Why do modern RPGs have 0% soul?

[attackfighter]

My guess is that smaller workforces allowed individual personalities to seep through and also that the looser, more chaotic work environments they had back then led to greater degrees of spontaneity and, indeed, silliness. A lot of what gives games like Fallout 1/2 and BG1 so much heart or charm are the dumb little jokes perforating them. Other possible causes are that SF/F video games have gotten a lot of mileage from rehashing ideas and aesthetics found in literary and cinematic precursors and that those sources have been mined out, that modern-day media in general is overly centralized and risk-averse, and that the modern age is in some senses inimical to the art of storytelling, such as through its extreme levels of mind-killing tribalism or the dehumanizing effects of neoliberalism and how it's possibly killed the heroic journey as a relevant metaphor for life.

 

[Falksi]

Not just games, it's everything. Architecture, music, media, it's all meant to depress you. Have to keep the population neutered, and those neutered husks are making the content.

It plagues indie games too, you have to wade through hundreds of soulless pieces of trash to find anything even worth taking a second glance at (not surprising considering a large % of specific kinds of people who go into that line of work/hobby)

Well said, and that's why the RPG Codex truly is the last bastion of peak culture. There's no gay-hype here, people call a spade a spade. Even if posters disagree on something their opinions are usually coming from a source of genuine honesty and experience, whereas most normie faggots & normie sites are full of people trying to fit in, so opinions are all sheeple ones. If an indie games is flawed or is bad, people here will say so; I myself have just posted on how disappointed I was with Hard West 2 after loving Hard West 1. I'm not going to falsely hype HW2 up out of some weird brand loyalty.

Seeing Sea of Stars & Chained Echoes get "10/10" and "9/10" ratings everywhere, and hyped as top-tier gaming has been hilarious for example. On here most people who've played them will recognize they are valiant efforts at the JRPG genre, but ultimately lacking in refinement, craft and quality and probably worth around a 7/10, maybe 8/10 at a push. But they've certainly not been circle-jerked into being "GOTY contenders!" as they are elsewhere.

 

[Phinx]

Not just games, it's everything. Architecture, music, media, it's all meant to depress you. Have to keep the population neutered, and those neutered husks are making the content.

It plagues indie games too, you have to wade through hundreds of soulless pieces of trash to find anything even worth taking a second glance at (not surprising considering a large % of specific kinds of people who go into that line of work/hobby)

Well said, and that's why the RPG Codex truly is the last bastion of peak culture. There's no gay-hype here, people call a spade a spade. Even if posters disagree on something their opinions are usually coming from a source of genuine honesty and experience, whereas most normie faggots & normie sites are full of people trying to fit in, so opinions are all sheeple ones. If an indie games is flawed or is bad, people here will say so; I myself have just posted on how disappointed I was with Hard West 2 after loving Hard West 1. I'm not going to falsely hype HW2 up out of some weird brand loyalty.

Seeing Sea of Stars & Chained Echoes get "10/10" and "9/10" ratings everywhere, and hyped as top-tier gaming has been hilarious for example. On here most people who've played them will recognize they are valiant efforts at the JRPG genre, but ultimately lacking in refinement, craft and quality and probably worth around a 7/10, maybe 8/10 at a push. But they've certainly not been circle-jerked into being "GOTY contenders!" as they are elsewhere.

Valiant? If this is what you might consider a valiant effort, then maybe.

 

[Law]

Even if posters disagree on something their opinions are usually coming from a source of genuine honesty and experience, whereas most normie faggots & normie sites are full of people trying to fit in, so opinions are all sheeple ones.

oh, there are many posters here trying to fit in, believe me, it's not as obvious due to confirmation bias but once you cross that line it's quite apparent.

every site has a group think, what one site rejects, another readily accepts, so people play different roles, much like in real life, and talk about things which would be acceptable in the group, while avoiding topics which would be contrary to public opinion.

 

[Falksi]

Even if posters disagree on something their opinions are usually coming from a source of genuine honesty and experience, whereas most normie faggots & normie sites are full of people trying to fit in, so opinions are all sheeple ones.

oh, there are many posters here trying to fit in, believe me, it's not as obvious due to confirmation bias but once you cross that line it's quite apparent.

every site has a group think, what one site rejects, another readily accepts, so people play different roles, much like in real life, and talk about things which would be acceptable in the group, while avoiding topics which would be contrary to public opinion.

I'd still say that's the exception and not the rule though here. For example, I've known many people get banned from Facebook groups for sharing alternate opinions (Zelda series is mostly mid, Chrono Trigger is overrated - yes that one was me , Baldurs Gate>>>Final Fantasy etc.), whereas here there isn't that conformist manipulation from the overseers.

They might be cunts, we might be cunts too, but at least we're all free to be cunts with our opinions.

 

[Law]

can't brofist yet, so take this instead

 

[lvl 2 Blue Slime]

I think what someone considers "soul" in a video game varies greatly from individual from individual, it can be music, art style, writing, sound effects, which can trigger a feeling that the game is "authentic", so it's very personal.

 

[Egosphere]

Companies that make the tech tools attract the competent people. Game engine, special effects, animation software etc. The game studio is the bottom feeder, whose job it is to clobber together games with all of those tools.

 

[Law]

I think what someone considers "soul" in a video game varies greatly from individual from individual, it can be music, art style, writing, sound effects, which can trigger a feeling that the game is "authentic", so it's very personal.

I think it's easier to say if something is soulless. If a company makes a game that just rips systems off from different games and doesn't bother putting in their own unique touch, basically treats it formulaic, detached from any human emotion, the end result is a soulless or "dead" product that works because it offers fun gameplay but doesn't really feel like somebody put their heart into it.

 

[Desiderius]

Even if posters disagree on something their opinions are usually coming from a source of genuine honesty and experience, whereas most normie faggots & normie sites are full of people trying to fit in, so opinions are all sheeple ones.

oh, there are many posters here trying to fit in, believe me, it's not as obvious due to confirmation bias but once you cross that line it's quite apparent.

every site has a group think, what one site rejects, another readily accepts, so people play different roles, much like in real life, and talk about things which would be acceptable in the group, while avoiding topics which would be contrary to public opinion.

I'd still say that's the exception and not the rule though here. For example, I've known many people get banned from Facebook groups for sharing alternate opinions (Zelda series is mostly mid, Chrono Trigger is overrated - yes that one was me , Baldurs Gate>>>Final Fantasy etc.), whereas here there isn't that conformist manipulation from the overseers.

They might be cunts, we might be cunts too, but at least we're all free to be cunts with our opinions.

Unless you’re a meta-cunt, although even there they eventually came to their senses.

 

[OndrejSc]

if the artist doesnt have it the art cant have it either

I need someone to make a 2D point-n-click adventure game using solely Hitler's paintings as backgrounds.

 

[OndrejSc]

women & faggotry

Sounds like an AD&D module.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Other possible causes are that SF/F video games have gotten a lot of mileage from rehashing ideas and aesthetics found in literary and cinematic precursors and that those sources have been mined out

I'd say in a lot of cases those sources aren't there at all.

I don't think modern zoomer devs have the same "literary" or "cinematic" experiences as older devs. That's likely part of the issue too.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

can't brofist yet, so take this instead

One day… a brofist gif/vid with the appropriate sound effect. One day. I used to have a sound file I used for my dialup email service from EarthLink. Ah… dialup. It never ended (because T-mobile in the country rural sucks ass)

I suppose many AAA games now rely entirely on the modding community to even think they can compete.

Maybe people are spoiled, played too much and are burnt out as well. It is bad when I find just as much enjoyment or more cutting brush and clearing fields.

 

[TheSoul]

Mindless is how I'd describe the situation. Most genres have a clear checklist that designers aren't deviating from. What's made is the equivalent of fast food now, as on some level we crave the simplicity and homogenization. Change only really works when you got people to puff your game up or are going for pure shock value. If I could sum up the trends of 2010s, it'd be cheap ports, open world design, and the f2p/EA model.

Devs are putting their soul into certain aspects, it's just the soul of progressivism, which is even worse than not having one. The mind of someone who is unable to see the world beyond what they've seen in San Francisco and their own lives. It's visionless design where the most you can hope for is "like that other game" that did it better. Obviously, I'm generalizing and I did like some games that came out recently, but there's no magic in what I see coming out now.

 

[lycanwarrior]

3. We gamers are also probably to blame to some degree. A lot of "monocled" gamers pirate games or buy them on massive Steam/Gog/Epic sales. In a way, it's what intelligence would tell us to do, after all, why spend more when you can spend less. Meanwhile, all the morons out there who play Call of Duty and Ubisoft games and Fortnite are buying games for $70 on day one. So which games are being incentivized to be made?

With all of that said, as others have mentioned above, I do think it's not entirely hopeless. Games with soul are being made, in most cases either by smaller companies (indies or small studios) or in some countries where art still plays a role and it's not all just about business (e.g. Japan, Czech Republic, Poland). Hell, occasionally even in North America.

As the saying goes...

He who has the gold makes the rules...

 

[Tyranicon]

Moncoled RPG enjoyers: buy a game maybe once a year, after thoroughly vetting it and its creators, and only if said game satisfies a hefty checklist for quality.

Average drooling consoomer: preorders corporate slop, welcomes cashshop and gacha degeneracy, watches streamers instead of playing games.

Yeah, this is a real headscratcher all right. A real "which way, western companies" type moment.

 

[Readher]

Moncoled RPG enjoyers: buy a game maybe once a year, after thoroughly vetting it and its creators, and only if said game satisfies a hefty checklist for quality.

Average drooling consoomer: preorders corporate slop, welcomes cashshop and gacha degeneracy, watches streamers instead of playing games.

Yeah, this is a real headscratcher all right. A real "which way, western companies" type moment.

Reading plebbit comments is always an eye-opener. I'll watch a trailer of some kind of total slop that literally plays the exact same as your average PS3/X360 AAA title did (maybe in open world now), just with better graphics, worse writing, more trannies, uglier women and a higher price tag, but in the comments everyone creams themselves and screams that it looks amazing, and they can't wait to pre-order. Clown world. The standards of average goymer are extremely low right now.

 

[welly321]

Even if posters disagree on something their opinions are usually coming from a source of genuine honesty and experience, whereas most normie faggots & normie sites are full of people trying to fit in, so opinions are all sheeple ones.

oh, there are many posters here trying to fit in, believe me, it's not as obvious due to confirmation bias but once you cross that line it's quite apparent.

every site has a group think, what one site rejects, another readily accepts, so people play different roles, much like in real life, and talk about things which would be acceptable in the group, while avoiding topics which would be contrary to public opinion.

I'd still say that's the exception and not the rule though here. For example, I've known many people get banned from Facebook groups for sharing alternate opinions (Zelda series is mostly mid, Chrono Trigger is overrated - yes that one was me , Baldurs Gate>>>Final Fantasy etc.), whereas here there isn't that conformist manipulation from the overseers.

They might be cunts, we might be cunts too, but at least we're all free to be cunts with our opinions.

I agree with your assessment. This site is one of the last bastions on the internet. I used to use reddit for years but about 2-3 years ago, there was a significant shift in their moderating policies all 3 of my accounts ended up permabanned. Not all at once mind you, Each one individualled was banned for different things but it all boiled down to butthurt subreddit mods whining to reddit admin because they didn't like my opinion.

 

[Vic]

so you are saying codexers are rejects from other sites?

 

[HeatEXTEND]

corporations, share holders, maximum profit

 

[Sunri]

soul is stored in the balls

 

[Raghar]

3. We gamers are also probably to blame to some degree. A lot of "monocled" gamers pirate games or buy them on massive Steam/Gog/Epic sales. In a way, it's what intelligence would tell us to do, after all, why spend more when you can spend less. Meanwhile, all the morons out there who play Call of Duty and Ubisoft games and Fortnite are buying games for $70 on day one. So which games are being incentivized to be made?

With all of that said, as others have mentioned above, I do think it's not entirely hopeless. Games with soul are being made, in most cases either by smaller companies (indies or small studios) or in some countries where art still plays a role and it's not all just about business (e.g. Japan, Czech Republic, Poland). Hell, occasionally even in North America.

As the saying goes...

He who has the gold makes the rules...

He who has weapon is who is making rules.

 

[Vic]

but jews pay for weapons so who is making rules

 

[RaggleFraggle]

Other possible causes are that SF/F video games have gotten a lot of mileage from rehashing ideas and aesthetics found in literary and cinematic precursors and that those sources have been mined out

I'd say in a lot of cases those sources aren't there at all.

I don't think modern zoomer devs have the same "literary" or "cinematic" experiences as older devs. That's likely part of the issue too.

Almost certainly. I'm a zillennial and I'm appalled by the sheer lack of media literacy I see in zoomers. They grew up with access to streaming that includes tons of movies and television shows I grew up with (and plenty I didn't but get a kick out of watching as an adult) but don't seem to watch any of it. Nor do they seem to read books either, despite having millions of books available with the press of a button. Nor do they seem to watch the documentaries on youtube made by amateur and professional academics that explain these things. Between google books and tiktube, media analysis has become easier than ever! We've reached the point where there are entire channels dedicated to correcting common misconceptions, like how Blade Runner was imagined as a futuristic Asian city that real Asian cities only caught up with after two decades according to Asian journalists who watched the movie. Instead, too many zoomers seem to be dumb as bricks.