SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - View Single Post

Frederf · 08-27-08, 01:59 PM

The quality of a piece of software is not entirely subjective. There are logical reasons why some things are desirable although usually our rubrics differ somewhat. I think "realistic" is such a bastardized word in the sim/hardcore game crowd. The word is basically inserted without critical thought because that's what people want to see.

On the other hand the word "fun" gets used too much as the antithesis of "hard" or "complex." "Fun" and "brain dead easy" are almost synonyms. "Accessible" is the corporate version. Not always is a minimap with all enemies marked on it, infinite ammo, constant hollywood explosions, teh c00l shiz, etc making the game more fun. It's hard to have a conversation about games with someone that doesn't realize that more stuff, less thinking, and greater ease in a game can detract from the satisfaction. Entertainment is a very broad definition and people need to learn that.

Consoles make money, are well optimized for the hardware, are "accessible", etc but I stand by my stance that consoles ruin otherwise very satisfying games. Rainbow Six (#1) vs Lockdown anyone? Sure the graphics are better and the animations more fluid but they have secretly drained away all the thinking, the challenge, the tension.

There are of course many games that belong on a console. Katamari Demacy, Guitar Hero, JRPGs are all lovely on a console. I have never ever ever ever loaded up a "sim" on a console and been pleasantly surprised by its depth. Forza/GranTurismo are excelent driving games but utter crap racing games.

While most people don't want the kind of depth that I do, the developers are partly to blame for underestimating people's intelligence. How long do you think the average console game "learn time" is by design? That is how long from sitting down and turning it on to being good enough to play it. 5 minutes? 10 minutes? And they wonder why we seem to have such short attention spans. It's too short! If I'm as good as I'm ever going to be in 10 minutes, the game is too simple. Welcome to the land of instant gratification and ADD.

08-27-08, 01:59 PM	#34
Frederf Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 665 Downloads: 79 Uploads: 1	The quality of a piece of software is not entirely subjective. There are logical reasons why some things are desirable although usually our rubrics differ somewhat. I think "realistic" is such a bastardized word in the sim/hardcore game crowd. The word is basically inserted without critical thought because that's what people want to see. On the other hand the word "fun" gets used too much as the antithesis of "hard" or "complex." "Fun" and "brain dead easy" are almost synonyms. "Accessible" is the corporate version. Not always is a minimap with all enemies marked on it, infinite ammo, constant hollywood explosions, teh c00l shiz, etc making the game more fun. It's hard to have a conversation about games with someone that doesn't realize that more stuff, less thinking, and greater ease in a game can detract from the satisfaction. Entertainment is a very broad definition and people need to learn that. Consoles make money, are well optimized for the hardware, are "accessible", etc but I stand by my stance that consoles ruin otherwise very satisfying games. Rainbow Six (#1) vs Lockdown anyone? Sure the graphics are better and the animations more fluid but they have secretly drained away all the thinking, the challenge, the tension. There are of course many games that belong on a console. Katamari Demacy, Guitar Hero, JRPGs are all lovely on a console. I have never ever ever ever loaded up a "sim" on a console and been pleasantly surprised by its depth. Forza/GranTurismo are excelent driving games but utter crap racing games. While most people don't want the kind of depth that I do, the developers are partly to blame for underestimating people's intelligence. How long do you think the average console game "learn time" is by design? That is how long from sitting down and turning it on to being good enough to play it. 5 minutes? 10 minutes? And they wonder why we seem to have such short attention spans. It's too short! If I'm as good as I'm ever going to be in 10 minutes, the game is too simple. Welcome to the land of instant gratification and ADD.