What's Your Niche?

[Fappy]

AAA games have never been as popular here as they are in many other communities online. Sure, we'll occasionally get a big influx of topics on one blockbuster release, but those games usually have some kind of niche appeal. I've found that as time goes on my tastes have become more specific. I like many different genres, but won't truly enjoy one unless it scratches that itch in just the right way.

These days I play indy and Japanese games almost exclusively. RPGs primarily, but I enjoy more active games as well, including platformers and action games. I guess I just have an aversion to the mass appeal aspect of modern AAA gaming. A lot of these titles just feel... soulless, I guess. Too safe. Too "by the book".

One thing I love about Indy games is how they've been so successful at making old things new again. Shovel Knight looks like a classic Mega Man-style platformer, but it feels so fresh. The controls are tight, the music is great, and the level design personifies the "what's old is new again" idiom. To top it all off it's also quirky and fun.

Undertale takes what could have been a very straight forward SNES-era JRPG and turns every convention of the genre on its head. Not only that, but as soon as the game begins to feel familiar it pulls a fast one on you. Each boss battle is so unique it hardly feels like they're from the same game. Despite the retro aesthetic, it tells the kind of story you'd never find in the games that inspired it, nor any others made today.

Currently, I am playing Hyper Light Drifter and it's scratching "that itch" in the same way as those titles mentioned above. It takes simple, retro aesthetics and makes them beautiful. It approaches world design in the same way Zelda did in the 80's, but with some very subtle touches, manages to make that old design feel fresh. And then there's the combat, which basically feels like Bloodborne if it was designed my Miyamoto.

I don't think my recent fascination with Indy games such as these has much to do with nostalgia. To me, nostalgia doesn't have any real critical merit. No, what makes games like these so great is that it perfectly demonstrates how the art form is changing. We're no longer singularly focused on pushing the limits of visual fidelity, realism, and the like. Developers now have the means and inspiration to look at the past and ask themselves "what made this work" and "can this still be relevant". Melding old and new opens the door for so many possibilities.

Welp, sorry for the wall! Feel free to share your own!

 

[Fappy]

I love games that let me move in new ways. Just Cause 3, Dying Light, inFamous, some of the better Spider Man games, early Assassin's Creed, etc. The greatest joy in a game, is really cool movement. If you can add some RPG and action elements to that, I'm in heaven. I think that's why I love Ace Combat games so much too.

Spider-Man 2's web slinging is still the king despite being 10+ years old. I have no idea how they nailed it the way they did.

 

[CritialGaming]

AAA games have never been as popular here as they are in many other communities online. Sure, we'll occasionally get a big influx of topics on one blockbuster release, but those games usually have some kind of niche appeal. I've found that as time goes on my tastes have become more specific. I like many different genres, but won't truly enjoy one unless it scratches that itch in just the right way.

These days I play indy and Japanese games almost exclusively. RPGs primarily, but I enjoy more active games as well, including platformers and action games. I guess I just have an aversion to the mass appeal aspect of modern AAA gaming. A lot of these titles just feel... soulless, I guess. Too safe. Too "by the book".

Fappy, can you really say that Japanese games aren't AAA though? Sure they aren't American AAA, but their Japanese AAA easily. I mean look at modern Final Fantasy games. Or the Tales games. Mario is definitely AAA, Splatoon, Xenoblade Chronicles X. These are games that may not sell like American AAA releases in America, but one can hardly argue that their scoop, production value, and budget doesn't let them fall into AAA status.

That being said, there is a noticable difference in philosophy with Japanese games versus the American ones, and I understand why you would prefer one over the other.

Personally my niche has typically fallen to RPG's. Namely games with good battle mechanics and decent stories, although I will admit that story doesn't grab me the way it used too. Right now I am big into Dark Souls games, and I'm super hyped for 3.

 

[Fappy]

AAA games have never been as popular here as they are in many other communities online. Sure, we'll occasionally get a big influx of topics on one blockbuster release, but those games usually have some kind of niche appeal. I've found that as time goes on my tastes have become more specific. I like many different genres, but won't truly enjoy one unless it scratches that itch in just the right way.

These days I play indy and Japanese games almost exclusively. RPGs primarily, but I enjoy more active games as well, including platformers and action games. I guess I just have an aversion to the mass appeal aspect of modern AAA gaming. A lot of these titles just feel... soulless, I guess. Too safe. Too "by the book".

Fappy, can you really say that Japanese games aren't AAA though? Sure they aren't American AAA, but their Japanese AAA easily. I mean look at modern Final Fantasy games. Or the Tales games. Mario is definitely AAA, Splatoon, Xenoblade Chronicles X. These are games that may not sell like American AAA releases in America, but one can hardly argue that their scoop, production value, and budget doesn't let them fall into AAA status.

That being said, there is a noticable difference in philosophy with Japanese games versus the American ones, and I understand why you would prefer one over the other.

Personally my niche has typically fallen to RPG's. Namely games with good battle mechanics and decent stories, although I will admit that story doesn't grab me the way it used too. Right now I am big into Dark Souls games, and I'm super hyped for 3.

You're absolutely right that Japanese games can be AAA. Nearly all console Nintendo, SE, and Capcom games can be considered AAA, among others. That said, I am primarily interested in the more niche JRPGs, such as those that appear on handhelds. Games like Fire Emblem, SMT, Bravely Default, etc. That said, I do still enjoy AAA Japanese games like Persona, Dark Souls, and Zelda, and as for American AAA, I still love most big budget RPGs.

 

[CritialGaming]

AAA games have never been as popular here as they are in many other communities online. Sure, we'll occasionally get a big influx of topics on one blockbuster release, but those games usually have some kind of niche appeal. I've found that as time goes on my tastes have become more specific. I like many different genres, but won't truly enjoy one unless it scratches that itch in just the right way.

These days I play indy and Japanese games almost exclusively. RPGs primarily, but I enjoy more active games as well, including platformers and action games. I guess I just have an aversion to the mass appeal aspect of modern AAA gaming. A lot of these titles just feel... soulless, I guess. Too safe. Too "by the book".

Fappy, can you really say that Japanese games aren't AAA though? Sure they aren't American AAA, but their Japanese AAA easily. I mean look at modern Final Fantasy games. Or the Tales games. Mario is definitely AAA, Splatoon, Xenoblade Chronicles X. These are games that may not sell like American AAA releases in America, but one can hardly argue that their scoop, production value, and budget doesn't let them fall into AAA status.

That being said, there is a noticable difference in philosophy with Japanese games versus the American ones, and I understand why you would prefer one over the other.

Personally my niche has typically fallen to RPG's. Namely games with good battle mechanics and decent stories, although I will admit that story doesn't grab me the way it used too. Right now I am big into Dark Souls games, and I'm super hyped for 3.

You're absolutely right that Japanese games can be AAA. Nearly all console Nintendo, SE, and Capcom games can be considered AAA, among others. That said, I am primarily interested in the more niche JRPGs, such as those that appear on handhelds. Games like Fire Emblem, SMT, Bravely Default, etc. That said, I do still enjoy AAA Japanese games like Persona, Dark Souls, and Zelda, and as for American AAA, I still love most big budget RPGs.

Im looking forward to hearing your opinion on FF15. Because everything I've seen looks like it has a lot of flash with no substance, much like 13. I'm very worried about the series, and i can only hope 15 is good but only for an excuse to hope the 7 remake is fucking fantastic.

 

[Fappy]

Im looking forward to hearing your opinion on FF15. Because everything I've seen looks like it has a lot of flash with no substance, much like 13. I'm very worried about the series, and i can only hope 15 is good but only for an excuse to hope the 7 remake is fucking fantastic.

FF15 looks boring as fuck to me, to be honest. Seems like it's just a bunch of K-Pop stars on a cross-county road trip.

I have a lot of concerns for the FF7 remake. Not just due to the episodic nature of it, but also because I don't trust modern Square Enix to handle the story/characters well at all.

 

[Dizchu]

I like games that are honest and have character. Doom, Undertale, System Shock 2, Rayman Origins/Legends, Gone Home, Thief 2, Mass Effect etc.

What I don't like are games that pander to certain demographics or employ certain gameplay elements "just because other games do it". I often bring Bioshock Infinite up as a complete disaster when it comes to honesty and personality. It's a decent story tacked onto a completely inappropriate and uninteresting gameplay style. The tower defence thing at the end was absolutely appalling.

 

[MysticSlayer]

Growing up, I could have easily said my niche was Mario, and I spent a few years after that playing all the military shooters I could.

Now I would say that I don't have one. I'm willing to play games from just about any genre, though certain genres (e.g. shooters and RPGs) do grab my attention more than others (e.g. adventure and sport). I don't care if a company is AAA, indie, AA, or [insert new label here]. And anything I say I like is either too generic (e.g. good story, fun gameplay) or subjective (e.g. has a lot of heart) to matter much.

Really, I just want the game to be enjoyable. So long as it is, the specifics don't matter a whole lot except for things to think about when I'm bored.

 

[Lacedaemonius]

I have a special love for any game that I can play with low volume, while I listen to a long audiobook series. Grand Theft Auto, pretty much any open-world game, becomes a special kind of magic that way, but a lot of multiplayer games do too. Otherwise I just enjoy games, all kinds of games. I get into moods, but there is no one genre that I love above all others.

Games are almost always fun.

 

[Sharia]

I'm no different to when I first got into games at a young age. I'm still keen to play just about anything I see and can get my hands on which covers everything from the highly popular to the highly niche.

 

[Danbo Jambo]

Emotion, care and soul. I'm not easily pleased by gimmicks or "awesome" such as Dragon riding or whatever, give me something with substance and soul.

I tend to like loads of games rated around the 7/10 mark, such as Risen 2; The Sabotuer, Divinity 2: The Dragon Knight Saga, The Last Remnant; Mini Ninjas, Binary Domain, Arkham Origins, Deadly Premonition etc. Generally games which have an absolutely awesome core, but which expectation, trend or the odd mechanical flaw makes the backwards critics put them down.

I'm the same with films. Hated Star Wars:TFA, gobsmacked at how well recieved it was, but totally loved Batman Vs Superman.

We live in a world full of daft sods who have been brainwashed into liking things which their told to like, from media to spouses. My instinct, and I dare say others on here, cuts through all that, and it's found me some great games.

Leave the "big wow" mathmatical types with their big bank accounts, checklist game setups, and fake boobed women. I'll be on the Island of Theives swearing and laughing my head off, whilst my fat bottomed missus cooks me a great dinner

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

40k/

 

[DeliveryGodNoah_v1legacy]

Well, my "mainstream" tastes largely consists of first person shooters and racing games.

However, my "niche" is probably life simulations. I don't know what it is about doing typically mundane, boring tasks in a virtual space.
The Sims mostly fills this niche for me, but there's something about how it plays that I don't find myself playing for more than a couple hours and then never touching it again.
Euro Truck Simulator 2 was on of the most relaxing, yet oddly engaging experiences in the simulator genre.

Maybe it's because you're doing tasks that you otherwise wouldn't get the chance to, in a condensed and simplified way that you have full control over. Unlike doing these things in real life, there's no consequences for messing up and learning from it.

Spoiler: A vaguely related tangent on some lame ideas I had as a kid.

I've been dying to have a game like The Sims with more relative interaction. What I mean is, firstly having direct control over your character(s). The console port of The Sims 2 dabbled in this, allowing you to control 1:1 where you wanted your Sim to move to. There's something slightly alienating to me when I just have to select a Sim and then merely direct them what to do.

In eighth grade I had this ratty notebook crammed with ideas and possible design decisions on how I could make a first/third person life simulation where you could freely move around a large town and interact with people as if you were actually there. I used all 200 pages filled with crude diagrams, non-sense scribbles, and paragraphs of design ramblings. I would spend hours debating to myself how you could make this kind of game both engaging, but also relatable without being repetitive and boring, what kind of interactions you could get away with boiling down to very swift, simple actions and what interactions you could faithfully recreate without making the player feel like they might as well be doing this in real life.

It was really quite the complicated process, but unfortunately I had no resources, knowledge, or talent to actually put my work into even it's basic stages. Eventually I lost the notebook in a move and have been waiting for someone else to get as close to my vision as possible. Oh geez, I'm sorry...I think I went way off topic. I'll put this in a spoiler.

 

[DrownedAmmet]

My niche used to be FPSs, but there haven't been any recent ones that really hold my attention. My favorite games of the past few years were all third person (Dark Souls, the Last of Us) and from what I've seen of Uncharted 4 that may be a system seller for me

The only recent FPS I could think of that I really fucking enjoyed was the most recent Deus Ex, and even that was partly in third person

 

[The Wykydtron]

For me it's fighting games, specifically BlazBlue right now. I got SFV and played like 5 hours of it and never touched it again, it just lacks colour for me even if the mechanics are solid. Guilty Gear is also good but I don't really enjoy the Roman Cancel part which is like 70% of combos.

BlazBlue just does everything right for me. The sprites are high quality, there are many, many different intro/outro animations between certain characters (Terumi vs Ragna is hype as fuck) and I can play the absolute worst character in the game for 500+ games and have endless amounts of fun. Unfortunately i've started to consider picking up either Nu, Rachel or Izayoi because i'm sick of these tryhards and their picking good characters!

I'm gravitating towards Nu because she's arguably the best character in the game and I hope you didn't want to have fun because a decent Nu is frustration incarnate. After some games against a good Nu, hearing someone counting up in German triggers me.

It doesn't even matter where you are on the screen, she can hit you and she can full combo you off that one touch even from full screen away... even if you somehow get in her face her normals aren't even bad and her defensive options are solid.

Describing this ***** just makes me feel dirty, she is disgusting.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

I'm same as Fapster on top (I hope its an acceptable nickname, just came to me and I approved of it). Full on JP games mode.

Specifically, Jrpgs, airdasher fighting games like Blazblue and Guilty Gear, visual novels (just finished fate say night yesterday) with the occasional Bayonetta style game in the mix.


The last AAA nonjapanese game I played was Bioshock Infinite, it was pretty cool and I hadn't played a storymode heavy fps in ages so it was a nice alternative but I never became as much of a fan of it. It was more of a nice distraction. Now, if we compare that to the aforementioned Fate, I just played the VN but I already bought a figure and have a psp (yes psp) jrpg based on it on the way. I'm super entranced by everything in the lore and characters. Western AAA stuff just doesn't generate that deree of passion from me at all.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

I've got three main types of niche games I play.

---

4X Games because I like to explore and discover unknown space, manage a fledgling space-faring civilization and steer it according to my will as well as resolve it in the manner I most see fitting.
Crushing other empires beneath my heel and dominating the galaxy are also occasionally fun.
<spoiler=4X Games>Space Empires IV Gold, Sword of the Stars Complete Collection, Master of Orion III, Distant Worlds Universe, Armada 2526 Supernova, Imperium Galactica II Alliances, Lost Empire Immortals.

I've come to call these types of games for "builder" games because that mostly what you do..
You either control a single character or an entire group/society and occasionally explore, exploit, expand ...wait a minute...
Ok, so there are some similarities with 4X games but in these types you usually aspire to create a chain of productions that increases the wealth or success of the "base".
<spoiler="Builder" Games>Dwarf Fortress, Gnomoria, Anno 1404 Venice, Children of the Nile, Craft the World, Darkout, Minecraft, Terraria, RimWorld, Starbound, Startopia, Wayward, Dungeon Keeper 2, Settlers 2.

For last I saved the easiest to drop into and the most instant enjoyment type of games.
The Hack'n'Slash, ARPG, Diablo-clone and the rogue-like & -lite games punctuated with some more heavy RPG's.
<spoiler="loot" Games>Diablo 1&2, Dungeon Siege 1&2, Arcanum of Steamworks and Magick obscura, vampire the Masquerade bloodlines, Morrowind, Fallout 2&3, Tales of Maj'Eyal, Torchlight 1&2, Titan Quest Immortal Throne, Sacred, Harbinger, Fate 1,2,3&4, Underrail, Rogue Legacy, Nethack, Anachronox, Outcast.

Right, right..I almost forgot about the forth main. Pilot Games.
I think it's a mite given by now that I love exploring and discovering.
<spoiler=Pilot-type Games>Freelancer, Escape Velocity Nova, Drox Operative, Space Rangers HD a war apart, Trancedence, FTL, Salt, Corsairs, Sid Meier's Pirates,

---

So, four main niche games. Or one big one which would be Exploration types.
Apologies to any games I forgot.

 

[Euryalus]

I have no idea anymore, but I'm definitely tired of "story focused" games that sacrifice gameplay for the story and then have the story just kind of be Dragon Age Inquisition or a Skyrim main quest kind of affair.

Like I don't care. There are so many better stories I can read or watch in movies. I want a game that tells its story effectively in its medium, either by having both parts given their due (Halo, Super Mario, etc.) or having the game play and story interact in specific ways (Portal, Metroid Prime, etc.)

The story in the original super mario is almost insultingly simple, but in its simplicity it never steers away from a sort of narrative coherence and believability at its basic level. With Halo its basically an attempt to combine the Heroic Epic with certain biblical narrative themes, and you could argue how well it accomplished it, but it accomplished it well enough and did so without sacrificing the well designed gameplay mechanics.

The latter is more like a gesamkunst total work where the story is written by the gameplay or integrated into it. In Metroid Prime the story is told at pace with the gameplay by making it a metroidvania collectible power up. In portal the game is given complete context by the story, and the story was written because of the gameplay.

So a lot of triple A games and a lot of indie games tend to go at things focusing either gameplay entirely (the better of the two mistakes) or focus so much on the story it's like reading a book that wants to fight you. Not a fan.

The genres that get this right slightly more often than others I think are probably shooters and 2D platformers, so I mostly play those.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

For me it's fighting games, specifically BlazBlue right now. I got SFV and played like 5 hours of it and never touched it again, it just lacks colour for me even if the mechanics are solid. Guilty Gear is also good but I don't really enjoy the Roman Cancel part which is like 70% of combos.

BlazBlue just does everything right for me. The sprites are high quality, there are many, many different intro/outro animations between certain characters (Terumi vs Ragna is hype as fuck) and I can play the absolute worst character in the game for 500+ games and have endless amounts of fun. Unfortunately i've started to consider picking up either Nu, Rachel or Izayoi because i'm sick of these tryhards and their picking good characters!

I'm gravitating towards Nu because she's arguably the best character in the game and I hope you didn't want to have fun because a decent Nu is frustration incarnate. After some games against a good Nu, hearing someone counting up in German triggers me.

It doesn't even matter where you are on the screen, she can hit you and she can full combo you off that one touch even from full screen away... even if you somehow get in her face her normals aren't even bad and her defensive options are solid.

Describing this ***** just makes me feel dirty, she is disgusting.

Best char in cp extend is Carl by far, Nu is good too of course but she doesn't have unblocables or unreactable mixup so she falls behind Jin, Izayoi, Valkenhayn and a few others, even Tager beats her now. Oh and BB is balanced so no matter who you pick if you're better you always win, the best chars tend to be the harder chars to use so someone who is good with a strong char likely would win with the easier chars too. I mean, Nu can combo everywhere but she has no invincible moves at all, even her super whiffs point blank, so if you get in she's screwed. As Bang all I need to do is call out one sword and teleport in and she just has to burst me away or counter assault or something. Otherwise it's over. It's actually a really bad matchup for her. If she gives you that much trouble then maybe pick up Bang, he is pretty strong in this ver too. (A+ tier)

 

[The Enquirer]

For fighting games, I usually prefer games with only basic, easy to use combos, but once you get to higher levels you need to learn to rapidly chain attacks together. I find that style to be drastically more interesting than fighting games like Mortal Combat or Soul Caliber. Maybe because there's less of an entry curve so I can play with friends who may not be as good but can still feel like they're doing something is why I enjoy them so much.