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[jayj]

It's been really becoming an issue for me when it comes to the latest games these days. It's like I will hear about some new entry in a franchise I loved, and it's live services. There will be some big hyped up new game coming out, and it's unfinished, needing months/years of patching to get to where it needs to be.

Yeah I know, there's lots of exceptions people can cherry pick, but overall the trends I have seen these days are worrying. It's resulted in me struggling to get hyped for new games, or even caring about them until I see them well discounted on sale months/years later.

 

[Crayon]

Nah. I only see it in fighting games and that's been an alright change. After that, just GT7, which oversteps a bit but seems minimally intrusive.

 

[Guilty_AI]

This isn't new, we frequently got unfinished games in the past.

They just stayed unfinished.

 

[diffusionx]

This isn't new, we frequently got unfinished games in the past.

They just stayed unfinished.

an unfinished game that stays unfinished is finished

 

[Guilty_AI]

an unfinished game that stays unfinished is finished

And worse off than the unfinished game that "got finished" after updates.

Sounds like a win for modern gaming if anything.

 

[Magic Carpet]

an unfinished game that stays unfinished is finished

Provocative!

 

[Doom85]

an unfinished game that stays unfinished is finished

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

Why yes.

 

[jayj]

This isn't new, we frequently got unfinished games in the past.

They just stayed unfinished.

Well no. Now a days it's common knowledge how a lot of developers use patching as an excuse to release what is essentially early access and blatantly unfinished games. Back in the day, what you implied was simply a game having a few bugs and issues that couldn't be fixed.

 

[Danjin44]

I dont play live service or GaaS crap, so there is nothing for me to get tired of.

 

[Warablo]

Remnant, Baldurs Gate and Starfield all released within like a month.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Back in the day, what you implied was simply a game having a few bugs and issues that couldn't be fixed.

"Few bugs and issues" is reeeeally underestimating it. Back then, any RPG or adventure game you played, it was basic common sense to save as often as you could because game breaking bugs were common. There were games that completely locked you out of progressing because of very simple actions.

And buggy messes games that clearly weren't ready for release, man, there were tons of those. To cite a few famous examples we had Driv3r, Daikatana, Daggerfall, Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness, Sonic 06, Saints Row 2... the list goes on.

 

[DryvBy]

This isn't new, we frequently got unfinished games in the past.

They just stayed unfinished.

They ramped up the difficulty so you'd never want to finish anyway lol

Edit: during the 90s

 

[Shifty1897]

You're just playing the wrong games.
FF16 was feature complete, zero bugs.
Tears of the Kingdom was feature complete, I didn't encounter any bugs.
Just wait for reviews and don't buy buggy games

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

It's annoying from the standpoint of, "I'd like to play more big budget games with gee-whiz visuals and that I can actually discuss with people outside of niche forums." AAA games are, for the most part, not an option if you're trying to avoid this sorta stuff. There's no shortage of stuff to play even if I ignore the live services garbage, but it does feel like you're kinda out of the loop by not playing any of it.

 

[jayj]

"Few bugs and issues" is reeeeally underestimating it. Back then, any RPG or adventure game you played, it was basic common sense to save as often as you could because game breaking bugs were common. There were games that completely locked you out of progressing because of very simple actions.

And buggy messes games that clearly weren't ready for release, man, there were tons of those. To cite a few famous examples we had Driv3r, Daikatana, Daggerfall, Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness, Sonic 06, Saints Row 2... the list goes on.

The occasional buggy game was nothing like the work in progress releases of today.

 

[radewagon]

I never understood the appeal of GAAS. I just can't spend that much time committed to one game. I don't even like playing two games of the same genre back to back. I needs variety.

 

[ReBurn]

I think we'll see more and more games that start out incomplete and evolve. It costs too much and takes too long to make games these days. Investing $100+ million over 5+ years hoping for a big payoff at the end isn't sustainable for every developer, but releasing in seasons is feasible and allows them to earn money to keep working on the game. It sucks but that's the way it's going.

 

[Guilty_AI]

The occasional buggy game was nothing like the work in progress releases of today.

Time to dust off the memory lane

 

[March Climber]

You're just playing the wrong games.

Just wait for reviews and don't buy buggy games

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

The "I don't like GAAS because they're not finished games" is a truly bizarre critique. It's something no one who enjoys multiplayer ever says. Fortnite, Minecraft, League of Legends etc would be far inferior products if they released as traditional "finished" games. Fun beats finished 100/100 times.

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

Nah, people overblow the negativity when it comes to service games. Just be careful what you buy and you’ll be fine. No different than any other type of game, really.

 

[Doom85]

I never understood the appeal GAAS. I just can't spend that much time committed to one game. I don't even like playing two games of the same genre back to back. I needs variety.

TBF, there’s a decent amount of non-GAAS single player games that one can spend just as much as time on even with a single playthrough (side-eyeballing the 98 hours playtime for Baldur’s Gate 3 on my PS5 screen, and I’m still only so far into Act 3).

 

[ZehDon]

an unfinished game that stays unfinished is finished

Post of the week. I've never considered this.

 

[Guilty_AI]

The "I don't like GAAS because they're not finished games" is a truly bizarre critique. It's something no one who enjoys multiplayer ever says. Fortnite, Minecraft, League of Legends etc would be far inferior products if they released as traditional "finished" games. Fun beats finished 100/100 times.

There is one argument that can be made against it. When a game changes for the worst, or just changes so much it doesn't feel like the original anymore.

For example, GTA Online balancing is completely out of wack nowadays. They jacked up price for everything and even removed certain older cars for sale, coveniently making them only available for people who paid some premium subscription. Diablo 4, WoW, Destiny 2, all games that have players complaining about changes that made the game worse.

 

[tmlDan]

What unfinished games? Recently, I played BG3, MK1, Diablo 4 (even if i didn't like it, it was finished), and Starfield.

All finished games....

 

[Laieon]

Depending on what exactly the bugs are, they might make me want to play the game even more and then I drop it once they're fixed and a metagame forms (I hate competitive games). Friday the 13th was buggy as hell but hilarious upon release, and that launch window has some of my favorite gaming memories.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

There is one argument that can be made against it. When a game changes for the worst, or just changes so much it doesn't feel like the original anymore.

For example, GTA Online balancing is completely out of wack nowadays. They jacked up price for everything and even removed certain older cars for sale, coveniently making them only available for people who paid some premium subscription. Diablo 4, WoW, Destiny 2, all games that have players complaining about changes that made the game worse.

I don't view "online discourse" as a relevant metric of a games quality.

Player engagement is a far better indicator. Developers tune for engagement rather than what people are saying on Twitter.

While there are exceptions to the rule, I think it's safe to say giving developers more time and more data produces better games...generally.

 

[Guilty_AI]

I don't view "online discourse" as a relevant metric of a games quality.

Player engagement is a far better indicator. Developers tune for engagement rather than what people are saying on Twitter.

While there are exceptions to the rule, I think it's safe to say giving developers more time and more data produces better games...generally.

This isn't a business perspective.
You bought a game, played it, enjoyed it, then comes back one year later thinking of getting into it again only to find everything worse than it was before, cut content, paywalls, etc. It will always leave a bad taste in the mouth.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

This isn't a business perspective.
You bought a game, played it, enjoyed it, then comes back one year later thinking of getting into it again only to find everything worse than it was before, cut content, paywalls, etc. It will always leave a bad taste in the mouth.

Giving developers more time and more tools leads to better games.

That's irrefutable as a general rule.

 

[Deerock71]

This should be a poll, and FUCK YES should be getting 99% of the vote, and yes for the other 1%.

 

[BlitzerRadic]

Well no. Now a days it's common knowledge how a lot of developers use patching as an excuse to release what is essentially early access and blatantly unfinished games. Back in the day, what you implied was simply a game having a few bugs and issues that couldn't be fixed.

So dont buy the game until it's "finished."

 

[Fbh]

I think gaming is pretty great right now. This year in particular stuff that interest me is coming out at such a rate that I can't really keep up:

Was still playing FFXVI and it was like "here comes Baldur's Gate 3, and then Armored Core 6, and then Sea of Stars ... and then it just keeps going and going...Cocoon, Like a Dragon Gaiden, Spiderman, Alan Wake 2 ...maybe lords of the fallen if it's good....and ohh fuck I still have to play Hogwars Legacy, and RE4R.... and ohhh right Nintendo also has some interesting stuff comming ...wait and isn't there a Baten Kaitos 1 and 2 remaster coming? I never played those and also want to check them out "

 

[shaddam]

I usually dont care about them more than shitposting because my backlog and the new boomer shooters will keep me busy for years.

 

[Knightime_X]

an unfinished game that stays unfinished is shit.

Adjusted for accuracy.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

The occasional buggy game was nothing like the work in progress releases of today.

Well yeah because you couldn't push a 20 gigabyte patch to your players in those days.

 

[Thyuda]

No, not at all.

Wanna know my secret?

I just don't buy them.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Giving developers more time and more tools leads to better games.

Then they misuse those tools. Honestly the only defense you could possibly make is if we are given access to old versions of certain games.

 

[SCB3]

It depends, if its sold as one like Destiny or Fallout 76 then yea I expect it to not be fully complete as thats the nature of a GaaS game, (even though I fully disagree with Bungie removing ANY content from the game despite their excuses)

And some games have benefited from the Live services, fighting and racing games for example

 

[Godot25]

I don't understand why people have such a problem with live service games.
It's one segment of the industry. YOU DON'T NEED TO INTERACT WITH IT.
It's not like this year had clusterfuck of excellent non-live service games like Starfield, Hi-Fi Rush, Final Fantasy XVI, Tears of the Kingdom, Star Wars Jedi Survivor, Hogwarts Legacy, Resident Evil 4, Sea of Stars, Lies of P, Street Fighter 6, Mortal Komat 1, Dead Space and much more right?

 

[CeeJay]

It's been really becoming an issue for me when it comes to the latest games these days. It's like I will hear about some new entry in a franchise I loved, and it's live services. There will be some big hyped up new game coming out, and it's unfinished, needing months/years of patching to get to where it needs to be.

Yeah I know, there's lots of exceptions people can cherry pick, but overall the trends I have seen these days are worrying. It's resulted in me struggling to get hyped for new games, or even caring about them until I see them well discounted on sale months/years later.

It looks like you have reached a point where it's time to rise above the hype and that urge to play the latest games. Maybe it's now time to get into a different mindset, just because a game is the latest and shiniest doesn't mean that you have to play it straight away. Great games are still great after a year or two.

There are loads of benefits to starting playing a new (to you) game many months or years after they have been released. You get to play the best version of that game because it's had loads of patches and upgrades. You get the benefit and wisdom of all those people who have already played it and you find that the very best games are still getting talked about years after release. You can't even trust reviews to be honest, a game can get higher or lower figures than it deserves but, you know that if a game is still getting talked about a long time after release and stood the test of time then it's going to be worth looking at. You get cheaper prices AND the benefit of getting all the DLC included.

The downside of this method is that you don't get to be involved in the hype and you will miss out on all the buzz that you get when running with the crowd and experiencing a game when it's fresh.

I suppose that you need to ask yourself a simple question... Which is most important, playing great games or discussing the latest games and getting caught up in the hype?

 

[StueyDuck]

I don't hate games evolving over time.

But I am definitely tired of unfinished games and multiplayer games where most of the development effort is put into dances and stupid celebrity skins that cost money.

Bring back co-op

 

[Jemm]

No, I love them.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Then they misuse those tools. Honestly the only defense you could possibly make is if we are given access to old versions of certain games.

That can happen, sure. More often though, it leads to better games.

 

[MR ARCADE FOREVER]

Yes that's why I play mostly Nintendo games

 

[Skifi28]

Unfinished is a broad definition. One could argue Baldur's gate 3 was released unfinished seeing the amount of bugs and performance issues that are still being fixed. Still, many people put up with them because the game is so good. I think it's more about many game being mediocre on top of unfinished.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

The way games are produced now can feel overwhelming. I often go back to games from before the time of online. It feels good to play a game that is just a game, and you can be immersed without distractions.

Yes that's why I play mostly Nintendo games

I am partly thankful that Nintendo’s online strategy has been so poor over the years. They simply make games, release most of them with little to no online support, and sometimes drop a satisfying DLC.

 

[manfestival]

No

 

[brian0057]

Play more indies and less AAA.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Recent example: Payday 3. Wanna play with bots solo? Gotta get in the server queue? Good luck, servers were down at launch for more than 12 hours and you could not play ALONE. Lets not get into the fact that it has 8 fucking missions lmao compared to Payday 2 that has 61 and while sure a lot f those are half of content a mission in P3 offers its still a fucking tragedy. How can devs launch sequels in a worse form than their prequels with less content is baffling to me. The excuse that the prequel got content over 10 years is such BS. A sequel no matter what, should be the improved version of it. Previous game had 61 missions? Great then give us 20-30 high quality missions then. Online gaming is fucked and Im glad Im done with it.