Is Nostalgia Just Stubbornness?

Jason says, "I’ve been around the sun enough times and watched the gaming industry change. But perhaps not everyone does so well with change, and maybe, just maybe a part of the problem is nostalgia. Or is it just stubbornness?

I discuss this (along with a few glimpses of the good ol’ days!)."

[z2g]

Yup. Some people also just don’t like change.

[Crows90]

Especially if the change is in the wrong direction. We're not dealing with the typical case of a 80 year old not knowing how to use a touch screen monitor or how to use any other computer than their own.

A lot of changes in the industry have been bad.

[drizzom]

When 'change' is used in such a nebulous fashion it could mean anything. People dont have a problem with change. They have a problem when the change is an awful one.

Instead of saying 'change' try being a bit more specific.

[Lexreborn2]

I honestly hate discussing nostalgia with people. It’s always the same dialogue… “back in the day” “when I was a kid!” *insert petty inconvenience*…

And when you give a differing view it’s always perceived as an attack and not an additional view. People put to much of their existence into nostalgia, using it as a validation of life and not an experience.

I personally remember older games looking breath taking back in the day. So, seeing them now with all of the advancements. I often ask myself was I blind or how did it look that good to me?

Then I realize… I was a kid… I didn’t know a damn thing as a kid.

[0hMyGandhi]

You're seeing changes within the industry from a purely aesthetic lens, rather than how these companies (in particular the publishers) use new buzzwords with whiteboard and string type scheming and how they prey on the ignorant and indifferent to pad their bottom line.

Nostalgia, for me, as a 31-year-old, goes back to knowing that I can buy a PS1/N64 game from a store and know that the whole game is there, with no launch day patches or 30gb+ "support" files. It's either on the disc/cartridge or it's not. No takebacks. Games weren't stripped down to their foundations with everything else being sold off piecemeal as DLC.

Nostalgia,for me is when publishers weren't so overtly conniving in their collective contempt for their consumers.

[Lexreborn2]

I don’t “purely” see it from aesthetics. I gave an example of nostalgia through aesthetics yes. But, I don’t see it only as visual aesthetics.

I see it as gameplay mechanics, technology and even sales. People seem to forget the cost of games in the 90s we’re 60-120 for a game. No dlcs no expansions.

Yet they were viewed as “replayable” not because they had good mechanics but because they were design with mechanics not friendly to the player.

Silver surfer, battletoads, etc were artificially made harder. Games now and days are evolved and yeah we have some crap practices but there were crap practices back in the day too.

Nostalgia is toxic at times and I stand by what I said.

[GenWorld]

Naw, it doesn't exist, things was actually dope. now if they stopped gaming that's on them, but new stuff allows old stuff to be even better sometimes. That's how I see it at least.

[chicken_in_the_corn]

It's a hivemind mentality

[ApocalypseShadow]

A whole 5 minutes of annoying and wasted video. Totally missing the point of what classic gamers really have a problem with in some modern games.

Many developers today make just as awesome games as they were made yesterday. Those companies or developers are the ones still holding up traditional great gaming. You BUY a game. It was TESTED before release. It's COMPLETE and not needing anything else. Doesn't matter if it's an online game or offline single player game.

A lot of games today aren't finished. Are broken at launch. Missing features or lacking what was in a previous games. Either filled to the brim with micro transactions that were free unlockables through playing the game. Or the developer is trying to sell consumers the rest of the game in DLC. Asking full price for mediocrity with the promise of the product being fixed. Or tossed into subscriptions as an excuse to cover up failure to finish a product. No one wants to pay monthly for shit unfinished. Make it free then until it's fixed. Single player games not playable unless connected to the Internet. That's ridiculous crap

And lastly, journalists, reviewers, influencers, etc, not telling the whole truth about products because it would affect their standing with a company and the free swag and advertising dollars they get. Instead of doing their jobs reporting the facts about a product, they want to continue to have access and those free gifts.

That's what gamers like myself, who have been playing for decades have a problem with. It's not about today's graphics. It's not just a micro transaction. Nostalgia comes from when we didn't have to deal with complete nonsense from some of today's games that we have to research just to avoid.

[Solitariussaint]

Amen to that brother!

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

Exactly, modern games have a lot of issues that weren't there before, micro transactions, DLC (which can be good), unfinished or half baked games. The other issue I have a problem is that innovations and risks are forsaken in favor of making safe games because of the costly budgets of making a game.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

Some of those old games were absolute fire though, some gameplay and graphics are timeless, it's not like everything that has happened in the modern gaming industry has been good for games or gamers.

[metalgod88]

I grew up playing a game called 'Red Ninja' on the PS2. It's a game that I played with my sister when we were younger and we were determined to beat that stupid game, and so we did, despite how insanely cheap the bosses were.

But, was it a good game? Meh..alright. Should it be remastered? NO. Just because I enjoyed it and do feel nostaligic towards it, doesn't mean I want everyone to 'enjoy' it lol.

The 'problem' is that games were more simplified, much smaller in scope, and graphically impaired by todays standards.

But sometimes, an old game is a good game, and they just nailed the gameplay loop. Games I frequently go back to because they're so good, is Gran Turismo 2 through 4, Reel Fishing, the God of War trilogy on PS2, just to name a few.