Question for all my console gamer brethren...

What do you miss about video games? What has changed from the past to now?

Mine would be that games are too short on the storyline (if there is one). Everything is geared towards online play nowadays and while that's fun, not everything has to be set up for online play.

It probably takes 5 to 7 hours to get through a game with a storyline. I remember the first Resident Evil took something like 20 hours to complete. While long yes, you wanted to keep playing it. Now it seems like "Oh here's a quick backstory to the game, but get it done ASAP and get online to light up some noobs".

I'll agree with you there. There is next to nothing in most new games to keep you occupied beyond online.

And that's probably why games like Skyrim and Mass Effect sell so well.

Hell, I never even played online until I got my ps3, that's why my PS2 games are almost nothing but racing games, rpgs, platformers and one or two shooters thrown in for good measure. Even COD: Big Red One and 3 took longer to finish the story than the new ones do.

I got into consoles late but there are certainly things i miss from PC gaming...

I know some of the games take too damn long for no satisfaction. Or you finally get to the part you really wanted to play and to play it again, you have to start all over. Too many options with certain items only doing certain things that are worthless for what you need it to do.

I love the online... with MW3 I only ever got 25% of the way though the campaign mode... I just didn't care to play when I could be playing real people... I'd occasionaly play the other mode (IW's version of zombies) and got further along in it then the campaine mode

I grew up with atari and SNES in my house... got a ps2 eventually... but most all of my games where fighting games and racing games and a few RPG's

my biggest problem is the $60 price tag of new games... ... it's not worth it for a game that I'll play and beat in a week...

I've considered getting Gamefly but haven't as I'm sure the games would all turn into me ordering stuff for my son lol.

Sounds like some of you need to pick up Sleeping Dogs

Talking about games in general, not just consoles: where the hell did the crazy environments, the psychedelia, the mind-bending plotlines, the weird and genuinely creative settings go? If I wanted a gritty, realistic simulation of being in the military, I'd go join the damn military. I blame the original Counterstrike, which was awesome, but not everything since had to copy it!

Same with racing games, give me a new Wipeout game over any current "sim" where you spend 99% of your time tweaking one single suspension setting and 1% racing. I can do that in real life and I suck at it. I want ridiculous bright colours, a pounding techno soundtrack, and pick-up-and-go controls. And possibly hover-cars. Is that too much to ask?

(And for the love of all humanity why don't first person shooters ever have an automap anymore?)

The same, everything is geared toward online play at the expense of story (except stuff like Assasin's Creed which I will be buying when I get back from vacation).

I don't care about online gaming, probably because I haven't tried it.

And I've spent enough time playing racing games at a friends house with a G27 that I won't play them anymore until I get a wheel of my own.

Totally agree with the short main game and focus on online play. I also don't like the paid DLC ("pay extra to enable the content you just paid for!") and the related "pay-to-win" game types that are showing up.

I've been playing console games since I can remember. My older sister had a Colecovision, and the day she taught me how to play Cosmic Avenger started me on a path that led me to amassing a pretty large collection of games and consoles, ranging from that very same Colecovision to the Xbox 360. I grew up with games, and games have grown up with me.

What makes you want to play a game? On the older games, there was the drive to get the highest score possible. You would have showdowns in arcades and living rooms between players boasting their skills. Then, starting with the NES, there were games that had storylines (like Ninja Gaiden) that motivated you to play and see the next piece of the story, and there were games (like the Zelda and Final Fantasy games) that advanced your character with additional abilities and items that made you want to develop that in-game character to the fullest. There were also games that saw people taking out frustration by beating the crap out of enemies, like Double Dragon and later Final Fight and Street Fighter II. Those were always fun too.

What makes me want to play the games of today? I'm not a huge fan of online multi-player games, unless I'm playing co-op with some buddies in Borderlands or maybe an occasional Forza 4 Race here and there. I have a hard time playing a game with no depth that results in cheap kills by some 8 year old whose parents use the Xbox as a babysitter But in playing those on or offline, I'm always searching for the best weapons and armor, or the fastest tuning setup on a car. These games let you amass a collection of stuff to further customize the gaming experience. I love that.

In Skyrim (my current addiction) there is a constant drive for me to explore every cave, town, and fort in hopes of finding a better sword, bow, or armor than what I have. The story is cool too, but like the RPG games of my youth, I want to advance that character to the fullest. That's the same thing I did 25 years ago playing The Legend of Zelda. I also like the fact that you can play this game in small amounts. You can save it anywhere at pretty much any time, and for someone whose gaming time has been shrunk by that annoying thing called LIFE, I very much appreciate it.

Also, games can be expensive. In true GRM fashion, I have a rule: never pay more than $20 for a game, unless it's Forza. Hit up yard sales, flea markets, clearance bins, and even junkyards for games. You'll be surprised at the hidden gems you can find for dirt cheap. That copy of Skyrim I'm playing was $15 a few months back at a yard sale. It was complete and in perfect condition.

I think there are still plenty of games out there that offer a lengthy single player experience. Rockstar Games in particular offer some of the best, IMO, with Grand Theft Auto series and Red Dead Redemption. They can keep you busy for weeks at least.

I have heard good things about the Fallout series, but I have yet to put the disc in my Xbox that I borrowed from my brother months ago.

I remember I put a good amount of time into Bioshock before I got distracted with other games and never completed it.

I really like Gears of War campaign play but it definitely suffers from being too short. You can complete it in a day if you play it non stop.

Grizz wrote: I'll agree with you there. There is next to nothing in most new games to keep you occupied beyond online. And that's probably why games like Skyrim and Mass Effect sell so well. Hell, I never even played online until I got my ps3, that's why my PS2 games are almost nothing but racing games, rpgs, platformers and one or two shooters thrown in for good measure. Even COD: Big Red One and 3 took longer to finish the story than the new ones do.

You're close......FALLOUT NEW VEGAS!!!!

I rocked the E36 M3 outta Skyrim, but new vegas takes the cake. Everyone has to love a game that gives you a perk titled "Lord Death" that gives you an attack bonus against everything because you like killing everything.

Game now are too linear. Even Assassins Creed, which I like mostly due to the story, tells you what to do next. I grew up on an Atari 5200 (still have one new in box) and Apple IIe.I miss a good RPG that just drops you in the world and leaves you on your own. On NES virtually every game was like that. Dragon Warrior just gave you a map that came with the game. Once that wore out or you lost it, there was no internet to fall back on. Shadowgate has to be one of the hardest games ever. I've also got to say, I miss a good side scroller. I think the linear gameplay relates back to the "everybody wins" attitude society has now.

I also agree with the comment about racing games. It's about 75% of what I play now and most of that time is tweaking set ups. I only play a few hours a week and this feels too much like work. One of my favorite parts of Forza is the spec hot laps, so nobody can spend 50hrs on a set up so they're .1th faster. I think I'm around 700-800 in the world over all.

Borderlands is really the only modern console game that has REALLY sucked me in.

I miss Unreal Tournament, Rise of Nations/Legends, Command and Conquer, that sort of thing.

I love assasins creed, I think of it more an as interactive movie vs everyone wins.

In reply to Jay:

AGREED! I quit playing Gran Turismo after 2 because it got too damn real. I can drive a car for real if I want, I don't need a game to allow me to do that.

Replay value and simplicity. Sure, Fallout 3/New Vegas and Oblivion take hundreds of hours to play through once, but I don't see any reason in replaying them.

On the other hand, I have lost track of the number of times I've played through Final Fantasy VI, VIII, X and Xenogears.

I loved Oblivion, but I can't get into Skyrim. Why? Because the game is TOO BIG. I can't sit down and play for an hour. It takes over an hour just to reach a dungeon, another 3 hours in the dungeon, and then another hour finishing whatever quest you're in. You can't sit down for just a few minutes and feel like you've accomplished anything.

In reply to 92CelicaHalfTrac:

BORDERLANDS!!!! Great series if you like RPGs or Shooters or games with a good story or humor or your alive. This is easily one of the best game series I have played in a long time and I think that I have like 30+ hours into my main campaign on the second one. The first is a little shorter but if you are new to the game it is a solid 25+ hours before the DLCs which probably add another 6-10 hours overall. I can't talk this game up enough. There are 87 Bazillion guns in the game (this was an advertisement). So much cool stuff you can do. For example.

Grenade mod that makes your grenades split into 9 little grenades that will then seek enemies and light them on fire and send you the health that they took from your enemies and give it back to you!

Another fun one is each character has an ability - my guy is a commando with a big ass turret that I can deploy. How cool is that.

Heh... i probably have well over 100 hours in the first game.

I did playthrough 1 and 2 as the hunter, then my save file corrupted and i started over as the soldier with the turret. Did playthrough 1 and 2, and i'm now working on the last expansion, but the game has kicked me over into "Playthrough 2.5" which means everything is ridiculously hard.

I may go slow, but the DLCs have been good for probably another 20-30 hours for me.

I haven't gotten the 2nd game yet, will probably be a christmas thing.

My fiancee and i just started through on the first one again doing split screen co-op. Unfortunately, we thought it'd be fun to both be sirens, so it's rather difficult.

Sky_Render wrote: I loved *Oblivion,* but I can't get into *Skyrim.* Why? Because the game is TOO BIG. I can't sit down and play for an hour. It takes over an hour just to reach a dungeon, another 3 hours in the dungeon, and then another hour finishing whatever quest you're in. You can't sit down for just a few minutes and feel like you've accomplished anything.

You aren't doing it right then..........use aura whisper to see where everyone is, charge in and rape them. Literally it shouldn't take more than 20min to complete any given quest.......heck, I beat the dawnguard add on story in under 3 hours. That questline is FREAKING HUGE.

yamaha wrote: You're close......FALLOUT NEW VEGAS!!!! I rocked the E36 M3 outta Skyrim, but new vegas takes the cake. Everyone has to love a game that gives you a perk titled "Lord Death" that gives you an attack bonus against everything because you like killing everything.

Excuse me good sir, but I would prefer you use my full title. I didn't murder my way across the wasteland to be called "Lord Death", it's "Lord Death of Murder Mountain".

I have like 6 or 7 characters in that game, ranging from level 12 to just shy of 50.

After reading what some of you said about linearity, I might try Fallout New Vegas again. I think my failure was that I didn't spend enough time wandering the wastelands and toughening up the poor guy before I started in on the storyline. I kept dying in that hotel in Primm, and I just gave up on it. Sounds like it's time for another shot.

Sky_Render wrote: I loved *Oblivion*

I wanted to love Oblivion, but there was a deal-killer in it for me: R3 button (push the right joystick axially down into the controller) was non-changeably mapped to be a quick 180-degree snap turn. Absolutely no matter how hard I tried, I could NOT move the sticks quickly without activating that. Which meant that as soon as the baddie got close, without fail I would immediately turn around and offer my unprotected back for them to lunch on.

I agree with the on-line vs. off-line play thing. I have zero interest in playing against annoying strangers over the internet. I want to play single player with a good story, or maybe cooperatively with my wife in the same room.

Good single-player story is not dependent on linearity or non-linearity. Black was extremely linear, but the play was great and the missions were a lot of fun. The only problem with that game was that save points were often 45 minutes apart, and some of the longer levels require you to restart at the beginning of the level, even once you reach a waypoint.

Duke wrote:

Sky_Render wrote: I loved *Oblivion*

I *wanted* to love Oblivion, but there was a deal-killer in it for me: R3 button (push the right joystick axially down into the controller) was non-changeably mapped to be a quick 180-degree snap turn. Absolutely no matter how hard I tried, I could NOT move the sticks quickly without activating that. Which meant that as soon as the baddie got close, without fail I would immediately turn around and offer my unprotected back for them to lunch on.

Huh? I've played that game on both PS3 and '360, and neither of them had a 180-degree snap turn. Are we talking about the same game here?

And I have to change my opinion on replay value for New Vegas. Although Fallout 3 didn't have much replay value (owing to a very linear plot), New Vegas has like 4 or 5 different major ways to play through the game, with many variations in between. My PS3 died and I just bought a nice new laptop. I picked up New Vegas for it. I'm looking forward to seeing how much better it works on a computer; there were portions of it that were BROKEN on PS3.

In reply to 92CelicaHalfTrac:

I have thought about trying to get the wife into gaming on BL but I don't think she is interested. I wish though.