Do you think the 90s were the "golden age" of video games?

icemann on 10/12/2015 at 04:13

Quote Posted by froghawk

To expand the discussion a bit... as a musician, I think about this issue a lot in regards to music.

Now there's a topic. Was the 90s the golden age for video game music?

I would say that the 80s were the golden age for that category. Commodore 64 music common. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaxJK2c9Onk) Great stuff.

Thirith on 10/12/2015 at 05:39

C64 music definitely does what Neb and Malf especially have mentioned earlier: it transports me back to the '80s and to who I was and how I felt. I'm sure I wouldn't enjoy many of the games I played for hours and hours back then, but I still enjoy the music every now and then.

GMDX Dev on 10/12/2015 at 05:49

The 90's smashed music too. So many games console or PC had such fitting, varied and memorable music, and we moved away from MIDI and such half way through so that's yet more variety. Now game soundtracks are almost exclusively ambient background noise or orchestrated. Fuck that shit.

Malf on 10/12/2015 at 06:47

Quote Posted by icemann

Aaah, The Last Ninja :D
Game is completely unplayable and unforgiving if you play it now, but dat muzak...

icemann on 10/12/2015 at 07:42

Exactly :). Music sounds just as awesome today as it did back then.

Also back then, unforgiving difficulty was the norm. I never did beat that game though. Not for lack of trying either. Grrr.

GMDX Dev: I wouldn't call C64 music as midi. It's SID. Has a very unique style to it. Much like chiptune stuff.

Thirith on 10/12/2015 at 08:04

A lot of the difficulty back then was closely linked to unfairness, though. I loved the first two Last Ninja games, but I especially remember hating some of the jumps and smoke bomb targets in the first one that had to be hit just right. Give me the more interesting, enjoyable difficulty of a Dark Souls or Super Meat Boy instead.

Edit: To quickly get back to some of what's been said in this thread:

GMDX Dev, I'd agree with you that some of the things done in '90s games are no longer done, and in some cases I would consider this a big loss. For all of their fancy graphics and huge worlds, none of the Elder Scrolls or Fallout games have created a world as alive as that of Ultima VI or Ultima VII. I also think that many of the points you've made are valid (if perhaps somewhat overstated).

At the same time, many of the games I've greatly enjoyed in the last ten years couldn't have existed in the '90s. I would put Red Dead Redemption, Arma, Stalker, Dark Souls, even deeply flawed games such as the Assassin's Creed series, up there with the best games of the '90s. In many ways they have different strengths, and they may do some things worse that certain games of the '90s did better, but the same's true the other way around. Similarly, while a game such as Broken Age (which IMO isn't bad but simply not nearly as good as the games it recalls) is a disappointment compared to Grim Fandango or Day of the Tentacle, I'd absolutely put Wadjet's adventures up there with the best of the genre. Yes, there have been many gaming disappointments in the last 15 years, not least the games that bank on our '90s nostalgia, but I do think you may look too much at what isn't there any more without also considering what we have these days that wasn't there before.

GMDX Dev on 10/12/2015 at 08:41

Quote Posted by icemann

GMDX Dev: I wouldn't call C64 music as midi.

You definitely need that proposed sleep. I never said such a thing. :p

Quote Posted by "Thirith"

deeply flawed games such as the Assassin's Creed series, up there with the best games of the '90s.

You TTLG'ers and your non-games. Ass. Creed was one of the first to set the modern precedent for gameplay that isn't really gameplay, but cinematics (namely the parkour & combat). What about Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven (2003) as an alternative third person stealth assassin game, or Ninja Gaiden (2004) for its player-controlled ninja parkour platforming and solid combat?

twisty on 10/12/2015 at 08:42

Did the golden age ever end? I tend to align with the view of others on this topic that the concept of a golden age of gaming is highly subjective and probably more a case of personal nostalgia, social proofs and rosy retrospection. I've been playing games on consoles, PCs and mobile devices since the early eighties and year after year I continue to play games that either blow me away or leave a lasting positive impact (I've also played a ton of crap throughout this time as well). Fortunately great games continue to be made; recent examples that spring immediately to mind include Dark Souls, Walking Dead, Fallout: New Vegas, The Witcher(s) etc (not meant to be exhaustive list).

What has changed in recent years however is the increasing commoditisation of games, in a similar vein to what has occurred to other forms of entertainment such as the movie and music industry. For PC gaming, the nearly perennial sales on Steam and other vendors results in a surplus of owned games that most players are unlikely to ever get a chance to play -- although the flip side of this is that at least the developer gets some money for a title that they would not have resulted in a unit sale without this. A consequence of this oversupply is somewhat akin to the paradox of choice: there is less motivation for the gamer to spend time playing through a title like they used to when they had to make do with only one or two games for some time. In my experience, I had a similar experience going from Cassette Tapes to CDs and finally to MP3s. When Cassette tapes were the only option it was such a drag to fast forward songs that my friends and I rarely skipped tracks, and as a result tended to give all of the tracks of an albums a good listen before making any judgement. CDs made it much easier to skip tracks that didn't immediately stand out and when MP3s came along (and the later streaming services) I feel that consumption habits have further decreased its value.

GMDX Dev on 10/12/2015 at 09:24

Quote:

You're all making me feel like the Grinch here. I laid down the factors and they are extreme and numerous, and I'm sure there's more that can be added. I don't think anything will ever change my mind. To me gaming had spirit, variety, charm and honor which is all but lost these days and it saddens me, again with some exceptions as has been mentioned in this thread: Dark Souls, New Vegas etc. Of course my standards have risen too over the years as they do so I'm more picky, but it is quite obvious we've lost a lot as gamers if you've been paying attention.

Thirith on 10/12/2015 at 09:26

You mention exceptions, and that's exactly where your argument falls down IMO: there was plenty of soulless crap (as well as soulless but competent games) in the '90s too. The ones we still remember fondly were exceptions back then as well. Perhaps the percentage of exceptional games vs. unexceptional ones has decreased since, but even like this there are too many exceptions for me to find the time to play them all.