Quote Originally Posted by Vantek View Post
I don't think you've seen a drop in the quality of games - I think you're just getting old :P Like you, I haven't played any game made after 2001 or 2002. In fact, I think MTW might be the youngest game I've ever played. But it's not because of a drop in the quality of games. I'm actually sure the quality of games has INCREASED quite a bit. It's just that for me these new games inevitably can't have even a tenth of the charm of my childhood favourites (and games resembling them, like MTW). That pixellated look and those cartoonish colours just make me feel warm and fuzzy the way gorgeous photorealism never will.
You may be on to somthing here:) My Nostalgia of games past may be affecting how I rate and enjoy newer games. My age and computer game experiance makes me prone to demand more from the games I play. If I take that all away, roughly 20 years of pc gaming, I wonder what expectations I would have on computer games?

My number one rule is gameplay before graphics. If I took this rule away I would probably think some of the newer TW games were great. If I took away just my TW experiance, literally hundreds of hours from just RTW to ETW, I might not think them bad games at all.....at least until I played them awhile. The more you play a game the more you realize its shortcomings. Even if you have got nothing to base it on or compare it with, these shortcomings can be gamekillers.

Why should CA or another game company care about a few flaws with game mechanics when these only become apparant to the new gamer after extended periods of play? The PC gaming market is filled with new gamers that buy games impulsively. We experianced gamers are a dieing breed. I dont know wether I would trade my game experince for a new gamers innocence. I know that I can tell a good game from a bad one. It is a bad sign for the pc game industry when new games cant compete with games that are 5-10 years old.