What are Your 2014 Gaming Hopes?

I could probably think of a million things I’d like to see happen or not happen in 2014, but here’s what’s most important to me.

1. Technological Advances Beyond Great Graphics

When you consider the law of diminishing returns, we’ve hit a ceiling in terms of how good games can look. Sure, next-gen games will look awesome, but it won’t be as big a leap as we’ve seen in past generations due to the cost to produce excellent looking games. So hopefully, we’ll see better party AI in games like Mass Effect, Madden NFL Football and Tactical Shooters like Rainbow Six. I remember speaking with one of Bioware’s developers on the Xbox forums about how annoying it was to have blundering teammates on my fire team in Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. Hopefully, the new tech in our consoles will allow for friendly and enemy AI to behave in a more practical and robust manner.

I’d also like to see standards like push-a-to-climb-up-this-ledge mechanics, treasure chest opening cutscenes and random battles in Japanese Role Playing Games burn in the lake of fire. I remember playing The Witcher 2 thinking, why can’t I just jump up to this ledge without having to watch Geralt go through a mini-animation?With bigger open worlds, I want to be able to run free in them, unencumbered by mechanics like these. 

And prayerfully, if First Person Shooters are to survive in this current generation, I pray that they go back to the open nature they once had and stop making us fight in predetermined corridoors. 

2. The Resurgence of the Japanese Role Playing Game

Final Fantasy XV will hopefully help this wish come true. My prayer is that it will play well and sell well enough to get people interested in the genre once again. Unfortunately, I hate handheld gaming. So I dispise the idea of being relegated to a 3DS or a Vita in order to enjoy one of my favorite types of games. Part of this issue lies with us fans, though. The genre cannot survive in HD using some of the old methods of play like random encounters. There has to be a tight balance between respecting the standards we grew up with and evolving enough to attract a new generation of gamer. Ironically, I predict that if the Japanese RPG does make a comeback, it will do so because a company outside of Japan made one that meets the balance criteria I mentioned prior. 

3. A Better Way to Handle DLC and Free-to-Play

I pretty much hate DLC. When I first started pondering my wishes for 2014, I originally was going to say I wanted to see the death of DLC. Unfortunately for me, that’s just not realistic. I don’t like playing my games in chunks. I’d like to get the entire experience in one sitting and then move on to another game. I don’t want to finish the “main” game and then have to revisit it three months later because some new missions came out. I think the concept of DLC lacks honesty. We’ve been sold the idea that these companies are doing us a service by giving us more content to enjoy after the fact. Negative. What the companies are really saying is, “We cannot afford to sell you a complete game for $60 because of how much it cost to make. So, we’ll just piecemeal it to you in installments so that it doesn’t feel like you’re actually spending $100 for a game.” Sadly, I’d be willing to spend $100 on The Witcher 3 (for example) if the content warranted the expense. Just sell me the whole game for $100 at launch and let me have all the stupid DLC up front. Give me that option, and I’ll stop bellyaching altogether. But selling me a game at launch for $100 with the promise that I’ll eventually get more content that will warrant the price? That’s just assinine (Looking at your Borderlands 2). 

As for free-to-play. My only wish is that it doesn’t get out of hand and turn from free-to-play to a pay-to-win system. My issues with free-to-play are very similar to my issues with DLC. Just tell me what you think the game should be worth and I’ll tell you if I’m willing to pay that much for it. Stop piecemealing our games publishers!

So that does it for my wishlist. How about you?