Bob_McMillan said:
So yeah, pretty much all the games that I know about came out already, so I guess that means this gaming year is over. And man, it was disappointing. I'm pretty sure that I dont need to tell you guys what games fell flat. You know that somethings wrong when you enjoy CoD more than any game out there this year. So my question is, why? What happened?
On a side note, what about 2015 eh? Just Cause 3, Arkham Knight, Battlefront, and so many others! Hopefully it wont turn out too much like this year.
So yeah I'm not disappointed at all... I don't quite agree with the premise so much. I've had quite a few decent enjoyable games this year. Alien Isolation and Super Smash were both simultaneously groundbreaking while being a brilliant return to form. Terra battle for iOS was a great mobile game, so even mobile games have had some gems this year. Destiny was OK, and so was Watchdogs. Bravely default also came out in western countries this year which was as well a master class in how Japanese JRPG's are supposed to be. The two new consoles are still very young. On the Japan side, Yakuza Ishin was my favorite of the series so far. I have heard nothing but amazing things about Bayonetta 2.
I think what you're feeling is the same thing the movie industry is going through which is that there is a growing call for products that are not only excelling in one particular area, but are also achieving a certain level of polish. What I mean by that is, it is no longer ok to have a game that is just good graphics, they have to maintain a stable and high FPS. The story must be not only well written but presented in a way that is engaging. It's not good enough that the game presents a challenge, but that challenge, can not be just impossible, or so frustrating as to upset your users. And all of these things have to be done correctly in this way.
To borrow an example from the movie industry, if this years Godzilla movie had come out in 1999, instead of today, holy crap, this movie would probably have been considered a modern classic. But the expectations of a given audience is rising, and your post is just another example of that. the problem is, Godzilla came out at a time when eye-candy CGI city destruction sequences are not practically mundane, they are just mundane. Imagine if this had been 1999 and we hadn't already seen this kind of thing a few hundred times. That kind of payoff would have made people shit their pants. No one would have cared if the main character was a bit of a wet carrot, and that we had to wait to get there, by itself this might have held its own. Imagine if Destiny came out at a time when people weren't so jaded by fetch quests and MMO style mission game play.
We seen almost good enough so many times that almost good enough is pretty shit at this point.
Edit-
I just wanted to add a tl;dr cause yeah.
Alien Isolation - Best horror game I've played since Resident evil 2
Super Smash 4 - One of the best fighting games brought back for a whole new generation
Bravely default - A masterclass in JRPGs
Mario Kart 8 - Mario Kart
Terra battle - This is how touch phone mobile games can be good.
Our expectations are getting the better of us.
