This may have been asked before but how have your habits changed this gen when it comes to gameplay?

My experience:

When I first got a PS3, I got Assassin's Creed and Uncharted with it. I was baffled by the gameplay, especially AC. I couldn't believe all the "platforming" was done by keeping pressed a couple of buttons and moving your character around, I thought it was extremely dumbed down and stupid. The fact that your character was like a magnet and was impossible to fail a jump annoyed me and I thought "where's the fun? I'm not doing anything, just moving the stick".

The swordplay was also really stupid, not only because it basically consisted of pressing one button to either attack or counterattack, but because you had no control about the character's actions. You counterattack and see your character perform a cool movement, but you couldn't choose which movement, the game did so for you. It was like "oh, look, I did this!" only you didn't, you do the same thing over and over and the game performs a variety of movements for you.

At the time I was very surprised about these decissions, I couldn't believe it was that easy and 'automatic' and I thought "who are you trying to fool? who likes this?".

I had similar (not so strong) feelings about Uncharted's platforming an regenerating health. Really? The charachter is attached to the platforms again? I just need to wait a few seconds and I have full health, no health bar? (this was new for me, I realise now that some games did it before).

Now... I sort of got used to all this. Mind you, Assassin's Creed it still a bad game IMO, but not because of the things I mentioned. It's bad because it lacked a lot of options and was extremely repetitive. The following games added much, much more variety and now I love the series.

But the free run and swordplay remain unchanged. Same with Uncharted series. And I realised I don't care. As gaming has become more "accessible" I guess I got used to it and now I enjoy the experience for different reasons. I don't even think about the parkour/free run, regenerating health, etc. in games anymore, it is second nature. Then I remember when I though all this was stupid and I realised I've changed as a gamer.




TL;DR: At the beginning of the gen Assassin's Creed and Uncharted's platforming, regenerating health, combat system (AC) seemed dumbed down and made the games unenjoyable, now I enjoy games for other reasons.


So how about you?

Where are my paragraphs? I didn't intend to write a wall of text like that, my paragraphs don't appear. Edit: fixed. I had to copy/paste the thing manually...

pretty big wall there didnt read sorry

but my preferences changed a bit this gen prior i didnt game online now i do i like the competition and difficulty the SP experiences have been lacking difficulty this gen. i also have gain a little appreciation for FPS games like COD aswell prior to this gen i didnt play much FPS

and no i didnt or wont get used to the platforming in uncharted i still think that type of gameplay is mindless and shouldnt be used for entire chapters

I like third person shooters and some RPG´s now, but thats becuase there are not many Hack´n Slash games on the market.

My preferences have definetly changed, towards Sony this gen. Not because they provide so many games etc, but because of all the hate they got 5 years ago. Last gen I had both the Gamecube, Gameboy and PS2, everything was alright, no fanboyism. Then when the current gen came suddenly sales, the number of games a system had started to matter, all the negative press PS3 got from American media.

My interest in shooters and constant action is steadily declining in favor of games that offer more exploration, experimentation, dialogue and puzzles. I'm looking for other game play then constantly hitting/killing things.

I'm becoming less and less tolerant of drawn out boss battles (zelda ss), getting attacked around every corner (batman ac) and fighting through repetitive chest high wall corridors. (mass effect) I find myself turning down the difficulty when I get bored and skipping the action to get back to the story and exploration.
Actually not much different of how I watch movies, boring chase and fist fight scenes usually get the fast forward treatment.

I'm the complete opposite. The PS1, PS2 and PSP are some of my favorite consoles of all-time. I got the PS3 at launch for $600 and plus assories and games made it over $900 total I spend for the PS3 day 1.  For over year I waited for JRPGs games which at the time I thought will be a sure bet to being coming for the PS3 but nothing. I felt like Sony treated their PS1 and PS2 fans like sheeps and that started the hate I got for the company. I went out and purchase a Xbox 360 9 months after I got my PS3 and never looked back. I get some games here and there for the PS3 but not as much as I did previous with the PS1 and PS2 era (over 100 games each). Like I have said before here, I'm absolutely done with Sony home console because of the let down I had with the PS3 early on. I purchase the PS Vita on day one and LOVE it. I would like to see more JRPGs and less dumb down version of PS3 games.

Less:

JRPGs

Racing

Sports

Fighting

More:

Shooters

Puzzle

WRPGs

Action

this

it was set in stone for me this gen. i would repeat and follow up and get the successor (although my 5th gen console was N64) to the (as a ninty fan Gamecube was obviously my first choice) PS2, and my brother would get the successor to the Xbox.

after spending a wk. with the 360 my brother couldn't stand it and was set on getting the PS3.

i had embraced all 3 platforms, and knew nothing about the bad press Sony was getting until i came here in 08. looking from the outside in, the hate astounded me, and made me look at what rival platforms were missing, and from there it became a sales war with needless timelines, and.......well if you were there you know.

as far as the sales war is concerned, i still have no idea why it mattered in the first place. admittedly, i only cared about PS3, and Wii sales in the beginning, but when i saw what systems were supported best game wise, i knew what side i would take. or sides.

over the last 2 yr.'s, i've switched from being a somewhat balanced poster, to likely the most balanced poster on the site. and while i still can't say i'm much of a Xbox fan. my support for ninty isn't that much better.

i also don't play online anymore. bunch of cheap bastards, and since the seizures, i can't watch a screen with to many characters on it.

I didn't know who Bioware were and now they are my favourite developers.
JRPG's were my main interest along with trpgs, now I tend to feel interested towards many other genres and I like Wrpg's over jrpgs this generation.

Maybe it's because I'm getting older and realizing I have less time in this world, or maybe Nintendo just sold me on their Wii style of more pick-up-and-play fast paced gaming, but I've found myself becoming more of an old school gaming snob and having less patience with all that extra fluff these multimillion dollar blockbuster games of today have. Specifically stuff like cutscenes, lots of dialogue, tutorials, loading screens, etc. I want to just play my damn game, and I want to play it NOW. I don't care for sitting through 10 minutes of cutscenes or tutorials before I even get to use my controller.

I also want maximum control of my game. Like the games you mentioned - Assassin's Creed and Uncharted - I tried to like those games, and they are really well made if you're into that sort of thing, but they contain too much of that "fluff" that I mentioned, and also they seem to limit the freedom of the player.

This is why as of late I've really been embracing more arcade-style games like NSMB, Mario Kart Wii, Sonic, Kirby, DKC, Rayman Origins, and more open world games like Fallout, Skyrim, etc.

Also, I find myself playing much more online multiplayer like Gears of War and Call of Duty, and doing less single player campaigns. And I think that ties into my previous point - online multi gives the player maximum control, while single player tends to contain far more of that "fluff" that IMO bogs down a game.