New games

[Dark Souls II]

This have been bothering me since Veilguard, but it's even worse with Stolkor 2.

Normies aside, even here on this forum there are tons of people who feel compulsed to consume the new game, because it is new.

This interests me from a psychological point of view. Why? Why spend money on something that is objectively bad?

Veilguard, Avowed, Stolkor 2. Stolkor 2 is the worst by far because a) it is literally unplayable and b) it rapes a beloved game anally with no lube, then shits and pisses on it.

In the past 12 months I've played games like Morrowind, Planescape: Torment, Arcanum, Baldur's Gate 1&2 (EET mod), TToE, HoMM3, Stronghold Crusader, Icewind Dale II. These are all great games. Not once was I compelled to try a shit game just because it's new. I played some recent stuff too, like Felvidek, Skald, Legionary's Life, but it were all indie games and games that felt fresh, not regurgitated big studio diarrhea.

Again, Stolkor 2 is the most perplexing example. Of course, you can play Shadow of Chernobyl with ZRP for the perfect Stalker experience. But there's also Anomaly, which is a FREE standalone mod. You go to the website (https://anomalymod.com/download-install/), you download the thing, and if you're a real Stalker fan you can have dozens of hours of pure fun, completely for free. The whole thing is immensely customizable. You want the oldschool thing, starting as a loner in the rookie camp and doing story things? You can do that. But you can also start as a bandit, mercenary, soldier, Dutard, Freedomfag, Monolith soldier, and have the exact kind of customizable Zone experience that you want. You can customize every tiny aspect of the game, from graphics (vanilla-like or semi-modern), to A-Life, to multiple difficulty settings (separate for combat and economy) etc. You can create the exact tailor-fit Stalker experience that you want, with all the systems that the devs originally intended for the original games working perfectly, plus more.

So why. Why do you insist on pertaining in this hellish miasma that you've consented to?

 

[Gandalf]

I don't know, man. Perhaps it is, because new games are like mystery boxes and some people like to experience stuff without going deep into the feedback of the other players?

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

Why spend money

spend money? who's spending money?

 

[Iucounu]

It must be imagined peer pressure (fear of missing out). Also those that recently upgraded may want to put their new hardware to use.

 

[HansDampf]

Why spend money

spend money? who's spending money?

Why waste time?

 

[Tyranicon]

Mainstream consoomers consoom.

People having bad taste is a tale as old as time.

 

[Necrensha]

Most people, normies or not, move by trends set by the group they're in or that they're trying to get inside of.
Sheer pressure will make people do extremely silly things, sometimes going as far as suiciding because they wanted to take a selfie while holding on to a roof with one hand.
Brands have also replaced religion, a lot of people will get violent if you inform them that their favorite brand has child slaves in Asia.
Hype is also a thing among the young and the gullible, they will fall for those walls of review scores that say ''10/10 I CLAPPED AT THE END''-IGN
And then there's those guys that see playing the latest thing with the absolute shiniest graphics possible while showing his computer's stats on the screen as the ultimate pleasure. Seeing all those plebbitors upvote him because he has the biggest specs around... better than any orgasm.

 

[Falksi]

Gaming's become a cult now, and I find it amazing how many folk get sucked into buying brand new games, just because they are scared of feeling left out.

One recent normie post I saw was some kid saying it wasn't fair that games like Elden Ring didn't have an easy mode, because he felt left out not being able to play it lol.

Fuck 'em the thick twats. I get being hyped for something which tickles your nads, Skald is a good example of a game which I bought on release because it's look hit the spot and Codex praise meant it sounded like a game right up my street (and it was, very much so). But I couldn't give a fuck if I don't touch half the other shit released this year ever.

 

[Zlaja]

Almost every game I buy these days is bought on a hefty discount. I just love the feeling of getting a good game for just a fraction of the initial cost. *rubs hands*

 

[Dark Souls II]

new games are like mystery boxes and some people like to experience stuff without going deep into the feedback of the other players

I'm pretty sure it's the other way. With old games, you never know what to experience, because back in the day there was more ingenuity and less formulas. There is some mystery when you play something like Menzoberranzan od Dark Sun: Shattered Lands for the first time, especially in the current day, but what's supposed to be mysterious about Stolkor 2? It is a made-for-consoles reboot of the original games, that dumbs down all the things that made the original games good, adds modern audience stuff (yellow ladders, need I say more?), and turns the whole thing into something that's as generic as it gets, doesn't have the SOVL of Stalker games at all, and is vastly subpar to the Far Cry games that it wants to copy (Far Cry 2 is kino).

 

[Ivan]

new experiences

I like to give games I've loved a handful of years+ before replaying them.

 

[Iucounu]

new games are like mystery boxes and some people like to experience stuff without going deep into the feedback of the other players

I'm pretty sure it's the other way. With old games, you never know what to experience, because back in the day there was more ingenuity and less formulas. There is some mystery when you play something like Menzoberranzan od Dark Sun: Shattered Lands for the first time, especially in the current day, but what's supposed to be mysterious about Stolkor 2? It is a made-for-consoles reboot of the original games, that dumbs down all the things that made the original games good, adds modern audience stuff (yellow ladders, need I say more?), and turns the whole thing into something that's as generic as it gets, doesn't have the SOVL of Stalker games at all, and is vastly subpar to the Far Cry games that it wants to copy (Far Cry 2 is kino).

Maybe the general public still thinks older games look dated graphically, and haven't yet noticed how new games are lacking in every other aspect than graphics detail. But this is bound to change eventually, since graphics are improving less and less in new games, artstyle is declining and GPUs keep getting more expensive.

 

[Gumsmith]

It's easy to pick up an aversion to old games, just because they look and feel different. When I was 14 I would readily dismiss anything that looks "too old" on only that basis. Republic Commando? Sure. Dark Forces? Too old. Silent Storm? Yes. X-COM Ufo Defense? Too old. I grew out of this mindset with exposure but I guarantee the people you're talking about have not. They play Stalker 2 because it looks cool and exciting. Shadow of Chernobyl? Why would they play that? It looks old 'n outdated 'n shit. Stalker 2 is a sequel which means it's new and improved, see? It's got better graphics. And those old games are always super hard, the controls are weird. And so on.

new games are like mystery boxes and some people like to experience stuff without going deep into the feedback of the other players

I'm pretty sure it's the other way. With old games, you never know what to experience, because back in the day there was more ingenuity and less formulas. There is some mystery when you play something like Menzoberranzan od Dark Sun: Shattered Lands for the first time, especially in the current day, but what's supposed to be mysterious about Stolkor 2? It is a made-for-consoles reboot of the original games, that dumbs down all the things that made the original games good, adds modern audience stuff (yellow ladders, need I say more?), and turns the whole thing into something that's as generic as it gets, doesn't have the SOVL of Stalker games at all, and is vastly subpar to the Far Cry games that it wants to copy (Far Cry 2 is kino).

Maybe the general public still thinks older games look dated graphically, and haven't yet noticed how new games are lacking in every other aspect than graphics detail. But this is bound to change eventually, since graphics are improving less and less in new games, artstyle is declining and GPUs keep getting more expensive.

I don't think it will. There will always be people inclined to look at what was made in the past but "consumers" just can't be bothered, much easier to buy a Nintendo Switch 2 and play Breath of The Wild 3 like all their friends are doing.

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

For me it's simply the fact that there are too many games and I'm a very slow(in both senses, as 'retarded' and meticulous, deliberate) gamer. When I really like a game, it takes at least a month of my time, sometimes several. New games in this category include Colony Ship, Prey, Project Zomboid, Kenshi, Outward and Jagged Alliance 3, none of which I played at launch, probably because I was playing something else(I occasionally do other things besides playing videogames). When I like a game, I want to explore it fully, read and post about it, install mods, etc. Then there's my 30 year backlog which would take several lives to complete. It doesn't even cross my mind to pay attention to whatever triple AIDS industry flavor of the month is going around. I'll laugh at the memes if they're funny; that's it. Life is just too short for mediocre games.

 

[deuxhero]

Project Tamriel is releasing Abecean Shores early next month. I literally care more about that than any new game announced for 2025.