Before I venture into the bulk of this piece, let me first introduce myself and a little of my background as a gamer.
I'm a fan of strategy, RPG, and big sandboxy games, where I can build stuff, evolve, and tell my own story. I'm a fan, especially, of the Rome/Medieval II Total War games, and the X3 games, especially Reunion and Terran Conflict. X3 is one of the most in-depth, immersive, and beautiful games I've ever experienced. In my early days, I played things like Sim City, Dune 2, X-COM, Civ, Master Of Orion 2, Transport Tycoon, and a little later, titles such as Baldur's Gate I and II, Wizardry 8, and Jagged Alliance 2, just to name a few. I fared somewhat in consoles in my day, but I'm mostly a PC gamer. I'm sure I'm forgetting many memorable titles in this introduction.
A few mods by devoted communities have greatly enriched my gaming experience. For me, Medieval II Total War became unplayable without Stainless Steel, while Third Age Total War is also a remarkable masterwork of equal quality. Prophesy of Pendor elevated Mount and Blade Warband to a whole new level, and it's a mod I vividly recommend to anyone who hasn't tried it. A few lesser known or independent games have also caught my eye. A word to Simutrans, a community-created transport simulator, closely related and inspired by Transport Tycoon, that's as realistic and complex as you'd wish for such a game. For me, I realized that the effort of a dedicated group of modders and fans can often give games the depth and oompth a game needs to get to another level.
I'm a fan of strategy, RPG, and big sandboxy games, where I can build stuff, evolve, and tell my own story. I'm a fan, especially, of the Rome/Medieval II Total War games, and the X3 games, especially Reunion and Terran Conflict. X3 is one of the most in-depth, immersive, and beautiful games I've ever experienced. In my early days, I played things like Sim City, Dune 2, X-COM, Civ, Master Of Orion 2, Transport Tycoon, and a little later, titles such as Baldur's Gate I and II, Wizardry 8, and Jagged Alliance 2, just to name a few. I fared somewhat in consoles in my day, but I'm mostly a PC gamer. I'm sure I'm forgetting many memorable titles in this introduction.
A few mods by devoted communities have greatly enriched my gaming experience. For me, Medieval II Total War became unplayable without Stainless Steel, while Third Age Total War is also a remarkable masterwork of equal quality. Prophesy of Pendor elevated Mount and Blade Warband to a whole new level, and it's a mod I vividly recommend to anyone who hasn't tried it. A few lesser known or independent games have also caught my eye. A word to Simutrans, a community-created transport simulator, closely related and inspired by Transport Tycoon, that's as realistic and complex as you'd wish for such a game. For me, I realized that the effort of a dedicated group of modders and fans can often give games the depth and oompth a game needs to get to another level.
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| In-game screenshot from X3 Terran Conflict. Taken from manapool.co.uk |
I'm currently without a computer capable of handling most modern games. I've left my I.T. job and career to start my own self-employed life fairly recently - which, btw, is not related to I.T. or gaming. Because of budget, time, and mindset constraints, I'm at the moment mostly reduced to watching LP's on Youtube, as far as games are concerned. Still, I had still been looking forward for the sequels of some of my preferred games, harboring the hope of maybe playing them. I had been anticipating most specially, the new X-Com, the new X Rebirth, the New Rome Total War, and the New Mount and Blade (the latter yet to be released).
I ended up not being able to play these, due to the constraints I mentioned. But, the truth is, I thought I would severely miss not being able to play these games.
But I don't.
It is the opposite: I'm consistently being grossly disappointed by the releases I so eagerly anticipated, often in a surreal manner. I'm getting a little concerned, and this is the reason I'm writing this. I know, I know, "you must actually play them", you'd probably say. But, hear me out.
I ended up not being able to play these, due to the constraints I mentioned. But, the truth is, I thought I would severely miss not being able to play these games.
But I don't.
It is the opposite: I'm consistently being grossly disappointed by the releases I so eagerly anticipated, often in a surreal manner. I'm getting a little concerned, and this is the reason I'm writing this. I know, I know, "you must actually play them", you'd probably say. But, hear me out.
This Weird Vibe
I'm spotting a certain trend when it comes to these new releases of the games I like. And no matter how much I try to see things from a different perspective, and be tolerant, that same nagging feeling keeps lurking about.
It all started when I took a peek at the the latest Sim City. I thought to myself, "does that territory ever expand? It must, right? Who would ever think doing a Sim City with such small terrain area!? lol" But, alas, such was the case: they did do it that way. This was when I first noticed the weird vibe.
Next, the new X-COM. It's a laudable, thought-out effort to modernize the old one. I has merit, it's its own game, and it's probably the least guilty of the trend I'm getting at. I played it some time, I made a review in this blog. I made a real effort to truly enjoy it, not to judge, and to appreciate the effort. I did. But, well, I want time units. I want an inventory, and in-depth soft-defined squad roles based on soldier abilities. I want to shoot at walls, at the air, at mosquitoes if I so choose to. I'm sorry, but I do. That's just me. I find a pity that re-doing a classic meant removing some of the good in-depth things the game had. And the graphical capabilities were so nice... oh well.
Total War Rome 2
Next, the new Total War Rome 2. That was probably the one I anticipated the most.
I don't really know why, but I don't really like the feel to the game, even though the visuals are a step above obviously. I don't like how the units collapse into each other instead of holding their lines. I don't dig the ancient-egypt-style-drawing unit cards. I don't really like that thing about capturing victory points. I don't think patches can actually address this in a significant way.
I am understanding about bugs, glitches, fps issues. That can be patched. I'm not enthusiastic about meeting deadlines with less than polished games, but at least those kinds of things can be fixed. What can't be fixed, though, is the principle behind the game development. It's the brains, the ideas, the direction, and above all else, the self-demanding quality control behind a game.
Rome Total War, and to a degree Medieval II, had AI issues. But I was willing to overlook them because the game's ideas were great, and their execution adequate to them. Some mods took the AI one step further. I liked hoplites and pike phalanxes. I likes archers, elephants, and the battlefield atmosphere. Again, the AI was the bottleneck. There was also the issue of potentially becoming overpowered and being able to steamroll the AI at some point, leading to mid-game quitting out of boredom. So, one would assume these things would be better handled in the sequel.
Instead, from my (honest) perspective, I feel as if the devs started all over when it came to the AI. Enemy armies split and attack one unit at a time constantly, there's no such thing as keeping it together and making one concerted attack. No lines are held, and there's less than desirable waiting for reinforcements. And again, as far as I can see, once you gain some territorial mass, you can't be stopped.
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| Where is this in Rome 2? Picture from http://qr.ae/GtZyN |
I'm a fan, not a troll, and I don't want to be unfair and be gratuitously bitch'n without weighting my words. Some things took a step ahead. Cities growing, capitals and minor cities, controllable fleets, step-by-step faction objectives. But here's the thing: the AI is a huge factor. The AI determines if army fights are intense, or just 'meh'. The AI determines if you're facing the evil rival empire by mid-game, or simply more of the same meaningless battles. These things are the bread-and-butter of the game, and I saw no improvement in this regard. Once you go past the first minute of 'ohhh, look how nice it looks', things such as immersion and gaming experience, which are more in-depth aspects, depend directly on how the AI feels. And where are the family (or maybe political) lines? Where is it shown clearly see who's related to whom? How is politics of meaningful relevance in the game? And wtf is that thing about any unit being able to bring down a gate with fire sticks? What?
The game doesn't take itself seriously (enough). I feel as if things that were broken weren't fixed, and vice-versa. We're running circles without leaving the same spot, updating and tweaking things and tracking back on others, while not truly focusing in depth on what had the most room for improvement. There's less caring about the core principles of the games, and for the established fanbase eagerly awaiting for them. That's the trend I'm seeing.
X-Rebirth
The new X Rebirth really touched a nerve. I'll explain.
I don't mind the humanoid figures of characters, I actually think they're just fine for that game. No problem at all. I like having to hire actual pilots to fly your ships, instead of trusting the holy spirit to materialize an entity in a vacant ship. Hiring people, perfect. Epic graphics, perfect. I don't really have anything major against highways and such. I don't mind too much the animations of you walking inside your ship, even if it's always the same repetitive animation. Okay, fine. What I could bitch about would be crawling around in copy-pasted station interiors with hardly anyone inside them, those conversations- ah, and robbing lockers and boxes of items (which doesn't make any sense at all IMO, unless you really focus the idea of a rogue-style space smuggler). The idea of bringing life to the inside of stations was potentially great, but it's probably not done ideally. But still, that's not what struck me. Do you want to know what did?
You fly always the same ship.
It took some time to sink in, like surreal bad news.
What.
What?
This is the same as having an RPG without loot. Starting from the bottom with a paper-armoured ship and basic lasers, and always striving to expand to a better ship, then to a better ship, then to own several ships... that's what X is about. It's about writing your own story. It's about changing not only props and peripherals, but switching to better rides as you go through. But no matter how many power-ups you get to your ship, it's still the same ship. But what's the problem? Let's go into the RPG analogy again.
"You are Ron the Mighty, and you'll carry your great sword Excalibur throughout the entire game. You can pick up many power-ups, improvements, and special abilities for your sword. Your sword talks and gives you directions. Your sword will be able to perform miracles and change the weather by the end-game. But you may never actually hold another sword. Ever. Again."
Facing such an RPG, chances are I'd drop it immediately - save for some other special trait the game would lure me with. And, no doubt about it, some would still enjoy such an RPG, and will enjoy X Rebirth for that matter. No doubt about it. But not me. I'm in it for the loot.
You want to improve or exchange weapons? Shields? Maneuverability? Cargo capacity? Fine. Do it. But you could do it while still being able to also pilot different ships. And no, flying drones is not the same. You want to have co-pilot, engineer, a ship crew? Perfect. But make them all hirable including the co-pilot, interchangeable, storable in the headquarters. Are capital ships unwieldy, slow, and difficult to fly? OK. Then do something about it. Make the experience of flying them rewarding in some other way, or slow-but-still-fun, if you can. You know, improve the game. But don't remove the gameplay option altogether. Are the menus and the game complicated and with a massive learning curve? Fine, make a proper tutorial on how to handle the menus, on what the systems in the universe do, about the races, and about flying your ship. But don't change the essence of the game.
You wanted to make the game better than the previous ones? How about being able to land on planets? How about the possibility of dynamically exploring/generating completely new planets and sectors in the universe? How about giving your player and team RPG stats? How about each pilot having differences in behavior when attacking, defending, etc? How about being able to modify, design, or customize ships on top of the models that already exist? And weapons. And shields. I don't know. Some ideas at least.
A Matter Of Gut Feeling
You wanted to make the game better than the previous ones? How about being able to land on planets? How about the possibility of dynamically exploring/generating completely new planets and sectors in the universe? How about giving your player and team RPG stats? How about each pilot having differences in behavior when attacking, defending, etc? How about being able to modify, design, or customize ships on top of the models that already exist? And weapons. And shields. I don't know. Some ideas at least.
A Matter Of Gut Feeling
Let's place a honest disclaimer here. Maybe I'm getting old - for gaming at least. When you're young, experiencing video games has a significant impact on you, that kind of "magic". And I guess that as we gamers get older, we want more. Subconsciously we expect to re-live an evolved version of that original, magical experience. We expect the same feelings of wonderment as we ventured into Ultima Underworld's darkest corners, or found our way through Super Metroid's suspense atmosphere. Back in the day - at least for me - it wasn't that much about power gaming or reaching objectives: it was going into a different world and getting shit scared as we turned another corner and a giant spider jumped on us. For that reason, I have to give a little leeway to the gaming industry as I'm writing this: I may indeed be growing out of games. I don't know.
Still, my maturity notwithstanding, one thing time also told me was to trust my gut above anything else. And this nagging feeling most certainly is that. What worries me is that I'm being disappointed, not in a "you could have done better" kind of way; not in a "you didn't make the best option here" kind of way; but in a manner that is almost surreal. I feel as if the companies and designers that own the games and franchises are disrespecting and throwing out the window the expectations and eagerness of the fanbase their games have already garnered, without care or remorse. Never in my wildest dreams would I come up of developing a Sim City game with such a small map; I'd feel guilty and unethical over it. Never in my mind would I dare to come up with a X Universe game where I couldn't change ship.
I don't want to discourage those that like these releases, or those that kind of dislike them, but find reasons to enjoy the games and remain loyal nonetheless. That's okay. That's a good principle to live by. I try to be understanding and see the other side too. But my gut feeling keeps telling me, tolerance notwithstanding, there's some shit that's seriously wrong.
I feel the fanbase in general, even the most die-hard and quick-to-complain individuals, are actually very thoughtful, tolerant, and understanding. We understand when a company is pressured by the market environment to leave some polishing to post-release, patches, or even community modding. We understand budget constraints. We get what challenges are. We do. The more us gamers grow into adults, the more we get that, for obvious reasons. Developing a game is a complex journey, like making a classic movie, like a tough life choice, like so many other meaningful things in life. And in the face of some of these kind of peripheral characteristics that don't come out perfect, that could have been better, that aren't as polished as desirable, we may complain somewhat, yes, but we are willing to circle around those things and make an effort to enjoy it nonetheless.
What stikes a nerve, however, is when we (or me, at least) detect than, beyond challenges, beyond difficulty, there was a lack of fundamental care, commitment with vision, dedication, into following the promises and potentials delivered by the previous game. We anger when something that was dear and close to us was treated like 'some other thing'. That is when a degree of anger appears, this is when angry reviews and cursing come out. But honestly, in that sense, and in my mind, they are justified.
I know these are just games, you know, and I'm aware they would try to appeal to different markets, make the game more accessible to younger crowds, newer gamers, to consoles, or try to make the games easier and more accessible. I know they want to grow, they want more success. Who wouldn't, right? But none of this matters if you grab a game and torn apart its original principle, reduce the universe to a tiny map compared to the previous games, and shred away its complexity and depth. Because then that's the message that comes across: we're being treated as sheep, and the purpose is to make as much cash as possible, regardless of care. So let's just send out some crap even if it's not stellar, and hope they don't complain too much. That's the worrying trend I'm sensing.
No proof, no inside stories, no rumors; just looking at the games themselves, and listening to my gut feeling. You may need concrete evidence to point fingers and know what actually happened for each case; but you don't need evidence to sense what is going on with the big picture.
An Appeal
Still, my maturity notwithstanding, one thing time also told me was to trust my gut above anything else. And this nagging feeling most certainly is that. What worries me is that I'm being disappointed, not in a "you could have done better" kind of way; not in a "you didn't make the best option here" kind of way; but in a manner that is almost surreal. I feel as if the companies and designers that own the games and franchises are disrespecting and throwing out the window the expectations and eagerness of the fanbase their games have already garnered, without care or remorse. Never in my wildest dreams would I come up of developing a Sim City game with such a small map; I'd feel guilty and unethical over it. Never in my mind would I dare to come up with a X Universe game where I couldn't change ship.
I don't want to discourage those that like these releases, or those that kind of dislike them, but find reasons to enjoy the games and remain loyal nonetheless. That's okay. That's a good principle to live by. I try to be understanding and see the other side too. But my gut feeling keeps telling me, tolerance notwithstanding, there's some shit that's seriously wrong.
I feel the fanbase in general, even the most die-hard and quick-to-complain individuals, are actually very thoughtful, tolerant, and understanding. We understand when a company is pressured by the market environment to leave some polishing to post-release, patches, or even community modding. We understand budget constraints. We get what challenges are. We do. The more us gamers grow into adults, the more we get that, for obvious reasons. Developing a game is a complex journey, like making a classic movie, like a tough life choice, like so many other meaningful things in life. And in the face of some of these kind of peripheral characteristics that don't come out perfect, that could have been better, that aren't as polished as desirable, we may complain somewhat, yes, but we are willing to circle around those things and make an effort to enjoy it nonetheless.
What stikes a nerve, however, is when we (or me, at least) detect than, beyond challenges, beyond difficulty, there was a lack of fundamental care, commitment with vision, dedication, into following the promises and potentials delivered by the previous game. We anger when something that was dear and close to us was treated like 'some other thing'. That is when a degree of anger appears, this is when angry reviews and cursing come out. But honestly, in that sense, and in my mind, they are justified.
I know these are just games, you know, and I'm aware they would try to appeal to different markets, make the game more accessible to younger crowds, newer gamers, to consoles, or try to make the games easier and more accessible. I know they want to grow, they want more success. Who wouldn't, right? But none of this matters if you grab a game and torn apart its original principle, reduce the universe to a tiny map compared to the previous games, and shred away its complexity and depth. Because then that's the message that comes across: we're being treated as sheep, and the purpose is to make as much cash as possible, regardless of care. So let's just send out some crap even if it's not stellar, and hope they don't complain too much. That's the worrying trend I'm sensing.
No proof, no inside stories, no rumors; just looking at the games themselves, and listening to my gut feeling. You may need concrete evidence to point fingers and know what actually happened for each case; but you don't need evidence to sense what is going on with the big picture.
An Appeal
If you want to make a different game, do it. If you want to make a game for the kids, for consoles, for a wider audience, that's fine. Launch a spin-off, an "inspired by" game, something with a different ideal, a different purpose. But please don't hijack the X Universe and throw fixed plot elements, a voice, a special ship, and a woman co-pilot to babysit you through. Please don't remove my choices. Please don't dumb down or discard that which already works, and that which already made the game unique and good. There is also the audience, the generation, of now less-than-young gamers out there, who look forward to the greater challenge, who eager for it, and to which you could (should?) also cater.
Let me choose which sword to equip, which crew to hire, which ship to fly. Let me write my own story. Have respect for the games you create, for the fanbase and their expectations, and most importantly, for yourselves. All I ask, is that you care.
Because we can tell when you don't.
