2014 - The Most Disappointing Year for Games
- Thread starter Bob_McMillan
- Start date
well personally i think it was a pretty good year for PC, lots of Kickstarters releases that thankfully didnt turn out to be crap, plus many japanese releases including Valkyria Chronicles, im satisfied
I gotta say, I'm not disappointed in this year at all:
- Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
- Shadow of Mordor
- Wolfenstein: The New Order
- Dragon Age: Inquisition
- Styx: Master of Shadows
- Far Cry 4
- Tales from Borderlands
- Walking Dead Season 2 (love, love, loooove this)
All these, plus a few indie titles, are games I enjoyed quite thoroughly, with the exception of Styx. Styx was fun, but really struck me as a budget Thief 2 and I got bored of it eventually.
- Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
- Shadow of Mordor
- Wolfenstein: The New Order
- Dragon Age: Inquisition
- Styx: Master of Shadows
- Far Cry 4
- Tales from Borderlands
- Walking Dead Season 2 (love, love, loooove this)
All these, plus a few indie titles, are games I enjoyed quite thoroughly, with the exception of Styx. Styx was fun, but really struck me as a budget Thief 2 and I got bored of it eventually.
Things were only really disappointing in the AAA space this year. Nintendo has this year released some incredible games and we've had plenty of great indies such as Half Minute Hero 2, Shovel Knight, and Transistor.
I didn't think it was fantastic, but not completely horrible. Stick of Truth turned the quality up by about 100 notches and the new Borderlands was a slam dunk (hehe... great mission!) - best game in the series, IMO.
Far Cry 4 isn't doing much for me though, much as I absolutely loved the third one. Something's off about its sniper mechanics and I can't do ANYTHING stealth. Enemies are spaced apart and/or clustered in ways that makes finishing an outpost without detection practically impossible. Too many other problems are dragging the game down for me, to the point where I'm not sure I'm even enjoying it. But it did contain something I've never seen in any other video game: a cutscene that shook me to a few tears. Seriously, I've never experienced that in a video game.
So yeah. Strange year for sure.
Far Cry 4 isn't doing much for me though, much as I absolutely loved the third one. Something's off about its sniper mechanics and I can't do ANYTHING stealth. Enemies are spaced apart and/or clustered in ways that makes finishing an outpost without detection practically impossible. Too many other problems are dragging the game down for me, to the point where I'm not sure I'm even enjoying it. But it did contain something I've never seen in any other video game: a cutscene that shook me to a few tears. Seriously, I've never experienced that in a video game.
So yeah. Strange year for sure.
I'm not going to go along and rattle off all the fantastic titles that came out in this last quarter, but man. I think it wound up to be a pretty awesome year. There are even TWO good movie franchise titles (Mordor/Aliens). How often does that happen? It's like the stars aligned or something.
Sure I'll admit the start was a bit slow and desolate, but that's largely to the new console generation finding its footing and fighting over exclusives, which weren't even that super. Which I appreciated too, I was exceptionally busy for the most part and was grateful for a chance to catch up on my slower pace. Since I don't buy many games at launch (only just picked up Evil Within on the recent Steam sale) I even had some time to replay some old favourites, like Doom 3, and really take my time with my racing-sim setup on games like Asetto Corsa and Grid: Autosport.
Sure I'll admit the start was a bit slow and desolate, but that's largely to the new console generation finding its footing and fighting over exclusives, which weren't even that super. Which I appreciated too, I was exceptionally busy for the most part and was grateful for a chance to catch up on my slower pace. Since I don't buy many games at launch (only just picked up Evil Within on the recent Steam sale) I even had some time to replay some old favourites, like Doom 3, and really take my time with my racing-sim setup on games like Asetto Corsa and Grid: Autosport.
The question is was it as bad as 2010/2012?
2015 better deliver though
homeworld alpha
eternal crusade beta
mount and blade bannerlord beta
killing floor 2
hotline miami 2
reflex beta and maybe reborn beta
can barely contain my hype
@boddombeachchild
i'd say 2008 was okay, 2009 at least had a few decent games, and 2011 had a few great ones.
2015 better deliver though
homeworld alpha
eternal crusade beta
mount and blade bannerlord beta
killing floor 2
hotline miami 2
reflex beta and maybe reborn beta
can barely contain my hype
@boddombeachchild
i'd say 2008 was okay, 2009 at least had a few decent games, and 2011 had a few great ones.
For me it hasn't been the greatest. Mind you there have been a lot of good games (Transistor, Stick of Truth, etc. I don't have a WiiU, but I don't think anyone would object if I say Bayonetta 2 looks awesome), but I find myself getting less excited this year. Most of my game purchases this year were actually of awesome games I missed in 2013, like Rogue Legacy and AC4: Black Flag. Then there's...you know...other stuff.
1. Too many remakes and remasters (though good remakes like Pokemon ORAS and Oddworld New n' Tasty came out of that)
2. Games and consoles in Canada becoming more expensive in 2014 ($45 for most 3DS games, $65 for most next-gen games, and then there's $70 for AC: Unity and Far Cry 4 on current-gen and PC...because Ubisoft)
3. Gamergate distractions (less the controversy itself and more how it's negativity is EVERYWHERE and makes me not feel like playing games)
4. Broken, poorly optimized "next-gen" games
5. Steam's flooding of shitty indie games
6. "Free-to-play" fiascos
7. Copyright trolling
8. Ubisoft somehow doing more evil/shifty/stupid things this year than EA despite EA's strong start with Dungeon Keeper Mobile.
(and of course I've had a cough going for 4 months, making a lot of games difficult to play. )
But ya, most of that is from industry problems than actual GAMES (especially since it's a generation shift). Hopefully we can learn from all this, move on, and have gaming grow into better things.
But who am I kidding? Any year is a disappointment until The Last Guardian comes out
1. Too many remakes and remasters (though good remakes like Pokemon ORAS and Oddworld New n' Tasty came out of that)
2. Games and consoles in Canada becoming more expensive in 2014 ($45 for most 3DS games, $65 for most next-gen games, and then there's $70 for AC: Unity and Far Cry 4 on current-gen and PC...because Ubisoft)
3. Gamergate distractions (less the controversy itself and more how it's negativity is EVERYWHERE and makes me not feel like playing games)
4. Broken, poorly optimized "next-gen" games
5. Steam's flooding of shitty indie games
6. "Free-to-play" fiascos
7. Copyright trolling
8. Ubisoft somehow doing more evil/shifty/stupid things this year than EA despite EA's strong start with Dungeon Keeper Mobile.
(and of course I've had a cough going for 4 months, making a lot of games difficult to play. )
But ya, most of that is from industry problems than actual GAMES (especially since it's a generation shift). Hopefully we can learn from all this, move on, and have gaming grow into better things.
But who am I kidding? Any year is a disappointment until The Last Guardian comes out
For me, it's been an excellent year when it comes to games. For one, my Wii U finally has more games that actually makes the thing worth a damn.
We've got Smash, Hyrule Warriors, Mario Kart 8...still not any games that makes me think the Game Pad is worth supporting, but maybe 2015 will convince me otherwise.
On the 3DS front, we got Shantae and the Pirate's Curse finally; Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire are fun for me to play; Smash, Smash, Smash, Smash; Kirby Triple Deluxe released this year and made me remember why I love Kirby so much; Shovel Knight was released which makes me happy that the game I kickstarted turned out fantastic. So much so that I bought it on all systems it's available for. :3
For my PS3 I've had One Piece Unlimited World Red, which is lots of fun; Final Fantasy X HD Collection finally released and I enjoy it despite having X International already.
For my PC I got Five Nights at Freddy's and Five Nights at Freddy's 2, which I really enjoy as well.
So for me, this was an excellent year. Way better than 2012, in which in that entire year I only bought 1 game that came out that year.
We've got Smash, Hyrule Warriors, Mario Kart 8...still not any games that makes me think the Game Pad is worth supporting, but maybe 2015 will convince me otherwise.
On the 3DS front, we got Shantae and the Pirate's Curse finally; Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire are fun for me to play; Smash, Smash, Smash, Smash; Kirby Triple Deluxe released this year and made me remember why I love Kirby so much; Shovel Knight was released which makes me happy that the game I kickstarted turned out fantastic. So much so that I bought it on all systems it's available for. :3
For my PS3 I've had One Piece Unlimited World Red, which is lots of fun; Final Fantasy X HD Collection finally released and I enjoy it despite having X International already.
For my PC I got Five Nights at Freddy's and Five Nights at Freddy's 2, which I really enjoy as well.
So for me, this was an excellent year. Way better than 2012, in which in that entire year I only bought 1 game that came out that year.
Insult? I did no such thing, he has my condolences. I could never imagine being a single platform AAA player, sounds like a very devious punishment/personal hell to me. I'm not petty, I want him to enjoy the year just as much as me.chocolate pickles said:
Besides the majority of people in the thread are telling him to speak for himself and you target just me? Why would you do that? Tell them its not his intention while at all this will you.
Seeing as 1: most people only seem to care about big releases, and 2: you aren't restricted to playing games from a particular year; I'd say it doesn't matter one damn little bit.
it's just a typical bland year. At the very least, the new-gen side of things has been horrendously underwhelming with failure to really sell the consoles as gaming machine.
I quite enjoyed watch dogs and Civilization Beyond Earth was released which has been alot of fun. Then there's This War of Mine XWing and Tie Fighter games on gog. I've found this year tk be a good one over all. Then again few of my games have been AAA. Indies and AA are stepping upto the plate and providing some good games with a few AAA holding their own.
The majority of people didn't tell him he had limited tastes - they simpler disagreed.Rozalia1 said:
If you didn't mean it as an insult, then fair enough. It just sounded rude, which is why I replied to you. I have no problem with your opinion, it just came off a bit hostile.
lackluster, maybe, but you are bound to be disappointed when you get your hopes up for a year of gaming that happens right after the release of new consoles. virtually all of the launch window games are a bit rushed, and most of the games for the rest of the year dont live up to their full potential because they also release on previous gen. aside from that, there was certain to be a bunch of re-releases. so, all-in-all, of course it was going to be a dull year.
it always takes at least a year after new consoles are released before things go back to normal. 2015 will be much better, as there will be far fewer re-releases and rushed games, and more games designed solely for this new generation.
it always takes at least a year after new consoles are released before things go back to normal. 2015 will be much better, as there will be far fewer re-releases and rushed games, and more games designed solely for this new generation.
^Are you listing good games or just games that came out? I honestly can't tell...
Anyways, the year had some good games, though there were a LOT of sequels this year
Anyways, the year had some good games, though there were a LOT of sequels 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.Bob_McMillan said:
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.