Much like the title, most everything I could possibly say would be the same generic rehashing of everything I've said in the past. "Oh, wow! Three years!" Maybe I'm just cynical and realistic about my tiny little corner of the internet where I can muse on games I both like and dislike. Whatever....
I've spent the last week or so trying to come up with something I can talk about for my three year anniversary post, and essentially, I've come up with squat. I've completed four games since the beginning of the year and an additional four since the last anniversary. What the hell kind of gamer am I? For one thing, a gamer that has become distracted by many other things. Point is, there's no point in talking about past games beaten. As far as current games, despite last years list, pretty much all of those games have fallen off the radar and for the past few weeks I've only been focusing on two games: We ♥ Katamari and Final Fantasy II (that's II, not IV!!), so pointless to discuss any of that.
I thought, maybe for something really different I'll say a little something about each console/handheld I own. But then, I feel there's really nothing more to say than what's already been said by countless others. The only difference would be all the hatred I'd spew forth in regards to the Nintendo 64 - although over the past couple of years, a lot of that has finally, finally subdued.
I also thought about talking about current gen games that I enjoy since, well, I pretty much never talk about those. However, other than Dragon Age II (discounting Wii titles), I don't think I've played any others to the end, or even through to the halfway point. By the way, the only reason Dragon Age II is not on this blog is because I feel to finish it properly I need to do a run through with each character and I've yet to do any of the DLC content.
On second thought, I think I will talk about current gen games and how much I hate the direction gaming has gone, starting with DLC. I cannot express enough how much I despise the concept of DLC. I understand why people like it, the obvious reasons why it benefits a company to make DLC, and in theory, even to me, it sounds like a wonderful prospect. "Ooh, you mean I can play this game I love even more with additional map packs, quests etc.? Wonderful!" But really, it's not wonderful. It's bullshit. I miss the days of a finished game is a finished game - knowing that everything this game has to offer is right in front of me from day one. I understand that I'm in the minority on this subject and that DLC is totally optional, but as someone with a near OCD-like meticulous knack for having to experience everything a game has to offer, it becomes an unbearable annoyance. Forget the already exhaustive characteristics of having to play a game multiple times when applicable and I'm not talking about various difficulty settings. Dragon Age II is a good example of this as is another game I was playing for a while before I grew weary of it: Epic Mickey. Actually, the main reason I stopped playing that game is that I learned there was one particular point in the game that you would need to play through three times just to get whatever the hell it is you collect in that game - yea, it's been so long, I've forgotten - some sort of badges, if I recall correctly. I can understand playing through the game twice because of how the game works, but a third time? Why? Just to collect a fucking badge? Forget it.
It's senseless padding like that to elongate a game's lifespan that annoys the piss out of me, and in a way, DLC is no different except that you're having to pay for the extra padding. Ok, not all DLC is like that. There is some worthwhile DLC out there that plays as an actual expansion, but a vast majority of it is just useless money-grubbing bullshit. I know saying some DLC's acceptable comes off as completely hypocritical given my original stance, so you know what? If I had things my way, there'd be no more DLC. What's done is done - when a game hits the shelves, it's a finished product.
Oh! And to add an addendum to that: when a game hits the shelves, it better as hell be a finished product; not a fucking beta that will be updated by a long assortment of patches. Much like it's ruined everything else it's touched, so has the constant connectivity of a vast interweb network destroyed gaming. Developers appear to have fallen prey to the idea that thanks to live connections between developers and gamers, games can be pushed out into the masses before thorough QA is completed because, after all, the technology to send patch after patch after patch of bugfixes is wholly acceptable. But what's worse is that so many gamers just accept it. Yea, I can only imagine the PC community retorting, "Buck up!" as us console gamers have always been on the back foot all these years anyway, but it's no better a response. It's the same damnable acceptance that's helping pave the way for shitty policies used by gaming companies that PC gamers and developers helped build.
Guess I'm just an old fogey when it comes to gaming. I'll admit it. There's a whole lot more besides these two "conveniences" of modern gaming that either angers or depresses me. Maybe I'll get to some more of them in the next anniversary post as I doubt I'll have anything larger than a small handful of games beaten by then to account for anything worthwhile list-wise. Knowing what's in store for the future of gaming only makes things look all the more grim. I know a lot of people are excited and, hey, that's great. Me, I see the golden age of gaming coming to a close. Honestly, I would love to see another "crash" happen so the industry can be straightened out. Will it happen? Don't know, but there's always hope.
...well, that or I can always "Buck up!"
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