I'm sure I'm not alone, but I feel like there is just no heart in the majority of games made anymore. I realize this is an unknowable, intangible and subsequently indescribable thing, but I'll do my best to attempt to explain.
It is no secret, of course, that games are made to turn a profit. The games industry has been this way for a long, long time; even since the Atari days. The difference though, is that it feels like games now are made only for profit. If you'll forgive an old man his nostalgic ways, It seems like a lot of older games had a feeling they were created with dedication, belief in the product, and maybe even affection. They had a soul to them. They were made to make money, yes - but they were also made to make something. To tell a story. To entertain. To make someone think, or feel, or laugh.
Look at Harvest Moon on the SNES or N64. Look at X-Com, betrayal at Krondor, Deus Ex, the old Lucas Arts point and clicks. In these you can practically feel the deft hands of each developer and artist behind it. Compare it to, say, the latest CoD game. There is no soul to it. It was made to be a big blockbuster, with a shiny veneer over a tried and tested core. It was designed by committee to appeal to what is popular, to sell as much as physically possible. It's dead. It's a dead, hollow shell that's devoid of the passion that used to go into games.
For a more concrete example, let's look at a fairly well known quote from the Final Fantasy IV release party
Toshiro Tsuchida (battle planning director);
Takashi Ohkuma (background technical director);
Masashi Hamauzu (composer), who went freelance;
Nao Ikeda (sub-character designer), who went freelance
These guy's weren't small potatoes.
Finally, in what will probably be a polarizing statement I feel some developers can still capture that magic passion that goes into a game. Nintendo, for example, seems to do it with their first party titles. Now don't get me wrong, Skyward Sword had a lot of very questionable design choices. It's long and far away from my favorite Zelda game, but it still has that je ne sais quoi "feeling" to it. You can also find it in the indie scene: Braid being a popular choice along with many others.
I then, finally, defer to you escapist.
Do you disagree? Do you feel the same? What games would you say are good examples for each category? Do you think this is just a side-effect of larger development teams and increasing budgets?
It is no secret, of course, that games are made to turn a profit. The games industry has been this way for a long, long time; even since the Atari days. The difference though, is that it feels like games now are made only for profit. If you'll forgive an old man his nostalgic ways, It seems like a lot of older games had a feeling they were created with dedication, belief in the product, and maybe even affection. They had a soul to them. They were made to make money, yes - but they were also made to make something. To tell a story. To entertain. To make someone think, or feel, or laugh.
Look at Harvest Moon on the SNES or N64. Look at X-Com, betrayal at Krondor, Deus Ex, the old Lucas Arts point and clicks. In these you can practically feel the deft hands of each developer and artist behind it. Compare it to, say, the latest CoD game. There is no soul to it. It was made to be a big blockbuster, with a shiny veneer over a tried and tested core. It was designed by committee to appeal to what is popular, to sell as much as physically possible. It's dead. It's a dead, hollow shell that's devoid of the passion that used to go into games.
For a more concrete example, let's look at a fairly well known quote from the Final Fantasy IV release party
Compare this to Final Fantasy XIII which had a notoriously problematic development. Developers kept leaving the team, most notably:
Toshiro Tsuchida (battle planning director);
Takashi Ohkuma (background technical director);
Masashi Hamauzu (composer), who went freelance;
Nao Ikeda (sub-character designer), who went freelance
These guy's weren't small potatoes.
Finally, in what will probably be a polarizing statement I feel some developers can still capture that magic passion that goes into a game. Nintendo, for example, seems to do it with their first party titles. Now don't get me wrong, Skyward Sword had a lot of very questionable design choices. It's long and far away from my favorite Zelda game, but it still has that je ne sais quoi "feeling" to it. You can also find it in the indie scene: Braid being a popular choice along with many others.
I then, finally, defer to you escapist.
Do you disagree? Do you feel the same? What games would you say are good examples for each category? Do you think this is just a side-effect of larger development teams and increasing budgets?
