Thoughts on next-gen consoles

[BRP]

most of the best games of all time have almost no story, or just enough story

This is the one that sticks out the most as unfactual and more opinionated. A lot of very good games, for example all of the Final Fantasy series but the first one, that often are casted the part as one of the best games ever, have a lot of story. It's not even a trend ;o. Many of the best games ever don't have a complex story because they didn't have the means to, like the first Legend of Zelda. Things changed quickly as they were able to tell better stories.

[dekamii]

So post your thoughts about the next gen consoles now that they are out and here to stay for the next 4-5 years.

my OPINIONS So far are:

360: Don't own one, but have played gears of war and I like the system overall.

PS3: Big disappointment IMO. No games, 95~ percent of launch systems were on ebay. Worst hardware launch ever and just seems like sony has shot themselves in the foot.

Wii: Picked it up today and I can easily say it is the best thing ever. Zelda is amazing, Wii sports is incredibly awesome (I had my dad who hates video games playing for about 3 hours today, girlfriend too) And I love red steel even though its hard as shit to learn.

My pick: Wii

Because its not about you or me, its about Wii.

I definitely agree with you on that IF you meant how they did during their launch/right now.

But sooner or later PS3 > Wii, Xbox360

Sony did horribly during the launch but surely and definitely will surpass Wii and Xbox360 soon.

Ohhhhh....the power of PS3! them sexy specs! 8)

[aurik]

They're pretty much orthogonal--most of the best games of all time have almost no story, or just enough story to explain to you what tasks you need to complete in order to win. Particularly, if I want a good story, I'd much rather have it in book/dvd form so that it didn't get diluted by hours of grinding in order to enjoy it.

Your post was all factual up until this point ;o. This pretty much opinion, just like saying gameplay hasn't changed much at all in the last 10 years in an opinion.

What's not factual about that statement, besides the sentence where I obviously hedge it in a "personally blah blah blah"?

because those games that had barely any story were the "best games of all times" to you, and clearly he would hate those games with no story and they would not be the "best games of all times" to him

I think we could agree on a fairly narrow list of "best games of all time". A good portion of them would have zero story, and another large amount would have a minimal story. Even stellar games like Ocarina of Time have almost no story to speak of.

[GRT]

They're pretty much orthogonal--most of the best games of all time have almost no story, or just enough story to explain to you what tasks you need to complete in order to win. Particularly, if I want a good story, I'd much rather have it in book/dvd form so that it didn't get diluted by hours of grinding in order to enjoy it.

Your post was all factual up until this point ;o. This pretty much opinion, just like saying gameplay hasn't changed much at all in the last 10 years in an opinion.

What's not factual about that statement, besides the sentence where I obviously hedge it in a "personally blah blah blah"?

because those games that had barely any story were the "best games of all times" to you, and clearly he would hate those games with no story and they would not be the "best games of all times" to him

I think we could agree on a fairly narrow list of "best games of all time". A good portion of them would have zero story, and another large amount would have a minimal story. Even stellar games like Ocarina of Time have almost no story to speak of.

you could say "the best games of all time according to sales figures" which would be a much more factual statement, although personally i don't think sales figures really represent the game's quality

[aurik]

most of the best games of all time have almost no story, or just enough story

This is the one that sticks out the most as unfactual and more opinionated. A lot of very good games, for example all of the Final Fantasy series but the first one, that often are casted the part as one of the best games ever, have a lot of story. It's not even a trend ;o. Many of the best games ever don't have a complex story because they didn't have the means to, like the first Legend of Zelda. Things changed quickly as they were able to tell better stories.

RPGs are the major exception to that claim. Most games in any "best ever" list shouldn't be RPGs.

And, to prove my point, the fact that these older games didn't have the means to tell a good story in no way impeded them from being really awesome games.

[GRT]

now here's a question you should think about before giving an answer to: what is one "best game of all time" that did not have a superb representation/game graphics according to the standards when it was published?

[BRP]

I guess I should say I don't agree with the "story > gameplay" statement, but simply story only helps a game and is usually included with good games that are capable to have them. It's come to the point that some people won't be able to enjoy a game with a poor story. Videogames are becoming more and more like movies/other forms of media.

now here's a question you should think about before giving an answer to: what is one "best game of all time" that did not have a superb representation/game graphics according to the standards when it was published?

Can I name a portable game in comparison with a console game? It becomes instantly easier if that's allowed.

[Boyiee]

i wonder if people ever tried to play those "greatest game of all time" from 10 years ago, i mean i absolutely loved FF7 back when it first came out, a while ago i tried to play it again and couldn't bare it past midgar cuz the graphics are so unbelievably bad compared to what i'm used to nowadays, namely FF11, xbox 360 games etc.

I just replayed Zelda: OOT, Zelda: LTTP, Mario64, the Gold cartridge zelda from NES, and FF8 (up until balamb is flying around) this week, and i loved every second of every one except for FF8 lol. I can't fucking stand the story once balamb is flying around somewhere on disc3 right before 4 i think.

I lost a disc to ff9 and ff7 so i couldnt play those The difference between OOT and gears of war for example is huge, but not to the point where it would be unplayable. But comparing an rpg to an rpg, FF8 and FFXII, the graphics are majorly different, but then again still not to the point where it's unplayable. The NES zelda to the N64 zelda is deifnatly an unplayable difference (to most i would assume) but thats an additional several years back.

[Ace-o-fire]

now here's a question you should think about before giving an answer to: what is one "best game of all time" that did not have a superb representation/game graphics according to the standards when it was published?

hmm hard to think about.

Silent hill, Banjo Kazoie, the one where you catch the monkey's ahhh. Thats all i can think of.

[aurik]

They're pretty much orthogonal--most of the best games of all time have almost no story, or just enough story to explain to you what tasks you need to complete in order to win. Particularly, if I want a good story, I'd much rather have it in book/dvd form so that it didn't get diluted by hours of grinding in order to enjoy it.

Your post was all factual up until this point ;o. This pretty much opinion, just like saying gameplay hasn't changed much at all in the last 10 years in an opinion.

What's not factual about that statement, besides the sentence where I obviously hedge it in a "personally blah blah blah"?

because those games that had barely any story were the "best games of all times" to you, and clearly he would hate those games with no story and they would not be the "best games of all times" to him

I think we could agree on a fairly narrow list of "best games of all time". A good portion of them would have zero story, and another large amount would have a minimal story. Even stellar games like Ocarina of Time have almost no story to speak of.

you could say "the best games of all time according to sales figures" which would be a much more factual statement, although personally i don't think sales figures really represent the game's quality

Or you could say "best games of all time according to average review".

Here's the top 20 from GCN, according to Metacritic

Metroid Prime -- simple story
Resident Evil 4 -- story driven
Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker -- story driven
Legend of Zelda Collector's Edition -- simple story in 2 of the 4 games. story driven in the other 2
Madden NFL 2004 -- no story
Soul Calibur II -- simple story
Viewtiful Joe -- simple story
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem -- haven't played it, don't know
SSX 3 -- no story
Madden NFL 2003 -- no story
Super Smash Bros. Melee -- no story
Super Mario Sunshine -- simple story
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time -- simple story
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes -- haven't played it, probably simple story
NFL 2K3 -- no story
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 -- no story
Resident Evil -- story driven
NCAA Football -- no story
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 -- no story

[Nightstriker]

I know I can rarely enjoy a game with a bad story, story is what keeps me around >.>

[aurik]

now here's a question you should think about before giving an answer to: what is one "best game of all time" that did not have a superb representation/game graphics according to the standards when it was published?

Just off the top of my head, here are a few really good console games that were anything but graphically impressive when they were released...

f-zero x
amplitude
ikaruga
ddr (any of them)
katamari damacy

There are a lot of games that are graphically passable, not fantastic, and totally fail to push the graphics envelope at all. Some of them are damn fun. It gets even easier once you let me start citing handheld games.

[Elcura]

I thought Ico looked really good for it's time, great game too.

[GRT]

Can I name a portable game in comparison with a console game? It becomes instantly easier if that's allowed.

well, handhelds have handhelds' standard

so basically the list of great games that are not graphically impressive include games like "katamari", "ddr" and maybe "guitar hero"?

as you can see those are the games that belong to a genre that fundamentally requires the most basic of representation... and here's one more for ya: minesweeper

but how does that genre dominate the video game market as a whole? when you think zelda TP, you think RPG right? will you regard to TP as highly as you do right now if it looked like FF7, and all that is new is the ability to swing your sword by making the same motion IRL? how about racing games? fighting games? sport games? will you enjoy Madden 07 wii version as much if it looked like, say, nba live 1996? do you really plan on playing only one genre on the wii?

the point i'm making is that graphics is a very fundamental element to video games simply because it requires a TV: it's like how a lot of the PS3 critisizers say about the rumble feature, you only notice it when it's gone... and when people say how graphics improvement are minimal nowadays, they said the same thing when they saw mortal combat for the first time: "omg how can it look this good!? nothing can ever look better!"

it doesn't even take someone like me to recite video game history to tell you how important graphics--and its growth--in a game is, just look at reviews for red steel, it speaks for itself

[Lbelle]

I (she, by the way) did mean God of War, and I edited one of my posts to reiterate that I meant G.O.W. was referring to God of War.

And my mom is quite the milf, but after the fiasco that occurred when I posted my own picture, I wouldn't do that to my mom lol.

[JoOeetheplatypuS]

but how does that genre dominate the video game market as a whole? when you think zelda TP, you think RPG right?

ummm no. Have you not played zelda?

[JoOeetheplatypuS]

I (she, by the way) did mean God of War, and I edited one of my posts to reiterate that I meant G.O.W. was referring to God of War.

And my mom is quite the milf, but after the fiasco that occurred when I posted my own picture, I wouldn't do that to my mom lol.

Calling your own mom a milf is quite wrong...

Remember: The I stands for I'd

[Lbelle]

Zelda i sn't an RPG in any sense of the word(s) rofl. The fighting isn't turn based, you don't have a party, you don't level up, you don't really gain any sort of experience points other than heart pieces...it's an action adventure game with a story, omgggggg

[GRT]

but how does that genre dominate the video game market as a whole? when you think zelda TP, you think RPG right?

ummm no. Have you not played zelda?

lol, you are playing a role, thus a "role playing game" to me

in the old days you called these games "ARPG" as in "action role playing game"

who says RPGs have to be turn based or whatever?

and are you saying an "action adventure game" doesn't need good graphics?

[Lbelle]

but how does that genre dominate the video game market as a whole? when you think zelda TP, you think RPG right?

ummm no. Have you not played zelda?

lol, you are playing a role, thus a "role playing game" to me

in the old days you called these games "ARPG" as in "action role playing game"

who says RPGs have to be turn based or whatever?

and are you saying an "action adventure game" doesn't need good graphics?

So wouldn't that mean by your standards EVERY game is a role playing game? That's what you're doing in every game, playing a role, right?