I don't think the story is falling away from new games. A lot of them do have good stories. But everyone's running out of stories, they've been used already, after all, we've been telling them for centuries now. It's not due to the mainstreaming or the 3D it's simply due to passage of time, growing laziness, and the knowledge that A, B, and C will sell and make money.I was going to leave this long, but I decided not too. I'll sum it up, it's people like you, who say 2D is dead, and should stay that way, which is making companies try to pander to players, so they will buy their shit. The extensive energy put into graphics, forces integral pieces like story fall to the wayside.
I do agree that the current systems on the way (360 and PS3) are going the wrong way. I don't give a damn about pretty grpahics (well, ok, I do, but that's a small part of it all). If it was all about the pretty for me I'd be right with you guys calling for 2D. While 3D wows me now and again and makes me drool often, 2D's got a fluidity and beauty to it that 3D can't match IMO.
I want 3D because it offers more possibilites. If the console makers and game companies would actually put some effort into their works instead of follow Hollywood's rehashing system games would be so much better. 3D is the only way to do so many of the things that could be possible if the company's put some effort into it. But the 360 and PS3 are geared toward more of the pretty and less of the ability. BLEH. They want to much for the same game only prettier. I'll eventually buy one of the systems probably, but they need to change their ways.
I've been hearing this a lot... what system is it for? Even though I think the way of the future is 3D I will admit that a powerful enough story, solid enough gameplay, and nice art still catches my eye (Golden Sun for example). So I think I might look into this game... I seem to remember a Star Ocean for the NES that I don't think I beat (maybe it was a different game and I'm confused though).Because of said atrocities, classics like Enix' "Star Ocean 2", and the knowledge of what a good game it was, is lost to the annals of time.
Again, this has nothing to do with the merits of 3D. 3D has STILL not been used to it's full capacity. There is SO much more that even the old systems (PS1 and N64) could have done but didn't do. However, I do like the lowered difficulty to a level. I think the games were a tad over powered before, though now their rather underpowered. They still haven't found the happy medium. The DMC games (1 and 3 at least) are one of the few that actually shows some thought put into the difficulty settings.I agree Lost In Thought, I think a much more skill based gameplay experience is usually available in 2D games (such as Metal Slug 3). I've found since 3D games have taken over the market challenge has taken a nose dive, that saddens me.
Ok, ya, true, there are still a lot of die-hard 2Ders. And even if (when perhaps?) 3D's put to it's full use and finally utilized correctly there will be still. What I was meaning is that 2D's not where the future is, as it's nearly been tapped to the limits. 2D needs to offer more than 3D (which so far, it still does fairly well a good bit of the time) to keep up IMO. The varritey offered by 3D (though not oftenly used) requires a 2D version of the same game to do something above and beyond to to match up.Ceasing to make 2D games simply because you can make games in 3D now is an incredibly silly idea, I could only compare it to intending to stop the production of Vanilla ice cream because obviously everyone must like Chocolate better.
Though, as I've said, old 2D games are still doing that over number of modern 3D ones. Mainly because everyone's slacking off. Once 3D is finally pushed to the limit 2D wont be able to keep up within the same format. I will conceed, though, that some things are just better in 2D (MvC for example).
I believe I've covered this already. But I'll touch on a few things here anyway. The rehashing, even if we returned to 2D suddenly, would remain. It's not the fault of 3D for this. It's external factors. What we need is pure innovation (for which 3D would be the easiest course, though admittedly, not the best for all games). Saddly, as the consoles stand now, it doesn't look like that's what we will get.Gameplay variety is one of the things that keeps the industry alive, the last thing it needs is more sameness, that was one of the factors that led to the original system crash. Cookie cutter rehash games.
Eh, the original FF was ok, but I'm not really sure how it saved Square. That still boggles my mind. I've only played a little of it and of II (GBA releases) and while fun, just aren't THAT outstanding IMO. I still stand with FF8 being tied for the best of the series with FFX, followed by 7, 6 (3 IIRC), and then 9. I wont list 1 or 2 here since I've not played either in some time so I'm not entirely sure where they'd fall.Remember Square-Soft's "Final Fantasy", and when it came out for the NES? That game was heralded as the companies last chance to make or break, and recieved accolades for the quality of it. It was good because of the story, the gameplay, and the music [Nobuo Uematsu actively redefining the way we hear music in games to this day, even if the game itself isn't very good], graphics were average even for the Nes, but the game was a marvel, and the sequels that came out after it, were recieved well for just how good they were, not how they looked.
Eh, one way or another the price would still climb. If all that new energy had been devoted to ability rather than looks it'd still push up prices. It's unavoidable. Granted, it'd be a lower price hike.Definitely, and also because of the escalating prices, caused by escalating 'wants' out of these newer systems, I don't see the industry lasting very much longer...
If a second crash is around the corner [so to speak] lets hope Nintendo [the only company who hasn't forgotten their 2D heritage] can save us like last time.
