Highly Acclaimed Games -- that you just don't like!

[DaddyMulk | 64]

Here are my picks:

Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS): The first half or so of this game is 100% what I did not want out of a Metroid game. All of the fun of navigating quickly through areas you’re already familiar with while blasting foes is utterly negated by the ridiculous rock/paper/scissors BS you must engage in with every single peon in order to eliminate them and avoid taking significant damage. This improves once you can (finally) plow through them with the Screw Attack, but prior to that, the flow of the game is completely busted. I’m also not big on certain boss encounters that amount to minutes of dodging attacks followed by a 5-second window to inflict damage. I’m not a fan of Mercury Steam in general, but this is easily the worst thing of theirs I’ve ever played through. Just a wretched experience that makes me pine for the Game Boy version.

The Rushing Beat Series: Is this series well liked? I never thought so, yet it seems to have its (very vocal) fans. I don’t really get it: There are dozens of brawlers from the 90s, and I’ve rarely played any as dull or tedious as these. People like to go on and on about how badly Shura was messed with for its US release, and while that may be true, Shura wasn’t that great of a game to begin with. And speaking of brawlers...

The Simpsons (Konami): Okay, heavy caveat on this one: I don’t dislike this game at all. It’s a perfectly competent Konami brawler that just happens to be far less interesting to me than half a dozen other brawlers they cranked out during the same period. What I dislike about it is the hype around it as the top-tier Konami brawler from this era and all the nostalgia people seem to have for it.

And as a Simpsons fan, I don’t get it: Like many fans of the series, around S2-9 are the episodes I loved and revisit often. Most diehards are fine with S1 but no one especially loves it. So why is there so much love for a game limited to S1 canon and gags?

It’s hard to explain, but in a nutshell: The TMNT games are great because they encapsulated a lot of what we loved about the animated series when it was airing at the time.

But that show never really evolved beyond what it was to begin with. The Simpsons evolved considerably, even over the course of its first two years on the air, and what’s encapsulated in that brawler (that kid from the Punch Out!! episode! That bear from the camping episode! The three-eyed fish!!) isn’t really the type of references most Simpsons fans care about.

Bottom line: For me personally, trashing Foot Soldiers is a lot more fun than beating up Generic Business Suit Guy and Fat Old Guy over and over again.

Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness: This one isn’t necessarily critically acclaimed. But what I often do see about it is people willing to give it a pass because “at least it’s better than Castlevania 64”. I mean, is it though? To me, adding more dogshit on top of a pile of existing dogshit doesn’t give you a good game, just a larger pile of dogshit.

 

[Tanooki | 4,933]

9 hours ago, DaddyMulk said:

Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness: This one isn’t necessarily critically acclaimed. But what I often do see about it is people willing to give it a pass because “at least it’s better than Castlevania 64”. I mean, is it though? To me, adding more dogshit on top of a pile of existing dogshit doesn’t give you a good game, just a larger pile of dogshit.

 

Curious, have you actually played this game through and the dumpster fire that is CV64?  All the stuff that was grievously broken with the first one they repaired, but also added all the missing content that was originally planned too.  The old game you could jump the same point A to B each time and never land the same place twice.  Camera would pivot mid jump or while hanging off a ledge causing death.  Various places (good notable the clock gears in a floor you must walk between) had places where you'd die even if you weren't crushed due to bad collision detection and the list grows.  All that stuff was fixed making the game not just fun, but actually fair to be playable.

[DaddyMulk | 64]

18 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

Curious, have you actually played this game through and the dumpster fire that is CV64?  All the stuff that was grievously broken with the first one they repaired, but also added all the missing content that was originally planned too.  The old game you could jump the same point A to B each time and never land the same place twice.  Camera would pivot mid jump or while hanging off a ledge causing death.  Various places (good notable the clock gears in a floor you must walk between) had places where you'd die even if you weren't crushed due to bad collision detection and the list grows.  All that stuff was fixed making the game not just fun, but actually fair to be playable.

Oh yeah, I’ve spent more time with both games than I’d care to remember. I’m not saying they didn’t make improvements: What I’m saying is that it was rotten to the core to me to begin with, and simply adding more to it while making minor tweaks doesn’t redeem it to me nor put it above any other CV game beyond CV64 (I loathe the character designs in Judgment, but it’s not a terrible fighting game beyond that).

[Sumez | 2,951]

CV64 isn't really rotten to the core. I've played both versions back in the days, but never finished them until recently. CV64 was like the game I wanted to like, but it was just so unplayably bad that it made me wish I could have played the game it should have been.

Legacy of Darkness is really close to being that. At the very least it fixed the controls to the point where they are much less of a frustration, allowing me to better enjoy the things the game does well. It's still a mediocre janky-ass game, but there's a lot to like in it, and it's a lot easier to like in the fixed version.

[Br81zad | 629]

22 hours ago, DaddyMulk said:

Here are my picks:

Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS): The first half or so of this game is 100% what I did not want out of a Metroid game. All of the fun of navigating quickly through areas you’re already familiar with while blasting foes is utterly negated by the ridiculous rock/paper/scissors BS you must engage in with every single peon in order to eliminate them and avoid taking significant damage. This improves once you can (finally) plow through them with the Screw Attack, but prior to that, the flow of the game is completely busted. I’m also not big on certain boss encounters that amount to minutes of dodging attacks followed by a 5-second window to inflict damage. I’m not a fan of Mercury Steam in general, but this is easily the worst thing of theirs I’ve ever played through. Just a wretched experience that makes me pine for the Game Boy version.

If you haven't given AM2R a try, then I sincerely recommend that you do. Instead of ordering a C&D to the team that made it, Nintendo should have adopted this game as their own instead of moving forward with Samus Returns 3DS. 

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

4 minutes ago, Br81zad said:

If you haven't given AM2R a try, then I sincerely recommend that you do. Instead of ordering a C&D to the team that made it, Nintendo should have adopted this game as their own instead of moving forward with Samus Returns 3DS. 

No kidding.

AM2R is probably the best 2D Metroid implementation, period.

[Tanooki | 4,933]

20 hours ago, DaddyMulk said:

Oh yeah, I’ve spent more time with both games than I’d care to remember. I’m not saying they didn’t make improvements: What I’m saying is that it was rotten to the core to me to begin with, and simply adding more to it while making minor tweaks doesn’t redeem it to me nor put it above any other CV game beyond CV64 (I loathe the character designs in Judgment, but it’s not a terrible fighting game beyond that).

Fair enough if you just didn't like the design either way around all the broken an left out stuff when those crooks peddled a beta release of a partial game due to running out of time to then sell the real one less than a year later.  It was night and day for me, completely playable and at the period it released it was quite competent with the controls and camera along with collision which made it a treat as far as 3D castlevania goes at least, which I know isn't saying a lot.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,526]

OH, I have one.  Though it's probably a stretch to say it was an acclaimed game.  More like a mixed-reception game that got acclaims from some corners, and has a bit of a cult following to this day.

 

The Legend of Dragoon

 

People who like this game are fucking crazy.  I said it!

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

1 hour ago, Reed Rothchild said:

OH, I have one.  Though it's probably a stretch to say it was an acclaimed game.  More like a mixed-reception game that got acclaims from some corners, and has a bit of a cult following to this day.

 

The Legend of Dragoon

 

People who like this game are fucking crazy.  I said it!

Agreed! That game sucks and I am routinely amazed at the people who sing its praises. It is objectively terrible when compared to its contemporaries.

Edited December 10, 2020 by DoctorEncore

[RH | 4,903]

1 hour ago, Reed Rothchild said:

OH, I have one.  Though it's probably a stretch to say it was an acclaimed game.  More like a mixed-reception game that got acclaims from some corners, and has a bit of a cult following to this day.

 

The Legend of Dragoon

 

People who like this game are fucking crazy.  I said it!

 

7 minutes ago, DoctorEncore said:

Agreed! That game sucks and I am routinely amazed at the people who sing its praises. It is objectively terrible when compared to its contemporaries.

Interesting. On a scale of Quest 64 to Chrono Trigger, where would you guys rate this game?

 

[Silent Hill | 276]

On 12/6/2020 at 3:50 PM, DaddyMulk said:

Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS): The first half or so of this game is 100% what I did not want out of a Metroid game. All of the fun of navigating quickly through areas you’re already familiar with while blasting foes is utterly negated by the ridiculous rock/paper/scissors BS you must engage in with every single peon in order to eliminate them and avoid taking significant damage. This improves once you can (finally) plow through them with the Screw Attack, but prior to that, the flow of the game is completely busted. I’m also not big on certain boss encounters that amount to minutes of dodging attacks followed by a 5-second window to inflict damage. 

One of the first people I've ever seen share my frustrations with that game and describe it perfectly.  

[CMR | 520]

I've only played a little bit of Legend of Dragoon, but what I did play I liked.  Someday I plan to try and go through the whole thing.

[Tanooki | 4,933]

7 hours ago, Silent Hill said:

One of the first people I've ever seen share my frustrations with that game and describe it perfectly.  

I felt the same too.  I bought another copy months ago in a clearance rack for like $10-15 and it is still sealed as I keep thinking back to how fun, then life sucking for those reasons it had become.

 

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

7 hours ago, RH said:

 

Interesting. On a scale of Quest 64 to Chrono Trigger, where would you guys rate this game?

 

Definitely a lot closer to Quest than Chrono Trigger. There are certainly worse RPGs out there, but it had the misfortune of launching on a console with a plethora of amazing games. Its only appeal is the ability to turn into a dragon, which is admittedly quite cool, just not cool enough to carry an entire game.

I wouldn't recommend it unless you adore PS1 RPGs and you've already played the 50 or so that are better than it.

Edited December 11, 2020 by DoctorEncore

[Strange | 1,700]

Try as I might I still can’t get into the Dr. Mario or the Donkey Kong Country games.

[JamesRobot | 5,800]

39 minutes ago, The Strangest said:

Try as I might I still can’t get into the Dr. Mario...

You know what?  I don't think he's even a real doctor. 

[avatar! | 1,811]

4 hours ago, The Strangest said:

Try as I might I still can’t get into the Dr. Mario or the Donkey Kong Country games.

I haven't played Donkey Kong Country in years, but being old, I remember playing it on the SNES and it was simply amazing! The graphics, the sound... it was as if the SNES became a whole new machine, kinda like a N64, just with good games

Edited December 13, 2020 by avatar!

[Strange | 1,700]

9 hours ago, JamesRobot said:

You know what?  I don't think he's even a real doctor. 

 

[CMR | 520]

Where were all you guys when I was taking heat for criticizing Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS) when it came out?  It's nice to finally know I wasn't alone in thinking this game was a turd.  AM2R was the game we should have gotten from Nintendo.

[Br81zad | 629]

On 12/10/2020 at 1:14 PM, Reed Rothchild said:

OH, I have one.  Though it's probably a stretch to say it was an acclaimed game.  More like a mixed-reception game that got acclaims from some corners, and has a bit of a cult following to this day.

 

The Legend of Dragoon

 

People who like this game are fucking crazy.  I said it!

On 12/10/2020 at 2:43 PM, DoctorEncore said:

Agreed! That game sucks and I am routinely amazed at the people who sing its praises. It is objectively terrible when compared to its contemporaries.

 

[Tanooki | 4,933]

12 hours ago, CMR said:

Where were all you guys when I was taking heat for criticizing Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS) when it came out?  It's nice to finally know I wasn't alone in thinking this game was a turd.  AM2R was the game we should have gotten from Nintendo.

I wasn't around I don't think but I would not be surprised if your last sentence would be an identical word to word quote of something I threw around a good bit.  I put up with the game for a stretch, and it was fun and all for a time, but then the cracks started to show and widen the more you went into the game and I just stopped playing it.

Funny enough I got another copy of it (yarn kirby which I never had) sealed earlier in the year from a cheap clearance bin, and it's still sealed.  I've debated just selling the dumb thing.

[ScaryD | 237]

Chrono Cross was a huge disappointment and felt like a slog the whole way through. I haven't picked it up since I beat it probably 20 something years ago. Another game that I can't really stand is Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. I enjoy the 3D Zelda games but this game is definitely not a pick up and play game. I know when I was a kid there were some frustrating dungeons (Water Temple) that made me put this game down on several occasions. I just don't have the same memories for this game like I have for the original Legend of Zelda or a Link to the Past. 

[cj_robot | 542]

On 12/15/2020 at 12:55 PM, ScaryD said:

Chrono Cross was a huge disappointment...

Another game that I can't really stand is Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time...

I'm right there with you. Chrono Trigger was easily one of my favorite games of all time, and Chrono Cross could not have been any more of a disappointment to me, especially after the glowing reviews it got. From what I recall, the battle system was weird and there was something about constantly switching among different elements which seemed pointless to me. There were too many useless characters that join your party, which is a peeve of mine in RPGs. It had an INCREDIBLE soundtrack, though (I actually used a couple tracks in my wedding).

Ocarina is another one I could just not get into, despite loving A Link to the Past.

[CMR | 520]

I've beaten Chrono Cross twice, but only played through the demo version of Legend of Dragoon.  I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Legend of Dragoon is better than Chrono Cross from a gameplay standpoint.  Cross was definitely a slog for me as well.  The loading for the battles just took way too long.

[Foochie776 | 1,052]

Kingdom Hearts and I want to like it so bad