@the.mindful.gamer: Maybe PS2 Era Games Were Better? #duskfadepartner #indiegames

Seality :

i would say its a little bit of survivorship bias. We remember the games we played as a kid for sure, but people wont talk about the bad games they played. not to mention overall just having less games overall since it was a new media.

ratghiol :

I think ultimately, another factor is the fact that I was like 8, and when you're 8 things are just better. I had no worries than playing this sly Cooper level over and over till I found all the bottles. now, even when playing games, I have the thoughts of other responsibilities that I just didn't have back then

SyrR3al :

Games weren’t better but they offered more…any game that had unlock-ables incentivized us to keep playing in order to get the ultimate weapon or armor at the base price of whatever you paid…cheat codes allowed you to play the game however you wished to create your own fun…I miss those days

CapSamWilson :

indie studios always come with the win.

Meezy Me :

Idk I loved the new ratchet and clank and I enjoyed Astro bot. I also feel like it’s the fact that nobody knew about the bad games back then. I believe there were a ton of bad games that nobody talks about so people hold up that era with the best of the consoles. Also these studios were the indie/ AA studios of the past theres just a new generation of devs repeating the history of less money breeding creativity.

KingofHeartsTTV :

what game is this playing in the back

RigohMordis :

My favorite Era was the PS2. For me, it was the pioneer of gameplay format we see today. But at the time of those games releasing on the ps2, they were revolutionary or they were experimental. This kept the industry fresh and the consumer looking for new experiences all the time. Those budget constraints forced developers to find their vision for what they want to communicate to the players.

totallynotghostie :

I just believe people are just more willing to be happy as a child, but now as adults they bemoan their loss of childhood whimsy and blame video games for changing instead of the fact they are the ones that have changed, the last time a game made me feel like that was a few weeks ago as I’ve been playing subnautica below zero and monster hunter stories 3 ( I then got distracted by re-playing the dark souls trilogy and 100% a game I like lmao)

staccatosoul :

There were some pretty terrible games on ps2 as well. Fight club, for example, was boring af and a slap in the face to the source material. They were literally trying to cash in on the hype with a terrible product. Think of it this way: of the roughly 1500+ titles that made it to north America, how many of them do you remember? Imo the problem has always existed. The PS2 era should've been the time to drive the lesson on what makes a great game home, but for some reason it's never stuck.

lhldnohdond fnlotydigribr :

I think things just weren't as established. There just wasn't as much data to optimize for, devs didn't really know what "worked," so we got a huge variety of big swings in lots of different directions. Many were bad, most have been forgotten, but you also had people thinking "what if a shooter was also an RPG" and answering that question with Deus Ex instead of, you know, another borderlands or whatever

murkie 🍉 :

8 billion shovelware games says otherwise man, mainly only gems are brought forward. You just need to search through the “bins” in the digital world, it’s why indie has been such a boon for the modern era.

The_Gooch1977 :

Gaming changed after they stopped including full color instruction manuals in the box. I will not explain further.

theuntoldlegend7 :

also why games are optimized so damn well

BPhil 🇦🇺 🏳️‍🌈 :

I blame the rise of trophy huntering/trophy lists people stopped looking at games as just entertainment but as things to achieve and “complete”

Guyinchat :

exactly this. when you can throw money at your problems or you need to make shareholders happy then you cut corners or don't try new things. plus every (AAA) game has to be 20+ hours and open world is just so annoying

Rica🧡🤍💘 :

a combination of survivorship bias and the development of the internet as a utility and not a luxury allowing for more chances of corporate BS to impact the customer directly instead of just the developers (which is still bad)

EvilestAsh :

Finally someone able to articulate this point. no body has ever been able to explain this to me. all the time "ps2 is the best console. games were better 20 years ago" but no one has ever been able to say why.

Michael Champagne898 :

maybe its nostalgia from a simpler time

BeeKay Potter :

Yeah I talk about this a lot, especially with the PS1. The limitations really forced devs to lock in and figure out how to pull off what they wanted to pull off. Now devs are focused on fidelity and photorealistic graphics which imo takes away from the creativity the games actual mechanics should provide

Greyknight711 :

I will disagree, but only slightly. I think the magic of the PS2 eara was that it was at a sweet spot where tech and budgets were big enough to not limit creativity, but small enough to experiment on wild ideas.

Dugi :

I agree with this take!

Mutated_Lemur :

Another big one for me was couch coop me and my mom and grandma have very fond memories of being able to play games together

The Real Buddy🇺🇲🗑🔥 :

I feel like limitations can make the best stuff, either financially or even hardware restrictions. look at some of the Late Life game on consoles, compared to their launch titles.

StinkerPoo4 :

Back Stabath :

As the saying goes: Limitations breed innovation. Why bother trying if you don't really NEED to?