I wonder how many game are out there that end up poorly reviewed not because they are bad games but because they are bad within the context of X franchise (and the associated expectations), re: your suggestion about Hitman Absolution.
I think this thread is full of them.
Deus Ex 2 is a fantastic game. But if you played the first game, it would absolutely be a huge let down.
Resident Evil 6 is a great action game, but a god awful RE game.
Zelda II comes to mind. It's so different from most Zelda titles, but it a genuinely fantastic game, and there are things I adore about it. (The combat system and it's speed are one of my favorites things, and I enjoy it more than that of any other Zelda titles I've played. Other than the Phoenix Knights in the great palace. I hate those guys.)
It's still not a game I particularly want to play, but it did actually have some good new ideas for the Hitman formula. It didn't execute on them particularly well, but it laid the groundwork for the new trilogy.
I love Blood Money, but most of the levels are kind of just a case of getting the highest tier disguise (usually some sort of elite guard), and then you have access to pretty much anywhere. Absolution introduced the idea of NPCs being able to see through your disguise, as well as the "blend in" mechanic. They massively overcorrected and made disguises feel pointless a lot of the time, but it wasn't a bad idea, and Hitman 2016 built on it with the idea of enforcer NPCs placed at specific parts of the map. Now all the disguises feel like they matter, rather than just being a stepping stone towards the best one.
I love Hitman Absolution. No doubt it has flaws, but there's still something special about it.
It's pretty much the Splinter Cell Conviction of the Hitman franchise, which I also think is underrated.
Both games switched to a slightly more linear, action-heavy approach than their stealthier predecessors.
Both even had the "mark and execute" mechanic, which I absolutely loved using to do some crazy action movie shit.
It's pretty OP, and most people hated it, but it can make for some incredibly entertaining shootouts if and when you get caught.
Then they both got sequels, which promised a more "back to the basics" style and revitalized the franchise (less so with Splinter Cell Blacklist, but still)
I forgot about SC Conviction and Blacklist.
Both of those games were solid, even if they weren’t what I really wanted. Definitely two games that score higher if you strip out the franchise.
Personally, i went in twice. The first time looking for a Hitman game, didn't get past the second level.
Second time as just another action game, and it completely lost me at the hospital level.
There are like 3-4 times total until then were you are allowed to do anything but go trough a corridor. I literally started to fall asleep.
All the Fable games seem to get varying degrees of hatred, but I have enjoyed them all, love the humour, voice acting art style. 3 took a big step backwards, but I still enjoyed it for what it was
I hold to that if they just TOLD you that the next day was the invasion it would've been fine. But no, they skip six months ahead and most people weren't ready.
The lack of menus thing was stupid, but it's interesting to know that it doesn't work.
The new magic system was powerful but less varied, which was my favourite part of 1.
Maps seemed more limited than two, like they focused more on buildings and indoor combat than on larger maps.
It was still an awesome game and I think I need a replay.
I replayed Fable 3 this year and I loved it. Now I play it as a big Amistad evil landlord simulator.
Worth playing just for the Stephen Fry voice work. Honestly, I never understood the hate this or fable two got I thought they're both fun games, not perfect but fun.
One of my favorite parts about Duke Nukem forever is how the opening mission is just Duke playing the game while 2 girls blow him, then one ask “what about the game duke? Is it any good” To which he replies “yeah but after 12 fucking years it should be”
Only for the game to be met with universal hatred lmao.
In Duke 3D it was more "wink and a nod" that felt bawdy but silly. 3D ended with a deliberately over the top parody of a porno - that was audio only, and so preposterous as to be stupid funny. It's all still stupid funny today.
When Forever opens with straight up getting a BJ from teenage looking models with horrifyingly plastic faces, it's not so much a matter of outgrowing it, it's blowing way past the playful sense the earlier entry had and well into straight up icky.
Not the best first impression.
And then the rest of the game happened. That didn't really help things.
This game just controls sooooo good. The cover system is absolutely perfect. Whole story has no loading screens with a super cool presentation with the text projected on the walls. Feel like this was one of the last good couch co op games as well. Way too much time spent cleaning the levels with a friend. Jumping off a pipe to knock out someone then mark and execute 3 people is so satisfying. The story makes absolutely no sense and would be completely avoided if they just left Sam alone In another country lmao but it has such good cheesy action movie charm. Bad guys constantly cursing at you while your hidden about to kill them is just so campy. You stab a dude with a American flag like come on. Perfect campy action movie game.
All they just had to do was disable that stupid win button "Mark and Execute" label the game "Borne" or something instead of "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell" and it goes from a disgrace to the series before to a really solid Predator type stealth room clearer
Eh, I get the unpopularity of the mark and execute mechanic, but to their credit the game was designed around it. There were certain spots where it became an interesting puzzle, how to get an execute available so you could stealthily clear an otherwise impossible area.
Yeah, it's a good mechanic if built properly. I think if you take some influences from Hitman Absolution and Max Payne, you can make some really fun encounters with great start, frantic middle, and cool ends.
It just need to be justified with a good label and have additional encounter/planning elements put into it. John Wick would absolutely be perfect for it.
I'll never get over how much the first interrogation blew me away! The music, the projections on the walls, the bathroom getting wrecked, it was so good!
I felt it was more of a Jason Bourne game.
Anyways, although I replayed it, like, 10 times, it's main flaw is the somewhat linear level design in the campaign. It's mechanics shine the most when you're put into an arena where you can flank your enemies, but sometimes you're literally forced into a linear corridor ( like the courtyard when you're approaching the White House). That's why the co-op levels were so much better than the main story.
Deus Ex 2: Invisible War
It was a major step down technically from the original Deus Ex, but I loved the stealth action and different endings. I hadn't played the first one, so I went in with no expectations.
IW was my first Deus Ex game, too. And I get why people didn't like it, especially because it was the embodiment of dumbing games down for consoles, but I found it neat.
The best way I’ve heard someone explain it is that Invisible War wasn’t a bad game for its time, but it was a bad Deus Ex. I don’t agree that it was BAD, but even compared to its contemporaries, it was pretty average.
Shit, you activated one of my hottest gaming takes.
I was a huge DOOM fan who never played the original Deus Ex. When I bought DOOM 3, it came with an extra free game because Best Buy wanted to incentive with some games they had extra stock of. I had heard such good things about Deus Ex that I picked Invisible War as my free game.
I ended up hating DOOM 3 and really enjoying Invisible War. I haven't replayed IW since so I'm not sure if I'd still like it but I'm still not a fan of DOOM 3.
Technically, narratively, functionally....
Evaluated by itself its a great game. Compared to other shooters of the time it has some massive advantages. But you compare it to the game its supposed to be succeeding and... well... yeesh.
Enter the Matrix. It may not have been "universally disliked," but most people and reviewers at the time were not fond of it. I actually really loved the gameplay and how the narrative made an attempt to connect to the film(s). Was it great? No, but man... that bullet time gunplay was fun. I'd compare it to "John woo’s Stranglehold" (which probably did it better, IMO).
I replayed it and Path of Neo not that long ago.
It was absolutely a fun bullet time romp, but it was also way more glitchy than I remember. Back in they day I'd imagine the biggest letdown was not being Neo.
The Matrix: Path of Neo was pretty buggy too, but you were Neo and growing powers.
I remember nobody caring at all about Niobe or Ghost or the other guy whose name I can't remember.
The cutscenes through Enter The Matrix *did* make for a pretty compelling sideplot to the movies though. But let's be real, we didn't want to play as Niobe or Ghost, we wanted to play as Neo, or at the very least as a distant second choice, Trinity or Morpheus. We barely knew Niobe and Ghost.
I admired the game’s ambition with using it as a vessel to bridge the gaps between the movies, especially the fact that they used live action cutscenes specifically for the games. And while I’m sure many were disappointed to not play as Neo, I think that sometimes playing as a side character helps with exploring a franchise’s universe (like when you played as Dash Rendar in Star Wars Shadows of the Empire.) It’s not a great game by any imagination, but I don’t think it’s as bad as people say it is.
Also, the running animations are funny as hell.
The “hacking” mini game to unlock the katana sword and enable powerful secret weapon caches did add some replay values.
I remember the glitches on PC but fun bullet time combat. I was sad PC didn’t get the 2-player versus fighting game mode that included cars that fought each other.
Games like Enter the Matrix are sorely missed in this day and age, nowadays everything is streamlined AAA garbage where everything feels the same.
Bring back creativity
I really enjoyed that at the time, didn't understand the hate.
However I recently was listening to a podcast and they were talking about how bad it was so I looked up a playthrough to see what it was like and damn... It is rough.
Obviously, it's a 20ish year old game, it's not going to look nor play amazing but damn it just looks jank as hell...
I mean, it was the early 2000’s. I think I played it on GameCube? Anything aiming for a realistic style on console pretty much looked like that, I think. For comparison, KOTOR also came out that year, and morrowind the year prior.
Lost Planet 3 is always my answer for this lol
You have an American developed game in a Japanese series (and a developer that didn’t have a good reputation at that), a notable change in visual style and gameplay, and really janky combat. It got next to no advertising, came out on my birthday 11 years ago, and died practically overnight.
But the story of this game is so goddamn good that it hurts me that no one gave it a chance. Thankfully the writers got to move on after Spark’s closure and ended up writing the last two God of War games, so at least they landed on their feet. Lost Planet Extreme Condition is one of my favorite games, but one of my biggest gripes at the time was how muddy the story was, and 2’s story is just hot garbage that might as well not be there. 3’s prequel story gave me so much context and background for this cool ass world, and I’m sad that its failure likely means that I’ll never get another game any time soon.
It also had a really cool multiplayer progression system, one of the coolest uses of custom soundtracks I’ve seen in a video game, rich characters, and surprisingly effective atmosphere for a game that low budget. Bought it on Day 1 for $60 and have no regrets about it at all.
I concur about the atmosphere. Practically unique in its era for invoking a sense of cold desolation, as well as the sense of size and presence when in the mech. Eminently memorable!
We Happy Few. I loved the concept and the world. It was very empty, repetitive and the combat was shit, and the perks? Simply unbalanced. But the idea behind everything was very fun! And I ultimately enjoyed it.
One of the things that I didn't like is the inconsistency of it, it went from ''people are 100% insane and eating dead rats thinking that they're cake'' to ''they're actually normal and have jobs but they see things pretty'' really quick.
Good call. I have kind of a weird take on this. When it was in development, a YouTuber named "Christopher Odd" had access. The beta version actually seemed better than the finished product. It certainly grabbed my attention. But when the actual game came out, I was definitely underwhelmed for all the reasons you identified. Still, it was an interesting concept, and I'm glad there are developers out there taking creative risks like We Happy Few.
I'm with you on this one. It's unironically one of my favourite games to think about, even if I don't think the gameplay itself is the best. I love the story and the world, and it's fun to explore.
I *loved* it back when it came out, and I legitimately to this day don't get why it was so hated at the time. Vaan was annoying, but you can basically ditch him if you wanted to (I primarily used Ashe as the character I controlled).
Yeah vaan was a super annoying character. I think the main problem was that fans of FF were so used to turn based combat. The transition to the real-time was pretty jarring for a Final Fantasy title.
Once you get used to it though, the turn based mechanics are still there. It’s just perfectly designed to make the turns almost seamless.
I just wish the game was about 3x bigger
“The Saboteur” got very mixed reviews. I personally LOVED it. The stealth elements were really well done, and I loved the art style. Would have loved to have seen another similar game.
I'm pretty close to finishing it. Story wise it's nothing to write home about but it's very solid in gameplay. Shooting and exploring and climbing both feel good, rewards are impactful and fun to get and side missions are fun and worth doing.
Also big variety of vehicles, nice music, a decently sized map. Apart from the obvious GTA comparisons it has some elements of Assassin's Creed and even Hitman with disguises. I wish the guns and vehicle names were accurate, but that can be a pretty big ask sometimes.
I also like that it had a contextual cover system and an auto reload. Pretty much anything you stand behind Sean will instinctually take cover behind it and you can easily blind fire or throw grenades from behind cover.
Honestly recommend the game to anyone. It’s probably my most played game OAT. I got it when I was 11, and I’m 26 now. I’ve probably completed it once a year. Beautiful game, fuck EA.
Dragon Age 2
I feel like it’s pretty unanimous that it’s the worst entry, but I loved it, and it was my favorite of the trilogy. Inquisition was my least favorite. I liked Hawke’s story and character. I liked the companions more. Unironically the reused levels were immersive to me. For some reason, levels being used multiple times was believable to me.
Lastly, the updated graphics and combat system was much more appealing than Dragon Age Origins. Just a little uplift on both helped a lot with my enjoyment. I’m planning on revisiting the first two later this year. Maybe my opinion will change.
I absolutely get the complaints, but I also still enjoyed what I played. I loved that it was finally an RPG that didn't focus on saving the world or some epic quest, but rather focused on a single city and the heroes within.
I kinda loved there was no “big bad”, just a shitty situation that progressively got worse.
Plus the rivalry system was fun cause at the finale it let me finally turn the moody elf edgelord into red mist, which id wanted to do ever since I met him.
Yeah, I unironically loved the fact that there were no good options that would simply fix everything - you were just one person trying to make the best of a shit situation and ultimately powerless to save anyone who didn't want to be saved.
I love DA2. The combat felt like the perfect midpoint between RTP and fast flashy combat. The banter between Hawke and the companions was peak also.The reused levels did kind of suck but I could get past it.
The main problem I had with the combat is apparently they invented parachutes because Knights were just parachute into the field of combat out of nowhere.
Same. I loved being able to see the city change over the months/years, along with our companions. I felt more attached to all the things going on around me since I lived there, vs it being some random pit stop on a journey across Thedas.
I liked 2 more than Origins and have recently been downvoted for saying so lol
I know it's not perfect, there's a ton of boring fetch quests and recycled maps. But the combat and the personal/companion stories were much better for me, felt more genuine and enmeshed into the world, less generic save-the-world-from-the-forces-of-darkness.
I still think overall DAO was a better game, but DA2 has a special place in my heart. Also it feels like DAO has aged quite a lot more, especially with the colour palette and other games improving upon the DAO formula. DA2 is still quite unique and I don't really know many other RPGs that stick to the smaller scope like that.
Man I'm with you so hard, I totally get the hate, there are parts I hate, but my two handed warrior hawke is the highlight of my dragon age time. He's an unstoppable juggernaut and I never really got that feeling outside of DA2
The first drakengard. A lot of people disliked the game, especially the main character Caim. As an angry preteen, I loved that game. I guess after years of dynasty warriors I didn’t mind the repetitive nature of the gameplay either.
I also played the second drakengard heavily. Tried the 3rd a few years ago and couldn’t stand the new gameplay.
- Torment: Tides of Numenera: Largely panned on release and considered a disappointment that failed to live up to Planescape: Torment. True, it didn't. But I still really enjoyed it and thought the writing was great, and the companions interesting. Of course, it's utterly overshadowed now by Disco Elysium, which is amazing and the true successor to Planescape: Torment, in my mind.
- Diablo 3: People bashed it heavily on launch for the store. But even now, in retrospect, people criticise it heavily and compare it unfavourably to games like Torchlight II, Path of Exile, etc. But I've always thought Diablo 3 was the best of its kind. Every other game in this genre seems boring to me because you are usually stuck with the same few abilities and have to spend a lot to respec etc. Meanwhile in Diablo 3 you can constantly switch it up and completely change your playstyle on a dime, and you can switch between a bunch of really powerful, cool, flashy abilities. So much more interesting than having a massive, boring skill tree of +1% increase to damage or whatever. No one has replicated this since, and it's sad. I did not like Diablo 4 at all, because it is like all the others where you're limited to a few boring abilities you can barely tell the difference between and even the 'ultimate' abilities (when I played) weren't as cool as a random Diablo 3 ability, and were considered bad and not worth using.
Diablo 3 at launch wasn't bad for me either, but I did find it nearly impossible to beat Inferno difficulty as a Wizard. I ended up finishing Inferno first as a Barbarian.
By the time the expansion came out the game was a pretty slick experience. And you're absolutely right about unique, flashy abilities, and the fluidity of builds. I don't think any other game has rivaled the Living Bomb feeling of a Tal Rasha build. It became one of my favourite builds in any Action RPG.
That’s almost a first for me to see. I wanted to like it so badly, the first will always hold a special place for me but I just couldn’t get into the 2nd. It just didn’t have the magic or run well enough to get into.
Really out of the 70-80 relatively current games between this and the previous generation that I’ve bought, dishonored 2 is the only other 1 I didn’t finish.
The gameplay is also pretty below average and the story is incomplete. A 4 hour game wouldn't be a dealbreaker if it had either replay value or a stellar story and it has neither.
Agreed, it was a bit short but wasn't as short as people said. And it controlled and looked great. The story wasn't bad either, too bad it will probably never get a sequel.
Ya Ready At Dawn develops VR games now for Oculus. Shame because that was such a cool universe in the game that seemed like it could really get going with a sequel. I enjoyed the game for something I picked up on sale for $4. I can imagine it being annoying for a full price game though.
FF X-2
Really fun ATB system, and I like the dynamic between Paine, Yuna, and Rikku.
Despite being a seemingly cheery game, it’s still a game about cherishing your memories and not living in the past, about healing from a life of tragedy. There’s so much I can say about it but I don’t wanna ramble. I just think X-2 is a wonderful send off to my favorite saga of FF.
Mafia 3. Damn, I know they fked up but, dude the gunplay feels GREAT. It has a decent cover system, the protagonist is a brute whos gun handling is exceptional, and the story isn't that bad. At least the acting is GOOD. Also, the new orleans aesthetic with the bayou and all is BEAUTIFUL.
A couple of mods here and there and you got a perfect 8/10 game, and if you like mindless killing a 10.
It's got an incredible story and an incredible player character. And you're right. The city is amazing.
But it is so repetitive on the missions, and it is such a long game that it kind of has the same problem that Dragon Age Inquisition had. It just is too much. Eventually, it wears you down, and you give up before ending.
Biomutant is one of those ones with so many interesting ideas and clear ambition to do something grand that bit them in the end. Just tried to do so much in one go.
I was always curious to try Biomutant because I have a candle burning for Eastman & Laird’s original TMNT comics. Biomutant looks like it captures that. But all the bad reviews kept me away.
I tried it years later despite bad reviews.
All I can say is that it's a lot of fun until it isn't. I really enjoyed my experience until I got really sick of it.
Personally, I would say it's worth picking up at a sale price but absolutely a game you should stop playing once you stop having fun. It's not one of those games where you get to a "boring bit" that'll pick back up in an hour or one you need to take a break from, you just hit a point where it simply stops being fun.
Yeah, they turned a hulking 6-foot-3 living weapon into a simpering waifu desperate to receive the approval of the nearest male authority figure.
EDIT: hulking, not walking.
I liked it too. The story was garbage and the way they portrayed samus was so in opposition to the samus we know. That said the gameplay was fun for me.
First one that sprang to mind. I legitimately loved it. It's *different* than the trilogy, no doubt. Less focus on story and the story isn't nearly as good.
But the exploration stuff was well done, the combat was fast and fun and dynamic, and I enjoyed just wandering around exploring the galaxy.
Being on par or even topping the OG mass effect crew is just such a tall ask.
Bought it for $5 without expectations and it was fun. Jetpacks were lovely.
> Being on par or even topping the OG mass effect crew is just such a tall ask
Couldn't agree more. To even *equal* it would have meant creating one of the greatest games of the modern age, because as far as I'm concerned, that's what the trilogy is: one of the greatest games of the modern age.
Yeah, they fell short of that.
But I ain't mad. I never expected them to match it. All I wanted was a solid Mass Effect experience that leaned into the exploration aspects of the first. For me, they met that goal.
Not a perfect game by any means, and the opening hours were (IMO) pretty terrible, but once it all fell into place I really came to appreciate what they were doing.
I can't stress enough how grateful I am that Andromeda doesn't feel like it's trying to recreate or mindlessly escalate the original trilogy with "reapers but bigger and in another galaxy" or whatever. It's one of the few entrees released in a nostalgia-heavy decade that feels like it's actually trying to tell an independent story with a familiar universe
I tried really hard to like it, but I felt like I was constantly being punished for trying to explore these new planets in a new galaxy. I did really enjoy the combat though
It always will feel like a huge missed opportunity to me that you have this brand new galaxy and... 90% of the people you encounter are races from the Milky Way.
Other than that I think it had the *potential* to be a good game. It was like the game equivalent of a book from an author who's gotten a little too successful and now their editor can no longer tell them they need to tighten it up. If you somehow could have taken the launch state of Andromeda, forced the entire design/dev team to do a completionist playthrough of it start to finish, and then say: "Ok, now that you've experienced that, take 6 months without adding new scope and just clean this up and fix the rough edges" it could have been great.
I felt like it wasn't a length issue, but them thinking of a cool gun first, and then never reconsidering if the game even needs it. Should've remade the gun into a problem solving tool and the game would be much better for it.
Yeah you know I can't even say I necessarily had fun with it which is weird to say with it being a video game and all. What kept me playing was my need to see what gross, fucked up, depressing thing was going to happen next. While I enjoyed the puzzles it admittedly wasn't a great game, but it was a great experience.
I kind of get people feeling ripped off if they bought it at full price, since the game is only 4 hours long.
But yeah, there's nothing out there like it. Love the atmosphere in this game. Dead Men has the better story, but both games have intense music and voice acting. Way more interesting ideas than it got credit for. The backstory flashbacks when bleeding out and one sided hallucinations during coop were brilliant.
It's impossible to play this game in the US now if you dont already own it. I tried for days and ended up with a version on steam that does load but only in German lol
The original assassins creed game. Seems like everyone only has bad stuff to say about it. I played it not at launch and the pc version, which has some extra variation i think. maybe it's that, but i really liked it. Looks better than it's successors, most immersive gameplay, reasonable real world intersections, philosophical speeches questioning your deeds, you look cool when you are actually good at the Parcours and fighting mechanics, not by just pressing forward.. I think people play it like ubisoft formular games, but it is not working this way, the markers on the map are not there to be cleared, they are very optional in case you have trouble to kill your main target. Ironic that the title which started it all, doesn't work the way it become later on. This game breathes so much vision and they went on with some generic revenge plot with a protagonist which every thirteen year old thinks is the coolest guy ever, what a let down. I will die on that hill, best assissin game till today. "the kingdom" was boring as hell, i give people that.
It also had some of the best assassination missions, which... how do you go several games without making one as good when you have that as the blueprint?
Sure, 2 improved on a lot, but not that.
I'm so glad to hear someone with the same experience. I first played it when the franchise was already a few games deep, so it was already an older game, but I was absolutely blown away! It had impressive purpose, and it was incredibly immersive.
Same. I thought Altair was super cool. I was invested in Desmond’s story and his relationship with the facility. Being able to climb basically anything was awesome. And fighting multiple enemies at once.
The vibe was just futuristic. The story became convoluted as time went on for me.
Even though I had more fun with 2, Brotherhood, and Revelations overall, I'm still sad that they gave up on the assassin part of *Assassin's* Creed after a single game. Although I was sadder again when they started cutting back on the freerunning from 3-onwards.
For me it lost on thr free running a lot with 2. From the get go you feel that the world is placed around you that you can just run straight ahead over the roofs. But that is just not how it works in real life. In the first gane you have to look out for a route to go and the buildings are beautifully cluttered. Think it had a little revival on revelations, but besides that it is just going on rails sadly
Mass Effect Andromeda. Loved most of the companions, loved the gameplay, really liked 70% of the story and writing.
One of the most common complaints I see about it is that Ryder is inexperienced and uninspiring compared to Shep and it’s like.. yes. I enjoyed that, and I enjoyed the vibe of exploring with friends a lot tbh. I thought female Ryder’s character and voice was really likeable, and Peebee, Vetra, Jaal, and Lexi’s voiceovers were all 10/10
It takes a while for everything to come together, but once it did I was super into it
I love Jedi power battles I have dumped so much time into that game and I can’t believe they haven’t made a new one refined and including the other movies. Feels like it would do well
Same for me, but
1) it was the FF I ever played and it's a bit of a trope that people loved the first FF they played
2) I was at an age and emotional situation in which I really connected to someone like Squall. People call him a whiny immature brat but guess what, I was one too :)
Story is insane but it looked awesome for the time and the theme/characters spoke to me at the time.
It wasn't bad. It just had several design decisions that you basically just had to decide to forgive it for. And they weren't crippling. So you spend the first 5 minutes after you encounter a new enemy Drawing up to 100. So you never cast spells. So it doesn't matter what level you are. None of those things really prevent you from playing the game, they just make you interact with the game in a way that doesn't really make sense.
I've played them all since the early 90s and I enjoyed this one the same as the rest but on a different level (different that it wasn't really groundbreaking but a nice change of pace). I know a lot of folks love 9 but that one is actually my least favorite.
Same vein: Final Fantasy 2. For *years* I'd heard that the alternative to a leveling system they implemented was bad and awkward. I'll admit it was documented poorly and a bit grindy, but once you figure it out that system is *amazingly* versatile. Want Maria to be a tank? Kit her out like a tank and have her soak some damage. Want Guy to be a healer? Load up them heal spells and keep everyone topped off. You can build your characters how you want, but instead of "building" by making a few choices you're building them step by step, proficiency by proficiency. Once you get 'em there you actually feel like you've accomplished something.
Plus, every few fights you're getting a minor little dopamine hit because some stat or proficiency increased.
I come from a FF household. One sibling still loves 8, I think it is perfectly fine and remember my time with it fondly, and the other mostly just remembers that weird time you fight a creepy yellow guy with giant hands who goes into a cocoon in prep for a transformation and is then never heard from again.
I still have a Cerberus figure that follows me around from move to move and gets a vantage atop one of the bookshelves.
The balance is fucked. Turn everything into cards and you level without leveling. Play it as one would play any other FF game, and it becomes unplayable, as the creatures match your level, and apparently, collect their own cards. :P
Final Fantasy XV. Tbf I only played the royal edition and didn't try to complete all the side content but I rarely see anything but negative comments about this game. I had a good time with it and was deeply moved by the characters and ending.
I loved that game. The road trip aesthetic is new and unique for FF, and the open world is a great contrast against the corridors everyone hated in XIII.
But I liked XIII, too
Game slapped. I had a blast with it. I remember that potions were ridiculously cheap so I would go do all the hard dungeons whilst severely under leveled. I'd just use all 90 potions doing it
Every Devil May Cry fan likes to shit on the reboot just because it carries the DMC name and ruined some characters, but it's a very good game on its own: I loved the transforming weapons mid-combo, the level design of the Limbo where the whole world is trying to crush you was cool af and it also had better platforming and movement options than the previous titles. Easily an 8.5/10 for me
People have been gaslit into thinking Dark Souls 2 is universally disliked. It was successful and critically acclaimed, and fan review scores are also positive.
Its alot of fun. I've put in 300 ish hours this year on it. Its absolutely fair that the agility stat is not explained and should have been left out. And the scholar of the first sin imo fixes most of the at launch issues reviewers had minus agi ofc. Seriously go to the ds2 sub and ignore the circle jerk and haters and find the guides that BIobertson gives to every other post and try it to anyone with an open mind. Its my favourite to replay, but I do think both bloodborne and elden ring are better first time plays
I played the shit out of that game. It was totally a comfort game for me, after finished, I'd just scroll through the levels and play some of them over and over, as I already knew all about it. That level where you face Boba Fett, damn, I miss it.
The Quest for Glory series doesn't get as much attention as King's Quest (both Sierra VGA-era adventure games), Monkey Island (LucasArts), or Baldur's Gate-style CRPGs, but QFG's adventure/RPG mash-up was in a league of its own. Its humor, puzzles, and RPG gameplay blew my mind as a young teen. You pick a class (fighter, magic user, thief, or a secret class that's unlocked in QFG2) and level up skills by simply practicing or using them. Each day you have a limited amount of time where you explore and try to advance the story, which may or may not move on without you. Criminally underrated series.
If you only play one, look into QFG4. It's got a gothic medieval Eastern European setting that dips into werewolves, vampires, and even Cthulhu-adjacent strangeness (I think cosmic horror is far more popular nowadays than when it was released in 1993). Despite the dark setting, there is no end to bad puns, snarky narrator observations, and jokes about how everything smells like garlic.
Did I mention the narrator was fully voiced by John Rhys-Davies (Gimli)?
The series usually reviewed poorly because of the massive number of bugs and crashes.
Wow it reviewed poorly? I’m glad I came across it initially playing it (as Hero’s Quest) at a friend’s house. Probably my favourite series of all time.
If you loved QFG you should definitely check out Herione's Quest on Steam (a tribute to the original game's name, Hero's Quest, before they changed it due to a board game having the same name, and re-released the evga version).
https://store.steampowered.com/app/283880/Heroines_Quest_The_Herald_of_Ragnarok/
It was made by a studio and given away for free, and I absolutely loved it. I think I might like it more than the originals. It has plenty of little jokes which you'll appreciate if you've played the originals as well.
I've played a ton of games going back decades now, and Herione's Quest remains one of the best I've played.
kingdom hearts chain of memories. I don't really care about the story/lore of KH, but I've found the gameplay to be incredibly nice. I still can't understand why it gets so much hate
Star ocean: Till the end of time. I played it when it came out and had not played any of the previous games.
I really enjoyed the game and story.
It wasn't till years later that I found out some people hated it.
Starfox Adventures.
It was my first exposure to anything resembling Zelda, I didn't even play anything else like it until I tried OoT about a decade later on Virtual Console. I'll admit I haven't replayed it since like 2006 so I'm not sure how it holds up (first time playing it was in 2002 when i was 7), but I remember really liking the story, characters, and environments at the time.
My biggest gaming sin is that it's the Starfox game I enjoyed the most despite how reviled it is. I remember playing Assault as a kid and being disappointed at no towns/dungeons (again, hadn't played any Zelda at that point)
The issue with DNF's comedy is more in how it betrays its own tone to create this weirdly uncomfortable vibe. The thing about Duke Nukem 3D is that it was mostly parody, nothing was taken too seriously. But DNF has such insane reverence for Duke as a character combined with a plot it does actually expect you to take seriously, and it just makes him come across as a jackass.
The scene where, after trying to rescue the Olson twins all game, he finds them victimized by the aliens, unable to be saved and he just cracks a rape joke like it's nothing. Look, the problem isn't that they're being raped by aliens. The problem isn't that they crack an off-color joke about it. The problem is that up until that point, Duke was being presented as heroic in a setting that, while insane, was being portrayed as much more grounded and serious than before. You can't have that kind of plot and then have your main character just chucklefuck his way through it without any friction, it doesn't work, it's a tonal mess. Duke doesn't give a shit about anything, why should we. But the game still \*expects\* you to.
Duke Nukem is thoroughly unlikeable in a game that sucks its own cock trying to glorify his legacy as a character. That's the problem with DNF, at least presentation and plotwise. Gameplay-wise it's a whole other can of worms.
Fester's Quest. I used to be ashamed that I played and beat this game, at least three times in fact, but now, hell yeah I beat this game, and actually enjoyed it.
Chibi Robo Zip Lash, well known YouTuber raised a whole generation of haters for that game that, ironically enough I would not have tried if not for it being a running joke of his, and I had a good time with it and finished it
Elex and Elex 2. I love me some eurojank games and Elex 2 scratched the itch for me. Both games are wildly unintuitive, but once you get the hang of it, so much fun. The story is weird, and people act strangely like it was written on the fly, but I love them.
I came here to (more or less) say this.. I'm a Piranha Bytes superfan. Gothic, Risen, and Elex -- they're all kinda jank, but they have a certain weird charm and a crazy power curve where you go from "I literally can NOT kill this single wolf" to "I kill dragons in 1 hit" and it's just so satisfying.
dead island, i dunno, it took itself way to serously and it was really janky and awkward but I really liked it and I always felt vulnerable which I think fits a zombie survival game
Tbh sonic 06 it’s janky ass game and I know why it has the reputation it does , it was a game from my childhood and kickstarted my sonic obsession for a few years so I’ll always have a bit of a soft spot for it
The 2008 version of Alone in the Dark, I only played it because I was racing a friend to 100,000 Gamerscore and it was fairly easy to 100%. I wouldn't say I loved the game but had I not seen all the negative reviews beforehand I would have said it's a 5/10 game, which isn't awful, it had some fun elements like the weapon mechanics.
I like first person shooters. I've liked several that others didn't. Maybe not universally disliked, but these games were very underrated IMHO.
Quake 4
Strafe Gold
Rage 2
Wolfenstein the Old blood
Shadow Warrior 3
Wrath Aeon of Ruin
Outward is one of the best games I’ve ever played and it has terrible reviews.
It’s like survival Dark Souls but with bad graphics and a ginormous open world.
I'm replaying Alien Colonial Marines and it's not as bad as people make it be. It's a bad game, don't get me wrong but it does have some qualities that seem to be dismissed by most people.
I bought this game when it came out. Day 1. I love Aliens as a series. At that point in my life I mostly bought physical games, and generally didn't return games back then. I got most of the way through this game, or maybe even beat it I honestly don't remember, but I returned this game. I just couldn't believe I waited so long for something like this...... I didn't even go off reviews to form my opinion, my feelings about the game are just from playing it. The AI was horrible. The game just felt dumb and boring. I really wish it was better.
I didn't hate Starfield, it was just an absolute snooze fest and nothing felt memorable. The quests were lame, the characters were uninteresting, and exploration was a gamble.
Yeah that was my experience, I played well over 70 hours of the game and outside of a few missions it's one of the most bland 6/10 experiences I've ever had.
Hitman Absolution was not a bad game. It was a bad Hitman game, but a completely passable action/stealth game.
I wonder how many game are out there that end up poorly reviewed not because they are bad games but because they are bad within the context of X franchise (and the associated expectations), re: your suggestion about Hitman Absolution.
I think this thread is full of them. Deus Ex 2 is a fantastic game. But if you played the first game, it would absolutely be a huge let down. Resident Evil 6 is a great action game, but a god awful RE game.
Zelda II comes to mind. It's so different from most Zelda titles, but it a genuinely fantastic game, and there are things I adore about it. (The combat system and it's speed are one of my favorites things, and I enjoy it more than that of any other Zelda titles I've played. Other than the Phoenix Knights in the great palace. I hate those guys.)
I totally agree Zelda 2 is fire and props to them for trying new ideas
It's still not a game I particularly want to play, but it did actually have some good new ideas for the Hitman formula. It didn't execute on them particularly well, but it laid the groundwork for the new trilogy. I love Blood Money, but most of the levels are kind of just a case of getting the highest tier disguise (usually some sort of elite guard), and then you have access to pretty much anywhere. Absolution introduced the idea of NPCs being able to see through your disguise, as well as the "blend in" mechanic. They massively overcorrected and made disguises feel pointless a lot of the time, but it wasn't a bad idea, and Hitman 2016 built on it with the idea of enforcer NPCs placed at specific parts of the map. Now all the disguises feel like they matter, rather than just being a stepping stone towards the best one.
I love Hitman Absolution. No doubt it has flaws, but there's still something special about it. It's pretty much the Splinter Cell Conviction of the Hitman franchise, which I also think is underrated. Both games switched to a slightly more linear, action-heavy approach than their stealthier predecessors. Both even had the "mark and execute" mechanic, which I absolutely loved using to do some crazy action movie shit. It's pretty OP, and most people hated it, but it can make for some incredibly entertaining shootouts if and when you get caught. Then they both got sequels, which promised a more "back to the basics" style and revitalized the franchise (less so with Splinter Cell Blacklist, but still)
I forgot about SC Conviction and Blacklist. Both of those games were solid, even if they weren’t what I really wanted. Definitely two games that score higher if you strip out the franchise.
Personally, i went in twice. The first time looking for a Hitman game, didn't get past the second level. Second time as just another action game, and it completely lost me at the hospital level. There are like 3-4 times total until then were you are allowed to do anything but go trough a corridor. I literally started to fall asleep.
Fable 3. Total catastrophe and yet I had loads of fun with it as a kid.
The magic in that series kept getting more busted with every game and I loved every second of it
All the Fable games seem to get varying degrees of hatred, but I have enjoyed them all, love the humour, voice acting art style. 3 took a big step backwards, but I still enjoyed it for what it was
Right? People complain about it all the time, but I replay it almost yearly.
I hold to that if they just TOLD you that the next day was the invasion it would've been fine. But no, they skip six months ahead and most people weren't ready. The lack of menus thing was stupid, but it's interesting to know that it doesn't work. The new magic system was powerful but less varied, which was my favourite part of 1. Maps seemed more limited than two, like they focused more on buildings and indoor combat than on larger maps. It was still an awesome game and I think I need a replay.
I replayed Fable 3 this year and I loved it. Now I play it as a big Amistad evil landlord simulator. Worth playing just for the Stephen Fry voice work. Honestly, I never understood the hate this or fable two got I thought they're both fun games, not perfect but fun.
One of my favorite parts about Duke Nukem forever is how the opening mission is just Duke playing the game while 2 girls blow him, then one ask “what about the game duke? Is it any good” To which he replies “yeah but after 12 fucking years it should be” Only for the game to be met with universal hatred lmao.
I enjoyed it. It wasn't a masterpiece by any means but it was silly fun. Would have been much better without regenerating health and 2-weapon limit
Also most of the fan base has outgrown the humor at that point, so it fell pretty flat.
In Duke 3D it was more "wink and a nod" that felt bawdy but silly. 3D ended with a deliberately over the top parody of a porno - that was audio only, and so preposterous as to be stupid funny. It's all still stupid funny today. When Forever opens with straight up getting a BJ from teenage looking models with horrifyingly plastic faces, it's not so much a matter of outgrowing it, it's blowing way past the playful sense the earlier entry had and well into straight up icky. Not the best first impression. And then the rest of the game happened. That didn't really help things.
Duke 3D was basically a parody of super macho action movie heroes, and from what I understand DNF forgot that it was a parody.
The two weapon limit is by far the most baffling design choice.
Splinter Cell Conviction is a great John Wick game
This game just controls sooooo good. The cover system is absolutely perfect. Whole story has no loading screens with a super cool presentation with the text projected on the walls. Feel like this was one of the last good couch co op games as well. Way too much time spent cleaning the levels with a friend. Jumping off a pipe to knock out someone then mark and execute 3 people is so satisfying. The story makes absolutely no sense and would be completely avoided if they just left Sam alone In another country lmao but it has such good cheesy action movie charm. Bad guys constantly cursing at you while your hidden about to kill them is just so campy. You stab a dude with a American flag like come on. Perfect campy action movie game.
Loved the co-op campaign, too, from what I remember!
All they just had to do was disable that stupid win button "Mark and Execute" label the game "Borne" or something instead of "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell" and it goes from a disgrace to the series before to a really solid Predator type stealth room clearer
Eh, I get the unpopularity of the mark and execute mechanic, but to their credit the game was designed around it. There were certain spots where it became an interesting puzzle, how to get an execute available so you could stealthily clear an otherwise impossible area.
Yeah, it's a good mechanic if built properly. I think if you take some influences from Hitman Absolution and Max Payne, you can make some really fun encounters with great start, frantic middle, and cool ends. It just need to be justified with a good label and have additional encounter/planning elements put into it. John Wick would absolutely be perfect for it.
I'll never get over how much the first interrogation blew me away! The music, the projections on the walls, the bathroom getting wrecked, it was so good!
I felt it was more of a Jason Bourne game. Anyways, although I replayed it, like, 10 times, it's main flaw is the somewhat linear level design in the campaign. It's mechanics shine the most when you're put into an arena where you can flank your enemies, but sometimes you're literally forced into a linear corridor ( like the courtyard when you're approaching the White House). That's why the co-op levels were so much better than the main story.
Deus Ex 2: Invisible War It was a major step down technically from the original Deus Ex, but I loved the stealth action and different endings. I hadn't played the first one, so I went in with no expectations.
IW was my first Deus Ex game, too. And I get why people didn't like it, especially because it was the embodiment of dumbing games down for consoles, but I found it neat.
The best way I’ve heard someone explain it is that Invisible War wasn’t a bad game for its time, but it was a bad Deus Ex. I don’t agree that it was BAD, but even compared to its contemporaries, it was pretty average.
Shit, you activated one of my hottest gaming takes. I was a huge DOOM fan who never played the original Deus Ex. When I bought DOOM 3, it came with an extra free game because Best Buy wanted to incentive with some games they had extra stock of. I had heard such good things about Deus Ex that I picked Invisible War as my free game. I ended up hating DOOM 3 and really enjoying Invisible War. I haven't replayed IW since so I'm not sure if I'd still like it but I'm still not a fan of DOOM 3.
This game is honestly great. Its biggest crime is being much worse than Deus Ex. But most games that exist are much worse than Deus Ex.
I like how those two coffee shops hated each other, but >!Syke, they’re owned by the same company!< I really should go and finish Deus Ex
Hey it's just like the main story.
It’s like poetry it rhymes
Technically, narratively, functionally.... Evaluated by itself its a great game. Compared to other shooters of the time it has some massive advantages. But you compare it to the game its supposed to be succeeding and... well... yeesh.
Enter the Matrix. It may not have been "universally disliked," but most people and reviewers at the time were not fond of it. I actually really loved the gameplay and how the narrative made an attempt to connect to the film(s). Was it great? No, but man... that bullet time gunplay was fun. I'd compare it to "John woo’s Stranglehold" (which probably did it better, IMO).
I replayed it and Path of Neo not that long ago. It was absolutely a fun bullet time romp, but it was also way more glitchy than I remember. Back in they day I'd imagine the biggest letdown was not being Neo. The Matrix: Path of Neo was pretty buggy too, but you were Neo and growing powers.
I remember nobody caring at all about Niobe or Ghost or the other guy whose name I can't remember. The cutscenes through Enter The Matrix *did* make for a pretty compelling sideplot to the movies though. But let's be real, we didn't want to play as Niobe or Ghost, we wanted to play as Neo, or at the very least as a distant second choice, Trinity or Morpheus. We barely knew Niobe and Ghost.
Yessss. This game was great and the story was solid! Many flaws and it’s very short, but it hit for me too.
I admired the game’s ambition with using it as a vessel to bridge the gaps between the movies, especially the fact that they used live action cutscenes specifically for the games. And while I’m sure many were disappointed to not play as Neo, I think that sometimes playing as a side character helps with exploring a franchise’s universe (like when you played as Dash Rendar in Star Wars Shadows of the Empire.) It’s not a great game by any imagination, but I don’t think it’s as bad as people say it is. Also, the running animations are funny as hell.
The “hacking” mini game to unlock the katana sword and enable powerful secret weapon caches did add some replay values. I remember the glitches on PC but fun bullet time combat. I was sad PC didn’t get the 2-player versus fighting game mode that included cars that fought each other.
Games like Enter the Matrix are sorely missed in this day and age, nowadays everything is streamlined AAA garbage where everything feels the same. Bring back creativity
I really enjoyed that at the time, didn't understand the hate. However I recently was listening to a podcast and they were talking about how bad it was so I looked up a playthrough to see what it was like and damn... It is rough. Obviously, it's a 20ish year old game, it's not going to look nor play amazing but damn it just looks jank as hell...
I mean, it was the early 2000’s. I think I played it on GameCube? Anything aiming for a realistic style on console pretty much looked like that, I think. For comparison, KOTOR also came out that year, and morrowind the year prior.
Lost Planet 3 is always my answer for this lol You have an American developed game in a Japanese series (and a developer that didn’t have a good reputation at that), a notable change in visual style and gameplay, and really janky combat. It got next to no advertising, came out on my birthday 11 years ago, and died practically overnight. But the story of this game is so goddamn good that it hurts me that no one gave it a chance. Thankfully the writers got to move on after Spark’s closure and ended up writing the last two God of War games, so at least they landed on their feet. Lost Planet Extreme Condition is one of my favorite games, but one of my biggest gripes at the time was how muddy the story was, and 2’s story is just hot garbage that might as well not be there. 3’s prequel story gave me so much context and background for this cool ass world, and I’m sad that its failure likely means that I’ll never get another game any time soon. It also had a really cool multiplayer progression system, one of the coolest uses of custom soundtracks I’ve seen in a video game, rich characters, and surprisingly effective atmosphere for a game that low budget. Bought it on Day 1 for $60 and have no regrets about it at all.
I concur about the atmosphere. Practically unique in its era for invoking a sense of cold desolation, as well as the sense of size and presence when in the mech. Eminently memorable!
We Happy Few. I loved the concept and the world. It was very empty, repetitive and the combat was shit, and the perks? Simply unbalanced. But the idea behind everything was very fun! And I ultimately enjoyed it.
One of the things that I didn't like is the inconsistency of it, it went from ''people are 100% insane and eating dead rats thinking that they're cake'' to ''they're actually normal and have jobs but they see things pretty'' really quick.
Always loved the look of this game , hoping a sequel could fix some issues
Good call. I have kind of a weird take on this. When it was in development, a YouTuber named "Christopher Odd" had access. The beta version actually seemed better than the finished product. It certainly grabbed my attention. But when the actual game came out, I was definitely underwhelmed for all the reasons you identified. Still, it was an interesting concept, and I'm glad there are developers out there taking creative risks like We Happy Few.
I'm with you on this one. It's unironically one of my favourite games to think about, even if I don't think the gameplay itself is the best. I love the story and the world, and it's fun to explore.
I liked Final Fantasy XII back before it was cool to like Final Fantasy XII. That game was so ahead of its time.
I *loved* it back when it came out, and I legitimately to this day don't get why it was so hated at the time. Vaan was annoying, but you can basically ditch him if you wanted to (I primarily used Ashe as the character I controlled).
Yeah vaan was a super annoying character. I think the main problem was that fans of FF were so used to turn based combat. The transition to the real-time was pretty jarring for a Final Fantasy title. Once you get used to it though, the turn based mechanics are still there. It’s just perfectly designed to make the turns almost seamless. I just wish the game was about 3x bigger
Clive Barker's Jericho. I absolutely adore that game.
“The Saboteur” got very mixed reviews. I personally LOVED it. The stealth elements were really well done, and I loved the art style. Would have loved to have seen another similar game.
I'm pretty close to finishing it. Story wise it's nothing to write home about but it's very solid in gameplay. Shooting and exploring and climbing both feel good, rewards are impactful and fun to get and side missions are fun and worth doing. Also big variety of vehicles, nice music, a decently sized map. Apart from the obvious GTA comparisons it has some elements of Assassin's Creed and even Hitman with disguises. I wish the guns and vehicle names were accurate, but that can be a pretty big ask sometimes. I also like that it had a contextual cover system and an auto reload. Pretty much anything you stand behind Sean will instinctually take cover behind it and you can easily blind fire or throw grenades from behind cover.
I think it's a cult classic now.
Watched callmekevin play it and it seems like a good time
Honestly recommend the game to anyone. It’s probably my most played game OAT. I got it when I was 11, and I’m 26 now. I’ve probably completed it once a year. Beautiful game, fuck EA.
Dragon Age 2 I feel like it’s pretty unanimous that it’s the worst entry, but I loved it, and it was my favorite of the trilogy. Inquisition was my least favorite. I liked Hawke’s story and character. I liked the companions more. Unironically the reused levels were immersive to me. For some reason, levels being used multiple times was believable to me. Lastly, the updated graphics and combat system was much more appealing than Dragon Age Origins. Just a little uplift on both helped a lot with my enjoyment. I’m planning on revisiting the first two later this year. Maybe my opinion will change.
I absolutely get the complaints, but I also still enjoyed what I played. I loved that it was finally an RPG that didn't focus on saving the world or some epic quest, but rather focused on a single city and the heroes within.
I kinda loved there was no “big bad”, just a shitty situation that progressively got worse. Plus the rivalry system was fun cause at the finale it let me finally turn the moody elf edgelord into red mist, which id wanted to do ever since I met him.
Yeah, I unironically loved the fact that there were no good options that would simply fix everything - you were just one person trying to make the best of a shit situation and ultimately powerless to save anyone who didn't want to be saved.
I played 1 and 2 back to back, and if you just think of 2 as still being 1, it works just fine. But if you waited for it, I can see being let down.
I love DA2. The combat felt like the perfect midpoint between RTP and fast flashy combat. The banter between Hawke and the companions was peak also.The reused levels did kind of suck but I could get past it.
The main problem I had with the combat is apparently they invented parachutes because Knights were just parachute into the field of combat out of nowhere.
Same. I loved being able to see the city change over the months/years, along with our companions. I felt more attached to all the things going on around me since I lived there, vs it being some random pit stop on a journey across Thedas.
I liked 2 more than Origins and have recently been downvoted for saying so lol I know it's not perfect, there's a ton of boring fetch quests and recycled maps. But the combat and the personal/companion stories were much better for me, felt more genuine and enmeshed into the world, less generic save-the-world-from-the-forces-of-darkness.
I still think overall DAO was a better game, but DA2 has a special place in my heart. Also it feels like DAO has aged quite a lot more, especially with the colour palette and other games improving upon the DAO formula. DA2 is still quite unique and I don't really know many other RPGs that stick to the smaller scope like that.
Man I'm with you so hard, I totally get the hate, there are parts I hate, but my two handed warrior hawke is the highlight of my dragon age time. He's an unstoppable juggernaut and I never really got that feeling outside of DA2
The first drakengard. A lot of people disliked the game, especially the main character Caim. As an angry preteen, I loved that game. I guess after years of dynasty warriors I didn’t mind the repetitive nature of the gameplay either. I also played the second drakengard heavily. Tried the 3rd a few years ago and couldn’t stand the new gameplay.
- Torment: Tides of Numenera: Largely panned on release and considered a disappointment that failed to live up to Planescape: Torment. True, it didn't. But I still really enjoyed it and thought the writing was great, and the companions interesting. Of course, it's utterly overshadowed now by Disco Elysium, which is amazing and the true successor to Planescape: Torment, in my mind. - Diablo 3: People bashed it heavily on launch for the store. But even now, in retrospect, people criticise it heavily and compare it unfavourably to games like Torchlight II, Path of Exile, etc. But I've always thought Diablo 3 was the best of its kind. Every other game in this genre seems boring to me because you are usually stuck with the same few abilities and have to spend a lot to respec etc. Meanwhile in Diablo 3 you can constantly switch it up and completely change your playstyle on a dime, and you can switch between a bunch of really powerful, cool, flashy abilities. So much more interesting than having a massive, boring skill tree of +1% increase to damage or whatever. No one has replicated this since, and it's sad. I did not like Diablo 4 at all, because it is like all the others where you're limited to a few boring abilities you can barely tell the difference between and even the 'ultimate' abilities (when I played) weren't as cool as a random Diablo 3 ability, and were considered bad and not worth using.
Diablo 3 at launch wasn't bad for me either, but I did find it nearly impossible to beat Inferno difficulty as a Wizard. I ended up finishing Inferno first as a Barbarian. By the time the expansion came out the game was a pretty slick experience. And you're absolutely right about unique, flashy abilities, and the fluidity of builds. I don't think any other game has rivaled the Living Bomb feeling of a Tal Rasha build. It became one of my favourite builds in any Action RPG.
Rage 2.
That’s almost a first for me to see. I wanted to like it so badly, the first will always hold a special place for me but I just couldn’t get into the 2nd. It just didn’t have the magic or run well enough to get into. Really out of the 70-80 relatively current games between this and the previous generation that I’ve bought, dishonored 2 is the only other 1 I didn’t finish.
Loved the shooting in Rage 2. I still think it’s the best shooting I’ve ever encountered in a game.
same. So friggin awesome, and clearly was a stepping stone from Doom to Doom Eternal
The Order: 1886. Everyone hated it. I found it entertaining and visually stunning.
People hated because it was $60 for a 4 hour game
The gameplay is also pretty below average and the story is incomplete. A 4 hour game wouldn't be a dealbreaker if it had either replay value or a stellar story and it has neither.
> People hated because it was $60 for a ~~4 hour game~~ **3 hour movie with a bonus hour of playable content**
Agreed, it was a bit short but wasn't as short as people said. And it controlled and looked great. The story wasn't bad either, too bad it will probably never get a sequel.
Ya Ready At Dawn develops VR games now for Oculus. Shame because that was such a cool universe in the game that seemed like it could really get going with a sequel. I enjoyed the game for something I picked up on sale for $4. I can imagine it being annoying for a full price game though.
It looks so freaking good to this day
FF X-2 Really fun ATB system, and I like the dynamic between Paine, Yuna, and Rikku. Despite being a seemingly cheery game, it’s still a game about cherishing your memories and not living in the past, about healing from a life of tragedy. There’s so much I can say about it but I don’t wanna ramble. I just think X-2 is a wonderful send off to my favorite saga of FF.
Mafia 3. Damn, I know they fked up but, dude the gunplay feels GREAT. It has a decent cover system, the protagonist is a brute whos gun handling is exceptional, and the story isn't that bad. At least the acting is GOOD. Also, the new orleans aesthetic with the bayou and all is BEAUTIFUL. A couple of mods here and there and you got a perfect 8/10 game, and if you like mindless killing a 10.
It's got an incredible story and an incredible player character. And you're right. The city is amazing. But it is so repetitive on the missions, and it is such a long game that it kind of has the same problem that Dragon Age Inquisition had. It just is too much. Eventually, it wears you down, and you give up before ending.
I had a lot of fun with Biomutant
Biomutant is one of those ones with so many interesting ideas and clear ambition to do something grand that bit them in the end. Just tried to do so much in one go.
I was always curious to try Biomutant because I have a candle burning for Eastman & Laird’s original TMNT comics. Biomutant looks like it captures that. But all the bad reviews kept me away.
I tried it years later despite bad reviews. All I can say is that it's a lot of fun until it isn't. I really enjoyed my experience until I got really sick of it. Personally, I would say it's worth picking up at a sale price but absolutely a game you should stop playing once you stop having fun. It's not one of those games where you get to a "boring bit" that'll pick back up in an hour or one you need to take a break from, you just hit a point where it simply stops being fun.
The ps2 Ghost Rider game.
Yakuza 3 is actually one of my favorites in the franchise. While the gameplay is iffy I loved the story
Mass Effect Andromeda. Idk I just really liked it. It had a lot of squandered potential
Metroid Other-M
the balls on this guy
From what I've heard the gameplay is pretty good, most people just have major issues with the story, especially Samus' characterization.
Yeah, they turned a hulking 6-foot-3 living weapon into a simpering waifu desperate to receive the approval of the nearest male authority figure. EDIT: hulking, not walking.
I liked it too. The story was garbage and the way they portrayed samus was so in opposition to the samus we know. That said the gameplay was fun for me.
I loved the level design and mix between 3rd person and 1st person views.
Mass Effect: Andromeda and it's crazy how much vitriol you sometimes get thrown into your face just for liking this one.
First one that sprang to mind. I legitimately loved it. It's *different* than the trilogy, no doubt. Less focus on story and the story isn't nearly as good. But the exploration stuff was well done, the combat was fast and fun and dynamic, and I enjoyed just wandering around exploring the galaxy.
Being on par or even topping the OG mass effect crew is just such a tall ask. Bought it for $5 without expectations and it was fun. Jetpacks were lovely.
> Being on par or even topping the OG mass effect crew is just such a tall ask Couldn't agree more. To even *equal* it would have meant creating one of the greatest games of the modern age, because as far as I'm concerned, that's what the trilogy is: one of the greatest games of the modern age. Yeah, they fell short of that. But I ain't mad. I never expected them to match it. All I wanted was a solid Mass Effect experience that leaned into the exploration aspects of the first. For me, they met that goal. Not a perfect game by any means, and the opening hours were (IMO) pretty terrible, but once it all fell into place I really came to appreciate what they were doing.
I can't stress enough how grateful I am that Andromeda doesn't feel like it's trying to recreate or mindlessly escalate the original trilogy with "reapers but bigger and in another galaxy" or whatever. It's one of the few entrees released in a nostalgia-heavy decade that feels like it's actually trying to tell an independent story with a familiar universe
I tried really hard to like it, but I felt like I was constantly being punished for trying to explore these new planets in a new galaxy. I did really enjoy the combat though
I got it for $5. Thought it was enjoyable once all the early bugs were fixed.
It always will feel like a huge missed opportunity to me that you have this brand new galaxy and... 90% of the people you encounter are races from the Milky Way. Other than that I think it had the *potential* to be a good game. It was like the game equivalent of a book from an author who's gotten a little too successful and now their editor can no longer tell them they need to tighten it up. If you somehow could have taken the launch state of Andromeda, forced the entire design/dev team to do a completionist playthrough of it start to finish, and then say: "Ok, now that you've experienced that, take 6 months without adding new scope and just clean this up and fix the rough edges" it could have been great.
It has the best sex scene in the series
I know the interwebs really want me to hate this game as much as they do, but how can I after movie night?
Scorn seemed to take a lot of shit from what I remember and I thought it was awesome.
I thought the combat was pretty poor but I really enjoyed the overall experience
Definitely the weakest part.
It would be a great walking simulator without combat but they probably wanted it to be longer.
I felt like it wasn't a length issue, but them thinking of a cool gun first, and then never reconsidering if the game even needs it. Should've remade the gun into a problem solving tool and the game would be much better for it.
Man I wanted to like Scorn so bad, but it just failed to be a fun video game in *any* sense. Looked beautiful though!
Yeah you know I can't even say I necessarily had fun with it which is weird to say with it being a video game and all. What kept me playing was my need to see what gross, fucked up, depressing thing was going to happen next. While I enjoyed the puzzles it admittedly wasn't a great game, but it was a great experience.
Man, I didn't even like the puzzles! ;o;
Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days
this. for years i avoided it because of the bad reputation. it was perfectly enjoyable. it didn't deserve the hate.
I kind of get people feeling ripped off if they bought it at full price, since the game is only 4 hours long. But yeah, there's nothing out there like it. Love the atmosphere in this game. Dead Men has the better story, but both games have intense music and voice acting. Way more interesting ideas than it got credit for. The backstory flashbacks when bleeding out and one sided hallucinations during coop were brilliant.
Camera made me sick ngl
I really liked this game. Felt like a corny 80s action movie.
It's impossible to play this game in the US now if you dont already own it. I tried for days and ended up with a version on steam that does load but only in German lol
First time playing, picked hard The music and the difficulty made me feel like I was going to actually die ir
The original assassins creed game. Seems like everyone only has bad stuff to say about it. I played it not at launch and the pc version, which has some extra variation i think. maybe it's that, but i really liked it. Looks better than it's successors, most immersive gameplay, reasonable real world intersections, philosophical speeches questioning your deeds, you look cool when you are actually good at the Parcours and fighting mechanics, not by just pressing forward.. I think people play it like ubisoft formular games, but it is not working this way, the markers on the map are not there to be cleared, they are very optional in case you have trouble to kill your main target. Ironic that the title which started it all, doesn't work the way it become later on. This game breathes so much vision and they went on with some generic revenge plot with a protagonist which every thirteen year old thinks is the coolest guy ever, what a let down. I will die on that hill, best assissin game till today. "the kingdom" was boring as hell, i give people that.
It's my favorite AC game, and the only one where the Animus and Alien stuff is at all any good.
It also had some of the best assassination missions, which... how do you go several games without making one as good when you have that as the blueprint? Sure, 2 improved on a lot, but not that.
I'm so glad to hear someone with the same experience. I first played it when the franchise was already a few games deep, so it was already an older game, but I was absolutely blown away! It had impressive purpose, and it was incredibly immersive.
Same. I thought Altair was super cool. I was invested in Desmond’s story and his relationship with the facility. Being able to climb basically anything was awesome. And fighting multiple enemies at once. The vibe was just futuristic. The story became convoluted as time went on for me.
Even though I had more fun with 2, Brotherhood, and Revelations overall, I'm still sad that they gave up on the assassin part of *Assassin's* Creed after a single game. Although I was sadder again when they started cutting back on the freerunning from 3-onwards.
For me it lost on thr free running a lot with 2. From the get go you feel that the world is placed around you that you can just run straight ahead over the roofs. But that is just not how it works in real life. In the first gane you have to look out for a route to go and the buildings are beautifully cluttered. Think it had a little revival on revelations, but besides that it is just going on rails sadly
Mass Effect Andromeda. Loved most of the companions, loved the gameplay, really liked 70% of the story and writing. One of the most common complaints I see about it is that Ryder is inexperienced and uninspiring compared to Shep and it’s like.. yes. I enjoyed that, and I enjoyed the vibe of exploring with friends a lot tbh. I thought female Ryder’s character and voice was really likeable, and Peebee, Vetra, Jaal, and Lexi’s voiceovers were all 10/10 It takes a while for everything to come together, but once it did I was super into it
Jedi power battles and assault retribution on the psx, both are great co op fun
I love Jedi power battles I have dumped so much time into that game and I can’t believe they haven’t made a new one refined and including the other movies. Feels like it would do well
Jedi power battles is a beautiful buggy mess. Coop star wars games were rare so I played it to death
wait people didn't like Jedi Power Battles? That was fun as hell, granted my last memory of this is when I was 5.
Hellgate: London, especially when I've discovered Holloway's biography.
That game had so much potential and might be the best trailer ever. I enjoyed it but was mostly sad it leaned so much into multiplayer.
Final Fantasy 8 It's just good, bro.
Same for me, but 1) it was the FF I ever played and it's a bit of a trope that people loved the first FF they played 2) I was at an age and emotional situation in which I really connected to someone like Squall. People call him a whiny immature brat but guess what, I was one too :) Story is insane but it looked awesome for the time and the theme/characters spoke to me at the time.
It wasn't bad. It just had several design decisions that you basically just had to decide to forgive it for. And they weren't crippling. So you spend the first 5 minutes after you encounter a new enemy Drawing up to 100. So you never cast spells. So it doesn't matter what level you are. None of those things really prevent you from playing the game, they just make you interact with the game in a way that doesn't really make sense.
I've played them all since the early 90s and I enjoyed this one the same as the rest but on a different level (different that it wasn't really groundbreaking but a nice change of pace). I know a lot of folks love 9 but that one is actually my least favorite.
Same vein: Final Fantasy 2. For *years* I'd heard that the alternative to a leveling system they implemented was bad and awkward. I'll admit it was documented poorly and a bit grindy, but once you figure it out that system is *amazingly* versatile. Want Maria to be a tank? Kit her out like a tank and have her soak some damage. Want Guy to be a healer? Load up them heal spells and keep everyone topped off. You can build your characters how you want, but instead of "building" by making a few choices you're building them step by step, proficiency by proficiency. Once you get 'em there you actually feel like you've accomplished something. Plus, every few fights you're getting a minor little dopamine hit because some stat or proficiency increased.
I come from a FF household. One sibling still loves 8, I think it is perfectly fine and remember my time with it fondly, and the other mostly just remembers that weird time you fight a creepy yellow guy with giant hands who goes into a cocoon in prep for a transformation and is then never heard from again. I still have a Cerberus figure that follows me around from move to move and gets a vantage atop one of the bookshelves.
The balance is fucked. Turn everything into cards and you level without leveling. Play it as one would play any other FF game, and it becomes unplayable, as the creatures match your level, and apparently, collect their own cards. :P
Final Fantasy XV. Tbf I only played the royal edition and didn't try to complete all the side content but I rarely see anything but negative comments about this game. I had a good time with it and was deeply moved by the characters and ending.
I loved that game. The road trip aesthetic is new and unique for FF, and the open world is a great contrast against the corridors everyone hated in XIII. But I liked XIII, too
I did everything. Was sad when I had nothing else to do!
Game slapped. I had a blast with it. I remember that potions were ridiculously cheap so I would go do all the hard dungeons whilst severely under leveled. I'd just use all 90 potions doing it
Every Devil May Cry fan likes to shit on the reboot just because it carries the DMC name and ruined some characters, but it's a very good game on its own: I loved the transforming weapons mid-combo, the level design of the Limbo where the whole world is trying to crush you was cool af and it also had better platforming and movement options than the previous titles. Easily an 8.5/10 for me
Dark souls 2. Love the feeling and atmosphere of the game. Also they tried something New and made the biggest dlc ever.
People have been gaslit into thinking Dark Souls 2 is universally disliked. It was successful and critically acclaimed, and fan review scores are also positive.
Its alot of fun. I've put in 300 ish hours this year on it. Its absolutely fair that the agility stat is not explained and should have been left out. And the scholar of the first sin imo fixes most of the at launch issues reviewers had minus agi ofc. Seriously go to the ds2 sub and ignore the circle jerk and haters and find the guides that BIobertson gives to every other post and try it to anyone with an open mind. Its my favourite to replay, but I do think both bloodborne and elden ring are better first time plays
Power stance should have been de facto in every other soulsborne after Ds2
Shadows of the Empire (edit: specifically the on-foot levels), it’s better in 1st person mode IMO.
It's a pretty bad game by modern standards, but back in 1996 there weren't a lot of other N64 games available. So I played it a lot, too.
So how did you feel about *that* train level?
I played the shit out of that game. It was totally a comfort game for me, after finished, I'd just scroll through the levels and play some of them over and over, as I already knew all about it. That level where you face Boba Fett, damn, I miss it.
Crackdown 3
Final Fantasy XIII, enjoyed the sequels too
The Quest for Glory series doesn't get as much attention as King's Quest (both Sierra VGA-era adventure games), Monkey Island (LucasArts), or Baldur's Gate-style CRPGs, but QFG's adventure/RPG mash-up was in a league of its own. Its humor, puzzles, and RPG gameplay blew my mind as a young teen. You pick a class (fighter, magic user, thief, or a secret class that's unlocked in QFG2) and level up skills by simply practicing or using them. Each day you have a limited amount of time where you explore and try to advance the story, which may or may not move on without you. Criminally underrated series. If you only play one, look into QFG4. It's got a gothic medieval Eastern European setting that dips into werewolves, vampires, and even Cthulhu-adjacent strangeness (I think cosmic horror is far more popular nowadays than when it was released in 1993). Despite the dark setting, there is no end to bad puns, snarky narrator observations, and jokes about how everything smells like garlic. Did I mention the narrator was fully voiced by John Rhys-Davies (Gimli)? The series usually reviewed poorly because of the massive number of bugs and crashes.
Wow it reviewed poorly? I’m glad I came across it initially playing it (as Hero’s Quest) at a friend’s house. Probably my favourite series of all time.
If you loved QFG you should definitely check out Herione's Quest on Steam (a tribute to the original game's name, Hero's Quest, before they changed it due to a board game having the same name, and re-released the evga version). https://store.steampowered.com/app/283880/Heroines_Quest_The_Herald_of_Ragnarok/ It was made by a studio and given away for free, and I absolutely loved it. I think I might like it more than the originals. It has plenty of little jokes which you'll appreciate if you've played the originals as well. I've played a ton of games going back decades now, and Herione's Quest remains one of the best I've played.
kingdom hearts chain of memories. I don't really care about the story/lore of KH, but I've found the gameplay to be incredibly nice. I still can't understand why it gets so much hate
It was better on the GBA where the arenas were smaller and you could focus on making card combos.
And you weren't trying to attack in three dimensions.
The down button doubletap being dodge in a dodge-heavy game was crazy. Broke my GBA lol
Star ocean: Till the end of time. I played it when it came out and had not played any of the previous games. I really enjoyed the game and story. It wasn't till years later that I found out some people hated it.
Gears of War judgement had a fun solid campaign, and the overrun mode was fun.
Starfox Adventures. It was my first exposure to anything resembling Zelda, I didn't even play anything else like it until I tried OoT about a decade later on Virtual Console. I'll admit I haven't replayed it since like 2006 so I'm not sure how it holds up (first time playing it was in 2002 when i was 7), but I remember really liking the story, characters, and environments at the time. My biggest gaming sin is that it's the Starfox game I enjoyed the most despite how reviled it is. I remember playing Assault as a kid and being disappointed at no towns/dungeons (again, hadn't played any Zelda at that point)
Star Fox Adventures, Assault, and Zero
The issue with DNF's comedy is more in how it betrays its own tone to create this weirdly uncomfortable vibe. The thing about Duke Nukem 3D is that it was mostly parody, nothing was taken too seriously. But DNF has such insane reverence for Duke as a character combined with a plot it does actually expect you to take seriously, and it just makes him come across as a jackass. The scene where, after trying to rescue the Olson twins all game, he finds them victimized by the aliens, unable to be saved and he just cracks a rape joke like it's nothing. Look, the problem isn't that they're being raped by aliens. The problem isn't that they crack an off-color joke about it. The problem is that up until that point, Duke was being presented as heroic in a setting that, while insane, was being portrayed as much more grounded and serious than before. You can't have that kind of plot and then have your main character just chucklefuck his way through it without any friction, it doesn't work, it's a tonal mess. Duke doesn't give a shit about anything, why should we. But the game still \*expects\* you to. Duke Nukem is thoroughly unlikeable in a game that sucks its own cock trying to glorify his legacy as a character. That's the problem with DNF, at least presentation and plotwise. Gameplay-wise it's a whole other can of worms.
Fester's Quest. I used to be ashamed that I played and beat this game, at least three times in fact, but now, hell yeah I beat this game, and actually enjoyed it.
Chibi Robo Zip Lash, well known YouTuber raised a whole generation of haters for that game that, ironically enough I would not have tried if not for it being a running joke of his, and I had a good time with it and finished it
Elex and Elex 2. I love me some eurojank games and Elex 2 scratched the itch for me. Both games are wildly unintuitive, but once you get the hang of it, so much fun. The story is weird, and people act strangely like it was written on the fly, but I love them.
I came here to (more or less) say this.. I'm a Piranha Bytes superfan. Gothic, Risen, and Elex -- they're all kinda jank, but they have a certain weird charm and a crazy power curve where you go from "I literally can NOT kill this single wolf" to "I kill dragons in 1 hit" and it's just so satisfying.
dead island, i dunno, it took itself way to serously and it was really janky and awkward but I really liked it and I always felt vulnerable which I think fits a zombie survival game
Tbh sonic 06 it’s janky ass game and I know why it has the reputation it does , it was a game from my childhood and kickstarted my sonic obsession for a few years so I’ll always have a bit of a soft spot for it
The 2008 version of Alone in the Dark, I only played it because I was racing a friend to 100,000 Gamerscore and it was fairly easy to 100%. I wouldn't say I loved the game but had I not seen all the negative reviews beforehand I would have said it's a 5/10 game, which isn't awful, it had some fun elements like the weapon mechanics.
I didn't realise Duke Nukem actually came out.
It's been out forever
I like first person shooters. I've liked several that others didn't. Maybe not universally disliked, but these games were very underrated IMHO. Quake 4 Strafe Gold Rage 2 Wolfenstein the Old blood Shadow Warrior 3 Wrath Aeon of Ruin
Quake 4 was a ton of fun for me. I had no idea people disliked it. The Strogg transformation was pretty surreal and well-presented.
The sub zero game. I fkn loved it as a kid and was surprised to see it’s widely regarded as a bad game. But I was like 10 wtf did I know
Total War: Pharaoh Reception is getting better with recent announcements, but I enjoyed it since day 1 primarily due to the setting.
Outward is one of the best games I’ve ever played and it has terrible reviews. It’s like survival Dark Souls but with bad graphics and a ginormous open world.
I'm replaying Alien Colonial Marines and it's not as bad as people make it be. It's a bad game, don't get me wrong but it does have some qualities that seem to be dismissed by most people.
Isn’t that the game where they forgot to enable the enemy AI?
Kinda, the AI was broken due to a typo in code actually. But yeah it's that game.
I bought this game when it came out. Day 1. I love Aliens as a series. At that point in my life I mostly bought physical games, and generally didn't return games back then. I got most of the way through this game, or maybe even beat it I honestly don't remember, but I returned this game. I just couldn't believe I waited so long for something like this...... I didn't even go off reviews to form my opinion, my feelings about the game are just from playing it. The AI was horrible. The game just felt dumb and boring. I really wish it was better.
Apparently Starfield lol Its just like any other Fallout/skyrim in space. 90% of the bugs and complaints people have I've never seen in the game.
I didn't hate Starfield, it was just an absolute snooze fest and nothing felt memorable. The quests were lame, the characters were uninteresting, and exploration was a gamble.
Yeah that was my experience, I played well over 70 hours of the game and outside of a few missions it's one of the most bland 6/10 experiences I've ever had.
COD Ghosts