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Post by Ex on Apr 27, 2019 10:03:33 GMT -5
This being a retro-gaming forum and all, I imagine most of us are at least in our thirties. So we've got some history with this medium. I was wondering if the motivations you value in gaming have changed over the years. Can you look back at all the time you've been playing, and recognize any distinctions concerning what you were seeking?
I'll explain by citing my my own...
In my first decade 0-10s: This was the era of "games are amazing period" for me. Just about any game would impress me, and I would play it just because it was in my available vicinity. I did not have any preferences, I wanted to experience every video game possible. I also learned the joy of handheld gaming, thanks to the Game Boy. But my love affair with it only lasted about two years.
In my 10-20s: Here is where I started gravitating towards distinct genres. In my early pre-teens, I was very much into action-adventure games, especially cinematic platformers. As I got into my mid-teens, I started really enjoying console JRPGs. As I got into my later teens, console JRPGs began giving way to PC FPS.
In my 20s': In my early '20s I was ALL about PC FPS. (Probably because I was an angry young man.) I spent a good half-decade nearly exclusively playing FPS. My FPS fixation started dissolving as I got into my later '20s. In my later '20s I began getting back into console games again via the 6th generation. I rediscovered a love for JRPGs that I hadn't had since my mid-teens. Likely due to their high escapism value. I also fell in love with handheld gaming again, thanks to the DS and PSP. Those handhelds brought a super high quality to handheld gaming we'd not seen before.
In my 30s': In my early 30s I was very much into console JRPGs again, playing quite a few long ones. I especially sought out JRPGs that had intricate battle sytems, as game mechanics were king for me at this time. In my mid-30s I began appreciating FromSoftware's work very deeply (pre-Souls stuff). (This is when I had my legendary love affair with the King's Field series.) As I reached my later 30s, I began valuing exploration and interactive-storytelling very highly in video games.
In my 40s': My 40s have only just begun, but I'm still on the "exploration and interactive-storytelling" kick, that's definitely my favorite aspect of this medium right now. Who knows how that may change going forward.
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So what about you?
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Post by anayo on Apr 27, 2019 14:26:52 GMT -5
Ages 2-8NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis were usually what you’d find under the living room TV. Arcades were still a common sight in bowling alleys, airports, and shopping malls. Shareware on floppy discs was still the way to try out new PC games. Kids at school would exclaim, “FATALITY!” while holding their hands out like Scorpion. We still have video game demo kiosks, but they seemed to impact me more profoundly back then. I can remember the excitement of trying out Donkey Kong Country II, Bug!, Panzer Dragoon II, Sega Rally Championship, Area 51, Super Mario 64, and Super Smash Bros. I would also act out arcade games - usually the light gun ones - in my back yard with toy guns, pretending that zombies and aliens were jumping from the bushes while I blasted them. While a demo kiosk was enough to make me fantasize about a game for weeks afterward, games were not my #1 hobby like today. That was a tie between Lego and video games. When I was 7 I got about $70 from my grandparents and couldn’t wait to spend it on this set: brickset.com/sets/5978-1/Sphinx-Secret-SurpriseAges 9-12At this age I found it very easy to mentally insert myself into the games I played. When the Great Deku tree told me it was my destiny to save Hyrule, I believed it in a way that the more worldly, adult version of me wouldn’t. I was also drawn to games that indulged the fantasy of giving kids grownup autonomy, such as Pokemon. I also really liked games where I could manipulate the world around me. “Broderbund Home Architect” for the PC was more or less my 90’s version of Minecraft. Ages 13-19Up until age 13, I still saw games as disposable entertainment. When I bought a new console it replace my old one. Then I ran into Ryan Genno’s website (http://ryangenno.tripod.com/sub_pages/main.htm). It flipped a switch in my brain and changed my perspective on games. I started hungrily reading as much as I could about gaming history, re-acquiring 16-bit games by shopping at Goodwill, and playing Intellivision and Atari compilations on my Playstation. This attitude has persisted into the present day. One thing that hasn’t lasted is the high importance I used to place on graphics. I’m still not sure if this is because of the slower progress of technology in the 2010’s or just my tastes changing as I grow older. But as a teenager I was definitely more into spectacle and visual effects. For example Shenmue on the Dreamcast absolutely floored me at age 14. I don’t think 29 year old me would share the sentiment, and not just because of the visuals. The actual gameplay is just so plodding and mundane. Teenage me also spent a lot of time fantasizing about what future graphics would look like. I think this started to fade around age 16 when I saw movies like Star Wars Episode III and Michael Bay’s Transformers and felt empty inside even though the visuals were really amazing. Ages 20 to presentThese days I see this as a preservation effort and a way to re-connect with my youth. Media seems to be heading in a direction where no one says “Those special effects are really good.”, because now all special effects are really good. So it does more for me to time travel back to when 2D sprites were enough to wow people.
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Post by Ex on Apr 30, 2019 12:55:04 GMT -5
anayo - I think it's great that a younger person like yourself would find interest in older 2D games. I think if more younger folks would spend real time with these classics, they'd come to see the value in them. It's hard to convince a modern gamer of that though, when they are used to HD spectacle-oriented graphics and less challenging difficulty. That said, there are quite a few 20-something year old indie developers who pump out impressive 2D games in the classic style. Bless them for it.
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Post by Sarge on Apr 30, 2019 13:36:13 GMT -5
I never did jump in on this thread.
Anyway, I didn't actually get massively into gaming until I was 11, when I got my NES. Even then, I had pretty limited time. I like to think I had discerning tastes. Of course, the NES RPG library was so small that it really didn't matter; most of them were at least good, some great. I never finished Ultima: Exodus (actually never even got that far), but that's about it. I actively hunted for games at pawn shops, yard sales, whatever I could do to expand the collection. I didn't have much money, so I made do a lot.
I eventually got a SNES, and maybe I left the NES for a bit, but emulation changed that, too, which was the next major shift. This was as I started college, so I was 17-18. My focus then became playing as many of those amazing RPGs and other games that I missed out on. Especially awesome was getting to the top-tier Genesis titles. That inspired me to get the real McCoy, and I even went on an eBay splurge (such as it was for Genesis games at the time; they were cheap) and got all the really good RPGs for the system. But emulation had downsides as well: there was a period where I actively passed on good deals in-store because I "had it on my computer". Derp. Thankfully, I got out of that somewhat quickly.
From there, I'd say my twenties were pretty normal. I'd try to seek out deals when I could, and I certainly still found a few, although it started drying up a bit as you could guess. I was still a generation behind, but I was hitting RPGs hard, although my penchant for leaving RPGs that started dragging still remained because now I had money to keep purchasing newer games.
My thirties have been a little different. I would say less RPGs, but I don't know if that's entirely true, because the handheld space has had some doozies. But consoles? Not quite as much. I've got a ton of JRPGs I have barely put time into. And I've learned to say no to games that I feel just aren't doing it for me. For better or worse, I have also pretty much dismissed entire genres with a few exceptions. Most SRPGs go lower-tier for me now when I realized that I liked the thought of playing most of them more than actually doing so. No RTS, and not much time into middling WRPGs either. But lots of retro action games, both of the true and the faux-indie variety.
The biggest thing for me the past five years or so is that I've played a few more games just for historical purposes. I have gaps in my gaming resume, so playing stuff like Phantasy Star, giving SMS games a shot, trying out King's Field, or even well-received FPDCs like Lands of Lore get time when I'm interested. There's still a ton out there that's worth mining, and I have to dig deeper for stuff that really wows me, but it's worth it when you unearth another treasure.
My 40s start in June, so we'll see how that goes...
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Post by 20thcenturygamer on Apr 30, 2019 16:10:18 GMT -5
The first half of the '80s was all about the arcades and my Atari. I literally can't remember a time before I discovered gaming. I couldn't get enough. It extended to my taste in music (Pac-Man Fever), television (Saturday Supercade, Starcade, Pac-Man, Pole Position), wardrobe, and even diet (I still remember what the Pac-Man and Donkey Kong breakfast cereals tasted like).
After that, I went the usual late '80s NES kid route. All the Nintendo, Konami, and Capcom classics with some Tecmo in the mix, too. I prized RPGs like Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy a lot, as well as adventure games like Metroid, Rygar, and The Goonies II. All that play time when new carts were a rare treat.
I transitioned to the Super Nintendo for the first half of the '90s. Lots of JRPGs at home and the fighting game boom in the arcades. This was also when I started to get a little PC gaming experience. Wolfenstein, Doom, and assorted Apogee shareware platformers, of course. The standout PC title from this period for me was Ultima Underworld, though. Massively underpraised, revolutionary game. Bethesda has made their entire fortune off remaking UU over and over with consistently diminishing returns.
The late '90s was the N64 and (later), the PS1, although I was never terribly satisfied with either. I had a good time with GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, Silent Hill, Tekken, etc. I don't tend to re-visit this era much.
The first decade of the 21st century was my personal gaming dark age. Nothing from the PS2/X-Box era had much appeal to me at all, with very rare exceptions like TimeSplitters and Resident Evil 4. At the same time, I rarely revisited the classics. Bleak.
The current decade has seen me giving up on trying to force myself to enjoy contemporary gaming out of some sense of misplaced duty and instead embracing what I truly love: Challenging 8 and 16-bit action platformer, action adventure, action RPG, and scrolling shooter titles. I've also been taking the opportunity to explore platforms like the Master System, Genesis, and PC Engine that completely passed me by. If there's one thing that seems to have left me almost entirely from the NES/SNES days, it's my love of turn-based RPGs. I just can't abide the absurd pacing or the detached feeling conferred by the lack of direct control feedback and a skill requirement from moment to moment. At the start of 2017, I also made reviewing every game I play a priority. Having something to show for my hobby time and something to share with others has been a great addition. I haven't had this much fun since the '80s.
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Post by Ex on May 1, 2019 14:31:40 GMT -5
And I've learned to say no to games that I feel just aren't doing it for me. This is absolutely a valuable skill, but not one that comes easily, as we all discussed before. I just want to talk you into playing Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War someday. It's so much more than just a flight sim. That's part of what keeps me interested in retro gaming as well. Every time I think I know everything about some old console's library, another oddity shows up out of the ether. And then there's games one dismissed as a kid, for whatever reason, but now as an adult actually find interesting. It seems quite a few of us around here play through games for purely scholarly reasons, occasionally. The standout PC title from this period for me was Ultima Underworld, though. Massively underpraised, revolutionary game. From what I've played and seen of UU, I am inclined to believe you. I will finish it someday. Did you ever play Arx Fatalis? That's good to hear; for me that sense of exploration has been in retro-Japanese PC gaming. It's great to be able to go back in time and enjoy stuff we missed out on as kids. I still enjoy turn-based battling about equally with action-based, as I think both approaches have unique strengths and weaknesses. What I have a hard time stomaching these days, are super grindy JRPGs. You know the kind that require you to grind for an hour to overcome random difficulty spikes and/or you get into a battle every three steps. I'm not sure I would have the patience for Phantasy Star II these days. I'm glad to read you are enjoying retro-gaming so ardently. I too appreciate gaming much more by being able to talk about it, and yes write my opinions down for public consumption. (In my sig you can reach my HLTB reviews and GameFAQs reviews.) Sometime when I have a chunk of free downtime, I'll take a look at your reviews. I am very glad that you are visiting this forum, and contributing to the discussion of retro video games. As this forum's creator I appreciate everyone who's willing to do so. It's no easy thing to create a successful retro gaming forum in this day and age. But we are a special breed, we should all stick together. |
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Post by 20thcenturygamer on May 1, 2019 17:10:42 GMT -5
I did, but it stuck me as kind of a low-rent store brand version of UU. The charm just wasn't there and the dungeon areas felt less distinctive and interesting to me. |
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Post by anayo on May 1, 2019 18:38:28 GMT -5
anayo - I think it's great that a younger person like yourself would find interest in older 2D games. I think if more younger folks would spend real time with these classics, they'd come to see the value in them. It's hard to convince a modern gamer of that though, when they are used to HD spectacle-oriented graphics and less challenging difficulty. That said, there are quite a few 20-something year old indie developers who pump out impressive 2D games in the classic style. Bless them for it. Well, they were a part of my childhood. It's not like I grew up on PS2 or PS3 and spontaneously decided to like Sega Genesis later. Although I guess I do know a lot of people my age and older who will only play modern things despite growing up with 8 and 16 bit. I think as a teenager I imagined adult me would drift away from video game history and collecting, but that never happened. I'll probably still be interested in this when I'm an old man. |
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Post by Ex on May 2, 2019 0:03:52 GMT -5
The charm just wasn't there and the dungeon areas felt less distinctive and interesting to me. Interesting. So what's your opinion on Ultima Underworld II then? Although I guess I do know a lot of people my age and older who will only play modern things despite growing up with 8 and 16 bit. I can attest to this as well, even though I'm a generation older than you. Folks my age grew up with 8-bit, and then 16-bit, and so on. Most of the people I know in my age range (40), do not play video games anymore at all. The few that do, exclusively play modern online multiplayer FPS stuff. When I do meet people around my age, that still play retro games, that's always online, scattered globally and not in obvious great number. I'm starting to get the sense that the great retro gaming revival is over, and retro gaming in general is in steep decline. Hopefully I'm all wrong about that. |
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Post by dunpeal2064 on May 2, 2019 4:13:49 GMT -5
My memory kinda sucks, so I don't know exact ages at which my tastes in gaming were changing, but I remember the changes themselves. Game Boy/SNES - These were my first two systems, the Game Boy being my very first, given to me by my babysitter with a handful of games. This was my "All video games are amazing" phase, I would literally rent and borrow and play anything I could get my hands on. I was so enthralled that when my parents finally broke down and got me a snes, I was so excited that I wept like a baby! A lot of my gaming tastes were formed here, as even though I was willing to play just about anything, I knew when I had found something particularly special, and would replay those certain games when nothing new was available. Mega Man X, Link to the Past, the Marios, Donkey Kong Country, tons of good stuff. There was one particular game I got upon release here that would end up defining the next era of gaming for me, and that was Super Mario RPG. My parents then traded in all my snes stuff to get me an n64, which I was decently happy with, until I went over to a friends house, who happened to be playing Final Fantasy 7. I still vividly remember shit-talking him, because I had rented Final Fantasy Legends on GB at one point and really didn't like it. I told him Final Fantasy games were dumb, and he insisted that I start a new file and just try the game out. Then I realized... this is just like Mario RPG! Except bigger and crazier! I was instantly hooked, and bummed that I had this lame n64 now. Luckily, my bio-dad's house had a ps1, and I would visit there two weekends a month, so I saved my lunch money for two weeks, barely eating anything, and made my first video game purchase, for a console I didn't even own. JRPGs - I got a ps1 later that year, and I played FF7 to death. Then FF8. That was the newest one I could find at the time, but I saw these Anthology and Chronicles releases, so I bought those and played 4/5/6/CT, and then I found FF9 and played that. Then a friend lent me Legend of Dragoon, so I played that, then Xenogears, Jade Cocoon, Suikoden, Vagrant Story, Chrono Cross... I was so hooked on JRPGs that I was barely aware of other games coming out at this time. This also lined up with me getting more into Anime, and both anime and JRPGs at the time had this mystical appeal to them, like I was playing and watching and learning about things not easily obtainable or known by most people. It blew me away how many games there were in this genre, and how great they all were. This continued into the PS2 era, where I remember my one other JRPG friend and I were both eagerly awaiting FFX. He got it about a week before I did, but we both went ham on that game and talked about it non-stop. I started working at Gamestop around this time too, so now I had full access, as well as my own "On Hold" shelf in the back of the store where we'd keep rarities like Suikoden II, Nocturne (before its 2nd printing), Valkyrie Profile, and the like. I rented and bought and played more RPGs for the next few years, until I turned 18. Early 20s - I stopped gaming for a few years to go make a bunch of poor life decisions, barely survived, and came back to my senses around 20 years old. Got a job, and got back into gaming again. The first few years were just playing Wow and FFXI, since everyone I knew was playing them and they were pretty fun. I would still take breaks to go back to my trusty ps2, and ended up playing some of the RPGs I'd missed, like Persona 4, Shadow Hearts, and Kingdom Hearts 2. Mostly just Wow though. I started to visit flea markets and retro game stores to find more JRPGs, just blindly buying anything that looked like it could be fun, and ended up buying Castle Shikigami II, since it looked like the sort of weeb shit I was into. Of course, its not a JRPG, its a shmup! I was a little bummed, but I decided to play it a bit, and, well... Mid 20s+ - Shikigami II led me down a rabbit hole similar to what FF7 had opened for me. I thought the game was fun, but hard, really hard, so I went to the internet to find some guidance, and quickly came across a video that was making its rounds at the time, "The Hardest Video Game Boss Ever" video. It blew my mind, it was such a visual shock, and such a display of skill, giving me vibes of watching people play DDR really well in arcades. That game was Mushihimesama, and through it I would find the shmups forum in 2008, and... basically repeat my JRPG binge with shmups. I was so excited to find another world of gaming that I never knew much about, let alone that I would enjoy so much, and it stretched back to the beginning of gaming, and was still active! Shmups basically got me into retro gaming, at least beyond revisiting what I already knew I liked. This would be where I would first look into the libraries of every console to try and find more shmups. I bought everything from a 2600 to a Turbo Dup to a Saturn to japanese models of the ps2 and 360 just to play more shmups. Late 20s to now - After a good 4+ years of just mainlining shmups into my system, I realized that a lot of classic gaming has a similar appeal. Beat em Ups, Run n Guns, Action, Platformer, and I'd barely touched the surface on these. I went back to the NES and played Castlevania, Mega Man, Contra, Ninja Gaiden, all the staples, and realized that I love this shit. It almost felt like a full circle, as around this time my burn out of RPGs was less prominent, and I just had/have this feeling that.... video games are awesome! I am still pretty binge-prone, as my PC-98 rampage might have shown, I like finding something I don't know about and learning and absorbing it, but as a whole I tend to be open to play just about anything now. I can get home from work and throw on something familiar like Mega Man X, some obscure TG16 shooter, or something brand new like Sekiro, and find myself in a childlike awe of just how badass video games are regardless. I think I've also become more comfortable with myself and what I enjoy, I tend to not play games "Because I should" anymore, or because its what everyone is playing, but rather I just play what I want. Maybe I started an RPG yesterday and I don't feel like playing it today, so I just... won't. Its silly and seems obvious, but its only a recent revelation to me, and its increased my enjoyment of games drastically (Though it may have decreased the amount of games I actually beat). Thats a lotta words, not sure if its an interesting read to anyone, but I actually had a great time recalling all of this to write it down. I always had a loose idea of how gaming has changed for me, but putting it to paper really brings some things to light. Its also really bizarre to me how random the events were that defined gaming for me. Getting into JRPGs was basically due to my parents randomly buying me Mario RPG, and getting into shmups (and thus retro gaming as a whole) was entirely due to an accidental purchase. Whoever drew the US ps2 cover of Castle Shikigami II to look nothing like a shooter but rather some weeb ass RPG, unknowingly changed my life!  |
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