help in breaking the fourth wall and draws me into the scene.

Zero Punctuation's Tomb Raider review would disagree; not just the QTEs but the increasingly common scenes where 'you have control' but if you don't immediately head in the right direction you'll die. It's not just Tomb Raider, Uncharted is also repeatedly guilty of this.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation...