Mid-Generation: loss of impressiveness

[outlawauron]

Words Of Wisdom said:

HappySqurriel said:

Just a few moments ago I saw the Resistance 2 sneak peak on Spike TV and I really started to think about how generally unimpressed I was, and this (kind of) surprised me … Now, I’m not saying there is anything wrong with Resistance 2 because it really does look excellent for a videogame, but the fact that I had to add “for a videogame” is what I am talking about.

Now, in all generations you hit a point where what was so new and impressive when the generation starts to become typical. I suppose the reason this realization took me by surprise (in part) because I haven’t been nearly that dedicated to games on the Xbox 360 (or my old gaming PC) as I was with game systems in the past, and I still play a lot of games on the Wii (which makes HD games look very impressive by comparison).

 

At the same time, I’m fully willing to admit that I am far less impressed with the Wiimote than I was when it was first released; and I’m very doubtful of many developers ability to use it well with its current limitations. To a certain extent you could say that this is less of a disappointment at the moment because the impending release of Wii MotionPlus gives me hope of having my excitement reignited.

 

Anyways, is anyone else starting to feel the same way about this generation?

I don't know Happy.

Every time I replay Chrono Trigger it impresses me, it reminds me how wonderful of a game it is.  The magic it held so long ago is still very much alive today.  From the characters to the plot to the music to the backgrounds... it's all impressively well put together even today.

What does it say when a 13 year old game can impress me but not one coming out in the near future?  It says something about my gaming preferences perhaps, but it also says something about that new game.  I think that in some cases we aren't impressed by new games because it may be that they really aren't all that impressive in the first place.  

That which usually impresses people are things that they've never seen or experienced and things which they have that are extraordinarily well done.  I don't think we're seeing a lot of that in this generation in any one place but some games have shown us glimpses of it.  As time goes by, it will become much harder to do the former and even fewer people have the talent for the latter.  Here's an example from last generation of the latter which impresses me:

In that short clip, everything from the background music to the change of backgrounds to the sound effects contributes to the scene.  I think it's extremely well-put-together and when I watch it, I say "wow" because its execution is worthy of praise IMO.

Of course, I suppose that's all based on my definition of impressive.  A game can be good or even great yet still not impress me because doing so takes something... extra.  Also, not being impressive doesn't make a game bad by any means and I'm sure I'm a bit more harsh and unforgiving with my opinions on games than some.

This really makes we want to learn Japanese.