The Last of Us, The Walking Dead game and other Telltale games, Uncharted, The Witcher, God of War, and I guess it’s just a general trend I feel. A lot of games seem to focus on story-driven elements more than gameplay, with an obsession around graphics and story more than anything else (see what Mohamed Enieb says on Twitter, for example).
And I guess this is somewhat separate, but… why don’t trailers show any gameplay, just cinematic stuff? I don’t play games for the visuals or story personally, I just want good gameplay. I find it increasingly hard to find games I actually enjoy.
What happened to the likes of Ratchet & Clank, Jak series, Lost Planet, or the Halo series? Those are games with good gameplay, and I couldn’t care less about the stories (or graphics).
Meh, too much story for me. I know there’s some gameplay, but it’s a lot of walking around while just observing stuff happening, too much for my liking.
Ok but a branching story is far from the same as a tv show
If you prefer point-and-click shooters or FIFA or whatever that’s fine, but it’s not like good RPGs are any closer to cinematic games/walking simulators than them - RPGs & walking simulators share a story, whereas point-and-click shooters & walking simulators share repetitiveness and little to no replay value
For the latter there is an argument that they’re more of a sport than a media form, but why not just go to the gym or join a sports team? It follows the same logic as why not watch a movie instead of playing a game with a story
What are you talking about? Ratchet and Clank had as much story as God of War, they were both released for the same console, and both of them had a new game released recently. If you don’t care about story Halo and CoD are very similar, and there’s a new CoD every year, why not play that?
Plus there are plenty of games that got released recently and are focused on mechanics, have absolutely awesome gameplay and are not “story” heavy e.g. Dead Cells, Spider-Man, Stellaris, Two point hospital, Factorio, Rimworld just out of the top of my head.
I’m really trying to understand your argument, but really can’t:
You mention games without gameplay and list as examples games that were acclaimed by their gameplay as well as storytelling
You say you don’t care about graphics but list games that were at the top of the graphical capabilities of their time
You talk about a recent trend and provide examples from 10 or more years ago
I’m not sure you know what you like in a game, I think it’s quite possible you enjoyed those games because you were in a different mental situation when you played them, and now nothing quite stands up to them because you changed and are not able to enjoy things as much. I’m saying this because objectively The last of Us is a masterpiece in every single aspect, not only one of the best stories I’ve seen in a while, but also a lot of great innovative mechanics and a gameplay that fits just perfectly, even if you skipped every Cutscene in the game you would still be playing an absolutely awesome game, it might not be your thing because you don’t like stealth, or scare easily, but to claim it’s a game without anything but story is more proof that you either haven’t played it or are trolling.
Ratchet & Clank and the Jak series are platformers which have fallen out of favor with most companies because they don’t sell well anymore. You could try A Hat In Time or the Mario games (or even the latest 3D Sonic game, for that matter) if that’s what you are looking for. As far as Lost Planet and the Halo series, I wouldn’t exactly call them sparkling examples of gameplay. Lost Planet was a pretty OK third person shooter, which you can still find a fair amount of out there (see: Ghost Recon, et al.), and Halo has Halo Infinite, the MCC, or you can go the route of Call of Duty, DOOM, Dying Light, or one of the many arena shooters that have come out in recent times, just search for “Boomer Shooters.”
As far as your commentary on trailers, it’s often because visuals sell, and being able to script a cinematic to hit on every dopamine receptor is something that advertisers have been perfecting for generations. They don’t show gameplay because most of the time the gameplay is the same gameplay that you’ve seen before. If you want innovation, you have to go indie for the most part, and they don’t have trailers that often.
The Last of Us, The Walking Dead game and other Telltale games, Uncharted, The Witcher, God of War, and I guess it’s just a general trend I feel. A lot of games seem to focus on story-driven elements more than gameplay, with an obsession around graphics and story more than anything else (see what Mohamed Enieb says on Twitter, for example).
And I guess this is somewhat separate, but… why don’t trailers show any gameplay, just cinematic stuff? I don’t play games for the visuals or story personally, I just want good gameplay. I find it increasingly hard to find games I actually enjoy.
What happened to the likes of Ratchet & Clank, Jak series, Lost Planet, or the Halo series? Those are games with good gameplay, and I couldn’t care less about the stories (or graphics).
Have you even played TLOU? And the Witcher? Really? It’s pretty much ALL gameplay!
I honestly don’t think you’ve ever played any of these games beyond the opening scenes.
Meh, too much story for me. I know there’s some gameplay, but it’s a lot of walking around while just observing stuff happening, too much for my liking.
You clearly have no idea what playing these games is like. You should’ve tried them before forming your opinion.
ROFL… okay.
Ok but a branching story is far from the same as a tv show
If you prefer point-and-click shooters or FIFA or whatever that’s fine, but it’s not like good RPGs are any closer to cinematic games/walking simulators than them - RPGs & walking simulators share a story, whereas point-and-click shooters & walking simulators share repetitiveness and little to no replay value
For the latter there is an argument that they’re more of a sport than a media form, but why not just go to the gym or join a sports team? It follows the same logic as why not watch a movie instead of playing a game with a story
Ok so what the hell games do you like then?
What are you talking about? Ratchet and Clank had as much story as God of War, they were both released for the same console, and both of them had a new game released recently. If you don’t care about story Halo and CoD are very similar, and there’s a new CoD every year, why not play that?
Plus there are plenty of games that got released recently and are focused on mechanics, have absolutely awesome gameplay and are not “story” heavy e.g. Dead Cells, Spider-Man, Stellaris, Two point hospital, Factorio, Rimworld just out of the top of my head.
I’m really trying to understand your argument, but really can’t:
You mention games without gameplay and list as examples games that were acclaimed by their gameplay as well as storytelling
You say you don’t care about graphics but list games that were at the top of the graphical capabilities of their time
You talk about a recent trend and provide examples from 10 or more years ago
I’m not sure you know what you like in a game, I think it’s quite possible you enjoyed those games because you were in a different mental situation when you played them, and now nothing quite stands up to them because you changed and are not able to enjoy things as much. I’m saying this because objectively The last of Us is a masterpiece in every single aspect, not only one of the best stories I’ve seen in a while, but also a lot of great innovative mechanics and a gameplay that fits just perfectly, even if you skipped every Cutscene in the game you would still be playing an absolutely awesome game, it might not be your thing because you don’t like stealth, or scare easily, but to claim it’s a game without anything but story is more proof that you either haven’t played it or are trolling.
Try Celeste. There’s a great storyline but you can ignore it if you want. The gameplay speaks for itself
Ratchet & Clank and the Jak series are platformers which have fallen out of favor with most companies because they don’t sell well anymore. You could try A Hat In Time or the Mario games (or even the latest 3D Sonic game, for that matter) if that’s what you are looking for. As far as Lost Planet and the Halo series, I wouldn’t exactly call them sparkling examples of gameplay. Lost Planet was a pretty OK third person shooter, which you can still find a fair amount of out there (see: Ghost Recon, et al.), and Halo has Halo Infinite, the MCC, or you can go the route of Call of Duty, DOOM, Dying Light, or one of the many arena shooters that have come out in recent times, just search for “Boomer Shooters.”
As far as your commentary on trailers, it’s often because visuals sell, and being able to script a cinematic to hit on every dopamine receptor is something that advertisers have been perfecting for generations. They don’t show gameplay because most of the time the gameplay is the same gameplay that you’ve seen before. If you want innovation, you have to go indie for the most part, and they don’t have trailers that often.
Most of those games still have actual gameplay mechanics, unlike, say, Detroit Become Human which is a better fit for this category.
Or all those walking sims that were all the rage a couple of years back.