It also means more people can play on more hardware, it typically focuses the experience, it makes the interactive elements more visually distinguishable from the background graphics, it’s cheaper/faster to produce so less incentive to bloat with MTX to recoup massive investments, the scope is smaller so can be better aligned with a singular cohesive artistic vision, and the limited graphics encourages stylisation and artistic decisions when ‘photo real’ becomes not an option to target.
Also you don’t need to wait 10+ years for a game, just to receive a bloated mess where you only engage with 20% of the content yet had to wait for 100% of the development time, since at that point the investment demands it has to appeal to every possible consumer, only to still get a buggy unfinished release due to the massive scope. /rant. Anyway, indies are great and i love short games too.
Including Oblivion. I enjoyed it but it was a huge disappointment to me coming out of Morrowind. Bethesda reputation for me has been on Morrowind credit this whole time.
Maybe a good balance could be a human voice actor for main dialogue, supported by ai trained on their main dialogue to voice sidequest and deep lore dialogue. It could enable fully voiced dialogue-heavy games that would otherwise be too expensive to produce, something like generative RPGs or Morrowind, if all the books could be voiced, and more easily translated while remaining fully voiced. But keeping humans to fill the main campaign contributions, emotional beats and determine character personality. I’m just comparing Morrowind to Oblivion, which was voiced, but the dialogue and conversation trees were heavily reduced in volume as a result.
For me, i was burned by Diablo 3 (at launch), but I caved on D4 since the aesthetic did look more inline with what I wanted from the series, and a lot of time has passed, so I was hoping they had learned from D3… but no. So I also feel that D4 was the real dipping point for me, where it’s no longer an isolated incident.
I know people can chime in with the many times I should have learned this before D4, but I mostly didn’t actually buy those games. Plus, I already know it was dumb to buy D4, in retrospect, I just really love ARPGs and D2 (which they did manage to Resurrect really nicely).
MK2 was my first, and i still think it’s one of the best, or the most classic. MK1, the roster is too small and it’s too basic. MK2 is where it embraces the classic MK vibes. UMK3 remixes that with more modern styling and character elements, which was interesting in progression, but I think you could skip straight from MK2 to Trilogy and just drop in the deep end of the character craziness.
MK4 was also an interesting one in terms of characters and the shift into 3D for the first time. It wasn’t… great… but it was interesting.
After that, I wasn’t a big fan of the early modern 3D MK games, I couldn’t even play them all since they didn’t come out for PC (yes, I’m still bitter), but again I feel like you could skip these straight to Armageddon for early modern-era character craziness. It’s basically a generational sequel to Trilogy.
Then we get to the ‘last gen’ modern era of 9, X, 11, which i thought were great fun, and worth playing. The story is a ridiculous soap opera, but that’s critical MK DNA. Mechanics further refined, good character options. Other people already discussed these.
I haven’t played 1 yet, but it’s clearly another soft reboot, and looks really good to me.
Ofc this is all just my view on it. I have nostalgia and bias towards MK2, (3) and Trilogy :D
I feel the opposite. I pay for the narrative and experiencing the game’s mechanics and interactive art, not to flush as much of my life away as possible. When I see people complaining a game was too short, I am basically ready to add it to my wishlist.
Really depends on the game. But roughly something between 3-20 hours is my preferred range. I thought Sayonara Wild Hearts was fantastic and the perfect length for the story and experience it set out to convey (took me about 2 hours to beat).
I want to want to spend more time with the game, but i also want it to not let me. Eject me forcibly from its world once the story has naturally concluded, with fond memories of the tightly edited purposeful experience.
What I mean is… sometimes people are very loyal to a videogame franchise or a company because they loved a game they released years ago (Silent Hill/Konami with Silent Hill 2, Blizzard/Bethesda with their respective golden eras, some could argue this happens too with Pokémon and Final Fantasy, etc). Ethical/consumer reasons...
Indie games using retro graphics
Two examples of this are :...
The Frustrating State of AAA Gaming – An In-Depth Look | 〚Mild Conviction〛(1:07:50) (www.youtube.com)
Today, it has been 6 years since The Elder Scrolls 6 teaser (www.youtube.com)
The Star Fox-style roguelite whose dev refused to use AI voices to cut costs is adding an entire "anti-capitalist revenge" campaign about a cat-girl destroying AI (lemmy.today)
Since the Link isn’t working for some:...
Images leak of Valve's next game, and it's an Overwatch-style hero shooter (www.eurogamer.net)
Though the way the leaker describes it makes it sound more like a 3rd person MOBA than a hero shooter....
Star Wars Outlaws' $110 and $130 editions prompt a collective sigh from potential players tired of season passes and ill-advised early access periods (www.pcgamer.com)
Just more AAA bullshit…...
Which Mortal Kombat games across the years should I start with?
NOTE: I have the very first one for the Sega Genesis but any will do.
The Hidden Costs of Long Playtimes in Modern Gaming (youtu.be)
What are some alternative to soulless videogame franchises?
What I mean is… sometimes people are very loyal to a videogame franchise or a company because they loved a game they released years ago (Silent Hill/Konami with Silent Hill 2, Blizzard/Bethesda with their respective golden eras, some could argue this happens too with Pokémon and Final Fantasy, etc). Ethical/consumer reasons...