(Discussion) My Most Controversial Gaming Opinions - Retro Bird
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- Опубліковано 6 лип 2023
- My Most Controversial Gaming Opinions - Retro Bird
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#retrobird - Ігри
My own controversial opinion: of all the things this channel has to offer, the best is, by far, the way Matt says things. Is very funny and the part I enjoy the most.
In the grand scheme of things, when you consider socioeconomic conditions, cultural confrontations, environmental considerations, and intergalactic exploration, his most controversial opinion is that above all, video games matter.
And yes, I agree, he is funny. His sense of humor is what makes his channel worth watching.
I find myself calling people dirty dogs pretty frequently. Its become a family friendly alternative for the not-so-friendly verbage I'd normally gravitate to and that, my friend, is the gift that keeps on giving.
@@elgatofelix8917 and his personality makes him stand out from other youtubers
I feel as if Mario 64 has the perfect balance between linear and open ended, still giving you a choice on were to go, but also having the gameplay have a steady progression to the end.
Banjo Kazooie
As a 45yr old gamer with kids, I have a huge backlog of games that I enjoy at my own pace. My only issue is that I have too many options.
same, I have a top of the line pc with over 800 steam games, and also an emulator for every system, also have the actual old school hardware of Atari 2600, NES, SNES, Genesis model 1, 32X, Saturn, Gamecube, N64, Dreamcast, and PS2 with fliptop swapmagic, and I also have some handhelds like the Miyo Mini, Anbernic 35XX, RG552, and finally a AYN Odin Lite. I do not however have a Steamdeck. I have the same problem with what to play, too many options.
as a fetus in a fetus sack with no kids being a pre born kid i have a backlog of fetus games with 1000s of fetuses to play in the future its awesome
To be fair, both Nintendo and SEGA didn't start as video game companies. They too thought "hey, maybe we could make money off this new video game thing".
My hot take is, a bigger collection doesn't mean better. Someone with 20 games for a system may have a better collection due to having games dearer to them and of specific types of games with a story as to choosing those games over others compared to someone who has (let's say) 500 games in their collection who is collecting plastic for bragging rights, not caring on the game or never intending to play the game
👍
Gotta agree. It’s easy to have 50 of the most common games loose in a box - lots of people have them without even trying, leftover from childhood. Even 500 is just more for the sake of more.
But having a few gems, that’s what impresses me. I’m more impressed with a single copy of Mega Man X3 than a crate full of generic games picked up at a garage sale.
I've been preachin' this sort of thing on my channel for a while now. Glad we see eye to eye!
@@Mike-B-Jackson What if the games picked up from a garage sale is something near and dear to your heart?
For me, I do have a collection that's a bit shy of 300 games, but I'm more of a guy who tends to like "curiosities". As I say, I care less about if a game is good than if a game is interesting. I have some more well known games like God Hand or MGS3, but I also have stuff like Mojib Ribbon or The Divide: Enemies Within. I like seeing these hidden gems pop up.
I agree, Playstation and Xbox as brands aren't exciting to me anymore either. There was a time when I felt like I had to have all of the current consoles because of the exclusives, but sadly, that's no longer the case for me anymore.
Yeah, Switch and PC get me 99% of the games I'm interested in now, which was unthinkable before. Dreamcast, GameCube, PS2, even Xbox all had a substantial amount of games I didn't want to miss out on, not to mention Game Boy Color/Advance and even Neo Geo Pocket Color.
What's exclusive to PS5 I really need to play?
Zelda is such a banger for sure. Switch and PC race for the win
@@VulpasGRAN TURISMO 7 WITH A WHEEL AND PEDAL SET UP OR FORZA HORIZON 5 ON X BOX SX
@@Vulpas literally the only reason i want one is when FF16 is coming out, but.....that's just one game. Maybe Chrono Odyssey console edition (since it's looks cool) but I'll stick to what I got for now.....
@@Vulpas God of War: Ragnorok, Gran Turismo 7, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Horizon: Forbidden West, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves collection, Demon's Soul, Spiderman Remastered and Astro's Playroom, just to name a few.
Completely agreed with you on linear vs open world. I do like it when games like Sonic have branching pathways and whatnot to compliment more linear game design to incentivize replayability, but I feel like more often than not most ‘open world’ game have an issue where it feels like the ‘world’ design is basically just a bunch of empty space that you have to travel through to get from one destination to another, plus I have a tendency to feel overwhelmed by not really knowing where I should go or what’s the best way to traverse through a game which really isn’t the case with most ‘linear’ titles.
That Sonic game is actually open zone not open world. IDK what the diff is though.
@@Hauntaku I was kinda referring to Sonic as a whole really
I don't have a preference for linear or open world, or anything in between, I just need it to make sense.
If you're going to introduce the "where do I go now" difficulty in your game, make it rewarding to find the way. If it's just for the sake of finding the path, I will just look it up on a walkthrough, and every time I have to do that my patience diminishes
I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking it is too easy to end up meandering in open world games and it gets boring. I tried for years to force myself to try to love GTA and just couldn't do it, no matter how many quests/missions it had to stumble onto.
Yeah the best one is GTA 5. All the other ones suck.
@@tonyp9313me and most GTA fans I know feel the exact opposite and prefer the other games to V
GTA has always told you where to go and puts a dot on your map... The story line is pretty linier.
100%. I find open world games to actually detract from the point of the game. In Skyrim you are not the Dragonborn, you are average hero #3 and the dragons are just a nuisance. In Far Cry you are murderhobo #10. In AC you are super soldier/assassin #5. The open-world nature just mean that the main point of the story, the driving narrative, just gets lost in a bunch of pointless and inane sidequests.
I think there is a good way to do open world games and there are bad ways to make them. One thing is for sure, the genre is over saturated. It also can be overwhelming. But it’s only open world games that can truly suck me into the game. I don’t play video games nearly as much as I used to but I’ve recently put in 165 hours into Tears of the Kingdom. Because Nintendo very smartly made wandering around in that game a reward in itself.
But Ubisoft, those games got out of control. It felt like busywork.
In general, I tend to play linear games because it’s easier to keep track of where you are. But that also means I’ve basically sworn off RPGs.
Agree 100% on linear vs open world. I know in modern gaming open world is the popular thing, but I like a defined goal or start and ending. Many of them feel overly bloated and needlessly long.
I think part of why open world games are so popular nowadays is that game devs want customers to feel like they are getting what they are paying for, but I feel it often results in needless padding.
And what's "open" about pay walls? It's like being given half a diploma because loans aren't paid.
The only open world games that stand out in my mind as really enjoyable to me personally are driving games (because you are constantly engaging with the main mechanics of the game, driving cars), and Elden Ring. Most of the others to me are kinda just okay at best.
Open world games are a fad which will fade out eventually.
@@Hauntaku as lukewarm as I am on most open world games, this is absolutely not true. Open World games may saturate the market less as time goes by, but there will always be an appeal to having a large world to explore.
Love your stuff man, best outro on UA-cam
With open world games i get stuck looking up the impacts of my decisions before I make them so I get the outcome i desire. I end up burning out
Putting my collection room together I’ve found this channel. Love your videos. Will ALWAYS watch 🙌
Thank you :) Hope your room comes together nicely!
I get what you're saying that open world games have a certain risk to their design philosophy, but linear games can fall into an equal and opposite trope: An experience that is TOO guided. Sometimes I'll be playing a linear game, and I have to sit back and ask myself, "How much am I the PLAYER actually PLAYING right now? Am I making any meaningful decisions? Am I learning or adapting? Is there actually a GAME here? I'm pushing the buttons, but I'm just pushing all the buttons that the devs wanted me to push." At its worst, this produces the "mash A to continue" type of RPGs -- I think we've all played one or two of those. They end up being less of a "game" and more of a (guided) "experience."
I love linear video games. I also concur with you about Sega and Nintendo being more exciting companies.
I think FF7 starts out 10/10 but gradually loses some steam as it opens up and allows you to wander.
I worked with a guy who was terrified of horses. I didn't think anything of it when he first mentioned it, but I quickly found out just how scared he was. We worked installing wireless internet services in rural areas of the potato state. Now, when one goes around these areas, you encounter lots of different wild animals, and that includes horses. Literal wild stallions, haha. Anyway, we are setting up a radio antenna, and a pack of wild horses comes out of nowhere, and all I heard was guttural screaming as he ran to the work truck, got in a drove off. It's still the funniest thing I've ever seen. This was in that sweet spot before modern smart phones, so there is no video 😢
Now that's a story!
I can see where you are coming from on open world games. As much as I love BotW and TotK, it is a huge commitment to actually beat one of those games, and yes there is a lot of wondering around looking at scenery lol. At least those games feel like actual video games though. RDR2 is just so damn slow and tedious, I feel like I can move around and do things faster in the real world than the character in the game can.
The best snack for gamers is a banana. Now that's controversial.
On the topic of books that let you choose the ending - I immediately thought of the Scholastic Super Mario Advance and Wario Land 4 books I had as a kid where they let you choose your adventure. I remember the Wario Land one in particular was really funny.
I'm about the same with open-world games - I'm much more drawn to games that look to be more manageable in length, as I tend to find the idea of open-world games daunting for how many hours can go into them (not that it should be about finishing the games, anyway).
I'm not certain if my previous comment was automatically removed or if you personally deleted it, suspecting it might be an advertisement for my game. I assure you, that was not my intention at all. As a long-standing fan of your channel, I only mentioned our game, "The Talkie", because it seemed relevant to the discussion about interactive books. I genuinely believe that it could offer a new perspective for you. Thanks!
I pretty much never delete comments myself unless somebody is harassing somebody and that almost never happens. Your comment must've been deleted by UA-cam, which automatically deletes a lot of comments. I don't mind you mentioning your game in that context at all :)
@@RetroBirdGaming Great, thanks! And you're right about PlayStation and Xbox. It's just not the same...
I can't say I disagree with any of these. Mortal Kombat always felt inelegant to me next to what Capcom and SNK were doing at the time, and Microsoft and Sony don't bring much in the way of personality with their brands.
Open world games are definitely not my cup of tea. I enjoy one now and again, but I almost always end up feeling like there was a lot of bloat involved meant to elongate the experience with content that is just simple and repetitive. Stuff like bandit camps, themed puzzles, and minigames can feel all randomized, and don't feel particularly intentional. These things make me feel like my time isn't respected.
I could go on for ages with my own controversial opinions, but I definitely align with yours here.
@@100toonlink Possibly...
"the author has full control of the experience that the reader is going to have."
My little brother heavily disagrees with this statement.
hahah :)
I love your point about linearity. I think this is why many people miss old Zelda. They used to balance the line between freedom and linearity so well.
You were open to explore, but some linearity means you can tell a story more easily, and the rewards often feel more impactful.
In these new Zelda's we were given all of our tools up front, rather than getting a new one for each temple, which gave us fewer substantial or unique rewards to look forward to.
I thought this video was going to be about your obsession with bananas. Now that’s controversial 🍌
Great video. What a hard topic to discuss in 2023. Games have changed so much. I remember playing pac man when it first came out
Yeah & those were great games until the nes came out. I don't know what they were thinking with high scoring games but you need endings in every game.
@@tonyp9313It was all about those quarters man. You didn't get the high score? Slam another slug in and try again!
@@SoulSecureOfficial Yeah & ripping off people. I know. Looking back on it not very cool. That's = to micro transactions.
Great video!!
About linear VS open world: I believe that there's really two kind of gamers.
The great example of this is Super Mario Bros 1 vs Zelda 1.
I like when you have to think for yourself where to go next.
But in Zelda 1 there's "linear stuff" embedded:
1 - you get clues from people in caves and in dungeons
2 - you cannot beat for example Level 4 if you don't have the item from Level 3 so you have to at least visit level 3 and grab that item.
3 - you have to beat all of the 8 first levels (dungeons) so you can get full access to level 9.
So yeah, Zelda 1 is an open world game with some limitations but I love it!
I just came up with the idea to beat Zelda 1 in the reverse order: 87654321 and then 9. Probably gonna take 2-3 hours :)
I think bringing up the Legend of Zelda on the NES is important in the linear vs. open games. As it was one of the first video games to really expand and popularize what an open game is. Same with Metroid. Before then, we had things like the Atari titles like Adventure, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Haunted House.
I think open games are so stigmatized, particularly by retro gamers, more due to the bloat, time wasters of modern open world games that are far too common now. While forgetting that many classic games are just as open. And in your example, actually more open; since many modern open world games have a main story that has to be done linearly.
Oh God! I wish Zelda remained that way!
No like this breath of the Wild crap
I'm actually trying to collect all Zelda games and when I'm done I gonna play all games in kind of release order. The games that I miss are Wind Waker and Four Swords. I might skip Four Swords but I really love the graphics profile in that game, reminds a lot of A Link To The Past (SNES). I also miss Minish Cap but I "got it" on NSO.
I got a Wii and a Switch so I'm thinking about if I should try to get the GameCube version or hope for a remaster for Switch.
So.... BotW and TotK will be a the games that I will save for last :) got both (physical copies).
So which order should you play the games? I've talked with Final Fantasy gamers about that and the answers are that it's not that important to play in release order: 1 to 16. But for Zelda I wanna play all games in release order!
Two Zelda games that I wanna skip: the two DS games. That game with the train and that game with the ocean. I don't have strong feelings for those two games. And of course also the CD-i games.
@@cjeeldeI actually wanna try the CDi games just to have a good laugh at how awful they are
Yeah I guess you need to distinguish between retro open world that was still more linear and modern open world which is just massive worlds with tons of generic, uninspired content, where you actually WANT to fast travel to get through the boring expanse. I think Starfield is the quintessential modern open world game: stupidly more quantity over very little quality.
"well I like to talk about Sega" bless you
I totally get where you're coming from on Mortal Kombat. I loved that game in the 90s so long as I had someone to play with. As soon as I moved to a new town I dropped it like a hot rock.
MKII is much better anyway IMO...but all the same I'd rather just pop in Melee lol
You're so right! It's odd that considering both sides of a topic is controversial and seen as not having an opinion: especially odd when you give your opinion at the end; and you're just presenting the validity of both sides so viewers can be informed and recognize where their opinion may fall along the spectrum of possibility.
TL;DR: I dig your style keep it up, it's fun, fair, and authentic.
I'm almost scared to voice opinions on games or any media because the backlash I get for anything like not seeing something fast enough, not enjoying something a certain way or at all, or any complaint of that dimension gets thrown around and it's a waste of my energy to try and appease those people. I have a lot of controversial opinions these days.
your take on mortal kombat helped me realize something - I just love it when people love video games as well. Even when its a game I've never heard of, when someone gets that excited about it I feel it almost vicariously through them. Love your videos man keep 'em comin'!
I love the cadence for which you speak. It ssslows down .. for ..the.. first half, thennn speedsupfortherest.
Its relaxing. 😴
Here's my controversial opinion: Maps or mini-maps OFTEN have a negative effect on a game.
Look at early RPGs without maps. You had to actually learn the world. You had to pay attention and remember where stuff was. You felt connected to the world you were exploring because you were constructing a mental model of it in your head. But once maps became super prevalent, it started to get a little too easy to forego the whole "learning the world" thing. A game like Morrowind hit the perfect balance, imo. It gave you maps, but you'd have to really sit down and pore over them to find stuff. And if you wanted to get somewhere, you'd have to remember like, "Ok, I can take the Silt Strider here first, then there's a Mage's Guild I can use to teleport over here, then I a have to walk west for a while." Compare that to Oblivion, and it's just like: "follow the quest marker! No need to learn the world at all! You don't even need to learn how to GET to anywhere! Just fast travel instantly to anywhere you like!" It's been 20 years and I can still name a handful of cities from Morrowind off the top of my head. Could NOT say the same for Oblivion.
I really love this style of video, would love to see it again!
How is it that you only have 38K Subscribers is beyond me! Your content is thoughtful, and very well done. I just love the funny zig zags that you do! Your one of my favorite channels on UA-cam! Thank you
He's come along way. I found him a year and half ago and he only had a little over 5k.
I really appreciate that!
38,000 subscribers is sizeable audience by normal human standards. If you put those 38,000 people in a stadium you'd be a rock star.
@@AnthonyFlack I meant no disrespect towards Retro Bird with that! I think he should have a lot more subscribers because of the great content.
“I’m being told it’s a butterfly”
I hear you on thinking about the whole spectrum. I don't do forceful opinions on things. I want to get along with everyone and it makes me happy that people can enjoy things that I don't.
There's nothing "wrong" about your opinions because they're your thoughts and you're free to express them. I relate to all these points.
Came across this channel a few days ago and I’ve been binging it nonstop! Solid context with great positive humor.
On this post, couldn’t agree more about Mortal Kombat, I love the franchise and the re-re-reboot was a let down. I won’t be stepping into a MK game so quickly next time.
Glad to have you on the channel and happy to hear you're enjoying the videos!
You *definitely* made a hot take in there❗I can say with confidence that the reason you don't get Mortal Kombat's appeal is because you're _slightly_ too young to have had those machines 'appear' out of nowhere in the arcade, bowling alley, skating rink ...and how they *forever* transformed what it meant to be a *great* arcade game. MK in the arcade was PURE 'teenager' with how feverishly we were all slamming rolls of quarters into it to get better and be the best. Not only that, but the ingenious way Midway ensured that a *_multitude_* of absolutely INCREDIBLE, even _layered_ secrets permeated the entire early series. You could *literally* be the only person in your _entire_ city at the time who new certain secondary (or tertiary) fatalities, perform a floor fatality for the first time _ever_ in that arcade and watch people's minds just 🤯🤯🤯..maybe you lucked-out and the accidental key combo "did something", but you'd probably _never_ share it if you learned how unless it was a friend or something, and folks would carefully watch each others' movements and button inputs like a chef's apprentice.
Keep in mind that the whole of the Internet back then consisted of you going to one of your few friends who were on dial-up and accidentally figuring out that you didn't have to search *inside* AOL, Prodigy, or Compuserve's built-in browser, and could instead use Netscape. Literally only one or two sources online had any meaningful codes, but *sometimes* they'd have that amazing one-of-a-kind code that *definitely* had never been tried in your locals before...
Modern versions of any game nowadays could never replicate living the actual, authentic Mortal Kombat arcade experience from the 90s. Early-to-mid 90s was such an incredible time for arcades, because there was still "hidden magic" that even the Internet couldn't help you with _really._ This is one of the key reasons that fighting games, particularly those which didn't have the full moves list printed along the monitor bezels, were so FUN originally.
I still liked your video tho, because I appreciate your candor, even tho... well you just didn't live the proper MK experience and that's *OK* Retro Bird✨
My hot take: pre-rendered backgrounds and fixed camera angles constitute a significant part of what made the Resident Evil series fun, interesting, and exciting.
Could you imagine how much better the world would be if everybody looked at both sides of an opinion?
Or on the other hand, maybe that would make the world worse 🤔
I guess mine would be I don't really like M. Bison as a villian. He doesn't have a beef with Ryu, but he does with Chun Li and Guile, and Akuma works better for an evil Ryu.
Just compare his interactions with Ryu to those between Terry and Geese, and the awkward family reunion that is Tekken.
your videos are so enjoyable, Retro Bird!
I appreciate your perspective on linear games and mortal kombat
Glad to hear it!
@@RetroBirdGaming R U sure?
First time I'm commenting here and the sentence, that people think you've got no own opinion by looking at things from different sides (even you add your personal opinion to that) hit me hard...
I'm the same way and hearing you say this as a fellow retro gamer made me really smile :)
Great post. Your last controversial opinion struck me as the moral and motivation of this post, but super interesting to hear your other takes! The Sony vs Sega observations are very true, I never considered that.
Yeah, I'd say you're definitely onto something with the moral/motivation partly being the last part of the video. That said, your comment is one of those comments where I have a hard time trying to read into it. Did you find that part of the video unnecessary? Good? Bad? I'd be interested to hear more.
@@RetroBirdGaming Definitely good, I find it entertaining when creators occasionally engage with criticism. All the takes were thought-provoking / entertaining.
I agree with your Playstation take, but only for the PS4 and onward there are a couple that stand out, but nothing I care about. PS2 and PS3 dropped more from Sony directly that were cool like Ratchet and Clank, Sly Cooper, Jak and Daxter, God of War, LBP, Wipeout, Twisted Metal, Ape Escape, Shadow of Colosus, Parappa the Rapper and some more like Medievil. Unfortunately most of them are dead franchises some came to a natural end and some never got one. Now we get similar games with not as much variety from the Sony Studios I wish they went back to that.
I'm also not saying that they don't make good games still. I love the new Ratchet, Ghost of Tsushima and Spiderman, but the others they release don't have gameplay that entice me. Also more honorable mentions are Infamous and Uncharted.
The hottest of takes, the chillest of takes. This is why r.b rules
As a previous owner, I have some nostalgia for the OG Xbox. The graphics still standup today and there are plenty of great exclusives, and as for the non-exclusives, the Xbox often got the best port. However, I didn't upgrade to a 360 and when the red ring of death story broke, I was never buying one. Instead, I got a Wii, which I played earlier today.
on the last opinion, that's actually something i really like.
giving another youtuber as an example, nerrel can switch between a freedom loving PC and a more simple (simple =/= bad) console gamer perspective super easily, to the point of combining them to give a full picture.
my more controversial gaming opinion is real life is the best story ever told, so settings in games tend to have trouble grabbing me.
They're not rebooting Mortal Kombat in the traditional sense. Mortal Kombat 11 was a time travel story and the new Mortal Kombat 1 is a sequel to Mortal kombat 11. They're retelling the story in another way because of the time travel. Hell, Lui Kang is basically Raiden now which changes the entire dynamic. You should look into it.
could change this title to most insightful gaming opinions as it was eye opening as I never quite thought about some of these topics this way (business aspect of Sony/Microsoft or open world games vs linear games).
I completely agree with this whole linear games being better thing.
I could never find the right words to describe how I feel about them but the way you said it is a completely accurate description of what I think
I prefer linear video games as well but I do think it depends on the game. I dont think Breath of the Wild would have been a better game if it were linear. I also don't think Ocarina of Time would have been better if it were more open world. I still love these games pretty equally.
What I dislike about the new Mortal Kombat is that the staff studied and looked over actual death and gore. Autopsies and such to get the gore in the game down, and to thats a bit much. Solid controls still though
I disagree with Mortal Kombat controlling well, I think it's pretty subpar in comparison to its competitors in the genre when it comes to pure gameplay. I'd much rather play Street Fighter or Guilty Gear because they just feel so much smoother to play.
@mallow2902 Capcom has definitely always been superior in control. Besides the first one I did feel like they controlled well enough. My point is the game plays well, but the lengths they went to to try to recreate real life gore is overkill imo.
Another controversial opinion: Your Videos are way too short and I always wish they were longer, yet this exact format is part of what makes them so appealing and I keep clicking on another video, just one more...
Agree with every opinion stated. Always a nice treat to hear someone else say mortal combat sucks.
Point 3 about linear vs open-world is hugely controversial these days. But I completely agree with you. Some of my favorite frnachises have been ruined by going open-world: Zelda, MGS, DS (Elden Ring). They really lost their charm and tightness by transitioning.
My prize game is mk trilogy on Saturn. Still love your content and opinions though. Mk has a deep story and keeps me around
The whole reason I don’t even have a PS5 or Xbox Series is because I am not excited about anything on offer from either one (1st exception: the exclusive of Final Fantasy XVI, but still not enough for me to get a PS5 yet).
Agreed. For me, Sony is still a electronics company, and Microsoft is a software company. SEGA and Nintendo (and others from the 70s and 80s) are gaming companies. In fact, I was kind of amazed when Sony entered the console market. It still looks like an outsider to me.
Open World games are not streamlined at all, they make you lose a lot of time going from there to there, and doing a lot of menial tasks. They can be very good, but I'd rather get a more linear, steamlined game that takes half the time to complete.
I grew up with Mega Drive (Genesis) and SNES. Later on I got a PS2, 3, 4 and now 5. I also got a Switch.
I like some games for the Sony system, but I won't lie: I always get hyped when there's a Nintendo Direct announced and I always try to watch it live. When Sony does the same for the PS5/4 I'm like "yeah, I'll read what's been announced later on the internet"
I genuinely agreed with everything. Curious what else we have in common!
I hope you make more videos like this in the future. Be well and thanks for the weekly uploads!
Yeah, we might have some other things in common as well. You a fan of bananas?
@RetroBirdGaming ya know always been a fan of chopping them up and adding them to my cheerios lol
I've been playing my old PS2 more lately. I have 5 other consoles, but my old PS2 will always continue to be my favorite.
Your preference for linear games I totally agree with. Open-world games are just an excuse for developers to be lazy and not actually do any solid game design. They might as well just toss a blank notebook and a pen at us and say, you can design any game you want! Gee, thanks. It's a total cop-out most of the time. I'd much rather play a well-crafted linear game over and over than an empty, lifeless, "you-can-go-anywhere-you-want" game even once. There are exceptions and some open-world games are exciting, but I find the ones that do it well still have some elements of linearity to them and are careful about making sure the world isn't too same-y.
I’ve tried to get into Mortal Kombat. Turns out 2 has brutally difficult AI even on the lowest difficulty (through the Midway Arcade Treasures collection on Xbox). Very discouraging. 3 was thankfully more manageable, but still didn’t grab me all that much.
I play MK2 on the 32x hooked up to my CDX. That thing is sweet lol
I DID like what RetroBird had to say.
I think we all knew instinctively that MK was not that great of a game, but the novelty and violence and cool factor pretty much made up for all of that, so we just kind of excepted it for what it was in. On the same note I loved some PS1 games, never cared about Xbox because it always seemed like a “me too” entry , a console-ized watered down windows PC without the functionality of one. There were some great games in it, but Nintendo and Sega have always had tons of personality, whereas PlayStation and Especially Xbox seemed to always be blander, given that many games would make it to both systems.
Of course I’m a jaded millennial who feels that the best days of gaming are truly behind us, that’s why retro game content and interest is at an all-time high. Louis Rossman released video the other day saying how he completely passes on anything 2011 and newer because of all the relentless thuggery micro transaction BS, and he just simply ops out. He makes the point that he could spend the rest of his life playing the remaining back catalog of games from the 8/16 bit & N64 PS1/Dreamcast/PS2/GameCube lineage and never run out of fun titles to play.
He has a great point, and that’s where I am too. I prefer to fire up my switch and I do play some newer stuff on that, but I have three mini retro consuls an N64 w/ an everDrive, and a PC. Most of the time I play the mega-hit 64 and SNES games, and they always make me feel good and I never get bored.
I think that if you grew up with the systems and games that we did from the 80s, 90s-early 00s that we got spoiled. I don’t want to play games that require internet to function, I like games that are simple and pure experiences. Nintendo still provides that because they know who their core audience is, they know what gamers actually want.
Fantastic video as always Bird. ✌️
Modern gaming can’t compare to 90s SEGA and Nintendont. It was a special time.
I completely agree with all of your opinions, especially the open world vs linear discussion. I have tried time and time again to get into open world games and I just feel I am wasting my time with the majority of them. A good example is Spider-Man 2 and Spider Man The Movie, both for the PS2 and GameCube. Spider Man 2 is often considered the much better game by fans but I actually prefer the predecessor. The first game was completely linear, you’d have stages with a single objective and you’d progress through the stages, with nothing but cutscenes in between. The second game added an open world New York and proper web swinging physics, with lots of side quests and diverging paths. But I oftentimes feel the first game gave a more tailored experience, cloudswinging notwithstanding.
Like when 3d came to the scene and everything had to be 3d, that kinda happened during the 360 with open world games. I remember reviewers bashing games for being linear.
I agree, I like linear games more.
I liked the older MK games more. Even though they were janky, they had a charm to them. The newer ones while still good, feel like they are missing something.
For me, I feel like series is too stiff and clunky compared to other fighting games. The gore pushes the boundary more and more, which I wouldn't have a huge problem with, except that it feels gratuitous because it doesn't feel like it serves much of a purpose, in part because the gameplay is so mediocre. It doesn't help that attack animations are so awkward in contrast to how well animated X-ray attacks, crushing blows, fatalities, etc. are.
@@mallow2902 The gameplay was always medicore at best. The gore and violence is what made MK popular. If it didn't have it, it would have been swept under the rug as another generic fighter trying to cash grab on SF II's popularity. I agree with you on how the fatalities are super violent now. I guess that's another reason why I like the older games. The fatalities were violent for the time but in more of a cheesy kinda way.
@@GoodVibeCollecting I'll never forget Kung Lao's fatality in UMK3 where he throws his hat and it cuts the opponent down piece by piece starting from the head and they yell "D'OHHHH!" every time the hat hits, even after the head is chopped off.
The video game market is almost analogous to the natural world in its ecosystem. Only those that learn to adapt and evolve survive at the end. While I love Sega and miss their days as a console manufacturer, they unfortunately could not escape their fate and eventually the stronger opponent (ie Sony) won due to being able to read the market and provide experiences that a wider audience were craving for. Nintendo on the other hand probably should have gone out of business, had they not created unique experiences that other consoles were not offering. By having a niche they were able to escape direct competition with more formidable opponents. The whole thing is fascinating to tell you the truth
Nintendo succeeded because they are the only unique AAA gaming company right now. Even with a massive flop like ARMS, at least it was unique.
@@Hauntaku Their first party games are definitely a large part of their success, but even that alone wasn't enough to prevent them from losing almost $50 million dollars from the Wii U. In fact if Switch didn't turn their fortunes around I guarantee you they would probably have gone the way of Sega
Hey @retrobird, Ike here again, just wanting to say I love this video. I too love just talking about video games even if it's something I'm not fond of or don't care for. Just hearing someone else's passion about their experience is always a good time and makes me rethink my own opinion. That goes hand in hand with understanding someone else's viewpoint on video games too. Like I love Moetal Kombat. I was one of those kids that was forbidden to play it, but also knew the blood kode on SEGA for when I went to my friends place that had a copy. But I also understand your opinion and others that dislike the game. Also totally agree with your linear vs open world opinion. However...(lol) I think it's also due to how much time us adults have to play. Open worlds with nothing to do and a day to waste use to be a great time. Now there are no days like that and the hours to pour into them just feel like a chore. Anyhoo just want to say thanks for the great video, and I'll be here for the next one.
Definitely agree on Mortal Kombat, not because I'm against blood and gore (some of my favorite games like Doom are extremely violent), but because it feels like that's all Mortal Kombat has going for it, and even then it doesn't feel justified a lot of the time. It just feels really gratuitous in a way that gore in other games somehow doesn't. Not only that, Mortal Kombat has always felt like one of the stiffest, clunkiest fighting games on the market. Compared to its Japanese competition like Street Fighter, any of SNKs offerings (especially Samurai Shodown, another quite bloody fighting game, and one where the violence feels a bit more justified), or Guilty Gear, Mortal Kombat feels awkward to control in a way those other games don't, and it's felt that way all the way through to the newest entry, at least for me. It still always sells a lot though, so it can lean hard on its gore factor and admittedly impressive single player content offerings and never really feel like it needs to make its gameplay feel smoother. Since a fighting game's mechanics and general gameplay feel are my biggest concerns when playing though, Mortal Kombat feels like a series built on a gimmick. If I can just get everything good the game has to offer by looking up the fatalities on UA-cam, why would I buy it to experience a subpar fighting experience, especially when I have Street Fighter 6 (or any of the many excellent previous entries) already? At least Doom not only has blood and gore, it has excellent first person shooter gameplay to back it up.
When it comes to video game youtube videos, yours are always an instant click
Happy to hear it!
I miss the Wild West feeling of the 90's where it seemed anyone could release a console and take a crack at the industry. The standardization of the industry has taken much of the magic away from me.
Mad respect to you bro! Good to have you in the gaming community. :)
as someone who grew up playing A LOT of mortal kombat, I can in fact confirm it sucks. I used to play Mortal Kombat 9 a lot, and it ruined quite a few friendships lol. I would always go easy on my friends as I did not want to scare them away from fighting against me, but every time I did that, they would mock and laugh at me for "sucking" at the game, and they would get very disrespectful. So then I would actually TRY, and would flawless victory them by doing 2 large combo's juggling them so they could not even fight back.
I got kicked out of my friends house for doing this, he go extremely angry at me when I won and told me to gtfo his house. He mocked me for over an hour and no problem doing that, but when I showed him I actually was not trying and going easy on him, all of a sudden I'm an asshole?
"Playstation and Xbox are not exciting as brands" ,"Mortal Kombat Sucks", "Linear Games are Better"... "Mentions books"
*Crowd chases Retro Bird with pitchforks and I watch as everyone lights their torches... I silently agree with Retro Bird , for my safety!
You're right about Xbox and Playstation. I think these consoles have a very utilitarian image, they're like appliances.
Videogames can have an open world bit still have a linear progression. Knights of the Old Republic is a great example. When you get to the portion where you have access to four planets, you can choose to pick off each individual planet or you can hop around between planets before finishing the main quest on each one. Pokemon also does this well.
I agree with all the opinions you gave, except for the one about MK. But hey, everyone has his or her own preferences.
I always love having somebody disagree so respectfully. I appreciate it my friend!
Glad to do so. That’s one of the things I like best about you and your channel too. You are so respectful of the opinions of others too!
I fully agree with everything you said EXCEPT your opinion on Mortal Kombat. Nintendo & Sega will always be THE gaming companies. Linear is better than open world. I’d take “A Link To The Past” over “Breath of The Wild” any day. And it’s great to see everything from both sides. Because my opinion.. isn’t the only opinion 🙌🏻
My big one is that I've always preferred joysticks to d-pads, specifically in the 8-bit and 16-bit eras and I mean for all games, not just fighting games. I dunno, I've just always associated d-pads with sore thumbs, then again, my first d-pad console was a Sega Master System which had terrible default controllers but, fortunately, the Master System also had the excellent Control Stick, which is a lot more sturdy.
I know joysticks aren't that practical with modern gaming due to modern controllers having more than two or three buttons. I have tried playing some non-Flight Simulator games on PC with a flightstick, since it has some buttons on the stick, with some success but I usually just play PC games with an XBox 360 controller since it's more comfortable to hold overall and the thumbsticks are at least preferable to the d-pad even if I don't get the satisfaction of grasping a really big joystick.
Couldn't agree more about linear games being better than open games. Especially as an adult where I don't usually have time to sit down and play a game for hours.
The lack of respect for “choose your own adventure” books is appalling.
In regards to each of the opinions presented in this video:
1) PlayStation and Xbox also don't have a lot of long-running franchises that're still alive today. Go ahead, name seven franchises from each brand that were made a long time ago, are still with said brand's respective companies, and aren't dead in the water. Bet you can't!
2) I wouldn't know, as I've never played Mortal Kombat on the grounds that I get squeamish about gore.
3) For every open-world game that feels too daunting with Choice Anxiety, there's a linear game that feels too railroady.
4) Impartialty is key to not being Hella Biased nor letting said bias cloud one's judgment.
But there's nothing wrong with rail shooters. In fact Star Fox is still one of the best ones ever. Same with Panzer Dragoon.
@@CasepbX Not _that_ kinda rail! I'm talking moreso "railroading" in the TTRPG sense.
Mortal Kombat DID suck for the better part of its life but as an avid fighting game player, I think everything from 2011 onwards is pretty solid. The Midway games can be fun but they're really clunky compared to anything else on the market even at the time. The Netherream Studios stuff isn't perfect but I think they stepped up the game and actually try to bundle a decent fighting game in with the spectacle
The games improved but they never match the quality of King of Fighters or Tekken, much more technical and rewarding games, with imo better aesthetics and music. Plus then MK went woke and I never looked back.
This is off topic, but your voice is like Alan Alda with occasional slides into Dan Castellaneta.
Mortal Kombat up until UMK3/Trilogy was so awesome to me, but I get why it may not appeal to you. With the modern MK games, I feel like I'm watching a SAW movie or something. I don't need my fatalities to be THAT detailed lol. MKII Was a pretty damn good balance between gnarly gore (at the time) with fun cartoony graphics, and solid gameplay.
Ape escape though… amazing first party ps1 game when the dual analog controller came out
I agree. I love that game.
People like Mortal Kombat because people like ninjas.
As a collector, i only have a ps2 for Vice City and Katamari damacy.. the rest of my time is n64 and sega genesis..
Yeah, the Give Yourself Goosebumps weren't nearly as good as the traditional Goosebumps titles.
Appreciate your opinions, keep up the good work.
Brilliant video! I never really liked Mortal Kombat all that much either, but the theme song is super cool.
My controversial opinion, some game developers can’t program like they used to. A lot of the newer games are buggy messes that need almost like a year of updates to fix them. Also some developers need to learn about compression. A game that takes about 30 hours to complete should not be exceeding 100 gigs., no matter how good the graphics are.
I agree that a focused, more linear experience is far more engaging than an open world game that might occasionally have these hot pockets of interesting things, but they are surrounded by miles of vast, open boringness. Most just devolve into giant checklist simulators by the time you are a few hours into them. RDR2, BotW, and TotK have made massive leaps to solve this, but most just get boring. Ubisoft is the biggest offender imo.
If I had to guess, I'd say you are either a teacher or an engineer. Your speech is experientially crafted. Your opinion on linear games vs open world games is an example.
I agree with all of these to be honest. I think it’s because we are in the same age demo though. Like younger people that grew up not knowing Sega or how good the NES and SNES were, and started with open world games, will likely see it different.
I’ve always disliked open world games for the reasons you said, they feel like watered down versions of something that could be amazing for the sake of artificially increasing how many hours someone can get out of a game.
Really great point about Sony/Microsoft compared to Nintendo/Sega. I fully agree with your statements on that one and I may even argue that the PS1 is my favorite console of all time.
I also agree that Mortal Kombat kinda sucks and never really appealed to me. I'm not into the way it handles the over the top gore and the combat was never as solid as in games like Street Fighter, Tekken, Soul Calibur, or the Capcom/SNK fighting games
I completely agree with this video, because there are hidden gems for that gaming console I own and I learn to appreciate variety in video games. Well I always root for the underdog meaning I am a Sega and Atari fan, but I have place in my heart for Nintendo too.