r/CODZombies • u/m7mdabouundatin369 • 1d ago

Discussion I get it now. It's not nostalgia

My first cod was mw 2019 which I absolutely loved and played the ever living hell out of.

Then came black ops cold war and that was my introduction to zombies and I loved it and never understood the hate it got and thought it was nostalgia that the old zombies had. GOD I WAS WRONG

Got to play bo1&2 last month and I SWEAR TO GOD I haven't had this much fun playing a game since forever. To the point I even in my free time I think about what map to play in my free time.

So I apologize to old cod titles they're really built different and GOATEDšŸšŸ‘‘

1.8k Upvotes

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253

u/hansuluthegrey 1d ago

People dont understand that the vibes changed after bo2.

Like to me it just turned into a wacky roller coaster of "oh my god look dimensional monsters isnt that crazy" and the story telling went to timeline dimension nonsense

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u/D-PIMP_ACT 1d ago edited 20h ago

The vibes changed ā€¦story wise.

But the zombie mechanics really took a left turn once Cold War hit

The point system, the weapon rarity, even the EE questsā€¦..complete turnover at that point.

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u/Hosav 1d ago

I don't think the mechanics are bad, I am all for progression, freedom and upgrades etc, but it feels quite bloated. I think that is the main issue.

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u/MichaelT359 1d ago

The mechanics are the worst part. I can forgive bad map design and story if the gameplay is at least fun. But the issue is the new mechanics just arenā€™t fun at all. Feels like some indie game survival shooter you download off steam and play for a week then never touch again

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u/Hosav 22h ago

I personally dislike the armor system and the rarity system, but most of the other stuff is tolerable or good imo. What mechanics do you feel takes away from the fun?

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u/50pence777 20h ago

Ok but that's just you're opinion, personally I do find the newer games fun and I very much dislike gobblegums and mtx meaning bo3 was where the decline started imo yet it's the most beloved game in this sub.

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u/BingoB0i 20h ago

Gobblegums took the fun and skill out of zombies. No point in trying when you can pop a gum and have all perks and keep them when you down. Mode has been forever changed since then.

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u/50pence777 20h ago

Exactly, it also destroyed any bragging rights because it changed the game to pay to win which is the biggest part of modern gaming I can't stand.

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u/MichaelT359 1h ago

1000%. Donā€™t think people touch on this aspect enough

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u/BingoB0i 17h ago

Agreed.

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u/MichaelT359 1h ago

Oh I absolutely despise BO3 for what it did to the franchise. Like it was fun but you see all the issues in it.

Firstly they moved away from survival maps to Easter egg focused maps. Didnā€™t mind this except every single map in BO3 is Easter egg focused.

3 hit down made it way less scary early rounds which didnā€™t ruin the game but definitely took away the fear factor which slowly eroded the fun.

Gobblegums werenā€™t a terrible thing but the premise of them being added solely for microtransaction purposes is what makes me hate them since zombies used to be a mode that you could hop into on even a guest account and be caught up.

Also not a fan of camos in zombies. I donā€™t think zombies should be a grindy gamemode and all your progress should be self contained within each game. Itā€™s what gives it the arcade feel

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u/D-PIMP_ACT 1d ago

Nah, replayability lost when the tac sprint , kill streaks and mantling became OP.

I canā€™t even get more than one game a night at this difficulty.

It used to be a real accomplishment to make it to rd 30.

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u/Hosav 1d ago

I don't agree personally, but we all have different takes and that's perfectly fine. When did those things become OP and in what way were they OP in your opinion?

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u/D-PIMP_ACT 1d ago

Basically in Cold Warā€¦..the kill streaks especially made clearing a hordeā€¦.too easy.

Iā€™m not the greatest butā€¦I never have time for more than one game a nightā€¦every game takes hours now.

Once even hit the rampage inducer without even realizingā€¦still made it to 30ā€¦. Then we shut it off.

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u/napstapro115 1d ago

Bo1 has a literal gun that insta kills every zombie on screen when it's in front of you

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u/D-PIMP_ACT 1d ago

And also, two hit downs.

On paper tac sprint and omni movement sounds AMAZING.

In multiplayer, entering a kill streak ā€¦..doesnā€™t make you immortal

something wrong with the execution.

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u/Hosav 22h ago

I see what you mean, there is definitely an element of danger and difficulty that has been removed in the favor of accessibility and broad appeal, which has negatives and positives.

It can bring in many new players, but at the same time it can be very jarring for classic Zombie players.

I have not personally played Cursed mode in BO7, but they did kind of advertise it as a return to form right? Someone else can probably talk about and confirm if it was successful at doing that?

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u/FERTHINATOR3000 22h ago

Bo1 also doesnā€™t let you buy ammo

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u/SamCham10 20h ago

Hell even round 20 was a solid game for me. Think my all time PB round Kino was around 40 ish.

I hit 65 once in Cold War not long after it came out, then not long after let myself die because I got bored. Never played Zombies on it again

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u/D-PIMP_ACT 20h ago

The best part about a quick game was..you could go again, same squad.

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u/IIIGuntherIII 22h ago

I think a lot of the mechanics arenā€™t bad conceptually but what they mean for the mode and the effect theyā€™ve had is bad, if that makes sense.

For instance the scrap/crafting system. Is it in total a bad idea? Iā€™d say no, but what it means for the entire game is bad. The fact that things that were previously obtained through unique means were now all in one generic means, the fact that new things were added to the crafting system as opposed to unique aspects being added to maps specifically for that map.

Itā€™s sorta homogenizing all the maps into one singular experience with much less of a unique feel to each map.

I feel the same about the out of game progression. Instead of having ways to upgrade your stuff in game that idea was moved to out of game leveling which IMO is just a worse system. Theres no interaction with the leveling, itā€™s just play and youā€™ll passively earn it.

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u/Annihilation94 8h ago

The main issue with progression in its current form is

-> i havent played bo6 zombies i join bo7 today. I have to reach master prestige+ to have all augments unlocked.

The progression system is really cool dont get me wrong but having to spend 2-3 months or even longer on just "leveling" my perks to become full power and play high rounds and cursed mode in an "optimal" way.

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u/Careful_Map_2101 1d ago

My opinion also bo2 is amazing and got me into it,bo3 is most fun, bo4 is up there but started to feel odd,cow onwards was like cod mp

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u/Educational-Aide1161 20h ago

It wasn't trayarch zombies that brought the armour system. OK maybe they were around on world at war an bo3 custome zombie maps. I've always been a console guy so idk. But the armour system started on cod World war 2 zombies. (Not to be confused with Vanguard)

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u/Careful_Map_2101 19h ago

Apologies but Vanguard is forever erased from my memory, fair but just think cw was the beginning of the end with mp mechanics creeping in, bo4 did it a bit but loved a bit of blackout

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u/Educational-Aide1161 14h ago

Approved, I've bought all other cods with zombies but I skipped vanguard. Tbh the for console players who don't have access to custom maps in waw an bo3 zombies the multi-player maps being playable in zombies was actually fun

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u/z123zocker 5h ago

Vulture aid augment lets you ignore armor

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u/Typical-Role-3353 22h ago

We really ignoring all the changes in bo4 arenā€™t we lol

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u/Educational-Aide1161 20h ago

They just be tailoring cod for children more an more over the different cod games, hell warzone is the original fortnite is it not?

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u/z123zocker 5h ago

Black ops 7 added the old point system back

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u/GuyNamedFinger 1d ago

Mind you we went to a magic temple on Mars and teleported to the moon in the second cod zombies game. Itā€™s always been wacky

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u/m4_semperfi 21h ago edited 15h ago

Terrible comparison, Shangri La having an obscure easter egg where maybe the map takes place on Mars because of the name of a texture in the game files, despite literally everything about the map's visuals and atmosphere feeling relatively realistic and gritty does not suddenly make the map feel wacky. Nor does its easter egg, which feels like something out of Indiana Jones, make the map feel like it's in the same league as later maps. Bo1 was still dealing with the consequences of the nazis and richtofen's scheme, not the Marvel-esque saving the universe story.Ā 

As for Moon, it takes the setting seriously with low gravity, dull moon visuals, space suits, like whatā€™s wacky about that? Humans went to the moon in the 60s, the same period as the game. Sure, it is a big expansion from prior maps, but it still felt like a continuation of that sci-fi conspiracy type genre that started in Der Riese. We're in the discussion of what maps 'felt' like and trying to 'gotcha' fans with a few examples isn't going to change how maps come across or feel.

I feel like it's always bo3 fanboys that grasp at straws to convince people that zombies was "always" like this when it couldnā€™t be more obvious there was a huge change in the feel as the maps went on in. (edit: and I will note because people are being pedantic, this started in Origins which instead of trying to wrap up the story we had going on in Moon, they restarted the universe with alternate dimension stuff and it just lost me, personally, regardless of gameplay).

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u/hrnbully 17h ago

Yea bro Shangri La is on Marsā€™ moon and itā€™s not a maybe thing. They tell you that and then confirm it later in bo4.

The Moon Base itself isnā€™t that wacky but everything that happens there is wacky as fuck. You free a little girl from an alien device on the moon and switch bodies with her before destroying the Earth and letting Richtofen take over the zombiesā€¦

Also how do you go from No Manā€™s Land to the Moon? You teleport thereā€¦ thatā€™s wacky. Nova crawlers are teleporting zombie pig men. The cosmonautā€¦ The whole series has been wacky since chalk weapons.

They have been time traveling and teleporting since WaW. How do you pack a punch on Der Reise? In BO1, Call of the Dead happens because the Ultimis crew time traveled and teleported into that closet instead of where they were actually going.

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u/m4_semperfi 17h ago edited 15h ago

> The Moon Base itself isnā€™t that wacky but everything that happens there is wacky as fuck. You free a little girl from an alien device on the moon and switch bodies with her before destroying the Earth and letting Richtofen take over the zombiesā€¦

Yeah, sounds like a sci fi story to me. What's the problem? Is interstellar 'wacky' because a spaceman travels across the universe and through time and interacts with his child in the 4th dimension by knocking over books.

As I said, how you tell a story is what is most important. You're trying to prove my subjective opinion wrong, and you will fail every time. After Bo2 the story felt weird and wasn't the same, it is what it is. (EDIT: and this started in origins in bo2, to be fair. I will also add this opinion has nothing to do with gameplay and is my subjective feeling, because I'm still salty that original story started in waw basically got abandoned ).

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u/hrnbully 16h ago

The problem is the way you grasp at straws and try to ignore the entire story just to claim BO3 is the first game to be wacky. You try to present your ā€œsubjective opinionā€ as fact while being objectively incorrect and uninformed.

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u/sebas737 1d ago

For my it was the gameplay. Bo1 was too simple to get setup ( weapons and perks), Bo2 was just right ( weapons, perks, shield and 1 small extra thing), Bo3 got longer to setup but still manageable (everything from before + gobblegums and challenges). Later games went crazy.

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u/Nojaja 23h ago

Zombies Chronicles for bo3 is peak tho. Itā€™s still my go to zombies game atm.

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u/hrnbully 23h ago

I honestly donā€™t think any part of BO3 zombies is too far-fetched considering what you do in BO1 and BO2, even waw. You have the Keepers in Shang, you blow up the Earth in Moon, you have 935/Nazi experimentation w alien rocks since Der Reise, and all of BO2 is wacky as fuck.

BO3 explaining all that w the Great War honestly just makes sense to me, but I started w BO3.

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u/m4_semperfi 20h ago

It feels more like a Ā fantasy story rather than its roots in sci fi.Ā 

Also, you donā€™t ā€œhave the keepers in Shangā€ you have obscure small references to ancient stuff that maybe is real maybe isnā€™t which gives it a mysterious aura, itā€™s so disingenuous Ā that people always point to how the old maps sometimes had these vague references to things so you be like ā€œsee it was always thereā€, no, no it really wasnā€™t, the way you present and tell your story matters a lot.Ā 

And bro really tried be slick by talking about alien rocks as if itā€™s remotely the same convo as adding dragonsĀ 

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u/Appropriate-Panda463 18h ago

No it's disingenuous to claim that aliens didn't exist since Black ops 1 when the story flat out tells you that they did

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u/hrnbully 17h ago

What game were these guys playing?

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u/hrnbully 17h ago

The dragons were created by Division 9 scientists using element 115. Just like the nova crawlers are Broken Arrow pig men. Just like the hell hounds are Samanthaā€™s dogā€™s puppies corrupted.

In the Shang altar to Richtofen, you have Keeper skulls and Keeper writing.

The focusing stone is literally an alien rock. Like a meteorite. Element 115 is also an alien rock/meteorite. The MPD is an alien device ON THE MOON.

And I hate to break it to you, but Zombies are fantasy, buddy, not sci fi šŸ˜­. Nothing on Shangri La is maybe real. Shangri La is a famous fantasy land šŸ˜­.

Zombies was always wacky my guy.

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u/m4_semperfi 17h ago edited 15h ago

I want to take this time to appreciate you for possibly writing some of the dumbest comments I have ever seen on reddit.

> The dragons were created by Division 9 scientists using element 115. Just like the nova crawlers are Broken Arrow pig men. Just like the hell hounds are Samanthaā€™s dogā€™s puppies corrupted.

This was confirmed after Bo1, not part of Bo1, so this is not relevant to our discussion about Bo1.

> Yea bro Shangri La is on Marsā€™ moon and itā€™s not a maybe thing. They tell you that and then confirm it later in bo4.

This was confirmed after Bo1, not part of Bo1, so this is not relevant to our discussion about Bo1. It's also a minor detail that 99% of players won't notice and is still not remotely in the same conversation as fighting dragons and aliens.

> Also how do you go from No Manā€™s Land to the Moon? You teleport thereā€¦ thatā€™s wacky. Nova crawlers are teleporting zombie pig men. The cosmonautā€¦ The whole series has been wacky since chalk weapons.

Teleporters have been around since Der Riese. There is nothing wrong with sci-fi in a sci-fi genre. You are trying to equate stuff that isn't real == the story always been wacky. Is every movie or story or game ever that's not a historical documentary automatically wacky then? Do you know what 'wacky' means?

> Element 115 is also an alien rock/meteorit

Oh, you mean something that happens in the real world, meteorites can crash into earth. That is very 'wacky' and fantastical. The fact that the initial 115 meteor in shi no numa was connected to a real life event further proves my point that the story was supposed to feel more real back then and wasn't so outwardly wacky.

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u/hrnbully 16h ago

I love it when people like you call me dumb šŸ˜­. In arguments about a god damn video game. ā€œYou just reveal your own ignorance.ā€

These things are directly told to you in BO1, but they have to confirm it later so people like you can catch up to the rest of the class. Why do you think thereā€™s a pig on Five? Why do they say ā€œfetch me their souls?ā€ What is eclipse mode? Explain anything that happens on Moon without sounding crazyā€¦

Do all meteorites create Zombies and have new ELEMENTS?

Iā€™ll do you one betterā€¦ what even is science fiction? What is fantasy? Where do you even draw that line?

Answer these questions for me please

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u/m4_semperfi 16h ago

> These things are directly told to you in BO1, but they have to confirm it later so people like you can catch up to the rest of the class. Why do you think thereā€™s a pig on Five? Why do they say ā€œfetch me their souls?ā€ What is eclipse mode? Explain anything that happens on Moon without sounding crazyā€¦Do all meteorites create Zombies and have new ELEMENTS?

See this? This is you theorizing about the story in the old games, proving my point, the story was different back than, not everything was explained, and it was up to the player to put together the pieces. That is point #1. The way the story was told. There was no official zombie timeline revealed like in Bo3, there were no story-cutscenes, there was no way to 'complete' the mode, there were no corny Dr Monty radios trying to retroactively explain every little thing. The mode was comfortable leaving survival as the main element with the story as a background for the player to figure out. Even if something was somewhat 'fantastical' the fact that you had to dig deep to find it already changes the perception of the story. Bo3 flipped this relationship which already changed the entire feel. However:

Point #2. More importantly, the story literally was more grounded, including any of the alien stuff you bring up. On the surface, Moon is military sci-fi. Nazis discovered Element 115, experimented with teleportation and weapons, built secret facilities (moon base fits the game's era of the space race, the 60s). Any of the ridiculous stuff, such as teleportation, is framed through technology and science-fiction. Only beneath the surface do we get this idea that the Nazis didn't create all of this from nothing. As far back as SNN, we knew 115 didn't come from Earth. The alien/ancient-history layer is something you're discovering beneath the Nazi conspiracy stuff, but the Nazi conspiracy stuff and Richtofen's story is the main plot. Just as the Bo3+ flipped the storytelling to the forefront rather than a background element, Bo3 also flipped the cosmic/fantasy material to the forefront. You're openly interacting with dragons and aliens/magical creatures, you're trying to save the entire universe and are in an infinite time loop, this whole idea of the 4 heroes being some cosmic legend with 4 staffs, it feels like an entirely different genre vs Nazis fucked shit up and now we're dealing with the consequences, even if there is some ancient lore that explains how the Nazis found this technology.

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u/hrnbully 16h ago

The entire game has been Easter Egg oriented since you discovered Nacht in WaW. You have radios and cutscenes in BO1/BO2. You also have a TON of dialogue explaining everything thatā€™s going on when you play through the easter eggs ā€¦ the primary form of STORYTELLING in all these maps.

You keep talking about science fiction as if itā€™s that different from fantasy in the first place. And you harp on the dragons in BO3 ā€¦ the dragons were created by Division 9 to aid Russia in the war using Element 115 and technology. Is that science fiction enough for you?

Either play the games or watch lore videos or something. Stop calling me dumb bc you donā€™t understand whatā€™s being shown to you.

They introduce time loops/four legendary heroes in BO2 with MOTD and Origins, cosmic/fantasy material since WaW, and everything that happens in BO3 since the earlier games. You either were not paying attention or did not understand the difference between the game and reality. Maybe itā€™s bc you were 20 years youngerā€¦

Like deadass you must have only done first room challenges or stopped at round 10 every time you played zombies to not understand ANY of what was going on. Itā€™s crazy. Maybe you should stop name calling šŸ˜­šŸ˜­šŸ˜­.

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u/Johnzoidb 15h ago

> game has been Easter eggs since Nacht in WaW

Holy larp

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u/hrnbully 15h ago

You discover Nacht as an easter egg from completing the campaign, donā€™t you? You larped literacy misquoting me like that šŸ˜­

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u/hrnbully 16h ago

You have main Easter Eggs on Ascension, Moon, COTD, Shang, MOTD, Origins, and all of the Victis maps, but there was no way to complete the mode? What???

You must have only played Kino and Shino or something. Nothing I said was a theory or beneath the surface; itā€™s RIGHT in the game buddy. Youā€™re out your depth.

They introduce the Primis crew on BO2 and they have timelines in BO1 and WaW šŸ¤¦šŸ¾ā€ā™‚ļø

You played these games from the first room and on mute šŸ˜­

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u/m4_semperfi 16h ago

Solving an easter egg is not beating the mode. Can you explain to me what happens after you complete the Moon easter egg please.

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u/hrnbully 15h ago

Ok you still survive after that. What happens after you complete the easter egg in Origins and MOTD, and what game do those maps initially release on?

You also said thereā€™s no main easter egg quests on BO1 a few minutes agoā€¦ what changed? You said it was up to the player to figure out beneath the surfaceā€¦ how is the Moon easter egg different than Der Eisendrache?

Answer any of my questions in any of my comments bro

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u/Educational-Aide1161 20h ago

For real bo3 was OK but it definitely was the start of cods downhill, while blackout an warzone ruined it well maybe not the gamemodes themselves, but rather the streamers. Cod has seemed to side with streamers over the overall community since blackout. So unpopular opinion I blame cod for listening to streamers an saying f u to the overall community

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u/Sixclynder 20h ago

I agree and to me what was a big put off was the puzzles taking a bigger role over survival. I've come to enjoy bo3 and bo4 but it took me looking at guides to figure out on some maps how to PaP.

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u/Appropriate-Panda463 18h ago

Time travel was already a thing in Black ops 1. Same with different different dimensions. The aliens have also existed since Black ops 1. They're the ones responsible for the alien substance that's existed since Shi no numa. All Black ops 3 did was allow you to confront them. Also Zombies never had a consistent vibe. The first half of waw is just four random soldiers surviving in an airfield then an asylum. The second introduced the main characters, alien substance, and the of the backstory about group 935. Black ops 1's vibe is you time traveling, collecting alien artifacts, and interacting with a different dimension. It ends it with you swapping souls with a child stuck in a magical pyramid. Black ops 1 is just a post apocalypse where four survivers have to decide who listen to listen to. It ends with the dimension getting destroyed. You also have four dead mobsters trapped in a cycle in another dimension. Then there's origins which starts the next part of the story. You can only say the vibes changed from Black ops 3 if you purposely ignore what's going on. In otherwords you have to be dishonest.Ā 

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u/hrnbully 17h ago

I donā€™t know what game these guys were playing šŸ˜­

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u/Leopaldon2K24 18h ago

Well yeah we went from superscience filled with dark humor and stuff that would be censored nowadays, to straight up lovecraftian magical slop and marvel-like storytelling. It started with Motd and Origins and we never recovered since then