Monotonous Mondays EP 16: Casual Nonsense Destroying Great Games

[Threadnaught]

Repeatedly making Iron Daggers is as much of a glitch as using the rubber band method to run into a wall all night in Oblivion. All games have exploits like this, please don't call an obvious feature a glitch please.

As for it's similarities to Oblivion, care to elaborate? Oblivion is similar to Morrowind which is similar to Daggerfall.

Oblivion's leveling was more due to it being more like a punishment than a reward.

[Threadnaught]

As for the Fable series, anything released by Lion Head Studios, suffers the exact same problem. Peter "I have a dream" Molyneux. He's forever one step short of saying something like "If you buy this game, you'll get a free pony".

And if something works and is popular, developers will use it until it stagnates, the only thing that will change this is for the consumer to buy more unique games, with less casual features and to stop buying DLC.

[dragonps]

@Threadnaught Peter does talk a good game however I could name you countless devs who do the same thing, I remember Ono speaking of the next street fighter game being hardcore only to announce arcade edition.

[Threadnaught]

@dragonps As for Capcom and the Streetfighter series, well after seeing Super Ultimate Streetfighter Greek alphabet, Turbo, Championship, Arcade, Hardcore Edition with the rest of the series, did you really expect any different with the "4th" game in the series?

[Threadnaught]

@dragonps I will give Peter credit on one thing, he almost made it seem like a bad feature when he mentioned it, but the removal of dying may be the best change they ever made to the series. Don't think so yourself?

Play Lost Chapters and times yourself how long it takes you to die, make sure you have 9 Resurrection Phials and if you have enough experience to level up, then do so.

[dragonps]

@Threadnaught Skyrim is an high rez version of Oblivion with better animations and slightly better combat system. Don't get me wrong its still an awesome game although it feels much more easy and dare I say it casual. They even removed some awesome features from Oblivion in Skyrim (making spells anyone?)

[Threadnaught]

@dragonps True, spellmaking was an interesting system, but because of it, Illusion and Conjuration greatly improved. It is a shame Destruction doesn't scale, and both Restoration and Alteration have limited use.

Skyrim is simplified over Oblivion, leveling doesn't hurt you as badly as in Oblivion and the actual grinding itself is far more tolerable over previous games of the series.

If you want to see dumbing down in that seires, compare Oblivion to Morrowind.

[DayLaMike]

But what do you think about Soul Calibur 5 and would you recommend Virtua Fighter 5?

[dragonps]

@DayLaMike from what I've played and seen of SC5 its a slightly upgraded SC4 with much better online features. I certainly would recomend VF5 as I believe its the best 3D fighting game available at the moment (until VF5FS ;)

[DayLaMike]

I'm a bit late to this one but I'll leave a comment anyway. The casual mentality is spilling over into core gaming. Companies are trying to make games more accessible to get more buyers to get more money. I don't like it. I'm really sure how I feel about DoA5 at the moment it looks like they are making the gaming more flashy and making the environment play bigger roles in battles. This really does look like an attempt to get peoples attention...I looking forward to it but I'm kind of scared.

[dragonps]

@DayLaMike this is the thing, I see great hardcore games like Dark Souls and I'm scared they will be ruined by this casual nonsense.

[lawnboyspost1975]

I couldn't agree more with you, games companies no longer care about the hardcare gamer, they just want to make as broad a marketable game as possible, dumb down content so casual gamers can play PG up the violence and sit back and watch the cash come flooding in. Makes me worry about where games will be in 10 years, especially if the Wii U is a big success!

[dragonps]

@lawnboyspost1975 indeed I fear for the Wii U this is the kinda thing that has the potential to kill great games and turn them all PG

[23penguins32]

I think this sort of thing is happening, in some ways, in tabletop RPGs as well. There's a dumbing down, certainly, as the marketing and accountantcy departments take over to just make more money (with less substance in their products).

[dragonps]

@23penguins32 indeed my friend its not just games its happening to but the whole entertainment medium in general.

[metlguitar02]

Great vid! I do think they are making games easier to appeal to a broader audience. Definitely.

[dragonps]

@metlguitar02 yeah you just know they are

[UkooLDoE]

It boggles my mind, Developers need to wake the fuck up!

[0000Ishbo]

@UkooLDoE I second this comment!

[dragonps]

@UkooLDoE agreed man but when will they wake up?

[UkooLDoE]

@dragonps I'm not sure if they will :(

[lightdark28]

thats kind of what happens as a certain hobby or medium becomes more popular.

as you expand into new audiences, you start having to accomodate people who are not too dedicated, hence the need to dumb down games

however, that leads to games where alot of things are done for you.

its also an indication that gamers are getting older and thus have less time to master games, that might be part of it.

I don't mind casual games, but when my games start getting dumbed down , I get upset

[dragonps]

@lightdark28 well there are rumors that VF6 will be going in a completely different direction to accommodate for the casuals so I hear

[lightdark28]

@dragonps

thought you said VF was basically dead

[dragonps]

@lightdark28 no I said the arcade scene in Japan was dying and VF5FS arcade revenue was the reason the game is getting a console release. The rumors come from Sega that VF6 will be going in a different direction and that VF5FS is the game to promote it

[RiFFxxx]

I thought the leveling up in Oblivion was far easier, i mean you really did gain levels by jumping, runnning and talking to people. Id still rather have Fallouts xp system though. As for Fabel, 1 was excellent, 2 was perfect and 3, well it had a nice storyline.

As for the game market, i feel its fine the way it is, i'd have fun over difficulty anyday.

Great Vid Dee-man, oh and get yourself some garlic mate, keeps those vampires away ;)

[dragonps]

@RiFFxxx yes I need to shut my windows at night :P

[spritesNbytes]

I have this horrible feeling that companies have gone from pissing us off with difficulties in games to just pissing us off because of their money grabbing ways. Now granted, I'm an avid collectors edition weirdo and they come to a high rice depending on the one you go for etc, but at least its money I consider worth paying for knowing you're getting something for being the fan of certain titles, but when it comes down to lowering the difficulty or even just lowering the games quality...

[spritesNbytes]

@spritesNbytes ... then games will eventually just become so boring that there will seem little point in continuing the collecting or even just the playing in general. Thank god for the retro era :)

[dragonps]

@spritesNbytes totaly agree man, and I see it happening all across the board