What do you consider the 'golden age' of gaming?

[Ghaleon]

I've seen many people refer to certain times as the golden age of gaming, and it always seems kinda off to me. I think most people who use this expression often refer to the point of time they were first interested in passionate in gaming. But I was passionate about gaming for as long as I remember. I remember asking to be lifted to reach the controls to arcades. I remember playing colico vision and the atari 2600 when I could count my age on one hand. As a gamer for as long as my life (34) I was a nerd (used as an insult when I was a kid more than a status symbol or compliment) simply for liking video games up until about the time of the playstation 1, saturn, ff7, pokemon, etc.

Now I generally see people claim those same days were the golden age of gaming, or the ps2.

But I kinda liked every 'age' for their own thing. The SNES had the most...influential RPGS (or JRPGs as people call them rather with disdain nowdays), the ps1,saturn,n64 made gaming mainstream enough to not be insulted for it. the ps2 had a massive library of respectable quality...and currently...games are fucking cheap as hell without being bad.

 Nowdays people absolutely bitch how it's the end of the world if a game is 30 dollars or if it doesn't have Japanese voices even if it's an otherwise good rpg (not that I think english voice actors are 'other' than good. But I remember paying 90-100 bucks for final fantasy 2 (4), 3(6), lufia 1, 2, chrono trigger, phantasy star 2-4, secret of mana, etc. And I hear action games being bashed for being unbalanced when you could beat the final boss of zelda2 by duck slashing, or...ok can't think of another examples but I know there were many.

I think gaming has had massive strengths and weaknesses in every generation of gaming... each worthy of exclusive appreciation in their own way, even currently. In fact... currently, even though games are rarely as magical to me as snes rpgs were back in the day, have even more potential because they are so cheap and for every game I feel was overpriced, I get one that I enjoy as much as some of the best for less than 40 bucks, how is THIS not a golden age too?

I'm long winded and not articulate so I'll just post here and apologize if I sound stupid.

[CyberAngel]

Interesting question, actually.

I'd say the 'golden age' was the third generation (NES). Compared to previous ones, there were big advancements that you can't imagine games without nowadays. Actually bearable graphics where you could show pretty much anything, ingame music (also finally good enough to actually be enjoyable), gameplay that could be as complicated as needed, actual storytelling within the game. Many series and genres that were and still are popular in later generations came from here. That was an era when gameplay actually formed into the shape we know today. The only thing that was improving from then on was graphics.

Of course, it could be just my nostalgia speaking.

Though, to go further, I could say there was a second 'golden age' (silver age?), but that was exclusive to 3D games - sixth generation (PS2, XBOX etc.). Not saying that earlier 3D games weren't good enough, but they were limited, both graphically and gameplay-wise (and those two were connected through engine limitations). Sixth generation was when 3D graphics got to the level where you could do anything, and when gameplay wasn't really limited by what an engine could do. Again, it looks like only graphics were getting better from then on (and personally, the improvement, while still there, looks less drastic that what happened to 2D after third generation, but that's just my opinion).

[Zerviscos]

Golden Age? I guess after the Video Game Crash of 1983. Definitely around 4th - 5th Generation, basically, the 90s. Not because it was my childhood(a little bit though), but IMO, it's definitely because of the transition of 2D graphics to 3D. We went from 16-bit to 32-bit, to 64-bit(Srz, Nintendo 64) in just less than a decade. Sure, it's chunky-looking, and I have heard and watched teenagers these days criticize the graphics, but they will not know the joy and awe of playing games that was in three dimensions. Like they always say "The graphics can't get any better than this." I've played NES, and SNES(relics of my dad still playing video games) first than N64 and PS1 btw. Other than that, IIRC the 90s was also the time when home gaming was on the rise. Less kids and young adults were in arcades(atleast where I was), and a lot of people were buying consoles and PCs.

There weren't a lot of games in 5th gen in the earlier years that can utilize 3D well, until only around the late 90s to 2000s. Megaman Legends were one of the few games that can utilize 3D graphics in a 360 degree environment. If we're talking about the generation when the use of 3D has been greatly improved, then as CyberAngel said, it would be the 6th Generation. Now graphics and the use of 3D movement in the PS2 era was phenomenally improved, Dark Cloud 2 and Shenmue are probably my favorite game(s) from that era.

After that, yes, it seems like graphics are the only thing(s) improving from there on out. I mean, I'm not surprised, and not disappointed at all. Since 1.) We've utilize 3D already, basically we're trying to mimic real life, I don't think it can get any better than that, other than gameplay uniqueness, or trying to make a game really like real life via physics, etc.(eg. GTA V), and 2.) I'm an RPG fanatic, and if I already have the joy of playing 2D RPGs and exploring 2D worlds, I would be more so exploring 3D worlds. I mean imagining is fun, but tbh, I'd be more enjoyed when I am actually seeing what kind of world I'm exploring. That's why I'm always hyped for games like Star Ocean, and I can't definitely wait the day when I play open-galaxy games(Star Citizen plox).

[Ghaleon]

Interesting. Early 3d graphics are, and always were like my least liked aesthetic in gaming. It contributed to why ff7 was a downer for me for example, I much preferred xenogears and fft (though certainly not for the graphics alone, not even close).

Though the 3d terrain didnt make me shudder

[Tengukami]

In my experience, I've watched the "golden age" move steadily forward, but always remain 5-15 years behind the present tense.

[notverycreative]

Around '97-'07 for me, but only the PS1+2 because that's where all the JRPGs went. Also, SRW. ...stop looking at me like that.

[hyorinryu]

In my experience, I've watched the "golden age" move steadily forward, but always remain 5-15 years behind the present tense.

Really? It seems like people have been praising the N64 era as far as I remember. Of course I'm probably on the younger side of this board and didn't get my first console until 2007 or so. As for my personal Golden Age, I don't really think  have one. Things have been getting better and better in my eyes. Of course, I favor multi-player/social games, so that's probably a big factor in my opinion.

Interesting. Early 3d graphics are, and always were like my least liked aesthetic in gaming. It contributed to why ff7 was a downer for me for example, I much preferred xenogears and fft (though certainly not for the graphics alone, not even close).

Though the 3d terrain didnt make me shudder

Yeah, I know graphics aren't everything, but every time I see Ocarina of Time footage , I always think it looks really ugly.

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

I don't really consider there to be a "golden age", just stuff that we look fondly on because the nostalgia filter has removed all the bad stuff of the era from our memory.

As for eras I'd look upon fondly, I'd say 1993-1994 was a good year for a lot of platforms, with Sega and Nintendo getting some iconic platformers , and the PC getting some groundbreaking titles like Doom.

[Zerviscos]

Interesting. Early 3d graphics are, and always were like my least liked aesthetic in gaming. It contributed to why ff7 was a downer for me for example, I much preferred xenogears and fft (though certainly not for the graphics alone, not even close).

Though the 3d terrain didnt make me shudder

FFVII, looking back it was pretty chunky-looking compared to FFVIII. I always like to say that VII was still one of the early FFs and that Square was just experimenting back then. VIII and above for me was their real transition to 3D. If they made VII with VIII's graphics, it would've been so much better. But I guess one of the major contribution to the hype of VII was being the first FF game with 3D graphics.

Xenogears was great, not only the story and gameplay, but their use of 2.5D was beautiful even though everyone else was already leaving for 3D. Sadly it was one of those obscure games, less-budgeted by Square during those times. I'm still mad for them because of it. :^(

Edit: I also would like to add, the 90s was also the time when CD-ROMs were becoming prevalent. Which was a pretty huge change in the medium, it was lightweight, and can store a lot more(earlier ones, IIRC floppy disks were still bigger). Nintendo was still using cartridges though, I think it was because for anti-piracy reasons. I mean, I know how much piracy gotten out of hand when CDs were becoming a thing, even more so with people having their own PCs and CD burners.

[nav']

I believe that the golden age of gaming has been going on for a very long time and is unlikely to ever stop unless our entire civilization collapses, but that's not a particularly elaborate statement, so I guess I'll say a few words about my personal feelings too. Being a PC gamer to the core, I adore the '90s. So many excellent FPS games that didn't yet try to emulate a World War II action movie: Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, Quake, Unreal. All the best (Heroes of) Might and Magic games. Some of the Civilization series. The XCOM series. System Shock, Thief and Deus Ex (OK, fine, this one's from 2000... still close enough), all wonderful examples of providing the first person action gameplay with tons of depth, atmosphere and meaningful storylines. Fallout and particularly Fallout 2, the best RPG game ever as far as I'm concerned. The Freespace games, a superb story of interstellar conflict. All the adventure games by Sierra and LucasArts. Riven, also an adventure game, but so vastly different and such an unique, organic experience. Ultima VI and VII, some of the best parts of an RPG series that speaks of morality in terms more advanced than "kill the bad dudes".

Well, this is long enough and apparently my "golden age" opinion has turned into shameless PC propaganda, but in truth I was only listing the very best games off the top of my head. There are numerous others that I personally enjoyed very much, but are otherwise too flawed or too niche to really be considered classics, like the ones mentioned above. And generally speaking, I'm always somewhat annoyed by the fact that whenever gaming as a whole is discussed, it's so often all about the consoles, while PC games are usually barely mentioned and skimmed over. It's a shame, a damn, unfair shame.

[Silent Harmony]

To be quite honest, I don't consider there to be a single "golden age" of gaming. I've been playing since NES days and even then I consider the days of Pong just as important as the present. Every platform, every "generation" or other arbitrary time-span, has introduced something that has helped push gaming forward and evolve it to the point where it's basically apples to oranges. What doesn't help is differing tastes in graphics, genre, gameplay, themes, and more. It's basically like asking "what was the golden age of literature?"

For instance, the way I personally see consoles from the 3rd-Gen on:

• 3rd gen revived the home console market.
• 4th gen, in my opinion, really helped push local multiplayer with fighting games, racing games, coop games, and more.
• 5th gen obviously introduced 3D as a consistent factor.
• 6th gen helped bring online multiplayer to the home console, especially with the introduction of XBOX Live and games like Halo and Phatasy Star Online.
• 7th gen had consoles evolve from arguably "expensive toys" to family devices. Nintendo did that by bringing families into gaming with the Wii and Sony and Microsoft added tons of apps and services.

This, of course, doesn't even touch on the impart of games before the 3rd Gen and the impact of arcades, PCs, and mobile devices. We also have indie games that both innovate or bring back the feeling of playing a classic (or both). Gaming is basically organic and evolves with the rest of society, which is one of the main reasons I feel it has lasted this long. It also has become more accessible and widespread no matter what you're looking for. Even pen-and-paper roleplaying is going strong.

Maybe, far in the future, people will look back at the introduction of Pong as the beginning and some point in the future as the end of a "golden age" but as of right now I don't see a definite beginning and end. I'm just enjoying the ride.

[Edible]

We're in it right now.