Off Topic Discussion Megathread

[Raoabolic]

If we are talking about what we want in a game then I miss when games went full cheese to the point the gauge rolled over and it became really engaging. Older Platinum/Clover games oozed that style and it's a shame we don't really get those types of games anymore. Most that try to emulate that style has "quirky" characters, which don't strike the same as say, Joe or Jetstream Sam.

[Kolsykol]

If we are talking about what we want in a game then I miss when games went full cheese to the point the gauge rolled over and it became really engaging. Older Platinum/Clover games oozed that style and it's a shame we don't really get those types of games anymore. Most that try to emulate that style has "quirky" characters, which don't strike the same as say, Joe or Jetstream Sam.

I think there's a pretty huge issue with stagnation and homogenization in gaming atm.
I think games should be significantly more varied than they are and not just be delegated to Indie when it comes to games that don't take themselves way too seriously or are performatively '' realistic ''.
Even in Indie I feel like it usually feels like games are made more for children in tone tho, and anything that's not has the same ultra serious tone as AAA.
There just seems to be this issue where '' we '' can't handle multiple things at the same time, like everything has to always be one way and follow the latest trend.
And something can't be '' serious '' unless it's photorealistic and everyone runs around in t-shirts and jeans.

Part of the charm of the Nier games is how wacky they are there's so much stuff in them that add a lot of flavor and uniqueness that would just never in a million years happen in a Western studio especially and even less so in AAA.
And yet it also manages to have significantly better and more interesting writing and story imo, doesn't feel like it's just a typical glorified action movie in disguise.
I also find that they just create more memorable characters on a visual level too, the blandness of '' muh realism and grit '' really drags it down in the West.

There actually used to be a joke in the art community amongst a lot of professionals of the '' camera head '' designs with games like Destiny and a lot of other FPS games.
Where a lot of concept art was made by photobashing security cameras and other generic equipment so characters all ended up looking like they had metal buckets and sci-fi cameras for heads lol.

Edit: Also, I am still waiting for the Western answer to Bayonetta.
Where is it?
Why can't we make a game like that too?
It's not because there aren't people who want it and devs that want to make it, it's because people in the industry can only handle one type of depiction of women at a time.

It's the same with male characters but to a lesser extent too, you rarely see more feminine men in Western games they're all massive muscle mountains or with the same short haircut, stubble and square jaw.
But it seriously feels like the characters are all crafted with the same checklist and to be as '' inoffensive '' as possible.