Your video game hot take(s) thread

[Old_Hunter_77]

> I'm just saying there are still issues and all I'm saying is that Microsoft ain't exactly saviors right now.
Yo, I'm from the '90's days of running Linux 'cause we hated Gates the way Zuckerberg became hated later, and being against their IE monopolizing days and everything. I know about Microsoft. Watching Gates turn into some charity savior guy and then the gamur praise for Microsoft "saving" Activision has been f'n w/ my mind big time.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

This one is going to be pure emotional, stupid and reactionary, but that's why it's a "hot" take not a smart one:

Nintendo is a baby system with baby games for babies.

I dunno man, it just kinda hit me reading up on Nintendo direct, listening to a bit of post-ZP stream of Yahtzee playing the new Pokemon, and hearing various respected gamer personalities being excited for a new Kirby game. And personally, I play Switch when I visit my nieces who are, you know, small children. I love them and we have fun but we also have fun playing Hungry Hungry Hippo and hide 'n' seek.

Everything Nintendo is so cutesy and doofy, even the beloved Zelda (though I have vented about how boring I think BotW is already).
Like.... actual grown up are excited for Kirby, really?
I'm not trying to be edgelord git-gud gatekeeper, honestly, I'm not that, I'm too old for that shit anyway, but NIntendo fandom is like the other extreme. It's a little wierd to me.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

This one is going to be pure emotional, stupid and reactionary, but that's why it's a "hot" take not a smart one:

Nintendo is a baby system with baby games for babies.

I dunno man, it just kinda hit me reading up on Nintendo direct, listening to a bit of post-ZP stream of Yahtzee playing the new Pokemon, and hearing various respected gamer personalities being excited for a new Kirby game. And personally, I play Switch when I visit my nieces who are, you know, small children. I love them and we have fun but we also have fun playing Hungry Hungry Hippo and hide 'n' seek.

Everything Nintendo is so cutesy and doofy, even the beloved Zelda (though I have vented about how boring I think BotW is already).
Like.... actual grown up are excited for Kirby, really?
I'm not trying to be edgelord git-gud gatekeeper, honestly, I'm not that, I'm too old for that shit anyway, but NIntendo fandom is like the other extreme. It's a little wierd to me.

I get that it seems weird, at least in principle. The gameplay value is what the vast majority of adult people’s reasoning is for continuing to play Mario, Yoshi, Kirby, or whatever other “cutesy” IPs Nintendo churns out. You gotta admit there’s really nothing that comes close to a lot of these in terms of gameplay quality and thoughtfulness of the mechanics. Also the visual design can be hella charming. It may require a certain disconnect since the thematics are certainly on the kiddie pool side, but many people just don’t care or it doesn’t bother them enough to disregard the aspects that are fun at any age.

 

[BrawlMan]

Like.... actual grown up are excited for Kirby, really?
I'm not trying to be edgelord git-gud gatekeeper, honestly, I'm not that, I'm too old for that shit anyway, but NIntendo fandom is like the other extreme. It's a little wierd to me.

I am, because Kirby is awesome. Plus, it's something a bit different for the little guy. I like good and fun games. Give me Kirby or Klanoa any day over dark, boring, "mature", and edge lord tripe.

Nintendo is a baby system with baby games for babies.

Not really. While Nintendo has always gone after a kids and family approach, they're not afraid to make their games challenging. I know there is that point with the Wii and Wii U to an extent, but they can do challenging games or games with mature themes. People always assume, because it's for kids they still know their fans that have grown up and now have children still exist. That's why we got games like Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze. That ain't even close to a baby game, despite the art style. The Donkey Kong Country series was never easy, so that's a given.

I get interests change as we get older, and at times, we look back at certain things and see if there are good as they are or not. I admit that I don't care much for most of Nintendo's first party, but they can be fun games. It's why I got DK: Tropical Freeze. It's why I got both Hyrule Warriors games on Switch. It's why I got Super Mario 3D World. But most importantly, I got the console for the third party games and Japanese games.

To keep it on track, there's nothing wrong with you not liking the games or having interest. People have different interests, but don't be surprised that there are adults or teens that like kids games. People like fun games, even if they're not the specific or target audience. Just because their kids games, doesn't mean they're automatically bad or lack challenge. There is a reason the term, Nintendo Hard. And of course Sega Hard.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Oh, I remember Nintendo Hard.
I should have prefaced saying that as a kid, I was Nintendo-core. I literally watched a guy jack my dad's car as we walked out of the Toys-R-Us with a NES (including Duck Hunt gun!) in hand. Then years later the upgrade to SNES. Super Mario 3 and Link to the Past always making my top-whatevernumber list of all time games when that conversation comes up.

And yeah, I'm not like shitting on people with different tastes, just funny how my brain and interests in such a different direction, you know? Part of it I wonder is that I had a break in gaming, I didn't follow it through. I basically skipped over the Ocarina of Time, N-64 era of gaming completely (similarly, Half-Life and Halo and FF7). So when I come back to it as an adult and I'm seeing Assassins Creed and Dark Souls and Uncharted and God of War and I'm like holy shit, awesome, meanwhile Mario is still saving Peach and I'm scratching my head.

So I have the bias of "Nintendo is for kids," but then it's reinforced when I get my hands on a Nintendo game and see what the other ones look like, and that's the disconnect I have. It's like- I'm imagining an adult who wants to get into gaming, doesn't have kids, looks around the landscape and is going to pick only one gaming ecosystem (most people, probably) and decided, between PC's versatility, Sony's unique offerings, or XBox's player base for shooters etc, and goes with Mario and Kirby and... I dunno, Dragon Quest? Just weird to me, 'sall, but yeah we all on this site agree, more power to ya.

 

[BrawlMan]

meanwhile Mario is still saving Peach and I'm scratching my head.

Not in Super Mario 3D World. Which is basically a glorified remake of Super Mario Bros 2 (USA in in Japan), but more snazzy and jazzy. That was in 2013, but I still make it count.

It's like- I'm imagining an adult who wants to get into gaming, doesn't have kids, looks around the landscape and is going to pick only one gaming ecosystem (most people, probably) and decided, between PC's versatility, Sony's unique offerings, or XBox's player base for shooters etc, and goes with Mario and Kirby and... I dunno, Dragon Quest?

It shouldn't be that surprising. I've met plenty and know of people that are single, dating, or are married, but don't have kids. And said single persons or couples enjoy Nintendo games. Or they have two consoles. One for their big games, and one for the Nintendo specific or Japanese specific games. I met plenty of people, myself included, that got the Switch mainly for third-party games. I met a couple of gals that got Switches just for some Japanese games and specific indie games, because they are portable.

As for Dragon Quest, it has its fans over in the west, but that game is still a big deal in Japan. Whenever a new Dragon Quest comes out, it's considered a national holiday over there and everyone gets the day off. Everyone!

Just weird to me, 'sall, but yeah we all on this site agree, more power to ya.

Exactly.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

> Whenever a new Dragon Quest comes out, it's considered a national holiday over there and everyone gets the day off. Everyone!

Really?! That's... cool? Horribly lame?... lol. Ok, I didn't know that.

I feel like everything I say on the internet (or, in real life) should be prefaced with the warning "Spoken by a man born and raised in the U.S. with subsequent myopic prejudices." You think you know a little about Japanese game culture but... it's something I could never really grok.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

> Whenever a new Dragon Quest comes out, it's considered a national holiday over there and everyone gets the day off. Everyone!

Really?! That's... cool? Horribly lame?... lol. Ok, I didn't know that.

I feel like everything I say on the internet (or, in real life) should be prefaced with the warning "Spoken by a man born and raised in the U.S. with subsequent myopic prejudices." You think you know a little about Japanese game culture but... it's something I could never really grok.

It would seem they are far less concerned with what’s “cool” or are much less image-conscious than we are here in the west. They are more concerned with simply playing games they think are fun and engaging, or in other words the value they place on a book’s cover is fairly trivial vs what’s contained on the pages within.

 

[Chimpzy]

> Whenever a new Dragon Quest comes out, it's considered a national holiday over there and everyone gets the day off. Everyone!

Really?! That's... cool? Horribly lame?... lol. Ok, I didn't know that.

I feel like everything I say on the internet (or, in real life) should be prefaced with the warning "Spoken by a man born and raised in the U.S. with subsequent myopic prejudices." You think you know a little about Japanese game culture but... it's something I could never really grok.

The Dragon Quest thing is kind of like how lots people of people take the day off for for major game releases, like I remember it being a big for CoD back in its heyday, or the day after the Superbowl in the US. But in Japan, taking the day off for a new Dragon Quest was so widespread that employers learned that the day one releases will essentially be a write-off whether they like it or not, so might as well accept it and give everyone off. Not an official holiday, but in practice, it might as well be.

 

[BrawlMan]

Really?! That's... cool? Horribly lame?... lol. Ok, I didn't know that.

I didn't expect you to know, but wanted to give you that small piece of trivia.

feel like everything I say on the internet (or, in real life) should be prefaced with the warning "Spoken by a man born and raised in the U.S. with subsequent myopic prejudices." You think you know a little about Japanese game culture but... it's something I could never really grok.

That's what's best about Nintendo, they don't give a crap about any of that. They just want to make games. Not some misplaced belief of what is considered "cool" or "adult". And there are many gamers that feel the same way. We all go through our own various phases of course, but I rarely ever felt insecure about what I play or like. If anybody else had a problem with it, I told them to screw off.

Check this video out when you get a chance.

​

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I watched the vid... eh, I don't think the idea of maturity he's talking about is exactly what I'm talking about w/ Nintendo. The "baby" sentiment is about how Nintendo's brand seems about simplicity and nostalgia in a way that rubs me the wrong way, it's not about "grittiness" or adult complicated plots or whatever.
I agree with the criticism of grittiness and gloom for its own sake, I've been calling that crap out since Christian Bale starting scream-whispering his way around Gotham.
I do take issue with his distate for critics calling things "trash" or whatever- I don't know his entire frame of reference or all the reviews he's talking about but there is a long tradition of using such terminology as complete effusive praise, stemming from queer counter-culture that has been embraced by the mainstream.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Ok this next take is going to be the coldest take on a gaming-centric forum but it is hot when I say it IRL...

The best most impressive composers are working in video games.

Music is my top entertainment, I care and think more about bands and jazz and tunes than games. And it's like every game and trailer has awesome music. Maybe it's all just computer algorithmed at this point, I dunno, but I'm constantly wowed by how great game music is and how it fits with what's going on. I just notice music a lot.

And just anecdotally, it's cool that games are using scores while so much mainstream TV and movies have become overly dependent on slow/soft covers of classic rock songs, so lame.

As I said in another thread I'm playing Dandara, a tiny little indy game that runs on my laptop, and there is this super-chill beat and ambient music the whole time. Freaking Stardew Valley tunes still pop into my head randomly. And that's just the little indy stuff- even the over-done sandbox open-world crap has exhilarating swelling orchestral crescendos when I scale the otherwise lazy viewpoints.

So, yeah, I''m sure you're like "duh, I know." But I don't talk to gamers outside of the internet, and I recently had a conversation where someone was like "hey you've always been into music, where is all the talent and originality now you think?" and we were talking about pop culture mainstream of course not obscure scenester stuff- and I thought about for sec and realized it's in games.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Like.... actual grown up are excited for Kirby, really?

Babies like Kirby, real grown-ups like Klonoa!



Yeaaah, backwards cap b*tch! Sneakers and a zipper - the real manly shit!

Seriously though, adults also eat candy, and candy is generally meant for kids. *shrug*

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Seriously though, adults also eat candy, and candy is generally meant for kids. *shrug*

See and I think it's weird if an adult eats a ton of M&M's or whatever all the time when an adult matures their taste a bit to have some quality dark chocolate with a nice red wine once in a while.

Like on the one hand that probably makes me seem liks a big ol' snooty snob but on the other hand, I'm gonna stick by that.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Check this video out when you get a chance.

​

I get what’s trying to be said in the video (ie if you have to think about being mature then you’ll never be so, don’t be so self conscious about it, etc.) but disagree with some of the criticism of how they handled the story overall. I do agree with some of the gameplay comments like long walking sections hampering replayability, but some of the stuff like assuming from the Raising Kratos doc that the devs think Kratos didn’t care about his family in the old games seem a bit off. Like, the whole original game is about dealing with the guilt over getting them killed to the point of attempting suicide when all hope is lost…

Idk what other direction the new God of War could have really gone. I mean the old games, at least the original, had a worthy theme regarding the cost of glory and what it can do to someone. They devolved into some juvenile crap but ultimately they rebooted Kratos into someone worthy of receiving empathy, which at one point would‘ve seemed impossible. The video seems to kinda pointlessly get hung up on insinuating the devs’ choice of getting rid of the corny shit from the old games is them wanting to “man up”, when it’s merely the plain realization of how played out it all was.

To add, another thing the video mentioned I would’ve also liked to see is more of a bridge between old and new, but ultimately I think they intentionally kept this vague because it is one of those “less is more” things, and also would’ve taken too much of the narrative focus away from Kratos and his son.


I do also agree with the points about fetishized violence like in the TR Reboot being seen as “mature” as being a compete WTF moment. Also the DMC Dante and that game’s sad excuse of a “mature” story praised by lamestream journalists actually being ironically the biggest joke in the series.

 

[Casual Shinji]

See and I think it's weird if an adult eats a ton of M&M's or whatever all the time when an adult matures their taste a bit to have some quality dark chocolate with a nice red wine once in a while.

Like on the one hand that probably makes me seem liks a big ol' snooty snob but on the other hand, I'm gonna stick by that.

Then... enjoy your scotch and cigars, I guess. I'll be having my chips and soda.

 

[BrawlMan]

I watched the vid... eh, I don't think the idea of maturity he's talking about is exactly what I'm talking about w/ Nintendo. The "baby" sentiment is about how Nintendo's brand seems about simplicity and nostalgia in a way that rubs me the wrong way, it's not about "grittiness" or adult complicated plots or whatever.

I know. It's still brought about similar ideas and discussions. I just thought it would be nice for you to see. Nothing more. Thank you, too.

 

[Dalisclock]

Oh, I remember Nintendo Hard.
I should have prefaced saying that as a kid, I was Nintendo-core. I literally watched a guy jack my dad's car as we walked out of the Toys-R-Us with a NES (including Duck Hunt gun!) in hand. Then years later the upgrade to SNES. Super Mario 3 and Link to the Past always making my top-whatevernumber list of all time games when that conversation comes up.

And yeah, I'm not like shitting on people with different tastes, just funny how my brain and interests in such a different direction, you know? Part of it I wonder is that I had a break in gaming, I didn't follow it through. I basically skipped over the Ocarina of Time, N-64 era of gaming completely (similarly, Half-Life and Halo and FF7). So when I come back to it as an adult and I'm seeing Assassins Creed and Dark Souls and Uncharted and God of War and I'm like holy shit, awesome, meanwhile Mario is still saving Peach and I'm scratching my head.

So I have the bias of "Nintendo is for kids," but then it's reinforced when I get my hands on a Nintendo game and see what the other ones look like, and that's the disconnect I have. It's like- I'm imagining an adult who wants to get into gaming, doesn't have kids, looks around the landscape and is going to pick only one gaming ecosystem (most people, probably) and decided, between PC's versatility, Sony's unique offerings, or XBox's player base for shooters etc, and goes with Mario and Kirby and... I dunno, Dragon Quest? Just weird to me, 'sall, but yeah we all on this site agree, more power to ya.

I know where you're coming from. I stopped console gaming in favor of PC only around the N64 era. I didn't play Zelda OoT until I was in my late 30's, with my previous Zelda game being Link to the past as a kid in the early 1990's and while I liked OoT, I didn't see it as the gaming revolution a lot of people praise it to be(and it has a lot of that early 3d Jank that probably wasn't as noticeable if you played it at the time). Same with Mario 64, though that's very much more of a "I guess you had to be there" sort of game.

On the other hand, playing the older(and even newer) Nintendo games has given me appreciation for what they did right and how I can still find joy in them. I started playing Earthbound to kill time until Elden Ring(and also it's on the NSO) and now I'm pretty much into it, so ER is gonna wait until I'm done with EB at this point. I'm trying to remember the last 1990's style JRPG I played but EB is reminding me that I used to enjoy such games a lot and still do(though I don't have the time to invest in them like I did as a kid).

 

[BrawlMan]

but saying Kratos didn’t care about his family when the whole original game is about dealing with the guilt over getting them killed to the point of attempting suicide when all hope is lost…

That's the only part of this video I disagree 100% on his argument. It doesn't even make sense. Especially when it's been the core part of the original trilogy and the side games. I get he may not care much for the character, but playing these games, you think he would have known that already, or bother to remember that very important detail.

I do take issue with his distate for critics calling things "trash" or whatever- I don't know his entire frame of reference or all the reviews he's talking about but there is a long tradition of using such terminology as complete effusive praise, stemming from queer counter-culture that has been embraced by the mainstream.

His entire frame of reference in this case of anything that's over the top, campy, or silly is counted as trash in professional gaming critics eyes. All the more ironic as these critics talk about how gamers are supposed to be more inclusive and accepting, yet they'll turn the blind eye to something or be insecure about their taste, because it's not super serious or dour 24/7. Trying to impress people who don't play gaming or look down on gaming.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

That's the only part of this video I disagree 100% on his argument. It doesn't even make sense. Especially when it's been the core part of the original trilogy in the side games. I get he may not care much for the character, but playing these games, you think you would have known that already or bother to remember that very important detail.



His entire frame of reference in this case of anything that's over the top, campy, or silly is counted as trash in professional gaming critics eyes. All the more ironic as these critics talk about how gamers are supposed to be more inclusive and accepting, yet they'll turn the blind eye to something or be insecure about their taste, because it's not super serious or dour 24/7. Trying to impress people who don't play gaming or look down on gaming.

I kinda misinterpreted that based off one of the comments I read before getting to that point, but it sounded more like he actually insinuated based off the Raising Kratos doc that the devs themselves thought Kratos didn’t care. Either way though it clearly ended up being misconstrued.