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"Originality........why bother????"

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Sun 12/08/01 at 18:36
Regular
Posts: 787
Why bother??? Why BOTHER?!?!?!? Why do you think? Originality is on of the main things that draws me towards games. It shows me that the developers have put some thought into their game and not just copied all of the best bits from other game of the same genre.

The thing is, when can originality go too far? Another question is, is it acttually possible for a game to be too original? In my view it is.

Take for example a developer decides to throw all of the FPS rules out of the window, such as having health, limited ammo and all of the other things that make a FPS. Would this be taking originality too far? Or would it be a way to breath new life into a tried and tested formula?

The developers have got to learn that although their game needs to be original, their has to be a line drawn at some point to stop it being stupid. Too much orignality, bad, too little originaltiy, bad, just enough originality, very, very good.

A good example of this is Duke Nukem:LOTB. Here we see the develpoers giving the tried and tested formula of 3rd person shooters a little bit of originality. Well what did they do then? Well what they did was got rid of the health side of things and replaced it with an ego meter.

Now instead of dying when you have run out of health, yuou now die when Dukes ego is at rock bottom. Save a babe and see it soar and so on. This game had one new original thing and too me it helped it, it may just be a gimmick, but a good one anyway.

Now, onto a game with too much originality. For me Iggys recking balls pushed the boundaries of originality a bit too far to be refreshing. They turned a racing game on its head and threw in some strange ideas.

In the game you weren't in a car as such, what you were, was a little head, as this head you had to roll around the ascending tracks using a "grappling hook" to get up to the higher levels of the track. I thought that it could be cool when I first saw it, but once I played it I realised they had changed the racing game formula a bit too much.

A game with too little originality now, not going to be hard to think of really. The game in mention is Fifa 2001. Okay, while it is a good football simulation it is blatently not original. Like the many updates before it, it only had one or two new features, mainly just up to date graphics and prettier graphics.

So is that type of a change enough to warrant another spending of your hard earned money??? Hello, no it isn't. Unless you haven't got any of the previous installments, no EA sprts game is worth spending out on. Even if you love the game. There just isn't enough different ideas in it to persuade you to dish out another 35 or so pound.

So now you have read this, I ask you, is there such thing as a game being too original? Or is that not possible?

(;o|
Thanks for reading, MJ
Wed 15/08/01 at 00:28
Posts: 15,443
Awww, a month into net life and I still do't know what POP means, yet I know stuff about hackers and the like. Care to explain, anyone? POP, that is. Not hackers and cryptography.
Tue 14/08/01 at 22:37
Regular
"<];o)"
Posts: 319
POP for Jamie.

(;o|
Mon 13/08/01 at 21:37
Posts: 15,443
Heh, that's a bit funny Starsailor, replying to your own post in detail.
Mon 13/08/01 at 21:26
Regular
Posts: 18,185
There is nothing wrong with trying, originality is a risk trying something new is always a risk as you never know how it will go down with the public. It could sell millions a.k.a Pokemon or flop like Tetrisphere!

Shigsy might be going through the same worry with Pikmin? Will it rule like Tetris or die like the original virtual boy?

It is a mystery and so developers try! If they think they could make a game without health and ammo etc... it might flop or it might succeed, if it does well then there will be millions of copys and thousands of good games. if it doesn't well they tried and at least developers know never to try it again!

Dringo
Mon 13/08/01 at 12:05
Regular
"<];o)"
Posts: 319
I think that originality is something that all games HAVE to have too succeed. Without it the game will just lack the flare that it needs to get more people to buy it.

Although after me saying tis, all of the many EA sports updates prove me wrong. Think of the many Fifa games that have come out over the past few years, a new one every year.

You'd think that once someone has one of the games they wouldn't bother getting the next one, but if you do, boy are you wrong. There are certain people who go out and buy all of the updates. It may just be fopr the updated teams, I don't know, but they go and buy the games time and time again.

To me its a bit stupid because they are spending their money on a game that they practically own, albeit with slightly worse graphics and the odd wrong player. I would rather go out and buy a totally new game rather than a tired update.
Mon 13/08/01 at 11:10
Regular
Posts: 4,142
if there wasn't originality in the begining we wouldn't have all the different types of games we have today. we would be playing on one type of game forever. but now because of peoples ideas good game genres and ideas have been discovered and also at the same time bad game genres and ideas have also come about. so what i'm saying is if there wasn't originality you would still be playing on that mario and donkey kong game.
Mon 13/08/01 at 11:10
Regular
"Copyright: FM Inc."
Posts: 10,338
Well, the source I was using is meant to list EVERY game title and its release date, but it doesn't list Goldeneye with two release dates, which is misleading.

I've found another one (again an American site), and managed to track down an old archived page that lists Goldeneye as 26/8/97, so I stand corrected :-).

However, my quest for the use of a zoom-in sniper rifle feature on a game released before that date continues.
Mon 13/08/01 at 10:58
Regular
"<];o)"
Posts: 319
FantasyMeister wrote:
> That's the last time I use a Nintendo based site for my source
> then...

Your source was correct FM, its just the release date that you were given was the date that Goldeneye was made a players choice title, not its original release. Mind you in America Perfect Dark is a players choice title as well.
Mon 13/08/01 at 10:52
Regular
"Copyright: FM Inc."
Posts: 10,338
That's the last time I use a Nintendo based site for my source then...
Mon 13/08/01 at 10:52
Regular
"<];o)"
Posts: 319
Animal Forest is going to be a revolutionary title for Nintendo. As you have said a lot of people are not going to like it, but I feel it is going to go and be very popular. Mainly because they are taking a chance by releasing something people weren't expecting.

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