WTF happened to games

Video games are not games anymore.  I don't know what they are, but they aren't games.  No matter how much of a graphical facade a video game has on the outside, the real game is about an abstract goal which is achieved through twitch skill or mental skill.  The true fun in video games comes from success and failure of doing these acts.  Any enjoyment from the graphical facade - like an emotionally engaging story or the splattering of gratuitous blood - is merely an added bonus and it is not meant to deliver the main 'fill' of the game.

Too many modern video games have an absolutely crap game underneath.  All these games have to offer is the graphical facade: the story, the characters, the explosions and the particle effects.  To make up for the shit gameplay these types of games try to succeed (and often do) by making the presentation beautiful so that no one stops to notice/care about the mentally retarded gameplay.  It is a cinematic video game disease.  It is especially common in post FF7 RPG's and post half-life FPS's.

Video gamers have already diverged into those who buy into empty shell graphical facades and those who don't.  I don't know what the fuck happened.  The empty shell camp seems to be winning too.

>>23
In a sense, I agree, and in a sense, I disagree.

All video game RPGs, even those that have a good fan following, always fail to be like it's predecesor, the traditional RPG.  Some just try to make up for it with a story or characters that would appeal to the potential fanbase.  Others just try for newer systems to appeal to a broader audience.  What >>1 was trying to get at is that the newer games are too cookie cutter and overhyped.  In the past, they just tried to be like the traditional games, which was unpopular at the time.  Now, they try to do whatever is needed to be like what is "cool".  For example, there was Dragon Warrior, now it is Blue Dragon.  That may be a bad example, but it comes close to what is trying to be said.

I won't go into FPS because I always act like an ass with that genre.

Anyways, new games don't really have much.  Graphics does make the new games what it is, for the most part.  In that, it is pointless to go out and actually buy the game.  If graphics is your thing, then your better off going to Youtube and just watch demos of the same game over and over.  For the most part, that is how it is like when playing, so why bother when your just watching rather than playing.

Drama-school plot has been around for a while, so whether or not it stays or goes really won't make the game newer or older.  Though, new games tend to use the same drama-school plot, offering nothing new, giving the game no reason to buy it since you can get the same experience in an old game you may already have.  So why buy a game if it has the same thing you already got.  It's a waste of money.

As for gameplay advancements, I have yet to see a true advancement.  Show me what you think is an advancement and I may show you how non-advanced it really is.