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

[avatar! | 1,808]

I was going through another thread and there was tons of acclaim for...

yup, Celeste. It's considered by many a masterpiece. Myself, I do enjoy platform games, but wow, I just could not get into Celeste! In fact, more than that, I just didn't like it. Not criticizing the value nor artistry, just definitely NOT MY GAME! Found it more frustrating than fun, more dull than exciting. Played for a few hours, not fun. Of course, that's just my opinion. Hey, we all have outlying opinions on some games. So, what universally acclaimed games do you personally not enjoy and why?

 

 

ps shameless plug - I have a minty Switch (LRG) copy of Celeste for trade if anyone is interested

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

I'm sure there are many more, but a few indie darlings spring to mind. In particular, I was not impressed by:

• Limbo
• Inside
• Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
• Untitled Goose Game

For all of these, I felt like the gameplay was shallow and unexciting. They are all essentially adventure games, but the puzzles are pedestrian at best. The stories for Inside and Limbo are purposefully obtuse, but Brothers is just boring. UGG just isn't fun after the first ten minutes.

If I come up with more, I'll add them to the list with annotations.

Fun topic and I love that the first game in the thread is one of my all-time favorites. Different strokes for different folks.

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

I think Journey is outright bad, and it was like winning GOTY awards. I love a good slow, artsy movie, but when video games try so hard to be "I'm art, look at me!" at the expense of not having any interesting gameplay I can't stand them.

Uncharted 4 is good, but it's by far the worst Uncharted game. Again, it strips out so much actual gameplay to just be a 10 hour movie you watch with a controller in hand, and movies aren't 10 hours long for a reason. Like, who would want to "play" this over again because they enjoy the gameplay? You climb cliffs somewhere, find something and go "Oh we actually have to be over there" then climb cliffs over there like 5 times in a row, then the game ends.

Bonk's Adventure is nothing special 

Edited June 6, 2020 by DefaultGen

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

2 minutes ago, DoctorEncore said:

I'm sure there are many more, but a few indie darlings spring to mind. In particular, I was not impressed by:

• Limbo
• Inside

I think Limbo was also massively overrated because it had a cool art style (and because killing kids is fun). Inside I like a little better, because boy it went somewhere, lol.

[PasseGaming | 28]

Assassins Creed. The whole damned series. I just don't care. I've tried getting into it but I always find myself bored a couple hours in. Same goes for the Elder Scrolls. I always feel like I've done this mission a thousand times previously in other entries of the game. Meh.

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

1 hour ago, DefaultGen said:

I think Journey is outright bad, and it was like winning GOTY awards. I love a good slow, artsy movie, but when video games try so hard to be "I'm art, look at me!" at the expense of not having any interesting gameplay I can't stand them.

Uncharted 4 is good, but it's by far the worst Uncharted game. Again, it strips out so much actual gameplay to just be a 10 hour movie you watch with a controller in hand, and movies aren't 10 hours long for a reason. Like, who would want to "play" this over again because they enjoy the gameplay? You climb cliffs somewhere, find something and go "Oh we actually have to be over there" then climb cliffs over there like 5 times in a row, then the game ends.

Bonk's Adventure is nothing special 

I actually loved Uncharted 4! It's like the ultimate guilty pleasure summer popcorn flick. But I agree with everything you said. The gameplay loop is shallow, although leaps and bounds more interesting than Uncharted 3. The story is ridiculous and melodramatic and filled with unnecessary plot twists in which villains find you just as you discover the next important clue. I'd liken Uncharted games to a theme park ride as opposed to a movie, but both descriptions are accurate.

Anyways, I wrote all that just to say I totally get where you're coming from. Uncharted is exactly what some people DON'T want in a game. But when you just want to get from point A to point B while soaking up amazing visuals and hearing top notch audio, you could do much worse.

And that's coming from someone who just spent 20 hours exploring an entire solar system without any tutorials or clear objectives in Outer Wilds. Phenomenal game by the way.

[GreenKoopa | 15]

I'm in the minority here, but xenoblade chronicles on switch is so highly rated. I played through the whole game and found it quite boring in terms of game play, especially the combat system. The graphics and music are great though and the game has a charm and it, but this won't compensate for average game play. 

 

Not sure if most are bewildered by the graphical animation of the female characters, given their generous.... assets? 

[avatar! | 1,808]

I have played all the Fire Emblem games (that have been translated at any rate)...

Three Houses is a decent game. A good game. NOT a great game. In no way shape or form does it deserve all the heaping praise it's received. Half of the game you're just going around collecting trinkets, feeding your students, and doing the same damn thing over and over and over... and the battles? Entirely lackluster. Fire Emblem Echoes was so fabulous, I knew the next game wouldn't match up, but I was hoping for more than such a trite game as Three Houses.

 

[fox | 1,665]

Animal Crossing
Luigi's Mansion
Xenoblade Chronicles
Super Mario Maker
Yoshi's Crafted World
Paper Mario
Splatoon
Captain Toad
Pokemon

[Hammerfestus | 3,833]

I thought Horizon Zero Dawn was boring AF.  It was a cool concept but it got really repetitive really quickly.  Typical open world crap.  No thought in the missions whatsoever.  Just repetitive fetch quests.   

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

For me it's Final Fantasy II (US on SNES).  The game is soooo stupidly easy that it's actually called Final Fantasy IV - Easy Type in the rest of the world.   The real FF IV from Japan is fine, but the one we got in the US is like "baby's first RPG."  I honestly don't know how Square could have thought that was the direction to take after giving us the most excellent FF 1 in North America.  Then again, now that RPG's are mainstream over here and generally easy as fuck, maybe they made the right decision, speaking from a sales standpoint.  But for gamers who enjoy a good challenge, FF II absolutely sucks.

Edited June 7, 2020 by Dr. Morbis

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,104]

I've never been a fan of Super Mario Bros 3. It's okay, but I'd rather play the first one.

[zeppelin03 | 314]

4 hours ago, PasseGaming said:

Assassins Creed. The whole damned series. I just don't care. I've tried getting into it but I always find myself bored a couple hours in. Same goes for the Elder Scrolls. I always feel like I've done this mission a thousand times previously in other entries of the game. Meh.

My wife and I were talking about Ubisoft games today.  She started playing AC Origins and stopped after a couple hours.  It felt the exact same as the first two games.  She saw no reason to continue.  I feel the same about Far Cry.   Play one and you have played them all.  Ubisoft is very formulaic to me.

I  can't getting into the Sony story driven games.  The last of us held me for only a few hours and Days Gone even less.  People talk about how great Sony's output is but I'm typically underwhelmed.  Horizon Zero Dawn was great but I'm not even sure if that is a Sony studio.

[PasseGaming | 28]

20 minutes ago, zeppelin03 said:

I  can't getting into the Sony story driven games.  The last of us held me for only a few hours and Days Gone even less.  People talk about how great Sony's output is but I'm typically underwhelmed.  Horizon Zero Dawn was great but I'm not even sure if that is a Sony studio.

Wow, really? I felt that the Last of Us was a really compelling game.

[Strange | 1,700]

Xenoblade Chronicles - the whole series. Mario Party. The Witcher 3.

[zeppelin03 | 314]

10 hours ago, PasseGaming said:

Wow, really? I felt that the Last of Us was a really compelling game.

Sneaking through corridors got dull fast.  The story seemed like they were really aiming for deep and impactful.  Maybe they were trying too hard to make a game cinematic but it didn't take for me.  If they seem to take it too seriously I drop off.

All these no to Xenoblade surprises me.  I've really likes those games and it wasn't just the waifus.  The combat was different and the music was great.

 

Edited June 7, 2020 by zeppelin03

[DarkTone | 984]

I hate fortnite. Trying to bite my tongue on thos one. 

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

17 minutes ago, ChickenTendas4PokeyEater said:

Never played Brothers, and I think Goose Game was okay, but was brought down by bad controls. At least to me, controlling the goose always seemed like a fight, almost as bad as Octodad. Inside and Limbo tho, I absolutely adored them. Inside was incredible, and when you look beneath the surface, the story is pretty deep. And that opening section with the dogs, and the hunters, and the rain, and the pig carcuses, and the barn, that section was jaw-dropping to me. And the part at the end where you control that thing, that was just pure adrenaline for me.

I just felt like the gameplay was so weak that no amount of atmosphere or story could make up for it. And the story for Inside comes off a bit pretentious without actually saying anything interesting (yes, I saw the true ending).

If you like atmosphere and world-building with better physics-based gameplay, I highly recommend Outer Wilds. Nothing is spoon-fed and there is no handholding. It's completely up to you to discover the relevant plot and solve the central mystery.

[Matchbook | 194]

10 hours ago, PasseGaming said:

Wow, really? I felt that the Last of Us was a really compelling game.

I agree completely, it got me hooked and I managed to complete it across 4 days over Christmas Vacation from work.  The interactions from the two main characters you get over the course of the gameplay was really refreshing.

[MegaMan52 | 2,442]

Final Fantasy VII. I'm dead serious.

If I want to play an RPG from Square, I'd greatly prefer playing Super Mario RPG instead. Or even the original Final Fantasy.

Edited June 7, 2020 by MegaMan52

[captmorgandrinker | 1,649]

Super Mario Odyssey.

[Matchbook | 194]

1 hour ago, MegaMan52 said:

Final Fantasy VII. I'm dead serious.

If I want to play an RPG from Square, I'd greatly prefer playing Super Mario RPG instead. Or even the original Final Fantasy.

It still blows me away how many Mario and Square fans have no freaking idea about Super Mario RPG.  Baffles me completely!

[Reed Rothchild | 9,518]

It's very hard for to not like games, much less acclaimed ones.  I don't know that I've ever gotten through a game that was an 80+ on Metacritic, reached the end, and thought "I didn't enjoy that."

I'm not really a fan of fighting games as a whole, so I'm sure if I played Soul Calibur 11, I'd be less stoked than the average individual.

Not a huge fan of classic Sonic games, but I'm not sure if I outright "don't like them."

Looking at the 467 SNES games I've covered so far, were any acclaimed ones in the "don't like" range?  Not really.  Maybe the original Mortal Kombat, but I'd say that game is more notorious than acclaimed.

 

So I guess not really.  Maybe I'm too accommodating.  Maybe I like too many things.  Maybe you're all a bunch of nitpicky complainers 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,518]

...I guess the closest thing that is coming to mind over the last decade would be Moonlighter.  I don't know if it was acclaimed or not, but man was it flawed.  Coulda been so good but they really dropped the ball on fleshing things out.

Still, I did kinda enjoy the playthrough here and there though... shit I guess I did like it.  Even if it was nothing like what I wanted it to be.

[ThePhleo | 2,184]

Final Fantasy 15.

The music is great, the gameplay is fun, but man does the story just straight up suck.

I retroactively compare it to Game of Thrones. I can't rewatch/replay it without knowing it ends in disappointment, and it ruins the entire game for me.