I think Far Cry just kinda suffers from a bit of sequel-itis like your CODs and Assassin’s Creeds. In a vacuum and taken on their own merits, there are definitely things to like about a lot of individual entries, but the constant stream of entries just casts a veil of staleness over the whole thing. I think there are…

I dunno. Given how broad matchmaking is in multiplayer games, multiplayer only achievements and progression means you’re probably gonna have to work even harder to get some of the more elusive achievements. I can’t be the only one to play a multiplayer game and have achievements ruined by other people who’s competence…

Oh, I get that much. But how many arcade games would you simply refuse to play if there wasn’t a high score list?

You want a game other people enjoy to die because you personally don’t like it? That’s a spectacularly selfish take.

Now, there very well may come a point where there’s going to be so little performance difference between successive hardware that it won’t do that (I suppose there’s a compelling argument we’re approaching that point now)...

It also ignores most of the reasons those trends ended...

This is the sort of thing where I feel old, because I cannot fathom why achievements and trophies are such a big deal that some players will actually reject a title entirely over them.

I think there’s a part of the entire Playstation brand that looks at what Nintendo does, and is a bit jealous and wants to emulate it.

Some games do that very well and have sell very well because of it too.

I have similar conflicting feelings. Far Cry 3 was a culmination of what I’d wanted from so many AAA games but didn’t get in one whole package (CoD didn’t do it, GTA was too open and vehicle based, Half Life was stuck in limbo) that I felt so satisfied playing it. It was like finally finding that Vegas buffet that had…

Well, that’s where Ryan’s thinking is flawed. He’s not wrong that once customer inertia sets in, that’s where customers are pretty much going to stay unless something rather forcefully jars them out of it.

Excellent post, basically breaking down what people consider guilty pleasures. Sometimes that guilt comes from knowing it’s bad, sometimes it comes from people insisting it’s bad, and sometimes (probably most times) it’s a mix of both. A lot of people like to present themselves like they only enjoy ‘good’ things, but…

Christ, if only I could pare it down to one.

It should probably be noted that a lot of the weird, quirky games are just indie Steam/PC/Itch.io games now, which is great since you don’t need some souped-up PC to play most of that stuff.

Well, to that I’d argue is because gaming has one aspect that other forms of entertainment don’t.

Right there with you! I used to think “I need to play every AAA game and as many awesome indie games, and complete them 100%”; alas, life has a way of filling one’s schedules with responsibilities (career, fatherhood, an active lifestyle, etc). BUT! If a new Mario, Metroid, Zelda, FromSoftware title, or anything made…

One thing about FC6 is that they seem to have toned down the complete ludicrousness of the random minifights from FC5 and New Dawn. Been playing for 3-4 hours and I’ve only gotten into mid-road firefights or clusterfucks a couple of times and they’re less intense than the previous games.

They seem to have streamlined a…

Great post, I’m the same way. I’m not saying the game (or any game) is perfect. Or revolutionary. Or sometimes not even mindblowing. But we all have things we enjoy, and that’s a good thing.

I feel like everybody has that one piece of big-budget, not-particularly-innovative gaming that they still really enjoy

Here’sthe other thing about music and movies, anyone can watch or listen. It doesn't take any specific skill, it doesn't take practice, you just turn it on. The closest you can get to that with games is watching someone else play, and while many find that enjoyable (I'm not one of them), that's not going being Sony…