>>725090334 (OP)
>>725096194
1996~2000 was the silver age. some of the best formulae for games were discovered during this time. most of the best game mechanics that we still use today! but the technology was barely holding together, computers were so weak still. especially the early graphics chips were just awful and so forget about the 1000 fps you get in an emulator today - how we actually played those games when they were new often sucked. I cannot consider this time more than a silver age. it was a promise of great things to come.
2001~2008 was the golden age. you could finally have large levels and many moving objects in them. convincing physics became a standard. AI took huge leaps. games like GTA 3 and Morrowind established the possibility for vast places with lots of NPCs. this era started with the first convincing entries in many genres and ended with refined master pieces built on their foundations. we went from GTA 3 all the way to GTA 4. we went from Halo CE all the way to Halo 3. in the silver era developers could only hint at their true visions. in the golden age those visions were realized.
2009~2012 was already a decline, a hollowing out. one of the sad trends was gameplay being sacrificed for underwhelming boosts in graphics. Skyrim, GTA 5, Halo Reach and Crysis 2 all had inferior physics and AI compared to their direct predecessors. style over substance was the rule.
2013+ is the lost decade of gaming. the age that wasn't.
8th gen sucked from day one because the new CPUs were so weak we couldn't do new gameplay, only new graphics. 8th gen seamlessly continued the trend of late 7th gen, squeezing more graphics from a stone. it was like 7th gen never ended.
then in 9th gen devs stopped trying even on graphics, despite finally getting new hardware. you can tell the way the industry makes a profit now is by cutting costs and preying on the dumbest, most addicted customers. stagnation. shrinkflation. outside of rare indie gems it is over.
