Azzanation said: Scisca said: To me Blizz has become a bit of a VW of videogames. They make advanced, polished and very well thought-out products that seem to not have obvious flaws, but then again - they aren't anything truely great or inspirational. They haven't made a Beetle since like forever. New products come, they are very correct, VERY CONSERVATIVE - when was the last time Blizz actually pushed the industry forward? Their games are always a disappointment when it comes to graphics, they tend to be light on content as well. So yeah, they are the VW (sometimes a diesel catastrophy happens, like with D3... ). They make products that work, you won't get disappointed when you get one, but then again - they really haven't been anything to write home about for years. VW makes good cars, but you can't honestly say, they are the best car manufacturer. There are many better companies, even if they don't exactly offer the whole range of cars that VW offers. Also, Azzanation, I like it how you're comparing Blizz vs. ND, but not against Nintendo To tell the truth, StarCraft is the only Blizz game I'm intersted in at all. All of their other games either aren't the best in the genre or are actually quite meh for me. I'll maybe take a look at Overwatch, but I can't say it's certain. I'd like to get a demo first to see what it's all about. If your paying attention, you will know i am not trying to compare Blizzard to Naughty Dog, thats an unfair comparison. I did mention Nintendo and Rare in my Main Post so im sure you have read it. Just to add, this isnt about tastes, this is about crowning genres as your own which is what Blizzard has been doing for years. Yes genres, not genre.

But in your replies you keep on going about ND.

I think it's debatable whether they are crowning much. They are making good games that work, but really when was the last time they made a truely great game? Not one that sells well, but one that is truely great? Best in the genre? WoW? Everything after that was only very solid, but nothing has been spectacular or worth remembering down the line. To me it always seems like they are taking the path of least resistance and are mixing the ingrediences that have already been proven to work by other companies or their previous games. The time when they actually pushed the industry is long gone. When I was younger I was waiting for another Blizzard game with anxiety and between StarCraft, Broodwar, Diablo 2, WarCraft 3, WoW - these were all legendary games with many unprecedented aspects. When these games were released, it was something special. Nowadays, nothing like that can really be said about their games. StarCraft 2, HearthStone, Diablo 3, Heroes of the Storm or Overwatch... Good games, but they don't really mean that much to the industry and neither one will become a legendary staple.

Let's face it, a lot of the incredible sales come not from these games being that great, but because of them being sequels to legendary games.

I'd pick Nintendo EAD Kyoto for the best since 2004. A couple dozen good or great games from a number of genres, including racing, platform, RTS, simulation, sports, and action-adventure.

They're definitely up there, and I do like the case you make about their ability to make fantastic games in various genres, rather than continuously making different versions of the same thing.

I'll say I'm personally not a huge fan, as in I don't get particularly hyped for their games pre-release, or rush to buy them instantly, but I do almost always get around to playing them, and tend to always love them more than I expect. So while I wouldn't call them my favorite developer (tbh, I wouldn't have them in my top 3), I wouldn't argue with anyone who wanted to make a case that they are in fact the best, or thereabouts.

I do think that after WoW they've been playing things a bit safe, or perhaps the more appropriate word is calculated. They used to make revolutionary games, and now they make games that can stand at the top end of their respective genres, and they're polished, and meticulously thought out, and supported for ages to keep you engaged, but they don't have that element that blows your mind. That thing, whatever it is, where you stop and say wow....I haven't seen that before. Still, there's something to be said about their ability to execute exceptionally well at everything they do.

How can you bring ND in on the discussion like that by asking this to a simple reply that agreed that blizzard was one of the best and mentioned a few others and when people respond, which I'm sure you knew they would considering recent launches and your framing of them, and then claim foul and off topic. 

You can't create a thread asking a question, pose your own possible answer, respond on right away like that and then try and shut down debate as off topic.   

I don't agree ND are the best but you asked the question on best dev and followed up quickly to put a couple devs in their place so it's not off topic for people to discuss this.  

Exactly what I feel It's as if they've decided to stop being artists and become elite craftsmen instead.

I'm not a huge fan of Blizard games but I really think they are complete genious, they are incredible creating huge comunities of gamers around overall pretty good, polish and adictive games that people play for decades, and they are probably the best making money. It takes a lot of talent and brains to achieve what Blizzard did.

I don't know about that. Segas tried, but they havent been able to win in the online world ontop of losing the console realm. Sega grew to have their highest level gaming development when Nintendo had them on their heels. Great times to be a gamer (especially in the arcade). Sega was the staple point of arcade games for me at one point. Glad to see they made you happy on PC.

Since many of there games are online only or online required when the servers go down( and they will) there games are nothing.

Soo noo.

(diablo3 on consoles ia awesome thou all haill offline play)

I was just thinking yesterday about how remarkable the variety of their works are.

-RTS kings in Warcraft and Starcraft

-MMO king in World of Warcraft

-I'm not sure what genre Diablo is, but they pretty much defined it with the first two and the third is great as well (though I personally was a little let down as I was obsessed with I & II)

-Indirectly (or maybe half directly lol) created an entire genre in MOBA's through the starcraft user mod Aeon of Strife, which Blizzard was inspired by in creating their Bonus campaign in Wacraft III, which was itself then expanded on via user created Defense of the Ancients... and now Blizzard has a moba that they refuse to call a moba called Heroes of the Storm that hit 86 on metacritic

-Their card game Hearthstone that rates anywhere from the mid 80's to low 90's each expansion

-And finally, they've somehow introduced a remarkably fresh first person shooter into a genre that is positively saturated, and they topped 90 meta score with Overwatch


Really, the more I think about it, it would be hard to argue that anyone is better. It doesn't seem to matter the genre, they just deliver the goods one way or the other... which is why I'll be forever bitter that they cancelled a virtually complete point and click game about Thrall in Lord of the Clans lol

That's the entire PS4 library untli they allow easy use of external hard drives to save downloads and patches for the long term.

Seriously, no game you buy for the PS4 or Xbox1 is actually on the disk you receive; the moment they stop supporting it those games are gone, which is fairly true for most games these days.