Can games just be “finished”? Cortyn believes that constant patches and new content have their downsides as well.
Basically, I consider change to be a good thing. It leads to improvement and progress. But there are also areas where I would simply prefer to have “everything as it was,” without a new hero or game mechanic appearing every month.
If I want to play a round of “Super Smash Bros.” against friends on my old Nintendo 64, I can be sure that the game is still exactly as it was 18 years ago. All moves work just like they did back then, and if I’m in a really bad mood, I can take down my enemies as Link with the Down-and-A attack.
An example where I noticed this extremely was TERA. I played the game quite intensively for about half a year at the first release with my Destroyer. I enjoyed the world, did a lot of RP, and could take down most BAMs by myself – I was proud of that back then. Three months ago, I logged into TERA again, and a lot had happened. The transition to Free2Play, the overhaul of all classes, a comprehensive redesign of the interface, many new game modes for PvP or dungeons, and of course, numerous new classes.
As great as the new possibilities may be: I couldn’t handle it anymore. After about an hour, TERA was removed from my hard drive again. The game had changed so much that I couldn’t find a point to re-enter. I wandered aimlessly, couldn’t manage the key bindings anymore, and didn’t really know where I was supposed to go or why. It wasn’t fun.
Too many innovations hinder re-entry
Constant new content may be good, but it increases the hurdle I need to overcome to get back into a game. With each god release of SMITE, it becomes less likely that I will ever “really” start looking into the MOBA again. The same will probably happen with Heroes of the Storm once I lose interest in the game for a few months.
That’s why I wish that some games – like Overwatch, Hearthstone, or even Dead by Daylight – would just be “finished” again. That if I stop today, I can come back in three years and dive right back in without having to study new abilities, heroes, cards, and game modes.
I miss this consistency in the fast-paced world of constant patches and the demand for “more and more content.” Am I the only one feeling this way? Or can you relate to me?
Last week we dealt with online addiction in the friend circle. How should one deal with it?
