Eighth generation video game cliches and your thoughts on them

[Warmsignal]

To me, it seems this generation of games was primarily defined by a certain set of recurring themes, where basically a bunch of developers would just copy whatever is successful by other developers and essentially produce a slew of samey mush for mass consumption.

The eighth gen can largely be defined by the following:

- A post-apocalyptic world, filled with zombies or mutants and a mission to brutally slaughter hordes upon hordes of them in order to survive and rekindle hope for humanity.

- A burly warrior of the middle ages wielding shields and massive swords, obliterates an army of vague evil and mythical demon-like creatures and in a sword swinging frenzy of grey and brown.

- A zany cast of other worldly characters gather together for no apparent reason in an ultimate battle royale of slapstick violence and shooting mayhem.

- A race comprising all manner of vehicles requires you to first learn how to properly accelerate and brake, before you can go racing a class of sub-compacts at blistering speeds of 40 MPH (on the straight parts of the track).

- A platoon of army men run around a small map and shoot one another endlessly for bragging rights and internet cred, no back story required.

- A sleuthy band of swordsmen or gunmen infiltrate the heart of corruption and bring down the impending syndicate / tyranny single-handedly through hacking and sneaking.

- Your favorite comic book series or movie franchise transforms into a universe of LEGOS.

Basically, these are what has defined this entire generation. Some of them I don't mind so much, others I'm entirely sick of hearing about. There's far too much of the same stuff being over produced this gen, and I feel like it's been more than enough, if not everything we've been offered. Anything that doesn't squarely fit into these cliches, is most likely something that I would consider picking up, but it most cases, that means it's a budget title, or a lesser known game of the gen.

What do you think of these cliches, are they're burnt out? Do you love em? Can you think of another one that I missed? Do you wish the gaming landscape was more diverse, or do you wish that literally every game was a zany battle royale of slapstick violence?

[sworddude]

all those cliche's are horrible I have no games that fit any of these that i enjoy this gen.

i cant fit any old games that i like in any of those cliche's either.

[oldgamerz]

It's sounds like pretty much the same as the 7th generation, in my own opinion nothing has really changed in the 8th console generation from a lot of the 7th console generation of released games, except the conveniences  of the 7th generation are not included much into the 8th console Generation.

In the 7th generation you have optical drives and were could hold hundreds or maybe a thousand of games on just a 500 gigabyte harddrive, now in the 8th generation (Most games), you need internet access and a large data cap to be able to download the full game off a server (or off the disc) instead of only having to download a patch and your save files.

The Playstation 3 and the Xbox360 had the option to download the full game, and if you didn't download it all you would need it 4 gigabyte maximum for one game, with most games only needing less than 1 gigabyte of space, for both a save file and the latest patch

now games are 20 gigabytes minimum per game with a lot of games needing 50 gigabytes or more to download the full games

sometimes you lucky to hold 12 games and their save files on the 500 gigabyte harddrives of the newer consoles.

I don't see the appeal of the 8th console generation at all, from what I heard I think it's a rip off, but I could be wrong on some of this correct what is wrong because I don't want to lie

[kamikazekeeg]

I'll almost always be there for a post-apocalyptic world, it's one of my favorite settings.  It doesn't guarantee a good game (I never really got into the Division games and Rage 2 was kinda "meh"), but I always love the setting.  I think this year, the game that kinda fits that idea would probably be Dying Light 2, which I'm pretty excited for.

[wolff242]

It's sounds like pretty much the same as the 7th generation, in my own opinion nothing has really changed in the 8th console generation from a lot of the 7th console generation of released games, except the conveniences  of the 7th generation are not included much into the 8th console Generation.

In the 7th generation you have optical drives and were could hold hundreds or maybe a thousand of games on just a 500 gigabyte harddrive, now in the 8th generation (Most games), you need internet access and a large data cap to be able to download the full game off a server (or off the disc) instead of only having to download a patch and your save files.

The Playstation 3 and the Xbox360 had the option to download the full game, and if you didn't download it all you would need it 4 gigabyte maximum for one game, with most games only needing less than 1 gigabyte of space, for both a save file and the latest patch

now games are 20 gigabytes minimum per game with a lot of games needing 50 gigabytes or more to download the full games

sometimes you lucky to hold 12 games and their save files on the 500 gigabyte harddrives of the newer consoles.

I don't see the appeal of the 8th console generation at all, from what I heard I think it's a rip off, but I could be wrong on some of this correct what is wrong because I don't want to lie

Well, there is no 20GB minimum, there are countless games this gen that are small. Most games install from disc, but the size of the installs and patches have changed. Gears of War 4 recently hit me with a 117GB patch...the game itself id 114GB on my HD. Games not only have larger patches, they have them more frequently. Dev's are now OK releasing broken games with large day 1 patches. Games from early in the Gen rarely have this issue, it's becoming way more common.

There is a deep reliance on external HD's this gen, adding a good chunk of change to your overall cost.  Considering only 400 or so GB of a 500 GB hard drive is usable, you are lucky to have a dozen games on your HD, unless you just play smaller games.

I agree with your last sentiment. I was excited at the start of this gen...but honestly, If I could go back and skip it...I would. I'll be skipping next gen because I don't like they way this gen went. I've broken my data cap a few times (I had to turn off auto updates on my games). they way I see it, if it's mostly digital with such large game files now....why bother having a console?? I'll just play games on my PC and not have new consoles taking up space.

[oldgamerz]

except the conveniences  of the 7th generation are not included much into the 8th console Generation.
In the 7th generation you have optical drives and were could hold hundreds or maybe a thousand of games on just a 500 gigabyte harddrive, now in the 8th generation (Most games), 

(off topic and mostly about the 7th generation of consoles benefits)



I am a big PlayStation 3 freak, I bought 3 of them in it's lifespan, I find the best way to experience PlayStation 1 games is on any PlayStation 3 console, first off PS1 memory cards are vary expensive to buy for the original PS1 consoles. With any PS3 you can create a 128kb kilobyte internal memory card on any PS3's internal harddrive and most internal memory cards can hold more then 5 non sports season PlayStation 1 game save files.

Each 128kb internal memory card of data equals at least about 5 non sports season PS1 game save files and plus there is no needed patch  and no needed download.

 basically it takes at least 9 PS1 memory cards to make one megabyte of data. and 9000 PS1 memory cards make 1 gig of harddrive data on any model of the PlayStation 3.

45000 saved game files (depending on what games) sometimes could fit on just 1 gigabyte. and if you include most sports game on the PlayStation 1 then maybe 30000 games can fit on one Gigabyte of PS3 hard drive space

Now IF you own one of the older PS3 models you have more luxuries with the ability to play PS1 PS2 and PS3 games, and all PS3's have built in PS1 and PS2 memory cards.

Also does anyone know that for a while you could even rip music CD to and PlayStation 3 and Xbox360's internal harddrive, well you still can. But, it's a pain in the ass now because SONY closed down the PS3's music server 3-4 years ago. So you now need to type in all the CD's information manually in which would take me years to do.

Most PS3 games take about 700 Megabyes to 2 gigabytes of needed downloadable data from the internet in my experiences

PlayStation 2 memory cards are 8 megabytes a piece and hold more game on just on memory card then the original PlayStation did too

[oldgamerz]

not too mention that the PlayStation 4 was never backwards compatible like the previous 2 consoles

[bikingjahuty]

This gen has had some interesting cliches, some pretty annoying, but for the most part this has been one of my favorite generations. It really reminds me a lot of Gen 5 in that there were so many different oddball games and small devs getting their games printed physically via companies like Limited Run, or Super Rare Games. There were also a lot of odd games released by larger publishers and given mainstream releases in stores. I haven't been this excited or motivated to collect for systems like this since the Gen 5 and 6. I really liked Gen 7, but I feel like there were way more ills that plagued gaming during that time that really hampered creativity. I feel like Gen 7 has some of the most homogenous releases of games of any generation, but still has a lot of excellent gems.


But yeah, this gen has some pretty annoying cliches. For one, I hate that games take up a shit ton of HDD space. I'm also not a fan of how rampant DLC has become this gen, and how Nintendo has even become bad about it. Aside from that I don't have too much to complain about, at least not off the top of my head.

[bunnybear]

Unfinished, buggy AAA releases needing mounds of post release patches.

DLC, DLC, DLC.

The rise of limited release companies.

Am I doing this right?

[sworddude]

Unfinished, buggy AAA releases needing mounds of post release patches.

DLC, DLC, DLC.

The rise of limited release companies.

Am I doing this right?

almost your forgetting micro transactions.

[pzeke]

As long as it's a good game, I don't mind the clichés.

I'll almost always be there for a post-apocalyptic world, it's one of my favorite settings.  It doesn't guarantee a good game (I never really got into the Division games and Rage 2 was kinda "meh"), but I always love the setting.  I think this year, the game that kinda fits that idea would probably be Dying Light 2, which I'm pretty excited for.

Now that I have a PS4, Dying Light is one of the games from this generation that I genuinely want to check out. Although a tired genre, especially in the past decade, I too like post-apocalyptic scenarios. When they're done right, they can be quite compelling and engrossing.

Unfinished, buggy AAA releases needing mounds of post release patches.

DLC, DLC, DLC.

The rise of limited release companies.

Am I doing this right?

Heh, heh.

[Warmsignal]

This gen has had some interesting cliches, some pretty annoying, but for the most part this has been one of my favorite generations. It really reminds me a lot of Gen 5 in that there were so many different oddball games and small devs getting their games printed physically via companies like Limited Run, or Super Rare Games. There were also a lot of odd games released by larger publishers and given mainstream releases in stores. I haven't been this excited or motivated to collect for systems like this since the Gen 5 and 6. I really liked Gen 7, but I feel like there were way more ills that plagued gaming during that time that really hampered creativity. I feel like Gen 7 has some of the most homogenous releases of games of any generation, but still has a lot of excellent gems.


But yeah, this gen has some pretty annoying cliches. For one, I hate that games take up a shit ton of HDD space. I'm also not a fan of how rampant DLC has become this gen, and how Nintendo has even become bad about it. Aside from that I don't have too much to complain about, at least not off the top of my head.

You could look at that way. When it comes to limited releases however, I struggle to see them outside of that grey area of - are they legit retail games, or not? I personally don't collect limited release and don't agree with the business model, or the intention of them being rare and collectible. In most cases, they are indie titles given a physical release. If you count the indie and download-only scene, then I'm sure the eight generation as a whole does look a lot better. Given that so many of them do not see a reliable physical production, it's hard for me to count them in my summation of the gen.

[dharmajones93]

Unfinished, buggy AAA releases needing mounds of post release patches.

DLC, DLC, DLC.

The rise of limited release companies.

Am I doing this right?

almost your forgetting micro transactions.

Yeah, surprised no one else mentioned micro transactions. Good call there. I don't think I've ever paid money for a microtransaction. Even when I played warframe religiously I would save up my bing rewards points and buy xbox gift cards to pay for the currency.

DLC is a big one, so I agree there also. I only ever buy DLC long after the game has released, and only if it's a game I want to experience more of/again in a meaningfully different way (not cosmetically). I was going to add "Battle Royales." Haven't bitten that bait yet, and the ones I did try I bounced off pretty hard.

I have recently started getting into limited release games, but really only for titles I really care about. I'll hold off buying digital if I know a limited run is coming. I don't particularly care for the business model either, as I often don't find out until it's too late and I have to turn to ebay. But even then I usually only pay double. Most I find for $70-$80. Otherwise I, as a collector (which I assume we all are here) at least appreciate that there's the opportunity to have a physical representation of a game I enjoy or would like to have represented in my collection.

[ferraroso]

I've been so tired of zombie games the last decade... That's one of the reasons I didn't enjoy The Last of Us...

[pzeke]

I've been so tired of zombie games the last decade... That's one of the reasons I didn't enjoy The Last of Us...

The creatures found in The Last of Us are more fungal-based than they’re “zombies” – at least they're not zombies in the literal sense depicted in other games/media. The game breaks the mold—pun intended—by introducing creatures infected with the cordyceps fungi, which are a species of endoparasitoids that's mostly parasitic to insects. Unlike zombies, as far as the standard goes, these creatures have several stages of infection, whereas zombies are literally the living dead. Those that get infected in the game turn while they’re still alive and, as stated, go into several stages that are just outright gruesome. The contrast between these creatures and literal zombies is conspicuous.

So in that sense, it's somewhat disingenuous saying you didn't enjoy The Last of Us because it's a "zombie" game.