I frankly hate video games these days. Absolutely fucking despise them. Absolutely nothing makes my eyes roll harder with the force of a thousand galaxies than booting up generic fantasy land simulator ###3000 and going to village of caldamandolarinia town of beginnings adventuers party's first town of riverton. Seriously holy fucking shit. Like for context here, i've been playing video games for a long ass awhile and this isnt' coming from a place of inexperience or narrow mindedness. They've basically been by far my number one priorty free time hobby for the past 14 or so years. I adored them. Alot. More than anything else in existence quite frankly. There was nothing better than booting up a console or pc getting some snacks with a drink if I had any available and going at it for hours and hours on end. Hell up until the past 6 months or so that still assuredly was the case. But honestly as of and for right now? The core of my existence can no longer rationalize touching them pretty much AT ALL.

"oh your just experiencing burnout that happens sometimes" i mean not really this time around? "how about you just try a different genre" yeah been there done that my dude. i have played, literally, every genre of game that exists which i am aware of. visual novels. first person shooters. rpgs. jrpgs. open world rpgs. strategy rpgs. massively multiplayer onlione role playing games. straight dating sims. gay dating sims. otome games. horror dating sims. strategy games. soulsborne. soulslike. rouge like. puzzle games. mobile games. truck farm and hunting sim games. rythm games. virtual reality rythm games. virtual reality rpgs. social games. virtual reality social games. doom. bullet hells. fighting games. racing games. take care of your pet games. gacha games platformers. open world platformers. action. action rpgs. open world action games. whatever else im forgetting. the point is i've seen it all and basically everything left is just a reskin of something i already experienced 5 years ago.

also thing is i noticed this problem a few years back. My tastes were becoming more and more niche as i explored the different genres. but i was still able to find that one game which hit all the right heartstrings sometimes. (eg Ghost of Tsushima, Sekiro, Celeste, Three Houses, Breath of the Wild, etc.) but as time has gone on fewer and fewer stuff has seemed even remotely worth messing with or enjoyable after more than a few hours because theres always something stupid and irritaing enough about it to make me wanna put it down forever. Genshin Impact forcing you to go through stupid tutorial bullshit before daring to let you explore for having the audacity to cross a river visible and accessable from starting town. Witcher 3 murdering you with high level enemies if you dare stray off the linear story path despite larping as an open world game in advertisments and even in game. Red Dead 2 having houses that you just cant enter for no reason despite there really not being any indication that you can or cant before trying to open a door before sending you off on ARTHUR AND THE GANG TRY TO DO SOME STEALTHY CRIME BUT SHIT GOES WRONG AND NOW THERES A MASSIVE SHOOTOUT ENHJOY THIS FOR ANOTHER 60+ MISSIONS. Oh and then fucking assassin creed which used to be a great romp where youd walk around in historical aesthetic settings while stabbing people turning into "HEY PLAYER, WANNA DO THIS COOL SOUNDING MISSION OR HAVE THIS COOL LOOKING OUTFIT? ALL YOU GOTTA DO ARE THESE EXTREMELY BORING ASS GRINDY AS HELL SIDE QUESTS OR PAY FOR EXP DLC MICROTRANSACTIONS THAT WE DECIDED TO INCLUDE IN THIS 60 PLUS DOLLAR GAME BABY. WANT THAT COOL NEW OVERWATCH SKIN? JUST LOGIN FOR TWO DAYS ON INSERT HYPER SPECIFIC HOLIDAY HERE AND HOPE YOU GET LUCKY WITH LOOTBOXES. (((((also there was this time when i whaled in a gacha and didnt get the rare lucina and that was my b because it was gambling but still))). WANNA CHOOSE WHICH OF THESE SICK ANIME GUYS TO DATE??? COOL JUST DEAL WITH THE FACT THAT WE'RE GONNA PUT UNBEARABLY SUPER STRAIGHT CULTURE AND WORLDVIEW THEMES THAT COMPLETELY ERASES QUEERNESS BECAUSE WE DECIDED TO MAKE A ROMANCE GAME WHERE YOU THE PLAYER MUST AN UBER CISHET GIRL WITH NO INKLING OF FEMINIST THEORY WHATSOEVER. HAVE FUN GETTING SUPER STRESSED OUT AND RAGING ON GUILTY GEAR WHEN UR THRASHED BY THE NEW OP DLC IN BETWEEN WAITNG FOR MATCHES. NOW BOOT UP YOUR ELECTRICITY GUZZLING EVIROMENT KILLING PC TO ENJOY SOME VR THAT CAN AND WILL CUT THE BLOOD FLOW OFF YOUR FACE AND BE GENERALLY UNCOMFORTABLE AS FUCK HELL YEAAAAAAAH

theres just always something so.....freedom stealing games. liKE the entire premise of every game is all fucking "here is a virtual world where you can do whatver you want!!!" and then boom in this supposed fantasy world of freedom you are immeaditely subjected to 20 bajillion restrictions on what you can do. restrictions ranging from not being able to obtain the outfit you actualy want to wear without getting to the endgame at which point you will have barely any reason/time to wear it. forcing you to be generic male protag character. Invisble walls. InViSiBlE WaLlS tHaT aReNt InViSiBlE B/C wE PuT aN iNclInE hErE ThatIsNotAsSteepAsTheMountainYouClimbedOneMinuteAgoButPleaseDontNoticeThat. Fake ass dialogue trees which literally dont affect the story at all. Protected NPCs who cannot die despite you just stabbing them 50 thousand times or detonating literal bombs in their face *glares at bethseda fallout and zelda.* unskippable bossfights because god forbid someone only be in this for the story. annoying soundtracks (admittedly you can mute those in most newer games so kudos on that one).

this of course has all really made me realize that pulling out some art supplies or an instrument and just straight up making the vibrations and moods i wanna feel is infinitely more satisfying and freeing. Whats that? play a game with basic bitch white boy jedi? sucker i gotta goth zombie samurai maid girl who accidentally chopped her own arm off and then proceeded to laugh about her clumsiness in this new pic i just drew. who the heck needs your fake houses and empty open worlds or solid meaty gameplay that is just an updated rehash of insert soulborne/platoformer title here. now excuse me while i go make my guitar sound like a window shield wiper before unloading a neat little riff i just discovered

despite all that jazz though games arent all actually that bad tbh. I mean hell i wouldnt have spent the bulk of my freetime in my life playing them if they were. theres genuinly a lot of heart and soul poured into a good chunk of them by their creators and i am EXTREMELY EXTREMELY EXTREMELY EXTREMELY PRIVELDGED BEYOND COMPARISON to have been born into a socio econmomic class in this world where i had/have access to so many wonderful dopamine stimulators of their calibur. Fire Emblem Awakening was the best thing about my teenage years and i still love the characters and story of it, the zelda franchise, ace attorney just to name a few. and truely i am blessed to live a life where Okami was something i got to experience when the bulky bulk of humanity throughout history didnt know what a video game even was and in the current era most still many dont get to play them to the extent i have due to ignorance/classism/racism/capitalism/authoritarianism/elitism/misogony/queerphobia/etc. But it really is very depressing and sad to me that something so great and wonderful as video games has almost completely lost my interest and one day soon, i feel, ill definitely be selling the ones i own off and never bothering with them again

(apologies for any grammatical/comprehension errors i dont really feel like proof reading this vent lol) ((feel free to ignore or shit on this or @tldr or whatever it also i just needed to dump this somewhere peace)

nice

see, this is why i fucking hate video games. this is what it does, it appeals to the male fantasy

i would say stop playing padded AAA shit for most of those complaints but it sounds like you're so particular you get mad at niche stuff too

no rantsona, didnt read

don't care.
didn't ask.
still playing kirby next month.

you'll get more milage out of a fender.play sub than a Nintendo expansion pass but there's nothing wrong with choosing one over the other

have you learned how to draw boobs yet? Teach me if so

did you know money hates the bass guitar and refuses to play it

read medaka box

u grew up

i play like 3 games total rn and im excited for like 2 games a year, which usually don't end up replacing the few games i play regularly

while you’re here could you tell me what metal bands sound like this the most https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xti_6Bzpa8A&t=200s

none, thats not metal

this but unironically.

okay, i'll probably have to explain because just replying to an image of banjo tooie and saying "this but unironically" makes me look like a meme lord, so I will.

I started replaying banjo-tooie last week, a game that largely everyone I have spoken to besides a select few shit on for being "too big" in terms of level design or having "too many things to do", and you know what? i loved it. it's a game i'm sort of nostalgic for, sure, but compared to modern day AAA game design, a game that just tossed me into a big interconnected world made up of actual handcrafted levels and not big flat plains and told me to go fuck off and explore feels so god damn good. The game just tells you to go fuck yourself and figure everything out. there is no real guidance outside of player intuition and level design informing you, and that's a good thing.

oh and dont even get me started on tutorials. in banjo-tooie when you learn a new move, the little mole dude pops out of his bunker and does a funny military march and tells you how to use the move and that's it. tutorial over you have a new move congrats. in any modern game though, getting a new ability results in a 30-min level after the fact entirely dedicated to teaching you how to use the move. fuck that. If you're going to put an entire level in dedicated to making me use an ability in the game, at least let it progress the story or give me something for going through it rather than making it a poorly concealed tutorial.

anyway I'm not just propping up banjo tooie here. it's not amazing it's just fine. but I am having fun playing through it, which is more than I can say for (almost) literally any new game.

i think the fundamental problem with video games now is that they take too fucking long to get going, or spend too much time tutorializing (even if they do it "subtly"). i can go back and play an immeasurable amount of shit from the PS1 and PS2 era because the game just lets you fuckin go. there's no bullshit. you get a new thing ok cool go use that new thing where you (as the player) might figure out where it is used. i played majoras mask and it was great because it just lets you fuck off and play the game. i played some shitty 101 Dalmatians Spyro clone earlier last year and it was bad but it was SIGNIFICANTLY more fun than most AAA games nowadays still somehow.

the thing is, while a lot of older games have shitty controls or other bad aspects like that due to being old, by and large they are measurably more enjoyable than modern games still, if only because they at least make the bare minimum effort to constantly keep you doing something that progresses the actual game. Modern games are so bogged down in dog shit sidequests and collectibles that grant you zero meaningful benefit and serve only to inflate playtime and your virtual penis size., but in fucking banjo-tooie? everything you get is a jinjo (which give you a jiggy) or a jiggy (which progresses the game). this is fucking based because it's not some useless eagle feather that gives you nothing besides an achievement but demands 500 to do so, it's a legitimate object that progresses the game. same with Majora's Mask, you get an item, you solve a puzzle with it, and there's a dungeon or heart piece or mask or SOMETHING behind it. it's a thing you can get.

modern game design is almost entirely catered meanwhile to making you waste as much time or money as possible on things that are useless besides for clout, with the only exceptions really being from software's games or indie games of various sorts. the former is pretty straightforward, all of the souls game and their various spinoffs like sekiro or bloodborne keep you motivated by giving you shit for every boss you beat or unlocking a new level, with any special reward being something tangible you can use in the game, and having the good graces to give you every mechanic immediately with no time wasted besides reading an optional text message explaining how do so something.

then there's indie games, these are largely a mixed bag because for every good creator there's some utter garbage, but Ultrakill on steam is a good example of an indie game that emulates the design of older games but with great controls and movement. All the tutorials are minimal, you are thrust right into the action, and you are given most of your tools very early in the game and then set free to murder a bunch of demons. it rules. it doesn't spend hours teaching you the perfect situation in which to use something, it just tosses you into those sort of situations and lets you figure out how to use something while still allowing you to beat the section even if you dont use the thing.

basically tl;dr video games have lost their soul, they exist to suck as much playtime out of the player as possible while using that extra playtime to baby them more instead of letting them play the video game. it sucks fat dick and it makes me completely uninterested in anything besides the next arbitrary souls clone that comes out. Whose fault is it? Casuals? WOMEN? I don't know, but I blame corporations because its easy.

Oh shygull, you simply must play a better game. I won't hear any more of this. Come now, let's pick out something that suits you.

i didn't read this dumb shit but i know you have never beaten viewtiful joe and therefore you're not allowed to say you're done with video games