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Do you think old AAA games have more creative & crazy ideas?

  • Yes

    Votes: 533 44.1%
  • No

    Votes: 676 55.9%

  • Total voters
    1,209

Deleted member 12790

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
24,537
Yeah, VR is doing a lot but I didn't want to include it since the topic is largely talking about AAA games and I think that we're just not quite there yet in terms of budget for VR games.

Half Life Alyx is without a doubt a AAA game, it had a larger staff than any other game ever made by Valve and was in development for 4 years. There are also other AAA VR games like Lone Echo from Oculus, made by Ready at Dawn, and Asgard's Wrath by Senzaru.
 

WadeIt0ut

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,985
Iowa
Hard disagree with OP.

I do think it's a side effect of AAA games costing significantly more to make while brand new games still sell for $60.

I still don't understand how that works. Inflation has touched almost everything in the world except video games.
 

Alek

Games User Researcher
Verified
Oct 28, 2017
8,482
That's in large part because of 3D games being born. Of course the game were innovative, there was barely anything like that beforehand. But how are you suppose to revolutionize something that's been a thing for more than 20 years now?

This is true too but I also believe that there are plenty of game ideas that are just not explored. Potentially, entire genres that could exist but don't because studios prefer to pick an existing model for a game, then design around that.

Just as a really basic example, how many popular games right feature psychic/telekenetic abilities as gameplay mechanics? Almost none. If you look back at games like Second Sight, they have a tonne of cool ideas that are just not explored in modern games. I find it really odd, because some of the most fun gameplay experiences I've had have been related to physics manipulation, throwing storm troopers around in the Force Unleashed, for example.

Modern games just tend to be really grounded and realistic. Even when they are described as arcady, the gameplay mechanics tend to be derived from real world behaviours.

There's also not a lot of exploration of non-violent games, and far too much emphasis on shooters.
 

bionic77

Member
Oct 25, 2017
30,895
I don't think games were more creative. But it took less time and money to make games in prior gens freeing up the larger companies to make more games and even more types of games.

Variety from a lot of companies is definitely lacking compared to past gens. But that's not because they are not creative.
 

Deleted member 8674

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
5,240
Half Life Alyx is without a doubt a AAA game, it had a larger staff than any other game ever made by Valve and was in development for 4 years. There are also other AAA VR games like Lone Echo from Oculus, made by Ready at Dawn, and Asgard's Wrath by Senzaru.

Is that accurate? It feels like Alyx was in development for longer.
 

ShinUltramanJ

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,950
Back then publishers could take more risks without fear of financial ruin if they failed.

I completely disagree that modern AAA games have less interesting worlds. Especially when nothing from the past can touch a Red Dead Redemption 2 or Assassin's Creed Origins.
I can also do without wacky mechanics in most games. Like I'd rather not deliver German suplexes to monsters in Resident Evil 8. That's B movie schlock, not good horror.
 
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Nanashrew

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,328
This is true too but I also believe that there are plenty of game ideas that are just not explored. Potentially, entire genres that could exist but don't because studios prefer to pick an existing model for a game, then design around that.

Just as a really basic example, how many popular games right feature psychic/telekenetic abilities as gameplay mechanics? Almost none. If you look back at games like Second Sight, they have a tonne of cool ideas that are just not explored in modern games. I find it really odd, because some of the most fun gameplay experiences I've had have been related to physics manipulation, throwing storm troopers around in the Force Unleashed, for example.

Modern games just tend to be really grounded and realistic. Even when they are described as arcady, the gameplay mechanics tend to be derived from real world behaviours.

There's also not a lot of exploration of non-violent games, and far too much emphasis on shooters.
That last part, 100%. What I would give for more AAA games that aren't shooters. Very few companies offer that. Nintendo has the majority of AAA non-shooters like Mario, Zelda, and Animal Crossing.
 

Zebra1L

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
57
People say this but when I scroll through my collection of AAA games and they range from Bloodborne to DOOM Eternal, from Astro Bot to Breath of the Wild, from Prey to the Last Guardian, from Resident Evil 7 to Sunset Overdrive, from Hitman to Half Life Alyx, from Sekiro to Mario + Rabbids, from Astral Chain to Horizon Zero Dawn, from Titanfall 2 to For Honor and from Control to Dreams, I'm not seeing the sameyness at all. If anything, there is a wide variety of genres, art styles and lots of good mechanics, player agency and level design.
Close the thread. We have a winner because he's absolutely right. I don't think i have ever experienced such variety in games like in this gen.
 

astro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
57,095
disagree with ''samey'' but dude modern game worlds are so f*cking boring! (my main point of the thread)

The Outer Worlds has a boring ass world compared to Fallout, Sekiro's world feels more grounded than Dark Souls and Death Stranding looks cooler than it actually is.

People can freaking TELL that's it's FF7 Remake by just looking at the environments, way before the name drop, cause the world itself is just so memorable.
The same can not be said about most modern games.

It took people forever to spot that it's Last of Us II, and most didn't even recognize the Fire Flies logo.

If one day they revealed Days Gone 2 people would probably assume it's Last of Us 3 before the title drops.
You are being ultra dismissive here...

The games in that image have a very, very strong visual identity that is immediately recognizable and stands out from the pack.
 

Arion

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,807
I don't know how anyone can play games like Control and Death Stranding and deny their creativity. Opinions I guess.
 

Crossing Eden

Member
Oct 26, 2017
53,457
The AAA of 20 years ago were full of tropes and cliches that were repeated among themselves.

They are simply different from the tropes and cliches of today's AAA.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I can just post this alone with minimal effort to show how not samey games are.
maxresdefault.jpg
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 

Mass_Pincup

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
7,130
Half Life Alyx is without a doubt a AAA game, it had a larger staff than any other game ever made by Valve and was in development for 4 years. There are also other AAA VR games like Lone Echo from Oculus, made by Ready at Dawn, and Asgard's Wrath by Senzaru.

I was not trying to say that they were none, just that the AAA scene seems to still dip their toes in it. We're still in a phase where having any AAA game feels like an event and not the norm.

This is true too but I also believe that there are plenty of game ideas that are just not explored. Potentially, entire genres that could exist but don't because studios prefer to pick an existing model for a game, then design around that.

Just as a really basic example, how many popular games right feature psychic/telekenetic abilities as gameplay mechanics? Almost none. If you look back at games like Second Sight, they have a tonne of cool ideas that are just not explored in modern games. I find it really odd, because some of the most fun gameplay experiences I've had have been related to physics manipulation, throwing storm troopers around in the Force Unleashed, for example.

Modern games just tend to be really grounded and realistic. Even when they are described as arcady, the gameplay mechanics tend to be derived from real world behaviours.

There's also not a lot of exploration of non-violent games, and far too much emphasis on shooters.

Control is a big one, I would even say that Quantum Break could fit the bill. There's also Prey and Dishonored who play around that. That's close to about one a year in this generation without counting Jedi Order.

And I just don't really agree that modern games tend to be too grounded, actually I'm sure that outside of sports games, most of the popular games these days are not that grounded, and there's way more AAA games which feature next to no violence than before. Like, most Ubisoft franchise basically dropped their search for realism this generation, Bethesda has no game going for it as well and outside of some multiplayer shooters, some games coming from Sony (even there I wouldn't particularly classify something like TLOU or even Uncharted as being grounded and going for realism) and Rockstar Games, there's actually not that much games going for that.

And in regards to prioritizing exploration over violence and shooting, I don't really feel like it was particularly different before.
 
OP
OP
Blade Wolf

Blade Wolf

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
9,512
Taiwan
I don't know how anyone can play games like Control and Death Stranding and deny their creativity. Opinions I guess.

If you compare Death Stranding to all other games it's creative, but compared to other Kojima games it's more exotic than actually creative (imo)

like the things that happened within the game world all felt very stale & repetitive, the game world itself is also not that interesting

the gameplay loop and online interaction is very creative but that's more of a game design creativity than the world building creativity I'm talking about here

Also as I said last page ''ok I will play Control!!''

it better be good guys
 

Nanashrew

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,328
I don't know how anyone can play games like Control and Death Stranding and deny their creativity. Opinions I guess.
They're few and far between as AAA titles go. Heck, so many were excited for Death Stranding because there is literally nothing like it in the AAA space. Arthouse almost never get big budgets.
 

Dever

Member
Dec 25, 2019
5,357
on surface that is true and I WAS skeptical before release but once I got the game I fell in love with it
it has a lot more to offer than that, and there's a lot of creativity which I really love

it's honestly a fantastic game

the ''jumping is fun but it doesn't tell the story'' part is just nonsense garbage from Cory and I doubt it is the real core value of the game design

Then I'm not really sure what you're looking for is originality, since GoW is highly derivative (not necessarily bad) and you've been dissing some highly original games like Death Stranding.

But anyway, my advice to you is the same as to anyone else, which is to go play Outer Wilds.
 

MillionIII

Banned
Sep 11, 2018
6,816
while that's a pretty shallow take, it is true that you need creativity to came up with those things

do not discredit creativity just because it's not grounded or logical
You didn't explain what's so creative about those games, style over substance? being more wacky? I don't get it. Is resident evil 6 more creative than 7 because it's batshit insane?
 

SlipperyMoose

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
2,231
I don't think the amount of remakes implies that at all. Gaming has been around in a big way since about the 70's now. There are going to be classics made that people will want to play on their current setup or maybe weren't around or never got a chance to play. It's really just a maturing of gaming.
 
OP
OP
Blade Wolf

Blade Wolf

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
9,512
Taiwan
You didn't explain what's so creative about those games, style over substance? being more wacky? I don't get it. Is resident evil 6 more creative than 7 because it's batshit insane?

Style AND Substance, in which RE7 had both and RE6 only have the former, hence why RE7 is more creative than RE6 to me.

It's not just about wacky, fun or being colorful, it's about the spirit and the soul behind the vision and creativity, as well as the execution.

Nier Automata is the best example, it's not just over the top anime tiddie action game. There's substance, meaning and a message all executed exceptionally well in a way that's never seen before, not just the storytelling but how the story is structured as well. The game absolutely shattered my expectation.

When you do something that's never or rarely been done before in a way that speaks your style as a creator, that is creativity. Even IF those idea came from a certain inspiration.
 
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low-G

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,144
Most new AAA games don't take much risks at all, true.

I don't even know if you'd call something like Half Life Alyx AAA, because AAA literally refers to the budget only and there are fewer AAA games than ever.

The large risk + very risk adverse companies means AAA will be as boring as humanly possible. And it does make sense when you look at how many tens of millions can easily be lost by a company making a game nobody wants.
 

Yata

Member
Feb 1, 2019
2,962
Spain
Yeah, I kind of agree. Not to the same extent as OP or some other posters claim, but I do think there are definitely less creative AAA videogames coming out now. I argue it's mainly because of two reasons: less opportunity for devs to experiment because of increasing costs and because we live in the era of nostalgia, where remakes/remasters/sequels are the norm and people prefer to play something they are familiar with. I think it's less about the world/environment/story and more about game design and creative choices, though. There's plenty of creativity in the indie space and others, so I guess it evens out.
 
Oct 27, 2017
39,148
If you compare Death Stranding to all other games it's creative, but compared to other Kojima games it's more exotic than actually creative (imo)

like the things that happened within the game world all felt very stale & repetitive, the game world itself is also not that interesting

the gameplay loop and online interaction is very creative but that's more of a game design creativity than the world building creativity I'm talking about here

Also as I said last page ''ok I will play Control!!''

it better be good guys

giphy.gif
 

AllChan7

Tries to be a positive role model
Member
Apr 30, 2019
3,670
I personally don't care if a game is unique or creative as much as if its enjoyable and actually feels great to play. Like Astral Chain for example is quite a unique action game that I definitely enjoyed but DMCV felt better to play imo despite that game being an improvement on a tried and true formula.

GoW is another game thats fantastic to play despite borrowing game design elements from other games. And while I love Nier a lot, I'd still consider GoW a better game personally but I understand if others feel differently. All in all, I don't feel like AAA games are less creative just because they aren't wildly different from each other.
 

Crossing Eden

Member
Oct 26, 2017
53,457
These types of threads ALWAYS read as "I have not played a lot of games, here's my example of confirmation bias, the thread"

Imagine not playing Control and talking about how AAA games aren't creative.

well, if I'm being honest, I don't think discussions where subjective opinions about degree of creativity are really fruitful in the first place. Like, I don't really play games with realistic aesthetics too often, I normally go for super abstract or brighter aesthetics. but that's taste, going around talking about how what I like is objectively "more" creative than what I don't like just doesn't yield anything of substance. Primarily, because it's not objective in the first place, we're discussing inherently subjective topics. But also because I know there are lots of ways to express creativity, and even within "realistic" depictions there is just as much creativity on display.
For some people creativity stops and ends at whether or not a toon shader is being used.
 

monmagman

Member
Dec 6, 2018
4,126
England,UK
My main complaint about current gen is everyone's obsession with huge open worlds resulting in developers struggling to fill them with meaningful content.I guess that kind of fits with what OP is saying about lack of creativity.
 

Alek

Games User Researcher
Verified
Oct 28, 2017
8,482
I was not trying to say that they were none, just that the AAA scene seems to still dip their toes in it. We're still in a phase where having any AAA game feels like an event and not the norm.



Control is a big one, I would even say that Quantum Break could fit the bill. There's also Prey and Dishonored who play around that. That's close to about one a year in this generation without counting Jedi Order.

And I just don't really agree that modern games tend to be too grounded, actually I'm sure that outside of sports games, most of the popular games these days are not that grounded, and there's way more AAA games which feature next to no violence than before. Like, most Ubisoft franchise basically dropped their search for realism this generation, Bethesda has no game going for it as well and outside of some multiplayer shooters, some games coming from Sony (even there I wouldn't particularly classify something like TLOU or even Uncharted as being grounded and going for realism) and Rockstar Games, there's actually not that much games going for that.

And in regards to prioritizing exploration over violence and shooting, I don't really feel like it was particularly different before.

No disrespect to control, it's a great game, but the telekenetic abilities there just seemed as if they were ways to shoot at enemies.

Bioshock and Dishonoured/prey are the most recent examples I can think that use these abilities in remotely interesting ways. The possession ability in Prey is really something.

But because those projects are high risk, those types of games are not that popular, therefore those ideas are not all that well explored.
 

WadeIt0ut

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,985
Iowa
My main complaint about current gen is everyone's obsession with huge open worlds resulting in developers struggling to fill them with meaningful content.I guess that kind of fits with what OP is saying about lack of creativity.

I'd argue that some of the most beloved older games were games where they tried to make large open worlds that ended up mostly barren.

ie. Final Fantasy 7 and Ocarina of Time.
Nostalgia makes us think these were some magically bustling worlds of wonderment. But go back and play them. The open sections really don't have much going on. Devs have been trying to make big open worlds for a long time now. The scale is just massively different In scale because of technology.
 

Crossing Eden

Member
Oct 26, 2017
53,457
Back then publishers could take more risks without fear of financial ruin if they failed.

I completely disagree that modern AAA games have less interesting worlds. Especially when nothing from the past can touch a Red Dead Redemption 2 or Assassin's Creed Origins.
I can also do without wacky mechanics in most games. Like I'd rather not deliver German suplexes to monsters in Resident Evil 8. That's not B movie schlock, not good horror.
And that's the thing is that context matters. Over the top is often described as how "wacky" or campy something is in an anime/B-movie way specifically. This, conceptually, is just as over the top as any Resident Evil supplex:
bcOejKh.gif


A guy wearing a box on his head, using a flying drone to sneak behind an enemy, turning invisible, before supplexing a person and turning their body invisible so that it can't be found. So there's a knocked out invisible guy with a broken spine. Hell a girl fighting robot dinosaurs with bows and arrows itself is a ridiculous concept.
8d291fd7264554a051ea113af15e725d.gif


Just because they put in so much work to make these elements believable does not mean that these aren't over the top concepts or that there's been a reduction in creativity.
 
Last edited:
Oct 24, 2019
6,560
This has to be the most hilariously wrong and bad OP I've ever seen LMAO.

Control and Death Stranding just came out last year, both of which are "crazier and more out there" than Resi 3 or FF7.

Not to mention Half-Life Alyx, which came out literally less than a month ago and pushes the boundaries of creativity and interactivity in VR.

And that's just naming three things from right off the top of my head.

edit:
And how could I forget Dreams??
 
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JooJ

Member
Oct 27, 2017
576
Just like with Hollywood it means companies are more willing to invest tons of money in established and known brands instead of building recognition from zero.

It's not about creativity but risks.
 

peppersky

Banned
Mar 9, 2018
1,174
The way that some gamers seem to overly prefer to play games in established genres and are constantly clamoring for remakes does seem quite creatively limiting.
 

Crossing Eden

Member
Oct 26, 2017
53,457
Exploding bodies, unseen ghosts and psychic baby are all cool but I HONESTLY don't think it's executed that well and like I said, it's more exotic than creative.

Metal Gear Solid on the other hand, now THAT is creative.
What does it tell you that people are more easily able to discern the influences of metal gear solid, including very specific anime, than Death Stranding?
 
Oct 27, 2017
6,348
The premise is already false in the sense that these remade or remastered games were all there ever was in the past. There was a boatload of games in every generation that were creative or boring, good or bad for one reason or another, some of them forgotten, some still praised today.
 

WadeIt0ut

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,985
Iowa
Exploding bodies, unseen ghosts and psychic baby are all cool but I HONESTLY don't think it's executed that well and like I said, it's more exotic than creative.

Metal Gear Solid on the other hand, now THAT is creative.

Im questioning your grasp on the meaning of "creative".

And I blame Tiger King for the over use of the word "Exotic"
 
Oct 27, 2017
39,148
Exploding bodies, unseen ghosts and psychic baby are all cool but I HONESTLY don't think it's executed that well and like I said, it's more exotic than creative.

Metal Gear Solid on the other hand, now THAT is creative.
You don't have to like it but that doesn't make it any less creative. There is nothing like it out there in the market. Both gameplay wise AND art wise.

MGS is creative but not on the level of DS.
 

Nanashrew

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,328
FF7R isn't a straight remake at least. So there's some creative liberties with its story which can be seen as risky.