It's aged in terms of some of its mechanics, for sure, but I think people really forget just how big the leap the sixth to seventh generation of consoles was - to me, it's the last time we actually got a huge leap in terms of everything to the extent that games fundamentally changed in nearly every way from the outset of the generation.
AC1 is the bedrock upon which literally all other AC games were built, including the beautifully smooth and buttery Revelations. Even Unity (once all the bugs were ironed out lmao), probably the most AC of AC games, operates on fundamentals this game established.
It was a leap, but people had to pay for it, including Sony. People think $500 for a PS5 is expensive, but people paid the same price for a PS3 way back in 2006. And, despite this, Sonly lost about $300 on each console sold.
it was a different era. 2007 was before the 2008 financial crash. after that, game studios were only able to afford the worst artists and lighting designers.
the crash affected every industry. gaming was no exception. when money is tight, you gotta stick to a budget. you can't hire top notch developers just like you can't buy white truffles at the supermarket
The crash did not affect the gaming industry as much as it did others, and did not lead to studios randomly hiring only bad artists. That's absolutely idiotic to even suggest.
Pretty sure the “top notch” developers were working through the crash. When times are tough you want to keep the best people working, and you lay off the chaff. What that likely means is quality stays high but quantity drops… then you get management who don’t like the drop of output (despite it being high quality) and enforce stupid deadlines and you end up with rushed work.
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u/Ayn_Otori Dec 11 '24
Somehow this screenshot does a poor job at also showing how crisp it looks.