Is "soulless" a meaningless buzzword or a valid complaint

>>384833858
bing bing wahoo

It's a meaningless buzzword.

Lazy, or "safe" is the actual word you're looking for.

>>384833858
Like many complaints it is valid but is often used incorrectly. Too many people use it as a buzzword but some games, like the one you posted, are honestly soulless.

>>384834085
This. There's a difference between a game made with a spark of creativity. And a game that's just the most popular game with a different coat of paint. That game you posted is the equivalent to someone giving Sonic the Hedgehog a different color and a nose ring and calling it a new character

Basically, it's like watching a corpse moving around like a marionette.
It might still bear the name and the franchise might still exist but it's just going through the motions.
All 6 of the new SMB series games look identical and you can't even tell them apart if I post screenshots.

>>384833858
Soulless is a general term for anything that seems totally focus-group tested, manipulative, safe, lazy, derivative, shallow, artless, pandering, etc. instead of made for the sake of being fun or artistic.

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its a valid complaint when used properly.
example below

the above poster is faggot

>>384833858
Its a buzzword and about as useless as "comfy" is to describe a game.

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if you prefer the right over left, you are souless

>>384833858
If something feels like it SHOULD be fun but it isn't, it's soulless
>GTAV
>Most AAA games

>>384834290
You didn't give a shit about scuttlebugs before the epic meme.

>>384834472
This but
>Realistic
Fuck off
>>384834613
>>>384833858 (OP)
>If something feels like it SHOULD be fun but it isn't, it's soulless
>>GTAV
>>Most AAA games
>>384834613
>3D World
>Sonic adventure 1

>>384834653
stop projecting

>>384834613
I'd say Dark Souls 3 is a good example of soulless because a lot of your enjoyment you get out of the game hinges entirely around how much you remember from Dark Souls 1. It may be better mechanically but there is no creative spark there it just exists because it has to because Namco wants those delicious souls in their bank account

>>384834813
>Dark Souls 3
>soulless
but it's got souls right on the title

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>>384834290
The 64 scuttlebug is literally a marble texture with eyes. Both the right are superior.

But that's not the best scuttlebug design anyway.

Just a buzzword for "boring".

>>384833858
It is used in place of more fitting words like what >>384834032 said.
A way to describe how a game doesn't capture what the franchise stood for. A very low effort game made entirely with a quick grab at money.

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>>384834472

>>384834895
>literally a marble texture with eyes.
u never seen a spider IRL have you?

>>384834864
Ironic isn't it? I'd also say all of the Call of Duty clones are a paramount example of soulless. Assassin's Creed started out interesting but it's been a zombie for years now.

>>384833858
All I know is it's incredibly ironic to see a post on here use the word seriously, considering this is /v/ after all.

>>384835105
And the only time it ever seems interesting is when it strays from being about assassins.
Black Flag was amazing simply because your character wasn't hell bent on carrying out assassinations but pirating around the seas and hunting whales.

>>384835242
I like to imagine that /v/ is so cynical because somewhere inside we actually like video games but we don't like what they've become. It's like the difference between your mother making you a nice apple pie and just buying one out of a package. The effort is more apparent in one even though technically speaking they're both the same thing.

>>384835276
>Black Flag was amazing
lol
it’s merely okay
another mediocre game overrated by /v/

>>384833858

I don't really have any thoughts on the word "Soulless" but I've seen literally every game called "unfinished" on /v/ and /vp/. I didn't think much of it at first but after seeing it tossed at so many different fucking games I'm pretty sure it has become a buzzword. Calling a game unfinished most of the time is just a way to say "I don't like it" but in a way that's less easy to criticize. Obviously there's outliars like ME: Andromeda, lots of the shit Ubisoft makes, and games that ship with a ton of DLC available on release, but I'm tired of seeing that word outside of those cases.

Side note, I have seen literally every Souls game called unfinished multiple times on /v/. Every one.

>>384835484
compared to every other Asscreed game it is a fucking masterpiece. especially 3.
so much so Ubisoft is trying to capture that lightning again by making skull and bones.

>>384835604
but dark souls 1 was actually unfinished and pushed to the door? I think it was confirmed even by interviews

>>384835686
That’s different from “amazing” though.

Meaningless buzzword. "Soulless" just isn't an adequate description of a game. It can mean a number of things to a number of different people. I can say that MGSV looks "soulless", and no one would know what the fuck I mean by that.

>>384835859

That may be so, it feels like the only one to me that could possibly be considered unfinished. At the same time though, if Miyazaki wasn't satisfied with it, I don't think it would ship. It's not like Dark Souls was expected to be a big AAA smash hit that they needed to rush out. I don't have any special knowledge that tells me the absolute truth though.

It's important to remember that saying "In hindsight, if I had a bit more time and money I would have done x" and "we barely were able to meet the deadline for the release date for this". I don't see any reason why they couldn't delay the game if they needed to. From other interviews I've read from the guy, he's probably just critiquing his own work post release and would probably have some things he wish he did differently.

>>384834989
Why couldn't we actually explore this cool looming theme park setting as an actual level instead of making it a glorified hub?

>>384833980
/thread

>>384836167
/reddit

>>384836134

You mean like, having all of that shit in the background?

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>>384834472
i will never understand blue toad.

>>384833858
It's completely meaningless and a lazy way to shitpost. Instead of targeting the actual game you attack the intentions of the developers while making it and none of you actually knows what's going in the creator's mind during that process.
Maybe the director of NSMB loved making that game, what the fuck do you know?

>>384835604
Because /vp/ somehow manages to be stupider than /v/.
Every game has cut content, ideas that couldn't be implemented or unfinished areas, that doesn't mean the developer is lazy. Sometimes ideas don't work well and you have deadlines to meet.

>>384836110
DaS was pushed out by bamco which didn't want to wait anymore for a risky title. Developers even confirmed it in interviews
> It's not like Dark Souls was expected to be a big AAA smash hit that they needed to rush out.
how new are you? Game with medium budgets and high risk are usually the first to get rushed out by developers

>>384833858
Anything can be a buzzword if not elaborated upon.

>>384836584

I want to make one thing clear, Gamefreak is still lazy despite all those things.

>>384836625

How dare you fucking ask me how new I am. I'll have you know I've been browsing since 2010. I've been there for memes you can't even fucking conceive of kid. I was shit posting while you were still in middle school Jr. My folder of reaction images is worth more than your entire fucking family small fry.

>>384835276
>>384835484
Black flag was really good until about an hour after you get your ship and you realize that its even more of a collectathon than most Ubisoft games

>>384833858
It used to mean something but retards here apply the word to so many games it lost all value as a descriptor.

>>384833858
Soulless can be a quick way of conveying a more complex problem.

For example, I say Resident Evil VII feels soulless, because the game is only entertaining when thou don't know what's gonna happen next. Once you get to an area full of bullet sponges and it turns into Revelations 3, the problems with the core gameplay become painfully obvious.
Then,upon restarting the game, those flaws feel a lot more apparent from the start. Especially with very little left to surprise you. The game just feels empty and pointless at that point.
Also, that stupid final "battle" and clearly rushed ending ruined the game beyond all redemption.

It's a soulless ripoff of some of the elements that made classic RE worthwhile. and as a stand alone game,it's OK up to the barn section because of "muh experience" but total trash after that.

The whole experience feels shallow,and basically just superficially playing at what the devs claim it to be.

>>384837026
In which you didn't even remotely give a shit to collect them because you are sea shanting and blowing up boats and killing Whales because Fuck that shit.
A game good enough to make you not give a fuck about it's optional content is fine by me.

>>384836834
>I'll have you know I've been browsing since 2010
this fucking newfag.
THIS.
FUCKING.
NEWFAG.
No, you wish you were a newfag, you little cancer. I have been here before 2006. I was memeing with poole on SA before memes even existed, you little vermin. You think your pathetic folder can even compare with my raw autism? I bet you don't even have pissbottles, kid. I print the best reaction images every fucking year and store them in a box with my cum. Do you think you can handle that you scrub?

>>384837294

N-no... There's no way I can stand up to you anon. I'm simply not a match. Damn.. Just... Leave my family out of this please. Let me alone bear the shame of this failure. Maybe after 1000 years of torment in the afterlife my maker can let me be at piece with the failure I am.

*commits seppuku*

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>>384836517
Color limit in Mario 2 USA. Either Toad would be all red or all blue, and they opted for blue since Mario's the "red" character.
Probably stuck in NSMB and 3DW for nostalgia purposes. Yellow Toad's likely there out of laziness, from what I've heard about NSMBW, the yellow Toad actually uses the same model as blue, just has a different texture applied.

>>384837452
mph, I'll let you go kid. This time
*turns around lifting his cloak*

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You could use soulless do describe poor animation.
There are small details that make drawings, puppets, or even a taxidermied animal look "alive."
Cheaply animated models look like robots, which obviously don't have souls unless you're playing Earthbound.
For example look how strange this rathalos looks. Within the Monster Hunter games they move like a living creature. This static pose is strange, and unsettling.
So, I suppose you could apply that to sound, artwork, control or anything. It's a lot of unconsciouss evaluating that manifests as a gut feeling that "this thing is alive (or not)."

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>>384837831
>tfw posted a rathian

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>>384833858
A flat line on the excitement factor means your videogame is kinda boring, and a boring videogame is very much a valid criticism.

>>384833858
soulless is generally used to refer to when a game was designed to make money by creators who aren't passionate, at all.
Most vidya studios do have at least a bit of passion in their work, but there are plenty of them that don't.
It bleeds through.
And even then, if they do have passion, and they let the marketing/psychology/focus testing departments get their hands on the actual game it can be wiped away because it's not going to sell as well to your average retard who barely likes vidya.

sterile as hell

>>384833980
fbpb, don't give nintendo any more neurons than this, they don't deserve it

just drown them out with memes whenever theyre brought up so they fade into obscurity

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>>384834414
Comfy means the game is not only engaging but the experience is best in a comfortable moment like not having to go to work in the morning the night you play it or going back to it reminds you of a time when things felt safe or just really chill enough to order out or grab a cold one.

Ghost Trick can be considered a comfy game because it doesn't punish you too much for failure and whatever progress you make feels rewarding with the next chapter of the story going on. Like a play where you solve puzzles to see the next act.

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>>384833858

>>384834261
NSMB Wii and NSMB Wii U are the only two that are difficult to tell apart and they launched really close together

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>>384836517