[CP5670]

It's rare for a game to catch my attention these days and keep me playing to the end, but it does still happen. In that case I go through the game very thoroughly and it keeps me busy for a while. I have been playing Fallout New Vegas for over two months now, and did the same with Deus Ex HR six months ago. However, I hardly played anything else at all in between, or for a long time before then. I spend a fair amount of time with old games and mods for them though, including many that I come across for the first time. Some recent ones that come to mind are Murphy's Revenge (unfinished sequel to the classic Mac game Infotron, but seems mostly complete) and the Army of Haloon campaign for Descent 3.

As for the linear/sandbox issue, I like both types of games but the latter ones are usually far more interesting and memorable if I can get into the game at all. My favorite games in the last few years have been the semi-nonlinear ones where you have a well-defined context and objectives, but the game puts you in a big, open world and lets you go about things in your own way, while reacting to your actions all the time. I want to feel like I'm playing a game, not just being told a story.

Mhhh wondering... have you started the Witcher 2 or Alpha Protocol?

Like a good novel... I found them very hard to put down.

I started playing Alpha Protocol a year ago but only got past the first mission, and have never felt motivated to play it again. Maybe it was the lack of saves. That always gets on my nerves, especially in a game that isn't strictly linear.

[Mongoose]

I'm definitely not a general fan of those pseudo-"sandbox" sorts of games myself, to the point where I just avoid playing them.  It's hardly a new phenomenon, though...I'm playing through the GBA port of Final Fantasy VI for the first time, and while the first half of the game is fairly linear in flow, the second half opens up into something of a "do whatever you want next" scenario (which I understand is somewhat common to the series).  I mean, there are tasks to do, and the game does give you decent direction as to where you should be looking, but there's no real drive to get there.  And all the while, Kefka sits in his tower doing whatever, waiting for you to choose when you actually want to complete the game.  I wound up getting bogged down and putting the game aside for a long while; it's only recently that I've taken it up again in an attempt to plow through the rest of the side-quests and finally beat it.

In retrospect, it's funny how Chrono Trigger, a JRPG from the same era (and company) which I also first played only recently, handles the same genre differently.  The game is much more linear and story-driven as a whole, with the only real side-quests appearing right near the end of the game.  Strangely enough, you have far more choice in this game in when you choose to do the final battle (hell, with a New Game+, you can even do it right at the beginning), but it works far better...the whole game's about you hopping through time, and since you normally beat the boss in one given time, it makes sense that there would be no external pressure to get there.

[IceFire]

Starting to feel the same way myself... approaching 30. Less interest and value that I'm getting out of games. I used to love them... I still play but almost entirely out of boredom.

[FlamingCobra]

I've lost interest these days because...... I feel like the same games are being released over and over.

And games that I DO want sequels for don't get them.

[TrashMan]

Hm..It could be a wave of depression and nostalgia I've been feeling these last few days that's causing the dwindling interest.
Or it could be that I'm getting older (hitting 31 soon)... Or that work and other worries are sapping the pep out of me.
...
Damn you word!

[ShadowWolf_IH]

i quit playing for the most part when i was about 34.  But thank god for freespace, because I enjoy building.  I amm not very good at creating things, but i really do enjoy it more than playing.  To me, creating is playing.

[Thaeris]

You know, I completely agree.

[ShadowWolf_IH]

I think that someone earlier said "I've seen it all."

It's the same thing just rehashed and regurgitated.  So really what's the sense?  Cool is building the things.  We search and strive for something original.  For Christ's sake give me something original, anything!!  So we learn to build, looking for something original.

Take two viagra and build it.

[General Battuta]

If you haven't played any of the wildly original campaigns that came out in the past couple years, no wonder you think it's the same thing rehashed and regurgitated.

[ShadowWolf_IH]

I didn't say campaigns...i meant games.

[Thaeris]

I personally find (and I've echoed this over many times before) that few things or games from major publishers interest me any more. And this is unfair, because there are certainly great games coming from the publishers (or there is at least an appreciable selection). But I don't think any of those publishers offer anything, or anything without baggage (such as DRM), that I'm willing to spend money on.

Paradox is a good house, and the last game I bought was Mount and Blade. That game itself was produced by a small team, and while not the prettiest game, delivered more entertainment value than I think I could have possibly derived from something from a major publisher with a substantial team. I think the reason for that is genuine care for the product being made, and then delivered. The quality of the game is in the spirit of the game. I got a lot of that spirit for only 30 USD, which I'd say is money well spent.

Great games, furthermore, do not necessarily need to be pretty. They do need to hold themselves together with a coherent art style, but at the end of the day, the inside of the game is what counts. Board games, to make a very interesting example, rely on this entirely, making you use your mind to fill in the gaps which the simple mechanics of the game itself cannot provide. There's interpersonal mechanics, which are a step above what any game can present, of course, but you would not play the game itself if the core mechanics did not suit your needs. That said, some of my favorite isometric RPGs will not stun you with their visuals, but they have a set of core mechanics - story, gameplay, and value, that all the flash in the world will not do any more or less justice to. There's simply no substitute for that kind of quality, and I've seldom seen any major game publisher put out those kind of games lately - fortunately, there's plenty of indie devs out there that do.

[ShadowWolf_IH]

MOst of what Thaeris said is what i was trying to say.  He's just so much better with words.