Sulphur on 12/10/2009 at 21:12
Don't get me wrong, man. I'm just trying to (badly) sell it to myself before I give in to the fact that pretty colours and titties is really what all games should be about.
242 on 12/10/2009 at 21:27
How about Fahrenheit (Indigo prophecy), Silent Hill 2/3, Stalker, Resident Evil 4/5/Dead Space (as well as bunch of PS2 games I've tried recently like Shadow of the Colossus)? They all seemed innovative enough for me.
Renzatic on 12/10/2009 at 21:31
Hell, just take a balloon, tweak an end til you get a nipply looking thing, and put it in front of a strobe light. I'd be entertained for days.
On a serious note, even without the nudity, I think The Void would be interesting simply for what it is. A haunting, surreal trip through a strange wasteland. Yeah, the potential for pretentiousness is there, no doubt. But from what I've seen, it seems to be executed with a sense of style and purpose rather than overt weirdness for the hell of it.
Zygoptera on 12/10/2009 at 21:34
@Wormrat (damnit people, you post too fast)
No, the gravity gun and associated physics was not significantly innovative in HL2, but almost purely iterative. It's a classic case of because something is good, people think it's innovative when actually all it is is the logical extension of something which has existed in various forms for a long time.
To put it another way, you could pull off a similar effect to the Gravity Gun in SS2.
Vivian on 12/10/2009 at 21:34
This is like when (annoying) people say 'there is no good music being made anymore!'. What you have is a combination of nostalgia and laziness. People are making all sorts of great stuff these days. Go find it and stop whining.
june gloom on 12/10/2009 at 21:59
Quote Posted by Vivian
This is like when (annoying) people say 'there is no good music being made anymore!'. What you have is a combination of nostalgia and laziness. People are making all sorts of great stuff these days. Go find it and stop whining.
Quoted for motherfucking truth, and works well with my original point.
Zygoptera on 12/10/2009 at 23:05
Quote Posted by Wormrat
My implied point is that the very nature of video games is iterative.
I largely agree- personally I only have a problem with 'unoriginality' when it's obvious and highly derivative, and or when it's a blatant, consistent and deliberate rehash of previous works, eg my current strong aversion to Bioware games. I'd stand by HL2 not being at all original (ie my initial response to dethtoll's outraeg at the concept) but, as I said, that doesn't necessarily make it bad.
I guess the classic example would be King's Bounty:TL, absolutely iterative and obviously based on previous games, has almost nothing original except perhaps the more surreal story elements but still an excellent game despite that.
polytourist97 on 12/10/2009 at 23:49
I agree with the ideas brought up thus far to a point. Yes, there are still great things being done (in games, music, etc.) and the trick is just finding them; but that's always been the case.
Getting back to the OP's quandary, I think a combination of age and the current entertainment culture can be attributed to, at least, the illusion that there doesn't seem to be as much quality being produced.
Firstly, with age comes a more refined set of values which one gravitates towards and appreciates within any field of interest, and the more this value set is recognized and satiated by certain titles, the more difficult it becomes for subsequent titles to match that level of satisfaction. Should the aim be to broaden those value sets within oneself? Probably, to a certain extent, but I don't think it's anything one consciously settles on.
Secondly, there's just a massive amount of stuff being produced these days, most of which probably does not fall within one's personal interest. So while yes, it is true that there is great stuff to be found, the task of wading through everything that at best doesn't interest you can be pretty daunting. I used to enjoy that challenge, in and of itself. Now, it seems much more exhausting.
Ultimately, I think getting caught up in the search for "innovation" in any field is ill-conceived. I've just settled for what I think is cool, and has "soul" for lack of a better term to ascribe it. If it happens to innovate in certain ways, even better.
SubJeff on 13/10/2009 at 00:25
Quote Posted by Zygoptera
I'd stand by HL2 not being at all original
How so?
Apart from "only being a FPS" it's very original. The use of physics was original, the grav gun was, the biomech style is and the plot is. Sure, they are takes on different things but they are all original takes. Everything is inspired by/related to something. Although every concept has previously existed in some way the bringing it all together and refining it makes it original.
Its like Portal. Is that not original? I'd say so yet the concept of a portal is not. The concept of being trapped by an insane computer/AI most certainly is not.
Zygoptera on 13/10/2009 at 01:23
I haven't played Portal, but it sounds like a fairly original concept at least (unsurprisingly it had its genesis as an independent project, iirc).
I dealt with the gravity gun, it's pretty much the definition of iteration. HL2's plot though? Are you seriously suggesting it can be held up as an example of originality (whether it is good or not being a separate question)?
