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Was I just young and stupid?
tixylix
Member UncommonPosts: 1,288
I remember back in the day feeling how amazing the world of Star Wars Galaxies was, how amazed I was at EverQuest 2 and how immersive that game was before SOE decided to release it and you realised that they had no more plans for that game that what it already offered. I remember even EverQuest as a young kid and that being my first MMO and thinking the world was so scary and amazing. I just kept thinking about the possibilities of a virtual world growing and really the only MMO that has done that has been EVE Online. There are barely any true MMOs these days, lots call themselves that but then have 100 people population restrictions. Now we're even getting to the point where Diablo is on the list of this site or loads of other non MMOs..
I just remember playing these MMOs in 2004 and I was a teen leaving school and just being blown away by games like EQ2, just imagining the possibilities. I thought we'd be way ahead of where we were now in terms of a world simulation, yet to me it feels like it'sonly gone backwards. I keep thinking maybe it is my age but come 2005 I was bored with the genre and that was only a year later. How could the magic have gone so fast? Like did I just rapidly grow up or what I so hurt by the events that happened in it?
I still struggle to get to terms with how the Isle of Refuge and the start cities of EQ2 made me feel. Yet I don't get anywhere near that any more with MMOs I've played over the years. It's the same feeling MGS gave me or even FF7, it's the same feeling I got from Portal 2 of recent, so I don't feel like it is my problem. Like why are games struggling to make me feel inspired like these games did these days? The most recent game that made me feel amazed was Dayz, I felt so lost and it made me was to explore and I loved that feeling. This is something you don't get from games today. I just want another MMO to come along that makes me feel lost, like I'm in something I don't understand. Now every time I play an MMO I feel like I've played it before and I know what will happen...
+ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTsFwwnyXcE
Isn't that music so inspiring? It just feels so magical to me, like it makes me feel lost in a world again.
Comments
I couldn't agree with you more.
In fact, I have the EQ2 soundtrack and will play your linked song from time to time. It does make me feel like I'm in a wonderful fantasy world. It's one of my favorite game songs of all time, actually. In fact, it makes sad when I hear it, as I end up missing the "e-Worldly" experiences.
I played SWG and EQ2. I played these a lot. Since then, I've purchased AoC, WAR, Tera, SWTOR etc etc etc. I quit all within the first free month. I never got to experience a world with these games, as everything felt so linear and funnel-like.
Ugh. I miss the complexityand depth of old MMOs.
Not entirely true. My favorite MMO of all time was actually the second one I played. It's just hard to fully accept what you say when almost every MMO post-EQ2 has been a linear borefest - no social profession, everyone wearing the same gear, etc...
Goliath came into the genre and proved that mainstream makes more money. To achieve growth, the trend toward more mainstream-ization continued.
Everquest 1 music tugs at the nostalgia strings for me too. I haven't had a good virtual world since EQ2 / FFXI. FFXIV is as close as I've come.
Heres to hoping for EQ:Next and FFXIV:ARR.
You want immersion instead of unrealistic cartoon fantasy worlds, I looked for that too.
you want this
http://youtu.be/KEQRwPuq8Rg
and that
http://youtu.be/FPy0y6-jwzk
or you wait for EQNext
http://youtu.be/-Cp3j-7yz3I
Secrets of Dragon?s Spine Trailer.. !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwT9cFVQCMw
Best MMOs ever played: Ultima, EvE, SW Galaxies, Age of Conan, The Secret World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2X_SbZCHpc&t=21s
.
.
The Return of ELITE !
Slightly ruined by me putting Don't instead of Know lol, I was drunk and listening to EQ2 music at the time though. What I do now, get drunk and pissed off at the genre...
Also though every MMO that came out was such a different experience, had a different UI and a different way of doing things. Now you just get in, you run to the quest giver, you do a few kill quests and the UI looks exactly like WoWs with a skin on it. Even SWTOR that was meant to be this great story experience, you logged in, you ran to a quest giver and did kill 10 rats quests that were linked up with pointless boring cutscenes.
I miss jumping into a world and having no clue what to do or what the UI is. Dayz gave me this experience recently which led me to believe that it wasn't just me, I found it an amazing game and played hundreds of hours with friends. It felt scary to explore, it had permadeath so there was a loss which makes your heart pump so fast when in a PVP situation. It just gave me that feeling back again, however now I'm waiting for the Standalone before the mod didn't really have enough content to last.
This is what made me sigh happily every time I logged in. still feel a lightness in my chest when I hear it ( and yes, just playing this now made me download Anarchy Online again)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbBPsoJ8VMw&list=PLA69C865157E53DCD
"This is not a game to be tossed aside lightly.
It should be thrown with great force"
EQ 1 was my first mmo and I think my affinity to the game has less to do with nostalgia and more to do with the game play.
What I liked:
It's because you HAVE played it all before. The issue you are having is like when people get old, they reminisce about the old days and how nothing is made as well as it used to be. In reality, it's not worse, it's just the same and your first experience was the most enjoyable one you had because it was all new to you. This is also like having a new toy when you are a kid or getting your first cellphone or getting your first car. Nothing will ever stand up to your first unless it redefines your thoughts on what it is you are looking for in this product.
I played WoW up until WotLK, played RoM for 2 years and now Rift.
I am F2P player. I support games when I feel they deserve my money and I want the items enough.
I don't troll, and I don't take kindly to trolls.
My point was though that every MMO used to be different, now they're all the same. Same with games in general back then, new genres were always popping up because developers were much smaller. Now games are made for the masses because hundreds of people work on them and costs are high. You have to play indie games now to get new experiences, sadly though they aren't cutting edge so don't feel like proper games.
It depends on what you mean by feeling lost. EQ you felt lost because there was 0 guidance at all. No quests, no pointers, no help, no tutorials. Just, bam here you go gl hf. Hell, spawn into the game as a race with no night vision at night and your first experience is "wtf everything is dark and I cannot see for sh**". That is not necessarily a good thing =P
WoW was fun at first, big colorful world, lots of things to do but you basically got punished for grouping so the fun factor left for me until end game.
An honest review of SW:TOR 6/10 (Danny Wojcicki)
My point was that the new stuff has been exhausted and game companies have established some standards. The new games still are different, just in the same ways they used to be different. You've been there and done that because it has been done before. They did their research and know what the "masses" like in an MMORPG. It's not that they aren't being innovative, it's that indie games lay everything on the line and the costs are massively expensive. You absolutely have to see this from a business perspective if you're thinking about indie titles in the MMO realm. MMORPGs used to be young, stupid and experimental. Now, they have matured and are taking the same stance as you but in their own way. They like being stable and having familiarity to keep their players. It would be like making a 3 wheeled car, it's cool and innovative but people like having 4 wheels, it is what they are used to and is standard practice. There is familiarity in this type of product now, as opposed to the old games where the familiarity came from pnp or single player games of a similar style.
I played WoW up until WotLK, played RoM for 2 years and now Rift.
I am F2P player. I support games when I feel they deserve my money and I want the items enough.
I don't troll, and I don't take kindly to trolls.
This is called MMO honeymoon, or genre honeymoon.
Yeah, it's not coming back.
Bit like that first girlfriend you loved so intensely or when you get with a girl and the first 3 months are great, then you find out you actually can't stand her.
I still enjoy the genre after 15 years and mostly look for that "funfactor" these days. If a game can deliver fun and regular content, i'm sold. Sadly no MMO seems to be able to deliver either for very long lately.
I've wondered the same thing, and looked at the two possibilities. Either gaming has gone downhill, or I'm just getting old. It's hard to say for sure, but here's the question that helps me figure that out. Are there ANY games that you have enjoyed recently? Where you have felt lost, addicted, whatever, and played the hell out of it for a while?
For me, the answer is yeah, definitely. Great games like that might be a bit more few and far between than they used to be, but there have always been games that blow me away, all over again. Games which have some unique element, which brings back the sense of novelty, that's always been a huge part of gaming, for me.
Just not in this genre. Not in over a decade. To me, that strongly suggests the issue isn't with me. Maybe a little, because yeah, I am somewhat old and jaded, but it's not all of it. Otherwise, all gaming would be ruined for me, but it's not.
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.