Have Video Games Gotten Worse?

[@razbuten]

Hello gamers. Let me know some of the games that you played in the past that made you say "yeah, this is the best game I've ever played." Also, if you want an additional way to support the channel while also getting to listen to a monthly podcast and watch director's commentaries on every video I put out, you can do that here: www.patreon.com/razbuten

[@alexbrown6432]

100% both Shadow of Mordor and BOTW made me say that.

[@itszaque]

BotW, Dark Souls and Rocket League were all best games for me

[@peregrine4430]

Botw and hollow knight for me

[@rafaomegax]

I don't know why but for me... Megaman Legends 2 is still stuck in my heart as "the best game I've played"

[@ihaveasecret9539]

BioShock. The Last of Us. Red Dead Redemption 2.

[@IronPineapple]

I don't think it's a coincidence that a person's favorite Souls game is often the first one they ever played. It's hard to match that feeling, and everything after feels like chasing that high.

[@SCP--oz6oz]

True

[@RandomBlake2564]

when you start with DS2 then realize everyone hates it

[@nowlun]

i played DS3 first but I think I like Bloodborne is better. but DS3 is damn good

[@Aconspiracyofravens1]

@@RandomBlake2564 I love ds2 and started with 3

[@ThePsychoRenegade]

Then you play Bloodborne and realize it's the best one.

[@haldir108]

Regarding getting more cynical with age, you can totally come full circle, and find yourself blown away by the subtler details, that don't neccecarily push the medium forward quite as much, but that do make the game unique.

[@captainblastems3367]

Most every game I play is unique in some way and I love that you mention subtler details because I do find myself spending more time appreciating them when I was younger I was to “simple minded” for lack of a better term to appreciate those details.

[@elijahclaude3413]

THIS! I find that Im more able to appreciate concepts or details that I just wasn't able to grasp when I was younger.

[@mhussain5669]

I wanna upvote this so much

[@IceSpoon]

That sunrise in BotW after rain and the first piano note kicking it. That tiny ass detail saved me in the pandemic

[@captainblastems3367]

@@IceSpoon Glad to hear that! the music in general in BOTW is magical

[@realkingofantarctica]

"This is the best game I've ever played" isn't a thought you can have. It's a feeling you can't get rid of.

[@razbuten]

I think you're gonna like this video lol

[@johnsilverman656]

Why did you spell out “Bloodborne” over and over?

[@AxxLAfriku]

WOAH WOAH WOAH!!! Let me get this perfectly straight: You comment something that is completely unrelated to the fact that I have two HAZARDOUSLY HANDSOME girlfriends? Considering that I am the unprettiest KZbinr worldwide, it is really incredible. Yet you did not mention it at all. I am VERY disappointed, dear kinf

[@yang139]

dramatic

[@dndoodles2291]

Big disagree

[@SkylightCiel]

I think a lot about children who are probably blown away by every new game that comes out these days. Games that to me are forgettable or feel the same as others to me are probably such incredible life changing experiences to those younger than me.

[@DaDualityofMan]

Like me watching my lil bro play Fortnite and I’m just sitting there like “Man, this has nothing on MW2” 😂

[@jaspercopic6615]

My little brother playing Zelda with me is legendary man, he finds it a new world but perfect so great to watch.

[@exmerion]

Same. I love hearing what young people have to say about new games.

[@letsget100subswithoutconte4]

@@DaDualityofManthere completely different. Comparing them is stupid

[@ziwuri]

Absolutely. I never see people talk about Halo 4. But it was my introduction to the franchise, so I was really impressed by it.

[@inendlesspain4724]

I have rejected the whole notion of having a "best game I've ever played" a long time ago. I'm kind of struggling to find the correct words to express why, but even though there's been many great games that have marked me and I love dearly to this day, I wouldn't put any of them above the rest; I love them all for completely different reasons and I don't think they can fairly be compared to one another, especially since they all come from very different times with very different circumstances surrounding them.

[@stealthbrawler]

I always say that there's a need to classify some things. I have a lot of favorite games ,Doom Eternal, -Dishonored 2- (just the dishonored series in fact) last of us, ghost of Tsushima, Kingdom come deliverance, I really can go on, basically you can have multiple favorites and something people just don't get that getting down to choosing is impossible at times. I even think the rating of 1-10 system is stupid because there isn't some objective metric. Instead the rating systems should be focused towards specific areas such as what the game sets out to do, what it's focal point of gameplay is, and it's genre and then a weighting based on these factors.

[@stealthbrawler]

But currently. Doom eternal is my #1 at all times, it's really the only game I can say is my tippy top top because it gave me an experience I have never been able to gain back (from 1st-4th plathroughs of constant learning) it exceeded my every expectation from Doom 2016, it was the first and last game I will ever pre-order, I genuinely wanted to climb the skill ladder, it made my fingers hurt from quick movement and switching weapons it's combat, lore, world and enemy design just **booooom** in my head. Dishonored comes close with other aspects, but Doom eternal I can say confidently is one of if not my favorite games. But then I consider prey...then ghost of tsushima...fuck even in my doom eternal comments it's hard to pick.

[@notalive5479]

I agree completely. From my perspective, the issue is that different game genres simply cannot be compared. You can't compare a puzzle game to an FPS and say that one is better, because they have no overlap. You can't bash an FPS for having no puzzles or a puzzle for having no shooting, because that isn't what they are. As I see it, you can only accurately compare games that are in the same genre. You can't say COD is worse than Halo for not having aliens, but you CAN say a game is worse than Halo for having aliens that are overly simplistic in comparison. Therefore, it can be valid to have a favorite game in a given genre, like favorite FPS, favorite puzzle game, but even then different games in the same genre can mix them up in interesting ways or be good **insert genre here** for completely different reasons. Marathon as an example is an amazing game. But despite having the same style and similar gameplay to Doom, you can't compare them because even then, everything that is similar about them is just plain different. Doom is fast and action packed while Marathon is slower and more strategic, where Doom is all gameplay with no explicit story, Marathon has a surprisingly intricate and philosophical story. Any comparison between these two seemingly identical games is doomed (ha) to failure because they just aren't similar. And then then there are games that just stand in a class of their own where they aren't similar to ANYTHING. You can't rate any one game as being the best because there is no good way to accurately compare them. But that's just what I think.

[@jmh8817]

this tbh

[@parchmentengineer8169]

I try to rank my favorite games in order, but I've wound up being forced to rank two separate lists instead of one - one for the best experiences I've ever had (Outer Wilds, Celeste, Pyre), and one for the best gameplay I can keep coming back to (Slay the Spire, Into the Breach, Monster Train). There's a lot of overlap here, for example, Hollow Knight gets very high scores on both of these lists, but each list holds games special to me for very different reasons.

[@thelastcube.]

The difference between Lvl 5 > Lvl 10 is always is more noticeable and feels much more impactful than Lvl 40 > Lvl 45

[@Adriftadept]

And sometimes hitting a high level unlocks something exciting, but its never as exciting as when you hit level 10 and could suddenly have 2 weapons instead of 1 or unlock your first spell

[@stalepastry-t]

honestly this is an excellent comparison

[@Magrior]

Another excellent example of how humans are thinking logarithmic. Or more philosophically: You never just look at the step you've just taken, you always compare it to all the other steps before. The first time I've started Morrowind in 2003, I'd played maybe a dozen other games before. If I start a new game now, it "competes" with hundreds of games. (Not to mention any other media. (books, movies, etc.))

[@openvoid903]

the law of diminishing marginal returns

[@the4thsteve27]

levelling in games has become permanently stale to me simply because of how overdone and repetitive it is

[@Potoaster]

The pattern I’m seeing is that having the word “wild” or one of its synonyms in the title of a game makes Rasbuten love it

[@elir842]

I mean, it makes sense. If a game has "wild" or a synonym, it's probably pretty exploration based and that's what he likes

[@Vaaaaadim]

Sample size of two? Good enough for me.

[@amansaxena5898]

Zelda 2 : Wild Adventure of Link

[@itsQuilow]

Ghost Recon: Wildlands gonna be an exeption

[@f.j.n.9215]

You might be onto something here. Kaze and the WILD masks and WILDermyth are both games he talked about recently. Maybe Witcher WILD hunt too?

[@HylianDrew94]

Damn. You turned a conversation about the best video games into a conversation about what life is like and the experience of growing up. Very well put and something I've been thinking since I've started playing more Nintendo classics as of recent.

[@Loctorak]

"When we were young, DooM95 was a phenomenon. Now, i pine for days of old as i weep bitter emotional tears for my eventual expiration. The agony of unrealised dreams slowly tearing at my heart." Well _that_ got dark.

[@hesh1491]

For me “the best game I’ve ever played” is a game that gives me a experience and/or feeling that a game has never given me before. As of now that game is Celeste. The story just moved me and gave me an entirely new view on life and the way the gameplay supports the story is just absolutely amazing.

[@cloudy772]

Same

[@kyoyeou5899]

I loved Celeste, I didn't have the spark but I always want to come back to it

[@daan_me]

For me this wast the last of us, and the last of us 2 with it. They made me feel more emotions than any game before did and drew me in like no game ever did.

[@amostuss]

For me it was Stardew Valley. So full of passion from the dev and it was just so unique.

[@boshwa20]

I liked Celeste up until I did the extra levels, the ones where you're chasing a bird, which I heard was like DLC or something. They. Just. Kept. GOING. I put on the cheats not because i was having a hard time, but I just wanted it to end

[@Brione30]

Expectation: A video dismissing people who say things were better “back in my day” Reality: An introspective look at how your sense of wonder decreases as you get older Truly a wonderful video

[@LiveType]

Exponential decay is a bitch, isn't it?

[@KalebSDay]

@@LiveType Depends if you're still learning and experiencing new things as one continues to age. If you're still gaining new things, then you're not just a globe of flesh that is slowly losing it all without ever gaining anything new in return as time goes by.

[@brokenlegs8431]

@@LiveType not what exponential means but yeah

[@ers-br]

True... but masterpieces still affect me, at 44. Both RDR2 and Zelda BOTW are now my current best games ever. =)

[@dfunckt]

I can't disagree with this more strongly. I'm a pretty old guy and have been gaming since pong came out. I am much more enthusiastic and entertained by modern games than I was a kid playing pixelated one dimensional games. Even the N64 era which saw some really fun gaming doesn't compare to the thrill I get from the increasing realism of modern games.

[@falxie_]

This whole sentiment is why I love to play indies so much, I feel like they're way more expiremental than AAA games

[@cattysplat]

I get that "kid's first time" feel with VR games, you mind could be blown at any moment experience a new way to interact inside a video game.

[@Zack-bl2gg]

It’s funny, because Indies used to be seen as kids games, and games made for people who can’t get the big budget ones. But more and more, older people are being the ones to reach out to indie developers to scratch that itch of new like they did when they were younger.

[@Helperbot-2000]

True, just look at half life 1, changed the entire industry

[@bbbbbbb51]

Considering Raz flashed Outer Wilds at 8:30 when he said "to change everything", I think he'd be inclined to the same feeling. In the recent years, games like Crosscode, Outer Wilds, & Deep Rock Galactic (just to name a few) have been such incredibly memorable experiences compared to the more mainstream titles I've played. As times go on I find I'm much less enticed by the allure of something new & shiny, but especially so if it comes from a AAA studio. There are so many new game makers out there that pour real love & passion into what they make & it just oozes out of every second you play them. Makes AAA experiences feel soulless to play in comparison for me.

[@Eichro]

And sometimes it just pays off. AAA studios wish they could've enjoyed as much success as Toby Fox.

[@Tibbon]

I think we are still coming out with utterly groundbreaking games still. Dwarf Fortress, Minecraft, Rimworld, Papers Please, Fez, Disco Elysium, Portal, Dark Souls, Hades, etc. All of those moved us in a significant way, and also offer significant levels of polish. Been gaming since the early 80s and while there’s little to compare with the feeling of getting an NES for Christmas when I was 6, or learning to boot games on a C64- I am utterly blown away by things like Disco Elysium that tell me stories that seem so human and raw.

[@brucekendall9873]

Yeah but a lot of these great games just are moving further and further away from the mainstream, it's undeniable that the vast majority of games are becoming increasingly streamlined and watered down creatively for mass consumption.

[@rosco8453]

@@brucekendall9873 yes that is true, i am the geeky kid at school because i play 'weird games'.

[@Numbabu]

@@brucekendall9873 disagree. I think it really depends on what you call a game. With the emphasis on user generated content, and the accessibility of tools to make games with, I think the majority of games are probably quirky and unpolished, or even just unfinished. I guess I agree that the things which are popular, or professionally produced are mostly uninspired, but I definitely wouldn’t say most games in general.

[@KingRidley]

Fez was a neat one off game made by a real douche bag. I haven't really seen anyone copy anything from the game in terms of mechanics or ideas. It wasn't the first of its kind but mostly, Phil fish was a nutjob. Not a bad game by any stretch but not groundbreaking and also made by a crazy man.

[@brucekendall9873]

@@Numbabu No you've got to be completely blind to disagree. "What you call a game" i'm literally talking about all games in general regardless most games with the funding of a triple A title are becoming exactly what I explained, while game creating tools are becoming more accessible therefore no matter what unique games are going to be produced, generally speaking almost all the games that are massed produced and make a decent profit are completely selling out for profit and changing what may make it unique to appeal to the new masses, it's happening to pretty much every genre not just first person shooters. Generally the newer generation of gamers don't tend to notice it as much and I stand by that strongly

[@hiiistrex2838]

My take on this: there are a limited number of ideas that you (as in YOU, the reader) will actually enjoy. Once you've experienced most of them, there aren't as many left. It might sound obvious, but it's true. There are only so many "best games" for you out there, and the more you find, the quicker they run out

[@razbuten]

It is one of the most terrifying things out there.

[@firebal6129]

Like someone else said, after you first taste a new genre, everything else is like chasing that high…

[@johnleorid]

I disagree. There are so many absolutely unique indie games and sometimes it's just the connection of two things that makes something "the best game" in a specific category. "Moonlighter" for example, a 2D dungeon crawler like all the other ones, the dungeon crawling didn't impress me, even their unique cool mechanic of using the players greed to push them further into the dungeon, even when their bags are already full of goodies. BUT I think "Moonlighter" has the best game flow I've ever seen. The gameplay-loops support each other so perfectly, I will always remember it as the game with the best loop. "Red Faction Guerilla", the best destruction physics (the actual game (graphics, story, missions, weapons, controls) isn't even that good). "Spiderman 3 - The Game" has the widest moveset of web-swinging -> hold 3 buttons to swing with two ropes at once. "The Swindle", best procedural burglar game ever. "Outer Wilds" best scavenger hunt space game ever. They are all clearly not "the best game I have ever played" (that's [PROTOTYPE], maybe, or will be my own game, once finished xD) but they are the best in a category. Maybe it's because I am game dev, but for me, there is a spot for the best game in each category and I will always remember them, unless some other game takes their place.

[@Vaaaaadim]

Though finite, there may still be enough ideas out there that you can spend your whole life being entertained by them and not run out. Just as there is a finite number of possible images we can see (say, within a 1920x1080 screen), but we do not worry about running out of new things to see on our screens. That being said, I too am subject to the trend of being less impressed by things as life goes on.

[@LofferLogge]

I strongly disagree. For all intents and purposes, there are an infinite number of experiences you can have, and if any percentage of those are enjoyable, then there are functionally an infinite number of potential enjoyable experiences. Of course, as you get older and experience more things, there will be more things that are similar to things you've already experienced, but there will never stop being totally new things either.

[@Gidaio]

My least favorite thing about getting older has been the part where I get more cynical. I hate it. I wish I had that same innocence and positivity and desire for new experiences that I did years ago. And I'm not even thirty. Along these lines, I've been playing Axiom Verge for the first time recently. While it doesn't fit into "best game ever" territory, I have been pleasantly surprised by how it's subverting a lot of my metroidvania expectations. Rather than a morph ball, you get a little drone that has a single attack. One of your upgrades is basically a cheat-code terminal where you can enter "cheat codes" that you find throughout the game if you look carefully enough. This actually made the jump boost upgrade pretty subversive as well, because it was exactly what I was expecting, which meant I didn't expect it. Very cleverly designed. To finish off, I never feel I have as much to say about a video as I do when I watch one of yours. Each and every one makes me want to make my mind known. Most other videos I watch, even video essayists, don't push me like that. I like it. I really, really enjoy the personal touch you give to all your videos.

[@razbuten]

This is very thoughtful and kind. I appreciate you. Cynicism is a bitch, and I actively try to push against as much as I can. Your experience with Axiom Verge speaks to me a fair bit, as I have tried to make a point to really appreciate bits of great design that surprise me, even if the game as a whole package isn't exactly my thing.

[@WeebDealer]

I can't agree more with how every video I watch of his makes me actively want to discuss. As soon as I saw his community post asking what our favorite game is I went and made my top 9 games and went to my friends to ask them the same question.

[@schlimanokobibi]

The growing cynisism is gut wrenching. As I'm approaching the end of my studies, I finish a week of 40h education and 20h work, I sometimes have a little time left to play video games only to hardly enjoy it. Video games used to be my "passion" whereas I now feel almost passionless and drained.

[@krausewitz6786]

It's not an age thing. I'm roughly ten years older than you and played Super Metroid for the first time ever this summer....and LOVED it. Genuinely good games will ALWAYS stir that deep emotion again. If you're not feelign it with modern games, it's because so few of them are any good.

[@krausewitz6786]

@@schlimanokobibi That's just fatigue. It happens. It'll get batter. (Well done on getting near your degree! That's a great accomplishment.)

[@fredericororiz6500]

Raz is just the coolest friend, Imagine your buddy just shows up at your house with the new game of the year and watchs you play it for the entire day lol

[@_frasha_]

I think my issue with games now days is the fact I’ve gotten older. I’m more cynical and poke at the issues I see in games or their stories which makes it harder to get lost in the world. I also find myself rushing through games more now as I have less time to dedicate to games so I try to get them completed ASAP instead of taking my time and getting immersed. It’s a harsh reality. Edit: I wrote this comment before I even watched the video and had no idea he touched on how I felt lol, I’ve been meaning to express this feeling for a while so jumped at the opportunity :)

[@DragonReaver]

Yet Elden ring exists so that makes that point moot.

[@connorbennett1517]

RIGHT! I have gone back and played some of the games from my childhood, and one thing that stood out to me was how fast I got back to where I ended in the game as a kid. I remember that I spent so long goofing off and enjoying my time in Ordon Village because as a child it wasn't about progressing in the game. It was about enjoying my time in the world

[@Chessrook44]

Yanno... this kinda goes hand in hand with something I've often felt. That I've Missed Out on the gaming history so many others shared. The Marios, the Zeldas, the Final Fantasies, the Metroids, the Castlevanias... all of these games I never got to play, or not for very long. And I'm in my 30's, these are the games that people my age were raised with and I missed out on most of them. It's a strange feeling, truth be told.

[@starsong3]

I feel that even though I’m just in my 20s- it seems like there’s a whole experience of growing up alongside the gaming industry that I’ll never understand or view these games in the same way. But playing Breath of the Wild, Celeste, Hollow Knight, Spiritfarer, Hades… there are benefits to coming into a more mature gaming industry and indie scene. maybe we can make our own history of iconic games, haha.

[@carlos7mh]

That’s how I feel with the Pokémon series. It formed a big part of a lot of peoples childhood but I missed out due to parents shunning video games out of the house. Now in my late 20s it’s hard for them to pull me in even as I’ve tried playing a couple of them. I know it’s an experience I’ll never get to have

[@starsong3]

@@carlos7mh oh my god yeah, same! I remember asking my parents for a DS almost every year so I could pictochat and play… either diamond or Pearl I think with my friend. It never happened. and now I’m in the same boat where I’m just not engaged by it. It’s a weird place to be in, huh?

[@delta-a17]

I got into PC gaming when I got my first PC for college. Over the past couple years I've desperately tried to catch up on all the landmark classics that I'd been hearing about my whole life but never getting to play. Unfortunately, going back and playing them all hasn't been as incredible as I thought it would. Those games really were best experienced when they were new and I find it difficult to get into the more dated titles like Half Life and Super Mario 64.

[@krischezockt1916]

@@delta-a17 it’s the same for me as only got into video games when I was an adult already. But I eventually stopped trying to relive old classics but instead play the new games I like and appreciate that there were games before that, that heavily inspired the game I now get to enjoy 😊

[@fablejoey3666]

10:47 How you gonna do "LEGO Indiana Jones" like that man... brutal

[@Metostopholes]

My mind went straight to "Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis". I am an old.

[@TheModernGafa]

LEGO Indiana Jones was so good they remade it like 2 years later.

[@bertfechner417]

I thought Emperors Tomb was alright.

[@justitgstuff5284]

fr, I played the second one sooo many times on my PS3 back when it came out

[@ShadoBrother]

@@Metostopholes Fate of Atlantis was great! I also had Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade on half a dozen big old actually floppy floppy discs!

[@darrendm8037]

This vid is a great perspective on ageing. I'm 51 and I know a lot of these games not from play but from watching and discussing gaming with my children. Their enthusiasm is a joy to me, though I personally have little interest in playing myself.

[@captainblastems3367]

It’s really beautiful seeing people in general enjoy things let alone seeing those you love be happy and enjoy their time

[@IQ2992]

you seem awesome!

[@Ironica82]

So true. I love watching my six year old get into Animal Crossing, his excitement when he wants to show me what he got, and yet I have no interest in playing it.

[@captainblastems3367]

@@Ironica82 I dislike animal crossing but hearing my girlfriend talk about it never fails to put a smile on my face.

[@pokeoh1831]

Chad dad

[@bloomiii7481]

I understand this video's point, but I also feel like there is a certain different joy and amazement you get from seeing a specific genre you know and love done so well. Not breaking new ground, but doing something that you already love in such a perfect way. This is why I love Celeste and Hollow Knight.

[@krishdhand]

"Get lost for a while" encapsulates exactly how I feel about this channel, every video takes me to this like twilight zone. I'm completely engrossed in the *beautifully* written story unfolding before me, my mind drifts and it makes me recall childhood memories, and experience strong emotions, remember a simpler time. Your voiceovers are SO good too, you deserve so much success. Anyways, the games that made me say "this is the best game I've ever played are Breath of the Wild, Hollowknight, and God of War (the norse mythology one). I know they're not exactly original choices, but God of War set me on an obsession with Norse mythology that led me to actually learn Norwegian in its entirety, and Breath of the Wild and Hollowknight changed my life as well.

[@kevingage4157]

Razbuten you have a real talent for articulating feelings that so many of us share but so few of us can put into words. This is another top notch video. Keep up the great work sir.

[@eliasstenman3710]

He should fix the grammar in the title though

[@Tondadrd]

Isn't "articulating feelings" synonymous to "putting feelings into words"? Anyway, I agree that Razbuten is great at it! And it's the secret sauce, so captivating!

[@MYG]

This happens within games as well. Minecraft is my favourite game, but the feeling of awe, discovery, and joy that I got when I started playing 9 years ago has largely been lost to me now. I still love the game, but I can no longer get that same high from climbing a cool looking mountain or living inside a large mushroom. I reflexively take the game more seriously now. In my original world I don't think I ever even found diamonds, but now with every world or server, I rush to max out my gear in the most efficient ways I know. Maybe it's because I have less time to play, or just because I know the game too well at this point but in the pursuit of making the most out of my time I've lost a lot of the enjoyment in the game. I don't even really play survival much anymore, even with all the new stuff they added. The new stuff is great and it adds back a slight bit of discovery but it also sometimes just feels like a chore to learn these new things about the game. I love the game, and to me, it will always be the best game I've ever played but I don't think I'll ever be able to love it as much as I did all those years ago.

[@char11eg]

Couldn't agree more here. I remember the first time I played, I'd never looked at the wiki, or seen gameplay. I spent about five minutes trying to pick up an arrow a skeleton had shot, that was stuck into a tree, eventually breaking the block it was in, and being hit by the falling arrow myself. Spent weeks figuring out recipes myself. (I had heard talk about what things were possible, so knew what I'd be trying to make sometimes, but not always) I remember being genuinely scared, hiding out in cliffside bases, not even knowing how to craft a torch. Spending the nights hidden in pitch darkness, only to be blown up by a creeper which spawned within the base I'd mined as I was more than 24 blocks away. And, I'll never get that feeling back, which sucks. But, I get a different kind of enjoyment from it. I mostly play modded now, as it increases the amount of, well, progress there is in the game. I can't *rush* an expert pack - it takes however long it takes (hundreds of hours, generally). But, I do miss the original times I played, and what that experience was like, even if it's still fun to this day.

[@awesomedinosthefirst3494]

@@poetryflynn3712 I disagree the variety of mobs actually makes exploring the world interesting, not everything needs to serve some game mechanical purpose. with minecraft the issue is in it's very nature their is no goal, there is no point. personally i feel there are two types of 'motivation' for doing stuff in the game, that being intrinsic motivation and external motivation. intrinsic motivation is when a player does something not for some reward of progress in game but because they simply want to do that. whereas externaal motivation comes from the game itself. Minecraft relies so heavily on intrinsic motivation throughout the game since there is no real end goal. and on the contrary i feel the village and pillage update's changes to villagers was very good, it made it so that it was actually worth your while to trade with villagers. villager trading pre village and pillage was more hassle than it was worth imo. and i'd ask you how does the game incentivise you to live in a village while remaining what is at it's core an open world sandbox game. minecraft's strengths are that you can play how you want to play for the most part, it's virtual legos. you don't need to farm villagers you can choose to live in a village and protect them, you can choose to repeatedly have zombies convert them for max efficiency.

[@azeemsyed8550]

Same thing with me and Skyrim. After creating and playing twenty different characters it's not the same anymore. The landscape that used to fill me with awe still does, but to a much milder intensity. All those hidden caves, secrets, treasures, NPC's don't mean as much anymore. The music still gives me chills though. That will never change

[@awesomedinosthefirst3494]

@Poetry Flynn that's not what intrinsic motivation is. By the very nature of minecraft you have to actually want to do it. All you need to do in minecraft is get some seeds make a farm and make a tiny dirt house. That's always been the case. Literally farms are just people using spawning mechanics to get mobs to spawn in particular places. I think it's a lot harder to just remove farms than you seem to think of that was even a good idea in the first place. And with villagers you no longer have incentive to just kill any villager that doesn't have a job you want. In a game where there is no purpose nothing has a purpose. Like why do anything the game doesn't actually give you rewards in the first place. Making villages rarer simply pushes them to the late game when you have elytra's and travelling large distances doesn't take hours. There's like 1 actually useful thing you can get from villagers, mending, that can't be gotten with an enchanting table and an xp farm. Yeah the woodland and ocean maps are cool but literally anything sense they give you can be pretty easily obtained. Minecraft relies more than any game on you wanting to do something, whether that be building or mining, to do it.

[@YakDPOY]

I mean fair points but ughh.. you have been playing mincraft for 9 years. Thats not to do with age, thats just the fact you played for 9 years! Minecraft isnt built for infinite replay (yes one could argue that but a game of discovery and adventure never is). Now sure you can play them a lot but there is no competition, no regular patches that change the feel of the game and you are basically making up your own fun. Ofcourse you cant after 9 years.. you just simply need a new game

[@sbspassion]

You're the first one who actually recognizes and acknowledges this thing for what it is: less groundbreaking innovations and a very large portion of nostalgia and childish excitement for discovering new games. Games aren't getting worse, they're getting better, it's just us who losing touch with the magic of games due to saturation 😞 Great video!

[@dylanmays5311]

Indie games and smaller studios/devs are really the only ones doing anything interesting though. Major developers and AAA games have become very cookie cutter, take very little risk, and aren't interested in doing anything actually interesting with their games: they want to play it safe and rake in the money. The games coming out from major developers, I'd say, are still getting worse. There are very few big players who are taking any risks and actually pulling them off, and especially not with their big projects. There are exceptions that come up here and there, but I think the quality of games coming out from your biggest players, ie MS, Activision, EA, Epic and the developers under them, are going downhill, and I think when people say, "games are getting worse" it is games from those major players that they are talking about. Of course there's been games like Elden Ring that aren't represented in this trend, but I'd consider that to be an exception.

[@DonDadda45]

I highly disagree. Games as a whole are 100% getting worse due to the increased focus on monetary gain and growing the industry through artificial means instead of actually increasing the quality of games. This has absolutely nothing to do with nostalgia. Someone who is 16 now can play a game like Ocarina of time which is a lot older than him, and realize that it's much much better than eg. any new Assassins Creed title. Even take a hugely generic and mainstream game like FIFA, 10 years ago you could still see huge changes between each title and actively see improvements EA made to the game, as a fan each of them were worth paying 60€ for. Now for the past 5-6 years, they pretty much released the same game year for year and you just feel scammed. Sure, many people argue something like "just play indie games, those are the gems" but it only strengthens the point of games as a whole getting worse if you have to rely on indie devs to create enjoyable games. When was the last time a truly breathtaking and innovating game came out? I'd argue it was 2018 with RDR2, that's already 5 years ago. AAA devs have no intention of making good games, only to sell copies.

[@Neomeniaaa]

@@DonDadda45 I think a big counter to your argument here is the fact that you are ignoring indie titles. AAA games arent the biggest and best games out there, just the ones with the biggest budget and marketing. Besides that indie is a much larger section of the video game industry also in numbers. Besides that, while yes every new fifa game looks and plays almost the same, comparing a fifa game from 6 years ago to now you can still see improvements generally. While the progress inbetween games is less and less that doesnt mean the game is worse. Its just not worth buying over the previous installment if you own that one. Same with assassins creed titles. As discussed in this video with uncharted, newer assassins creed games do everything those old ones do just better, the problem often is the fact that they are just that, better versions of older games. If your first entry was the latest assassins creed and you were to go back to AC 1 or 2 you'd say those are worse even if still enjoyable. This is the real problem with gaming right now. AAA companies only focus on making money which you do by betting safe. This sold well before so this will sell well also, and then the game just becomes a vehicle for making money. Fifa is the most agregious example of this because as you said, negligable improvements year over year with increasingly predatory but extremely profitable systems. Consumers allow it so it will keep happening. On the other hand indie devs truly push games forward. They are the ones coming in with fresh and unique ideas that AAA is too afraid to try. However, they are limited by the fact that many people like you write them off because indie bad, and they dont have the budgets to make said unique experiences the best that they can truly be. You said the last time an innovative game came out was rdr2 in 2018, i'd argue if you look at indie devs then superliminal came out 1 year later. A game build around perspectives which was innovative as hell. That is just in 2019. Now imagine looking at years since. I think you should widen your scopes beyond AAA for a moment because all those companies want is your money, if you want innovation then go to indie.

[@saivignesh837]

Saturation aside, i think the focus now is more on scale than the actual FUN FACTOR!! Back then games were made to be fun (to make something new each time), but these days due to large scale games (which costs ridiculously high to produce), developers don't want to take creative risks and just want to do the same "tried and tested" formula! This needs to change. The gaming community as a whole has become very greedy now, where players want huge open world and developers want big returns. The gaming community needs to be more supportive of each other!

[@Neomeniaaa]

@@saivignesh837 correction, its not devs wanting to be less creative, its executives. Remember dead space 3? That was only much more action focused with cooo because executives wanted that because it sells well. Devs want to be creative and unique but execs want to be save and make money by following whats popular, and sadly they have the final say

[@jemusandran1575]

I think that expectations for games become higher over time, too. Now that gaming is massive, it can almost be disappointing if a game doesn't blow one away.

[@mrshmuga9]

I don’t care about being blown away, I only care that it brings something unique to the table. Or fills a niche that isn’t/wasn’t being supported at that time. I think expectations are only higher mostly because the budgets (and specifically marketing) has increased dramatically. All the marketing hypes people up for some transcendent experience when they’re just mediocre/okay games. And that whiplash is where the disappointment comes from.

[@hashvendetta7226]

I'm not sure that's fair, at least, entirely. You can go back and check out or replay many games from past generations and see that a lot of those great games dont have modern day counterparts when it comes to game design. Unfortunately, A LOT of games today have been distilled down into formulaic outings, with a shiny new coat of polygonal paint. That doesn't mean all modern games are that way, but its definitely a disturbing trend.

[@Newmachinemusic]

I’ve found some of those old feelings when discovering VR. Playing Boneworks for the first time honestly blew my mind. With that game everything seemed to have evolved. Graphically, immersion, interactability. Now when I go back to it, I don’t find it nearly as exciting, but at the time, I was shocked. If you are looking for that feeling again, VR is perfect because it’s just starting.

[@zackattack5414]

Same thing happened when I played saints and sinners

[@Helperbot-2000]

Have you played half life alyx?

[@Makujah_]

It's "just starting" for like 10 years now tho :(

[@jacobdesioreviews]

I’m confused why he completely ignored VR.... well I guess I’m not - if he would have addressed VR his point would have fallen flat.

[@Makujah_]

@@jacobdesioreviews because he doesn't have it prolly

[@clindsay2011]

I stopped using terms like “best” or “GOAT” a long time ago. I think it’s a harmful mentality when discussing enjoyment of any piece of art. Trying to find the singular champion or conquerer of a medium is a lost cause. Instead, I go for finding games that I think are phenomenal. I have a personal list of games that are 10/10s and I would never compare them to determine which one is “better.” Why slight any of them in that way? Super Mario 64 is a 10/10 for me. So is Super Mario Odyssey. Sure, Odyssey may be a more refined title in some ways compared to 64. But, both games provided an unquantifiably high level of enjoyment that I don’t get from most games. I can say the same for RE4 and Village. I would say that the Naughty Dog’s games since the first Uncharted have been some of the most unenjoyable experiences I’ve had playing games. Does that make it the worst game ever? No, not at all.

[@darlgearhart988]

The issue is that most people dont actually view video games as art. It's just entertainment for most (which is a shame).

[@papasscooperiaworker3649]

@@darlgearhart988 I mean entertainment and art aren't mutually exclusive. You can do both.

[@naz_nxt]

Village was good?? Everyone i know who played it complained about how boring it became after a fight or two, so i didn't really play it

[@ololreyalple]

@@papasscooperiaworker3649 the thing with people that see it only as entertainment is that they won't have an open mind approach to a videogame that doesn't actively seek to entertain the player

[@neofromthewarnerbrothersic145]

@@naz_nxt Can confirm, Village really isn't that good. Only got good reviews because "big sexy vampire lady". VII was better, but has a lot of the same flaws. I hate so many things about this type of game design. Like giving you a baby to "care about" in the opening, and then making you chase after it for the rest of the game because you're such a concerned daddy. Speaking of which, Ethan is such a dumbass chad I just want to punch him in the nose. Obvious crazy old witch lady: appears in the village, casting spells or something. Dumbass chad Ethan: "Are you okay?! It's not safe out here!" Idiot deserves to have his hands wrecked over and over. Or the super constricted, non-adjustable FOV to make you feel claustrophobic, but just feels annoying because you can't see anything. But I especially hate the scripted jump scares and futile enemy encounters where you're just being dragged around by the nostrils, and nothing you do makes any difference. The actual game doesn't start until the 2nd or 3rd hour (just long enough to clear refund period). Then after that point, it has the aesthetic of a survival horror game, but plays like a linear corridor shooter with a bit of back-tracking thrown in. I just bought it on sale this weekend and got about halfway through in my first session, and honestly don't know if I'll ever bother finishing it. Maybe when I need to clear some drive space.

[@biblicallyaccuratecockroach]

This goes hand in hand with something I heard just a week ago: when we're young and dumb everything's the best thing ever because it's the first thing ever. When we get older the new becomes the usual and we stop paying attention. It's why time seems to go by faster as we get older, we stop paying attention to the moment so it doesn't register. And like with everything, we compare everything with our first experience of a game, even if subconciously we're constantly judging. And we're terrible at noticing incremental improvements, so by the time we notice "something"'s different tecnology itself is leaps and bounds ahead so of course it's different. We've reached a point where tecnology itself can't bring major visible changes, like Mario going from 2D to 3D which is literally a whole different dimension. Most things are happening in the background, like faster ploading times, rendering more poligons on screen, ets, stuff that most people don't know and don't care much about (like myself, who knows the basics on how to operate and troubleshoot a computer, and has to rely on internet tutorials for things that can't be solved by turning them off and on again), that don't fundamentaly change the experience. Efficiency is the name of the game for the next generation. There are those programs that can dynamically render a whole person at a distance but unload part of the body to be able to load individual facial hairs when we zoom in, or those other experiments to render higher resolution textures from lower resolution files to prevent filesize bloating, which is gonna be a great problem in the near future (like that war game that's like 200gb on the newest consoles?). Tons of smart people are doing complicated computer wizardry that will go by unnoticed by the vast majority of players. Sure, Miles Morales' hair looks a lot better in PS5 than PS4, but he already had hair, it's not like the original Lara Croft having a bobcut because the original game engine simply couldn't render swaying hair, to later games (and consoles) finally being powerful enough to give her either a braid or ponytail. Something as simple as Lara's hairdo was once impossible, then it became a novelty, nowadays it's just flavour text. We take a lot of things for granted today.

[@mikebarnes7441]

It took you waaay too many words to establish the point you're trying to make there, lol.

[@cjtrules1]

I heard about that comparison to being younger and older along with noticing the passage of time too. It's mind boggling to really think about imo. Watch out for big leaps in gaming in a year or 2 because of Unreal Engine 5. It got rid of using polygons so you can now how things far away still with detail among other improvements for game design.

[@sxeychick9622]

You got the spark notes for this comment somewhere?

[@cjtrules1]

@@sxeychick9622 Was it really necessary to comment that? You don't have to read any comment. Scroll along.

[@FluffySylveonBoi]

People can argue that games used to be better not just because nostalgia, but also because of things like milking cash cows like Skyrim, releasing unfinished games, laziness, lootboxes, micro transactions etc. There are various things that ruin various games nowadays. Of course not all games are like that, but many, so finding a good game now is harder than finding a good older game. Lot of games in the past were really revolutionary and even though some other newer games surpassed them, they started whole franchises. That's why I give credit more to the franchise than the starting game, and then choose the best game from there. Usually it is the games somewhere in the middle of a franchise. The starting ones are unrefined and the newest ones usually lack spirit. (Not all franchises operate this way, but many for sure) so you can see for yourself.

[@unknownbystander8145]

"Is it still nostalgia if you play old games not to relive happier memories long gone, but because old stuff does stuff you want that new stuff doesn't do?"-Yahtzee

[@tobiramasenju6290]

Hell no it's not just nostalgia. Ninja Gaiden Black is the best character action game bar none.

[@98mita]

Yeah like the STALKER series, deus ex, bioshock 1 which is a fucking masterpiece, Spec Ops The Line(Albeit not as old), Fallout 1, NOLF, RTCW, Pathologic. And while some games attempted at succeeding at things these games excelled at they all fell short. Prey for and example in my opinion didn't match the atmosphere and narative compared to bioshock. These games are not just nostalgia they're a prime example of what a game can be besides the monotonous dopamine injection most modern titles are. I'm not saying that games like these are not being made, but rather that they are far and few in between.

[@littlecurrybread]

@@98mita you read my mind, great comment

[@jerrodshack7610]

@@98mita I think Prey pretty much perfected the immersive sim formula

[@CjayB]

@@tobiramasenju6290 a fellow man of culture, I see

[@DRida64]

From my experience, it's less of "This game is the best I've ever played." and more of "I enjoy this. I think this is the most fun I could be having with a console right now."

[@captainblastems3367]

@A B elaborate?

[@captainblastems3367]

Mine is simply, "I am having fun"

[@BonaparteBardithion]

I think that mindset can be applied to a lot of life. I don't have the most amazing job, but I'm genuinely enjoying work right now. Or even just chilling and letting your mind wander because you're at ease.

[@captainblastems3367]

@@BonaparteBardithion I find myself enjoying the smaller things in life and I don’t see that going away anytime soon.

[@notproductiveproductions3504]

For me it’s “yes, my fingers. You may dance” (why I’ve only been playing character action and fighting games lately)

[@TheSaiderRiscam]

I saw the thumbnail I joking said to myself “It’s Uncharted.” Simply because I love that game. I had no idea it actually was! Lol.

[@nowlun]

when he sent out his community post about what our favorite game ever was the first game that always comes to my head is Uncharted 2. first non-nintendo game i played as a young lad. changed everything. such a fun game too

[@TheSaiderRiscam]

@@nowlun Yeah, man. I actually didn’t play Uncharted until around the time Uncharted 4 came out. But I’ve loved it just like everybody else. My favorite is Uncharted 3.

[@CaspianNomad]

Those of us born in the 80s and early to mid 90s grew up at a time where improvements were massive in video games. Not only that some of us we experienced growing up without and then with the internet. I think this has caused our standards and expectations for changes to be extremely high. That being said the quality of stories in games has massively dropped too. The same with movies. The writing industry needs a serious shake up. I think we were blessed with new technology but a writing industry that had to make up for lack of quality in other areas during the earlier decades so we're putting their best efforts in.

[@bepisboy291]

My first souls-like was Dark Souls 3, and I absolutely loved every minute of it. Went on to play DS1 and despite it being most fans' favorite of the series, I personally found the pacing to be worse, controls clunkier, character designs blander, and environments less interesting. I had no prior connection to it. Your favorite media is often the stuff that hits you at the right time and you look back with nostalgia on, sometimes regardless of actual quality. When we are younger things have larger impacts on us and we are captivated so much more easily because we are less experienced and jaded. Sure, as the gaming industry gets bigger there might be MORE soulless garbage being pushed out, but there will always be artists making incredible visions. It's more about trying to find what speaks to you when your tastes become more refined rather than the industry declining.

[@jessedaniel3085]

My issue is the wonderful masterpieces being pissed on by them destroying stories or cramming garbage into them to the point where they are unrecognizable. You run out expecting gold and getting crap

[@axel9473]

I think this is what it really comes down to. Playing the right game at just the right time in your life can make all the difference. Your mindset, the expectations you have or don't have, whether you play it alone or with someone else, etc. There are so many circumstances that can vastly influence your enjoyment of a game, regardless of how good or bad it actually is. Dark Souls 3 was also one of those games for me that really got me. It made me actually appreciate games in a time when i got bored by them. There simply was no other singleplayer game that made my heart pump out of my chest when fighting a boss and made me jump with excitement and joy when i was finally victorious. Bloodborne and Sekiro had a similar effect but Elden Ring already felt dated to me. As great as it is, it can't compare to my first time fighting Gael at the end of the world, or the grotesque Ludwig, or fighting Genichiro at the top of a beautiful japanese castle, while finally learning how the game wants to be played and how satisfying it is. I still find a lot of enjoyment in the games i played recently but i definitely didn't have anything hit me as hard as playing Dark Souls 3 for the first time in quite some time.

[@laxmirio]

Excellently said. The industry hasnt killed all the truly creative, yet.

[@gdcustoumz2534]

I agree with everything you said here, but the interconnecting world and the lack of fast travel in the first half of the game is really something special IMO

[@aarvlo]

As much as i agree with a lot of your feelings, none of the later revisions of these concepts made me feel the same way dark souls 1 made me feel when i took the elevator down from the parish and found myself back in firelink. And the thing is i didn't play it when it came out, i played it in 2021. As someone who couldn't afford to play many games growing up and now has the money to play a lot of retro games and games from earlier generations I've learned to analyze and appreciate older games for the things they did right and wrong as a standalone art piece disconnected from the evolution of gaming. For example, i cannot play skyrim or half life 2 for more that 15 minutes without falling asleep while games like quake, doom or ocarina of time are as fun as any modern title. I think this is because games like skyrim and half life were almost entirely reliant in their novelty at the time while games like ocarina of time or shadow of the colossus have qualities that still hold up to this day. The same could be said about film, if you watch Terminator for the first time nowadays it might not be very impressive but if you watch 2001space odyssey it'll blow you away as much as any modern sci fi movie

[@Mrwhosetheboss]

LOVE watching your videos - Always a thoughtful perspective 👌

[@angelguzman477]

Daddy?🥺

[@tielmaster7879]

After seeing you on the monster hunter trailer, I'm no longer surprised to see you on gaming videos lol.

[@liar6371]

Where's the Rick roll? 🤔

[@slickzMdzn]

why hasn't this blown up yet

[@ahmedronaldokahn2352]

honestly im surprised

[@Xpzilla]

Red Dead 2 was the last time I was genuinely impressed and thought “that was the best game ever” and I think there’s gonna be more experiences like that in the future.

[@poko60]

Yeah tbf some big developers are pushing boundaries still. But it's not that apparent as the old times. And it's just a depressing fact but it's because of hardware. You cannot really go past 3D. Next steps are obviously VR and AR but that technology is still far away for being accessible and fun. And maybe after those we get into the sci fi thinking of being inside the game itself

[@Xpzilla]

@@poko60 Sounds good to me, I’m fine with waiting

[@Labyriiint]

I recently finished it, still think about the game now. Probably the best game i have played

[@Xpzilla]

@@Labyriiint Exactly! I felt so empty when I finished it. Played it for months and it was so immersive that it felt more like a virtual life.

[@Labyriiint]

@@Xpzilla I miss my boy Arthur

[@TheUncouthGentleman]

As a very young person, even younger than most of the games here, one of the great frustrations of my life is that I just *can't* go back and play through these massive turning-points in gaming history and experience them the way others did.

[@callumhearne6936]

I remember the feeling of playing Halo 2 for the first time with my brothers. We'd indefinitely borrowed an xbox off of a friend who was done with it, booted it up and started playing the split-screen co-op campaign. There were three of us and only two controllers so we'd rotate whenever we died. I just thought 'there is no game I've ever played like this.' In a way, I've been chasing that high ever since and played some phenomenal games, but nothing has left me awestruck in quite the same way. Here's the thing. Halo 2 is not my favourite game ever. I'm not even massively into fps games. I genuinely think a large part of the joy came from the circumstances surrounding my first time playing, which will of course impact how we feel about a game. When I'm chasing the high of playing Halo 2 for the first time, I'm chasing the experience of discovering it with my brothers. A large part of the reason there's a disconnect between some of those early gaming experiences for me and more recent ones is because I'll never play in the same context - games have largely moved away from split screen co-op but more than that, I no longer live with my brothers, no longer have friends over after school to play through Oblivion, no longer do Civ 3 LAN parties in the summer holidays. The closest I've got to that in the last decade was during the covid lockdowns last year, when neither me or my wife could go to work so we played BOTW together. It's not so much that games have changed, but that my life has. Great video btw.

[@captainblastems3367]

This is a perfect comment, I felt the same way about fallout new Vegas. The first time I experienced that game it was with my brother and after we were done with that game I found myself chasing that same feeling of fun that I had only to realize I wasn’t looking for a game but the experience I had shared with my brother. I could one, either look at it like “there is no games that are as good as fallout new Vegas” or two accept the fact that it was never new Vegas that was a masterpiece in the first place (don’t get me wrong it’s a great game) but rather those experiences I had with my family.

[@littlecurrybread]

@@captainblastems3367 damn 😢 I feel u

[@captainblastems3367]

@@littlecurrybread experiences like that can be found everywhere and it’s just as amazing to create new ones since then I have had “showing my gf metal gear solid and legend of Zelda” and “playing the farcry series with my same brother” it’s amazing that I was so distraught when I was younger that it would never be the same but now I realize why worry about it being the same when it can be better

[@littlecurrybread]

@@captainblastems3367 well said 👍

[@GringoXalapeno]

I miss split screen multiplayer so that killed my interest in new games not to mention paid dlc and micro transactions

[@andrebarbosasampaio3365]

"I'm older. And a little less bright eyed." This hitted me hard

[@captainblastems3367]

why does being older naturally make us less bright eyed?

[@HealyHQ]

i cri erry tiem

[@Nai_101]

@@captainblastems3367 thought Raz explained it well

[@captainblastems3367]

@@Nai_101 oh I understand, I was more so asking the commenter because he said it hit him hard. I’m not terribly old so I guess I don’t have to much perspective but I’ve never though getting older should naturally make people more jaded and cynical which is a lot of what I see nowadays (mostly talking about video games)

[@Nai_101]

@@captainblastems3367 i think it's just a thing that happens to our complex brains

[@JuicyGinge]

Got to say you really hit the nail on the head with this one, the games that effected me the most were one that were revolutionary to my outlook on video games, I went from animal trivia ds games to Pokemon mystery dungeon, to Mario Galaxy on the wii, and then assassins creed 2 on the 360, to the last of us, and finally Persona 5 a year ago, each blew me away seeing the horizon of video games expand, from hundreds of magical monsters to new worlds, bettered then by a captivatingly charismatic main character performing spectacular violence in a great story and world, one upped years later with a gritty, dark and humane brutality of the last of us that questioned my very morality and broke me. And most recently my first non-Pokemon JRPG in Persona 5 that revolutionised my view on what video game can look like and the crazy adventures it can take me on and their mechanics, and made me enamoured with it forever. I’m sure there are better games out there but none have effected me nor my outlook on this medium as much, which is why me and many others hold each in such high regard. I’ve struggled with newer big name titles due to the staleness of them, all similar open worlds, albeit improving upon each other gradually. But it’s the trailblazers pushing video games to new heights that I love the most, as they always will leave the largest impact on me.

[@kylespevak6781]

3:53 This is because games no longer try to innovate gameplay or what kind of experience you can have. If it weren't for VR and Nintendo then I would have stopped gaming a long time ago. There is basically nothing on the PlayStation or Xbox that makes me want one

[@philsburydoboy]

Damn you hit me right in the feels playing "Dire, Dire Docks". Teleported me back to 2005, playing SM64 on my original DS in the car.

[@ayaanman6650]

I grew up with watching my dad play all the uncharted games and I finished that tradition by playing uncharted 4 in 2016 playing these games were like watching a movie which is probably why my dad loved it. LOVE THE UNCHARTED SERIES

[@akselevensen2763]

I used to do exactly that. Watch my dad play uncharted, every once in a while pointing out an item or an enemy.

[@Lurker1222]

Being 38 years old I have the perspective of playing Mario 2 on the NES the day it came out, and am now playing through Horizon Forbidden West. But being a kid and seeing that Mario could not only move to the right but now, up and down through different screens blew my mind even more than the incredible graphics of Horizon. I think it is simply relative to our age. I've seen it all... The good and the bad when it comes to games. We get jaded. Which is why I love so much watching my 6 year old daughter play a game for the first time. She doesn't have that shade over her eyes from years of gaming. She likes playing Kirby SuperStar on SNES as much as Kirby and the Forgotten land on switch. The last game that made me feel that "Holy shit.." feeling was BOTW. There was nothing like it and it still has not been duplicated. It's incredibly hard to design something entirely new now since there are just so many games out there. BOTW did it.

[@Jamandabop]

So this is what those community polls were for! I can also guess how the Twitter post about Rayman Legends and Super Mario World will tie in, although I wonder when Ghost of Tsushima will show up.

[@razbuten]

Yeah, I had already written most of the script when I made the community polls, but I did want to see how people would answer

[@ShadowFan3]

@@razbuten wow! Are the games with featured footage inspired by comments, or are they all games that you have a personal connection with?

[@twadle123]

I've been feeling less connected to games lately and havent been able to figure out why, and elucidated everything for me. Thank you. I'm at peace now with the fact that I dont have to be engrossed in everything I expect to be, and it makes those things that I do get engrossed in all the more special. Love you Raz

[@TheFlash-rh2el]

In fairness, it’s still easy to be engrossed in something Game related, it’s just that many game companies are stripping their contemporary entries of what makes a game able to serve us in such a way. Timing is a great deal of what helps us relate to games, and this is a factor that gets absolutely obliterated if your game has an online connection. Victory is another, which is something that is obliterated if your game has things like loot boxes or microtransactions. Why would a person feel like they can win if there is always something that they will never be able to afford? The final thing is completion; a sense of achievement by conquering all a game offers. The majority of games are becoming hollowed out at launch just to be built upon, and the most successful versions of these husks become so built upon that they may never see an ending. We are being promised that the most successful games in the medium are ever-evolving but what does that even mean? Will become stale over time? Will outlive us in general, not as a game but as a brand? This isn’t even tapping into other terrible changes like unjustified price increases and rights debates and sequels and remakes and remasters. Gaming has become a worse landscape. It’s very easy to see this. Gaming companies are making them more accessible but less personal in every conceivable way.

[@_Cypher__]

When that Outer Wilds track started I got a couple of tears in my eyes, Good stuff man

[@TheAssassin642]

Man I gotta play the DLC

[@lizardlegend42]

@@TheAssassin642 yes, you do. It is good, very very good

[@Vandyno]

Same! I had intense chills for at least 30 seconds, and once I started thinking about why I had tears... I don't think any other song could do that to me, it was embarrassing, and I'm alone.

[@devluz]

@@TheAssassin642 I want to play the DLC but I am scared of how I will feel once I played it and then it is over and there is nothing to look forward anymore ;(

[@Adeyum64]

The „where I was emotionally part“ really hit me. Only about 3 years ago, I remember having suicidal thoughts because I always got the craziest rejections ever. I was pretty much trying my best, to not do anything stupid. And then I was like… You know, Jak II… the game I didn‘t give a chance back then, because I loved the first game so much, and didn‘t like the drastic change of Jak II. Let me give it another shot 5 years later. And ooooooooh boy let me tell you, that game pissed me off on a whole new level. It pissed me off so damn hard, that I absolutely forgot about my real life problems. It took me a while until I realized, that the game got me. I was actually interested in beating the game, I didn‘t get bored of it AT ALL. The moment, the game ended… was such a sad moment for me. I had nothing to distract myself anymore. The game that helped me in one of my worst states, is over, and will always have a special place in my heart. I have no idea what I did then, but I‘m glad that I kinda got out of this misery like… this year? I just wish that I had a game again, which interests me on the same level.

[@DaDualityofMan]

Jak 2 was one of the first games I ever got when I was like 7, I never got far into it because it was too hard but then I decided to buy it again during the pandemic because it was only like $5, that game was hard asf for no reason, I thought it was only hard because I was a kid, but here I was a grown ass man struggling to finish this game, I finished it eventually though, video games are so stressful but at the same time great stress relief, I wish you best moving forward in your life

[@Adeyum64]

@@DaDualityofMan Yeah, I also thought that people were just bullshitting me with the difficulty. But dang, they were absolutely serious xD And it's exactly like you said, it's stressful but when you beat it, you are sooo relieved. And thanks man, so far it's going well and I hope it still will be in the distant future.

[@jasperd.5734]

I’m 46, have played games since I was 10 or so, starting on my C64. Many many games have blown me away over time, but I have uttered ‘man, this is the best game ever’ only ever repeatedly recently when I played ‘God of War’ on the PS5. It’s an amazing game and one of the first time I told my wife I ‘need’ the TV and we couldn’t watch a movie. Its story, gameplay, graphics and presentation are just top notch. I also happened to have played all Uncharted games over the last week (quarantine is fun!) and while they’re good, they feel flawed and on rails too much after all these years. Good games, but not topping GOW for me. Older games tend to be good in memory only; when I try to reply games from younger years, I fail to relive the enjoyment so I stopped trying. Memories are better.

[@knightmer3645]

"when I try to reply games from younger years, I fail to relive the enjoyment so I stopped trying. Memories are better." I'm only 24 but I feel the same, memories and nostalgia keep gaming as a beautiful thing that if you try and play those games again now you'd just ruin the memories so it's better to keep them as they are and honestly - go to the indie scene because they still have remarkable titles you can find a "best game ever" on a yearly basis - I just found "The Pathless" which is shown in the video as well

[@bradeye1133]

@@knightmer3645 im 17 and even im affected, lol

[@leugim475]

I'm 16 and just the other day had the same thought you explain here: that every game I played and loved seemed like the greatest game of all time. I recently got my hands on a PS5 and, after having not played all the amazing games the PS4 had to offer, I started playing many of them, which further deepened that sensation. This vid is so so relatable and so good, thanks for it man

[@princessthyemis]

You managed to get a ps5?!?! congratulations!!!!

[@leugim475]

@@princessthyemis thanks haha, it was hard but I got really lucky

[@carlosfigueroa8322]

@@leugim475 My brother and I work in a call center. He got a call of a man claiming that, regardless of having it reserved, his PS5 got cancelled. He was devastated and cried on phone 😅 You are lucky man, you got choosed to play your PS5 😎

[@officialprincelouie]

@Leugim Same here man.. except I never played with a PS4 or XB1 before, or a PS5 yet, but I did play the on switch and Minecraft on my brother’s PC... To this day, even though it has already been a year, I can’t for the life of me shake off that “Best game ever made” feeling off of me that I have for any of my 360 games I have right now, Breath of the wild, and especially minecraft... man, I sound like such a sad, rusty old man lmao, even though I only just turned 16 also, but damn... all of those games I just mentioned give me so many memories dude, it’s actually CRAZY.... But I really can’t wait for the day when I get to catch up on all of the games I missed in the 8th gen! (Mainly PS4 exclusives, the rare good AAA games that I know weren’t all ruined by the people who did play them, and all of the indies lmao).. I really cannot wait. *EDIT:* Sadly, after I spent 300+ Hours playing BOTW, my progress was all lost because my stupid self agreed to put my switch in the pawn shop, and it got sold.... and I didn’t have the dreaded Nintendo online.. but I at least still have Mc.

[@iamme4605]

Hey man, I just want you to know I love you

[@connerw]

One thing I’ve found from playing several ‘revolutionary’ games for the first time in 2021 is that as you play, get to see the original DNA of your favorites. Playing through Super Metroid now, (as someone who has zero nostalgia for it but who has experienced plenty of metroidvanias,) it was still filled with ‘wow’ moments where I realized I was playing something historically significant. Shadow of the Colossus (on PS2) was similarly engaging, in that I could feel just how much it was spearheading. I could see the origins of cinematic exploration games like Breath of the Wild, and I could simultaneously see how Shadow of the Colossus was informed by the games which came before it (namely the smooth animations of Prince of Persia.) This phenomenon is something I normally associate with film and not gaming (watching an old movie and seeing its influence on the ones you already love) due to the young age of the medium. Imagine how mind-blowing it must have been to be there when color or sound were introduced to film. I think the transition from 2D to 3D in gaming was somewhat similar. I think it’s very reassuring to know that old games can resonate retroactively, and that the things you talked about are symptoms of gaming maturing and coming into its own as a medium.

[@daniloberserk]

It would be SO good if every average gamer can have your vision about how to approach classics. Games aren't different then any form of art and media. It's easy to make an incredible, technically impressive game with an stupid high level of production. But to create an groundbreaking and memorable game... Now THIS is hard. The same applies for music and movies. That's why Super Metroid IS a classic and will be FOREVER be a classic regardless of how modern gamers see it. Super Metroid is a groundbreaking genre defining game, created with an excessive amount of passion and creativity and with limited technology. You have incredible games nowadays that will probably surrender to the test of time, like Hollow Knight. Regardless if it they was created with extremelly talented and passionate people, it is just not a groundbreaking gaming. Sure, you may prefer to play Hollow Knight instead of Super Metroid, and that's it. That's an enormous gap about understanding your own tastes about games and so, and your objective critical thinking about what it is an classic and why it is a groundbreaking game, and why Hollow Knight will NEVER be ranked higher then Super Metroid in an critical analysis. The test of time is the best test.

[@AnotherDuck]

@@daniloberserk I think Super Metroid plainly is a better game than Hollow Knight. Super Metroid just feels better to play. Hollow Knight is a bit clunkier and less satisfying, which reduces the joys of exploration. And if you compare A Link to the Past with A Link Between Worlds, the latter has the problem with the items making the game a little less interesting, since you don't really have to go look for much to be able to get to new areas. Except farm more rupees. But other than that, it's probably better, and very good as a pseudo-remake. While it's a bit to the side, both Super Metroid and A Link to the Past have excellent randomisers, which means you get to explore a new set of item combinations and sequences each time. And other options, like playing both at the same time. And completely to the side, Super Metroid has one of the best moments ever where you feel, "Oh, you're so dead now, and I have the power to make you cease existing."

[@007kingifrit]

i did that with quake this year. i saw how games could begin putting graphics overgameplay

[@Ivanovic5580]

Growing up and getting older and that nostalgia feeling definitely has an impact. However, i played some of the older games recently (for example Assassin's Creed 2, Gothic, Witcher 1..) and enjoyed them more than majority of the new games coming out today. It's hard to really point a finger to it, old games had a really good vibe. Story, soundtrack, dialog, everything in the game just comes together to create a very unique atmosphere that's easy to immerse yourself into. In the past few years RDR2 was definitely one of the very few games that has managed to recreate that feeling for me.

[@maynardewm]

I got my degree in music. I started playing at a very young age, and by my mid 20s I had 20 years of experience, tens of thousands of hours of practicing, and felt like I had heard just about everything there is to hear. The moments where I was “blown away” by a new song became much less common. But after a few years of feeling like nothing new that came out was very interesting, I kind of had a shift. Listening to music wasn’t about being “wowed” anymore. It became about trying to find the song that made me feel the way I wanted to in that moment. Sometimes I wanted to feel relaxed. Other times I wanted to get hyped up. And it also became about watching musicians grow and getting excited to see the journeys they were taking. Because I kind of already knew where they were going, but it was fun to watch them discover it for themselves. I’m still dumbstruck sometimes, like with Jacob Collier and JD Beck who truly do things in different ways that I haven’t heard before, but they are still on familiar trajectories that I’ve seen before. I.E. I love hearing how Jacob Collier is starting to mature, and he slowly is feeling less like he has to impress people with his technique. It’s a journey I’m excited to witness. I can’t wait for his next album to hear how much more mature he is, and seeing what he is going to create with that maturity. It gives it a sense of wonder in itself: “when they do X, how are they going to handle it?” Then there are a few musicians in the world who really are just on another level of understanding and maturity that I know I’m not able to fully grasp yet. But these become very few and far between as I mature. In the music world, for me that’s people like Herbie Hancock or Brian Blade. Who when I listen to what they are doing today in 2021, I’m just like “I don’t fully understand what the hell they are doing, but I’m excited to figure it out”. Gosh, I’m still trying to figure out what some people see in Wayne Shorter’s later career. They are hearing something I’m not hearing. I think you’ll have the same shift with games: what you’re looking to get out of games will change from being “wowed” to something else. Maybe you’ll see how game studios grow and start to push themselves into realms that maybe you’ve seen before, but you’ll be excited for them when they discover it for the first time, and you’ll look on in wonderment and anticipation to see just how they will do it in their own way.

[@michaelhunter4891]

Thanks for sharing

[@knightmer3645]

While I agree with your perspective of "not throwing old things away, but finding new ways to look at them" I can't help but wonder how "different" can you look at games after you've had enough experience with them, because except for the indie scene which IS a trailblazer in itself by creating new genres and subgenres. I don't think anything other than bringing back player interaction which is lacking in MMO's specifically (except for Mabinogi which I've discovered yesterday) and developers listening to their playerbase like in RuneScape and implement features based on a poll, will ever make me look at a game and go "oh that's interesting" because once you've had enough experience with a genre, you basically know the big picture of it, and if you're not into finding the little details (which I don't) then I don't think there's much new things to discover. That said, I DO believe that new and interesting game mechanics CAN give us that sense of awe again like portal did with the physics puzzles or another game I've seen which lets you control 2 characters on black and white backgrounds and each can go only on their corresponding color, or hell even in Mabinogi I discovered you can LITERALLY level up by playing an instrument or becoming a cook, how about non-combat ways to play games, that'd be revolutionary in itself. I appreciate you taking the time to share your experience because it does relate pretty well, but at least for ME, I don't see the direct correlation between noticing how musicians mature to how games mature.. (I'm willing to listen and learn though)

[@quintennnnn]

For you, are there any songs or pieces in particular you might recommend that did 'wow' you? In the way that Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64 changed games, are there any songs that changed music? I'm curious to know how my tastes differ from someone who has listened to a lot more music.

[@bluehairedemon]

I can really relate to this in regards to photography, I remember my first few photos I took as amazing, and even though now I can easily make better ones, they still don't feel as impressive

[@HansyPants184]

It's the same reason music seems so impactful as a teenager yet most don't seem to seek out new bands over the age of 30-34. When you find something new it strikes an emotional chord and becomes new for you. It's why so many people believe that the pop music of their formative years is better than the pop of their 20s and 30s even though it's the same subject matter and chord progressions for the most part. Let's say the first time someone hears Nirvana at 13 years old. That becomes something really special. It becomes the thing that helps you to cope with the weird feelings that most folks start to feel at that age. When you hear something similar even if it's better objectively it becomes "That's really good, it sounds like Nirvana." It's good but things are only new and fresh once in a lifetime until something comes along (albeit more infrequently now since so much has been done) that actually feels new. It's why so many people claim they were born in "le wrong generation" as teenagers. Everyone wants to experience a revolution and as more of them happen historically, less feels fresh.

[@andrewg.3281]

People playing some of the "best games of all time" later when more recent games in the same series have already come out really shows the disconnect between what fans regard as the better game and with what is probably objectively the better game. Mario 3d all-stars was a great example of this to me. Mario 64 is constantly praised still for being one of the best games ever, but I saw many people who first played it through 3d all-stars and did not want to continue playing it. A game that is constantly called the best Mario game or even best game in general is skipped and not cared about by people who have only recently played it. Pretty much every single person I saw play mario 64 in 3d all-stars for the first time just wanted to play sunshine and galaxy instead, or even, didn't want to continue playing any of them at all and just went to play odyssey.

[@nickmajora]

When I think 'best of all time', I think 'best of its era relative to its peers' because it's unfair to compare a decades old game to what's currently available. For example, Ocarina of Time is arguably the greatest game ever made according to some people (and metacritic). That doesn't mean no game has surpassed it since, it means at the time it was released it was extraodinarily above anything else that was available at the time or had come before it. Whereas you seem to equate 'best of all time' with 'best to currently play right now' which is another (completely reasonable) list.

[@manny45629]

I grew up playing Mario 64, so on 3d all stars, Mario 64 is the only one I beat, the rest just weren’t as fun to me.

[@milanhenke343]

For me the best example of this is Skyrim. I love the game to bits, it's my favourite game. However, in comparison to a lot of other rpgs Skyrim just loses in most aspects. At the same time Skyrim is one of, if not the most loved rpgs of all time.

[@seemysight]

@@milanhenke343 Skyrim was the game that did it to me. I played it for years completely immersed. To the point I hate it. Or I used to hate untill I got Skyrim vr

[@artimist0315]

Mario Galaxy still holds up to this day since the controls and graphics are still very similar to what we have to date. I played it after odyssey, preferred it, and my little cousins that just finished odyssey as their first games are also impatient of trying it out. However since 64 and sunshine came out at a time when they were pioneers, looking back there is a lot wrong with these games. Galaxy not only felt like a never seen before experience but also is polished enough so it feels like it knows what it's doing. I didn't enjoy 64 and a friend's little brother who tried it didn't enjoy it as well.

[@yogxoth1959]

Beautiful video. I've experienced those feelings a few times in the past decade actually. SOMA, The Talos Principle, Bloodborne, and Outer Wilds, all did it for me. I highly recommend them!

[@TwoEyesOpen]

You were so good in this video at explaining things that everyone goes through growing up but often have trouble explaining or expressing. Just through the lense of gaming. Probably one of your best videos yet.

[@JBob08]

Some of my best memories are watching my friend play a game, or playing while he watched and worked as my "guide". Ocarina Of Time, in particular, will likely never be dethroned in my nostalgia.

[@jordivermeulen2519]

This perfectly mirrors my experience with anime. When I just started out, there were so many amazing titles to enjoy, and each one I watched brought some new thing that I'd never seen before. Then as you watch more, you start to notice all the patterns and tropes, and everything starts to feel like you've seen it before. Still, you always remember the first ones you watched as better, just because of the deep impression they left. Now there's maybe one show every two years or so that really manages to impress me, and I watch much less in general.

[@hovari545]

extremely relatable. My first anime was seven deadly sins. back when I finished it for the first time I was worried if I could enjoy any other animes anymore, since I was completely convinced I started out with the best one there is. Needless to say that wasn't exactly the case. Still got a soft spot for the first 2 seasons though.

[@arch_..]

that was me with anime in the lockdowns, finally started watching it again after 7 years without doing so and everything was such a new and amazing experience that I really fell in love. These days I only watch the seasons of the novels I enjoy, since I ended up moving away from anime to manga and from manga to Light Novels, specifically to learn and deepen my japanese skills but, still, the firsts are the best ones indeed.

[@l0rdfr3nchy7]

I disagree with this, my first anime was death note and my second Bleach. Now while i still think Death Note is a great anime, Bleach has become absolutely unwatchable in the same way My hero academia, attack on titan and Fairy tail and Demon slayer are absolutely unwatchable due to the terrible writing.

[@jordivermeulen2519]

@@l0rdfr3nchy7 well, the "endless" shows are something of an outlier in this sense. For Bleach, you just need to skip all the filler. I think the main story arc makes a pretty great show. But my primary point is that, while exceptions are obviously possible, the first shows you watch in each "genre" tend to feel better even if they're pretty similar to stuff you watch later. For example: I loved Amagami SS when it came out, it was very different from anything I'd ever seen before. When I rewatched it a few years ago, I honestly found it a bit cringy. I can also give an example in the opposite direction: I absolutely hated Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso/Your Lie in April. The story was extremely predictable and boring to me. Most people I've talked to that loved it haven't seen much else, so to them it's fresh. (I guess it doesn't help that I was already a huge fan of classical music, especially piano, before I watched it. I nearly threw my computer out the window when they put drums over Chopin's ballade...) Obviously masterpieces are still masterpieces. The first part of Death Note is one of the most interesting detective shows I've seen in any medium. Cowboy Bebop, Clannad, Spice and Wolf... I don't think it matters if you watch these shows early on or later. I actually appreciate them more and more as I continue to watch more other shows.

[@l0rdfr3nchy7]

@@jordivermeulen2519 man knows his anime, respect.

[@diluteduk]

The best games ever are the ones that you can keep replaying and still love them. The best games ever for me will always be Ocarina of Time and Castlevania Symphony of the Night.

[@chakazulu7927]

I can't stop playing Bloodborne, but my favorite is God of War (2018).

[@xcorr77]

A link to the past, I feel like I replay that game front to back every couple of years ever since the snes days

[@torrb420]

Yes and no. Some of my favorite games of all time didn't age that well. I remember that Bioshock was a massive system seller for me during the 7th gen console cycle. Beyond Oblivion, Mass Effect, and Dead Rising, I absolutely loved BioShock. Honestly, I have a hard time replaying it. Tried replaying it just this year after not having played it since the 360 era(beat it 10 times or so back in the day), and well, I just can't get into it anymore. Maybe because it was my first experience of an immersive-sim like experience...but too many other game like Prey 2016 I had played after that's just arguably better. Sure I still remember BioShock fondly of the feeling I had in my youth. Now as a middle aged guy, it just doesn't have that same spark.

[@Larissa-L]

As someone who just finished playing Uncharted 2 for the first time, it certainly is the best game I've ever played!

[@Walkerdude311]

I'm in the same spot, having difficulty enjoying games and finding a game that can pull me in like they used to. Hearing travelers in this video almost brought me to tears, longing for a time when I was so bright eyed to every game.

[@Hotshot2k4]

I'm just really glad that you addressed the "I have probably changed too" point towards the back half of the video. So many youtubers seem to lack self-awareness when they talk about how "things were just better in the old days", not realizing they sound just like their parents did when they were younger. Not to say it's a youtuber-exclusive oversight, but it just feels particularly ironic for people who make these sorts of videos for a large audience.

[@theflyingnone5616]

Y'know, I think I have that feeling about Ocarina of Time and Skyward Sword. OoT was one of my first Zelda games and I got really into the lore and manga. It made it feel like home, and like people I knew and loved were there. Then Skyward Sword came around it it was when I was first more mature. So, the relationships that were built up through the story felt incredibly real and made me feel for them. Combine that with the orchestral soundtrack that was given out as a special edition made it so beautiful to me. There's just this feeling. I can't explain it or describe it, just a feeling that lives there. I never quite get those feelings and emotions anymore, but when I look back at it I have this feeling in my chest that hits harder than nostalgia and will always be there for me to remember. This might be because it was at a time when I really was enjoying life and felt happy more often than not. In fact it probably is! But I'm not sure that it matters when it comes down to what you have in you heart for the games you love.

[@AutkastKain]

Honestly, I had this same exact experience, but with Horizon Zero Dawn. A friend showed it to me, and after just 20 minutes playing it, I went out and bought it. While he and I didn't play it together, it was that initial introduction that fueled my interest that sparked the wonder I felt in exploring the world that game had to offer.

[@retinas2001]

I feel like I don't have this problem so much because I didn't live through the times where video games were still becoming what they are today. From my perspective, I play things I haven't played before that are different to things I've already played, whether that means it's a new game or one from before I was born, and it's always interesting.

[@aerieleah533]

Your video made me envy my nephews. They have all this amazing content, and the space to be impressed by some amazing games. They get the magic. I've been thinking about how they'd react to amazing titles, especially something like BG3. Going to be a long time before either is old enough, but it's all these amazing games they get to learn about.

[@ThaCosmonaut]

I see this happening with my younger brother... he has access to all my games to the point he doesn’t value them anymore, I see him switching games and never finishing a lot of games. I guess he would appreciate them more if he had less of them or if he had paid for them himself

[@odinangie1377]

I used to sit and play Mario kart by myself for hours at a time. It was one of the only games I had. Now I literally have several dozen unfinished games with much more content that Mario kart that I neglect to play. It's wierd.

[@Gidaio]

Yeah, it's a funny world. I beat Wind Waker thirteen or more times when I was a kid. I did 100% completion runs and I did minimalist runs. New Game+ and not. Now I can hardly convince myself to replay the games I truly love, while barely scratching the list of games I own that I haven't played.

[@xxnilgerxx8924]

@@Gidaio I did exactly that when i got wind waker for the gamecube

[@omeganave7425]

I know what you mean, I used to be able to play 300 hours of Garry’s Mod alone somehow, and enjoy every minute of it. Didn’t even play online, just spawned a bunch of npcs, rag dolls, etc, and played around with them, making stories. Now I can’t even do that for a half hour without feeling bored. Wish I could go back to that time, most of the games I have now I don’t even finish. Literally have only played the new Mario Golf for one day a month ago and haven’t touched it since!

[@jdisdetermined]

Yep, same here. I still haven't even finished GTA5 or RDR2 main stories.

[@talesoftableiii1584]

I love the larger life thoughts at the end. And honestly Yeah, I feel that. It's sad that we don't get to have as many of those "this is the best game ever" type moments, but now, I feel that I can more fully appreciate the things that helped to shape me as a person, and though I can admit that they are not actually the best, I can recognize to me that they were and are the best.

[@TheDutchCreeperTDC]

I know that you are in an entirely different phase of your life, but so many of the effects of "growing up" resonate with me as a 23 year old. By no means do I have all the answers and I for sure hope I never become an old bitter man who pretends he does, but certainly as your frame of reference extends with all the experiences you gain in life, you get wiser... sure... but you also get more cynical and letting an experience truly get through to you takes an increasing amount of effort.

[@CreativeCubeChannel]

"This is the best game I've ever played" was something I said while playing Ghost Of Tsushima, it brought me right back to the good times I've had with Assassin's Creed 2 but in a setting I was more fond of and with large improvements gameplay wise.

[@ShinobudRUski]

Ghost was fantastic.

[@tigrankhachaturian8983]

@@ShinobudRUski so was assassin's creed 2. I actually like it way more than 3 last games. It had some soul And I'm talking more or less objectively, because I played that game only around 2 years ago

[@CreativeCubeChannel]

@MrPerkamentus it was the first game I ever got a platinum trophy in, because I just couldn't get enough of the gameplay and the world. Some tasks are repetitive for sure, but completing them accompanied by great visuals and soundtrack felt unbelievably rewarding.

[@night1952]

@@tigrankhachaturian8983 Because it's still the best AC game and most of the games in its genre are carbon copies of it with worse stories but keeping the same bad combat mechanics. AC2 isn't even that good of a game, it's carried by its story, characters and historical setting, the gameplay was pretty bad even back then. Meanwhile Tsushima took what worked in that kind of game and massively improved the combat.

[@VallisYT]

Beautifully captured the lost nostalgia of growing up. Sometimes I mourn the innocence and uniqueness of first times which are rarely matched by subsequent experiences. At other times, I am quite content with the way things are, for now there are less experiences that thoroughly change me and my outlook on life yet I can more competently judge their quality if I stumble across something truly special and cherish these rare occurences precisely for their rarity. Since I cannot bring back the innocence of childhood, this second approach seems to be the more adequate and healthy one in order go come to grips with adulthood.

[@captainblastems3367]

Maybe the games you play now don’t shape you because you are you (for lack of better phrasing). By the time I was 18 I kind of knew who I wanted to be and so I wouldn’t say games nowadays shape my personality or outlook on life because I already have my own outlook. I’m curious if you see adulthood as something that makes you less “happy” or as Raz put it “less bright eyed” and if so why do you feel that way?

[@VallisYT]

@@captainblastems3367 Hey, thank you for reaching out! I think I would like to distinguish "happy" from being "bright eyed". Being in my early twenties (and thus arguably at the beginning of adulthood), I feel like I am more confident in regards to myself and my place in the world than I was a couple years ago, mainly due to the transformational effects you mentioned in your first paragraph (having experienced some years full of experiences and thus finding my own outlook on life, as you have put it). And yes, this makes me (at least some of time) happy, although "happy" not in the sense of "overjoyed and wide grinning all the time" but in the sense of a subtle, underlying sense of contentment. But while I may pride myself on my past experiences, for they have made me confident in myself and subsequently (somewhat) happy, they have also led to a loss of the sense of child-like wonder, or, as Raz put it, being "bright eyed". In my early childhood, every piece of media, be it a video game, a book, or a movie, was the first of its kind and thus provided me with a vast range of new experiences. I remember how I was introduced to Minecraft around the age of 12 or 13 and subsequently spent hours exploring this endless world and building houses, each bigger than the one before. I remember playing Knights of the Old Republic, which was the first "grown-up" game I played, and how every aspect of this game was totally new to me. Yet over the following years of my youth, I played hundreds of video games, and with every new game, the overall novelty of the medium has worn off. By now, I have seen dozens of games that work like Knights of the Old Republic, and I cannot help but immediately notice the underlying mechanics and parallels to other games-"aha, this is an RPG, this aspect reminds me of Game X, the combat is not as good as in Game Y, this story twist is like the one in Game Z, they used this marketing strategy, the developer made that other game..."-all of which robs me of the joy of seeing a game as something completely new, and for me, this is the essential part to most of my cherished gaming memories. Nowadays, I rarely play video games because they usually take way too much time and, unfortunately, I appear to have a little bug in the back of my mind that constantly tells me I shouldn't be using my time to play video games and instead go do something that contributes more to my goals. However, I have made the same experience as described in the second paragraph with movies-having seen almost 700 movies, it is a most rare occurrence that a film manages to thrill me by showing me something I haven't seen before. As I wrote in my first comment, this is the way things are (at least for me as someone who is prone to overanalyzing everything and being more thought-heavy than emotional in general), but I try to make the best of it. However, I think I disagree with the second sentence of your comment. Being in my mid-20s, I know much more about myself than I did a couple years ago, yet the process of growing up and finding myself isn't finished yet, and probably never will be, and I am quite sure that stimulating input in the form of games, movies, books, conversations, and so on can play an important role in the process-and even if truly formative experiences are becoming increasingly rare, I am grateful for all the ones I had and all the ones that are yet to come. PS: I found your comment to be quite thought-provoking, so I used it as an opportunity for introspection and dumped the results in the paragraphs above, because I usually find that writing my thoughts down helps me to structure them. If you made it this far, thanks for staying with me. If you would like to share your thoughts on the topic, I'd be most happy to read them :)

[@leftovernoise]

I can confidently say I the outer wilds will the "best game Ive ever played" title for a very very long time. PS, echoes of the eye slapps so fuckin hard Edit to clarify: as someone in my 30s, who hasn't had a "best game Ive ever played" feeling since I was a teenager

[@Graeko]

Yo same man, just started EoE

[@lizardlegend42]

Same dude, I'm actually shocked how well they've managed to weave EotE into the base game whilst both recapturing its magic and not altering the original's nigh perfection in the slightest! It's honestly almost as impressive a feat as making the base game so damn good in the first place.

[@EphraimGlass]

Just this afternoon, at the age of 40, I announced that Outer Wilds is the best game I've ever played - a title that until that moment had been held by Super Metroid for at least 25 years.

[@leftovernoise]

@@Graeko I'm probably a good chunk of the way through the dlc and it has exceeded all ofy expectations

[@shrub4248]

fuck yeah, same. the only thing that's matched it for me is Disco Elysium

[@xStormTruckerx]

I can relate to this. As much as I like to think "games used to be better" , there are games out there that can "woow" you in diffrent ways. A couple of years ago when Yakuza Zero launched in the west I was fully captivated by the game. It was something different from all the other games I've played. The game have some flaws, but it felt refreshing to play.

[@Mikkel_2407]

This game series has unmatched story and action quality

[@mackinblack]

Eh... its a good game no doubt. But the story isnt what id call "unmatched"

[@alexmeresbabyboy852]

Lul “unmatched story”🤡🤡🤡

[@daniloberserk]

I mean... What's the point playing a game for the story and "action" quality if the gameplay sucks? May aswell just watch someone else play. You can have both. Like Celeste did, and with a story that actually makes sense in the perspective of the gameplay.

[@slimesoup7944]

Bad take man

[@es2cs]

I agree with this more than anything. Sadly playing older games I missed has gave me so much more enjoyment than most new games. Sure, I love a lot of new games but the ratio of old to new isn’t even close. The older games were just so unique and revolutionized genres versus just continuing them

[@AutismFamilyChannel]

Very interesting video. I feel like there is franchise burnout nowadays because studio publishers wan't to sell a known quantity to guarantee profits (Hollywood has been doing this for decades) so we see the next Call of Duty (and clones), the next Assassin's Creed, the next Madden, the next Forza and Gran Turismo, etc. I really wish Valve would get back to making more games (yes there was Alyx but how many gamers have VR?) because they really understood how to innovate. If they can just learn how to count to 3 we would have some truly revolutionary games. That may sound like a contradiction because I'm asking for Valve sequels, but they would not only iterate between titles but innovate so much that the next game felt entirely new and exciting. Even if Valve didn't make trilogies I'd take whatever new IP they made ;)

[@dream6562]

I mean true but most of the games that still blow me away in some aspects are usually coming from the eastern side of the gaming industry such as atlas and Falcom, while they are a more niche company imo they do really well on world building and story

[@EricRamz]

VR is the future of gaming and Valve has made the best vr headset and game. Don’t undermine them because you don’t have vr yet That’s like getting upset at Nintendo for not making 2d Mario games.

[@kylehill1523]

@@EricRamz I hate how the reply feature works where it all has 200 replies and mine never gets seen. I don't even know how to reply on this site properly.

[@keysersoze9651]

One of the reasons valve could no more making big games because there is very less scope to innovate. Half life introduced FPS with great environmental storytelling, Half life 2 featured the physics engine. Portal and Portal-2 featured an entirely unique game mechanic. This all innovations were possible due to the fact that the tech was still in early stage. Now there is very little room for true innovation and maybe that's why they went for a VR game

[@Diphenhydra]

It’s this line of thinking that is probably stopping them from wanting to create new games. How could they ever live up to the expectation that millions of people have put upon them?

[@scottbertrand98]

This is EXACTLY how I feel about Fallout New Vegas. It was the first Fallout I had ever played, and it was the most epic groundbreaking experience of my gaming life. Same with Skyrim and Fallout 3 but not to the same extent (I played those after New Vegas) Fast forward to when Fallout 4 was announced and my hype was through the roof. I was so excited to jump back into the world and experience something new with Fallout. Although Fallout 4 is an incredible game in its own right, it will never measure to New Vegas in my eyes.

[@Schweinegulasch]

I started with Fallout 4 then played new Vegas because most people regard it as the best. I was bored and stopped playing. Exploring and the world itself was not my cup of tea

[@konczdavid]

I also quite enjoyed Uncharted 2, but I preferred the third game over it because I felt like it found a way healthier balance between its elements. It focused more on explorational parts and puzzles and less on shooting/combat (which was always a weak and underdeveloped part of the series up until the fourth game). Plus it had a more mature and emotionally more gripping story (although with some shortcomings). And I think the fourth one was even better, thanks to an advance in its storytelling and in its gameplay (the combat finally hit a really good level in terms of quality). My only real problem with that game was Nadine's character.

[@Yu7Zi]

It’s strange that one of the first memorable games I ever played was Infinity Blade on iOS. I can’t help but think that for me is the best game ever. It changed gaming for me and showed me how well a great, cool and understandable story can be implemented into a game with gameplay that just flows.

[@yodal_]

Raz: "Titanfall 2, and I know I'm going to be eviscerated for this..." Me: Titanfall 2 was great! This take can't be that bad. Raz: "... is better than Half-Life 2." Me: Where's my damn crowbar. Actually though, while I think they have a lot of overlap in the experiences they provide, and in those experiences Titanfall 2 exceeds Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2 still outstrips it in that feel of being in a living world, at least for me.

[@UnicornStorm]

He kinda only used technical aspects as a metric. good design is timeless and independent from (but informed by) the technical capabilities of the time I don't think Celeste is better than Super Mario World, just better on a purely technical level... maybe. I mean, no one would really say that RE6 is better than RE4, even though it controls smoother and has better graphics.

[@TheDustyForest]

Idk man, I used to hold HL2 on this pedestal until I played it again for the first time in about 10 years a few weeks ago. It's just... fine. It's still very obvious how influential and game-changing (pardon the pun) it was when it came out, but now it's just a very mediocre FPS game imo. Episode 2 for me is still excellent, but HL2 itself just isn't that amazing any more. Huge parts of it just drag on forever. Once you're used to the physics systems it introduced to the world from playing a decade's worth of games that followed in it's footsteps, it becomes very apparent how much of the game seems implemented specifically to allow you to play around with the engine. On top of that, for a game revered as one of the best story-driven FPS games, it really doesn't have a particularly deep story, or in actuality very much of a story (that's one of the main reasons I think Episode 2 is better and still holds up).

[@Skallva]

@@UnicornStorm Celeste and SMW aren't even that comparable because they are driven by completely different design philosophies, with Celeste being a room-based precision platformer and SMW a stage-based endurance run (to a degree - it's still Mario at the end of the day). So with these two, it's more about what you value in your platformer rather than their inherent quality that dictates which one you feel is better. Me personally, having grown up with action platformers like Castlevania and Mega Man, I had a much easier time getting into SMW than Celeste. It didn't blow me away or anything but I'd never felt as exhausted playing it as I did going through the B-sides in Celeste.

[@UnicornStorm]

@@Skallva yeah of course. It's already hard to compare videogames because there are just too many points in which they can differ. It's not just genre, generation (actual release OR emulated, like modern pixel platformers), scope or target audience. There are 100s of sub genre and every other game tries to have a unique mechanic or implement a mechanic in a unique way. Comparing movies or music is already hard enough, but with games it gets absurd. We can talk about the few similarities in Celeste and Mario World but as you said, they are too different to really make an honest AND accurate comparison, especially since both are really well made.

[@ido8]

I honestly think some of the core elements of Half Life 2, those that made it such a remarkable game, haven't been topped since. I would say it's mainly the world, atmosphere, immersion and pacing, that draw me back again year after year to play it. Obviously mechanics have improved, but when looking for those core elements, nothing I played ever came close.

[@perspicacity89]

This is an absolutely incredible video. I love your essays. You are so on point and good. I'm so thankful I found your channel!

[@piggytripper3704]

Metal Gear Solid V is one of the few games that made me go "This is the best game I've ever played". I was used to playing linear games for the most part, like Assassin's Creed or Uncharted. I was used to being told what I should be doing and how I should approach a situation. I used to think thats how it was supposed to be. Then I played MGSV. This game single handedly changed what I thought video games could be. Its a genuinely liberating experience. To this day I don't think any other game has matched the absolute wonder this gave provided me with.

[@daxongeldmacher2747]

I guess we're the same person because this is exactly how it went for me. MGS V will always be the best game ever

[@TadejVig]

Funnily enough, I think MGSV was a massive disappointment and the worst MGS game.

[@JZStudiosonline]

Clearly you haven't played MGS3. It's basically the same, but better than 5 in every way except for the fact that it's on PS2 so the areas aren't as big and open. But it's got WAY more stuff and details you can do that I'm extremely disappointed MGSV didn't bring back in. Just as small examples, if you shoot an enemy in the arm they'll drop their rifle and switch to a pistol, you can blow up their ammo and food dumps so they'll run out of ammo and be hungry. If MGSV brought in half the features MGS3 had it would have 50x more replay value to really just keep fucking around and experimenting.

[@jada90]

Outer Wilds BLEW MY 30 YEAR OLD MIND when I played it. When I finally blasted off in the ship. My goodness. It gave me chills. Thrilling, terrifying chills. It was the first time in years I felt a video game was fresh. We've been so conditioned to what video games are that I took all that for granted until Outer Wilds destroyed every invisible wall and gave unprecedented freedom.

[@stevenscott2136]

I didn't get anything like that, but I'm old enough to remember when we thought humanity was entering a grand adventure of space exploration, and OW startled me by recapturing some of that feeling.

[@thevenator3955]

I love so many different games for so many different reasons, so I tend to not try to rank them, or say “this one is the best of this type of game”. However, the one exception is RDR2. I can confidently say that RDR2 is the best story driven game I’ve ever played (so far, of course), and I get even more sure of that every time I rewatch gameplay of it.

[@hydraofeire2226]

I watched a KZbin short that showed the last moments before the sun rised a few days ago, I legitimately felt sad and it felt hard to watch. It was a year since I've seen that moment in the game.

[@waitingforbotw2andsilksong743]

Have you played the last of us?

[@benjaminhoffman3848]

This video reminded me of Eccelisastes and "Nothing is new under the sun." As you get older, it truly starts to feel as though nothing is new and just rehashes what came before. Good video.

[@kentertainment9426]

Can’t believe Quest 64 used to be my “best game ever made”. We didn’t have a memory card, so I played the crap out of the first 2 hours of that game.

[@Link21Majora]

I think that's because when we were young kids who weren't vastly experienced in anything, we ended up having low standards (which there is nothing wrong with that). Hence many things felt way better than what has been commonly said about them, or what you realise about the product later in life. Combined with the fact games were harder to get and less advanced, probably, so people were grateful for what they had.

[@simonrockstream]

Truly a welcome and eye-opening video that explains every feeling i've had in the past decade. Thank you for this!

[@botanifolf9767]

"You. You're finally awake." When I heard that line for the first time I thought nothing of it. Little did I know that it was the first line of the best game I've ever played. Skyrim did everything right for me. I felt like I could do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. I had the freedom to use whatever spells I wanted on whoever I wanted. I could steal from houses, be an assassin, study magic, become a werewolf, raise an army of the dead, befriend dragons and the game did nothing to stop me. Skyrim let me play through three completely different storylines how I wanted and never tried to steer me to a certain playstyle; something I feel is becoming more prevalent. Ori and the Will of the Wisps is one of my favourite games I've ever played, but I felt forced into a melee playstyle, any ranged attack used energy and enough of it that it became too annoying to keep track of and I wound up only using energy for sections that required hitting a switch with the bow. The story was fantastic and the art was stunning. But contrast swinging a sword around at bugs to leading a castle of vampire lords by whichever method you see fit and it becomes obvious that there wasn't much choice in Ori. Another example of forced playstyle that bothers me is Terraria. I have always noticed a sort of "melee bias" in games, where the most powerful items are melee weapons and the most epic classes are melee classes, and the melee class is always in the center of the picture. Terraria 1.3 was a complete exception, to be the most powerful by the endgame you have to struggle through the early phases of being a mage and by the end you had the most versatile weapons in the game. ReLogic saw this and said "Oh no, the most powerful weapon isn't melee, lets fix that real quick." and just added a melee ultimate weapon to assert their melee supremacist ideas, just for the sake of making melee the optimal way to play. Skyrim felt like what a game should be, an open world in which you can do whatever you want and are not restricted to the way the developers want you to play.

[@saintsalieri]

Stealth Archer is one of my favorite games of all time too.

[@dallaselgin2636]

tl;dr

[@steampowered6883]

Skyrim has completely gone stale for me. I have no interest in even finishing Dragonborn, yet Morrowind remains evergreen. Skyrim's world is just too generic and its mechanics too shallow.

[@saintsalieri]

@@steampowered6883 I think Skyrim's mechanics are unfairly derided. They have a little of the dopamine hit of a push notification, which might seem manipulative. But they're the best implementation yet of the Elder Scrolls idea of "levelling by doing," which I think is taken for granted now. I also think the fact that you don't have to specialize builds but can do EVERYTHING on one character is a feature, not a bug. There are enough games that require choice, Skyrim facilitates expression and exploration at all levels. I don't really care for the "gritty" and Nordic setting of Skyrim either. But its worldbuilding and environmental storytelling are much more fleshed out than Morrowind. Morrowind's more unique and alien environment is intrinsically more appealing, but the game does show its age. (First Elder Scrolls I played was Morrowind). Getting rid of die rolls in favor of action combat was also a good move - and I think Skyrim's combat is more fun than is acknowledged, too. I hate shooters but I will snipe Draugr all day.

[@frown2462]

I literally never play as an archer or ranged class in any game if I can help it. I still ended up a stealth archer in literally every playthrough I ever did of skyrim. There is an observable force that pushes players into that playstyle, I don't know.

[@kylespevak6781]

4:45 They also have a better understanding of what sells the most and how to get the most money out of the player. Pretty much every developer would rather play it safe and do what everybody else is doing than make something truly groundbreaking. That's why a majority of new ideas come from indie games

[@danishnande9629]

The from Among Thieves gives me chills each and every time. It is beyond a doubt a masterpiece and each time I've played it I have loved the experience from start to finish. I only wish I could experience it for the first time all over again

[@craiginith]

Great video. I find myself sometimes searching for those feelings I had long when I first played Oblivion, Half Life 2, Bioshock, and Vanilla WoW by replaying the games for another take at it. While it is fun and nostalgic, it just doesn't add up to the entire experience that it once was because, at the time, those were the new groundbreaking games that changed gaming. It also was at a different time in my life where I was able to relax with a game after school and not have to worry about the struggles of adulthood. Everything was new and exciting, but now after experiencing more I found that I have greater cynical behavior toward gaming at a whole sometimes. I feel like I should spend my time being more productive toward my goals, which is a good thing overall, but it has made games less enjoyable. Overall, enjoy things while you have them because they won't last forever.

[@awithee119]

You are literally the GOAT of ending lines. I know going into all of your videos that the last line will give me chills. Great stuff!

[@CreamusG]

idk. I'm almost 30 and my favorite game still changes roughly every year. Within the past month I've beaten maybe a game every 3 days or so. I've gotten quite good at figuring out why I like certain games. I don't know why it hasn't died down for me. I think what I do subconsciously is treat the entirety of my gaming experience as just 1 experience, rather than apply each individual game as its own experience. I didn't always feel that way. Wasn't until I was about 20 or so when I started noticing that I got bored too easily. I feel there is hope, since I can say first hand that it's there.

[@CreamusG]

@The Rotten💯 While I don't doubt my experience can (and probably will) change, the main thing was that I do explicitly remember a period of maybe 3-4 years in my life where no games looked appealing at all. I grew out of that somehow.

[@flachemakouine4291]

How do you even beat a game in 3 days

[@CreamusG]

@@flachemakouine4291 I'm disabled and have a lot of time :)

[@renatocorvaro6924]

This is the best video I've ever watched.

[@snooppp8873]

this is the best comment I've ever read.

[@hiiistrex2838]

@@snooppp8873 this is the best reply I've ever seen.

[@rubub8455]

@@hiiistrex2838 this is the best reply to a reply I've ever witnessed.

[@michaelhowell5215]

I had that same span of time a while ago that every year or so I played “the best game ever”; Shadow of the Colossus, Journey, Okami. But I think out of all the games I felt that way about the only one that never gets talked about is Braid. The puzzles were just unbelievably clever and the story and music were top tier.

[@WildNWillie]

This is seriously such a special channel. I love the work you do man. Thanks for the hard work.

[@diego1345]

As someone who played the whole Uncharted series for the first time in 2019, Uncharted 4 is ahead of all the others by a mile. It is an unforgettable experience that hits really hard when you play them all back to back.