Why I Usually Prefer Retro Games

[@williamhououin]

If you enjoyed this, I recommend you go watch my other video games discussion video! kzbin.info/www/bejne/e2XcZGppfpWfZ5Ysi=0krKHdEkOlLhE2yH

[@Coco-Don]

Modern games just aren’t what they used to be. I miss complete games on launch.

[@emperorontheinternet6510]

I stopped playing AAA games around 2014 because it felt more like the games wanted to play themselves with how often control was ripped from the player and how shallow the mechanics were. I turned to indie, AA and retro and I couldn't be happier more gameplay and more freedom in the gameplay, less loading and less time downloading stuff, less monetization, unique artstyles making each game different instead of the same realism that blends everything together etc. modern games just feel more like a chore than a fun activity especially multiplayer ones. For your last point it feels like people can't enjoy anything anymore without dragging it through a "political" lens and actively looking for things to get upset.

[@williamhououin]

@@emperorontheinternet6510 totally agree, I’m a big fan of indie games nowadays, have been for the past 4-5 years. My favourite game of all time is ScourgeBringer!

[@GeneralChangFromDanang]

I thought I was the only one that felt this way. I can't stand Assassins Creed games for this reason. It basically punishes you for trying to play the game how you want instead of how they want.

[@Twiddle_things]

I miss being able to pop a disc into my xbox and immediately get to playing without needing a 16 exabyte update and some BS account and subscription

[@williamhououin]

Started playing Dead Space Remake this week (it’s on Ps plus) and had to agree to a bunch of licensing agreements before starting playing… it’s exhausting lol It’s quite an enjoyable game tho

[@ishanroychowdhury6562]

Nice video Will! Awesome sponsor! Glad you're being noticed by them big companies ;) xD

[@Apathesis0]

Art direction was more unique those days.

[@williamhououin]

@@Apathesis0 I suppose they had no choice since making something really realistic was out of reach

[@wire_hall_medic8470]

For me, it boils down to a couple of things. 1) Complete game for a set price. I want the game to be complete when I buy it, no day 1 patches, no slapped-on DLC that doesn't fit with the coherency of the base game, no friggin' microtransactions. Additionally, I want the game to work when your servers are down, and I want to own it rather than rent it indefinitely. 2) Insanely deep library. While I don't strictly stick to the 16-bit era, that's where most of my interest lies. Just in the libraries of the Genesis, SNES, and GBA, I'm continually finding new treasures. 3) Graphical fidelity is a trap and a lie. The cost of improving anything is a curve, not a line. If your goal is to look photorealistic, it's going to age horribly and be very expensive. As I said my main area of interest is the 16-bit era, which is when I feel the pixel density and color pallet size really got to a place where stylized graphics held up great. Games like Golden Axe, Super Metroid, and Donkey Kong Country still look evocative.

[@marcosdheleno]

just wanna point out that, "usually prefer" doesnt really mean as much as you think, when you realize that the vast majority of games ever released are, in fact, retro games. not only that, but for all the issues modern games have today, we also tend to forget all the bullshitery that was rampant during those nostalgia filled times. shit like arbitrary dificulty spikes because they wanted games to "last" and that was the easiest way to achieve it. or, in the case of absurd monetization, arcades with the most predatory designs they could get away with. not just that, but while its true that newer games have buggy launches, this is not something "modern", many games from back in the day also released buggy, hell, so many of nintendo's own first party games are buggy messes. just ask any pokemon player about gen 1 nonsense and you will have a a list almost as long as the amount of games on the n64 itself. speaking of pokemon, it also had many terrible monetization practices. so just remember, shit looks bad today, but "back in the day" it wasnt the paradise we love to think it was. instead of "always online" or season passes, we had atrocious DRM that were built INTO the games themselves. and finally, while people like to point to modern games and say we get alot of trash today, i want you to remember that, the VAST majority of games for most consoles was literal unplayable garbage. BUT the only way we would know was either buying it, renting it, or being told by someone we trusted. because magazines were not trustworthy at all. they peddled so much bullshit, they make IGN actually looks credible by comparison.

[@williamhououin]

I actually with a bunch of those points, it was an insightful read (btw if you have a better title idea I’m all ears!)

[@The8bitbeard]

Before the most recent gaming controversy, I once expressed online, nostalgia for the gaming culture of the late 90s. PC Gamer has their coconut monkey and EGM played a game they called "decapitato" in their office where they chucked a Frisbee at each other as hard as they could in a hallway. It always looked like they were all such good friends and had a great time, and it was all about the games. I distinctly remember a comment that told me I was remembering things wrong, and that it was that gaming culture that was "problematic" and needed to change. They cited the old "booth babes" at E3 as one sign of the issues surrounding things at the time. I still miss it.

[@williamhououin]

Modern gaming be like: “you don’t like our game, you certainly have problems… it’s not us, it’s you”

[@Hamsta180]

Retro games definitely had load times, whether it was booting a Commodore 64 disc, or in title screens between stages, as short as those might be

[@erinroberts7751]

Oh my gawd 😂that sponsor , instant subscribe for that one

[@williamhououin]

@@erinroberts7751 cheers! I was quite happy with the tagline too: if you need something, you probably need stuff!

[@samuelschwager]

Games were more pricey relatively back in the 90s, but there was retail/physical games, the games were complete, some nice artwork and manual, no day 1 patches/DLCs/microtransactions...so in a way you got better value.

[@williamhououin]

@@samuelschwager oh yeah, that was definitely a better value. I remember even the Gameboy had some chunky manuals sometimes. Oh and back in the 90s here, you had both English and French versions of the manuals!

[@Tenacityfromtheglass]

Great video, man! Long live retro games

[@longann7560]

100% d'accord avec toi, je vis au Québec et j'ai 51 ans et je suis depuis quelques années, revenu à mes anciennes amour, les bons vieux jeux retro. Les loading screen en 2024 chu pu capable. Toute les jeux devraient être instantané. On a encore l'impression de jouer avec nos PS1 qui prenait un éternité pour loader un tableau. Les esti de DLC, pay to win, XP, ça tué le marché des jeux. C'est de la crotte. Pis les grosses corporation qui font des jeux aujourd'hui, font des jeux plate à mourir. Dans le temps on payait et on avait un jeu complet, testé, et pratiquement sans aucun bug. Aujourd'hui on paie pour faire la job des tester, et les jeux sont patché pendant 1 an avant d'être jouables c'est dégueulasses ! Anciennement fallait avoir de la dextérité, des réflexes, et pratiquer pour maîtriser un jeu, Aujourd'hui ils font les jeux pour tout le monde, sont facile d'accès, c'est rare qu'il te faut des réflexes de Félix le chat pour performer. Aucune satisfaction à finir un jeu alors que dans le temps du NES et SNES, finir un jeu était un accomplissement et un exploit en soit, bref....I miss the good old days. En passant j'ai écouté ton vidéo jusqu'à la fin 😉

[@williamhououin]

Ah! C’est rare que j’ai un commentaire d’un compatriotr québécois! C’est cool quand même 😄 C’est clair que l’univers du jeu vidéo a changé pas mal, j’ai quand même plusieurs jeux récents, mais je dirais qu’en général, les problèmes que tu mentionne résonne pas mal avec moi. Mais c’est fou quand même: les enthousiastes que nous sommes on tendance à croire que les pratiques de monétisation douteuses tue l’industrie, visiblement ils font plus de cash que jamais… en tout cas jusqu’à récemment (*tousse* Condor, *tousse* Star Wars 😅) Anyway, on les jeux indépendants et des tonnes de jeux rétro à jouer!

[@longann7560]

@@williamhououin Ils font du cash avec la monétisation c'est clair oui, mais regarde bien Ubisoft, avec Star Wars Outlaw qui a été botché ils sont en train de frapper le fond du baril, bien hate de voir ce qui va arriver pour la suite. Bon et bien je me suis abonné à ta chaine, et je vais aller me taper une partie de Double Dragon Reloaded, un bon remake bien refait ! On se reparle bientôt chaow !

[@DracMazoku]

Fully resonate with everything you said! Good vid. Aussi, la façon que tu as dit "Metro-ide", avec le tréma sur ton i, je reconnais un compatriote Québécois quand j'en entends un LOL (sorry if I'm wrong 😅)

[@williamhououin]

Allô! Chu super québécois 😂 A bunch of people have commented here and some brought up good counter points tho. It was a very interesting video to make and get some discussions going with other gamers! Cheers!

[@thiagof414]

Thank you!

[@williamhououin]

You’re welcome! Glad you enjoyed it 😄

[@tehbloch]

with respect to the size of games today back in the 98-00 you would have a 4gb HDD and games would take up about 1/4 of what you had left (after all your OS software) so the fact that a game takes up a 10th of a TB is actually an improvement despite how much larger they are numerically. the big problem with modern games and sizes is just install times

[@williamhououin]

That’s a good point. I’ll admit I probably have a blind side with the PC gaming of the 90s, I was playing my snes all day lol

[@demilung]

I dunno man, I'm here having the time of my life playing Armored Core 6.

[@williamhououin]

@@demilung you’re not wrong! There’s a lot of fantastic modern games too. I’ve been having a blast with games in the past few years, I’m just always drawn to the older stuff, and got annoyed so many times by “modern” stuff But Kena: Bridge of Spirit, Wanted:Dead, Stellar Blade to name a few are newer games I enjoyed immensely

[@grantstratton4629]

Quick google search says that inflation in the US between 1985 and today is approximately 200% (things are 3x more expensive). I used 1985 because a lot of the classic NES games are from about that year. So... would we all pay $180 for a AAA game if it meant no DLC, no loot boxes, and no monetization? Then again, I'm not sure this is exactly fair. NES / Genesis / SNES games are a lot shorter than today's games in general, however, increases in technology probably makes the process easier and thus games cheaper to produce compared to back then. You can find a bunch of indie games with no monetization in the $20-30 price range today.

[@williamhououin]

@@grantstratton4629 that’s such a good question honestly, I don’t have a definitive answer. It would cost less in a way (some people are spending way more than that on some games with microtransactions) There’s a bunch of stuff that costs 3x more than they used to and people seems to be paying for it. Like going to the movies here used to cost around $5-$7, now it’s like $15 for a ticket. Just brainstorming here… idk if we would collectively be fine with this pricing

[@Darth001]

Last great generation of games was 360/ps3 era but thats also when they started to bring in micro transactions and day one patches more often. Plus on ps3 definitely the start of installing a game to hdd before you could play it. But that generation was the last time i really enjoyed games on consoles. After that i turned to pc gaming and haven't looked back. On pc can still play old games online or mod them and you can emulate older systems all on the same device plus multiplayer is free. Last new game i bought was hogwarts legacy which i enjoyed and skull and bones but was disappointed. The older i get the more i turn to indy games like hades for instance so many hours in that game. Currently playing of hades two and its just as fun cant wait till full release. Indy devs seem to put there heart into there games with replayabuilty while big game makers tend to put to much in putting what they think will sell but is far from the mark

[@JustJohn43]

Could I get a discount code for some STUFF

[@williamhououin]

@@JustJohn43 That would be great huh? It just gave me an idea for tomorrow video’s sponsor!

[@JustJohn43]

@@williamhououin I know a video is gonna be good vibes when the creator has a skit sponsored ad man

[@RacerC45]

Hey! Not all modern games are bad, you know? You want me to give you some examples?

[@williamhououin]

@@RacerC45 of course :) And I agree, here’s some I quite enjoyed myself: Ghost of Tsushima ; Stellar Blade ; Kena Bridge of Spirits ; Wanted Dead Looking forward to seeing yours 😄

[@silentbilly7971]

Not really anything after 7th gen is pretty terrible except a few exceptions like nier automata, persona5, fallout4, bualdersgate3, darksouls3, elden ring, smtv, dooms, and the new metaphor game seems great from the demo the only other good games are small indies atleast on xbox&playstation, nintendo has always had great games, but maybe you like final fantasy or the witcher but personally I don't like ff and I couldn't read the text in witcher 3 hardly so hard to enjoy it every other game I tried was either copy paste garbage or scummy live service titles

[@alen2937]

No, please do not include dad walking simulators on your list.

[@williamhououin]

@@alen2937 dad walking simulator? Tell me more!

[@alen2937]

@@williamhououin Dad walking simulators are games quite akin to games that are more movies than games. Where you have to go tediously from point a to point b, with little action but lots of cutscenes with no player interaction nor gameplay.