|
Post by anayo on Oct 10, 2018 15:28:02 GMT -5
I think this is why he lost interest in Mario Sunshine:
1) Mario Sunshine has no "slot machine" mechanics. Think like TCG booster packs where you randomly get loot of varying rarity and usefulness.
2) Mario Sunshine has no construction mechanics (like modifying your environment, Lego-style).
3) Mario Sunshine has no capability to talk or interact with other players over the Internet.
4) Mario Sunshine has no options to customize Mario's appearance (even the latest Mario title has unlockable costumes, which my young friend really liked).
I don't really know how to compare this to my own childhood gaming likes and dislikes. I'm inclined to say that I preferred side scrollers and would turn my nose single screen arcade games, but I even liked those (namely Pac-man on Gameboy). I think I just liked playing anything that moved. It's an interesting case study in how games have changed over the past decade, if anything.
|
|
|
Post by Sarge on Oct 10, 2018 15:52:56 GMT -5
That list is the exact opposite of what I typically look for in a game.
|
|
|
Post by Ex on Oct 10, 2018 16:04:24 GMT -5
Anything gacha can die in a fire. Construction mechanics are cool if they serve a greater purpose. As in fulfilling goals that finish a game (think Dragon Quest Builders). I find construction just for the sake of construction, and naught else, to feel pointless. I'd rather just play with LEGOs at that point. I don't care for online multiplayer in general. I'd be okay beating a goal oriented game with one or two people online (co-op), but massively multiplayer interactions tend to be shallow and tedious in my experience. (Yes my old ass has played a few MMO games before.) I do enjoy customizing my avatar's experience. Not so much I'm willing to pay actual cash money to do it though.
You know what kids really love from Fortnite? Dancing. Those kids sure love to dance.
|
|
|
Post by Sarge on Oct 10, 2018 16:53:28 GMT -5
I can't talk about it, but Fire Emblem Heroes doesn't have terrible gacha mechanics, but they're definitely there.
I was going to bring up the LEGO point, and I think that's absolutely true for me. I don't judge Minecraft very harshly, though, because that is basically infinite computerized LEGOs. Still no interest on my part, but I get the appeal.
|
|
|
Post by anayo on Oct 10, 2018 17:23:01 GMT -5
Anything gacha can die in a fire.
I didn't mean in the monetized sense. I was getting at like how two games of Magic the Gathering can proceed very, very differently just based on how the players' decks are shuffled. It doesn't cost you anything financially to draw your first 7 cards for turn one, but that inherent randomness can make or break you. I think it taps into peoples' brains the same way some people can't peel themselves away from a roulette wheel without being pure RNG, which I find boring and pointless. Rather it's a blend of RNG and skill.
|
|
|
Post by toei on Oct 11, 2018 2:30:35 GMT -5
My nephew only plays Fortnite and Minecraft. I don't bring up my own hobbies to people in real life, but he did ask to play some of my games after he saw me playing something. I let him go into my game collection room and pick something out to play. He chose a Namco Museum volume for PS1 and spent a decent amount of time playing it and seemed to enjoy it, but I admit I was slightly baffled by that pick out of 700 games haha. Maybe cause those games are simple and easy to get into, similar to something they might play on a smartphone? Once you get into the 8-bit and 16-bit eras, even genres that are generally simple have some basics that require learning, which is more intimidating. As for me, I have two friends that might play older games sometimes, but they're my age. They still lean like 90-95% modern. There was girl in her early/mid 20s at my job who actually had some experience with Genesis emulation and had some fondness for these games, though. I showed her a game from that era that she didn't know (don't remember which) and she said it looked fun, and I also remember that she thought Bushido Blade sounded cool from my description, though unsurprisingly she didn't like the graphics. She grew up in the PS2 era, so it does show some people can go back and play games from before their time. There's just an initial effort for most people that they may not be willing to make. Sometimes things that look ugly and dated at first just take a while to click, and then you begin to see them completely differently. Going back to the black & white movies example, I didn't want to watch them, either, until I saw some really good ones. Now it doesn't bother me.
|
|
|
Post by Ex on Oct 11, 2018 14:14:49 GMT -5
Going back to the black & white movies example, I didn't want to watch them, either, until I saw some really good ones. Now it doesn't bother me. I think this concept would apply to PS1 games for folks that grew up in the PS2 era. It may take a while to adjust to the low res, clunky polygons, but if the underlying gameplay is still good, it'll click eventually. Just have to maintain perseverance to get there. Unfortunately a lot of younger people (an entire generation it seems like) are addicted to immediate gratification. So if a game looks "ugly" at first, and isn't super simple to control right off the bat, they aren't likely to stick with it long enough for the gameplay to click.
|
|
|
Post by Sarge on Oct 11, 2018 15:17:45 GMT -5
It really is the underlying gameplay that is key. PS2, of course, manages to polish what came before it, just by virtue of building on top of the PSX and its wild experimentation. Some PSX games really are rather slow and clunky. But then, you'll come across a game that manages to not feel ponderous at all, and my respect for that developer rises significantly, considering what else is on the platform.
I also am thankful that some of the control schemes started to be codified; as good as something like Perfect Dark was, having Halo establish a good FPS control scheme was a godsend.
|
|
|
Post by Xeogred on Oct 11, 2018 18:33:16 GMT -5
Interestingly enough, I think even to some of the masses thesedays (with the release of the SNES Classic), the 16bit era has perhaps aged better than the 32/64bit era's and maybe even the PS2 era to some extent. Nobody really bats an eye at the beauty of most 16bit games and pixel art. The style of a flat 2D platformer might be the harder part for people to overcome I guess.
JRPG wise, I still like the 16/32bit era more than the PS2.
|
|
|
Post by Ex on Oct 11, 2018 20:16:23 GMT -5
JRPG wise, I still like the 16/32bit era more than the PS2. I'll definitely say I can appreciate 16/32-bit JRPGs taking more in the range of 25-40 hours to beat on average. Versus PS2/PS3/PS4 JRPGs averaging 45-100 hours to beat. I'm really not sure who the target demographic is especially for these 70-100+ hour long JRPGs. High school kids who can only afford one game every three months? I don't know.
|
|