Biggest Tragedy in the Gaming Industry

[_-_AceDragon_-_]

I knew what you meant. I just said I liked Valhalla's soundtrack is all. Each to their own.

Post automatically merged: Apr 23, 2025

Sounds interesting. I'm gonna have to look up Quintet, never heard of them.

They're mainly known for soul blazer, illusion of Gaia and Terranigma. The latter being the best of the three by miles, and a must play if you like action rpg's.

 

[Skeetos]

They're mainly known for soul blazer, illusion of Gaia and Terranigma. The latter being the best of the three by miles, and a must play if you like action rpg's.

I'll have to take a look at the game, I watched some gameplay. It looks badass.

 

[Cantarella]

the quintet trilogy is pretty good ya. illusion of gaia's my favorite. got some really melancholic, dreamlike atmosphere you don't see elsewhere y'know. I think the writer for that game was a sci-fi author who just did their one venture into video games and then bounced.



cases like quintet don't feel bad to me because they did their thing, and then it ended. It's not like the stories were cut short before they could be told.

speaking of which xenosaga is a huge 'what could have been' case for me. now, there's only like .00000001% universes where that "could" part manifests, but the writing and cinematography of xs episode 1 is just, incredible. it's kind of funny to remember because the anti-fan rhetoric back when it was released was all "oh what is this, game's all cutscene. what is this, a movie???" yes, it is. unparalleled video game movie.

and then the budget disappears and the important writers onboard get axed sometime in episode 2 and the series just never recovers.

 

[Viviana Santos]

the quintet trilogy is pretty good ya. illusion of gaia's my favorite. got some really melancholic, dreamlike atmosphere you don't see elsewhere y'know. I think the writer for that game was a sci-fi author who just did their one venture into video games and then bounced.



cases like quintet don't feel bad to me because they did their thing, and then it ended. It's not like the stories were cut short before they could be told.

speaking of which xenosaga is a huge 'what could have been' case for me. now, there's only like .00000001% universes where that "could" part manifests, but the writing and cinematography of xs episode 1 is just, incredible. it's kind of funny to remember because the anti-fan rhetoric back when it was released was all "oh what is this, game's all cutscene. what is this, a movie???" yes, it is. unparalleled video game movie.

and then the budget disappears and the important writers onboard get axed sometime in episode 2 and the series just never recovers.

I think Xenosaga Episode III is a great game and a satisfying conclusion to the series, but I agree that the series could have been even better.

 

[Jediuser]

The two most disappointing shutdowns for me were Lucasarts (#DisneySux) and Monolith Game (#WarnerBrosAlsoSux).

 

[Esidemoken]

Many but for me the one that triggered most of them was when video games stopped being a niche, although opening up brought good things it also brought negative things.

 

[snes9x]

the quintet trilogy is pretty good ya. illusion of gaia's my favorite. got some really melancholic, dreamlike atmosphere you don't see elsewhere y'know. I think the writer for that game was a sci-fi author who just did their one venture into video games and then bounced.



cases like quintet don't feel bad to me because they did their thing, and then it ended. It's not like the stories were cut short before they could be told.

speaking of which xenosaga is a huge 'what could have been' case for me. now, there's only like .00000001% universes where that "could" part manifests, but the writing and cinematography of xs episode 1 is just, incredible. it's kind of funny to remember because the anti-fan rhetoric back when it was released was all "oh what is this, game's all cutscene. what is this, a movie???" yes, it is. unparalleled video game movie.

and then the budget disappears and the important writers onboard get axed sometime in episode 2 and the series just never recovers.

I miss Monolith Soft's obsession with Nietzsche. The Xenoblade series is good (though it peaked with the first game...) but doesn't tickle my armchair philosopher bone the same way

 

[Skeetos]

the quintet trilogy is pretty good ya. illusion of gaia's my favorite. got some really melancholic, dreamlike atmosphere you don't see elsewhere y'know. I think the writer for that game was a sci-fi author who just did their one venture into video games and then bounced.



cases like quintet don't feel bad to me because they did their thing, and then it ended. It's not like the stories were cut short before they could be told.

speaking of which xenosaga is a huge 'what could have been' case for me. now, there's only like .00000001% universes where that "could" part manifests, but the writing and cinematography of xs episode 1 is just, incredible. it's kind of funny to remember because the anti-fan rhetoric back when it was released was all "oh what is this, game's all cutscene. what is this, a movie???" yes, it is. unparalleled video game movie.

and then the budget disappears and the important writers onboard get axed sometime in episode 2 and the series just never recovers.

Yeah, heard a lot of things about Xenosaga. Never played it though.

Post automatically merged: Apr 24, 2025

I miss Monolith Soft's obsession with Nietzsche. The Xenoblade series is good (though it peaked with the first game...) but doesn't tickle my armchair philosopher bone the same way

Haven't played Xenoblade Chronicles either. I know I should, I have all 3.

 

[Viviana Santos]

Yeah, heard a lot of things about Xenosaga. Never played it though.

The Xenosaga series is great, Episode I and III are great games, but unfortunately Episode II is very flawed.

 

[snes9x]

I wish the DS remake of I and II gets a translation at some point. I think the only attempt thus far was abandoned early on.

 

[Viviana Santos]

The Xenosaga series is great, Episode I and III are great games, but unfortunately Episode II is very flawed.

I'm a Xenosaga: Episode II apologist.

Post automatically merged: Apr 24, 2025

I'm also a Xenogears disc 2 apologist.

 

[Skeetos]

The two most disappointing shutdowns for me were Lucasarts (#DisneySux) and Monolith Game (#WarnerBrosAlsoSux).

Monolith irks me. Man they made stellar shit. Love every one of their games.

Post automatically merged: Apr 24, 2025

Many but for me the one that triggered most of them was when video games stopped being a niche, although opening up brought good things it also brought negative things.

I kinda get this. To appeal to that wider audience, a lot of the experimentation of the old days became lost so that simplification of mechanics and over-budget highly cinematic experiences could usher in, and a little towards the end of the PS4/One era it became oversaturated.

I think the balance of new and old that the PS3/360 era had is where I think the coolest stuff was getting made. The hardware was advanced enough to do some crazy shit, but at the same time devs were still trying to innovate and experiment.

Outside of Indie titles you don't see a lot of experimentation these days, and when it does happen, it's half assed so that they don't lose all of the casual gamers. Gaming becoming a mainstay kinda made those side titles that played completely different and tried to do different things disappear.

Look at how studios like Rockstar are now. Rockstar used to always try to innovate, and they took chances on ideas, no matter if they seemed to be bad or not. I think the story of how Manhunt almost caused a mutiny in the studio sticks out to me, that game and it's tone and setting was so taboo at the time that even the devs were unsure if they should go through with it. They always hid behind that veil of "well, you don't have to kill everyone" but with Manhunt you do. Even if everyone in that game are horrible people.

I just hope the next generation of consoles can live up to what was promised with the current gen. I notice a few games now require you to use Ray Tracing no matter what. Games like Alan Wake 2, Oblivion Remastered, Doom the Dark Ages, and most likely more on the horizon are built around the tech now. And I think at some point, we will see cool stuff done with it, but I think the technology got ushered in a bit too quickly. Not to mention dogass COVID laying down the long dick of reality on everyone and everything getting held back for a few years.

 

[Cantarella]

I'm a Xenosaga: Episode II apologist.

Post automatically merged: Apr 24, 2025

I'm also a Xenogears disc 2 apologist.

i'm a fan of both. the combat system in II was pretty fun when it came to bosses. also had some killer songs. not commenting on the quality of the other saga games so much, the series just kind shapeshifted into something entirely, cutting off a lot of the threads set up in 1. it's like if a basketball player jumps up to shoot a 3 pointer and then, mid-jump, gets transported to a parallel dimension where he's closer to the net and ends up only scoring 2 points. and also he's wearing a soccer kit now.

but with the ambitious goals its kind of a miracle any more games got made after 1. takahashi pitching this multi-episodic series probably made kawazu's SaGa design documents look sane

 

[WokiBakoki]

Not quite as tragic, more of a what if. Team Silent. The people behind Silent Hill games 1-4. From what I've heard, Konami wanted there own Resident Evil, and while Silent Hill was certainly impressive (captivating enough for the least patient person ever in me, to finish it). It couldn't touch the RE sales. So they weren't given a generous budget for sequels. While the game quality varied, the devs had less to work with each new game. Sales were totally dead in Japan after 2. I'm told Team Silent wasn't so much the same group each time, but people came and went with each game. Basically, depressing behind the scenes.

While I'm not a huge fan of the games, I'm captivated by the concept and a lot of the set pieces. So I can't help but wonder what if Konami didn't cheap out like it usually does and gave Team Silent everything they needed to really put the fight to Resident Evil. Especially when RE started to fall off with 5 and 6. Prime time for Silent Hill to make a comeback, but it just got worse all the same during the 2000s. 360 era sucked for horror man. The whole P.T situation is another can of worms entirely. That demo exploded like nothing before it and Konami did nothing with that.

Bonus: Raven Software made some of the best shooters when they were cooking back in the day. Massive resume of bangers. While they never got shut down, they suffered an arguably worse fate of being bought by Activision and turned into a Call of Duty machine. Tragic.

 

[Skeetos]

Not quite as tragic, more of a what if. Team Silent. The people behind Silent Hill games 1-4. From what I've heard, Konami wanted there own Resident Evil, and while Silent Hill was certainly impressive (captivating enough for the least patient person ever in me, to finish it). It couldn't touch the RE sales. So they weren't given a generous budget for sequels. While the game quality varied, the devs had less to work with each new game. Sales were totally dead in Japan after 2. I'm told Team Silent wasn't so much the same group each time, but people came and went with each game. Basically, depressing behind the scenes.

While I'm not a huge fan of the games, I'm captivated by the concept and a lot of the set pieces. So I can't help but wonder what if Konami didn't cheap out like it usually does and gave Team Silent everything they needed to really put the fight to Resident Evil. Especially when RE started to fall off with 5 and 6. Prime time for Silent Hill to make a comeback, but it just got worse all the same during the 2000s. 360 era sucked for horror man. The whole P.T situation is another can of worms entirely. That demo exploded like nothing before it and Konami did nothing with that.

Bonus: Raven Software made some of the best shooters when they were cooking back in the day. Massive resume of bangers. While they never got shut down, they suffered an arguably worse fate of being bought by Activision and turned into a Call of Duty machine. Tragic.

Yeah, Honestly I think whatever that Silent Hill game was that Kojima was making would've gone crazy.

Raven made some crazy shit before they got relegated to the COD mines. If you think about it, id just barely dodged the COD mines themselves. If Bethesda didn't buy them I guarantee they would've become like top dev of COD.