Has 'Gaming' got better or worse since 2006-2008 era?

[Mr Puggsly]

SvennoJ said:

Mostly right although most of those IPs did something very different. Super paper Mario's unique use of 3D as well as Mario Galaxy, Dead space plays very different from RE4, I would call it closer to Doom 3. Oblivion and Fallout made there first appearance on consoles and Motorstorm's use of terrain and mixed vehicle type races with their own optiomal routes was to my knowledge unique.

Talking to NPC's has a lot to do with gameplay. Instead of being restricted by what each NPC is limited to say (usually a standard line), ask where everything is or who to talk to. Gameplay would be more engaging if you did not follow an arrow or trail on a minimap all the time. You would be more involved in exploration and the journey instead of checking off quests as efficiently as possible. You would also get to know the land better.

Maybe the average gamer is only interested in clicking through the dialog asap, follow a marker and kill some stuff to loot. Yet I can't be the only one that feels gameplay has stagnated and there should be more options than being a kleptomaniac serial killer for hire. All effort is put on more realistic looking characters and more detailed graphics, none on improving the GM part of RPGs. Left 4 dead experimented with an AI director (2008 as well!) why don't we see that in RPGs or FPS.

There are technical hurdles ofcourse. Natural sounding speech generation seems to have stalled, constructing appropiately matching dialogue is a lot harder than rendering your current armor in cutscenes. People don't want to type sentences, constructing them from lots of options Lucasarts style is better yet still tedious and speech recognition is not always reliable. But games used to be on the fore front of new technologies like these, starship Titanic (17 years ago!) had great interactivity with NPCs.

Mass appeal is for what people know, sequels always sell better. That doesn't mean new ideas can't become hugely popular.

I felt Mario 64's use of 3D was more unique considering the era. Mario Galaxy just felt like another 3D Mario to me, I don't get the hype.
When it comes to gameplay Dead Space is obviously inspired be RE4.
Elder Scrolls first appearance on console was Morrowind on OG Xbox. There was also a Fallout game on OG Xbox and PS2. :-p
Sorry, Motorstorm is just inspired by past arcade racing games. It didn't really do anything ground breaking but you can still enjoy it.

Personally, my issue isn't what you're limited to saying to an NPC. I'd like to see more branching in story based on what you say.

Avid players with lots of time to kill can spend time exploring the land. People with limited time prefer guidance to the next destintation.

I think what you're suggesting isn't really what the masses want and maybe should be left to niche PC games.

Bottomline, I think the industry is worse if you aren't getting what you want. Those of us who do enjoy newer games aren't complaining so much. Frankly, there are recent games I would have loved in '06-'08.