Does anyone miss actual genres in gaming?

[CM30]

Like, when games were about one thing and one thing only? So a platformer would be just that; jump across platforms and kill enemies. An RPG would be entirely about turn based battles and exploration. A first person shooter would just be... well, running around and shooting things with the odd puzzle.

Nowadays it just feels like there are no real genres any more, and almost all games have basically blended in one. Like the developers can't make a game unless it has every gimmicky feature and genre change they can imagine, damn the actual players.

Anyone else thnk that?

 

[Kaynil]

Kind of like with music. I don't mind a bit of blending but sometimes they throw you something completely out of the blue that really hinders the experience. They also like to make this weird things into must-pass chores. No. I don't want to win a race in order to progress an adventure or a platformer game.

Some fun sidequest taht break a bit the mold and are still close enough, sure., just steer away from obliged chores in things taht require a complete makeover on controller mechanics. So many times there has been the hop-onto a car and steering it just feel like rag doll or like you're using the tanks from COMBAT of the Atari 2600. It is a frustrating, underwhelming addition taht most of the time is a pointless waste of time. You only do it because the game forces you to. The game forces you because otehrwise you wouldn't give it the time of the day.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

Well to be fair, original game play would get old by this day and age. Sooner or later they would have to mix things up and stick to what is popular.

 

[Kaynil]

Well to be fair, original game play would get old by this day and age. Sooner or later they would have to mix things up and stick to what is popular.

I can see where you're coming from but I think those are two different things things. They can update gameplay without dissolving the genres. I understand that paradigms should be challenged and that evolving is natural. I am alright with that. Like I said it is only when the gameplay results worse instead of better and hinders unnecessarily the experience, like a forced quest.

The big issue though is that even though they are mixing genres they usually won't say anything about it and you find out the hard way about it, because they are just sprinkling that other genre.

 

[OMDO]

I feel like there's less of an emphasis on genres, if that makes sense. Games are being made the way the developers envision a game, as opposed to building to a genre. For instance, think of Super Mario Maker. It's just a tool to build Super Mario levels, but it's a very successful game that I don't think we would have seen in generations past.

I think it would be cool to have a developer focus solely on an RPG, a platformer, a puzzle game, or whatever they want, but it should only come from a love of that genre and thinking it's the best fit for their game idea.

 

[Brunn]

I feel like a lot of older gamers forget the fact that games used to have a massive limitation- their size. You could only do so much, and that wasn't necessarily a lot. Of course they were hard as hell- they had no replay value due to size, and needed a way to keep people playing longer. Of course they stuck to one genre- they didn't have a lot of options. It wasn't necessarily that that's what the developer wanted for their game. There isn't some bizarre holy grail of gaming where everything's crazy hard, and stuck blindly to one genre to the exclusion of everything else. That's just what they had to do.

In any case, if you think about it, it's a natural progression to game design starting with fledgeling games to now. "Do people like jumping?" Makes jumping game. "Oh yeah, people LOVE jumping. All the jumping games!! Now then.,... do people like puzzles?" Makes puzzle game. "Aw yeah, people like puzzle games. Maybe lets combine the two?" Developers are just making what people enjoy, and most people probably tend to like variety for their money.

Maybe I just haven't run into it but any, for example, platformer that has puzzles in them always fit the theme and work with the story. I've yet to be playing a game where I was suddenly completely taken by surprise about what I was doing. (You probably didn't do proper research on what you were buying if that was the case!) There's always a reason to be solving a puzzle. If there's not a reason to be doing what you're doing, then you probably ended up with a case of bad story telling. And obviously, if you have a section of gameplay that just doesn't play well do to poor design or implementation that's a problem.

 

[CM30]

I feel like a lot of older gamers forget the fact that games used to have a massive limitation- their size. You could only do so much, and that wasn't necessarily a lot. Of course they were hard as hell- they had no replay value due to size, and needed a way to keep people playing longer. Of course they stuck to one genre- they didn't have a lot of options. It wasn't necessarily that that's what the developer wanted for their game. There isn't some bizarre holy grail of gaming where everything's crazy hard, and stuck blindly to one genre to the exclusion of everything else. That's just what they had to do.

In any case, if you think about it, it's a natural progression to game design starting with fledgeling games to now. "Do people like jumping?" Makes jumping game. "Oh yeah, people LOVE jumping. All the jumping games!! Now then.,... do people like puzzles?" Makes puzzle game. "Aw yeah, people like puzzle games. Maybe lets combine the two?" Developers are just making what people enjoy, and most people probably tend to like variety for their money.

Maybe I just haven't run into it but any, for example, platformer that has puzzles in them always fit the theme and work with the story. I've yet to be playing a game where I was suddenly completely taken by surprise about what I was doing. (You probably didn't do proper research on what you were buying if that was the case!) There's always a reason to be solving a puzzle. If there's not a reason to be doing what you're doing, then you probably ended up with a case of bad story telling. And obviously, if you have a section of gameplay that just doesn't play well do to poor design or implementation that's a problem.

I guess that's true, there are less limitations now than there were back then.

But look at it this way. Does this sort of stuff happen anywhere near as much in other media? Not really. We don't see say, romantic comedy sequences in the middle of James Bond movies. We don't see an alien invasion happen in the middle of Jurassic Park. Mediums don't change either. Doctor Who has animated adaptations, radio plays, comic books and novels, but the TV series doesn't try and change to those formats mid season for the hell of it.

It doesn't start live action, suddenly turn animated, turn into a radio play, then show a bunch of text in pages and then go back to live action again. It'd be insane.

When you watch a Western, you get... a Western. You don't get a horror/sci-fi/fantasy/spy thriller/romantic comedy hybrid.

 

[Brunn]

I guess that's true, there are less limitations now than there were back then.

But look at it this way. Does this sort of stuff happen anywhere near as much in other media? Not really. We don't see say, romantic comedy sequences in the middle of James Bond movies. We don't see an alien invasion happen in the middle of Jurassic Park. Mediums don't change either. Doctor Who has animated adaptations, radio plays, comic books and novels, but the TV series doesn't try and change to those formats mid season for the hell of it.

It doesn't start live action, suddenly turn animated, turn into a radio play, then show a bunch of text in pages and then go back to live action again. It'd be insane.

When you watch a Western, you get... a Western. You don't get a horror/sci-fi/fantasy/spy thriller/romantic comedy hybrid.

I don't see where you're going with this argument. You can't reasonably compare a games action style (what you're doing to play the game) to a movie's setting and thematic elements. No you generally don't see dragons and elves suddenly appear in your old west shoot 'em up movie. But that doesn't usually happen in your old west shoot 'em up game either.

It is however completely reasonable that your old west sheriff character you're playing might need to pick a lock to get to more people to shoot, so a puzzle solving minigame seems pretty reasonable. Whether game companies take this type of situation to the extreme, or have bad transitions, or poorly designed and unplayable or unenjoyable sequences is on them however.

 

[Xenokitten]

I think one example where the blurring of genres is super on point is the fallout series. The first 2 are CLEARLY RPGs. But the ones after that? Are they an FPS? are they an RPG? Are they an FPS with RPG Elements or more of an RPG with FPS Elements. I skipped 3 and las vegas because I dislike FPS - but I picked up 4 - and you know what I found? Yes, I prefer 1 and 2 a lot more - but 4 was still fun too - sometimes it's not bad to "branch out and try new things" -- I just wish we could have BOTH you know, "Clearly Defined" gameplay that sticks to one genre -- and then do a SPIN OFF series where you "mix it up" and add FPS or whatever you want -- but don't stop making just straight up RPG games - cuz 1 and 2 are still the best in that series and I miss them so much D:. Story got sacrified for action/graphics/etc. sadface.

Luckily, on the other hand, we have seen a lot of indie developers come onto the scene who make "old school style games" still so -- yay.

Diversity is good - who says things have to always be "modernized" or cater to what's "popular" -- isn't there room to do both? And if they're worried about funding and taking a "risk" in the market - crowdfund that @#$! --- I mean look at Shenmue 3 lol. Give fans the OPTION to choose what games we get to play - not just ASSUME that all fans like X type of gameplay.