How have your views on gaming changed?

[Wolf Kanno]

So for those who've been gaming for some time now, how have your tastes, expectations, and views on the medium changed over the years? Any trends you love, hate, or are you now indifferent to it.

[Del Murder]

Great question. I don't know if my tastes have changed since I still love the same types of games (RPG, platformer, action) I loved as a kid, but pretty much all the genres I like have evolved and my preferences or what I accept have evolved with them. For example, putting minimaps with quest locations and having fast travel in RPGs is something I can't really go without these days, but none of the older games had that.

I will say that I am much more into 'western' RPGs than in the past where I pretty much played JRPGs strictly (though to be fair those were like 90% of RPGs back then). Dragon Age, Mass Effect, even the Borderlands 'action with RPG elements' style has produced far better content (to me) this past generation compared to what has come out of Japanese developers.

It's interesting to go back to old Nintendo games and see how much we tolerated. Most of those games were punishingly hard and did not hold any hands at all. If I hadn't played those as a kid I doubt I would get any enjoyment out of them at all these days. Makes me scared for how my kids will react to these legacy games once they are old enough to start playing. Maybe some of the throwbacks like Shovel Knight, which retain the simplistic design and good challenge but eliminating the cheap difficulty shortcuts, will help bridge the gap for the coming generation.

[Mirage]

To be fair, the sheer number of quests in games these days enormous compared to back in the day, and the game worlds are often significantly bigger and more complex. It's just too many to keep track of without some sort of assistance, like at least a quest log.

I don't remember having more than a couple of quests at a time in FF6, but in XCX I would pick up twenty just running from one side of town to the other. Then let's not forget about all those quests that have complex dependencies on other quests.

[FFNut]

I still love the same type of games I loved as a kid. Give me a great RPG with a solid story and some exploration, a good sports game (Hockey being my favorite) where I can GM a team and take them to the finals. A good side scroller like Super Mario Brothers. I'm not leaving to go anyplace.

I agree Del that quest markers and fast travel make things very easy now. I remember having to go to every town on the map, talk to every NPC, and then you may get a hint to head east for what you are looking to find.

[black orb]

>>> Before: I could afford to be a gamer.
Now: I cant

[Spuuky]

For example, putting minimaps with quest locations and having fast travel in RPGs is something I can't really go without these days, but none of the older games had that.

Dragon Quest let you Zoom around way before it was cool. Wing of the Wyvern was Fast Travel in DQ1.

[Fynn]

I started to really play a lot of games with FF. Back then I was mostly hooked on the stories.

Nowadays, I've been tainted by MegaTen, making me appreciate old school mechanics much more and I feel that I've started getting much more enjoyment from the gameplay side of things. I think this is why I can appreciate Dragon Quest so much nowadays.

And it's not like I'm not looking for a good story anymore, because I am. Except this time, if I'm going into a game expecting a good story, I tend to have very particular taste. I mean, I dislike FFX's story now, but I loved Bravely Default's due to how deconstructive it was in certain subtle ways. I love XII's story and the Ivalice alliance is one of my favorites, and I think SMT IV has one of the most fantastic, best structured stories in recent gaming.

And I also think Chain of Memories is the best KH.

Really, I think my tastes just got weirder over time.

[Midgar Mist]

Im more patient with games now. I used to be impatient then wonder why i was crap at them. All I did was play around with Amiga and PS games alike until I came across Final Fantasy 7. I couldnt play it when I was 14 cos I didnt even try. I can thank the Final Fantasy Series (and some other RPGs) for gradually building my patience. Now Im a veteran gamer who takes a breath and focuses on what I'm doing. Still dont know how to play GTA games though.....

[Ayen]

Apart from me frankly not caring that much for more traditional JRPGs mechanics and realizing I don't give a trout about dungeon design (I realize I'm saying this on a FF forum so the irony is not lost on me), I don't think my taste in games have changed that much. I pretty much always been more interested in older games than I have been brand new ones.