Baraka_Guru

I know what you mean about graphics. I like incredible advances in graphics just like the next guy. It's how we first gauge games: "So, man, how are the graphics? Does it have nice graphics?"

What I mean to say is the advances in graphics are becoming less of an issue if you weigh everything. Advances in graphics moved much, much faster than advances in gameplay between 2000 and 2004 compared to 2004 and 2009. This is what I mean. Graphics are nice, but the competition in gaming is become fierce. Gameplay will get repetitive unless you can raise that bar to something that will blow our minds. In a way, good graphics are now a given. It's gameplay that will make or break a game. No more of the same old, same old. For a while, all shooters were pretty much the same. New gameplay features changed that. Now we see the same thing with MMOs. No more of the same. We need new features.

These days, anyone can make a pretty game. But does it play well?

I think Aion is going in the right direction, bringing PvP MMOs to a larger scale, and by offering aerial combat. But being based on the CryEngine isn't bad either.

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot