zlacker

At this point, I consider a AAA rating to be a signifier of mediocrity. If something is being touted as AAA, I can be pretty sure it will be a disappointment. There are two factors that cause this: The amount of hype creates expectations that can not be met, and the cost of production is so high a studio can't afford to deliver everything they have to. The value proposition is just not there. I find that indie and mid-sized studios (like Larian) are much better at both controlling quality and managing expectations.

>>philip+(OP)
Agreed, I've been playing Dave The Diver which on the surface is a gloried flash/mobile game but it has so much personality and depth it draws you in.

I try AAA games on Xbox Game Pass once in a while and I really don't get why they pump this stuff out without recruiting some talent to design it. It's almost worse than big budget Hollywood sometimes.

>>philip+(OP)
Sony's been knocking it out of the park with their AAA releases though. The last few they've released (Spider-Man: Miles Morales, God of War: Ragnarok, Returnal, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Horizon: Forbidden West) have all been extremely fun, polished, and devoid of microtransactions.

>>tapoxi+u2
I have only played Forbidden West and it’s the most mediocre experience I had with a video game in the past decade. The gameplay felt clunky with weird spikes of difficulty in the middle of otherwise fairly boring segments. The main plot was utter trash and the other quests completely uninteresting. If that’s the standard of good AAA games, I never want to play another one.

>>dmix+o1
FWIW, Dave The Diver has been published by Nexon which is AAA.

>>tpxl+v3
Triple-A is a designation usually given to a game, rather than a publisher, as it reflects the amount of resources and polish a specific project received.

>>hrnnnn+s4
Triple-A is a designation given to games published by big studios.

>>tpxl+E9
Triple-A is a designation given to games developed by big studios. Just because it's published by EA or Microsoft doesn't make a game AAA.

>>Wastin+i3
What would you consider the best experience you had with a video game in the past decade?

>>hiatus+Fg
Probably the first Spelunky but Slay the Spire, A Short Hike and Disco Elysium are close. Honorable mention to both 80 days, Stardew Valley and The Witcher 3.

>>tpxl+E9
Triple-A is a designation given to games which receive some undefined large amount of funding toward its development. That tends to correlate with being developed or published by a large studio, which Dave the Diver definitely was, but MINTROCKET wasn't given nearly the same resources as, say, a typical Xbox Games Studio studio would be.

>>philip+5d
Not even that. What matters is the budget and the team size, not the size of the studio. Rockstar Table-Tennis was not a AAA game despite coming from the AAA developer.

>>jsnell+1C
I meant it as a necessary but not sufficient criterion.

>>tapoxi+u2
While not developed by Sony, Elden Ring and FFXVI are definitely AAA releases and they are both far from mediocre

>>hiatus+Fg
Elden Ring is certainly one of the best I played the past decade. The production design is fantastic.

>>Wastin+3l
Seconding all of those. Disco Elysium and some parts of Witcher 3 are some of the finest storytelling of the 21st century in any medium.

>>philip+(OP)
This, but my reasoning is slightly different. I think it's more because the cost of production means that can't afford to do anything with artistic merit. The stakes are so high, that "chances" like actually being creative can't happen.

It ends up being a bit like easy-listening rock; doesn't offend anyone, plays by text book "rock" rules, delivers exactly what you'd expect, and nothing more.

>>tapoxi+u2
I liked only returnal, everything else feel repetitive or really poor in terms of gameplay (forbidden west, god of war).

>>hiatus+Fg
Hollow knight, ori and the will of the wisps or kerbal space progranm, one of those for sure.

Returnal is way up there though, it is possible to make good AAA.

Other gems are Frostpunk, Outer Wilds, Vampire Survivors.

Can't remember what else.

>>Fire-D+nO2
Outer Wilds is the only game that made me cry it was so good. Incredibly deep and meaningful story, 10/10

>>kelsol+ey1
I worked my way back through their catalogue and I have to say I love each of them in such a particular way that I couldn't call any one the best, including Elden Ring. Which was the most fun I had in probably years.

While one starts to recognize repeating themes (and assets), I was shocked to find out how much the original Dark Souls feels like the predecessor to Elden Ring, just more intimate and simpler (for better and worse).

All that said, I'd still recommend Elden Ring to any first-timers.