Gaming has never been better, including AAA (Poll)

[Captain of Outer Space]

Indie games make this generation better than ever. I wasn't expecting before this gen started that my favorite game would be the follow up to Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Power Battle-Cars, which would outclass most sports and multiplayer games on how to keep me coming back to it.

 

[Gundam]

Classics are preserved through remasters and backwards compatibility and we still get plenty of crazy good games. It makes no sense to want to be stuck in 2007 on those terms.

 

[Deleted member 2109]

With new games, game pass and BC i'd definitely say it's the best it's ever been for me.

 

[Deleted member 52823]

The focus on me too genres like Battle Royale and "Souls" is troubling.

 

[Deleted member 274]

AAA is as bad and sterile as it's ever been but otherwise I agree, games keep getting better, bolder and creative-er

 

[iamandy]

And has never been cheaper.

 

[Lant_War]

Agreed. Capcom is back in full force, Square released a new DQ, KH and FF, indie games have resurrected entire genres, and even Western AAA games have been taking some risks.

 

[Scion]

I'm loving this gen, both AAA and the independent space. The only thing I think we'll look back on as somewhat weak this gen is it feels as though very few new IPs have really caught on in big ways. They are there, especially when looking at Battle Royales and the like, but looking at what are to be some of the most remembered games of the generation and you see a lot of remakes, re-imaginings, and reboots.

 

[Sub Boss]

This is one of the best true

 

[Fafalada]

people keep telling me there's more variety but i don't see it.

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We get more releases on one platform in a single year now than an entire console generation used to get in the past, and that's without counting mobile gaming.
You can say what you want about quality (it's not like % of shovelware didn't dominate every previous platform to date), or business practices... but you have to have very narrow blinders on to not find variety in all that.

 

[Sub Boss]

Most of those games are direct sequels or years old though, also Persona 5 is on PS3 so it's actually a last gen game with a current gen port (cross gen sure, but if it came out on a last gen console, I have to put it in last gen). There is certainly good things about this gen, it's not all bad, and some of it lives up to the last gen's greats, but some of it just doesn't. I personally most dislike the development time increase. Mass Effect 1, 2 and 3 all came out over the course of about 5 years, from 2007 to 2012. ME:A took 5 years. It's just that our games are slowing down and losing trilogies is not great. FF7r for instance looks amazing, but with what 3-6 parts, it was announced 4 years ago, and will take another 5 just to get to part 3, which likely won't be the last part.

Free to play often has really bad practices, there are exceptions, but this generation it has gotten worse, not better. (free to play was around last gen too)
DLC is piece meal content, if its a full expansion... Great, but if it's just another hour of content on your 30 hour game 4 to 12 months after launch, going back to it can be hard.
I also didn't touch on the larger problem of online services either, with everyone having their own, soon you are going to need multiple services just to do something online.

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The graphics look beautiful though, with this gen coming to an end soon only God knows how much will development costs increase in the future

 

[nbnt]

I don't see it for triple A games. Sorry but most third party triple A titles have never been worse, plagued with shitty monetization ways and broken launches on top of being bland and boring.

 

[Aeana]

The RPG landscape used to be much more interesting when every publisher had its own franchise and one-off B and C tier games came out regularly.

 

[Joris-truly]

Alot less experimentation and room for innovation on the tech end of things this gen. Games these days are based more around performance and 'smoothness' rather then interesting use of physics, NPC uses/reactive design, or at least make big steps like in the early 00's. Experimentation/innovation that usually used to run bad back in 6th/7th gen, i know. But damn it, at least they tried and usually were ambitious. used to be more AA's that did this, their gone mostly. And with budgets exploding, AAA being more risk-averse...

I do like the Immersive Sim comeback this gen though, even though it's more of the same but bigger and 'smoother'.

"The 8th gen is really the 7th with botox" -- Raycevick

 

[Sparks]

It's honestly hard fighting against the generation you grew up with, because I'm playing 80% less games than I did back in the day. But that's due to aging and my brain dying, not enjoying things as much and feeling like I'm wasting too much time.

But I absolutely agree, I think this is 100% the best it has ever been. Even if you were to ignore all Triple A games (Which I still think are by far the best they've been), you have a vast array of Indie Titles that fit every category you could possibly want.

Alot less experimentation and room for innovation on the tech end of things this gen. Games these days are based more around performance and 'smoothness' rather then interesting use of physics, NPC uses/reactive design, or at least make big steps like in the early 00's. Experimentation/innovation that usually used to run bad back in 6th/7th gen, i know. But damn it, at least they tried and usually were ambitious. used to be more AA's that did this, their gone mostly. And with budgets exploding, AAA being more risk-averse...

I do like the Immersive Sim comeback this gen though, even though it's more of the same but bigger and 'smoother'.

"The 8th gen is really the 7th with botox" -- Raycevick

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This is something that is absolutely great, not having to learn a new control scheme or ways to play a game everytime you pick up a new title. But then it definitely creates a feeling of familiarity and "samieness" to every title, which is a bummer.

Honeslty don't know if there is an answer. If a Triple A shooter was to switch it up and make like LEFT stick Aiming and the Face Buttons movement, gamers would riot. EVEN if after 15+ hours of gameplay it actually allows for more interesting mechanics than the traditional layout.

 

[AfropunkNyc]

The only reason why people will say gaming is better today is because of the graphical hardware improvement. Its best to take people listen to people who experience each console generation, who has more to say about the current state of gaming. Personally i feel as if the NES to the Xbox 360, Ps3, Wii era was the best era for gaming.

 

[spad3]

I'd say it's a bit of both. It's better in the sense of more ways to play, unique new genres/sub-genres, insane visuals, digital downloads so you don't have to keep swapping discs/cartridges, massive and incredibly detailed game worlds, cloud storage, an upcoming standard of VR, like there's a LOT of good shit. But there's a lot of bad shit as well. Predatory gacha practices like loot boxes, DRM enforcement, delisting of titles on digital storefronts, online services being canned for online-only games that people paid actual money for, P2W models, broken/unplayable games on day of release, etc, the list goes on.

Back in the day, when a game was to go to print, there was no way to update/fix any issues after the fact, so most games that went to production had to be closer to being finished (let's say it's 90% complete when it hits the shelves, because let's be honest no game goes to shelves that's 100% finished unless it's like a first-party Nintendo title. Those games are like 99%) than modern day titles. There was no way to patch out the remaining 10% of fixes back then. Nowadays, a game usually releases at like 60%, with a day 1 patch that boosts it to 65%, then DLC and further patches that move it up to 80% over the course of a year, and then a definitive edition that releases at 85%, and then a day 1 patch for that which may or may not move it up to 90%. Buying a brand new game and then having to sit through an install and a day 1 patch for anywhere between 20 minutes to 2 hours is one of the downsides of modern day gaming, something we didn't have to do back in the day. Older games (for the most part) released closer to a complete version of a game in comparison to modern releases.

 

[lightning16]

I think I agree with the general premise that gaming has never been better. I stopped following video games very closely towards the second half of the PS3/360/Wii gen and early on with the PS4/XBO/Wii U. I still played games during this time, but I just didn't get too excited for very much. Then 2017 came and I think since 2017 that gaming's been riding an incredible high. I got back into following things very close and getting excited for tons of releases each year since. I think I've played over 40 new games since the start of 2017 and that never would've happened in any similar time frame before that unless you go way back to my childhood in all likelihood, and this isn't even counting all the older games I've played in the same time frame as a result of my recent enthusiasm. I think it's a combination of several things for me personally.

- The indie scene exploded a while ago, but some of my favorite games have been recent indie games. Hollow Knight and Celeste are amazing, and others like Baba is You, The Messenger, and Yoku's Island Express have been fantastic.

- Japanese companies seem to have really turned things around after what I think was a pretty mediocre showing during the early HD days. The grand majority of what I play is Japanese or indie, so this has been huge for me personally. There were certainly some great handheld Japanese games during those times, but it's been nice to have so many great Japanese console games lately.

- I give a lot of credit for me loving the medium again to the Nintendo Switch. Breath of the Wild was just so damn good and I just sort of like playing games on the system. Waiting outside to get the Switch on Day 1 was probably something I never even would've considered a year before doing so, but their presentations in the leadup to the console's release were fantastic.

Where I disagree, however, is with the AAA part, or at least as far as it pertains to western AAA gaming. I feel like I was much more excited to play new popular western games back on the PS2 and before than I have been on the PS3/360 and especially the PS4/XBO. Feels like it's mostly cinematic open world games and western RPG's and I just really do not care for either of those genres much. Pretty much anything from EA, Activision, Ubisoft, SIE, CD Projekt Red, etc, doesn't really appeal to me much these days. God of War 2018 and Horizon have probably come closest from that group but I reached a point with both where I just wanted to be done with them. I'll concede these games have been very well-made games for the most part; I just don't think they're very fun.

 

[Torpedo Vegas]

It's about the same as it ever was. The highs are just as high, but the lows never hit the lows of some of the older generation.

 

[Concelhaut]

The golden age of gaming is 1988-2004 imo

 

[Deleted member 364]

Japanese games? Better than ever. AAA as a whole. Nah, western devs were better last gen and in the late 90s/early 00s on PC.

 

[Captain Tuttle]

never been better

 

[Mona]

for me personally the modern stuff doesn't represent my preferences to well

late 90s/early 00s was my jam

3D platformers and JRPGs are in the shitter compared to what they used to be

the indie scene is the main thing about the modern era that i love, most everything else i would trade

 

[Alienhated]

The "THIS PRODUCT AVAILABLE FOR SALE RIGHT NOW IS THE BEST THING EVER MADE GO BUY IT GO GO GO!!!" and the "THIS IS THE BEST TIME EVER TO BUY THIS NEW HOT PRODUCT IN SALE RIGHT NOW" talk is cheap, very old PR blabber 101, and people should never take that kind of dumb stuff so freaking seriously, no matter how much they need to hype themselves and get excited.

AAA games have never seen higher production values, there are tons of good indie developers covering SOME of the genres that modern blockuster publisher do not care about anymore, and if you like today's trends you'll definitely love this gaming era, and that's really it.

I think every single gen has its pros and cons, and this one is no exception.

 

[Shodan14]

AAA continues to be trash, indie stuff is better than ever, including higher budget indie stuff.

 

[Deleted member 8593]

It's very different and in many regards better. Even ignoring that games accumulate over time and the progress of technology, we're spoiled for variety and choice both from a gameplay perspective but also in the stories, themes and worlds we get today. I often get the feeling that people compare single years to the last three decades in gaming when they pass sweeping judgements over the current gaming landscape. I started playing in the mid 90s and I couldn't have imagined how rich in variety the industry would be 25 years later.

That said, certain aspects and even entire genres have gotten unquestionably worse to me. The AAA space in particular seems to favour very different things when it comes to level design. Last gen saw a large focus on cinematic appropriation, spectacle and atmosphere whereas the proliferation of open-worlds and systemic/sandbox design this gen favours freedom above everything else. Intricate level-design that creates compelling scenarios seem to often be neglected. It's rare that I find a game that manages to recapture what I remember from previous generations. Sekiro and Resident Evil 2 from this year come to mind, however, so it's not like they don't exist. It's also difficult not to romanticize my formative gaming years though.

 

[bulletyen]

Like others have said, different. In some ways better than it's ever been, in other ways worse.

Indies are the best they've ever been, the quality on average is much better than the stuff found on XBLA last gen.

It's unfortunate that AAA games seemed to have homogenized and games take longer than ever to release, plus the lack of new IP or groundbreaking game templates is disappointing (even the best games this gen follow tried and true design templates, except maybe BotW).

On the flip side some of the experiences from this gen are amongst the most memorable I've ever had despite their lack of innovation. And it's great to finally see games that were a long time coming (FFXV, KH3, TLG, Shenmue 3, Disaster Report 4, and Ace Combat 7) finally materialize, even if they were disappointing.

Yeah battle royale and lootboxes suck, but gaming is so diverse these days and there's so many choices it's easy to ignore trends I dislike.

 

[silva1991]

It doesn't even try to be as good as PS2 gen. It lacks diversity big time. One of my favorite devs(ND) didn't even make a new IP this gen.

 

[Th0rnhead]

I'd say overall it's better, but worse in some aspects.

Nintendo and Sony have had excellent first party content, with more coming. They're killing it. Microsoft's output has left something to be desired, but they're doing well by their fans, embracing PC, pushing for crossplay, etc.

Indie games have never been better. Lots of great indie output this generation, and stigma against indie games seems to be diminishing. There seem to be more AA games than last generation as well.

Third party publishers are really a mixed bag. On one hand, you have companies like Bethesda and Square Enix that have had pretty good output this gen. On the other hand, you have companies like EA and Activision that used to have a lot of varied output, but have since cut back the amount of games they release. Shelving lots of franchises indefinitely, sticking to series that are guaranteed to be profitable, and pushing loot boxes and micro transactions.

There's also companies somewhere in between both extremes, like Ubisoft and 2K. And companies like Konami and Valve that haven't really released many games in ages.

 

[TaySan]

Not for certain genres. Shooters for example

 

[CNoodles]

I do think western made AAA games are getting kinda stale in my opinion, where the they focus too much on graphics. Indies and Japanese made games are carrying this generation hard. With that said some of my favorite games of all time have released this generation, so I yeah gaming has never been better.

 

[Ladioss]

As gentrification processes usually go, contemporary gaming is in a pretty good shape. Still, there is no comparaison possible with the kind of boundless energy you got in the 80s and 90s (warts and all).

 

[klee123]

Since I mainly play Japanese games. This gen has been vastly superior to last.

 

[dgrdsv]

AAA scene was a lot better at the end of PS360 and first couple of PS4/XBO years - more versatile, more risky, less designed by committee and focus groups.
Now it feels like all AAA releases are these open world gaas type games with "RPG elements" and abhorrently unavoidable if not forced social or pure multiplayer aspects.
I'm buying several times less AAA games now because most of new releases simply aren't interesting to me as they basically copy some other successful game in basically everything related to gameplay and don't even try to tell an original story - if they try to tell a story at all.

 

[XuandeXun]

PC gaming has been better in this generation.

Console gaming has never been worse than it is now.

The market is far wider than it used to be, and I enjoy a far smaller percentage of that market than I used to as a result. Back in the Sega Channel days, I might enjoy 45 out of the 50 games up for download in a given period. Nowadays, I probably would enjoy <1% of games released, and I really have to do my homework to find the titles that still appeal to me.

 

[Dead Man Typing]

After a rocky start to the generation I was sceptical about where we'd be today. But honestly, we're in great shape.

Nintendo's come back with with Switch was amazing to see.
Sony turning their limited first party offerings at the start of the gen into system selling power houses was almost too good to be true.
Microsoft somehow rescuing the Xbox situation after the XBO's terrible launch and the Halo Master Chief Collection disasters is also an unbelievable recovery.
PC gaming has always been impressive but the tech spent this whole generation a million miles ahead of the console space.
Plus the variety of experiences with the evolution of VR has been crazy to see. I never thought Beat Sabre would work on PS4 with Move controllers, but it does.

Indy, VR, AAA and backwards compatibility were firing on all cylinders last year. I'm still catching up.
And things will continue to improve once we greatly reduce loading times next gen.

 

[TheModestGun]

Gaming is better now than it has ever been, but only because of the rise of indie gaming and Kickstarter.

The AAA space is much worse than it used to be.

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Depending on what era, I think you've got some rose colored glasses here. I've gone back to many of the ps2 and ps3 era big games and a lot of them feel pretty rough now. Like we gave those games A LOT more leeway to be kind of sloppy.

 

[Nameless]

A lot of crazy talk in here. This has been the strongest gen for AAA since the PS2/GC/XB: Bloodborne, Prey, Witcher 3, RDR2, BoTW, TLG, MGSV, Astrobot, RE2, DkS3, Dishonored 2 and DMC5 are all classics, with countless other standouts from Titanfall 2 to Monster Hunter World to Horizon to Dragon Quest XI to XCOM2— the list literally goes on & on. Just look back at 2017 by alone. All around it's been much more stimulating than the 'Bro Shooter' era last gen.

Factor in indies, a strong mid-tier, a thriving Japanese market, and VR(my goodness VR) and yes, this is the best time to game full-stop. Higher highs, more variety, you name it.

 

[Segafreak]

It's okay, but it's nowhere close to the period of 1995-2005 where you had quality in quantity, the 2 gens in that period will never be topped. All the studios I've ever loved from Sega to Psygnosis to Rareware and Naughty Dog put some amazing shit. For one there's less variety in gaming at the top and mid tier, one could almost say variety is on life support in 2019. At the indie level relatively speaking things are not that much better, there are great games but these are nice new additions to my gaming tastes and do not replace what I like. You have some indies that try to bring that old magic back on their tiny budgets and it just not the same.

I like singleplayer games but yeah don't make everything so hyper real and cinematic and violent. Give me more fun, colorful games like Sunset Overdrive and 3D platformers with a story, extreme sports games, arcade/futuristic racers from the West and Nippon, etc.

 

[AniHawk]

most aaa publishers can go fuck themselves.

indies and everywhere in between is pretty cool though.

 

[Jawmuncher]

In-terms of how easy it is to get a game and play sure.

In-terms of variety on all budget levels, I highly disagree. This gen as a whole feels like a far cry from last-gen, with many types of games stuck in the void since they're not profitable enough for bigger studios and too expensive for indies to make. The few high-class titles just don't make up for the overwhelming loss I feel is there.

 

[mugurumakensei]

AAA no not really for the most part
AA and indie - Definitely true

 

[Citizencope]

Of course it's at its best now. As little as I use my VR headset it's still an incredible option that wasn't there just a few years ago.

 

[Mass Effect]

It is the best time ever for gaming overall, BUT I disagree that AAA gaming is at it's best. Honestly, 6th generation (DC, PS2, GCN, Xbox) and early 7th gen was the best era for "AAA" games. Tons of variety across virtually every genre, no crazy DLC/microtransaction practices yet.

How many AAA arcade sports games have we got this gen? How many did we get on the PS2?
Same goes for racers, JRPGs (though these are making somewhat of a comeback), character action games, and probably a few other genres I'm missing.

With loot boxes, free to play, planned and sometimes on disc DLC, Season Passes, forced installs, broken titles rushed to market to be fixed by patches later, and about double the development cycle of last gen... It's hard to make the argument that games are getting better still.

Last gen had the Batman games, Mass Effect trilogy, (I'll also put Switch/Wii U titles here since they don't follow the current gen's development environment for exclusives at least.) BotW, Mario Odyssey, GTA V, Minecraft, Uncharted, Last of Us, Persona 5, Dark Souls... I think last gen / current Switch development was better.

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The Switch and its games aren't part of last generation. BOTW and Mario are both current gen games. And Persona 5 is too (yes, I know there's a PS3 version).

 

[z0m3le]

It is the best time ever for gaming overall, BUT I disagree that AAA gaming is at it's best. Honestly, 6th generation (DC, PS2, GCN, Xbox) and early 7th gen was the best era for "AAA" games. Tons of variety across virtually every genre, no crazy DLC/microtransaction practices yet.

How many AAA arcade sports games have we got this gen? How many did we get on the PS2?
Same goes for racers, JRPGs (though these are making somewhat of a comeback), character action games, and probably a few other genres I'm missing.



The Switch and its games aren't part of last generation. BOTW and Mario are both current gen games. And Persona 5 is too (yes, I know there's a PS3 version).

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My commentary is on the direction the industry has been going, in this case, Switch games are more easily compared to last generation. Development cycles are shorter, don't have to install games you buy at retail, more games released per year.

Also, if the game came out on last gen hardware, it's a last gen game. This includes persona 5 and botw. Last of us came out on the ps4 within a year of it's ps3 debut, so the line does need to be drawn based on hardware, again though, I'm more talking about the industry's direction and focus, than about if switch is a last gen piece of hardware... It's not. It actually has the most advanced hardware on the market, just not as much performance due to form factor.

 

[Mass Effect]

My commentary is on the direction the industry has been going, in this case, Switch games are more easily compared to last generation. Development cycles are shorter, don't have to install games you buy at retail, more games released per year.

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Fair, though you had to install games on PS3. 360 didn't require it for most games, but it was strongly recommended. But yes, I get the sentiment.

Not sure I agree with the shorter development cycles part though. Nintendo has had their fair share of delays and long dev cycles.

Also, if the game came out on last gen hardware, it's a last gen game. This includes persona 5...

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So you consider Destiny, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Ori & the Blind Forest, Forza Horizon 2, Titanfall, Shadow of Mordor, Dragon Age Inquisition, LittleBigPlanet 3, and virtually all 3rd party launch games last gen? Because most don't.

...and botw.

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But the Wii U isn't even a last gen system.

 

[HomespunFur]

AAA used to be better imo.
Now a lot of them just seem like ways to get some more money out of you.
Indies and Nintendo are killing it but that's about it

 

[Prolepro]

I dont ABSOLUTELY agree, but mostly agree.

 

[Deleted member 8861]

Preying on people with addictions was not always a practice condoned, enabled and encouraged industry wide.

On that basis alone, this current era of gaming is not supreme over any other era. Frankly I don't think it's possible to pick a best era as long as morality is a factor.

 

[BasilZero]

Gaming at this moment is probably the best its ever been despite a lot of lows such as MTX, DLC/season passes, MMO/MOBA, F2P and Loot boxes.


There's just so many types of games, genres, and platforms you can play on compared to the past.

You also have access to games from not only current gen but of past gens through either b/c, remasters or ports - something that wasnt really possible in the past because publishers/devs really didnt invest time or money on them.


There's always good and bad moments in every era but I think gaming at this point has never been better due to the good aspects overshadowing the bad aspects.