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

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

10 hours ago, CMR said:

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.

Eh... I'd give the win to Chrono Cross by a mile. Chrono Cross is not a bad game by any means, but its name and legacy weigh heavily on it. The graphics are great, the battle system is fun, and the music is fantastic. Legend of Dragoon brings nothing new or interesting to the table.

[The Count | 528]

7 hours ago, Foochie776 said:

Kingdom Hearts and I want to like it so bad

I loved it when it first came out and I tried to play the remade version the other day and I just could not get in to it. 

[avatar! | 1,819]

I'm torn on this one. The animation is beautiful, the music is beautiful, but I view it more as a cheap-death kinda game. I can understand why people who like Meatboy and Celeste would dig this, I did not like either. I probably will give it one more go later, but right now I'm just tired of all the insta-kills in the game. By the way the developers got enough complaints that they added an "easy mode" in the game, which basically does nothing.

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

48 minutes ago, avatar! said:

I'm torn on this one. The animation is beautiful, the music is beautiful, but I view it more as a cheap-death kinda game. I can understand why people who like Meatboy and Celeste would dig this, I did not like either. I probably will give it one more go later, but right now I'm just tired of all the insta-kills in the game. By the way the developers got enough complaints that they added an "easy mode" in the game, which basically does nothing.

I think it would be a problem if you had to replay large sections, but since you can set your own save points, it was a non-issue for me. Also, the auto-scroller sections put you right back at the start and are pretty short.

Of course, that doesn't invalidate your opinion in any way. But that would be my justification why instant deaths don't cheapen the game or make it less fun.

Edited December 24, 2020 by DoctorEncore

[avatar! | 1,819]

3 hours ago, DoctorEncore said:

I think it would be a problem if you had to replay large sections, but since you can set your own save points, it was a non-issue for me. Also, the auto-scroller sections put you right back at the start and are pretty short.

Of course, that doesn't invalidate your opinion in any way. But that would be my justification why instant deaths don't cheapen the game or make it less fun.

Played it for a few more hours. It can be so beautiful and wonderful, and certain sections are just a nightmare. Still haven't decided how I really feel about the game. The save anytime feature is great, although certain parts of the game won't let you save. Also, it's quite annoying, I've gone into a few boss (or mini-boss?) battles with only one hit point because I didn't know I was going into a boss battle - and of course the game autosaves

Edited December 24, 2020 by avatar!

[Estil | 1,265]

On 12/17/2020 at 9:53 AM, DoctorEncore said:

Eh... I'd give the win to Chrono Cross by a mile. Chrono Cross is not a bad game by any means, but its name and legacy weigh heavily on it. The graphics are great, the battle system is fun, and the music is fantastic. Legend of Dragoon brings nothing new or interesting to the table.

So I guess Chrono Cross would be the video game equivalent of New Coke?

And to answer the OP, I thought Final Fantasy 8 was way too weird/unorthodox for my tastes...even though seemingly no one at the time of the game's release had any problem with it or difficulty adjusting to it.   It's one of those things that made me feel like such a stupid gamer.  

Final Fantasy 9 was much much much more like it  

And Final Fantasy 15 was highly regarded/hyped for years...but why did it have to have an all male cast who dress/look way too similar?  

Edited December 25, 2020 by Estil

[avatar! | 1,819]

On 12/24/2020 at 1:18 PM, DoctorEncore said:

I think it would be a problem if you had to replay large sections, but since you can set your own save points, it was a non-issue for me. Also, the auto-scroller sections put you right back at the start and are pretty short.

Of course, that doesn't invalidate your opinion in any way. But that would be my justification why instant deaths don't cheapen the game or make it less fun.

Finished the game. I am glad I stuck with it, although there were some sections that were just horrific. I was actually reading up and I think the definitive edition made a few of the escape moments easier. It seems like in the original Ori numerous people were rage quitting during the tree and rising water episode. I found it challenging, but in the Definitive Edition it does auto-save half-way through or thereabouts, so you don't have to do the whole bloody thing again! I certainly understand wanting to make the game challenging, but honestly, some parts definitely detracted from the game (my opinion of course). Overall I would give it an 8 out of 10.

[avatar! | 1,819]

This helps with my insomnia....

Even though it's very boring, since it's a Nintendo game fans are claiming it's the digital second coming.

Edited December 27, 2021 by avatar!

[MagusSmurf | 577]

Tales of Phantasia generally looks and sounds good but the game is fairly boring. The combat was a novel idea but just doesn't control or function very well, random encounters are overly frequent, and the plot doesn't have a lot going for it:

Spoiler

This game had maybe a little potential but it did not reach it, and whatever was attractive or novel at the time about its very particularly anime approach to the cast has been surpassed by hundreds of JRPGs since. It is generally kinda dull but it tries sometimes before ultimately giving up.

Things start off well enough if not exactly original but then a couple hours in stuff happens and suddenly all that's basically abandoned for the next dozen hours or so in favor of "track down the summon spirits." "Track down the summon spirits" is MORE OR LESS the story low point of every Tales game I've played that had this as a plot point and the first one is not an exception but it takes up a much larger percent of the game here. There's a slight blip upward for the hour or so around Arche joining just because there's SOMETHING else going on but it doesn't last. Then things finally pick up midgame for a few hours around the time stuff starts happening in Midgard and that's kinda neat but then everything pretty much gets buried for good once you go to the future. I don't care about Cress and Mint's moment in that one snowy town those two are like the blandest implementations of their archetypes possible at least Arche has a personality Let's Go Arche, wake me up when it's time for the ending.

In summary, this game does not fuck like a tiger, does not DWELL AMIDST THE ABOUNDING LIGHT OF HEAVEN, and would probably be improved if its backstory really did involve an ancient marsupial-themed conflict.

Breath of Fire and Lufia 1 are my go-to for "decent but would be reluctant to call good without qualifying it" SNES RPGs. Tales of Phantasia doesn't even reach that standard. screw it.

[Jono1874 | 144]

On 12/26/2021 at 4:49 PM, avatar! said:

This helps with my insomnia....

Even though it's very boring, since it's a Nintendo game fans are claiming it's the digital second coming.

Hey, i mean, it wasn't perfect by any means but I thought it was pretty damn good.

 

As for me, I can't stand River City Ransom. It's just not fun.

 

[avatar! | 1,819]

18 minutes ago, Jono1874 said:

Hey, i mean, it wasn't perfect by any means but I thought it was pretty damn good.

 

As for me, I can't stand River City Ransom. It's just not fun.

 

I totally understand to each their own, but yeah, I really got very bored with Metroid Dread. In my mind a MUCH MUCH better metroidvania is Blasphemous - although I will add I did not like their new "true ending" I thought it ruined much of the atmosphere of the game, although the game (apart from that lame ending) is great

[MagusSmurf | 577]

19 hours ago, Jono1874 said:

Hey, i mean, it wasn't perfect by any means but I thought it was pretty damn good.

 

As for me, I can't stand River City Ransom. It's just not fun.

 

I’ll agree River City Ransom is pretty meh. The amount of inscrutable menu bullshit and grinding would be annoying regardless of battle system and then I remember the actual beat-em-up part being kinda weak too. Feel like this one’s wholly reliant on weird NES charm.

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

On 12/26/2021 at 7:49 PM, avatar! said:

This helps with my insomnia....

Even though it's very boring, since it's a Nintendo game fans are claiming it's the digital second coming.

Dude, I just finished this and feel like the whole gaming world is on crazy pills. This wouldn't make my GOTY list if it was Nintendo's only release for the year. It's got a few cool parts, but 90% of the game is rooted in really old game design decisions dating back to the original Metroid. There is a difference between nostalgic callbacks and archaic design decisions and this one lands on the latter. If you've even peripherally kept up on Metroidvanias over the past ten years, I don't know how you could love this game.

[Tanooki | 4,937]

While I don't love the game, I don't hate it, nor do I find it archaic or boring enough to break insomnia.  It has some nice exploration, nice zones to check out and figure your way through, some interesting (and some definitely not) random enemies.  The bosses are a mixed bag both of quality but bullshit to fair difficulty, largely though not by direct design but as much as being a victim to the asinine rapid button switching kungfu garbage to do fast sequences in a wee time window.  You could do better sure, but you can also do far far worse.  People sucking up to it though need a cat scan.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,549]

We need a poll: who hates on a larger percentage of games, @Tanooki @DoctorEncore or @avatar! 

[Tanooki | 4,937]

Hah...yeah, don't add me, in the big picture, it's just not that much.

[CMR | 520]

I remember trying to play uncharted, when I got it and it's sequel with my PS4.  I couldn't stand more than five minutes of it's whedonese dialogue.   I haven't touched any of those games since.

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

22 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

We need a poll: who hates on a larger percentage of games, @Tanooki @DoctorEncore or @avatar! 

Tell me your favorite game and I'll tell you why it sucks!

In all seriousness though, everyone should play what they love, regardless of what others think. I just find that, in contrast to other art forms, videogames seem to fall victim to intense hyperbole far too frequently. I find this odd because other media (i.e. movies, music, and books) have very little content that can be objectively judged by a critic; that is, what one might consider a flaw may be endearing to another. It actually makes a lot of sense to gush over a piece of media on those platforms because the format has been standardized and, for the most part, your enjoyment isn't based on the technical aspects of the product.

This is in stark contrast to videogames, where much of what makes them good is something that can be objectively measured. If a game has unintentionally poor framerate, low resolution, and choppy sound, those are technical problems which clearly make it a worse product. It's relatively easy to extend that to other aspects of games which are "semi-subjective." For example, an overwhelming majority of people would agree that fighting the same boss ten times is not nearly as entertaining as fighting ten different unique, interesting bosses over the course of a game. Similarly, most people would agree that randomly bombing every wall in order to progress is NOT a particularly interesting or fun gameplay mechanic. These are both things that Metroid Dread does!

These are bad game design decisions and I don't think a game that does these things (among others) warrants such high praise. I have many other complaints about the game, but you get my point. To me, this is a 7/10 game and it is vastly overrated. And for some reason, overrated things seem to really irritate my logical brain.

I also just enjoy critiquing things, even if I like them or think they are quite good. If you consider my score, I'm actually saying that Metroid is a good game and I enjoyed a lot of it! I don't believe in complacency and I consider everything fair game. I think we could all do with a little more insight and spend a little more time evaluating why we love the things we do.

Edited February 3, 2022 by DoctorEncore

[G-type | 2,483]

Minecraft

[NostalgicMachine | 238]

10 hours ago, DoctorEncore said:

Tell me your favorite game and I'll tell you why it sucks!

In all seriousness though, everyone should play what they love, regardless of what others think. I just find that, in contrast to other art forms, videogames seem to fall victim to intense hyperbole far too frequently. I find this odd because other media (i.e. movies, music, and books) have very little content that can be objectively judged by a critic; that is, what one might consider a flaw may be endearing to another. It actually makes a lot of sense to gush over a piece of media on those platforms because the format has been standardized and, for the most part, your enjoyment isn't based on the technical aspects of the product.

This is in stark contrast to videogames, where much of what makes them good is something that can be objectively measured. If a game has unintentionally poor framerate, low resolution, and choppy sound, those are technical problems which clearly make it a worse product. It's relatively easy to extend that to other aspects of games which are "semi-subjective." For example, an overwhelming majority of people would agree that fighting the same boss ten times is not nearly as entertaining as fighting ten different unique, interesting bosses over the course of a game. Similarly, most people would agree that randomly bombing every wall in order to progress is NOT a particularly interesting or fun gameplay mechanic. These are both things that Metroid Dread does!

These are bad game design decisions and I don't think a game that does these things (among others) warrants such high praise. I have many other complaints about the game, but you get my point. To me, this is a 7/10 game and it is vastly overrated. And for some reason, overrated things seem to really irritate my logical brain.

I also just enjoy critiquing things, even if I like them or think they are quite good. If you consider my score, I'm actually saying that Metroid is a good game and I enjoyed a lot of it! I don't believe in complacency and I consider everything fair game. I think we could all do with a little more insight and spend a little more time evaluating why we love the things we do.

This is a top notch post right here!  

[Link | 2,714]

On 2/1/2022 at 9:10 PM, Reed Rothchild said:

We need a poll: who hates on a larger percentage of games, @Tanooki @DoctorEncore or @avatar! 

peg. I guess he would take the top spot too easily.

[Matchbook | 194]

13 hours ago, CMR said:

I remember trying to play uncharted, when I got it and it's sequel with my PS4.  I couldn't stand more than five minutes of it's whedonese dialogue.   I haven't touched any of those games since.

I feel ya on this,  I couldn't get into the games either and everyone everywhere talks highly of them all.  I just sold my Uncharted Collection that came with my PS4.

[MagusSmurf | 577]

oh, come to think of it

Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain is an awesome idea with a cool atmosphere, a neat story, fantastic voice acting and some endearing PS1-era FMV. A lot of the non-game parts of this game are great!

And the actual combat is just no damn good at all and the loading times are the worst I've ever seen from a game generally considered at least good-ish and the game just doesn't feel particularly good to actually play.

[CMR | 520]

6 hours ago, MagusSmurf said:

oh, come to think of it

Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain is an awesome idea with a cool atmosphere, a neat story, fantastic voice acting and some endearing PS1-era FMV. A lot of the non-game parts of this game are great!

And the actual combat is just no damn good at all and the loading times are the worst I've ever seen from a game generally considered at least good-ish and the game just doesn't feel particularly good to actually play.

I remember the block pushing got really old with that one.  It's one of those games I played through once, loved, and never touched again.

[avatar! | 1,819]

Which reminds me, if anyone is interested, both are available for trade