Don't bother.

If you don't have the $3 to spend on this, then free isn't going to help
you.

I think Epic is firing a warning shot about the continuation of their
free game program.

--
Zag

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USENET is a game of adventure, danger,
and low cunning. In it you will
explore some of the most amazing
territory ever seen by mortals. No
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Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Don't bother.

> If you don't have the $3 to spend on this, then free isn't going to help
> you.

> I think Epic is firing a warning shot about the continuation of their
> free game program.

GG if that happens. :(
--
"For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." --1 Peter 1:18-19. Stressed out with 2 many issues. :(
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/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
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On Thu, 18 Jan 2024 23:19:50 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:

>Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> Don't bother.
>
>> If you don't have the $3 to spend on this, then free isn't going to help
>> you.
>
>> I think Epic is firing a warning shot about the continuation of their
>> free game program.
>
>GG if that happens. :(

Is the current state of gaming
(more-games-for-free-than-you'll-ever-bother-to-install) really better
than back in the day when we paid but they were worth paying for?

I tried Alan Woke II and couldn't refund that fucker quickly enough.
And that's coming from someone who really enjoyed AWI and AW American
Nightmare.

The scary part is how many have labeled AWII GOTY.

Meanwhile I go back and play old games and remember what's good about
them. And yeah I get some of that is only nostalgia and memories
kicking in, but in some cases I've loaded up vintage arcade games on
the Nintendo Switch that I had never even played before, and realized
that game designers did much better work when more restricted by
technical limitations when it comes to overall fun factor.

On 1/19/2024 1:35 AM, Rin Stowleigh wrote:
> On Thu, 18 Jan 2024 23:19:50 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:
>
>> Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>> Don't bother.
>>
>>> If you don't have the $3 to spend on this, then free isn't going to help
>>> you.
>>
>>> I think Epic is firing a warning shot about the continuation of their
>>> free game program.
>>
>> GG if that happens. :(
>
> Is the current state of gaming
> (more-games-for-free-than-you'll-ever-bother-to-install) really better
> than back in the day when we paid but they were worth paying for?
>
> I tried Alan Woke II and couldn't refund that fucker quickly enough.
> And that's coming from someone who really enjoyed AWI and AW American
> Nightmare.
>
> The scary part is how many have labeled AWII GOTY.
>
> Meanwhile I go back and play old games and remember what's good about
> them. And yeah I get some of that is only nostalgia and memories
> kicking in, but in some cases I've loaded up vintage arcade games on
> the Nintendo Switch that I had never even played before, and realized
> that game designers did much better work when more restricted by
> technical limitations when it comes to overall fun factor.
>

Well, I don't know about you, but I remember times when I had more
crappy games around than I ever would bother to properly try out even
back in the day. I used to buy all kinds of magazines with CDs and DVDs
on the cover which often had maybe one good game on them, and then an
insane amount of other stuff they just put on there so they could claim
"X may full games on one disc!"
And some of those filler games were interesting, a very few even good,
but I knew what I was getting.
The thing is that we don't remember the really bad games we discarded
after a few minutes at all.
But when we look back we remember the good games. We play the good games
that most people will remember as at least vaguely good and interesting.
And when we have collections like you mention on the Switch: those are
curated. Sure those games are better, but that's because the games on
there stood the test of time in one way or another.
It's the same thing like with pop music or movies. Yeah sure, of course
the ones you will listen to or watch nowadays are better, because the
whole crap they pumped out was forgotten. But back in the days those
were sometimes more popular than the classics we remember.

On Fri, 19 Jan 2024 09:22:58 +0100, kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

>On 1/19/2024 1:35 AM, Rin Stowleigh wrote:
>> On Thu, 18 Jan 2024 23:19:50 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:
>>
>>> Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Don't bother.
>>>
>>>> If you don't have the $3 to spend on this, then free isn't going to help
>>>> you.
>>>
>>>> I think Epic is firing a warning shot about the continuation of their
>>>> free game program.
>>>
>>> GG if that happens. :(
>>
>> Is the current state of gaming
>> (more-games-for-free-than-you'll-ever-bother-to-install) really better
>> than back in the day when we paid but they were worth paying for?
>>
>> I tried Alan Woke II and couldn't refund that fucker quickly enough.
>> And that's coming from someone who really enjoyed AWI and AW American
>> Nightmare.
>>
>> The scary part is how many have labeled AWII GOTY.
>>
>> Meanwhile I go back and play old games and remember what's good about
>> them. And yeah I get some of that is only nostalgia and memories
>> kicking in, but in some cases I've loaded up vintage arcade games on
>> the Nintendo Switch that I had never even played before, and realized
>> that game designers did much better work when more restricted by
>> technical limitations when it comes to overall fun factor.
>>
>
>Well, I don't know about you, but I remember times when I had more
>crappy games around than I ever would bother to properly try out even
>back in the day. I used to buy all kinds of magazines with CDs and DVDs
>on the cover which often had maybe one good game on them, and then an
>insane amount of other stuff they just put on there so they could claim
>"X may full games on one disc!"
>And some of those filler games were interesting, a very few even good,
>but I knew what I was getting.
>The thing is that we don't remember the really bad games we discarded
>after a few minutes at all.
>But when we look back we remember the good games. We play the good games
>that most people will remember as at least vaguely good and interesting.
>And when we have collections like you mention on the Switch: those are
>curated. Sure those games are better, but that's because the games on
>there stood the test of time in one way or another.
>It's the same thing like with pop music or movies. Yeah sure, of course
>the ones you will listen to or watch nowadays are better, because the
>whole crap they pumped out was forgotten. But back in the days those
>were sometimes more popular than the classics we remember.

I don't disagree with what you've said for the most part, but to my
point, the kinds of games that are going to be considered future
classics seem to be close to non-existent.

And I can go through MAME ROMS and play lots of games that were
considered shitty for their day, and yet are still more entertaining
than over-produced and over-sold, designed-by-committee titles that
exist today.

I think the main cause of this is partially due to the technical
complexity of modern games and the number of people required to
produce most of them. It's hard to emerge with a cohesive artistic
vision when the art is produced by a corporate team. A lot of older
games were both designed and coded by the same person or very small
group of people who had a relatively cohesive idea of what was fun or
not. When that is the team dynamic, there is a better chance of being
a game worth playing.

We are now at a point where large budget games are suffering from the
same thing other forms of entertainment are suffering from -- an
unstoppable influx of politics which is only making matters worse.
This is why increasingly I look for titles that do not try to burden
me with a story... just give me the gameplay and make damn sure the
cutscenes can be skipped easily.

On 1/19/2024 12:22 AM, kyonshi wrote:
> On 1/19/2024 1:35 AM, Rin Stowleigh wrote:
>> On Thu, 18 Jan 2024 23:19:50 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:
>>
>>> Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Don't bother.
>>>
>>>> If you don't have the $3 to spend on this, then free isn't going to
>>>> help
>>>> you.
>>>
>>>> I think Epic is firing a warning shot about the continuation of their
>>>> free game program.
>>>
>>> GG if that happens. :(
>>
>> Is the current state of gaming
>> (more-games-for-free-than-you'll-ever-bother-to-install) really better
>> than back in the day when we paid but they were worth paying for?
>>
>> I tried Alan Woke II and couldn't refund that fucker quickly enough.
>> And that's coming from someone who really enjoyed AWI and AW American
>> Nightmare.
>>
>> The scary part is how many have labeled AWII GOTY.
>>
>> Meanwhile I go back and play old games and remember what's good about
>> them.  And yeah I get some of that is only nostalgia and memories
>> kicking in, but in some cases I've loaded up vintage arcade games on
>> the Nintendo Switch that I had never even played before, and realized
>> that game designers did much better work when more restricted by
>> technical limitations when it comes to overall fun factor.
>>
>
> Well, I don't know about you, but I remember times when I had more
> crappy games around than I ever would bother to properly try out even
> back in the day. I used to buy all kinds of magazines with CDs and DVDs
> on the cover which often had maybe one good game on them, and then an
> insane amount of other stuff they just put on there so they could claim
> "X may full games on one disc!"
> And some of those filler games were interesting, a very few even good,
> but I knew what I was getting.
> The thing is that we don't remember the really bad games we discarded
> after a few minutes at all.

Ah yes, some version of 'snake' on almost every one.

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

On Fri, 19 Jan 2024 09:22:58 +0100, kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

>Well, I don't know about you, but I remember times when I had more
>crappy games around than I ever would bother to properly try out even
>back in the day. I used to buy all kinds of magazines with CDs and DVDs
>on the cover which often had maybe one good game on them, and then an
>insane amount of other stuff they just put on there so they could claim
>"X may full games on one disc!"
>And some of those filler games were interesting, a very few even good,
>but I knew what I was getting.
>The thing is that we don't remember the really bad games we discarded
>after a few minutes at all.
>But when we look back we remember the good games. We play the good games
>that most people will remember as at least vaguely good and interesting.
>And when we have collections like you mention on the Switch: those are
>curated. Sure those games are better, but that's because the games on
>there stood the test of time in one way or another.

QTF.

I've made it a point to collect DOS games. I have since amassed quite
a collection. And - even though I look back at the DOS gaming era as
one of the golden periods of PC gaming - the vast, vast number of the
games were such awful crap. They were terrible even by the standards
of the day. But we generally don't remember any of those. We only
remember the "Dooms" and the "Monkey Islands" and the "Falcon 3.0s"

And it's been ever so. For every "Half Life 2", there were a dozen
"Terra Wars: NY Invasions" or "Alcatraz: Prison Escapes". For every
"Mass Effect" there was a "Valkyrie: Ascension to the Throne" or
"Rogue Warrior". Sturgeon's Law reminds us that 90% of everything is
crap. We just forget about the awful games. That's as true for games
of yesteryear as it is of today. In ten years we'll still be talking
about "Elden Ring" but how many of us are going to remember "Gotham
Knights"? We're just luckier in that today we have more games to
select from overall... and have to pay less for the privilege.

So, yeah, I'll happily call out the crappy games I come across. Sure,
I'm disappointed in some of the industry's trends. But I'm still
thrilled to have some many titles available to me. Sure, I have to
wade through a lot of dross, but that was ever the case. There are so
still many great games to play.