We talk the talk but do we walk the walk?

[Biscuit]

So this kind of gaming burnout and interest in the scene more than playing has been around for a long time. I see it mentioned on other forums too.

I try not to over think it. Sometimes I'm playing a lot, then very little for a while. Currently I'm very into retro, but will definitely go heavy on modern at some point. It is what it is.

[fxgogo]

OH, I love Hitman 2 on my PS4. Nothing like silently killing people....sorry did I say that out aloud....

[Foebane]

I recently deleted my former Steam account, with a few dozen FPS games that I'd played to death since around 1993, and have created a new one that I can use for games I haven't tried before.

I've been interested by Grand Theft Auto V for a long time, if only for the driving and running around such a massive play area.

Is it worth the £25 they're asking? I've been thinking of buying it, although having to set up an account for RockStar Games Social Club (or something) is a bit of a worry.

I also don't know if my Intel UHD 630 is up to snuff for running it in 8Gb. I've seen a few gameplay videos and they look fine, but no way am I forking out for another graphics card.

So, is it worth it? Is there lots of replay value?

[stevelord]

GTA V is definitely worth it for the offline game. The online is a bit overwhelming at first and also gets quite meh after a while (IMHO, YMMV). The game economics are a bit messed up.

I just came off a blast on Uridium 2 and saw this thread. Going to play some High Seas Trader later. I guess that's walking the walk?

[Paul_s]

Originally Posted by Dastardly

Ive just read an interesting thread on another forum. It asks the question 'Are you bored of games?'
A lot of the people there seem to be replying that they spend all their time these days talking about games rather than playing them, bacause they enjoy it more!
Is this a problem with our generation of gamers that hark back to that golden era? How much time do you actually spend playing compared to talking about games?

Is nostalgia our favourite game?

My attention span is almost zero for playing games (exception being Cannon Fodder) but I love to reminisce and talk about them

[saimon69]

I walk the talk and talk the walk, am actually having more fun on doing assets for games (graphic, music) than playing itself!

[mirthturtle]

I find I play a lot of Amiga these days (on emulator). Mostly revisiting games I remember from childhood, but also exploring other games from the same developers. Did a Vision Software deep-dive recently – was pretty familiar with Cybernetix, Overkill & Woodys World, but Road Kill and Microbes were fun new discoveries.

[stevsurv]

I have to admit to playing more Amiga games than newer PC ones. The similarity of the modern types of games are fairly repetitious in game play as a lot of the old games are different and unique!

[fxgogo]

Originally Posted by stevsurv

I have to admit to playing more Amiga games than newer PC ones. The similarity of the modern types of games are fairly repetitious in game play as a lot of the old games are different and unique!

That is true, mostly of the AAA titles. I look at what the indies and small studios are doing. There are some new gems out there.

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by stevsurv

I have to admit to playing more Amiga games than newer PC ones. The similarity of the modern types of games are fairly repetitious in game play as a lot of the old games are different and unique!

Nothing has changed. In the Amiga era you had your standard genre games which were not really that different from each other. Platformers played like platformers, RPGs played like RPGs, point & click adventures played like point & click adventures, etc. etc. That is no different today, however in AAA land the genres have become extremely limited.

What you used to have in the Amiga and early pc era is experimental games, games that just threw standards to the wind. Games like Wizkid. You won't see something like that happening in AAA land today, but the indie game market is still a treasure trove of diversity.

[Anubis]

Originally Posted by spiff

I'd say its about the same as vintage cars, vintage gaming sounds much better than retro

• Low effort / High reward - Easy to fire of a message w/o having to learn new stuff, high reward fun to get a reply
• We're getting old - our brains are no longer as elastic, what is fun and how much I put into it is limited.
• Get the shiny unicorn - I know most games and we all know how history turned out, what excites me is finding new stuff from an era that I thought I already knew everything. Get that CD32, in perfect condition with RGB mod, that we never could afford.. and talking about and working on it is more fun than playing it..

This is some interesting form of necromancy or necrophilia there... 17.5 year old topic... gratz!

As for topic... I watch gameplay, play games, talk about them... all the same...

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by gimbal

Nothing has changed. In the Amiga era you had your standard genre games which were not really that different from each other. Platformers played like platformers, RPGs played like RPGs, point & click adventures played like point & click adventures, etc. etc. That is no different today, however in AAA land the genres have become extremely limited.

Indeed, and you have the AAA games getting far more mainstream attention than games did back in the day, which amplifies this effect. It may be sacrilegious do say it around here, but I was never particularly impressed with many Amiga games, which is why I personally find it even more bizarre that people are so obsessed with having thousands upon thousands of games on their Amiga hard drives these days. There are so many platformers that were totally forgettable, so many average shmups, so many pseudo-3D racers, so many potentially decent games let down by poor execution in on way or another, be it clunky controls, clunky graphics, poor sound...

Rose-tinted glasses have a lot to do with it - remembering the few dozen games that were truly outstanding, it's easy to forget that for every one of them, there were probably 10 or more that were ignored, maybe copied over to make space for another game because they weren't worthy of the blank disk.

Maybe I'm the odd one out though - my love for the Amiga was based more on using it for more "serious" things and a few great games on the side, rather than as a games machine that happened to have a keyboard. It's a trend that continues for me today - I've limited time for hobbies, and most of my computer time is spent researching, coding or designing rather than playing the few games that interest me. Of course, with endless free time I would spend a lot more time on some games, but alas...

What you used to have in the Amiga and early pc era is experimental games, games that just threw standards to the wind. Games like Wizkid. You won't see something like that happening in AAA land today, but the indie game market is still a treasure trove of diversity.

Absolutely, and you really don't have to look that hard to find thousands of games in the indie realm in every genre you can think of. Instantly downloadable purchases (usually cheap, too), make it easier than it ever was to dip into games and categories you've never see advertised as mainstream. Humble Indie Bundles are an excellent way of finding fresh, original, well-polished games you may never have heard of otherwise, for example. Some will be mediocre, some will be just clones of other games, some will be excellent, and some will be truly bizarre. And most will be produced to a higher standard than even the most mainstream games were back in the day.

[Weaselrama]

I remember being profoundly disappointed in the very first game I ever bought for my Amiga that didn't come from a cover disk. I laid down some serious cash (1991) for THE BLUE MAX, a WWI flight sim and shoot 'em up.

The 16bit color screens which built up the story were really, really good. This was Von Richtofen's squad and it was even historically accurate.

Then the game play started and my first reaction was, "this isn't any better than a flight sim on the C64 - what the hell?" It looked no different.

I was never sure of the difference (or similarity) between the Amiga and the C64 when it came to games other than I'm under the impression the Amiga could have and should have been a better game machine.

[SquawkBox]

What is exactly an AAA game guys ? Does it imply quality title (awards and stuff) or best selling, or both ?

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by Weaselrama

Then the game play started and my first reaction was, "this isn't any better than a flight sim on the C64 - what the hell?" It looked no different.

I was never sure of the difference (or similarity) between the Amiga and the C64 when it came to games other than I'm under the impression the Amiga could have and should have been a better game machine.

Indeed, it should have been a very different experience, but in reality some developers did simply make "8-bit" games with some fancier intro screens etc. Having said that, the Amiga game of Blue Max that I remember did indeed have better graphics and sound than any flight sim on the C64 that I ever saw. It certainly wasn't up to the standards of some of the others, but you have to remember that even though it's all still flat shaded polygons, there are a lot more of them both in the air and on the ground, and the palette is far more diverse than the C64 could muster.

Originally Posted by SquawkBox

What is exactly an AAA game guys ? Does it imply quality title (awards and stuff) or best selling, or both ?

This has been debated before, but in general it means big-budget games from big teams in big software houses, and would be called blockbusters in the movie world. Typically they're big sellers due to their fanbase, marketing etc., and typically (but not always) high production values as a result. Think Fifa, Call of Duty, Zelda, The Last of Us, Red dead Redemption, Uncharted...

[dreadnought]

Ummm...what? Most sims on Amiga will be much faster than on C64 (which was never good with 3D to start with). Obviously they still have comparably "simple" gfx, but I don't see games like Midwinter or Hunter on C64. As for 2D you only have to look at the likes of Turrican or Defender Of The Crown to see the 8/16bit gap.

There are heaps of crap games on every platform, be it SNES or PS4. When Amiga was at the top of its game, say, 1987-1991, there was no comparable all-round gaming platform which could compete with the experience it offered.

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

This has been debated before, but in general it means big-budget games from big teams in big software houses, and would be called blockbusters in the movie world. Typically they're big sellers due to their fanbase, marketing etc., and typically (but not always) high production values as a result. Think Fifa, Call of Duty, Zelda, The Last of Us, Red dead Redemption, Uncharted...

Not to mention that they're governed by evil publishers

[Weaselrama]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

Indeed, it should have been a very different experience, but in reality some developers did simply make "8-bit" games with some fancier intro screens etc. Having said that, the Amiga game of Blue Max that I remember did indeed have better graphics and sound than any flight sim on the C64 that I ever saw. It certainly wasn't up to the standards of some of the others, but you have to remember that even though it's all still flat shaded polygons, there are a lot more of them both in the air and on the ground, and the palette is far more diverse than the C64 could muster.

Hmmm...I guess it's time I revisited BLUE MAX and see if my impression has changed. Thanks for the info.

[Dastardly]

Wow, this is an oldie.

I prefer reading these old threads rather than taking part

[S. Campbell]

Originally Posted by fxgogo

OH, I love Hitman 2 on my PS4. Nothing like silently killing people....

Yeah, but what's the game like?