there is so much gamer-classic HATRED of the "outsiders" in this thread. It makes so happy! for economic reasons
Kids Can't Handle Old-School RPGs Anymore
- Thread starter Tom Goldman
- Start date
Christ and Hunter, I sure feel old.....
Games back there were very different from the games of today, that's for sure. I grew up during the "Golden Age" of video gaming (the 90s), before everything was mainstream'd to hell and back, creativity was a GOOD thing, there was such a thing as a truly independent but big game production company (like Origin), and while consoles were there, they certainty were nothing compared to computer gaming.
As mentioned by others, one of the things that this generation of "gamers" gets is everything handed to them....and I can use two games of the same world to illustrate this: Morrowind and Oblivion. In Morrowind, you were told "go east, past the hills, look for the large tree"...and that was it. You didn't have a quest marker, you got the quest was told "go find it". In Oblivion....it was so damn easy. Who to find, where the treasure was, etc etc. The thing is, all games were like Morrowind in "that way", you were given vague instructions and sent on your way....and that was part of the FUN. It forced you to explore, you managed to find things that you weren't intending on finding, but that was the point.
Now, has U4 aged well? Of course not...the game was grid based (up and down, left and right only, no diagonal movement), the graphics look like the graphics from that time, and a lot of doing stuff on that game required KEYBOARD inputs, not from the mouse. But, at the time, that game was pretty damn innovative...and if you bothered playing it, you'd see why.
I miss the olden days of Masters of Orion 2, Sam and Max, and Stonekeep. But games and gaming have changed way too much, and trying to get people to play and understand a game from the 80s is difficult, if not impossible.
Games back there were very different from the games of today, that's for sure. I grew up during the "Golden Age" of video gaming (the 90s), before everything was mainstream'd to hell and back, creativity was a GOOD thing, there was such a thing as a truly independent but big game production company (like Origin), and while consoles were there, they certainty were nothing compared to computer gaming.
As mentioned by others, one of the things that this generation of "gamers" gets is everything handed to them....and I can use two games of the same world to illustrate this: Morrowind and Oblivion. In Morrowind, you were told "go east, past the hills, look for the large tree"...and that was it. You didn't have a quest marker, you got the quest was told "go find it". In Oblivion....it was so damn easy. Who to find, where the treasure was, etc etc. The thing is, all games were like Morrowind in "that way", you were given vague instructions and sent on your way....and that was part of the FUN. It forced you to explore, you managed to find things that you weren't intending on finding, but that was the point.
Now, has U4 aged well? Of course not...the game was grid based (up and down, left and right only, no diagonal movement), the graphics look like the graphics from that time, and a lot of doing stuff on that game required KEYBOARD inputs, not from the mouse. But, at the time, that game was pretty damn innovative...and if you bothered playing it, you'd see why.
I miss the olden days of Masters of Orion 2, Sam and Max, and Stonekeep. But games and gaming have changed way too much, and trying to get people to play and understand a game from the 80s is difficult, if not impossible.
wow
i was born in 1993 and i love those types of games and the original fallouts were fing awesome and actually had good dialoge and was a real rpg
i was born in 1993 and i love those types of games and the original fallouts were fing awesome and actually had good dialoge and was a real rpg
I think it's an attitude thing, not an age thing. I ave co-workers 20 years older than me that keep asking for help with spreadsheets for things that are easially looked up in the help manual or through google. Heck, 5 minutes of playing around could have done some of the things they asked me.
Admmitedly, Ultima IV while a good choice for historical video games was probably not a good game to bridge the old and new. I sympathize as I rented III and IV on my NES back in the day and since they didn't have manuals, left me with no idea what to do. I had the same issue with a used copy of Might and Magic 3 I got on the SNES (it took years of playing and digging on the net to figure out what to do, but I did beat it in the end.) It's like how the older games were often harder, the lack of direction what what lengthened the game. Heck, even Dragon Warrior started you with no clear direction, and there are parts of the first Final Fantasy I wonder if I'd have thought of without a guide.
Admmitedly, Ultima IV while a good choice for historical video games was probably not a good game to bridge the old and new. I sympathize as I rented III and IV on my NES back in the day and since they didn't have manuals, left me with no idea what to do. I had the same issue with a used copy of Might and Magic 3 I got on the SNES (it took years of playing and digging on the net to figure out what to do, but I did beat it in the end.) It's like how the older games were often harder, the lack of direction what what lengthened the game. Heck, even Dragon Warrior started you with no clear direction, and there are parts of the first Final Fantasy I wonder if I'd have thought of without a guide.
Ah yes. I miss the days when I had to take notes (and draw maps) in order to progress. While I did that only in the PS1 generation (and mostly on JRPG's), I really liked how it made me think on how to figure out my progress, seeing as the whole dungeon I'm currently in utilizes teleporters.
Maybe they can be forgiven for not reading the manuals nowadays. Last manual I read for an x360 game made a point of pointing out that the green button is the "A" button. With this sort of dumb-down approach to manual writing its no wonder no one, or hardly no one, bothers to read them.
Back when I was a kid (and when Ultima IV came out) in order to be a gamer of the non ATARI 2600 type, you actually had to have some modicum of intellectual capability. That was just the way things were since P.C.'s were relatively uncommon and still difficult to work.
Now a days, games, computers, operating systems, etc are all very accessible, so the variety of people who play games on the P.C. has evolved from a very narrow band of relatively smart nerd type people, to the guy that could best be described as "average".
I think the professor here is discounting (or not accounting for at all) the gap in the TYPES of gamers. Certainly a game like Ultima IV is not accessible to people for what passes as average intellectual capabilities these days.
Now I realize that this could come off as very denigrating towards the "average gamers" these days, but it's just the way things were - back in the infancy of gaming many games were just made for and by nerdy type people. It's kind of ironic that Garriot was one of the more artistic people in the industry at the time and his game was received like this, but I would chalk it down to the people who were doing the implementation (as the professor stated, it was expected that the user would read the manual).
Now a days, games, computers, operating systems, etc are all very accessible, so the variety of people who play games on the P.C. has evolved from a very narrow band of relatively smart nerd type people, to the guy that could best be described as "average".
I think the professor here is discounting (or not accounting for at all) the gap in the TYPES of gamers. Certainly a game like Ultima IV is not accessible to people for what passes as average intellectual capabilities these days.
Now I realize that this could come off as very denigrating towards the "average gamers" these days, but it's just the way things were - back in the infancy of gaming many games were just made for and by nerdy type people. It's kind of ironic that Garriot was one of the more artistic people in the industry at the time and his game was received like this, but I would chalk it down to the people who were doing the implementation (as the professor stated, it was expected that the user would read the manual).
Yeah, sometimes manuals are actually an insult to a normal person's intelligence by pointing out the blatantly obvious. It makes me think of how [apparently] inane the wii manual was with its silly illustrations.008Zulu said:
I wish more games would have better manuals, especially with backstory/fluff, facts, and in-depth descriptions. Age of Kings had a really cool manual, for example, that had italicized, historical applications for all of the buildings, units, and technologies. Even just a well-made map would be appreciated. The GOTY Morrowind map that came with my xbox version was so fun to use with the game's massive world, while the Oblivion one was bloody awful. Now that I think of it, there was an error in the Oblivion manual about one of the skills/attributes...
insult me if you must, but i think i'd prefer my non-cerebral, streamlined, "new" games to these older difficult ones. that said, they should have read the manual. i do that just 'cause i like to.
oldest game i've ever beat: Metriod
would i ever try to replay it: no.
oldest game i've ever beat: Metriod
would i ever try to replay it: no.
Now I know. Also, is that Linkara in your avatar? 'Cause the resembleance is eerie.Z(ombie)fan said:
Well, most kids these days can't really handle old school. If you can't make 'em like subs, what chance do you have with Ultima 4?
its me.Raziel_Likes_Souls said:
and I really don't look like linkara, its just I picked the only picture where I don't look like a madman.
Also, Im kind of confused, "If you can't make 'em like subs" subs? WTF?
I said you resembled him because you both have the hat, glasses, and friendly looks on your faces.Z(ombie)fan said:
And by subs, I meant subtitles. As in kids hate reading subtitles.
OKRaziel_Likes_Souls said:
"And by subs, I meant subtitles. As in kids hate reading subtitles."
ah yes most kids do don't they... I personally prefer not to listen to PAINFUL voice acting (looking at you FFX2)
Wait....they are teaching "the history of video games" in a college?
And people actually enroll in this course, and PAY for it?
*head explodes*
And people actually enroll in this course, and PAY for it?
*head explodes*