The Decline of Offline Gaming (mini-rant, be warned)

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Sparrowsabre7

Za Warudo
So many games these days are either online only, or minimalist SP with online only MP and it's just so irritating to someone like me who prefers offline MP.

I'd much rather share the experience with a friend or 3 in the same room, laughing and joking than over some headset. Even if I didn't have to pay for Live that'd still be the case.

Online also means that less time is usually spent on crafting a full SP experience. Games used to be a well-made SP mode with MP as bonus, now it's the other way around. It just seems like such a waste to me, single player games will always be playable provided there's still compatible tvs. Online dies once the console's had its run, and usually even before then. Games with small followings can die within about a year. Such a waste of time and effort, but I guess the developers don't care, since they already have our money by then.
 
Offline is pretty boring, it's always the same. Online however you get a new experience every time you play. I'm a pretty heavy online gamer and i can say one thing, i never get bored. Having to think on your toes and whatnot constantly is so exciting. I think the problem with most SP games nowadays is that they aren't 'groundbreaking' as in, often you will find a game and you'll be able to find 5 more with more or less the same plot or general gameplay.
 
splitscreen it just...sucks no mater how big your TV is.

Say your playing a shooting game, people on a ledge are above your firing down, before you know it your down over half your health while your trying to figure were the blast is coming from while aiming your cross hair. You find your co-op player screen distracted, and it dosn't make it much fun for death matches in sniper mode.
 
Good points all. I wasn't expecting to win many friends in this rant XP.

But for me online is too one sided, there's too many "hardcore leeeeets" who take it too seriously and have every single minutiae nailed down to make them ungodly players because they do nothing but play.

Being so woefully outclassed is not fun. I'm not a sore loser, but there's only so many times you can be killed within 5 minutes of spawning before it starts to grate on your nerves.

If that happens when I play with my friends (though it almost never does) it's fine because we just laugh it off, but online you end up getting frustrated more and more. I play games to have fun, not to get mad.

Kirrimir: I agree there are so many copycat games, but multiplayer is just as much prey to this as single player. I haven't seen a new MP type in ages, it's only ever "deathmatch, capture the x, king of the hill and occassionaly some kind of survivor/ assault mode. The play experience may change, but it's still the same game now matter how you look at it.

Otaku: It's a problem I'll admit, one I don't really have an answer for, but I still have way more fun in Splitscreen. There's never any connection issues for one thing.
 
Eh, I'm still finding plenty of games with long, involving single player modes. Just this year I've played Mass Effect 2, Bayonetta, Yakuza 3, Rune Factory Frontier, Sakura Wars, and Miles Edgeworth, none of which even have online multiplayer.

In my backlog is Infinite Space, Resonance of Fate, and Heavy rain, and all of those are single player only.

As for offline multiplayer, I must confess to not being aware of the state of play there since I don't like other people.
 
Sparrowsabre7 said:
...Such a waste of time and effort, but I guess the developers don't care, since they already have our money by then.
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Being friends with a few game developers, I must say that although it's a cool job, there is little money to be made, with honourable exceptions for companies like EA, Blizzard and other big names.

It's only reasonable that developers will go for what the public buys. If there were more people interested in SP games, then they would defintely take the clue.

That's my 2 p's
 
Multiplayer is getting added on to a lot of games these days, it's really boring, I suggested a bunch of singleplayer only games for my friend and he said "I just want to play Call of Duty online."

******* casual.
 
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I can't think of many/any? games which are online which tell a story?

I mean, i've ben playing Mass Effect, Valkyria chronicles, Dragon Age, Assasin's creed, etc etc, and hey have all got SP with no or little mp...
 
In many ways, it's why i like the Wii. The selection of games i have/will be getting for it all are usually single player games, nearly all of which don't have online capabilities(if you exclude SSBB and Tatsunoko vs Capcom). Even then, there is, as fabio pointed out, a lot of games available on the other 2 which are purely single player games, adding to it, you also have the likes of Batman and No More Heroes 2(out tomorrow), so it isn't that bad.

I will admit though, there is a fair few which maybe focus too much on their multiplayer side of things than the single player, and that is a bit of a shame, but in the end, there is a huge online gaming market now, so it's no wonder why they are putting more effort into that.
 
Hokum said:
I can't think of many/any? games which are online which tell a story?

I mean, i've ben playing Mass Effect, Valkyria chronicles, Dragon Age, Assasin's creed, etc etc, and hey have all got SP with no or little mp...
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WoW (to some extent), AO (I feel old now), a few other MMOs.

I like some online games, RTS works well (2-4 player), I play EVE . FPSs require stupid qunatities of play to learn exact balence on guns + map layouts.
Still prefer SP RPGs and AVGs.
 
You can't punch a a gloating twat from the other side of the world, but you can if they're in the same room as you.

Offline wins.
 
Reaper gI said:
Hokum said:
I can't think of many/any? games which are online which tell a story?

I mean, i've ben playing Mass Effect, Valkyria chronicles, Dragon Age, Assasin's creed, etc etc, and hey have all got SP with no or little mp...
Click to expand...
WoW (to some extent), AO (I feel old now), a few other MMOs.

I like some online games, RTS works well (2-4 player), I play EVE . FPSs require stupid qunatities of play to learn exact balence on guns + map layouts.
Still prefer SP RPGs and AVGs.
Click to expand...

Most (if not all) MMO's tell a story.
 
I'm with you all the way here.

Most games I play have a strong single player element, or I are great games for good offline multiplayer, like Rock Band or Mario Kart.

Its so much more entertaining than playing with people online. Most of the time you're of a similar skill level to your friends, or its still entertaining because of the game design.

Online is awful, you either get completely demolished (me playing any FPS at all online) or you can't find anybody of a decent skill level to play against and you get bored (me playing Guitar Hero/Rock Band).
 
The only benefit of having online modes alone is that console gamers can finally be objective about how good multiplayer titles actually are. Virtually any game is brilliant when you have someone sitting next to you playing it with you. The habit of yesteryear was to confuse this basic social interaction for amazing design... and now there are six Halo games.
 
I have no interest in on-line gaming with it numerous problems of abuse, elitism, overly hardcore players, cheating and idiots. Playing multiplayer games with people in the same room is just a more social and fun experience to have.

If you desire games designed more for single player it best to look to the past. Their hundred maybe thousand of great game from days gone by you have yet to enjoy.
 
Depends on the genre, really. FPS games can't really be replayed many times before they're really, really boring.

Online gaming works for me - Me and a mate go on Bad Company 2 for a couple of hours each night over the headset, and it's a great laugh. The problem is, this whole "elitist" thing isn't universal. I've found very few elitists on Bad Company 2 (PC), but Modern Warfare 2 on the other hand is packed.

So yeah, offline SP that kicks ass? Final Fantasy XIII, Mass Effect 2 Bayonetta all have fantastic SP.

It just depends on the game for me, I guess.
 
Sparrowsabre7 said:
Otaku: It's a problem I'll admit, one I don't really have an answer for, but I still have way more fun in Splitscreen. There's never any connection issues for one thing.
Click to expand...

Well for main console base, but say you got a PC port of something like say "Age of Empires" with a few different computers lying about then it's a LAN party
 
Godot said:
So yeah, offline SP that kicks ass? Final Fantasy XIII,
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i lol'd irl.

If you choose to play online games and get put against the pro's then you should keep practicing till you are at a skill where you can hold your own against them. You will never get better at a game by playing against easy opponents.

Take me and Counter strike:source as an example. I played on the public servers for about 2 years before i went into leagues/tourney's/lans and i did pretty well (getting into ESL and other leagues) all because i practiced against the hard opponent's, watched there playstyle and how they reacted to different situations. I don't play CSS anymore but it was one the the most fun gaming experiences i've had.
 
Kirrimir said:
Godot said:
So yeah, offline SP that kicks ass? Final Fantasy XIII,
Click to expand...
If you choose to play online games and get put against the pro's then you should keep practicing till you are at a skill where you can hold your own against them. You will never get better at a game by playing against easy opponents.
Click to expand...

I don't think that's a valid argument. A game should (with some exceptions) be accessible for all levels of competency "get better" is hardly a compelling argument. I understand that practice makes perfect, but if a game is designed well enough it shouldn't be a problem to begin with, or at least if the ranking system worked how it should. I thought the point was to be matched against people with similar ability but I'm always outmatched. Some people just aren't very good at competitive MP, with offline it's not a problem, but with online there's a ton of people you don't know who spend hours online getting better and better and better until the entire userbase is unbeatable. Once a games been out a couple of weeks there's already an installed base of obsessives who have mastered the game, memorising every spawn point, item location and sniping spots.

Of course the ideal solution would be for games to have great single player AND offline and online multiplayer but so few games have both these days =/ Gears 2 does as well as having bots, so props to Epic and Perfect Dark xbla also does.

PD is one of my case in points for offline, I had some mates round one time and we played it a whole evening trying out the different modes etc and we had a great time, the splitscreen also worked better for the pointing and laughing at the total fail some of us managed.
 
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