The Eternal Return of the Same Games

[GaryChildress]

I have to confess I am just about "re-maked" out. I picked up Panzer Corps lately, played a couple scenarios of the main campaign and haven't played a whole lot since. It just reminds me too much of Panzer General which I played to death when it came out. I've collected the entire Matrix catalog of Close Combat remakes, the WitPAE remake--all games that I loved to death when they first came out but now I really find myself bored with remakes. These are all games which I played into the ground in their original incarnations.

I just wish there were something new out there that I haven't seen before but, honestly, I've been gaming for over 10 years and there just isn't that much out there which catches me anymore like when I first started gaming...not that it's healthy to stay up wee hours of the morning for just "one more turn" but I really just don't get that from gaming anymore.

I feel like a long term heroin addict complaining that I don't get the same high as I once did. But it was fun while it lasted. Maybe there will be some new "highs" out there some day. [:(]

[Terminus]

+1, albeit without the whole heroin thing...

[michael1776]

I can't say I have ever done heroin but I understand what you are saying. Every time I start up a game now it's dejavu all over again. Maybe it's just a sign of getting older?

[Lützow]

It's not about getting older, but there is no evolution anymore for the last decade. Actually, the industry is walking backwards with every year. Remove the visuals from mainstream products and you keep something as simplistic as C64 titles in the 80's. I started gaming once when I was bored with spending nights in front of my tv, and nowadays playing games feels similar to watching movies. So all we still can hope for is the same old wine in new bottles.

[Lieste]

I don't know if operational stuff is your thing or not, but I'd heartily recommend the Panther Games' Airborne Assault/Command Ops series. COTA is interesting for early war, biased to Greece/Crete/North Africa, and BfTB has a very useful unit editor...
No arbritary/long turns, no large hex grid constraining movements and alignments, no arbritary 1:1 or 1:2 retreat rules etc. Instead you are using time/space/force concentration and economy of force measures in similar ways to a commander (supported by staffs to manage (and present on request) the technical means and measures to complete the tasks given).

[SLAAKMAN]

RALLY YOU SILLY DUPES!!! WORLD IN FLAMES WILL SUSTAIN YOUR ETERNAL HUNGER PERPETUALLY!!! [:'(]

[johndoesecond]

Gary and others, I know what you mean and that's exactly how I felt ... about a year ago.

Then I "discovered" BftB, and I was enlightened.

Lieste is right, it's something completely different, and it just feels right.

Go and get the demo, but FIRST I'd suggest you to look at the game concept and tutorial videos, they are real eye-openers. Here's one of those: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Pk-2Zz ... re=related

There's a "new high" there.

[Phatguy]

Weird thing is, as much as I like Panzer Corps I went back to playing the original PG not long after and went through a full campaign without feeling like I was going through the motions......

[Phatguy]

ORIGINAL: SLAAKMAN

RALLY YOU SILLY DUPES!!! WORLD IN FLAMES WILL SUSTAIN YOUR ETERNAL HUNGER PERPETUALLY!!! [:'(]

You mean one day it might graduate from being vaporware? Do tell.......

[ilovestrategy]

I was the same with Civ V. I'm hoping I don't feel the same way with Elder Scrolls Skrym in November.

[Terminus]

Nobody really believes that World in Flames will ever happen.

[pad152]

82nd Airborne Or Lock ‘n Load: Heroes of Stalingrad either![:D]

[BAL]

...or Combined Arms WWII [&:]

[Anthropoid]

Agree; gaming has started to lose its allure. It first started to happen with me between Civ3 and Civ4. Civ3 Conquest is probably the singlemost played game for me, and it was such a classic. Civ4 was an improvement in some ways, but the focus on eye-candy was excessive. I get the impression Civ 5 is even more in that direction.

I've tried going back to some of the old classics (the first Jagged Edge; Morrowind; Civ3 Conquests) and the shame is: having experienced the upgraded visuals, and physics, etc., those old 'classics' feel clunky.

I'm not so sure that this reflects any sort of conspiracy by designers or some sort of "stasis" in the evolution, so much as it represents a diagonal swing as a huge open niche created by changes in the technology gets filled in. I'm speculating because I don't know all the details but, I get the impression that the changes in processing (volume and speed) particularly of 3D visual renditions has undergone a quantum leap in the past couple years. It is evident in comparing a game like Morrowind to Oblivion or Civ3 to Civ4. Not that many years between those games, but HUGE difference in the feeling for the player.

I suspect the 'stasis' that we have all been feeling is in large part a reflection of the industry moving diagonally and laterally to fill in all the market niches that these changes in technology and feasibility have created. Combined with the rate at which computer technology changes, this in part means that, the 'evolution' of game design is likely to be lagging for some time to come. Sure, the big designers can try to take full advantage of the latest stuff, and hit the sweet spot where the don't alienate too many old-tech potential customers. But even there, the sheer magnitude and complexity of their art it seems makes it a very challenging business. At the end of the day, they've got to make a profit, and if they take too high a risk approach by trying to REALLY push the envelope and innovate both in terms of technology, and game design, then they are perhaps getting a bit ahead of themselves.

I'm still enjoying Fallout 3, and when that gets tiresome I'll probably reinstall Oblvion with all the mods. I've played the heck out of both, but they are both worth revisiting.

I'm looking forward to Crusader Kings II; that looks good!

Also Skyrim will be great I hope, provided I don't have to sign up on Steam to play it

[Perturabo]

ORIGINAL: Lieste

I don't know if operational stuff is your thing or not, but I'd heartily recommend the Panther Games' Airborne Assault/Command Ops series. COTA is interesting for early war, biased to Greece/Crete/North Africa, and BfTB has a very useful unit editor...
No arbritary/long turns, no large hex grid constraining movements and alignments, no arbritary 1:1 or 1:2 retreat rules etc. Instead you are using time/space/force concentration and economy of force measures in similar ways to a commander (supported by staffs to manage (and present on request) the technical means and measures to complete the tasks given).

Panther Games are actually a part of the eternal return. They are doing what they are doing since they started making computer wargames.
Too bad that there aren't more developers with their talent and level of programming knowledge...