Current Events > Do you really care about originality in games?

(+) Yeah! (+)

When I think about my favorite games of the past like, 5 years... I don't know if I would consider any of them "original"

I love Shovel Knight. Not original in the least. It's a refinement of old school platforming goodness and it warms my heart.

Witcher 3 removes all the bad shit I hate in open world games, but it is firstly a third game in a series, and it is still just a refinement of open world games.

Last of Us perhaps tells a unique story in terms of the character you play and the arc he goes through (for video games anyways), but nothing about the gameplay is unique.

Persona 5 is phenomenal, but again is a refinement of everything they've been doing for years.

Pillars of Eternity, Divinity Original Sin, again, taking what worked in the past and refining it.

I don't care about originality. Games are created in a certain way because they have to take advantage of the fact they are PLAYED. Very few games 30+ years into making video games are genuinely unique experiences anymore. I can't say that I don't value some originality, but I think I care more for just making the best experience possible.
---

Back in my day, we got six nigh-identical Megaman games. It was great.

*bump*
---

No, not really. I'll take 100 derivatives if they're quality.
---

My personal opinion of a game increases tenfold if the game does something no other game dares to try, even if it fails a little bit.
---

Talks posted...

My personal opinion of a game increases tenfold if the game does something no other game dares to try, even if it fails a little bit.

Thats kind of what I think too. Hulk Ultimate Destruction was an awesome game. The developers took risks that were unheard of at the time. An open world Hulk game? Ridiculous! It wasnt on the level of GTA or anything, but it was an incredibly solid game. I wish there were more open world Super Hero games.
---

I'm really conflicted in how to answer this.

On one hand, my current favourite game is made almost entirely from reused assets. I'd guess maybe like 1% of its assets (audio and visual) are original to it. It also has lengthy sections strongly inspired by various retro series.

On the other hand, it sure felt original to me when I played it. It expects stuff from players in a way that not many games I've played do, which felt like a big breath of fresh air. It also explores some seriously interesting boss design that no 2D game I've ever seen even comes close to, and blends genres together in a pretty cool way.

I think I value originality a fair bit but not to the point where it's more important than actual game quality. I'm not going to love an awful game just because it's original. And there isn't that much originality around anymore so I can't be too picky about it either
---