Hot takes

I don't know how the fuck people played the DBZ: Budakai Tenkaichi games before Sparking Zero. I can play the Budakai games just fine, but every time I try to play Budakai Tenkaichi 3, it feels like I'm trying to play Armored Core at X2 speed while my character has forgotten how to walk, much less fight, and trying to tell said character how to fight is like trying to guide a toddler through algebra.
 
The Last of Us (also Uncharted to some extent) did an irrepairable damage to gaming and send a wrong message to the industry. The whole PS4 generation was full of cinematic bullshit "games" with little to no gameplay. The current Sony that we are seeing is also the result of that game's success. They abandoned making fun gameplay focused games and started pumping $100mil+ movies. It's like they forgot that we play games not watch them. On hindsight I feel it would have been better if TLoU never happened.
finally, someone said it, thank you
 
So much content for only 1 price and never had to pay for dlc and a community that has powered on through the years oceans and languages between them to create even more content for free. I think we all played them happily.
That's absolutely fair and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Keep in mind that I only started playing the PS2 DBZ games a few months ago, so I didn't grow up with them. Maybe it's just me.
 
Okay, I've got a hot take on this thread as a whole: there's a difference between having a "hot take" and just having a shitty opinion. The former is something you can reasonably justify and defend, the latter is not.
Well, here's a hot take that anyone can defend: the only thing Tifa is largely known for in the ReTrilogy is having her tits hanging out! ?

Joking aside, Tifa fans that play into her sexuality yet completely lose their shit when they get called out for it is admittedly a great source of comedy and are probably one of the cringiest subsections of a character fanbase by far.
 
Okay, I've got a hot take on this thread as a whole: there's a difference between having a "hot take" and just having a shitty opinion. The former is something you can reasonably justify and defend, the latter is not.
My hot take is that there's no such thing as shitty opinion, only different views on the matter. Some people might think your opinion is "shitty", doesn't mean is true thought it's just their opinion.
 
My hot take is that there's no such thing as shitty opinion, only different views on the matter. Some people might think your opinion is "shitty", doesn't mean is true thought it's just their opinion.
Exactly. Besides, it's not like anyone would change their minds simply based on someone else's opinion. Even verifiable, objective data won't change people's minds. Gaming is entertainment, no science.
 
I dunno how hot this take is nowadays, but Half Life 2 is the most "meh" game I have ever played. Time has not been kind to it. It is far less fun and energetic than games before it like Blood or Duke 3D and games since have far surpassed it like F.E.A.R. and Prey, not to mention that the physics are bullshit at times
 

...Cowards.


1736069712216.png


I look around and what do I see? The fastest growing thread on this forum, awash in the same "Hot Take", over and over. Dozens and dozens of posts insisting how much they hated and have zero investment in [Popular Commercial Entertainment]. A sea of upturned noses, nestled safely behind their emotional support gimp masks.

*Is* that spicy?
Where's the passion?
Where's the fucking risk?

Take a chance and expose yourselves! Share the terrible, or worse, POPULAR things you enjoy, show the class all the garbage bins you've been eating from.

I'll start!​


Zombies Mode is worth buying every new Call of Duty: Black Ops installment! I don't even play it with friends, just randoms online; no mic, I just do the objectives and hope they go along with me like lemmings!

Mass Effect 3 is the best game in the series, even with the ending! It plays better than the first two, the Tuchanka mission is the high point of the entire series, and I *love* the multiplayer so much. I bought that piece of shit Andromeda just for the multiplayer, so I could savor the flavor again.

Gran Turismo makes me feel like I know cars. "Well I gotta jimmy the torque and adjust the suspension, you know what the roads in Monaco are like." Reader, I don't. I don't know a damn thing. I love these games.

Every few years I fire up Starcraft, and play through the first campaign and a half until I remember I'm bad at real-time strategy games. They exhaust me and make my head hurt. I get annoyed, uninstall, and then steadily forget the pain and remember the joy, and do it all over again. One of my all-time favorites, not a joke.

Bare your souls, cretins!


The games that YOU like SUCK and the games that I like RULE!!!!!
Best post. You're beautiful, none of this applied to you.
 

...Cowards.


View attachment 8604

I look around and what do I see? The fastest growing thread on this forum, awash in the same "Hot Take", over and over. Dozens and dozens of posts insisting how much they hated and have zero investment in [Popular Commercial Entertainment]. A sea of upturned noses, nestled safely behind their emotional support gimp masks.

*Is* that spicy?
Where's the passion?
Where's the fucking risk?

Take a chance and expose yourselves! Share the terrible, or worse, POPULAR things you enjoy, show the class all the garbage bins you've been eating from.

I'll start!​


Zombies Mode is worth buying every new Call of Duty: Black Ops installment! I don't even play it with friends, just randoms online; no mic, I just do the objectives and hope they go along with me like lemmings!

Mass Effect 3 is the best game in the series, even with the ending! It plays better than the first two, the Tuchanka mission is the high point of the entire series, and I *love* the multiplayer so much. I bought that piece of shit Andromeda just for the multiplayer, so I could savor the flavor again.

Gran Turismo makes me feel like I know cars. "Well I gotta jimmy the torque and adjust the suspension, you know what the roads in Monaco are like." Reader, I don't. I don't know a damn thing. I love these games.

Every few years I fire up Starcraft, and play through the first campaign and a half until I remember I'm bad at real-time strategy games. They exhaust me and make my head hurt. I get annoyed, uninstall, and then steadily forget the pain and remember the joy, and do it all over again. One of my all-time favorites, not a joke.

Bare your souls, cretins!



Best post. You're beautiful, none of this applied to you.
you know what? you are god damn right

I freakin love FF7 dirge of cerberus and I'm tired of pretending otherwise

my hatred for AC series comes mostly from the fact that it killed my favorite franchises (prince of Persia, splinter cell) and even tho I sh*t talk AC series, I 100% rogue and syndicate

Kojima is only capable of making good game when he is on a leash, when he is not we get annoying a*s mechanics like the whole death stranding game or the deleted concept of fighting the end for 2 weeks irl in snake eater

persona games are 10 times more engaging than final fantasy games

megaman zero series specially Z2 are the best in the entire megaman franchise, also legends series suck I don't care the 3rd one got canceled

naughtdogs' games just movies with shallow gameplay

web swinging mechanic of tasm 2 is my favorite web swinging mechanic and I love web rush system

ultimate spider man game is 10 times better than sony's spider man 2

I love the first hitman movie, it was awesome

and yes cod zombies is freakin amazing
 
modern nintendo games are boring and overly safe, series like pokemon are as soulless as the usual open world ubi game that everyone loves to complain about
I was actually shocked how they sanded down the difficulty curves in some of their sequels as Pikmin 4.
 
show the class all the garbage bins you've been eating from.

This is the enlightened path.

I have videogame anhedonia x videogame ADHD and can only enjoy Shiren the Wanderer, Tetris, and online Street Fighter. Everything else for one reason or another seems "not good enough."

It's best to find value and appeal in whatever is in front of you. Finding fatal flaws in everything you play is the fastest route to putting yourself in an empty box, where only a handful of titles are tolerable, or worse yet, where the hobby just dies for you. All games are equally good. *namaste* *prayer hands*
 
The golden age of games reached it's peak 20 years ago and ended 10 years ago. We are now in the great tribulation period where many studios, developers and franchises will die and the industry will shrink, while we wait for the arrival of a new messiah that will plant the seed of a new growth cycle on the land fertilized by all the crap made today.
 
OK, you guys want a really hot take – i.e., something controversial that probably only I agree with? I'll fucking give you one so hot it'll melt your little ears off:

I think the indie gaming space is fundamentally broken – just as much, if not more so, than the modern AAA space. And there's one big reason for it: lack of originality. Think about whenever you see a modern indie game get really big and popular, like Undertale (spit), Stardew Valley, or even UFO 50. Isn't it funny how about 95% of them are based on an older game? Undertale is Earthbound. Stardew Valley is Harvest Moon. UFO 50 is Action 52. Every modern Metroidvania is Super Metroid and/or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Lethal League/Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is Jet Set Radio. Minecraft is Infiniminer. Again and again. The same games. Repeatedly endlessly. FOREVER.

I'm not saying that any of these games don't develop or alter (or even improve!) elements of the games that they're based on. But I am absolutely saying that, from their conception, they're unoriginal – and, by definition, repetitive and tedious. (In my opinion, of course.) Can you mention Undertale without also mentioning Earthbound in the same breath? How about Stardew Valley – can you describe that game without using the phrase "Harvest Moon"? Even Cave Story, the ur-example of this sort of indie game – could you tell me about the game without, in good faith, referencing Metroid?

On one hand, I get it. If you're someone interested in conceptualizing, funding, developing, and releasing a video game on your own, without the backing of a major developer or publisher, you're probably someone who loves a certain video game so much that you want to make your own version of it. (Let's put aside cynical market pressures for the sake of this post.) My problem comes in with just how repetitive all these games are. When Undertale got big, every game wanted to be Undertale, and imitated its writing, music, and graphical style (and even many design sensibilities) to a T. When Stardew Valley got big, roughly 40 trillion identical farming games were (and continue to be) released. Same with Metroidvanias. Again and again. The same games, repeatedly endlessly, forever.

WHAT IF I DIDN'T LIKE THOSE OLD GAMES IN THE FIRST PLACE!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?

the-ren-and-stimpy-show-maniacal.gif

Yes, I actually don't like the vast majority of those millennial SNES games, and I truly do not want to play them – or any variation of them – again! But they've never gone away. I can't complain, because this is clearly what the audience wants, but I truly do think it's to the detriment of the medium. Whenever I see a new indie game, my mind immediately says "Oh, what other game is this supposed to be?"

I know that no piece of media is truly "original", and that every game is, in essence, building on what came before it. But what yobs me off is the fact that both gamers and developers seem to reject originality outright. The people making these games don't want to "break the rules", and there's really no demand from consumers to do so, so the entire indie space becomes an ouroboros, constantly devouring itself only to defecate its own head in perpetuity. And we get Earthbound, Super Metroid, and Harvest Moon again and again. We get genres named specifically to limit imagination and creativity – roguelike (games like Rogue), Metroidvania (games like Metroid/Castlevania), "boomer shooter" (games like id games), et cetera.

I'm not saying that if you like any of these games you're a dullard or something, but I do think they're a big reason why people younger than Millennials gravitate towards Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite over [INTERCHANGEABLE INDIE GAME #718942]. If you didn't grow up playing (or emulating) the very limited pool of Japanese console games that almost every indie game takes influence from, there's really no reason to play one over the other, because they're all – in a basic sense – the same. Their creators all speak, think, and are aged about the same, too, so why wouldn't they be?

Playing old Flash games on Flashpoint – which were the lion's share of the games I grew up with – really depresses me, because many of those games WERE original! (Not all of them, certainly, but I'd be so bold as to say most.) Even if they were copying other Flash games, at the very least it was a new template to build off of – a new space to explore, with new ideas to introduce and gestate. They weren't Earthbound, Super Metroid, and Harvest Moon. But I guess people didn't want that design sensibility – they wanted SNES games. Again and again. Forever.

Here's what I think: a lot of gamers are too soft on indie developers. You should be demanding more. Maybe it's because of nostalgia, or because of a heavy affection for older games that I've never personally known (on my own favourite games list, you won't find any of the stock SNES games I mentioned). It might also be because of a sense of camaraderie with indie developers – they're the "little guy", so it's fine if they re-release Pixel Art Farming Simulator #11249 with character designs copied wholesale from "old school anime" (barf) in-between Twitter rants, right? Because they're just like us... right? Honestly, the whole indie space just makes me sick.

Oh, and, for the record, Cave Story sucks gorilla dick through a crazy straw. ??
 
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Nintendo 64 was N's worst console.

Mario 64 has a terrible camera and is way less fun than ANY 2d Mario.
Ocarina of Time is one of the only good N64 games but it is far from the best Zelda game. Majora's Mask is worse.
 
OK, you guys want a really hot take – i.e., something controversial that probably only I agree with? I'll fucking give you one so hot it'll melt your little ears off:

I think the indie gaming space is fundamentally broken – just as much, if not more so, than the modern AAA space. And there's one big reason for it: lack of originality. Think about whenever you see a modern indie game get really big and popular, like Undertale (spit), Stardew Valley, or even UFO 50. Isn't it funny how about 95% of them are based on an older game? Undertale is Earthbound. Stardew Valley is Harvest Moon. UFO 50 is Action 52. Every modern Metroidvania is Super Metroid and/or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Lethal League/Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is Jet Set Radio. Minecraft is Infiniminer. Again and again. The same games. Repeatedly endlessly. FOREVER.

I'm not saying that any of these games don't develop or alter (or even improve!) elements of the games that they're based on. But I am absolutely saying that, from their conception, they're unoriginal – and, by definition, repetitive and tedious. (In my opinion, of course.) Can you mention Undertale without also mentioning Earthbound in the same breath? How about Stardew Valley – can you describe that game without using the phrase "Harvest Moon"? Even Cave Story, the ur-example of this sort of indie game – could you tell me about the game without, in good faith, referencing Metroid?

On one hand, I get it. If you're someone interested in conceptualizing, funding, developing, and releasing a video game on your own, without the backing of a major developer or publisher, you're probably someone who loves a certain video game so much that you want to make your own version of it. (Let's put aside cynical market pressures for the sake of this post.) My problem comes in with just how repetitive all these games are. When Undertale got big, every game wanted to be Undertale, and imitated its writing, music, and graphical style (and even many design sensibilities) to a T. When Stardew Valley got big, roughly 40 trillion identical farming games were (and continue to be) released. Same with Metroidvanias. Again and again. The same games, repeatedly endlessly, forever.

WHAT IF I DIDN'T LIKE THOSE OLD GAMES IN THE FIRST PLACE!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?

the-ren-and-stimpy-show-maniacal.gif

Yes, I actually don't like the vast majority of those millennial SNES games, and I truly do not want to play them – or any variation of them – again! But they've never gone away. The "modern audience" for indie games – and by that, I'm referring to terminally-online social-media-brained aggressive-depressive people between the ages of about 29-40 – eat this slop up for dinner, forever. I can't complain, because this is clearly what the audience wants, but I truly do think it's to the detriment of the medium. Whenever I see a new indie game, my mind immediately says "Oh, what other game is this supposed to be?"

I know that no piece of media is truly "original", and that every game is, in essence, building on what came before it. But what yobs me off is the fact that both gamers and developers seem to reject originality outright. The people making these games don't want to "break the rules", and there's really no demand from consumers to do so, so the entire indie space becomes an ouroboros, constantly devouring itself only to defecate its own head in perpetuity. And we get Earthbound, Super Metroid, and Harvest Moon again and again. We get genres named specifically to limit imagination and creativity – roguelike (games like Rogue), Metroidvania (games like Metroid/Castlevania), "boomer shooter" (games like id games), et cetera.

I'm not saying that if you like any of these games you're a dullard or something, but I do think they're a big reason why people younger than Millennials gravitate towards Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite over [INTERCHANGEABLE INDIE GAME #718942]. If you didn't grow up playing (or emulating) the very limited pool of Japanese console games that almost every indie game takes influence from, there's really no reason to play one over the other, because they're all – in a basic sense – the same. Their creators all speak, look, think, and are aged about the same, too, so why wouldn't they be?

Playing old Flash games on Flashpoint – which were the lion's share of the games I grew up with – really depresses me, because many of those games WERE original! (Not all of them, certainly, but I'd be so bold as to say most.) Even if they were copying other Flash games, at the very least it was a new template to build off of – a new space to explore, with new ideas to introduce and gestate. They weren't Earthbound, Super Metroid, and Harvest Moon. But I guess people didn't want that design sensibility – they wanted SNES games. Again and again. Forever.

Here's what I think: a lot of gamers are too soft on indie developers. You should be demanding more. Maybe it's because of nostalgia, or because of a heavy affection for older games that I've never personally known (on my own favourite games list, you won't find any of the stock SNES games I mentioned). It might also be because of a sense of camaraderie with indie developers – they're the "little guy", so it's fine if they re-release Pixel Art Farming Simulator #11249 with character designs copied wholesale from "old school anime" (barf) in-between Twitter rants, right? Because they're just like us... right? Honestly, the whole indie space just makes me sick.

Oh, and, for the record, Cave Story sucks gorilla dick through a crazy straw. ??
While I wouldn't put it as aggressively as you just did, I do agree with your general point.
 
Nintendo 64 was N's worst console.

Mario 64 has a terrible camera and is way less fun than ANY 2d Mario.
Ocarina of Time is one of the only good N64 games but it is far from the best Zelda game. Majora's Mask is worse.
Dude, Virtual Boy hands down.
 
OK, you guys want a really hot take – i.e., something controversial that probably only I agree with? I'll fucking give you one so hot it'll melt your little ears off:

I think the indie gaming space is fundamentally broken – just as much, if not more so, than the modern AAA space. And there's one big reason for it: lack of originality. Think about whenever you see a modern indie game get really big and popular, like Undertale (spit), Stardew Valley, or even UFO 50. Isn't it funny how about 95% of them are based on an older game? Undertale is Earthbound. Stardew Valley is Harvest Moon. UFO 50 is Action 52. Every modern Metroidvania is Super Metroid and/or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Lethal League/Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is Jet Set Radio. Minecraft is Infiniminer. Again and again. The same games. Repeatedly endlessly. FOREVER.

I'm not saying that any of these games don't develop or alter (or even improve!) elements of the games that they're based on. But I am absolutely saying that, from their conception, they're unoriginal – and, by definition, repetitive and tedious. (In my opinion, of course.) Can you mention Undertale without also mentioning Earthbound in the same breath? How about Stardew Valley – can you describe that game without using the phrase "Harvest Moon"? Even Cave Story, the ur-example of this sort of indie game – could you tell me about the game without, in good faith, referencing Metroid?

On one hand, I get it. If you're someone interested in conceptualizing, funding, developing, and releasing a video game on your own, without the backing of a major developer or publisher, you're probably someone who loves a certain video game so much that you want to make your own version of it. (Let's put aside cynical market pressures for the sake of this post.) My problem comes in with just how repetitive all these games are. When Undertale got big, every game wanted to be Undertale, and imitated its writing, music, and graphical style (and even many design sensibilities) to a T. When Stardew Valley got big, roughly 40 trillion identical farming games were (and continue to be) released. Same with Metroidvanias. Again and again. The same games, repeatedly endlessly, forever.

WHAT IF I DIDN'T LIKE THOSE OLD GAMES IN THE FIRST PLACE!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?

the-ren-and-stimpy-show-maniacal.gif

Yes, I actually don't like the vast majority of those millennial SNES games, and I truly do not want to play them – or any variation of them – again! But they've never gone away. The "modern audience" for indie games – and by that, I'm referring to terminally-online social-media-brained aggressive-depressive people between the ages of about 29-40 – eat this slop up for dinner, forever. I can't complain, because this is clearly what the audience wants, but I truly do think it's to the detriment of the medium. Whenever I see a new indie game, my mind immediately says "Oh, what other game is this supposed to be?"

I know that no piece of media is truly "original", and that every game is, in essence, building on what came before it. But what yobs me off is the fact that both gamers and developers seem to reject originality outright. The people making these games don't want to "break the rules", and there's really no demand from consumers to do so, so the entire indie space becomes an ouroboros, constantly devouring itself only to defecate its own head in perpetuity. And we get Earthbound, Super Metroid, and Harvest Moon again and again. We get genres named specifically to limit imagination and creativity – roguelike (games like Rogue), Metroidvania (games like Metroid/Castlevania), "boomer shooter" (games like id games), et cetera.

I'm not saying that if you like any of these games you're a dullard or something, but I do think they're a big reason why people younger than Millennials gravitate towards Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite over [INTERCHANGEABLE INDIE GAME #718942]. If you didn't grow up playing (or emulating) the very limited pool of Japanese console games that almost every indie game takes influence from, there's really no reason to play one over the other, because they're all – in a basic sense – the same. Their creators all speak, look, think, and are aged about the same, too, so why wouldn't they be?

Playing old Flash games on Flashpoint – which were the lion's share of the games I grew up with – really depresses me, because many of those games WERE original! (Not all of them, certainly, but I'd be so bold as to say most.) Even if they were copying other Flash games, at the very least it was a new template to build off of – a new space to explore, with new ideas to introduce and gestate. They weren't Earthbound, Super Metroid, and Harvest Moon. But I guess people didn't want that design sensibility – they wanted SNES games. Again and again. Forever.

Here's what I think: a lot of gamers are too soft on indie developers. You should be demanding more. Maybe it's because of nostalgia, or because of a heavy affection for older games that I've never personally known (on my own favourite games list, you won't find any of the stock SNES games I mentioned). It might also be because of a sense of camaraderie with indie developers – they're the "little guy", so it's fine if they re-release Pixel Art Farming Simulator #11249 with character designs copied wholesale from "old school anime" (barf) in-between Twitter rants, right? Because they're just like us... right? Honestly, the whole indie space just makes me sick.
Oh, and, for the record, Cave Story sucks gorilla dick through a crazy straw. ??

I love the SNES.

panda stare GIF by hoppip
 
Minecraft is Infiniminer.
While I agree with the rest of your post, would like to point out that Minecraft, unlike the rest of your examples, presented a proper expansion of Infiniminer's formula. Same with its own "clones" (primarily thinking of Rust & Terraria here). This is contrary to indie gaming's ultimate problem of merely copying older, better games. That kind of bootleg retro crap needs to end.
 
OK, you guys want a really hot take – i.e., something controversial that probably only I agree with? I'll fucking give you one so hot it'll melt your little ears off:

I think the indie gaming space is fundamentally broken – just as much, if not more so, than the modern AAA space. And there's one big reason for it: lack of originality. Think about whenever you see a modern indie game get really big and popular, like Undertale (spit), Stardew Valley, or even UFO 50. Isn't it funny how about 95% of them are based on an older game? Undertale is Earthbound. Stardew Valley is Harvest Moon. UFO 50 is Action 52. Every modern Metroidvania is Super Metroid and/or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Lethal League/Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is Jet Set Radio. Minecraft is Infiniminer. Again and again. The same games. Repeatedly endlessly. FOREVER.

I'm not saying that any of these games don't develop or alter (or even improve!) elements of the games that they're based on. But I am absolutely saying that, from their conception, they're unoriginal – and, by definition, repetitive and tedious. (In my opinion, of course.) Can you mention Undertale without also mentioning Earthbound in the same breath? How about Stardew Valley – can you describe that game without using the phrase "Harvest Moon"? Even Cave Story, the ur-example of this sort of indie game – could you tell me about the game without, in good faith, referencing Metroid?

On one hand, I get it. If you're someone interested in conceptualizing, funding, developing, and releasing a video game on your own, without the backing of a major developer or publisher, you're probably someone who loves a certain video game so much that you want to make your own version of it. (Let's put aside cynical market pressures for the sake of this post.) My problem comes in with just how repetitive all these games are. When Undertale got big, every game wanted to be Undertale, and imitated its writing, music, and graphical style (and even many design sensibilities) to a T. When Stardew Valley got big, roughly 40 trillion identical farming games were (and continue to be) released. Same with Metroidvanias. Again and again. The same games, repeatedly endlessly, forever.

WHAT IF I DIDN'T LIKE THOSE OLD GAMES IN THE FIRST PLACE!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?

the-ren-and-stimpy-show-maniacal.gif

Yes, I actually don't like the vast majority of those millennial SNES games, and I truly do not want to play them – or any variation of them – again! But they've never gone away. I can't complain, because this is clearly what the audience wants, but I truly do think it's to the detriment of the medium. Whenever I see a new indie game, my mind immediately says "Oh, what other game is this supposed to be?"

I know that no piece of media is truly "original", and that every game is, in essence, building on what came before it. But what yobs me off is the fact that both gamers and developers seem to reject originality outright. The people making these games don't want to "break the rules", and there's really no demand from consumers to do so, so the entire indie space becomes an ouroboros, constantly devouring itself only to defecate its own head in perpetuity. And we get Earthbound, Super Metroid, and Harvest Moon again and again. We get genres named specifically to limit imagination and creativity – roguelike (games like Rogue), Metroidvania (games like Metroid/Castlevania), "boomer shooter" (games like id games), et cetera.

I'm not saying that if you like any of these games you're a dullard or something, but I do think they're a big reason why people younger than Millennials gravitate towards Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite over [INTERCHANGEABLE INDIE GAME #718942]. If you didn't grow up playing (or emulating) the very limited pool of Japanese console games that almost every indie game takes influence from, there's really no reason to play one over the other, because they're all – in a basic sense – the same. Their creators all speak, think, and are aged about the same, too, so why wouldn't they be?

Playing old Flash games on Flashpoint – which were the lion's share of the games I grew up with – really depresses me, because many of those games WERE original! (Not all of them, certainly, but I'd be so bold as to say most.) Even if they were copying other Flash games, at the very least it was a new template to build off of – a new space to explore, with new ideas to introduce and gestate. They weren't Earthbound, Super Metroid, and Harvest Moon. But I guess people didn't want that design sensibility – they wanted SNES games. Again and again. Forever.

Here's what I think: a lot of gamers are too soft on indie developers. You should be demanding more. Maybe it's because of nostalgia, or because of a heavy affection for older games that I've never personally known (on my own favourite games list, you won't find any of the stock SNES games I mentioned). It might also be because of a sense of camaraderie with indie developers – they're the "little guy", so it's fine if they re-release Pixel Art Farming Simulator #11249 with character designs copied wholesale from "old school anime" (barf) in-between Twitter rants, right? Because they're just like us... right? Honestly, the whole indie space just makes me sick.

Oh, and, for the record, Cave Story sucks gorilla dick through a crazy straw. ??
I agree with you on a fundamental level, but Id like to offer a gentle counter point.

The way I see it, the indie space exists in two facets: games AAA studios won't make anymore (nostalgia) and games AAA studios would never make (innovation).

These serve distinct, separate but still connected target audiences (think Venn's diagram).

Let me give you an example: take Wargroove and its sequel, plus some other upcoming Advance Wars likes. At face value you could say that there are too many of those and the market is saturated and unoriginal, but consider that N hasn't done anything with it since Days of Ruin; people miss it, people want to relive it in a new way.

On the other side of the diagram you have innovation, and it itself cannot escape being half iterative, half transformative.

Take a game like Balatro. You would probably (not without reason) scrunch your nose at the fact it has roguelike elements; yes, those are a tired thing and a crutch for lack of proper design in many cases, yet Balatro is a fresh, brainy take on poker that absolutely deserves its explosive fame.

And then there's the consideration that indie teams are small, budgets are small and risks are large; going for proven, road tested concepts is the logical, natural choice. That doesn't mean its entirely justifiable, but much like Thanos, it is inevitable.

All that said, it's obvious emotional investment is a big factor and if one doesn't like the basic premise and structure, nothing os going to change that, and that's fine. Maybe when someone properly iterates on a game you love, you'll fall in love with the scene again, haha.
 
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