Is The Gaming Industry On The Brink Of Collapse? | State Of The Arc Podcast
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- Опубліковано 20 лют 2024
- We've been hearing some buzz lately about a coming collapse for the gaming industry. Why is this happening? What can be done about it? How has gaming culture changed since we were growing up? We explore all of these questions on this week's State of the Arc podcast!
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Another thing that’s worth considering is that kids are literally not playing the same games we used to play back in the day. Modern kids and teens almost exclusively play games like Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite. These are online multiplayer games that encourage the interactivity and socialization that some kids might be missing from our more increasingly isolated modern world. Games that are designed to be social and stimulate the brain with dopamine to hook people to keep coming back and interact with it. Some of these kids have been constantly playing these same games exclusively for the better part of a decade and playing nothing else.
These are the games their friends are playing, so to not get left out, they’ll play them as well. They’re not necessarily playing the kinds of traditional style gaming experiences that we grew up with like Sonic, Mario, Zelda, Final Fantasy, Tekken, Metal Gear, Megaman, Metroid, Street Fighter, Kingdom Hearts, pokemon etc. What kind of consequence this will have in the future is yet to be seen, but it’s worth noting.
I do think that it'll be similar to those back in the 1980s and 1990s whom have very limited video gaming experience due to money issues. And even then these children that only play at least three games for the rest of their life will be even more limited than those before Facebook and UA-cam hit the scene back in the day. And also much more toxic and hateful towards others who hate the games they love. But at the same time, I do think it's really the parents that decide what games are shown to their kids versus who don't. And yeah, peer pressure is still a thing to this very day.
Monkey-brained kids being raised (not by parent!) to be mindless consumers. Period. Seriously.
This format is highly enjoyable. It requires less commitment from the listener than the analysis series do, it offers some bite-sized discussion on topics that are obvious from the title, compared to the game analyses that require investment of the viewer into the given game, and the commitment to want to listen to the multitude of episodes. Don't get me wrong that material is what we love the podcast for, but these one-offs are super refreshing to people and I think they'd be nice to see more frequently as a way to add a bit of variety and low-commitment content to draw people back in
I've never seen a channel with a subscription rate this static. It's very weird considering how unique and high quality it is. Great episode!
tell your friends about it!
The algorithm is not kind to long podcast series' or long videos in general. For a gaming channel, they usually expect you to cover the newest and biggest games. I'd imagine the older style videos where they used to talk about a single topic with narration is the kind of stuff that'll get out there. Like 10-15 minutes of a video edited analysis of a single topic or part of a game or any form of media (games, anime, movies).
I do love the podcasts, but I usually tune out for non JRPGs (or western games in general), because the reason I subscribed to then DarkPixel now Resonant Arc was JRPGs. I'm not going to sit and listen to a 9 hour podcast of Bioshock, but I will sit through a 40 hour podcast of Xenogears. I don't mind jumping into other genres or western games, if they are a little more shorter (like 2-3 episodes maybe).
People tend to follow / search new stuff
While this platform talking about "old stuff"
So yeah it's not for general audiences
I love these guys and the format they follow. I don't think they need to change and chase the metrics. Nobody else brings this level of authentic enthusiasm to discussions about gaming classics. The podcasts are great and the odd little video about nostalgic things (such as the N64 one recently) are so heart warming. I'm under no illusions that a big factor is that we are contemporaries of very similar age so the historical and cultural frame of reference is beautiful. Like sitting down to dinner with friends.
You have just discovered your interests are niche and you were likely born in 1986. Relevent to the discussion.
One thing I like about getting older is that I don't feel the need to keep up with anything anymore. I can leave gaming, come back, and I know I'll find something niche I'll like, especially single-player games. There's always going to be something I will like and I don't need to stay up to date with anything outside of general game reviews. It makes playing games so much more enjoyable than trying to get the next online-only game or the AAA game that's focusing on gaining an audience for their subscription services rather than put work into solid gameplay. Indie games and devs are what I look into more often than any big studio games.
100%
It makes me sad seeing people with FOMO talking about “having to grind through this series” to get to the newest entry. I’ve talked with 3 different people telling me they’re either speed running the entire FF7 compilation so they can be caught up for Rebirth or that they feel the need to platinum FFXV (even though they don’t like it) before they play FFXVI.
FOMO is a powerful tool.
It’s why I stopped playing online. I put 600hrs into R6: Siege and had to quit my senior year of engineering school due to school work in 2019. I tried to come back but the meta had changed and I was too far behind. I hate having games feeling like a full time job. Now I just play single player games
Preach bro
Same. For me I was always a local multiplayer type of person, but also enjoyed playing by myself. Hence why my older siblings and I both play console games AND PC games. Although once I was introduced to emulation, I stopped buying video game consoles and gone fully towards PC Gaming, and never looked back. I still collect older consoles like the PS3, Xbox 360 and such, but they're just collector's items, not really stuff I use every single day.
@@orngcreator6115 I feel sorry for people when they say they are "working on" a particular game. That doesn't sound fun... at all
Genuinely curious, how many times during one of these recordings do your guys's knees hit each other?
The 90s game hoaxes/rumors discussion reminded me of the souls games messages, which is the closest modern equivalent I could think of. Players can leave messages on the ground that other players will see in their world. As you can imagine, these range from very helpful, to full on lies that can get your character killed. (I.E. a message near a cliff saying there is a secret if you jump off. Sometimes there actually is.)
Ironically enough, this is one of the only video game related channels I'm subscribed to and for the near decade I've been subscribed is still one of my favorite things to watch.
Seriously, everytime I watch impressed by how well put together these videos are.
I'm in the point where I'm just replaying old games and remembering better times for the videogame culture we had growing up. (Currently replaying FFX for 3rd time and the Kingdom Hearts Saga).
I would be like that, but I hate stagnation. There are some actual good gems out there currently, even released not that long ago.
It's honestly thanks to developer such as Larian or Fromsoftware who continue to remind myself of why I still care about video gaming. Releasing games like Baldur's Gate III or Elden Ring with gameplay first design, without trying to nickel and dime you at every second. It's the big AAA-AAAA publishers out there that continue to make things worse. You're favorite studio is more than likely gone or is a definitive shell of it's former self. Blizzard is exactly that along with Square-Enix and many others.
My advice, just ignore AAA marketers in favor of what looks good to you, and give credit to where it's due to those devs that actually care. Because they are out there, I promise you.
My solution was to transition into indie and AA gaming
Classic jrpgs are heat but the new stuff is actually really great too. Tales of Arise, Xenoblade Trilogy, Nier games, all amazing stuff.
@@phillystevesteak6982 A lot of people will disagree with me, but imo there aren't that many good indie games recently tbh.
FFX is such a good game. Love replaying that one every few years.
Keeping your head out of gaming news is so much better. I used to love how a new game would be on the shelves of your local video store. Now they tell you years in advance and make you wait for an unfinished game to be released 😢
I can remember walking into Blockbuster and seeing Mario Kart on the snes for the first time and just being so hyped that it even existed and I had never heard of it, but also beyond pissed off because all the copies were rented out lol.
Marketing has become everything. It's bigger and more important than the product itself.
Just like "who you pretend to be is more important than you who actually are"...crazy capitalist times we live in...
yea i rember walking into EB games and megaman x4 was just there so i bought it lol. i didnt hear a peep about it
I love the passion and professionalism you guys put on every proyect. I'm having a rough time but watching your old videos always gets me motivated again. Thank you.
As I am now in my 40s, my tastes in games has changed so much. I feel the gaming industry has to change to stay relevant, and also still keep us old gamers engaged since we have more money to spend. I feel that there are too many choices with systems, genres, and games in general that we have choice paralysis. Social media (UA-cam, Twitch, TikTok, Discord, etc) has also made it easier to suffer with FOMO. I just gave up and I play what I enjoy and watch others play games that I feel I couldnt ever get into, or just dont have the time to invest in playing, and I am ok with it.
Personally, I used to watch commentary let's plays back in the early 2010s, but even back when UA-cam was just starting to become a thing in 2006/2007, I used to watch a ton of videos under 10 minutes that had no commentary at all. For me UA-cam was like digitally surfing through multiple tv channels on one website. So for me seeing people play other video games that I didn't own back on the 5th and 6th generation consoles, as well as hear about video games around the time my parents were young in the 1970s and 1980s, yeah, in 2008 I was a big fan of the 1980s loooong before the nostalgia 1980s bandwagon existed 5 to 7 years later.
Either way, my type of gaming is limited, but it's become a chore that I'd prefer to watch videos or listen to music rather than play video games. I still think about it, but the amount of time spent on them I could have used that time for something else.
Not sure if you saw the rumour about FF12 that Bash was the original main character before Vaan replaced him, but Matsuno debunked it a while back on tweet when he was asked about it.
Having been born in 1986 this video was a balm for my poor soul.
'87 here, and man, the using strength on the truck by the S.S. Anne to try and find Mew.
And Missingno. being Mew3 was also a rumor I heard on the playground haha.
Well it's pretty similar to what our parents saw back in the late 1970s early 1980s when Atari was acquired by Warner Communications, and much like the crash of 1983, it'll eventually happen but with different companies and such.
@@SuperFlashDriver lmao very different cases grandpa
@@FredMaverik I know, but still, whether or not it happens, I won't be surprised if it does. But in my opinion, from what I've heard, I do think it's going to be more of a consolidation or a recession of AAA companies either transforming the company into what they used to be before 2010 or die off in favor of new more better companies in the long run.
There's something to be said about a lot of game design feeling like it's deliberately there to be worse, because if the game is good enough to convince you to buy it, but the right parts of the game feels bad or incomplete they can get you double dip in a cash shop for cosmetics, or experience boosters or armor dye or what have you. It's not about making a satisfying experience that stands on its own, its about being a live service to squeeze as much money out of players as possible.
Growing up there was always an explosion of new IP because games were completely uncharted territory. So it was either a licensed game where it usually wasn't very good or it had to be a new IP and carve out some sort of new identity for itself and stand on that. Then we hit an era where it was already starting to feel bad because new IP basically dropped off the face of the earth because game budgets had hit a point where a failure is so risky, that major developers shifted a lot of focus onto sequels and franchises that were already proven things. And that right there already sucked compared to the absolute wild west of my childhood.
And now we're at a point where we only get franchise games and they're deliberately designed to not even be good games on their own because the management demands that the player is unsatisfied enough while still playing that they'll bust out the credit card and spend an extra $50, $100, $200, maybe even $1000 bucks on a game they already paid $70 to play up front. We've become boiled frogs and its depressing to see.
It's sad how From Software and their games stand out so much as unique and special because their games are designed to be purchased, provide a satisfying experience from start to finish, maybe enjoy some PvP or Coop a bit, and then moved on from. And any staying power they have or replayability just comes from how the game is so satisfying to play you just replay it. There's maybe usually one DLC expansion. It's a huge deal that we finally got a trailer for the Elden Ring DLC, because if Elden Ring and From Soft are the sorts of games you play, then Elden Ring is an unbelievably good game that was great on its own and this DLC is the last swan song before the developers move on to a different project.
When I was playing Armored Core 6 (GREAT game by the way. Worth talking about on the show. I'm shocked at how much I liked the story and characters despite how you literally never see another person face to face.). And as I was customizing my mech I realized how much worse the experience would be if the game was made by someone like Activision or Ubisoft. For starters AC6 gives you full RGB color control over all the parts of your mech. And right off the bat if this was EA or Activision this system would 100% be ripped out and would be replaced with a multitude dye packs with a set specific amount of dye that cost $5 bucks a pack, totaling at $100 to buy all the AC dye in the game. Or even worse it would lock some of the most powerful and exciting weapons in the game behind the cash shop. When I got my platinum trophy for AC 6 I was at probably 50 hours into the game and at least half of that was spent enjoying customizing and testing my AC.
This is something that’s happened to all entertainment in general, but it’s definitely something big with gaming. The thing is, back in the day the best bet for something to become successful was to make it as good as possible. Not everything that was good was popular, but most things that were popular were pretty good. These days, this isn’t really the case anymore. Games have so many ways of making money off of the product that they quite honestly don’t even need to be well made or good products anymore. The market and audience is so much bigger, there are so many games now, the internet is so much more deeply integrated, and it’s all just so much more massive, that actually great modern games often drown in the endless ocean of modern mediocrity.
The process you describe is called "Enshitification" - where products are deliberately meant to be underbaked or lower quality with extra bells and whistles for that 'ideal experience' at extra cost. Apple is notorious for this practice. For games, outside of MTX, a lot of online-based mobile games are designed to keep you playing, as there are profits to be made from even mundane tasks on the game servers just to make your DMG or score number go slightly higher.
There are many criticisms that can be levelled against Nintendo for their heavy handed business practices, however their consoles from the Wii to present have provided an outlet for smaller developers/publishers to find an audience for smaller projects. Steam has also been invaluable for this as well on the PC side.
The biggest problem is the middle has been hollowed out. Which seems to have happened in every sphere of our lives in the western world: film, video games, politics, income, etc. Everything must scale as fast as possible in every direction until it becomes unsustainable.
I think the age of consolidated, over monetized gaming is probably whats suffering the most. Do they still make money? Sure, but are they actually doing well at it? Not necessarily. So many mediocre games from big name studios, and smash successes from solo/indie studios is a vast indicator where the consumer base is leaning in the last year, and I think its time some of these big name studios felt the financial pressure to either change or collapse entirely. So many of these studios lost their soul a long time ago, so they aren't the things we knew and loved once upon a time.
Not only that but AAA are more and more often designed in a way to take ALL of your time and attention. They're so demanding: drawn out, excessive, unnecessarily open world, or filled with things like "daylies and battlepass goalposts" that people are burnt out. I don't want every individual game to be the only game I can undertake at any given time.
Why do you think "finishing your gaming backlog" videos have exploded on UA-cam recently
i think the amount of people working in games that doesn't seem to like video-games at all is also a big problem.
I hope things will collapse in the AAA scene at some point in the future. If it does, I hope it means that they’ll have to scale things back down and rely on creative vision and strong gameplay design to grab sales once again.
@@thehalcyonblog Wtf are you on about. I prioritize innovation and quality. Not quantity and shiny paint job to cover up its shortcomings.
I don't miss the rumor days. At all. The closest I got to that recently was with Dragon's Dogma. I ♥️ed that, because everyone was so helpful and supportive.
Where I feel like gaming is ending for me is how, not only everything is so reliant on an internet connection, (I'm typing on UA-cam, I get the hypocrisy I'm displaying,) and how digital purchases never feel like I actually own. Once I felt like the things I buy are not mine, or excessive dlc, I stopped being interested. I just miss playing a "complete game" if you know what I mean.
That and 40 hours of work, plus commuting, plus side hustles necessary for surviving eat up a lot of time.
Just started watching but I gotta say - it's so funny to see this old clip of you Guys.
While Mike looks like a completely -other- different person now (and changes his style all the time), Casen seems to have gained some 5 kilos (tops) over the years, but still looks pretty much identical haha You're a really cool duo - you know that, right? 😁
Ok, back to the episode!
As an indie developer that started on the N64 and Game Boy (and chased *all* of those rumours XD), this video definitely spoke to me! Wonderful discussion and episode - I'm loving these one-off topics =D
What you were saying about boundaries also applies really well to game design. Most indie devs do decide to set boundaries for our games - partly for budget/expertise/team size reasons, but also because the framework you set has a profound impact on the focus, pacing, and overall design of a game. I believe those boundaries are what make indie games so special, and breed so much creativity despite the limitations - just like they did in the 80s and 90s =)
*Clicks video*
Mike: One thing-
Me: I DON'T KNOW WHY IT
DOESN'T EVEN MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY
KEEP THAT IN MIND I DESIGNED THIS RHYME
TO EXPLAIN IN DUE TIME
Even though Mike dubbed these “filler episodes” this has been one of my favorite episodes of the podcast so far.
Casen's first point on not paying attention to movies anymore resonantes SO MUCH. During the summer of 2019/20 (australian) i worked in a cinema, saw everything and saw 53 movies in a single summer in cinemas for free.
Post covid, there's been such a change in film quality and the 'vibes' movies give off that i've seen a total of 4 movies in cinemas post covid.
Do more podcasts like this. I like the usual stuff, but if I don’t watch every episode of a particular series, I feel completely lost. With this, I can just jump in, and enjoy it.
The way you speak about the impact of the internet makes me so excited for mgs2 podcast 😂
Cant wait. Although theyre gonna have to do a lot of research.
I'd like to suggest Golden Sun for this Podcast. I'm quite sure you would love it
Nintendo Power actually had a april fools prank where they told how to get the triforce
Sure wouldn't be in the new games that lack any comment on the triforce...
Don't forget the GamePro April Fool's issue every year.
oh wow UA-cam just recommended your video and I'm feeling so grateful and impressed. it connected a lot of dots for me, terribly, very well-done!
Born in 1985.... I can totally relate to this video. I have been zoned out of the gaming industry as of late. Games need to break out and bring something fresh to the table.
Elden Ring DLC release date announced. Helldivers 2, despite server issues, was the biggest launch for Sony Studios thanks to multi-platform releasing. Nintendo becomes the literal richest company in Japan. Baldur's Gate III retains it's overwhelmingly positive reviews and highest monthly player base counts on Steam.
Me thinks video games are doing good.
I loved the perspective on limitation breeding more creativity. Which is often why i feel many older games are just so much better than what is coming out today. I feel like we hit the peak of that during the PS2/XBox/GC era, Where the hardware was just powerful enough to realise the developer's vision but limiting enough that they still had to get creative with many aspects.
There’s still great games being made. The “industry” will always go up and down.
I love how the whole first third or so of this is just reminiscing about how video games used to be, and it's 100% perfectly accurate and I relate to it.
I really enjoyed these topics almost as much as the book club style content ! Would love to see more conversations like this.
Modern AAA games are jam packed with stuff that just isn't fun. Games take forever to get to the good part. Tutorials, opening cutscenes, system config takes a good 2 hours at least. Too many games aren't even games until you're 10 hours in. And then, games are trying too hard to cash in on trends. It may just be a bad game and you won't know for 10+ hr. In the immortal words of Reggie, "if it isn't fun, why bother?"
This episode felt fresh. It was nice to hear your thoughts on the industry and how it affects the games. And, these miscellaneous episodes also builds up anticipation for the next in the game series. Keep it up!
So Pokémon actually had the reverse happen, in red and blue you can get Mew through a very specific sequence of steps. It’s incredibly silly sounding: you catch a specific Pokémon, fly around, take some exact steps, open the menu a few times, and then mew will appear as a wild encounter on a specific tile.
It’s basically rearranging the slots in memory to drop Mew into something else’s slot, but doesn’t require you to execute any weird glitches.
It’s 2024, you can verify my statement online lol
I do like how the internet has retroactively made some rumors become "reality" like how it is possible to get Mew in Red and Blue, though not by using Strength on the truck near the S.S. Anne (I did try this as a kid btw). Also, another one is getting General Leo in your party in FF6- while possible, having him in the party ends up being rather unimpressive, all things considered.
I've really missed these kinds of podcasts, I don't expect them to replace the standard format y'all got going. But I also wouldn't mind if y'all did one of these every once in a while.
This is a great video topic, can’t wait to watch this later. With all the layoffs, issues with PlayStation and Xbox, and the everything else that we’ve been seeing recently, there’s major issues.
yall are doing something right because youre back in my feed consistently again
This is why I checked out from "AAA" a long time ago and never looked back. Indies are where it's at for me now.
I agree. with the occasional exception; good to keep an open-mind. There's a few AAA here and there worthwhile without the BS.
out of curiosity, what are your top 5 or so indie games? I'm always looking for recommendations
Same here man too many open worlds and live service failure attempts. Any indie suggestions or even just good retro games are nice to hear
@@phillystevesteak6982 oh sure. I do get big budget games sometimes if they've been out for a while and I can get them at a reasonable price and be sure that they actually work. As for a top 5 I have no idea. I'm not really good at ranking things like that as I like different games for different reasons. I also don't know if my tastes are at all similar to yours.
But a couple random favorites would be: Streets of Rage 4, DUSK, Ashes: 2063, Scarlet Hollow (still in early access but looking great so far), Shovel Knight, Blood West, Cave Story (pretty old but still great) and Faith
@@Mechazaurus thanks for the suggestions. I'm also bad at that. I've no idea what my favorite anything is lol. I'll be sure to check those out!
Wish I could have sat down with you all on this conversation….great discussion. Thank you both!
The "Infinite Growth" mindset is pure lunacy, in virtually every field. Here in Cambridge, England, I've seen this unique, beautiful medieval city turn into a bland, characterless, overdeveloped, overcrowded mess, with terrible traffic, pot holes, rubbish etc...
Profits and growth need to stop being the primary reasons before every endeavour, though on the other hand, we now also have the problem of social engineering and forced messaging encroaching upon actual creativity and integrity in the arts, including video games.
awesome podcast. keep up the great work
those guys Bring Excellent quality every episode
Yeah needs a reset for sure. Anyways we all have huge backlogs, let the industry implode for a couple of years it's fine.
It was surprising how every friend group seemed to have that uncle who worked at Nintendo!
Now I feel old, but indeed the world is changing quickly. It's pretty incredible to have experienced the age of no public internet. It was absent throughout most of my childhood.
I personally didn't know the internet until September 2005, even though it existed around the time I was born along with my siblings. But even then I didn't start socializing with people until 2010.
Casen when you said ICQ it literally unlocked a core memory 😭👌👌👌
I can agree so hard on the corporate bs. I've worked at a corporate retail job for almost a decade at the same store and its beat Last years numbers EVERY DAY or ur made to feel like a failure for the machine. And ur made to go home feeling guilty like I didn't do enough today. It's a load of garbage.
This is such an enjoyable conversation
I will not grieve over the death of the Western gaming industry. I will lament the loss of the Japanese gaming industry. Indie games will live on forever.
If we only had Sly Cooper, all could be saved
That, and getting “Jak and Daxter” back… Ah, those were simpler times.
My favourite "Jump and press the circle button" simulator game XD
another great podcast!
Mike and Casen began talking about Positive vs Negative liberty when they began talking about limitations and creativity
As a person that loves japanese games, mostly jrpgs, I am not investing at all in this age of mostly western style games, they're incredibly uninteresting to me and I feel like a lot of people can relate that games from the west feel less magical, less colorful and less creative.
Yeah, any long time gamer that didn’t expand their horizons beyond western gaming hasn’t been having a good time. A lot of people will be exiting the hobby but a new era of gaming will be starting.
I do agree with a lot in your point above. However, I do definitely find a lot special in SOME western rpgs/action games. I think both have their strengths and weaknesses.
Watching a channel like orbalology, I've been able to keep tabs on the current JRPGs I didn't know about...
I find this funny, because jrpgs are, to me, generic and oversaturated anime-lite simulations; with Square Enix pumping out some of the worst RPGs in recent memory, coupled with questionable business practices (dipping into NFTs).
I love hearing about your childhood gaming experiences.
Just like Mike, I also had an NES, skipped the SNES, and eventually got an N64. I wasn’t allowed to play Goldeneye, either. But my father eventually had to concede somewhat because all the kids were playing it. So he said I could play multiplayer since it was like “cops and robbers”.
I remember restarting my game in Pokémon so that I could go find the fabled “truck”. I still remember that night. I was talking to my friend on the phone “okay, I’ve got surf and can go find the truck. OMG the truck is actually there! Okay, now to use strength to move it! Wait, why won’t it move!?” I was devastated.
And the think, now not only can you get Mew, you can get the entire Pokédex from one save file!
I could write such a long comment to this it would be a big blog post. That's how true it all is. Key takeaway for personal situation is the abundance of (bad/copycat) games that were made without true passion and core idea in mind when it comes to studios and corporations; and how there is a "guide" to every game challenge or secret after that. Why play the game if you don't want to play it? Overcome its challanges? Explore their nooks and crannies? Feel the story, submerge in the soundtrack, enjoy the progress, and cherish the finale? And afterwards dive into game's challenges if there are any, such as Hollow Knight's Pantheon as one modern example.
Keep these podcasts up dear Mike and Casen, you're awesome.
Sure hope so. At least western AAA gaming. Niche and indie games time to shine.
We love you ❤
That’s why we need more studios like Larian. Passion over product and the results show
Yeah don't try to fix the broken system that constantly has negative outcomes, just hope that more "good" studios show up!
@@JordanKerk99 You fix it with revolution.
We have bigger issues than shitty video games.
Larian is amazing but weve seen the same story with studios like Bioware. Eventually some big company will purchase them by offering crazy money they cant refuse and then ruin them. Its a matter of time.
Idk, man. As good as BG3 is why the hell is everyone horny? Why is the most interesting thing in BG3 how my companions will react to things?
I guess I'm with Timothy Cain about not every companion is not just there to be a romantic partner for the player.
Larian? Those the guys that did baldurs gate? Spare me
Habbo hotel!!! I had forgotten about that game completely. You guys have reawoken some very very dormant memories.
Pool’s closed due to AIDs
Maaaan this one made me smile so much. RPGs were not cool where I lived at all at all. So I had like two friends that knew about RPGs. I miss that sense of secrecy and rumours among your friends. General Leo, aerith and collecting all of soldier figurines in the game lol.
I miss the good old days, but so do all the old folks like us lol. This generation will have its own things that it will miss I’m sure. I think all of the modern feelings of discovery come from finding a really good small time indie game and telling your schoolyard friends about it.
On a positive note, I would never have the opportunity to find people that like the games I like as much as I do without modernizing games. I no longer feel like I’m the only person that likes what I do. Certainly not at the level I do.
Recruiting General Leo late in FF6
My equivalent to your running man in Zelda Ocarina of Time is with Final Fantasy VII and all the rumors about bringing a particular character back from the dead (won't say who, but it is like a 25+ year old spoiler now). I remember spending a ton of time using a computer in the library to read up all the things needing to be done via text based only webpages and believing, or at least wanting to believe it. It didn't help that the game has a number of totally useless items in it, and the rumors would say these useless items actually needed to be collected to resurrect said character. Of course it was all rubbish.
It really is so different these days; I recall being stuck in Shadowgate on the NES for months if not years and needing to mail in questions to Nintendo Power and getting back responses a lot later to proceed further. Today in mere seconds one could look up the answer about what to do next.
I generally agree with the concerns about the corporate nature of things these days and the pushing of too much resources into AAA games that try to please everyone but just don't have the same magic; for example I can't say I was the most pleased with Final Fantasy XVI. At the same time people forget that we had a lot less choices back then in terms of current and past offerings and games were a lot shorter. For over a year and a half at this point I've had a video game backlog which if anything just keeps growing and will probably not be empty for years because there's so much to catch up on from over the years. Games like Tactics Ogre Reborn and Zelda Tears of the Kingdom I both got over 200 hours of gameplay from last year alone. While franchises like Final Fantasy have fallen by the wayside for me in terms of level of fandom, stuff like Xenoblade and Nier has risen up there to that level to take its place. Is video gaming different than it was when people like us were younger? Yes. But I still think it's an industry that has a ton to offer these days.
Cloud is dead bro
Your conversation about gaming hoaxes reminded me of so many games from my childhood. Thinking that there was some convoluted way to resurrect a certain character in FF7. I also remember believing that there was a way to unlock additional characters in Sonic Adventure.
While that spirit is mostly gone today, I think some of it still exists around Souls games in the first few months after the newest game comes out. With Elden Ring, I remember people searching every wall in the game for illusory walls and there was a rumor of a wall that could only be revealed if you hit it multiple times.
As you allude to in the video, I think this is a broader collapse of the current form of capitalism more so than anything else.
Amazing discussion. I always appreciate the videos, guys!
There hasn't been a really excellent, old school type, straight platformer in a while. The last one I played that I really liked, that kind of gave that feeling was Ori and The Blind Forest
We just got Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Sonic Superstars last year.
@jacobmonks3722 well, I should have been more specific, I meant a new IP, I like Mario and Sonic, but it's a stale genre, although Super Mario Wonder did put a fresh coat of paint on that franchise. I've been playing video games since the early days in the 70's and there is just something that these new games can't replicate, it was a simpler time, gas was cheaper and Pluto was still a planet, but hey, at least got rid of polio.
As a child you had no way of knowing how a game worked. The possibilities of what lay beyond the boundaries of the playable area were limited only by your imagination. Now it's so easy to have that illusion dispelled if it was ever there to begin with, hidden secrets are immediately told to the world before most have a chance to experience a sense of discovery. Most of a game will be shown off through aggressive marketing just so something might entice you to purchase that you've more or less seen all it has to offer. That sense of wonder just isn't there anymore.
Would you guys be willing to play the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games?
me and my brother always fight because we played the same game mostly rpg and we had this really insane need of getting the lead to each other's save files just to not spoil the story or any end game item or equepment or extra secret playable character, i remember punching him just so i can play it and get the lead on finishing dragon age back in the day i think. now days i can't see that happening anymore, nor my children ever feeling the same way towards games as we did,
30:10 streaming console games to the TV is already a thing - Samsung TVs have the Xbox app so you just need the controller, and also NVidia GeForce Now.
There simply isn't enough talented people out there to keep up with the escalation of graphical fidelity.
I'm not that jaded about the gaming industry. Maybe it's because I'm not a modern graphics only guy. I love games of all graphical styles. With that in mind, gaming has never been better. Like I feel like I would never run out of things to play in my life time. As long as we have the means to take ownership, and it's not part of some live service that shuffles the content, we're good, it'll be okay.
Thats my take aswell, ebb and flow of things continues and we get more and more incredible Indie games every year and smaller scale games are plentiful aswell.
Currently looking forward to Unicorn Overlord and I am in love with the Demo.
There are so many great games released every year, last year especially that I don't worry about having no media to consume.
I feel like gaming needs to improve in the near future not gonna lie.
Pokemon Red: What about MissingNo ? The only thing it damages permanently is your save file's Hall of Fame data, not your save file.
So, that was a rumor going around in the 90s.
That point about how streaming games on UA-cam might be taking away a marging of the sales of games is worth considering but I feel like it affects linear story driven games the most, the ones that don't allow the player to deviate too much or be creative with the tools of the game. All the snadbox games that have the build and craft tools will make people want to try it for themselves, to create their own thing so watching a stream can increase sales while a linear game where your choice are limited to how fast you can beat quick time event but nothing really changes can see the sales decrease, specially when the story itself is not that great.
I'm legitimately amazed that games companies don't ban streamers doing full playthroughs, surely they lose more then they gain from advertisement. It's like watching a new film in pristine quality for free.
@@johnmcternan4157 Atlus and Nintendo totally do go after streamers but in general looking at someone playing is not the same as playing the game yourself.
Now if the game is just a movie prretending to be a game it kinda deserves the loss. The Last of Us series are examples of games that while impressive offer very little as a game and really get hurt by having the story spoiled.
I spent untold hours screwing around in Ocarina as a 12 year old trying to find the Triforce. The only modern games to elicit that same feeling have been the Nier games… as Yoko Taro is a mad genius and you never really know what to expect from doing seemingly inconsequential stuff.
I'm afraid with all of these layoffs that these companies think AI will take over a lot of the work and they're going to PUSH toward that and hope consumers won't notice or care
no shit guys. You should do these topics more often. Insights are great and your personal view is so interesting. This is my fav youtube (and patreon) channel for gods sake.
Yep, agreed
Easily one of the best podcast recently sooo many intresting topics with soo many good and true valid points on them. 100%
44:20 Yeah this is a big thing I wonder about. Somehow it's pretty well agreed upon that the big P word is wrong, don't download and steal games. But at the same time there have definitely been more narrative games that I just watch someone play on UA-cam and then just never buy. Some games are definitely hit by this harder than others. I absolutely loved playing through Firewatch for example, but if I had watched it would I have bothered? No, I don't think so. I watches someone play The Vanishing of Ethan Carter and have no reason to buy and play it myself. More recently I had watched someone play through FF7 Remake because I wasn't a fan of the combat in the demo. I got all the story, characters, surprises, amazing music and all I "gave up" was the gameplay I didn't like anyway, and the trade off being I can casually watch it as I eat lunch or do something else. Is only the act of playing the game worth the $60 or whatever? I get to enjoy the hard work of all the artists, musicians, writers, etc for absolute free and with the added benefit of it almost being like a book on tape that I can just put on and listen to and watch at my leisure for absolute free. That's wild isn't it? Actually I did this with Last of Us 2 as well. No way in hell am I buying that or playing through it myself now lol.
Idk man. I don't want to rock the boat cause this is great for me. But I am seriously surprised more people aren't comparing it to other forms of piracy.
Awesome video guys! Lots of funny memories!
I'm sitting here listening to this and nodding in agreement while happily playing through Horizon Forbidden West for the second time! Honestly, I think you can be pretty up to date on what's going with regard to videogame news and interesting indies just by watching Skillup's 'This Week In Videogames' videos.
Also, I find it amusing how incredibly young Mike looks in that Dark Pixel video while Casen hardly seems to have changed:)
16:22 I played through OoT fully for the first time in 2023 and I spent more time than I'm willing to admit trying to beat him before looking up if it is possible. What a timeless troll.
I hope not ofende anyone, but the guy sitting on left chair, his voice remain me of Gabe Newell. Great video btw.
I'm glad you guys are covering this topic. I've always got a lot to say when it comes to the gaming situation that is "modern gaming" but I'll just let you guys discuss and rant lol. I know we all feel the same way especially those of us who grew up with Atari and the NES and everything leading up to what we have currently. Gaming has changed. It will never be the same as it was 15/20 years ago. It's evolved so fast.
10:49
When I was 10 I had a friend who was about 14 who helped me beat the Water Temple in OoT xD
He was a big gamer and we had that in common so we became friends despite the age gap :)
If I recall there was a big gaming collapse in the early 80s.
Really enjoyed this conversation. Thanks, guys!
great episode, thanks guys!
Many very valid points in your discussion. The sad thing is that most people want the lame ass machine made stuff in games. They do not think that critical about the craft.
The comment about people's focus getting narrowed with the wide internet really hit hard.
Metal gear solid 2.
Also gaming hoaxes are extremely common now I been playing Fortnite since it launched and every month it’s kids falling for hoaxes about how to unlock a free skin in game or how to get to a secret area. My younger cousins are always telling me about the latest rumors going around their school regarding Fortnite unlockables and secrets and like all of them usually end up not being true but it’s super common.
The gaming industry is collapsing, but it is so huge that it collapses in slow motion, and it is not really a bad thing because new developments will grow out of the ruins, it is the cycle of life.
As for the Pokémon myths, those had some truth to them, which made the more ludicrous ones more likely to spread. You can access a secret area with a truck that is never used in the main game and you can catch Mew through some convoluted means, but then people would come up with obvious lies like Yoshi being in the game and other often very edgy looking fakemon, and of course kids would fall for it.
This is why I really appreciate Alan Wake 2 - it’s one of the big AAA games that feels like it is really trying to innovate and doesn’t feel like it’s too homogenised or another remake.
We Sing was my moment of the year for games
I think it must be a pretty polarising game base on the varying reactions I've read. I loved Control but aside from being very impressed by the technical and visual aspects I found the gameplay, characters and dialogue in AW2 a complete turn off. I think it would help somewhat If I could switch off the whole Mind Place thing as I found that beyond tedious. I will give it another go at some point.
Alan fall asleep 2
How is it innovating?
What isn't on the brink of collapse?
Nothing lasts forever. When profits take the centre stage the end has begun.
PS2 was the last of the golden age. the PS3 and X360 generation was already starting to be a mess like the present.
I'm totally burned out on gaming. I sold my PS4 Pro a few weeks ago because I was pretty much playing daily challenges on live service games. And I get that there's still good games and I'll probably miss out on some good times. But my biggest surprise is that I really haven't missed it. I still have my PC and Steam, but I've always been more of a console player. But honestly since I sold it I've barely even opened Steam, and I haven't played a single hour of any game
I can't speak for anyone else, but I need gaming to evolve to something more. Graphics and textures have improved, and it's easier than ever to connect with players online but gaming has just grown stale. Even today, the trailer for the Elden Ring's DLC was released and I thought it might be a reason for me to pony up for a PS5. But after watching it I just felt nothing
Daily challenges is one of the worst features now imo. Way to turn my leisure activity into a joyless obligation/chore. So fun... 🙄
Or just play better games