Gaming technolgoy too complicated.

[PsychicHeart]

Hey,
I've been playing some pretty high-tech games lately and jesus talk about the complication! i was playing some game at my mate's house, a crime sim similar to Vice City or San Andreas, and i have to press about 4 buttons to do a simple command like punch. God, can't we go back to the days when Sierra games bashed these hightech complicated games in the gut? Honestly, I mean, i'm making a shooting sim soon, and from my basic planning nights ( reading, writing and drawing plots etc under the covers ) the only modes are a story mode and a training mode, and the only cursor is a Gun Crosshair. It's really simple. Like Time Crisis. wait, even more simple than that. Well, i hate to bore you like this with this thread, but i feel these words MUST be said. When I was about 9 years old and playing the original Grand Theft Auto, that was probably the best game i had ever played. So, we should get back to the days when people liked a game because it was good and fun not because it had fancy-pants friggin graphics.

[bab@r]

It is not something new. TFX. I still don't know how to play it. I realise that to make a "realistic" flight sim, you need a lot of controls, but why would someone want to play something so complicated.
Even Microsoft Flight Simulator:
* Press 7 gazillion buttons
*take off
*Another 7 gazillion
*fly around
*Another 7 gazillion
*land

Where is the fun in that? I mean, "wooo, I landed in Baghdad." Now what?

[Haddas]

Well that is a flight simulator. It's supposed to be like that. If it were an arcade flying game you wouldn't have to worry about those buttons, but seeing as people use MS flight simulator to actually practise for flying I think it's necessary for it to be complicated... Unless they make the planes less complicated. I do agree that some games are too complicated. I will try playing Shadows over Riva again, it's an RPG I used to like. complicated, but I was quite young when I played it last time. The game didn't have any manual, but there was a shitload of stuff you had to figure out and do, talk to obscure people, and i you were a druid, make potions. Hundreds of ingredients!

EDIT: From a review about the Arkania Trilogy (includes Shadows over Riva:
"These are the most detailed computer games I have ever played. This is not necessarily a good thing. Though the interface is easy enough to use, Realms of Arkania puts a lot of emphasis on tedious repetitive chores like searching for water whenever you camp or changing your clothes to suit each day's weather"

[PsychicHeart]

Yes, well, I'm not talking about a flight sim, i mean like one of those games like... hmmm... oH! specially games like Medal of Honor. Gooddamit what do they want our character to do? spin around in circles like a retard?

[Paper Carnival]

Maybe you mean Hidden & Dangerous 2? That game was more complicated than it should be.

[2ma2]

I think we're seeing a trend in arcadification, where's gameplay is once again focused on simple straightforward fun. Probably a result of nostalgic values, but after a rain of realistic driving games, we've now Outrun 2, Burnout 3 and a bundle of others where physics doesn't matter more than skidding into a wall doesn't mean you crash horribly. Shooters, platform games, everything is on the move again. I think, with the evolution of technology, gamers sought more than just the same gameplay in neater graphics, and the first real ambitios projects in the new age of gaming we're almost real-life simulations, huge and free such as Shen Mue. Developers set the aims to incorporate as much features and abilities as possible, blending together different kinds of genres to multigenre gaming; some rather good results such as System Shock/Deus Ex and Morrowind. And we've been through that now. It is time to refine the development and keep only those functions that enhance gameplay and fun. I think the industry is actually doing that. Some are even breaking the graphics-tabu using stylization, 2d etc.

[InCreator]

I'd say it's a progress, not a problem.

Well, for PC-s, not consoles. If back in "these" days, 8-bit Nintendo had more buttons than 6, I'd never had so much fun with it.
The games were simple, and keys too. Today, there's much more advanced games, so more keys are also needed.

But for PC, it's different.
I remember Mortal-Kombat-fest we had with friends. One player had to use letter keys and there was always fight, because everyone wanted to use cursor keys. Because they were less confusing and PC didn't go "mad'n'beeping" when you pressed all keys at once.

When one player lost the fight and had to play with letters, he often tried freezing pc with keyboard hangup as revenge

Today, with one hand on mouse and other on awsdrq, I really can't imagine playing Half-Life 2 with cursor keys. Or what would I do if I didn't have a key for reloading gun and other switching between 2 weapons. It's so comfortable.

[Paper Carnival]

I love controlling FPS with the W,A,S,D key system, it's easy and immersing. But I don't want every time I have to pick something up to look it, right click, then select pick up. I know it's more reallistic this way, but it's so much better if you just touch it and you pick it up.

Also it doesn't mean that many keys are required to have a good control. Take the newest Prince of Persia, for example. besides the extra keys that are not directly related to the gaming itself (menu, map, cameras) you only use 6 keys to do all kinds of acrobatics and having a freeform battle system with many possibilities and combos. I've always found the controls to this game brilliant, both easy and giving a lot of possibilities.

[Haddas]

I was reminded by these complicated definitions and stuff, that when does a game go from DETAILED to COMPLICATED? I think it's quite individual. Take Black & White 2. I heard it's been a little delayed because one guy is giving the ants AI. And in a game where you control civilisations and monsters 100m high, I think the ants aren't really a concern. However I think it's cool if the ants flee when the monster walks towards them.

[Babar]

There is a conspiracy with the W,A,S,D key system! Naahh. I agree, it is very convenient, probably because it somehow "fits" with your mind (hehe...maybe they did a study on what key system is convenient). I mean, one hand on one side of the keyboard, the other on the other side (the mouse).

There are a lot of "Many keys control" games that I don't find complicated. For example, Colonization (one of my favourite Sid Meir(sp?) games) had a LOT of different key commands. The thing is, they gave you hints (when you came to place where it was a good idea to build a road, it told you so, telling you to press "R" to build one), and there were multiple ways of doing the same thing (with the mouse through options, or on the keyboard).
Now TFX was confusing. It is no excuse that a flight simulator must be complicated. How the chuck should I know that the "~" key powers thrusters and the ";" key fires (just an example here, I never really found out how to do any of those things)?
Even if the controls are too complicated, there should be "tutoring", at least for the 1st level. After that, one usually gets the hang of it.

[Mozesh]

Maybe you mean Hidden & Dangerous 2? That game was more complicated than it should be.

I just played it a few minutes ago and its so complicated I got a head ache.
Games like half life are great games and still very simple.
I must say I like First Person Shooters but when it gets complicated as HD2 it can get real irritating.

[Mr Jake]

Now TFX was confusing. It is no excuse that a flight simulator must be complicated. How the chuck should I know that the "~" key powers thrusters and the ";" key fires (just an example here, I never really found out how to do any of those things)?

There is no manual?

Most games now have tutorials or training levels, most aren't all that complicated once you get used to them.