For you, what is worse: A bad game with good ideas, or a bland "safe" game?

[Lotus Victoria]

Greetings champions. Good to see you all, as ever.

I've been thinking - what is worse: a bad game with some good ideas (something like the car creation/customization on Banjoo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts), or a bland game "playing it safe", something like Far Cry Primal?


I'd say that, in a media that can have the creative freedom that games have, a safe game is sometimes worse than a bad one.

[Eleccybubb]

Both sound as bad as each other imo. Banjo was alright but nothing special and Far Cry Primal was meh. If I had to pick one then I'd say "playing it safe" since these days a lot of devs who try specific genres differently end up messing it up. Of course not all games are like that.

A good game to me needs to have great gameplay. Simple as that. Look at Indie games that look 8 bit and do well like Stardew Valley and Papers Please. Proves that graphics don't always matter.

However graphics are important in some games. But to me Gameplay>Graphics.

Bonuses are great music, me enjoying it and if it's story driven having an amazing story.

What makes a game are the developers and the players. But it can also break a game.

[Mirishka]

A bad game with good ideas, imo. I've played many games where I'm like... "if only this had more money/time/etc, it could have been AMAZING" and that makes me sad.

Games/series that are established enough to play it 'safe' generally turn out okay (FC Primal actually being a solid example of that). They might not blow your socks off, but they hit the beats they need to hit.

[rasako]

Both sound as bad as each other imo.

A good game to me needs to have great gameplay. Simple as that. Look at Indie games that look 8 bit and do well like Stardew Valley and Papers Please. Proves that graphics don't always matter.

However graphics are important in some games. But to me Gameplay>Graphics.

Bonuses are great music, me enjoying it and if it's story driven having an amazing story.

as pissed as I am on it statistics show that the vast majority of gamers look at graphics first before even considering purchasing a game. Which is stupid since most of them are on shitty consoles that won't even be running the game at a decent framerate or high quality like a PC.

I am a big fan of old school games and still boot up Warcraft 3, Dawn of War, the original Dungeon Siege, and other old school games with my friends when we get together to LAN.

[minteK917]

A good game is usually better then the sum of its parts. But i can appreciate a bad game that had good ideas in some way. A boring game, is just like a boring movie, its boring. Boring in art and entertainment is the biggest sin.

[George Costanza]

90% of AAA games are copy pastas of each other.

[Eleccybubb]

as pissed as I am on it statistics show that the vast majority of gamers look at graphics first before even considering purchasing a game. Which is stupid since most of them are on shitty consoles that won't even be running the game at a decent framerate or high quality like a PC.

I am a big fan of old school games and still boot up Warcraft 3, Dawn of War, the original Dungeon Siege, and other old school games with my friends when we get together to LAN.

I kind of see the point. Some games go for amazing graphics. But as I said Gameplay>Graphics always for me. I get those who like games with nice graphics though.

[Lollis]

Bland safe games are worse because it encourages developers to go for the easy option instead of attempting new ideas.

[Eleccybubb]

Bland safe games are worse because it encourages developers to go for the easy option instead of attempting new ideas.

I do agree devs should try and be more broad but well for MMOs for example it's starting to flood the market. Some games yes and some games no basically.

Indie games for example no. Lot of the devs have a passion for making their own thing and that to me is good.

[Pull My Finger]

I tend to not even waste a second look on "safe" games. Taking chances, having interesting ideas and ending up failing in the execution phase moves things forward in the long run notheless.

[dope_danny]

bland safe game. a jank as fuck game with fun ideas leads to things like Deadly Premonition. A competently made game thats creatively bankrupt leads to the modern state of Call of Duty.

and i sure as shit will take Deadly Premonitions jank over Call of dutys white noise any day of the week.