After having played a couple of older games in Final Fantasy IV and Chrono Trigger, and having been addicted to the pair of them up to the final dungeon, I ask this question: Did the games of old have a bigger hold of your attention span than today's games do?

I can think of only one recent game I've bought that's held my attention, and that's Morrowind. A lot of the newer RPGs and a lot of the newer titles in general just haven't held my attention. It could be the gaming, or it could be just the fact I'm growing out of games in general...

Opinions?

> Ok, thread #4, I'm catching up. :D

While newer games are good fun, they lack replayability value, this is generally due to a linear gameplay aspect which is usually overlooked these days, seeing as Game is becoming all about 'Art' these days, they're turning more into a sort of 'Machianima*'.

The appeal of Older games is that they relied on a more random, chaotic basis, Space Invaders and Pong for example, which, while slightly repetetive, were always good fun.

However, the appeal of the 'Not so old that they were in the Arcade, but not so new that they're on a Next Generation console' games, it's all Nostalgia, I reckon.
And seeing as Nostalgia rocks, bring it on. ^_^

*I love that word :p look it up on Google if you don't know what it is, you might find it an interesting concept

i do believe that most older games are actually better than newer ones. take the final fantasy series for example the PS2 ones that i have played are no way near as good as 7,8,9 on the PSX.

newer games tend to have parts of older games story lines, or are just the same but with improved graphics.

Dragon Warrior IV will always be the best game, ever. Keep in mind it was for the NES. It's because games back then didn't have graphics to rely on, so they went with storyline. I would also say that the psx FF games are not all that amazing ;).

I still find myself hooking up my old Super Nintendo and Nintendo to play RPG's from years ago because the newer ones just get boring for me.

Actually, older games are better. Sure they don't have the best graphics, or sound. But the best gameplay, great sotry lines, good characters, awesome battle systems and most of the time the music is quite enjoyable. Besides, I have a DOS Emu and SNES Emu and I spend quite alot time playing those old games :-P

Are older games better than Newer games? No...

However... the older games we remember are better than most of the games coming out now... our mind has a way of forgetting the crappy games.

No time, or generation of gaming has been better than another... there are good and bad games in every generation of gaming.

Loki, I'm hopelessly in love with your new avatar. ^^

A decent chunk of my favorite games were either on the NES or the SNES, but I wouldn't really call them better then newer games. Fighting games are better then ever, RPGS with amazing stories may be few and far between, but they're still out there, and there are all sorts of new genres that wouldn't have been possible on older systems.

However, most older games did captivate me in a way hardly any newer games have- I've beat FFVI dozens of times by now, and I still watch my tv screen, enraptured for hours every time I pop it in.

Maybe it's just what Loki said, that we really only remember the gems. Or maybe there's just some sort of geeky type magic in those little sprites. Who knows, highlander?;)

However... the older games we remember are better than most of the games coming out now... our mind has a way of forgetting the crappy games.


We'd just be comparing the new good games with the old good games though, right? Ignore all of the crap. That's how I look at it...

Though I agree with you. I don't think this generation has suffered much, and you can find enough good games of almost any kind in every generation. The thing is that priorities change over time. Juno First is about as fun as any good game out now, but games of that variety don't really come out much. On the other hand, stealth games weren't an entire genre in 1984. I suppose the only problem is that while certain things are improved and built upon, others are neglected or outright left behind... and it's for want of the latter that people say things were better "Way back when..." I think.