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"Originality"

Originality - a feature of gaming that isn't too commonly used these days. Yes, there's the odd spark of original magic in the form of games such as Pikmin, Super Monkey Ball and Rez, but not enough for people that are fed up of sequels and people that want something new and original to play all the time.

No-one really is at fault though, except possibly the typical western gamer wanting much more than should be wanted of developers, which leads to the developers becoming too scared to create original games in fear of abuse from the general public, which leads to an all-round drought of originality in Western gaming. It's not a pretty sight on the Release Date schedule on the way towards Christmas, with Stuntman, Animal Forest and Blinx being some of the very few 'original' games on the list. Most other games are sequels, or have had their ideas used before. Even Mario Sunshine looks like a plain old platformer, but with a little of Mario Magic included for effect.

Originality was present at E3 this year, but still lacking in numbers. We were treated to some nice and original games, but on the whole E3 was a pile of sequels and games that have just been rendered in 3D. Not very promising for the futures of either of the 3 next-gen consoles.

Developers though aren't really big fans of original games it seems on the whole. Approach them with a new idea such as Super Monkey Ball or something similar and they'll most likely turn you away, claiming that it wouldn't do as well as the latest sequel the company is developing for Westerners. The thing is, they don't know if the game would do well or not unless they experimented, and developers really don't experiment much at all, which is a shame. As long as the original game had the makings of a classic then the public would start to become interested, and as long as the game kept it's promise and turned out to be a great and original game, then original gaming would not be such a thing of the imagination. Developers quake at the prospect of releasing a type of game new to the general public, and that can't be described as good at all!

A question is though, how can developers keep coming up with new game ideas or even new plot ideas? They are fast running out of suitable ideas that will keep the typical gamer glued to their console, and more importantly, they particular companies games. Sports games will be sports games, and FPSs mostly all feel the same: you take control of a character, who happens to have a gun and a particular mission to complete, and you sit there, blasting enemies out of the way as you attempt to reach your goal. Platformers involve (usually) cute, furry creatures jumping about colourful levels with aims of collecting various objects and completing the level after they reach a certain amount - not very exciting after a while. These genres are some of the most popular, but you can't help noticing that they all connect to each other in some way, whether it be in levels, collectable items or enemies. New ideas are hard to come by, and this is probably the main reason for the drought of originality on this side of the world.

Of course, there are plenty of original and defining games appearing across in the East side of the gaming world - the home of the Japanese. They have enough original and new games coming out each week to keep them fully satisfied, but the type of games they witness almost all fail to see the light of day in Britain and USA, and are considered dead once they have strutted their stuff in Japan.

Originality is dead in Western gaming as of now. It has been for a few months now, as the new Next-Gen consoles emerged, developers slowly ran out of ideas, and now we're respecting the 4th installment of SmackDown, the 10th installment of Final Fantasy and the gazillionth Mario game, although really there's nothing wrong with that at all. Still, the main point that is being made simply states that new and innovative gaming is not what developers concentrate on, simply because they can't be bothered, or even more simply because they can't.

Originality will be missed, but hopefully we'll be able to live without it. As long as the likes of Nintendo, Konami, Square and Rare keep on amazing us with quality new games, even if their plots and other features are a bit 'old', then we have a very good looking future lined up whichever console you own. Originality is almost dead for Western gamers - however, updated but exciting and enthralling sequels are not!

AJ.

Originality in graphics - that's a feature of originality I never really thought of looking into at all, and it's one that could actually have a major effect on some games.

If the graphics are drab and effectless, and just completely 'old news' then we'd all be rather disappointed, and I can see why you've made a point about them.

Nice one - made me think! :-)

I'd like to see more originality in the graphics department.
It seems that visually games have to be either as realistic as possible or cutesy/cartoony.
Rez is the only game I can think of in the last year that attempted to buck the trend.

For me, the way a game looks is just as important as the way a game plays.

Original visual styles, that's what I'd like to see.
Of course it goes without saying that more original gameplay ideas is required.

I think there's plenty of scope for originality.

I know that completely original titles are becoming less and less nowdays (like Pikmin) but a title doesn't need to be 100% originality to be a refreshing break from the usual mediocre generic titles.

Goldeneye wasn't the first FPS around, but it brought in so many original ideas, it changed the way that most people look at the genre.
Games like Halo and Perfect Dark also bring innoative idea's of their own.

And even when a completely original game comes out, it won't reach it's full potential the first time.

The N64 Smash Brothers was great.
Melee wasn't so original - having the very same back-bone of it's predecessor - but that still left only 2 games of it's kind.
And having a last gen original classic, updated with more polished gameplay, more features, characters, levels, ideas and depth than before.

I think that sequels like that are much more welcome then the usual lifeless clone/cash-in that the word "sequel" is associated with.

I think that people mis-understand originality.

When some people hear the word, they imagine a completely out-of-this-world, experience - something never done before.
Truth is, you can do just as well by using original ideas to add a new twist to an existing, well-established idea.

Now if devellopers don't even TRY to do that, then what's the point of us paying for a remake of yesteryear's ideas?

THAT is why people cry for originality.

But the Dreamcast games were sooooo goood. I loved almost al of them. there were actually a rather large amount as well. More than the n64 anyway.

In my opinion Dreamcast was killed off by lack of games overall, and not really a lack of original games. There weren't very many games on the Dreamcast at all, but at least developers creating games for the Dreamcast were trying new things, possibly even using Dreamcast as a sort of 'testing console' in a way.

This, although it was good in a way for the Dreamcast, it sort of killed it off really. An overflow of originality. Shenmue, Sega Bass Fishing and Hydro Thunder were new ideas that didn't do too bad at all, but games such as Carrier, Charge 'N' Blast and Outtrigger were all attempts at originality that didn't really pay off in any way. Poor, to say the least.

Sorry for sort of drifting away from what the few previous posts have been about, but I felt this had to be said.

A very original post and idea.

Originality is something that is starting to ebb(sp?) away, especially from certain game developers/publishers. How often do we see something with a film licence or other official sports licence only to find that it has the right names or the same storyline and makes for a bog-standard game, which is sad.
While companies like Konami, Nintendo, Sega, Rare, Squaresoft, Lionhead and others strive to try and find a new edge on gaming you get certain companies who churn out average game after game of the same game with a few more options.
While some games are great time after time there's still a part of me that wants something new instead of improved repeat. I'd prefer to play a game like Crazy Taxi, Shenmue or Pikmin than Fifa 200x, Smackdown Just Shove it or Marvel Vs Capcom 203 version 2. While these sequels may be good and fun to play, I'd rather be amazed by some new concept that hasn't been seen before (or for a long time).
As we go on games seem to get more monotonous and the quality of games has been reduced, it means I have more money but unfortunately not as much fun :(

Ali

Very orignal and very good post well done!

Dead Wonder wrote:
> And original reply for an original topic.

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Heh. Don't ruin my original topic with your original spamming though.

:-D

And original reply for an original topic.