Hot takes

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Replace "more valid" with "bigger," and you would be correct. But this move had more to do with publicly-traded corporations pursuing infinity growth, than it ever had to do with making a better product..

They got bigger but I can not dislike someone for wanting to make games more accessible to people. I mean people who grew up with the NES and SNES probably became parents in the mid 2000's so it's normal to prefer having them to play with their children. Same with people above the average age being more interested in gaming than before as well.

The gaming playerbase has simply evolved from the 90's after all.

On the other hand, I do agree with you here. I've had a bone to pick with what I coined as "graphic whores" for decades now. Dumbass consoomers that are into the "new hotness" just for the sake of being slightly better looking than the last thing are a cancer on the medium as a whole..

When it comes to graphics people would rather go on PC since it's where the powerful GPUs and high quality texture packs are but I'd also say that movies or going outside also "provides pretty graphics".

I was actually more impressed by the Havok Engine and NVIDIA PhysX among other physics engines from computers than just graphical fidelity.

It's interesting how the Wii lacked HD compared to the other two competing consoles yet I still find that several games on it stood well visually when most PS360 suffered from that yellow filter effect that ended up being really detrimental on the visuals.

Post automatically merged: Oct 25, 2025

First party games became the only reason to buy a Nintendo console. It's why fans dropped off of their hardware at all and used them as a secondary platform for the last two decades.

I'm sorry but why secondary? I mean people also bought a Xbox for Halo and a Sony console for Metal Gear, Resident Evil, FF or other SCE games.

Or else you'd just go to PC for most third parties.

A few, and nowhere near enough to justify the cost. Sega killed CD, had no business releasing the 32X, and they killed Saturn. Nobody had confidence in their platforms.

The Saturn could've done it better if it was for the marketing, in Japan it was quite working well because they had good games to provide while the US blocking things like Sakura Wars among others was a bad move.

I mean why the Pro version of modern consoles are not an issue to people nowadays when it's not too dissimilar to that?

Sega broke contracts with 3dfx as they were building the abandoned Blackbelt prototype. Sega was sued over it. 3dfx eventually went under. Microsoft's WindowsCE and Direct X was no longer a primary focus. The Xbox was going ahead anyway.

Maybe 3dfx was doomed to fail after DirectX, Sega or not.

It was not too soon for online, Sega had Heat.net. They just couldn't afford to compete and pissed everybody off along the way.

On the other hand we can still appreciate the efforts to make things evolving for gaming outside of just making more powerful hardware.

 

[Sayo Sayo]

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand the Hot Takes thread. The humor is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical user's head. There's also Metroid_Hybrid's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation - his personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The posters understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these posts, to realize that they're not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike this thread truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Hybrid's existencial catchphrase "Wubba Lubba Dub Dub," which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev's Russian epic Fathers and Sons I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Badseed's genius unfolds itself on their computer screens. What fools... how I pity them. And yes by the way, I DO have a Hot Takes tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- And even they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand.

 

[Guinea]

Digital is better than physical.

 

[Sirekso]

Game Freak should have stopped after Sinnoh. They could’ve ended on a high note with the Gen 2 remakes.

It’s become antiquated and lost all soul. As someone whose earliest gaming memory is opening Pokémon Red on Christmas morning back in the 90s, I’ll always cherish the time I spent with the series. But it’s time we all accept that it’s dead and has been for a while.

 

[Sayo Sayo]

Game Freak should have stopped after Sinnoh. They could’ve ended on a high note with the Gen 2 remakes.

It’s become antiquated and lost all soul. As someone whose earliest gaming memory is opening Pokémon Red on Christmas morning back in the 90s, I’ll always cherish the time I spent with the series. But it’s time we all accept that it’s dead and has been for a while.

Even if Game Freak stopped developing the series, there's so much money behind it (largest IP in the world) that it would've kept going regardless of developer, sadly. But I strongly agree with you, I would go as far as to not even call this a hot take.

 

[Xdqwerty Xdqwerty]

Dpads are more practical and maybe even comfortable than joysticks

 

[PhaseJump]

I'm sorry but why secondary? I mean people also bought a Xbox for Halo and a Sony console for Metal Gear, Resident Evil, FF or other SCE games.

Or else you'd just go to PC for most third parties.

Were you under a rock or something?

For at least 20 years now, most gamers have said they would play on PC/Xbox/Playstation, and buy Nintendo second as a complimentary thing just for the Nintendo first party games.

Why? Because Nintendo hardware was weak, it had no comparable online gaming infrastructure or social networking, and it didn't offer the latest and greatest contemporary multiplatform games.

Stuff like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft happened.

The Saturn could've done it better if it was for the marketing, in Japan it was quite working well because they had good games to provide while the US blocking things like Sakura Wars among others was a bad move.

I mean why the Pro version of modern consoles are not an issue to people nowadays when it's not too dissimilar to that?

The Saturn could have done better if it was marketed right and had software.

The 32X and CD both cost a fortune, were add-ons to a console people would need if they wanted to jump into it, and they had no software support. The 32X was pure garbage. CD was marketed around FMV games and that entire fad died out with 3D gaming.

Customers were left stranded with expensive crap and a shift to another round of bullshit hype for the next console. A console that was more expensive than the Playstation.

Sega fans dropped off, like Nintendo fans. Slowly jumping ship to Playstation and Playstation 2 where they would get drowned in game releases for all the different genres.

Maybe 3dfx was doomed to fail after DirectX, Sega or not.

Sega broke their contract in bad faith and it threw 3dfx under the bus. They were sued over it. The Voodoo 3 based console was cancelled, and repackaged as an arcade board. In the same process, Sega diminished their partnership with people at Microsoft who were working on and probably setting expectations around their devkit helping to make Windows CE a more attractive product.

Dreamcast hardware went on to use Sega's own SDK, support for the CE kit was there but it wasn't front and center. It wasn't on every machine. The OS and ran from game discs. This ultimately wouldn't help them appeal to the licensing-deal junkie Microsoft, when the nerds over at team Xbox figuratively took the flag and stepped over Dreamcast's corpse.

On the other hand we can still appreciate the efforts to make things evolving for gaming outside of just making more powerful hardware.

We can all appreciate that Sega made efforts to burn money it didn't have on multiple prototypes, burn bridges with retailers, developers, customers, and mismanage everything.

Their greatest accomplishment was the Genesis using good hardware, getting solid support away from Nintendo, but then they milked the hedgehog to death for a few years, ran out of money trying to keep committments to retailers, and they figuratively burned their own house down when reacting to Sony.


I love Sega more than any of them. Their arcade division is the only thing that kept them functional, and the rest of it was a glorious shit show.

 

[MasterEn]

Game Freak should have stopped after Sinnoh. They could’ve ended on a high note with the Gen 2 remakes.

It’s become antiquated and lost all soul. As someone whose earliest gaming memory is opening Pokémon Red on Christmas morning back in the 90s, I’ll always cherish the time I spent with the series. But it’s time we all accept that it’s dead and has been for a while.

i think that they should have done some spin offs for a while and give people a change of pace for a few games. stuff like the mystery dungeon games or pokemon trozei; or do like digimon and tell a story with a variety of characters in it. it can and does get boring to just run through the same set of challenges with different skin packs applied. and they definitely should take more than 2 or 3 years to make a game. the lazy and half assed feel of the games seems to result from this specific time frame of development. you can only do so much in a short amount of time, and doing it too often can and will lead to burn out.

 

[Moreno909]

Why? There are many good groups for them.


On the other hand I'm less fan of djent and overuse of growls in Metal.

I don't like the sound of power metal and symphonic metal, it sounds too cheesy and all the songs sound too similar.
I also don't like djent.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Game Freak should have stopped after Sinnoh. They could’ve ended on a high note with the Gen 2 remakes.

People love to glaze on Gen V (Unova) yet I think that I would've preferred to see other regions in Japan instead of going all around the world. I'm sad how Europe (Kalos, Galar and Paldea) got the lesser games (Alola was a slight improvement). I wished to see China or even Scandinavia getting a game but not anymore.

Digital is better than physical.

I'd be curious to know your reason behind that.

Dpads are more practical and maybe even comfortable than joysticks

For 2D side scrolling yes.

For pure 3D it's not. Try replaying old PSX games with a non Dual Shock pad and you'll feel the difference.

Mario 64 is literally not playable with a D-pad as well. Kirby 64 on the other hand uses it.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

While I love many of the soundtracks that come from system sound chips, almost every game from the early to mid 90’s that had a CD soundtrack version (on some kind of CD system) was bound to sound better. There’s something so mystical and airy to the typical sounds of early CD soundtracks, and the more hype songs usually implement some kind of DnB inspiration that I personally dig a lot.


Also, Sonic CD’s US Soundtrack is the better one to play the game to. The JP one is the better listen to on its own, and that’s brainwashed all of you into thinking it matches playing the game. It doesn’t. The U.S. soundtrack creates such a good atmosphere of Eggman’s takeover and pollution of this planet, driving home the themes of environmental conservation better than the JP soundtrack ever did.

 

[Xdqwerty Xdqwerty]

For 2D side scrolling yes.

Oh yeah, for that and racing games

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Here’s another:

Digital IS better than physical… overall. Physical games can decay over the years, while roms never do.
And, in less developed countries, it’s way simpler to download digitally. Collecting is a luxury, and I adore it, but I also can’t be mad because somebody in a less advantageous position than me just wants to play a dang game. Not everyone even HAD official game releases in their country, and for about half the forum, bootlegs and piracy ARE the market in their country.


The truth is, though…. Paid digital sucks. There’s very little consumer benefit. So, when I say “digital IS better than physical” what I really mean is…

Which, ultimately, isn’t that hot of a take is it?

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

While I love many of the soundtracks that come from system sound chips, almost every game from the early to mid 90’s that had a CD soundtrack version (on some kind of CD system) was bound to sound better. There’s something so mystical and airy to the typical sounds of early CD soundtracks, and the more hype songs usually implement some kind of DnB inspiration that I personally dig a lot.

Redbook audie is great indeed, I love the Ys OST on the PC Engine because of it.

But there's something about several soundchip that cannot be replicated by CDs. Limitations can bring something.

Also, Sonic CD’s US Soundtrack is the better one to play the game to. The JP one is the better listen to on its own, and that’s brainwashed all of you into thinking it matches playing the game. It doesn’t. The U.S. soundtrack creates such a good atmosphere of Eggman’s takeover and pollution of this planet, driving home the themes of environmental conservation better than the JP soundtrack ever did.

CD's ost is the logical evolution of Sonic 1's. US is more atmospheric but also doesn't sound that much like Sega (Sonic is meant to sound punchy and fast).

At least it's better than whatever Sonic 4 Episode 1 and Sonic Frontiers' overworld themes were.

Oh yeah, for that and racing games.

Which ones? F-zero X and GX are made with the joystick in mind (especially GX with analog shoulder buttons as well).

Physical games can decay over the years, while roms never do.

That's true but even hard drives and servers can.

The truth is, though…. Paid digital sucks. There’s very little consumer benefit.

Paying for digital means buying the license (like on a physical medium) but I agree that the product shouldn't be sold as much (nor more) than the physical one simply because there's no logistic needed behind.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Paying for digital means buying the license (like on a physical medium) but I agree that the product shouldn't be sold as much (nor more) than the physical one simply because there's no logistic needed behind.

The big killer is license revoking. The fact that a game can be taken away, for any reason, is terrifying. Games, in my personal view, shouldn’t be a “service”. Even an arcade game. These are an art form, and should be accessible at any time. And home ownership shouldn’t be a luxury either, it should be a given. If one has the will, all games ever made should be within reach, and as many as possible should be easily accessible to all whom have a screen and CPU.

 

[Xdqwerty Xdqwerty]

Which ones? F-zero X and GX are made with the joystick in mind (especially GX with analog shoulder buttons as well).

I mean in general

 

[Pitokk]

I like final fantasy XIII.

 

[bfinch]

I got one!

Movement in shooters is better when it's floaty rather than the current 'movement shooter' style. Purely from a game design view.
A game that makes the player control the outcome of their movement choices is always going to be better. Making the player give more input to get a satisfactory output fails the player.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

The big killer is license revoking. The fact that a game can be taken away, for any reason, is terrifying. Games, in my personal view, shouldn’t be a “service”. Even an arcade game. These are an art form, and should be accessible at any time. And home ownership shouldn’t be a luxury either, it should be a given. If one has the will, all games ever made should be within reach, and as many as possible should be easily accessible to all whom have a screen and CPU.

I agree about the license thing. It's awful too.

But remember that some physical games also were dependant on online servers to be able to run (like GFWL or even the StarForce DRM).


Video game being art is another debate but I think some art pieces were only available in private collections as well.

Movement in shooters is better when it's floaty rather than the current 'movement shooter' style. Purely from a game design view.
A game that makes the player control the outcome of their movement choices is always going to be better. Making the player give more input to get a satisfactory output fails the player.

What about Quake and Ultrakill?

 

[waterxwraith]

Final Fantasy X is also guilty of almost everything people lampoon Final Fantasy XIII over.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Final Fantasy X is also guilty of almost everything people lampoon Final Fantasy XIII over.

That's true.

However: I think that the game design of FFX was more acceptable in 2001-2002 was much less in 2009 - 2010 and in a post-Oblivion and post-Mass Effect world a classic JRPG already feels outdated.

FFX was the first fully voice acted game with a cinematic feel for the series. FFXIII felt like it was a PS2 game upscaled for the PS3.

 

[waterxwraith]

That's true.

However: I think that the game design of FFX was more acceptable in 2001-2002 was much less in 2009 - 2010 and in a post-Oblivion and post-Mass Effect world a classic JRPG already feels outdated.

FFX was the first fully voice acted game with a cinematic feel for the series. FFXIII felt like it was a PS2 game upscaled for the PS3.

The time frame adds context to the complaints, but in modern day, looking back, XIII wasn't all that bad.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

The time frame adds context to the complaints, but in modern day, looking back, XIII wasn't all that bad.

Personally I've always seen FFXIII as a non-FF game with FF elements and the name slapped on.

Too futuristic imo and I think that I still vastly prefer the medieval fantasy feel of the first 6 games (okay, the sixth being more steampunk with magitech) + 9 than trying to do another FF7.

FFX also had a nice eastern fantasy setting making it stands out from the rest of the series and I almost wish they could try this again.

 

[King Torro]

I'm vexed by some indie devs slopping together a forced "low poly" or "low definition" graphics in order for their game to "look retro". Especially when the dev might have the talent to make the game look better but they.. don't.
There are a lot of great looking throwback graphics games and when done right and with proper talent it can look amazing, but some developers use a "retro style" as a crutch to serve low effort under the guise of "it's retro, it's supposed to look bad!"

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

I'm vexed by some indie devs slopping together a forced "low poly" or "low definition" graphics in order for their game to "look retro". Especially when the dev might have the talent to make the game look better but they.. don't.
There are a lot of great looking throwback graphics games and when done right and with proper talent it can look amazing, but some developers use a "retro style" as a crutch to serve low effort under the guise of "it's retro, it's supposed to look bad!"

Oh, so the same issue that many "retro styled pixel art 2D indie game" had back when it was becoming trendy to do NES-like graphics?

I agree that we've seen a rise of low poly PSX-style horror game that don't really do much efforts.

Even games like Ultrakill improved the models with updates. I also liked how Zortch looked, like a late N64 title (if not early Dreamcast).