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Incline Celebrating the Death of the Braindead Cinematic Cover Shooter

Ash

Arcane
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Oct 16, 2015
Messages
6,230
Thought I'd incline general gaming discussion, since there's so many declined threads and the anticipation of said decline by low-S cucks.

It's finally happened. While games being made in their place are also often shit, there was no bar lower than the singleplayer uber linear cinematic cover shooter experience, most commonly third person.

I'm talking Kane and Lynch, Gears of War, Spec Ops: The Line, The Order: 1886 and games of that ilk.

Now while you still see the cover mechanic around (albeit rarer), it's at least being used as one mechanic of many, rather than being the sole fucking focus of a shooter and resulting in a glorified game of whack-a-mole. People withstood shit like Time Crisis back in the day because it was a staple of arcades (e.g a form of casual gaming you do socially and in passing for a few spare coins) and featured the light gun gimmick, but these modern shooters didn't even have that going for them.

The last braindead cinematic 5 hour uber linear regen health cover shooter we got was, from what I understand, The Order: 1886 (2015). The game bombed hard. I guess devs and pubs finally got the fucking message. Even casuals have some standards. You can't expect even the most attention-deficient to sit through that torturous "gameplay", at least not across multiple games. People finally got sick of it. So devs are being slighty more ambitious now. Still almost universally making shit shooters third person or first, but at least the bar has been risen.

:dance:
 
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A user named cat

Guest
Yet we still have QTE's galore in tons of games. I recently tried CoD WW2 for some mindless war shooting action and on top of being railroaded with constant cinematic bullshit, it has some of the worst fucking QTE's thrown at you I've ever seen. How is this still a thing? Far worse than stickymole cover shooting.
 

Walden

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As long as RDR2/TLoU2 are the most wanted games, I wonder what are we talking about.
 

Roguey

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Yet we still have QTE's galore in tons of games. I recently tried CoD WW2 for some mindless war shooting action and on top of being railroaded with constant cinematic bullshit, it has some of the worst fucking QTE's thrown at you I've ever seen. How is this still a thing? Far worse than stickymole cover shooting.
Because attaching "gameplay" to cinematics makes people feel more involved.
 

Ash

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As long as RDR2/TLoU2 are the most wanted games, I wonder what are we talking about.

RDR2 doesn't fall under the cinematic braindead 5 hour uber linear cover shooter. RDR1 wasn't great, but it still mixed in open environments, shitty side quests, gambling mini games, horse racing etc, so while it's nothing to write home about it doesn't fall into the same camp as the uber declined singleplayer experiences listed in the OP.

TLOU2...yeah it is closer to the declined mark, but it too includes elements of shitty stealth, crafting, puzzles etc. It's a bit like Uncharted in that regard: has shit gameplay, yet still is a genre-blend rather than being solely focused on whacking moles from cover over and over and over...and over. There's a bit of variety to it, at least.
 
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Ash

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I even played that shit too. Like TLOU and other counter examples ITT though, it does mix it up quite a bit. weak platforming, piss easy puzzles (a couple OK ones though), freeform combat in (slightly) open environments as well as completely on rails mole popping combat, so while I didn't particularly enjoy the game at all for its rather undemanding and quite linear gameplay, I found it to be less offensive than some others. The story was also better done than most cinematic games. Average playtime is also probably about 12 hours, double that of the most declined...though a large chunk of that is cinematics.
 
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Cross

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The last braindead cinematic 5 hour uber linear regen health cover shooter we got was, from what I understand, The Order: 1886 (2015).
Think again:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Break
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gears_of_War_4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gears_of_War_(video_game)#Ultimate_Edition

And I'll believe this supposed incline when I see it. As I said elsewhere, cover systems are simply a symptom of a much larger problem.
http://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.ph...n-nextgen-fidelity.95800/page-14#post-5440429
 
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Ash

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Sales[edit]
It was the second best-selling retail game in the UK in its week of release, only behind FIFA 17.[49] In the United States, Gears of War 4 was the third best selling game in the month of October, behind Battlefield 1, and Mafia III.[50]

Damn...

As for Quantum Break, it's by Remedy of Max Payne fame. Though I heard MP3 was an ok shooter tarred by constant unskippable cutscenes so...this also will probably be decline.


:negative:

As long as multi-platform shooters exist, I wonder what are we talking about.

Eh this is less relevant. While it is best for a game to not be multiplatform for numerous reasons there has still been plenty great multiplatform games over the years. OK not too many, but some devs manage it. I can think of a bunch of decent multiplat games, but few great.
 
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Ash

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Anyhow, so we've had one confirmed uber linear braindead mole whacker since 2015, and a remaster of the game in the same series. The point probably still stands, not premature? Celebration of one small step for incline is still on?

:positive:
 

A user named cat

Guest
Yet we still have QTE's galore in tons of games. I recently tried CoD WW2 for some mindless war shooting action and on top of being railroaded with constant cinematic bullshit, it has some of the worst fucking QTE's thrown at you I've ever seen. How is this still a thing? Far worse than stickymole cover shooting.
Because attaching "gameplay" to cinematics makes people feel more involved.
Funny, I had the exact oppositie feeling. Every time the game took away my freedom and I was forced into what was essentially an FMV game sequence, I grew more bored, annoyed and detached before deleting the piece of shit altogether. I now reinstalled World at War as it's the last CoD to remotely still resemble a fun war shooting gallery.
 

Spectacle

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May 25, 2006
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8,363
How long until the first kickstarter for a "retro", "old-school" cinematic cover-shooter? The kids who grew up playing gears of war should be old enough for nostalgia by now...
 

Roguey

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How long until the first kickstarter for a "retro", "old-school" cinematic cover-shooter? The kids who grew up playing gears of war should be old enough for nostalgia by now...
Unlikely, because the minimum price would have to be close to 10 million.
 

GrainWetski

Arcane
Joined
Oct 17, 2012
Messages
5,080
Anyhow, so we've had one confirmed uber linear braindead mole whacker since 2015, and a remaster of the game in the same series. The point probably still stands, not premature? Celebration of one small step for incline is still on?

:positive:
As long as shooters are made for gamepads, there's no incline to be had.
 

Cassar

Savant
Joined
Apr 7, 2015
Messages
186
Anyhow, so we've had one confirmed uber linear braindead mole whacker since 2015, and a remaster of the game in the same series. The point probably still stands, not premature? Celebration of one small step for incline is still on?

:positive:
As long as shooters are made for gamepads, there's no incline to be had.


True. The compromises needed for every game, in every genre - in order to function in an enjoyable fashion on gamepads is mind bogling.
 

Ash

Arcane
Joined
Oct 16, 2015
Messages
6,230
Yup, but even that is incline over the lowest of the low that was the ultra linear, repetitive, tortuous whack-a-mole fest cinematic third person cover shooter. Personally I've been passionately anticipating the death of that type of game for years, hence the celebration.
 

Tehdagah

Arcane
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Feb 27, 2012
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9,235
Was this kind of game even popular? Most of them had/have a focus on multiplayer.
 

Correct_Carlo

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Jul 19, 2012
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Location
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Cover shooters are really fun in VR, so that might be where they will be revived. Most FPS don't work well in VR. If they allow free-movement, you get sick. The only other alternative is teleportation, which seems weird (especially in the midst of combat). But cover shooting, as a mechanic, works very well in VR. They are suited to "teleport behind barrier" type play and cover shooter mechanics are way more fun when you actually have to physically duck and peak out from behind the barrier.

They get physically tiring, though. I was sweating after an hour of playing one.
 
Self-Ejected

RNGsus

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Apr 29, 2011
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What's taking the place of linear popamoles, open world popamoles?
 

Ash

Arcane
Joined
Oct 16, 2015
Messages
6,230
Cover shooters are really fun in VR, so that might be where they will be revived. Most FPS don't work well in VR. If they allow free-movement, you get sick. The only other alternative is teleportation, which seems weird (especially in the midst of combat). But cover shooting, as a mechanic, works very well in VR. They are suited to "teleport behind barrier" type play and cover shooter mechanics are way more fun when you actually have to physically duck and peak out from behind the barrier.

They get physically tiring, though. I was sweating after an hour of playing one.

I've experienced the next-closest thing, as have many: Time Crisis.

ea77781bc695ef46bc54bac3a2be033b.jpg


The pedal to simulate taking cover, + light guns. It IS more visceral and fun the more involved you are, but VR is going to have to do a lot more than on-rails cover shooting if it's going to replace traditional shooters, for me. I'm certain the sickness issue is something that will be addressed in time, even if it takes a century. It's just a technological boundary for now.
 

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