Never finished Halo 3. Sadly. Or any game after it....I know about something called

SPOILERS


...the arc making the halo rings though and about the AI basically tripping the first mass extinction....but not much else.

By the time you get to Game XYZ 4, it's mostly a matter of MOTS. "Ya know, this same exact gameplay worked in the first three installments, so MOTS oughta sell like hotcakes! This time, with even more realistic water effects!!!"

Bleh, it's really tough for me to get excited on the new stuff after growing up with the classics of the 80s and 90s - you know, the ones that created most of the genres in play today. Moreso as online play replaces decent AI.

Are you sure you've really outgrown gaming? Sounds more like you're bored with mass market blockbuster video games.

I agree with you on things like Halo.

But Skyrim? With the pretty significant graphical upgrade and the focus on the Nords with dragons? Can't say I get not being exciting for that if you even moderately liked the other Elder Scrolls games.

Here you go, your tired of gaming theme song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEFxfVyz4Uc

ok, here are my complaints with Skyrim (some of them are admittedly kinda petty):

in order that I noticed them in the E3 video:
#1 there is no environmental animation (grass waving, trees shifting with the wind, the third person model clipped right through a bush) so the world looks pretty stale.

#2 despite the fact that it sounds cool, the dual welding looks awkward and kinda silly in parts (firing a staff with the left hand while swinging a sword with the right) and outright intrusive in others (I couldn't tell WTF was going on in the part where the character had two swords).

#3 the combat sucks, there was virtually no hit reactions from anything that the character was attacking (the undead, the mammoth, the Giant, the dragons ... none of it was actually registering hits) and while the flame spell was flashy at first I couldn't help but notice that it wasn't a stream of fire but instead was a bunch of flame "poofs" cast in rapid succession ... they also didn't feel like they had a real impact when they hit.

#4 enemy AI is still completely stupid, after sniping one of the two guys in the cave the other one just goes into combat mode and stands there until he gets shot too ... simply because your character is hidden and thus his ability to psychically home in on you the second his "hostile" state is triggered is turned off. how hard would it be to send a surprised enemy into a state of panic so that they run around randomly for a little bit, then go into combat mode and start retaliating? (that kind of AI actions have only been around since the days of Diablo.)

#5 that entire Dragon "fight" was scripted. from the moment it starts panning around as the giant and mammoths start walking into the valley, right up until the second dragon crashes and the character hops on it's back to kill it: S-C-R-I-P-T-E-D.

the only thing that wasn't scripted was when the character attacked the mammoth and pissed off the giant, but even if the character hadn't done that the Giant would have still gotten snatched up at that same moment in time. the reason why they did that was for dramatic flair, they hit the mammoth to piss off the giant and then started running backwards so you couldn't see the dragon incoming and were focused on the Giant, then -zoom- in comes the dragon and everyone is all "oooooh!"

I'd be a hell of a lot less judgmental if this thing had a release date of November 2012, but November 2011 is no where far enough away for these half-ass-eries to just be place holder elements for the demo. Given Bethshitia's MO on their games I have no reservations on taking this video as being highly indicative of the final gameplay.

I mean ... shit man, Kingdoms of Amalur has got more bang in it's combat and it's a fucking MMO retrofitted into being a single player lead in. Thats sad.

*edit*
compare Dark Messiah to Skyrim, no they are not the exact same type of game but they have highly similar types of combat and it's not too hard to find Skyrim lacking in comparison to a game from 2006.

I know a lot of people were unhappy with Oblivion, but it wasn't a bad game. The Elder Scrolls and Bethesda at large have a pretty good track record of delivering something of value. I can't see Skyrim being the exception to the rule.

I loved Morrowind, hated Oblivion: bells and whistles to not make a game great.

If that's your stance then you pretty much should ignore mainstream gaming. Morrowind was the better game, but much harder to actually play. Oblivion held your hand and let you do whatever you wanted, but it also led itself to a much simpler and ultimately enjoyable ride for most people.

Morrowind beat Oblivion in all respects aside from ease of use and graphics. The quest system alone makes the game easier to play from Morrowind's journal. Skyrim's going to continue that trend.

Hey now, don't lump in the motion control gimmick stuff with Mario/Zelda/Donkey Kong/[major Nintendo franchise], it isn't nice. /pout

yeah, but all that came out years ago except for the other M and I stopped caring after seeing how Team Ninja turned Samus into a little bitch.

(yes I know that was mostly in the cinematics while the gameplay was good, but I still just couldn't get past it.)

So strong women can't have a weaker side? :P

:)

I feel your frustration Sogi-Ya. Seems like the masterpieces have already been made, and we're just buying up a bunch of alterations of mashed up, already-used ideas. Games nowadays cater to the shorter attention spans of this generation, and apparently smaller brains considering the difficulty of most of them; both in terms of gameplay and decision-making.

The Witcher 2 was a great game to "plough" through, but still far from a masterpiece. To me, the 90's were the golden age of gaming, and I always find myself playing new games and wishing they were more like the classics. Most are all flash and little substance, dumbed down to the point where I feel like I'm barely using my brain. I'm playing Dead Space 2 right now and it feels like it was made for children, despite the swearing and gore.

"Press the Right Analog Stick to locate your objective." Seriously?? Why not just make the game a fucking rail shooter?

But alas, all hope is not lost. Indie developers are kicking plenty of ass these days, with games like Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Super Meat Boy and Minecraft. And there are so many excellent classics on PC and consoles to keep you busy until you're blind or dead, if you can get past the aging graphics. It's easy if you avoid looking at the latest games, or play games that are even older.

Mario Galaxy 2 and Donkey Kong Country Returns were both 2010 games.

Also, Team Ninja had absolutely nothing to do with the story iirc, and it was the fact that they spread the different components of the game around that made the execution fall flat. (Go back and play Fusion, it casts Samus very similarly)

90% of AAA games today are shit for PC gamers. As the guy below you said: Indie is our only salvation.