# Unpopular Video Game Opinions



## BadRoy (Dec 2, 2021)

Speak all of your unspeakable, blasphemous opinions here.

- I actually prefer Megaman X2 over Megaman X1. Levels, bosses, music. I just prefer it overall.
- I'm kind of sick of the quirky atmosphere so many indie games have. I was playing Death's Door (A great little game) and I realized while talking to the quirky typist crow that I've seen that same character since, like, Earthbound. Or Dark Souls. I know writing is hard and not everybody has budgets or whatever, but idk, spend some time making strong, likable characters sometimes instead of "_I save your game! Isn't it funny that I know about saving your game file?_"
- Smash Ultimate is a laggy, slow, lagfest. I don't know how I was so into it for like 2 years straight. The amount of content and fanservice is admirable, but playing it, yeesh.


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## Judge Spear (Dec 2, 2021)

Agree on everything actually. Especially X 2
It was way more refined and polished with better progression. X 1 really should have started you with the dash or hidden them in the intro stage. Dictating your route is the antithesis of Mega Man. Its still a masterpiece but it was flawed. Soundtrack trashes X 2 though.
Everything after X 3 sucks including Command Mission.
_____

-Breath of the Wild sucks. 4th weakest Zelda.
-Touhou is lame.
-Mega Man and Bass slaps.
-Mega Man 3-8 slap.
-Mega Man 2 is massively overrated.
-3D World > 64 > Sunshine > Odyssey >>> Galaxy
-Open world games suck
-Melee is competitively outdated
-Sonic 4 Episode 2 was great

Video games are not art and the medium permanently went down in quality when we got self conscious trying to chase the prestige of cinema. Attempting to load them with narrative depth of literary epics is eroding the medium in my eyes. The overwhelming majority of video games have bad stories and gaming will improve when we accept this. Story in a game should serve exclusively as context for the *player's* objective. Not an attempt to advance literature or pretentiously speak on the human condition. The moment we started making games about depressed white girls, we lost the plot.

TL;DR: If it won a BAFTA, it likely sucks.


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## Nexus Cabler (Dec 2, 2021)

I usually prefer playing games on easier difficulties.

If I'm playing a character that has an intimidating, badass, and powerful personality and appearance, I want to be able to fight battles without being killed in just a couple shots. I want to feel as awesome as the character I'm playing sometimes. I don't see preferring to play on easy as a bad or embarrassing thing.

It's cool that people can clear games on the hardest settings possible, but I want to spend my hours genuinely enjoying the experience in a way that gives me more freedom and options. I like being able to use all weapons, gear, and playstyle, and not relying on one unique build to get through a whole campaign.


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## ben909 (Dec 2, 2021)

some games were ment to be played muted


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## Yakamaru (Dec 2, 2021)

Sims is very overrated.


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## Firuthi Dragovic (Dec 2, 2021)

Battle royale games can have their quirks, but they're meant to be the occasional one-or-two-game-per-day kind of fun, NOT something where you play more than a dozen games in a day just to advance a little.

Season progression and so-called "battle passes" usually detract from the games they're in.




I also have my own take on the whole "not really gamers" problem - video games are meant to do things no other media can reasonably or safely do.  Standard puzzles don't count for this, digital versions of many existing card and board games don't count either.  (Sorry, my digital version of Exploding Kittens on my tablet and my Steam copy of Chainsaw Warrior don't count, no matter how hardcore they present.)

Much as I hate the proliferation of match-3s, they DO count.  Much as I and many other gamers hate the predatory gacha-type games, the underlying gameplay outside of the gacha mechanics often counts.  Renditions of tabletop games count generally on visuals.

Digital versions of standard puzzles and card games can elevate to the status of a "real game" if they actually bring something new that isn't easily repeatable in physical reality without serious modifications to the rules.



Judge Spear said:


> Everything after X 3 sucks including Command Mission.


I'm glad people actually recognize the Command Mission spinoff (which, being an RPG, probably takes as long to beat under normal circumstances as the entire rest of the franchise combined - and thus is kinda short for an RPG).  I still consider it a way better game than X7 was (I consider X7 the worst game in the franchise by far, especially after speedrunning it just so people would shut up about not having a complete set of speedruns on a site I visited.  I'm glad a more serious player took the effort with that game).




Nexus Cabler said:


> I usually prefer playing games on easier difficulties.
> 
> If I'm playing a character that has an intimidating, badass, and powerful personality and appearance, I want to be able to fight battles without being killed in just a couple shots. I want to feel as awesome as the character I'm playing sometimes. I don't see preferring to play on easy as a bad or embarrassing thing.
> 
> It's cool that people can clear games on the hardest settings possible, but I want to spend my hours genuinely enjoying the experience in a way that gives me more freedom and options. I like being able to use all weapons, gear, and playstyle, and not relying on one unique build to get through a whole campaign.


There are a worrying number of games where "hard mode" literally means just adding more numbers to the enemy and/or taking numbers away from the player, instead of actually making enemies behave differently.

I do not consider those "hard mode" as that's literally just a lazy workaround - and hugely detracts from the experience.

I'm trying to power through a "hard mode" of this nature in a game I play that adds SO many numbers (not just level, but absurd health and armor buffs) that the game goes from "tolerable yet generally very easy" to "ball-bustingly difficult even though many enemies can STILL be dispatched fast" with little room in between.  It's.... well let's just say this is why my absurd stash of usable gear items in that game exists at all.


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## Judge Spear (Dec 3, 2021)

Firuthi Dragovic said:


> I'm glad people actually recognize the Command Mission spinoff (which, being an RPG, probably takes as long to beat under normal circumstances as the entire rest of the franchise combined - and thus is kinda short for an RPG).  I still consider it a way better game than X7 was (I consider X7 the worst game in the franchise by far, especially after speedrunning it just so people would shut up about not having a complete set of speedruns on a site I visited.  I'm glad a more serious player took the effort with that game).


X7 is absolutely Mega Man's lowest. Even the terrible StarForce and Legends games are better.
X8 was a major improvement even if its still kinda cheeks.


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## BadRoy (Dec 3, 2021)

I have friends who still take Kingdom Hearts somewhat seriously and I have no idea how. The gameplay still seems fun (sometimes) but when they try to tell me "The story's actually pretty good if you just turn your brain off," Just no. It's dumber than the dumbest anime at this point. Nomura's self-indulgence galore. 



Firuthi Dragovic said:


> There are a worrying number of games where "hard mode" literally means just adding more numbers to the enemy and/or taking numbers away from the player, instead of actually making enemies behave differently.


I don't think too many gamers would defend that kind of hard mode. All extending health bars does is try your patience. I feel the best hard modes actually change the game in a meaningful way to make it harder. Like in DMC where enemy number, placement, and AI varies wildly between difficulties.


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## Judge Spear (Dec 4, 2021)

BadRoy said:


> I have friends who still take Kingdom Hearts somewhat seriously and I have no idea how. The gameplay still seems fun (sometimes) but when they try to tell me "The story's actually pretty good if you just turn your brain off," Just no. It's dumber than the dumbest anime at this point. Nomura's self-indulgence galore.
> 
> 
> I don't think too many gamers would defend that kind of hard mode. All extending health bars does is try your patience. I feel the best hard modes actually change the game in a meaningful way to make it harder. Like in DMC where enemy number, placement, and AI varies wildly between difficulties.


Everything about Kingdom Hearts that isn't strictly Kingdom Hearts 3's gameplay is terrible.
The story, characters, and gameplay of the previous games are all bad.

3 is genuinely enjoyable if you just treat it as a platforming action adventure. It sucks as an RPG and the moment you start comparing it to anything else with some teeth to it's combat, it falls apart. Even Mega Man Zero has a deeper combat system than KH. All KH boils down to is abusing i-frames and spamming it's awkward as shit block then mashing the shit out of X. You have _some_ options and the game is still *fun*, but it's not some beacon of 3rd person action it's for some inexplicable reason hailed as.

And you have to honest to god be an uncultured weeb shut-in who has experienced *nothing* but surface level anime writing to legit think the KH story is anything more than just barely serviceable. It's sequel baiting, Power of Friendship™, shonen trash forcing a bizarre and often clashing crossover. It's no more different or compelling than the Saturday morning 4Kids shit they fed us in the 2000's. And I do not care who feels some type of way about that statement. lol

The best part of these games are the gummi ships.


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## Raever (Dec 4, 2021)

*League Toxicity is a debate, not a fact ---* _League of Legends isn't toxic - it's competitive; not knowing how to mute an asshole and choosing to argue with them...? Now that's toxic, lol._
*Literature in Games isn't bad ---* I actually really like story games; not saying that they're the best genre or anything, but the genre of visual novels and literary games has existed since the 70's (D&D anyone?) and will likely exist after we die. I don't think that things like Baldur's Gate or The World Ends With You or even simple VN's like Higurashi takes away from the "Gaming" experience. Gaming is what gamers make of it, and blaming one genre for a company's business decisions is kind of stupid imho.
*Furry based Games are terrible ---* I'm really sick of seeing overly sexulized low effort "furry" games on steam (or other game providing platforms). They aren't fun, they're extremely boring, and they're almost always disappointing. If your thing is to make a game for furries, make a game FOR furries. Include cool settings and concepts and struggles, not another "date _" game. It's so saturated with mediocrity it makes me wonder if there's any actual good furry media out there.


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## Nexus Cabler (Dec 5, 2021)

I prefer using consoles over a gaming PC

It's more convenient for me, and feels more comfortable holding a controller in my hands for stimulation compared to a keyboard and mouse

Also, I love the trigger buttons on controllers for shooters. It feels more satisfying than what I imagine a keypad to be


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## Attaman (Dec 5, 2021)

_Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear_ is a meh game... but not because of soundbytes from Jim Cummings or because of any one NPC or anything like that. It's a meh game because it is linear to an almost painful degree (in a genre that, while known for linear _segments_, usually had at least some freedom outside _Throne of Bhaal_) and practically non-playable with certain party combinations (and not in the "What did you expect rolling six Bards?" sense).

It feels a lot like an AD&D 2E adventure module. In both the positive _and_ negative sense.


... Oh yeah, and I genuinely actually like that Nintendo doesn't get in a hardware pissing match. Is willing to try new things. I understand that these new things often times are the console equivalent of throwing mud at a wall to see what sticks (and as a result most of their post-GC generations are a few gems of First Party / Exclusives scattered among slightly more numerous "Novel, and not bad!" and far more numerous "you tried.star"), and that sometimes "Trying new things" is used as a defense for things being rushed out the door in partially-finished states (looking at you, ACNH), but overall I have no qualms with Nintendo doing stuff like Ring Fit, Breath of the Wild, ZombiU, or other such games. ... Now if only the same could be said for their online services! But this is the "Unpopular Gaming Opinion" thread, and I don't think anyone would argue Nintendo's online service has been _good_ since post-Wii.


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## KimberVaile (Dec 5, 2021)

Since the 7th generation of consoles there has been a huge decline in the quality of games.  Gameplay innovation ground to a halt in favor of realistically rendered sweaty armpits. It's boring and kind of soulless. I don't mind a good story mind you, but that should come after a solid gameplay foundation. The story compliments good gameplay and doesn't get in the way of it. Games like Dark Souls are the exception, not the rule. imo. Most games aren't Dark Souls. At the risk of sounding like a weeb. There is a reason that the only really fun games are really only coming out of the east at the moment, sans a couple western indie titles. Generalizing here, but the West in terms of big budget games, tends to emphasize spectacle and visuals as a major selling point. Again generalizing, but on average most eastern games tend to focus on the gameplay first, everything else is secondary. Hence, your Dark Souls, Resident Evil 2 remakes, your Niohs.

There are terrible shit games on both sides of the aisles, granted. But, I suppose I have to ask. Where is the western version of Nintendo? Many years ago you might have been able to point to Blizzard or Bungie. But now? They're barely a shell of their former selves.
The most fun I had with a western game this year was an indie title called Incryption and Battle Brothers. None of the Big Budget stuff so far interests me. Might try Halo Infinite? Don't really have high hopes.

Other opinions I have aren't unpopular I'd imagine. I think most games are too easy, prefer PC gaming, so on. Those are pedestrian opinions. Many people feel that way I imagine.


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## Crimcyan (Dec 5, 2021)

-Physical games are superior. Digital may be the future but Digital can be stripped away any second (Konami with P.T)

- a AAA game does not need amazing graphics

-best generation is the gamecube/ps2 era

-games that are broken or glitchy as hell ie GTA definitive edition are more fun to play. Same with old nes or snes that suck complete ass

-Konami is a piece of shit for screwing with kojima

-the best gamboy is the orginal dmg when Ips modded

-I prefer consoles over p.c

-Nintendo consoles are genuinely more fun to play with thier weird gimmicks


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## TrishaCat (Dec 6, 2021)

Dark Souls 1's level design is horrifically bad
Lets put aside the dreadfully slow combat for a minute. Why are there so many extremely narrow passages with enemies that make it extremely easy to fall of cliffs? Why does the game give you absolutely no direction and let you wander to your death over and over just to find the right path? Why are there a bunch of cheap traps with no way to know they're coming at you until they already hit you once? And because your character is so cumbersome to control you're not really equipped to deal with any of this.

DmC Devil May Cry is really really fun and aesthetically rad and very pretty.

Sonic Forces is my favorite Sonic game. Yes, really. You get fun rail grinding/rail hopping avoiding obstacles, fast water slides, swinging around as the Avatar...not to mention the best soundtrack in the Sonic series. Gosh once you get close to the end it gets so cool too.


Spoiler



>Infinite makes the sun start falling onto the world in a cutscene as a last ditch effort to kill Sonic and friends
>level starts
>song with lyrics plays
_>"The sun is falling in the sky beyond, and light is fading from our world. Now's the time of reckoning. The final battle has begun"_


kino


Raever said:


> _any actual good furry media out there._


play Solatorobo and Fuga: Melodies of Steal
made by furries for furries
if you like jrpgs anyways, if you don't then purhaps not


BadRoy said:


> _The story's actually pretty good if you just turn your brain off_


your friends are weak and will not survive the winter
No need to turn your brain off, in fact leaving it on is good as there are plenty of hints that something is amiss in the way the characters act, from II's Org members acting very vibrantly despite being told they don't have hearts to Aqua being absolutely miserable in 0.2.
however i will admit i have brainworms and get genuinely hyped at shit like Mickey Mouse throwing his cape off and going sicko mode
as long as we're talking unpopular opinions though, Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories has the best writing in the series and one of the best combat systems in the series.
I will not be taking criticism for that CoM statement at this time.


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## Xitheon (Dec 6, 2021)

The Spy in Team Fortress 2 is sexy.


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## Attaman (Dec 6, 2021)

TrishaCat said:


> play Solatorobo and Fuga: Melodies of Steal
> made by furries for furries
> if you like jrpgs anyways, if you don't then purhaps not


Another good example being _Chicory: A Colorful Tale_.

Like, I'm not sure if you could argue it was made by / for Furries _per se, _but it is definitely in the very least _adjacent_ to Furry interests!


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## TrishaCat (Dec 6, 2021)

Attaman said:


> Another good example being _Chicory: A Colorful Tale_.
> 
> Like, I'm not sure if you could argue it was made by / for Furries _per se, _but it is definitely in the very least _adjacent_ to Furry interests!


This looks SO ADORABLE
Thank you for mentioning it!!!!


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## Attaman (Dec 6, 2021)

TrishaCat said:


> This looks SO ADORABLE
> Thank you for mentioning it!!!!


I will note / give at least a little forewarning that the game gets heavy at spots, but... like, not in the "Grim Dark" sense. More in the "There's at least one character who will very much be a mood to any artists in the audience who find their self doubting their self". Also the soundtrack is quite great, but that cuts both ways.


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## BadRoy (Dec 6, 2021)

EmeraldWuff said:


> Some of my picks
> - Spyro Reignited Trilogy is a shameless cash grab


Wow, really?I never played the originals so I don't have that connection, but I thought they were pretty great and well-adapted??
Though I also heard the production was lopsided toward the first game with the sequels being relatively rough.


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## Judge Spear (Dec 6, 2021)

I never grew up with Spyro as a kid. My cousin had the first game and I loved it's aesthetic. I still find it nostalgic because it reminds me of my extended family. But I never played it for long. I picked up the Trilogy on Switch because I was A) desperate for a fucking use for this paperweight B) desperate for a 3D action game that wasn't the usual AAA memes.

I figured something from the golden era would be my speed. It...wasn't.
Spyro 1 is kiiiiinda boring? And I don't know if this is the remaster's fault, but these games in general are a pain in the ASS to control. Like anytime I have to do prolonged charges, manage the camera in tandem with faster paced sections, or swim, I just want to shut the game off. I also hate how the weird "hover" works. I prefer Crash.
I dunno. Maybe I'll try them again in the future.

Also BIG pissed because the language settings don't allow for interchanging text and speech. I can't play in English subs or menu and have French VA. I love French VA.


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## Ennui Elemental (Dec 6, 2021)

The first Onimusha game was better with Japanese voice and English subs.


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## Judge Spear (Dec 14, 2021)

Couldn't stand Shadow of the Colossus.


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## Judge Spear (Dec 14, 2021)

Ennui Elemental said:


> The first Onimusha game was better with Japanese voice and English subs.


Yoooo they banned my boy. :C


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## TrishaCat (Dec 14, 2021)

Judge Spear said:


> Yoooo they banned my boy. :C


Looks like he got in a heated argument with Attaman and Miles over mask mandates in the Vent thread; kept insulting them.


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## Kit H. Ruppell (Dec 14, 2021)

Kingdom Hearts is dumb.


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## TrishaCat (Dec 14, 2021)

Kit H. Ruppell said:


> Kingdom Hearts is dumb.









EDIT: Licensed music in games, unless the game has a radio function (i.e. GTA), sucks and games should use their own original music instead. Still very weird to me that FFXV has Stand By Me in it.


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## Judge Spear (Dec 14, 2021)

Kit H. Ruppell said:


> Kingdom Hearts is dumb.


Facts.


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## Stray Cat Terry (Dec 14, 2021)

When any game that's designed for else platforms gets to the later planned platforms.... I think.. Is it really that hard to set keybinds that are universally acknowledged on particular platforms?

For example, Far Cry 4(that I played).

Like... How can I not bind the rappel climb up/down not to be the shoot/aim key?

Similar goes for NFS series (no mouse controls at all) and GTA V/O(partially). Definitely could be more out there but these are the strongest impressions I can come up with so far.


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## Baalf (Dec 14, 2021)

If I'm going to be honest without people picking on me for my opinion... I think the majority of FromSoftware's games are bland tbh. None of the Dark Souls games have ever been fun for me. Seikiro hasn't been fun for me. Etc.



Raever said:


> any actual good furry media out there.


Forged in Shadow Torch is pretty good too if you are into more realistic looking anthro characters and the metroidvania genre. That's if you're talking about media specifically made by furries (and if F.I.S.T. wasn't, then they sure fooled me with all the Fur lingo.)


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## TrishaCat (Dec 15, 2021)

Animal Crossing New Horizons is dreadful to play. Not due to the lack of content, I mean that is a problem but I can accept its simple phone gamey nature.
What really bugs me about Animal Crossing is how slow and tedious everything is. The loading times are so bad. When starting the game you have to wait a good while just to get to the main menu, then when you press A you have to wait a while longer for the game to start. Going in and out of houses takes a while. And heaven forbid you want to visit a friend's island, you have to go through several dialogue prompts at the airport, then you have to go through a long cutscene with the exact same dialogue before finally arriving at your friends island. And then decorating your island requires doing things one by one (such as with tiles). Everything is so slow and tedious its painful to play.
I actively don't want to start the game anymore because I don't want to go through all the waiting.


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## Attaman (Dec 15, 2021)

Not so much an opinion as a perspective (and unrelated to the above, clarified as it's related to performance / load speed), but I really can't understand how people can get finnicky over a game being less than 120 FPS, 90 FPS, or even 60 FPS.

Maybe it's my having run on a Potato for the last ten years, but I barely notice anything at all post-30 FPS so the people who can tell when they're dipping from, like, 120 FPS to 110 FPS almost instantaneously are basically Wizards to me.

"The game barely runs at 30 FPS! Let alone 60 FPS! How can you even play?"
"... Like this?"


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## TyraWadman (Dec 15, 2021)

Xitheon said:


> The Spy in Team Fortress 2 is sexy.


Is that even unpopular???


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## Baalf (Dec 15, 2021)

Nexus Cabler said:


> I usually prefer playing games on easier difficulties.
> 
> If I'm playing a character that has an intimidating, badass, and powerful personality and appearance, I want to be able to fight battles without being killed in just a couple shots. I want to feel as awesome as the character I'm playing sometimes. I don't see preferring to play on easy as a bad or embarrassing thing.
> 
> It's cool that people can clear games on the hardest settings possible, but I want to spend my hours genuinely enjoying the experience in a way that gives me more freedom and options. I like being able to use all weapons, gear, and playstyle, and not relying on one unique build to get through a whole campaign.



I can understand this. It's like in Castlevania Symphony of the Night. It almost feels like everything was made to feel weaker to make Alucard seem more powerful. At the same time, though, I do not think that particular game is a good example. Like, do you feel like a badass after beating up Akmodan II? At times, it feels more like the army of evil is a joke rather than you feeling powerful. Even Death feels like he is completely pulling punches. He has this one move where he takes forever to charge up 2 electrical orbs, and his second form is so mindless that it's embarrassing. Cerberus, who is absolutely destroyed by ducking, feels more like animal cruelty than fighting an evil demon, while Akmodan II feels like I'm beating up a hobo rather than an magical mummy. Then there is Karasuman, Medusa, Darkwing Bat, etc. Bosses that don't even feel threatening.


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## Judge Spear (Dec 15, 2021)

Nexus Cabler said:


> I usually prefer playing games on easier difficulties.
> 
> If I'm playing a character that has an intimidating, badass, and powerful personality and appearance, I want to be able to fight battles without being killed in just a couple shots. I want to feel as awesome as the character I'm playing sometimes. I don't see preferring to play on easy as a bad or embarrassing thing.
> 
> It's cool that people can clear games on the hardest settings possible, but I want to spend my hours genuinely enjoying the experience in a way that gives me more freedom and options. I like being able to use all weapons, gear, and playstyle, and not relying on one unique build to get through a whole campaign.


There's no shame in wanting easier games. They wouldn't make them by the hundreds if there was.
The problem is when people with game journalist skill demand every game cater to them and exclusively them. I think a lot of people do kind of miss the point of a lot of different kinds of game difficulty.
Devil May Cry 5 for instance, you can die very easily despite the trio being presented as Hell razing smug badasses. But actually being able to do manually what they do in the flashy cutscenes takes practice to achieve. You wouldn't get the impact of skill if there was no persistent threat either. You're not exactly a badass if you're punching down. But there's a lot of people who demand it to just be handed to you with no consequence destroying all balance and longevity. But put in the time to play close to the code and suddenly you have an enriching game. A lot of people don't want to do that and claim it's the game's fault when maybe it's just not their forte.

A game like that isn't for everyone and that's how it *should* be.


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## BadRoy (Dec 15, 2021)

Judge Spear said:


> There's no shame in wanting easier games. They wouldn't make them by the hundreds if there was.
> The problem is when people with game journalist skill demand every game cater to them and exclusively them. I think a lot of people do kind of miss the point of a lot of different kinds of game difficulty.
> 
> A game like that isn't for everyone and that's how it *should* be.


B-but that sounds like .... _gate-keeping. *Gasp*  _Nah you right.

Honestly I find the Kamiya-style Style ranking is some of my favorite kind of video game difficulty. That way babby can play the game and live with Ds and Cs, but the people who want to get good will put in the work and get their marks higher and higher.


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## Xitheon (Dec 15, 2021)

TyraWadman said:


> Is that even unpopular???


When I was part of the TF2 community everyone was crazy about the Medic and in fanfics Spy was always the villain so...?






Then again there was stuff like this so I really don't have a clue.


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## TyraWadman (Dec 15, 2021)

Xitheon said:


> When I was part of the TF2 community everyone was crazy about the Medic and in fanfics Spy was always the villain so...?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I've seen people obsessing over Scout... I wonder who that could have been though. 
<_<


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## Xitheon (Dec 16, 2021)

TyraWadman said:


> I've seen people obsessing over Scout... I wonder who that could have been though.
> <_<


Definitely not me.


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## KimberVaile (Dec 16, 2021)

Judge Spear said:


> There's no shame in wanting easier games. They wouldn't make them by the hundreds if there was.
> The problem is when people with game journalist skill demand every game cater to them and exclusively them. I think a lot of people do kind of miss the point of a lot of different kinds of game difficulty.
> Devil May Cry 5 for instance, you can die very easily despite the trio being presented as Hell razing smug badasses. But actually being able to do manually what they do in the flashy cutscenes takes practice to achieve. You wouldn't get the impact of skill if there was no persistent threat either. You're not exactly a badass if you're punching down. But there's a lot of people who demand it to just be handed to you with no consequence destroying all balance and longevity. But put in the time to play close to the code and suddenly you have an enriching game. A lot of people don't want to do that and claim it's the game's fault when maybe it's just not their forte.
> 
> A game like that isn't for everyone and that's how it *should* be.


Hit the nail on the head.

How many times have journalists demanded that X game include an easy mode or that X game not have x mechanics be simplified/removed because it's 'too complicated'? It's like they're opposed to the existence of any game that tries to appeal to a niche audience, and demand it all be the same paint by numbers, hand holding dogshit. If there is anything I hate at all about the current industry it is how unbelievably hostile it is to niche games, some journalists assume if it doesn't appeal to their specific tastes, the entire game must be shit. The whole, "I can't enjoy it so this entire game and genre must be bad". "What do you mean Street fighter requires complex button inputs to use special moves? That's bad design! Make it so you don't need to do that anymore, despite the fact that this is had been a staple of traditional 2d fighters for years!"

It's all incredibly tiring really.


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## Judge Spear (Dec 16, 2021)

KimberVaile said:


> Hit the nail on the head.
> 
> How many times have journalists demanded that X game include an easy mode or that X game not have x mechanics be simplified or removed because it's 'too complicated'? It's like they're opposed to the existence of any game that tries to appeal to a niche audience, and demand it all be the same paint by numbers, hand holding dogshit. If there is anything I hate at all about the current industry it is how unbelievably hostile it is to niche games, some journalists assume if it doesn't appeal to their specific tastes, the entire game must be shit. The whole, "I can't enjoy it so this entire game and genre must be bad". "What do you mean Street fighter requires complex button inputs to use special moves? That's bad design! Make it so you don't need to do that anymore, despite the fact that this is had been a staple of traditional 2d fighters for years!"
> 
> It's all incredibly tiring really.


Yeah its extremely dismissive of developer intent to demand ALL games have an easy mode to skip everything they want you to experience.

Imagine going to a traditional Japanese ramen shop in New York. You look at the menu and see all manner of shoyu, misu, and charshu ramen options. Theres a lot of things in them that are odd to you. Bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, nori, naruto, etc. You order skeptically, eat a bit, and are dissatisfied. That's fine.
But rather than just leave and go somewhere more your speed, you decide to go into the kitchen to tell the chefs to add new menu options.
You demand Campbell's and Progressive canned soups be added because "it'll be more accessible to American palettes" and "chicken and star soup is a more approachable option for most people".

It would be an insult to their establishment AND the people who patronize it to demand something less complex because its not to your taste. Not because canned soup is inherently bad. But it clashes with the already acheived vision of their establishment that their *intended* demographic enjoys. Beyond that, its not even solely about the soup itself but the implications the demand for it tacitly speaks.

Such is the entitlement of game journalists.


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## Judge Spear (Dec 19, 2021)

I dont know if its unpopular. I assume it is. Ubisoft sucks. Theyre an awful company that makes awful games and nothing they've made since FarCry 3 and RayMan Legends has been good.

AAA gaming is AIDS, bro. Always some monotonous sandbox shit or a "cinematic", anti-game with only 3 colors where you play as sad white people. And almost all of it biting off this garbage company's trash ass modern library.


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## Attaman (Dec 20, 2021)

There is more than just a correlation between “People who want easy modes are piss babies / need to Get Good,” “[Publisher / Developer] needs to stop relying on gimmicks and make More Powerful Games”, “Games aren’t art”, “If you want a different protagonist then make your own game,” etcetera…

And “Wow a lot of modern games are same-y sterile messes of visual bloat”.

Turns out loudly screaming at developers you want the same protagonists with similar visuals / world design in high-res worlds with precise physics that “stick to what works” and generally have one right way to play… has lead to an industry where a lot of big-whigs rubber stamp certain types of games. To say nothing of “I support small developers (and will now promptly wait until the game’s 50%+ off before purchasing)” and how it’s directly lead to many companies being hovered up by things like EA and put into the Madden Mines.


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## Baalf (Dec 20, 2021)

Attaman said:


> There is more than just a correlation between “People who want easy modes are piss babies / need to Get Good,” “[Publisher / Developer] needs to stop relying on gimmicks and make More Powerful Games”, “Games aren’t art”, “If you want a different protagonist then make your own game,” etcetera…
> 
> And “Wow a lot of modern games are same-y sterile messes of visual bloat”.
> 
> Turns out loudly screaming at developers you want the same protagonists with similar visuals / world design in high-res worlds with precise physics that “stick to what works” and generally have one right way to play… has lead to an industry where a lot of big-whigs rubber stamp certain types of games. To say nothing of “I support small developers (and will now promptly wait until the game’s 50%+ off before purchasing)” and how it’s directly lead to many companies being hovered up by things like EA and put into the Madden Mines.



Sometimes I feel kind of bad when I buy a game at a discount. It depends on the game. A AAA game is one I have no problem buying at a slashed price, but an underrated Indie game? Sometimes I do actually pay full price for them (for Kaze, I even payed extra for the theme) but sometimes I end up waiting. Mad Rat Dead is a game I wish I paid full price for, even if the game was a little pricey for an unknown gem.

As for the rant about sterilization, it is a big reason why I refuse to buy into the Elden Ring hype. The game honestly looks incredibly sterile. The character is typical and has boring allies because people want a protagonist that's human and grounded in reality, but the villains don't adhere to those rules. There is a dragon villain in the game, just like there is a dragon in every game ever these days. There's a spiritual stag boss, which really worries me because that kind of stuff usually comes with a BS "humans are misunderstood and should continue destroying the environment" message because that is a comfortable thought for people (even when humans are bad in games, they usually STILL have to be the only goodguys. No one ever wants to stick with a misanthropic message). It has typical medieval High fantasy aesthetics, but it's just a leeeeetle bit different enough that most people see it as creative, same with the dragon. Just, nothing about the game looks new or interesting as far as the characters and Story Goes. Maybe it's a good game gameplay-wise, but at this point I just don't care because I really want to see less of this.

And do you know what else I want to see less of? Anime style games. Every single protagonist from every single anime game is some generic skinny white person. Some of them have animal ears attached to their heads, which honestly makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. The villains, once again, are usually WAY more diverse, interesting and without restrictions. Also, as much as I talk about wanting nonhuman protagonists, where the heck are the African American protags in media!? I mean, it kind of makes sense that not a lot of anime or Japanese style games have African Americans, but even in American games they aren't that common.


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## Judge Spear (Dec 21, 2021)

Sonic Heroes is big good.
Beautiful game. Lovely music. Miss me with the team mechanic but the levels were mostly fun and straightforward.


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## Judge Spear (Dec 21, 2021)

Baalf said:


> where the heck are the African American protags in media!? I mean, it kind of makes sense that not a lot of anime or Japanese style games have African Americans, but even in American games they aren't that common.


Its funny seeing this now because I remember when you straight up told me I was making up the fact that people were asking for more black characters in media. Nice to see a turnover. lol

Thankfully, they're a LOT more common today...to the point people are mad that theyre starting to get roles that aren't generic hood and slave torture porn stories. 
"Luther isnt black enough" they cry.

I'm of the mindset that more black people need to head their own studios though. People are going to create in their image. I never understood why white people were expected to write black characters AND get every single nuance of the black experience correct....however one is even supposed to do that in fiction. It makes no sense. But thats getting into subjects this forum doesnt allow. 
I'll say thankfully that too seems to be becoming more of a thing though. Virtuoso NeoMedia comes to mind with games like Raddminton, Killer Auto, and Zodiac XX. Run by two black brothers employing mostly black people.
I dont keep up on whose black or whose white in game development so I dont know whose running a lot of smaller studios these days though.


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## BadRoy (Dec 23, 2021)

- I hate Dank Shoals 3. Something about it just really turns me off. Part of it is the fact that the combat feels like an unwieldy combo of Blooborne in-and-out quickness with older Dark Souls clunk that ends up having the strengths of neither. But I also didn't love returning to bits of Lordran. I played this after like 800 combined hours in Demons, DS 1, 2, and Bloodborne, so I feel like by the time I played 3 I was getting tired of the formula a bit. It just doesn't vibe with me. 

- I'm completely turned off by Nintendo these days. They've done fans dirty so many times, yet continue to receive nothing but praise. Even when people are like "Yeah, it was pretty scummy to cancel all those fan projects" they just turn around and buy the latest Mari-Zel-Troid for $60. That'll show them. I get that many Nintendo games are awesome classics, but have some principles dangit.


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## Judge Spear (Dec 26, 2021)

Mirror's Edge Catalyst was great and equal to the first game. Both have inversely proportionate strengths and weaknesses. But they're unique from one another as they are unique from the usual AAA offerings of their respective times.
To my shock, the open ended environment didnt hurt this game *nearly* as much as people said it did. Its probably the only GOOD modern open world I've ever experienced.


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## BadRoy (Dec 27, 2021)

- As a furry and huge horror fan I really want to like the FNAF series, but the entire scene around it is such cancer I can't get into it.
I thought Security Breach looked kind of interesting, because at least it's an actual game instead of sitting in a room pressing buttons and waiting to get jumpscared. Went to Youtube to see what it's like and every other video is either a tryhard Let's Player or "True lore *EXPLAINED*" video. The series is in this weird place where they games aren't even looked at as games. They're just like... content fodder. It sucks because I love the concept so much.


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## Judge Spear (Dec 29, 2021)

Sonic Transformed > CTR/NF > Diddy Kong Racing > Literally all of Mario Kart


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## Kay_Zen (Dec 29, 2021)

FF7 has a good story, but it's nowhere near the best FF game, and the only good thing about 10 was the music.


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## BadRoy (Dec 29, 2021)

Kay_Zen said:


> FF7 has a good story, but it's nowhere near the best FF game, and the only good thing about 10 was the music.


I think FF7 is one of those legendary games that has been crushed by its own legacy. The praise for games like that (and Ocarina, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario 64, etc) is so overwhelming that I imagine half of people getting into them these days are let down. Great games, but still only games with weaknesses, some of which have only gotten more glaring with age.


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## Judge Spear (Dec 29, 2021)

This was in one of my folders from a few months ago when I was talking to my friends about ranking these. Best thread for this. I had a few. Making tier lists is a lot of fun honestly just because it makes you really think about the totality of these things.


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## BadRoy (Dec 29, 2021)

Judge Spear said:


> This was in one of my folders from a few months ago when I was talking to my friends about ranking these. Best thread for this. I had a few. Making tier lists is a lot of fun honestly just because it makes you really think about the totality of these things.
> 
> View attachment 125102


I'm not the biggest Zelda fan, but I always liked Zelda and the Dimishing Hat. idk why no one ever talked about it, reallly.


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## Judge Spear (Dec 29, 2021)

BadRoy said:


> I'm not the biggest Zelda fan, but I always liked Zelda and the Dimishing Hat. idk why no one ever talked about it, reallly.


The Diminishing Hat, I'm done. lmfao

It's a very by the numbers game. But I'm of the mindset that if it's good, I don't care if it's more of the same. It's why I like every goddamn classic Mega Man. I'm fine with Zelda being "samey" because it's not like those games came out often in the grand scheme of things. Or that anyone else makes anything similar And if they do, it's mediocre to bad.

Zelda up until recently was a series that always brought me comfort and Minish Cap was a very comfortable game for me. I liked it a lot.


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## KimberVaile (Dec 29, 2021)

Judge Spear said:


> This was in one of my folders from a few months ago when I was talking to my friends about ranking these. Best thread for this. I had a few. Making tier lists is a lot of fun honestly just because it makes you really think about the totality of these things.
> 
> View attachment 125102


Always felt Zelda 2 deserved a little more credit than it's given usually. I can see the flaws, but I've always felt it was a solid Zelda title. It deserves credit for it's ambition and how different it still is compared to the rest of the Zelda titles, imo. On Similar note, a Link to the Past was a great trendsetter and foundation for others Zelda games but I think other Zelda games has since done just about everything better that that game did.


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## Judge Spear (Dec 29, 2021)

KimberVaile said:


> Always felt Zelda 2 deserved a little more credit than it's given usually. I can see the flaws, but I've always felt it was a solid Zelda title. It deserves credit for it's ambition and how different it still is compared to the rest of the Zelda titles, imo. On Similar note, a Link to the Past was a great trendsetter and foundation for others games but I think other games has since done just about everything better that that game did.


I just think it's dungeon and world design is the peak of the series. It's very cohesive and the gimmicks/loops of each level are very thought provoking making you think in 3 dimensions for a 2D game as you progress. And you can complete nearly everything without talking to a single person outside of Sahasrahla and the scripted sequences. Every quest can be initiated and completed with full player agency. You have a great deal of choice without the game being aimless. And the graphics are adorable. I just think it's still astounding. Imitators miss the mark entirely.


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## Attaman (Dec 29, 2021)

For an actually unpopular opinion: _Ocarina of Time_ ain't that hot. It's by all means a competently made game and does some nifty things with the N64's hardware... but if it weren't for the big "Zelda" plastered to its name (and that it's essentially a glorified 3D remaster of an earlier Zelda on top) it'd have come and gone from a lot of people's memory. And I don't even want to hear a "For its time the game was-" as in all honesty for a game made in 1998 _it wasn't that spectacular_. Good, still? Yes. _Very_ much so. But there was a _lot_ of contemporary stuff that did much the same as it, and in some cases did it _better_.


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## KimberVaile (Dec 29, 2021)

Judge Spear said:


> I just think it's dungeon and world design is the peak of the series. It's very cohesive and the gimmicks/loops of each level are very thought provoking making you think in 3 dimensions for a 2D game as you progress. And you can complete nearly everything without talking to a single person outside of Sahasrahla and the scripted sequences. Every quest can be initiated and completed with full player agency. You have a great deal of choice without the game being aimless. And the graphics are adorable. I just think it's still astounding. Imitators miss the mark entirely.


Oh for sure, it's still great. Every Zelda suffers a bit from super obvious tool gimmicks, so I can't knock it too much on that. Personally speaking I'd argue Link's Awakening is a little bit better as a 2d Zelda, though not quite as free form as Link to the Past, but it had a good pacing and some pretty clever dungeon design (Eagles Tower comes to mind) For Dungeon design through all the Zeldas, I thought the best of it came from Majora's Mask. It might just be the addition of having to finish everything under the gun of a timer granted, but I always thought Majora's dungeon design and puzzle design was the best there, same with the side quests. Not to mention the masks system, which was a pretty fun idea in of itself. Of course, I'm not knocking Link to the Past. Great game, and the visual style is pretty charming I agree with that. It's definitely the best Zelda game when it comes to Player Agency, that much is true, it's the most open Zelda aside from BOTW probably. I can get why so many people like it. You got a game lineup there full of great games, sans maybe like, Skyward Sword.


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## Kope (Dec 29, 2021)

Judge Spear said:


> This was in one of my folders from a few months ago when I was talking to my friends about ranking these. Best thread for this. I had a few. Making tier lists is a lot of fun honestly just because it makes you really think about the totality of these things.
> 
> View attachment 125102


Majora not a S tier is unforgivable in my gamer eyes


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## Imperial Impact (Dec 29, 2021)

I think westerns shouldn't have the right to play video games.


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## KimberVaile (Dec 30, 2021)

Attaman said:


> For an actually unpopular opinion: _Ocarina of Time_ ain't that hot. It's by all means a competently made game and does some nifty things with the N64's hardware... but if it weren't for the big "Zelda" plastered to its name (and that it's essentially a glorified 3D remaster of an earlier Zelda on top) it'd have come and gone from a lot of people's memory. And I don't even want to hear a "For its time the game was-" as in all honesty for a game made in 1998 _it wasn't that spectacular_. Good, still? Yes. _Very_ much so. But there was a _lot_ of contemporary stuff that did much the same as it, and in some cases did it _better_.


I'd still argue Ocarina does the exploration and discovery part of Zelda the best, to be totally fair. Similarly, I still think it has close to the strongest dungeon design next to Majora's mask. So I dunno, the actual design of the dungeons is pretty exemplary and a high point, maybe not the actual combat or Graphics obviously. Though, it still does the most standout parts of Zelda pretty well I feel like. Boss battles were pretty fun too.


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## Judge Spear (Dec 30, 2021)

Kope said:


> Majora not a S tier is unforgivable in my gamer eyes


Listen.

That game is* goated*. But there's a lot of intrinsic tedium to it's design that was _necessary_ but ultimately is what it is. I can't really ignore it. As far as the 3D entries go Ocarina of Time is a smoother progression loop. But _just_ Ocarina of Time. Twilight Princess and Wind Waker were excellent but had their own pace problems too. Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild are just ass tier.


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## Attaman (Dec 30, 2021)

KimberVaile said:


> I'd still argue Ocarina does the exploration and discovery part of Zelda the best, to be totally fair. Similarly, I still think it has close to the strongest dungeon design next to Majora's mask. So I dunno, the actual design of the dungeons is pretty exemplary and a high point, maybe not the actual combat or Graphics obviously. Though, it still does the most standout parts of Zelda pretty well I feel like. Boss battles were pretty fun too.


Without question: While other LoZ games have either more _interesting_ dungeons or _prettier_ dungeons or ones that _better utilize_ their equipment (or, again, other games even contemporary with OoT!), the game shows its production costs and OoT's dungeons are generally all around _never unpleasant_ in any one regard (particularly when you account for N64 hardware limitations, in a couple dungeons' cases) and often have a _very_ high bottom line for "average OoT dungeon". I bring it up mostly 'cause - in comparison to VII, which came up earlier and is approximately contemporary - often times you can say "FFVII is overrated" or "FFVII is still a good game" and you'll get a bunch a people nodding their heads. While more often than not if you say "OoT ain't that hot" the response is a record scratch and people asking if you want to repeat that out back by the dumpsters.

I have opinions on other LoZ entries, but this is the unpopular opinion thread and generally you're hard pressed to find "Genuinely unpopular" opinions on any non-OoT or -MM entries without either stretching "Unpopular" to mean "Not universal" or talking about the series as a whole.


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## Judge Spear (Dec 30, 2021)

I think one area Majora's Mask really topped Ocarina of Time was for sure it's bosses. At least in just how the battles actually play out. I like the tone, presentation, and music of OoT's, but aside from Gyorg MM's bosses were extremely exciting. Goht and TwinMold are personal favorites of the series. The first time you see what's essentially a Lanmolas boss appearance in a 3D title and they nailed it in the most over the top manner.

(I guess Volvagia sort of counts as the first one though)


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## Imperial Impact (Dec 30, 2021)

People who are obsessed with Zelda are losers.


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## Nexus Cabler (Dec 30, 2021)

Imperial Impact said:


> People who are obsessed with Zelda are losers.


I was never really into any of the Nintendo games growing up, with the exception of Mario for my gameboy advance.

I was a playstation kid, so I can never really relate to any of the fans of Starfox, Xelda, Donkey Kong, MGS etc in todays times.


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## Imperial Impact (Dec 30, 2021)

Nexus Cabler said:


> I was never really into any of the Nintendo games growing up, with the exception of Mario for my gameboy advance.
> 
> I was a playstation kid, so I can never really relate to any of the fans of MGS etc in todays times.


MGS is mostly a playstation title?


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## Nexus Cabler (Dec 30, 2021)

Imperial Impact said:


> MGS is mostly a playstation title?


It might be.

It goes to show how little I know about the games haha.


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## KimberVaile (Dec 30, 2021)

Nexus Cabler said:


> I was never really into any of the Nintendo games growing up, with the exception of Mario for my gameboy advance.
> 
> I was a playstation kid, so I can never really relate to any of the fans of Starfox, Xelda, Donkey Kong, MGS etc in todays times.


So long as you don't do the console fanboy thing. There are grown ass men who still fight over fucking consoles/game companies, lol. MUH PLASTIC IS THE BEST MAN. Just play fun video games, dum dum. I'm sure the giant faceless corporation is personally humbled by your stunning defense though, random NEET!

Or maybe I just don't get it. Who am I to question the simping to milday Microsoft/Nintendo/Sony/Steam/insert-game-company-here ?


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## Kope (Dec 30, 2021)

Judge Spear said:


> Listen.
> 
> That game is* goated*. But there's a lot of intrinsic tedium to it's design that was _necessary_ but ultimately is what it is. I can't really ignore it. As far as the 3D entries go Ocarina of Time is a smoother progression loop. But _just_ Ocarina of Time. Twilight Princess and Wind Waker were excellent but had their own pace problems too. Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild are just ass tier.


Why do you not like breath of the wild?


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## Judge Spear (Dec 30, 2021)

Kope said:


> Why do you not like breath of the wild?


it's boring


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## TyraWadman (Dec 30, 2021)

Judge Spear said:


> I think one area Majora's Mask really topped Ocarina of Time was for sure it's bosses. At least in just how the battles actually play out. I like the tone, presentation, and music of OoT's, but aside from Gyorg MM's bosses were extremely exciting. Goht and TwinMold are personal favorites of the series. The first time you see what's essentially a Lanmolas boss appearance in a 3D title and they nailed it in the most over the top manner.
> 
> (I guess Volvagia sort of counts as the first one though)



In general I feel like MM was more complete. Npc's had lives, whereas in games like OOT and other games before it, all of their character dialogue was like
"HMMM I HEARD SOMEONE SAW *A HOLE APPEAR IN THE GROUND AFTER THE RAIN*, HOW STRANGE" _*continues pacing back and forth in the same spot for eternity*_
"I SURE DO HOPE* NPC#2 *HAS BEEN ABLE TO* SOLVE THEIR* *PROBLEM*"
Very blatant hinting, and even referencing things like rumble packs... XD

Boss fights were fun. Dungeons could be replayed. Lots of things to collect/unlock that either buffed you or was just fun to goof off with. 
Once you beat the other games it was like... '_that's it, man, GG. Go ride your horse or something_'.


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## Judge Spear (Dec 30, 2021)

TyraWadman said:


> Once you beat the other games it was like... '_that's it, man, GG. Go ride your horse or something_'.


Never got why this was seen as a bad thing.


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## Umbral Alice (Dec 30, 2021)

Bendy and the Ink Machine is not good.  This game has an 89% positive review on Steam and I genuinely don't understand why.  I watched a friend stream the game and while some parts I can almost see why people like it.  But then it hits you with overly long combat sections, boring puzzles, and buggy gameplay.  She had to reset the game at one point because an NPC follower blocked her.  Everyone watching and playing did not enjoy it and was convinced the art style was the only thing it had going for it.


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## Judge Spear (Dec 30, 2021)

Amy Skye said:


> Bendy and the Ink Machine is not good.  This game has an 89% positive review on Steam and I genuinely don't understand why.  I watched a friend stream the game and while some parts I can almost see why people like it.  But then it hits you with overly long combat sections, boring puzzles, and buggy gameplay.  She had to reset the game at one point because an NPC follower blocked her.  Everyone watching and playing did not enjoy it and was convinced the art style was the only thing it had going for it.


I used to stock toys for this and other indie meme horror trash for people desperate to find a quick scare. For some reason I got the impression immediately it wasn't good. Just edgy, hollow "corruption of innocence" shit that got stale ages ago.
Indies are so up their ass about messages and art style and depression and insecure attempts at "maturing". Forget to make a fun game.


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## Rimna (Dec 31, 2021)

Attaman said:


> Not so much an opinion as a perspective (and unrelated to the above, clarified as it's related to performance / load speed), but I really can't understand how people can get finnicky over a game being less than 120 FPS, 90 FPS, or even 60 FPS.
> 
> Maybe it's my having run on a Potato for the last ten years, but I barely notice anything at all post-30 FPS so the people who can tell when they're dipping from, like, 120 FPS to 110 FPS almost instantaneously are basically Wizards to me.
> 
> ...



Depends on the game and depends on why you need higher frame rate. For example in counter strike 1.6 kreedz/jump maps, you absolutely need 100 fps in order to be able to play. You cannot "surf" up or get good air acceleration if your fps is below 100. Surfing, as it's called, literally does not work if the game is running on lower than 100 frame rate. I don't understand how or why, but there you go.

As for my unpopular opinions:
-I don't like how "indie games" is used as a category or genre, and it has this aura to it. It makes me think of low quality 8 bit cringe with pop culture references. Independent from who? Selling the game on steam or epic makes it independent? Yeah okay.
-Graphics are important. But more importantly, the game should be playable. Good controls and flow are mandatory.
-Playing games on easy doesn't mean I am not allowed to enjoy it or have an opinion of it.
-Multiplayer PvP games can be amazing, especially at the highest levels of skill.
-Speedrunning is a virtue as much as it is a vice. I don't like skips that include just glitching through walls and then missing half the game. Good thing that different categories exist for this.


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## Baalf (Dec 31, 2021)

Judge Spear said:


> it's boring


Also, weapons that break!? Who came up with that crap!? And, I swear, it gets annoying seeing people try and defend that. How is having weapons that break possibly a good thing, especially when there isn't an indestructible weapon in the game?

As for an unpopular opinion, honestly, all of the playable characters in Genshin are boring and unlikeable. ...yes, ALL of them. Also, human-with-animal-ears&tail is inherently bad character design.


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## Judge Spear (Dec 31, 2021)

Baalf said:


> Also, weapons that break!? Who came up with that crap!? And, I swear, it gets annoying seeing people try and defend that. How is having weapons that break possibly a good thing, especially when there isn't an indestructible weapon in the game?
> 
> As for an unpopular opinion, honestly, all of the playable characters in Genshin are boring and unlikeable. ...yes, ALL of them.


The weapons breaking was a cop-out because the game was rushed. They couldnt populate that flat, boring world with enough interesting enemies in time for the Switch launch after the Wii U's flop. So rather than push you to diversify yourself through tense, varying engagements, like every single action game in existence, their bandaid was to just *take* your shit away.

I would hit this forum's character limit listing the thousands of games that have varied themselves without a system like this.
And no. It wasnt an "ammo system". When Doom Slayer expends plasma rifle ammo, he can put it away until he replenishes it. He doesnt have to hoard 30 plasma rifles eating up space in a bad inventory menu for fear of them breaking and not finding another one for hours. It ironically stifles the exploration the game thinks its encouraging. All most people did was find farming spots to circumvent the whole mechanic.

People would not have praised it if EA, Bethesda, Ubisoft, Sega or whoever did it in any other game. It got a pass as "innovation" because it was Nintendo and Zelda.

And yes Genshin characters are all forgettable to bad designs. This is a correct opinion.


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## Judge Spear (Dec 31, 2021)

also


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## Attaman (Dec 31, 2021)

"I think _Breath of the Wild_ is a fairly decent game and a lot of people just can't take that it's neither the Second Coming of Christ nor Terrible Because Not The Game They Want" probably counts as my next Unpopular Opinion (on FAF, that is). I honestly have _zero_ issue with the weapons breaking and it's probably one of my favorite "Weapons degrade" systems in contrast to things like the degradation system of Bethesda games and whatnot: Weapons last long enough that you're rarely losing them in the middle of fights (unless you're just Not Bothering To Pay Attention), but also short enough to encourage actually wandering the fuck around to find / try out new stuff instead of just going "Okay so at 5 minutes in I run halfway across the map to grab a Royal Claymore and then I can use Royal Claymore the next 20 hours to EZ Steamroll everything". 

If I _had_ to make some complaints for BotW it's that its soundtrack is moderately limited (has some good scores, and nothing _bad_, but a significant chunk of the game is just ambient music and often similar ambient music at that so don't expect too many earworms outside the Guardian Fight theme), that a number of its dungeons could have done with more playtesting (if they had any at all!), that Infinite Bombs really breaks down a lot of combat, that a couple events / enemies should have been less tied to Perfect Shield (The existence of the mechanic is perfectly fine: Making spots where it's almost essential is bad for much the same reason as Quick Time Events tend to be bad), and that in regards to content they definitely had a bias in most-to-least favored of Zora -> Gerudo -> Rito -> Gorons with the Rito content being rather sparse and the Gorons easy to forget they even exist in the game.

Also Lizalfos w/ Shock Arrows. You will probably have at least one cheap death because you're surprised by Lizalfos with Shock Arrows which do a distressing amount of damage for something tied to both a stun / knockdown and a huge AoE.


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## Punji (Dec 31, 2021)

I can't speak as to exactly how unpopular this opinion really is, but weapon/tool/armour/equipment durability is an awful and unfun mechanic, no matter what setting, situation, or game.

In real life things must be maintained, this is true. But an axe doesn't completely disintegrate after striking one hundred times. A rifle can fire more than one thousand shots before becoming completely inoperable. Lockpicks aren't single-use tools.

I've fired thousands of highly corrosive rounds through my SKS and it only ever jammed one time, and only by failing to eject the cartridge casing. The bullet still left the barrel. My brother gave me a survival knife that is nigh unbreakable. He used his to cut down a tree and it's still super sharp. A _handheld knife_ can cut down a tree and it's no worse for wear, but a steel axe will break after fifty hits in a game?

Make things more expensive instead. This axe won't ever break, but its material cost is both high and rare compared to a less efficient tool. Ranged weapons and certain tools already have balancing mechanics through ammunition. The best stuff usually costs the most to acquire and continuously supply. Why should it also break as it consumes ammunition?

And I mean all games. Minecraft to small-scale indie survival games to RPGs and tactical turn-based games. I don't want my supposedly professionally-made high quality tools and equipment to break and become completely inoperable twenty times faster than a cheap tool might in real life.


----------



## Kope (Dec 31, 2021)

Punji said:


> I can't speak as to exactly how unpopular this opinion really is, but weapon/tool/armour/equipment durability is an awful and unfun mechanic, no matter what setting, situation, or game.
> 
> In real life things must be maintained, this is true. But an axe doesn't completely disintegrate after striking one hundred times. A rifle can fire more than one thousand shots before becoming completely inoperable. Lockpicks aren't single-use tools.
> 
> ...


Yeah, but game design


----------



## Judge Spear (Dec 31, 2021)

Punji said:


> I can't speak as to exactly how unpopular this opinion really is, but weapon/tool/armour/equipment durability is an awful and unfun mechanic, no matter what setting, situation, or game.



I hate so much of modern AAA game design, man. Breath of the Wild, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and all of Ubisoft's homogenous dreck.

I know its not NEW what you laid out but it ramped up recently among other bland trends as cool shit is derided as outdated nonsense for kids.


----------



## Imperial Impact (Jan 2, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> The weapons breaking was a cop-out because the game was rushed.


Six years isn't rushed lol.


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 2, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> Six years isn't rushed lol.


Oh so they just didn't care. Got it.


----------



## Imperial Impact (Jan 2, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Oh so they just didn't care. Got it.


BotW was a big risk taker, If they didn't care we would've gotten another lazy TP style game.


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 3, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> BotW was a big risk taker, If they didn't care we would've gotten another lazy TP style game.


Fair. Lazy is not what I would call Wild. 
I just think they didn't care that a design choice was a contentious net negative. And I get the feeling the choice was spurred by being forced to suddenly move development to Switch. Because who is expecting a console to fail?


----------



## Imperial Impact (Jan 3, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Fair. Lazy is not what I would call Wild.
> I just think they didn't care that a design choice was a contentious net negative. And I get the feeling the choice was spurred by being forced to suddenly move development to Switch. Because who is expecting a console to fail?


Same reason that the Wii got TP?


----------



## Jackpot Raccuki (Jan 3, 2022)

If you punish people for playing with their friends, you've failed as a game designer.
If you punish people for not having friends to play with, you've failed as a game designer.

If it's fun to play solo, and fun to play with friends you've done a great job.
If it's tedious to play solo but not for friends, it may be wise to look at what that underlying issue is, although may not be mandatory.


Also, stop advertising "better graphics" for your game, it looks like ass.
I can respect decent graphics, but if the only "hook" for your game is it's graphics, then I can already tell the gameplay is going to be GOD DAMN GARBAGE THAT NOT EVEN A FELLOW RACCOON LIKE MYSELF WANTS.

Don't Starve Together doesn't rely on it's unique graphics, it's got a decent gameplay and although said gameplay may not be for everyone, it's at least a lot more special that the graphics really add to it instead of the game relying on it.

And last one; more games should be open to mods, like steam workshop. I can understand if it's an issue to get it working as such, you'll be surprised  how many talented people are willing to make free extra content for you that can help to distract the players whiles you work on actual updates.
Also, at least provide warnings if said update is about to break stuff, I know it's a general thing to expect mods to break on an update but I know some games manage to not break even the oldest of mods.




Judge Spear said:


> also


"Pay me then."


----------



## Attaman (Jan 3, 2022)

On the current line of discussion, I actually liked the WiiU. Didn’t mind it’s controller, and in the grand scheme of things believe it had more hits proportionately than the Wii (with the Wii’s main point of advantage being the infinitely better shop and built-in Wii channels).

WiiU’s problems were that it both had _horrible _timing (coming out only a year before the next console generation, and IIRC almost simultaneously with the PS4’s announcement) _and _that said horrible timing lead to a huge chunk of its promised 3rd Party support evaporating as everyone shifted gears to the next Gen. 

This is unpopular in large part not because people don’t have fond opinions of the WiiU (it’s seen a rise in nostalgia in recent years, probably due to admittedly often better / improved ports of its games like the ports for W101 and Bayo2, or the sequel to Splat on the Switch) but because I actually had the thing until 2018 and still think “Yeah, it wasn’t a bad investment” instead of just jumping on the train after the fact.

This isn’t to call it a great console. But I had fun. And ergo am not the sort of player SE wants these days. :V


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 3, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> Same reason that the Wii got TP?


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 3, 2022)

Attaman said:


> his is unpopular in large part not because people don’t have fond opinions of the WiiU (it’s seen a rise in nostalgia in recent years, probably due to admittedly often better / improved ports of its games like the ports for W101 and Bayo2, or the sequel to Splat on the Switch) but because I actually had the thing until 2018 and still think “Yeah, it wasn’t a bad investment” instead of just jumping on the train after the fact.
> 
> This isn’t to call it a great console. But I had fun. And ergo am not the sort of player SE wants these days. :V


No, I actually heavily agree with this. I think most people would. I hate the hardware because it was extremely cumbersome and obnoxious to use 100% of the time. But it had really great games. I liked way more of the Wii U's original titles than the Switch. 
It had _great _software and a lot of personality.


----------



## Guyzer0414 (Jan 5, 2022)

Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega, and Yuji Naka deserve so much more credit than what they're all normally given by the gaming community.


----------



## TrishaCat (Jan 5, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> BotW was a big risk taker, If they didn't care we would've gotten another lazy TP style game.


TP is the best Zelda game tho
Plus it has the most combat options available to the player with a lot of sword precision that even BOTW threw away


----------



## TrishaCat (Jan 5, 2022)

Attaman said:


> On the current line of discussion, I actually liked the WiiU. Didn’t mind it’s controller, and in the grand scheme of things believe it had more hits proportionately than the Wii (with the Wii’s main point of advantage being the infinitely better shop and built-in Wii channels).
> 
> WiiU’s problems were that it both had _horrible _timing (coming out only a year before the next console generation, and IIRC almost simultaneously with the PS4’s announcement) _and _that said horrible timing lead to a huge chunk of its promised 3rd Party support evaporating as everyone shifted gears to the next Gen.
> 
> ...


I like that the Wii U has an actual virtual console for a wide variety of consoles, even the DS. Switch doesn't have anything close to as good as its virtual console library and that's a shame, I hate how there isn't consistency on this between platforms. Paying a subscription for awful online and temporary access to a selection of games I may not care for is not an improvement.


----------



## Guyzer0414 (Jan 6, 2022)

@Judge Spear

Thanks for the thumb's up, man.

Everything that Sonic does is apparently so profoundly incorrect that it's cursed. So Sonic failed at least once or twice? Big friggin' deal. I don't know about you, and there's a part that doesn't care to know at this point now that IGN has declared that "Sonic was never good," but learning to forgive Sega for Sonic 06 and learning to appreciate it for what tried to be has done wonders for me.

Would you believe it if someone made the argument that Sonic infantilizes people by invoking the stereotype of autistic fans? For someone like me who actually fits into that stereotype, it's especially hurtful.


----------



## Imperial Impact (Jan 6, 2022)

TrishaCat said:


> TP is the best Zelda game tho
> Plus it has the most combat options available to the player with a lot of sword precision that even BOTW threw away


What the fuck, TP was easily the worst Zelda game. 80% of Skyward Sword is rehashed from TP. Fucking shit game.


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 6, 2022)

Guyzer0414 said:


> Thanks for the thumb's up, man.
> 
> Everything that Sonic does is apparently so profoundly incorrect that it's cursed. So Sonic failed at least once or twice? Big friggin' deal. I don't know about you, and there's a part that doesn't care to know at this point now that IGN has declared that "Sonic was never good," but learning to forgive Sega for Sonic 06 and learning to appreciate it for what tried to be has done wonders for me.
> 
> Would you believe it if someone made the argument that Sonic infantilizes people by invoking the stereotype of autistic fans? For someone like me who actually fits into that stereotype, it's especially hurtful.



Few more than twice, to be fair. What wasn't outright laughably bad was either contentious or mediocre. After the DreamCast, Sonic really did have like a very even split of good and unfavorable entries. 
Chronicles, the whole Riders trilogy, the two storybook games, all 3 Sonic Boom titles, the Wii port of Unleashed (which people think is identical to the vastly superior HD version), Forces, 06, and many would argue Heroes and both ports of Lost World are all middling to really bad entries. Granted they all still sold very well.

It really hasn't been looking good outside of a brief stint where there was some consistency. Not to say he isn't any less of a juggernaut lately. His other media has been great mostly and the rebranding lately has done wonders to both curb and embrace what made him corny during the mid 2000's. 

Can't say I'm personally looking forward to Frontiers though, holy fucking shit. They can miss me with _that._


----------



## BadRoy (Jan 6, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Few more than twice, to be fair. What wasn't outright laughably bad was either contentious or mediocre. After the DreamCast, Sonic really did have like a very even split of good and unfavorable entries.


It will forever be hilarious to me that it took Sega turning to fan creators and going `You get this shit. IDK, You make one." And it was like the best Sanic game in 10 years or so.


----------



## Casey Fluffbat (Jan 6, 2022)

Not sure if this unpopular or not, but mod creators shouldn't complain if the idea behind their mod happens to get added to the game and nullifies the mod. As long as the developers aren't stealing your assets, there's no good reason to claim ideas from the game developers when you're using their platform to begin with.


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## Guyzer0414 (Jan 6, 2022)

@Judge Spear
I don't agree with what you are saying at all. As I said, big deal. I don't care if Sonic fails in one area and succeeds in another, as long you have the courage to get back up and try again. Everyone catastrophizes every aspect about Sonic to the point where I'm actually actively unlearning to communicate with certain people.

@BadRoy 
And I honestly feel that it's precisely because of that that Sega has lost faith in themselves as professional developers.


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## Guyzer0414 (Jan 6, 2022)

Another confession not directed at anyone, but you have me sorely mistaken with someone who is required understand that both Mighty no. 9 and Balan Wonderworld were "objectively bad games from a developer standpoint." I wholly enjoyed both of them.


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## Judge Spear (Jan 6, 2022)

BadRoy said:


> It will forever be hilarious to me that it took Sega turning to fan creators and going `You get this shit. IDK, You make one." And it was like the best Sanic game in 10 years or so.


I legitimately do not understand some of Sega's choices. You would think they were backed into a corner. 
I think most reasonable people can agree that both versions of Sonic Colors, Rush, Generations, and Unleashed were of objective quality and highly playable games. That's 6 high quality titles that all received generally positive reception and sold well.

So why in the FUCK would you follow the design blue print of one of the *worst* received games, Black Knight, for Forces? Why? Why would you do that? :l
You make a game in the image of six time successes and try to fuck into a game that was universally panned? Had no reason to suck but it did.

It had the music. It had the graphics. It had gorgeous art direction. It had a battle tested play style and a sick character creator. They -_had-_ it, Roy.


----------



## Imperial Impact (Jan 6, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> I think most reasonable people can agree that both versions of Sonic Colors, Rush, Generations, and Unleashed were of objective quality and highly playable games. That's 6 high quality titles that all received generally positive reception and sold well.


Dimps games and Unleashed weren't good tho.


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## Judge Spear (Jan 6, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> Dimps games and Unleashed weren't good tho.


Ok, Impact.


----------



## Imperial Impact (Jan 6, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Ok, Impact.


Unleashed is basically a bad Street of Rage game.


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 6, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> Unleashed is basically a bad Street of Rage game.


----------



## Imperial Impact (Jan 6, 2022)

Sonic Colours promotes american obesity.


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## Judge Spear (Jan 6, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> Sonic Colours promotes american obesity.


Sweet Mountain makes me mad because none of that food is fucking real. It's literally ALL just metal when you look closely.


----------



## TrishaCat (Jan 6, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> What the fuck, TP was easily the worst Zelda game. 80% of Skyward Sword is rehashed from TP. Fucking shit game.


It was a very meaty game in terms of dungeons and other content. 8 dungeons, many of which are really good (Love Arbiter's Grounds), not to mention the extra stuff like the wild west style town and visiting the twilight realm. The combat system is the most precise in Zelda, with you being able to stab (forward + B at same time), vertical slice (forward + B), Horizontal Slice (B), Jump Attack, Spin Attack, and then you have all the hidden abilities many very useful skills like Helm Splitter, Shield Attack, Mortal Draw, and Back Slice. Its also just really pretty a game both in monster design and in the visuals in the areas covered in Twilight. The Wii U remaster in particular helped places like the Temple of Time shine.  I also hought the twili creatures were very otherworldly in a spooky and interesting way. 
Plus Twilight Princess has the most time spent on its characters to make them feel more interesting and human. I don't even need to elaborate with Midna, but then you had stuff like Colin being cowardly and going to push himself to save his friends before finally being a mentor for Link in the end, or the way Link cried over Midna's leaving and the mirror cracking. Telma who's trying to help a bunch of soldiers work to save hyrule from the terrors that plague it and involving herself in helping the people of Kakariko. Being a wolf is also pretty cool.
Also the Hyrule Field theme was cool and made riding around on your horse slicing at enemies at high speeds or doing horseback archery at flying enemies (really fun time I had getting a family member to try archery in-game)


----------



## Guyzer0414 (Jan 6, 2022)

Regardless of the hand you've been dealt, as long you have the best intentions and do your best, nobody can fault you. You can go home with a clear conscience. That's one lesson that Sonic taught me. On that note, if you'd truly like for me to disclose something unpopular, it is that I do not appreciate the recent Sonic movie(s). They have little to no understanding of what made Sonic's radically independent personality so iconic in the first place. It's just another insincere venture to capitalize on Sonic newfound status as a meme. I remember a time where Sonic was not afraid to, taking a page from certain people, shove it in people's faces, and people adored him for that. I'm guilty just as much as anyone else for this, but maybe if people didn't humanize or deify things like Sonic so much, we probably wouldn't be in this situation.

It's a shame that you have to die for everyone's sins just because some of your games didn't adhere to a universal set of standards. I know for fact that there are people out there who are working around the clock to bounce ideas off each others of how to make Sonic even better than before, even especially if they are former Sonic fans that have moved on to greener pastures. Honestly, my philosophy is that people can trash Sonic all they want, because someone else is just going to come along and take its place as the next mascot with attitude, and then what are they gonna do? Why else do Freedom Planet and Spark the Electric Jester exist?


----------



## NightcoreGamer (Jan 6, 2022)

If I've already beat the game once or twice I should be allowed to use cheats to mess around without judgement. I'm talking about building in creative/spawning in items.
Games should be fun. If you're not having fun but all of your friends are then it's OK to back out and just be supportive/watch if you want to be involved.
Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword was trash but I loved the idea they were going for.
DDR is an alternative to cardio. Even if you're only on medium mode.
League of Legends is hot garbage. (...and I love it)


----------



## TrishaCat (Jan 6, 2022)

Guyzer0414 said:


> Freedom Planet


kino video game
very pog
The sequel can't come soon enough.


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 6, 2022)

If a game is anything other than GunStar Heroes, it probably sucks. :-()

Especially if the game is GunStar Super Heroes.


----------



## Imperial Impact (Jan 6, 2022)

TrishaCat said:


> It was a very meaty game in terms of dungeons and other content. 8 dungeons, many of which are really good (Love Arbiter's Grounds).


Almost all of are really boring or just shit.


TrishaCat said:


> The combat system is the most precise in Zelda, with you being able to stab (forward + B at same time), vertical slice (forward + B), Horizontal Slice (B), Jump Attack, Spin Attack, and then you have all the hidden abilities many very useful skills like Helm Splitter, Shield Attack, Mortal Draw, and Back Slice.


And you (The player) almost never had to use these outside from one or two occasions.


TrishaCat said:


> Its also just really pretty a game both in monster design and in the visuals in the areas covered in Twilight. The Wii U remaster in particular helped places like the Temple of Time shine.  I also hought the twili creatures were very otherworldly in a spooky and interesting way.


It took the WiiU remaster to get rid out that ugly piss & shit filter. (But even then, the game is really ugly.)


TrishaCat said:


> Plus Twilight Princess has the most time spent on its characters to make them feel more interesting and human. I don't even need to elaborate with Midna, but then you had stuff like Colin being cowardly and going to push himself to save his friends before finally being a mentor for Link in the end, or the way Link cried over Midna's leaving and the mirror cracking. Telma who's trying to help a bunch of soldiers work to save hyrule from the terrors that plague it and involving herself in helping the people of Kakariko.


Midna is an unfunny bitch, Telma and Colin are only is relevant for 5 minutes in game. (they're not even memorable.)


TrishaCat said:


> Being a wolf is also pretty cool.


Blatant Okami Ripoff.

The thing is: TP did so many things wrong, Like tried to be edgy, tried to cinematic, tried to be like Okami, Tried to force tutorials or minigames, Tried to pad out the game with those vessel of light. and It left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. *And they did it again with Skyward Sword.*


----------



## TrishaCat (Jan 6, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> Midna is an unfunny bitch,





...
But also  in all seriousness it's unfortunately true TP doesn't take advantage of its own combat system and tools it gives you. I still really dig how they're there and think they make the combat *feel* better but I concede they're not really necessary most of the time.
TP did have a really good fishing mini game tho


----------



## KimberVaile (Jan 6, 2022)

TrishaCat said:


> View attachment 125526
> ...
> But also  in all seriousness it's unfortunately true TP doesn't take advantage of its own combat system and tolls it gives you. I still really dig how they're their and think they make the combat *feel* better but I concede they're not really necessary most of the time.


Deserves credit for almost breaking away from the tired Ganondorf being the main antogonist trope. I thought Zant was pretty fun, for what it's worth.


----------



## Imperial Impact (Jan 6, 2022)

KimberVaile said:


> Deserves credit for almost breaking away from the tired Ganondorf being the main antogonist trope. I thought Zant was pretty fun, for what it's worth.


Oh, That final battle with Ganondorf awful too.


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 6, 2022)

Twilight Princess really is ugly. The worst looking Zelda artistically. Nasty ass muddy graphics and was confused about what it wanted to be. This weird mix of the general Zelda cartoon look and then this gross grit to everything to be "darker".


----------



## Imperial Impact (Jan 6, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Twilight Princess really is ugly. The worst looking Zelda artistically. Nasty ass muddy graphics and was confused about what it wanted to be. This weird mix of the general Zelda cartoon look and then this gross grit to everything to be "darker".


I was hyped for Skyward Sword back in the day because it looked colourful and not whatever TP wanted to be.


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 6, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> I was hyped for Skyward Sword back in the day because it looked colourful and not whatever TP wanted to be.


Same mostly. I liked TP but I recognize it's contentious shortcomings and that it's VERY by the numbers. But I'm someone that appreciates "by the numbers" if it's in my favorite gameplay styles. It has it's issues and I understand the dislike, but for me it wasn't *offensively* bad if a slog at times.

Then SS comes along and despite strong temples, it sucks at quite literally every other area. I give it credit for it's use of it's art. The game gets close to it's Cezanne inspirations and uses that post impressionist painting style to great effect. Mainly to cover limitations which Nintendo is generally quite good at doing. Most notable when the game loads a larger area and distant geometry is rendered in a watercolor look before the models are fully drawn up close. 

But aside from that and the dungeon design, JUST the dungeons, not the bosses of the dungeons, the game is a complete mess. And before anyone says it, the motion controls are the least of the problems with it. It's agonizing to play even with the breadth of QOL improvements in it's (poorly marketed) remaster.


----------



## Imperial Impact (Jan 7, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Same mostly. I liked TP but I recognize it's contentious shortcomings and that it's VERY by the numbers. But I'm someone that appreciates "by the numbers" if it's in my favorite gameplay styles. It has it's issues and I understand the dislike, but for me it wasn't *offensively* bad if a slog at times.
> 
> Then SS comes along and despite strong temples, it sucks at quite literally every other area. I give it credit for it's use of it's art. The game gets close to it's Cezanne inspirations and uses that post impressionist painting style to great effect. Mainly to cover limitations which Nintendo is generally quite good at doing. Most notable when the game loads a larger area and distant geometry is rendered in a watercolor look before the models are fully drawn up close.
> 
> But aside from that and the dungeon design, JUST the dungeons, not the bosses of the dungeons, the game is a complete mess. And before anyone says it, the motion controls are the least of the problems with it. It's agonizing to play even with the breadth of QOL improvements in it's (poorly marketed) remaster.


I feel like Majora's Mask and Windwaker peak in dungeon designs.


----------



## Baalf (Jan 7, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> If a game is anything other than GunStar Heroes, it probably sucks. :-()
> 
> Especially if the game is GunStar Super Heroes.


Gotta say I disagree. Gunstar Heroes hasn't aged well, IMO. The controls felt a little off to me and a lot of the bosses are really stupid. GSH honestly fixed a lot of those problems. The controls felt better and the bosses felt more threatening. I mean, a large yellow dragon who just beans into the ground over and over versus a yellow dragon that actually has attacks and stuff. Or Melon Bread, who was a massive upgrade in the remake. ...I do miss fighting Curry and Rice with my fists, though.

Also, Alien Soldier > Gunstar Heroes


----------



## BadRoy (Jan 7, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Also, Alien Soldier > Gunstar Heroes


This opinion is factually correct :3


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 7, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Gotta say I disagree. Gunstar Heroes hasn't aged well, IMO. The controls felt a little off to me and a lot of the bosses are really stupid. GSH honestly fixed a lot of those problems. The controls felt better and the bosses felt more threatening. I mean, a large yellow dragon who just beans into the ground over and over versus a yellow dragon that actually has attacks and stuff. Or Melon Bread, who was a massive upgrade in the remake. ...I do miss fighting Curry and Rice with my fists, though.
> 
> Also, Alien Soldier > Gunstar Heroes


Try the 3DS port of GunStar Heroes. A lot of small issues were fixed. You can switch between fixed and free shot and swap between weapons on the fly. Super Heroes feels good but its levels, music, and art style fall really short. And the level gimmicks were fucking awful. 

I cant get into Alien Soldier. I like watching people play it but its doing more than the 3 button Genesis controller can handle. Every small action in that game required a button combo or an additional button press or a specific context sensitive press. It just feels twitchy to play. Like I'm about to make a mistake at any given moment for pressing a button incorrectly. Particularly in a game where you dont really have that much space to make a lot of errors. GunStar is more forgiving in its controls because it feels suited to the controller. I just play Probotector if I want something similar to Alien Soldier.


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 7, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> I feel like Majora's Mask and Windwaker peak in dungeon designs.


Zelda peaked on N64. Tightest most balanced design of the 3D titles. Not to imply Wind Waker was a decline.


----------



## BadRoy (Jan 7, 2022)

Nuclear take: As someone who was a Yoko Taro fanboy before it was cool I found *Nier Automata* to be a bit of a letdown. It's polished, it plays well, it looks great, but it never gave me that Taro tingle. I finished all the endings and was just like "Huh, that was fine." and never went back to it. 

I think my issue is the characters and the fact that the game kind of re-treads the themes of original Nier. The characters do almost nothing for me because they're just robits doing robit things. As expected from a Taro game they're confronting what it means to exist and what humanity means to them, but at the end of the day they lack the relatability I want from my DrakenNiers. No human-dragon romances (_extremely relatable_), no charming found-family of weirdos. And yeah when it comes to themes I was already assuming that humanity proper was basically over by the end of Nier so seeing the story continue felt, I guess, unnecessary. The events of Nier Automata we're more or less exactly what I expected in the future of original Nier. The last remnants of humanity just bouncing around looking for purpose.

I feel like Nier Automata blew up so huge because it was a lot of people's first Taro experience which will always be special because of the earnest way he writes and directs his games. Also the Platinum pedigree (but tbh I found the gameplay just serviceable too).


----------



## Imperial Impact (Jan 7, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Zelda peaked on N64. Tightest most balanced design of the 3D titles. Not to imply Wind Waker was a decline.


I sort of meant that era was at it's peak. For example, In MM you have Woodfall temple, Windwaker had the Forbidden woods, OoT had the Spirit temple which was neat too. They also had fun bosses too. (The Oracle games had good bosses too).


----------



## Rimna (Jan 7, 2022)

Mobile games can be pretty good, especially ones that you have to pay for. I prefer playing The Room series on my phone rather than on the computer.


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## Judge Spear (Jan 7, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> I sort of meant that era was at it's peak. For example, In MM you have Woodfall temple, Windwaker had the Forbidden woods, OoT had the Spirit temple which was neat too. They also had fun bosses too. (The Oracle games had good bosses too).


Oracle games were sick. Not enough people appreciate them today. Recently went through them linked on my 3DS. I hope they get a remake treatment like Awakening (minus that remake's shit control scheme that's a step down from Between Worlds).


----------



## Imperial Impact (Jan 7, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Oracle games were sick. Not enough people appreciate them today. Recently went through them linked on my 3DS. I hope they get a remake treatment like Awakening (minus that remake's shit control scheme that's a step down from Between Worlds).


Same, It would be nice for Seasons to get some sort of attention.


----------



## Baalf (Jan 7, 2022)

I've been playing Pokemon Sword a bit for the past couple days, and frankly this was something I always kinda felt about the games, and I feel like I can finally confirm to myself how I feel.

...I really think the hate the game gets is overblown. Honestly, a lot of the things people don't like about the game I actually DO kinda like. I don't mind that it's easier. A big appeal of Pokemon to me is taking your favorite monsters and stomping through the game. Want tough? That's what competitive play is for. Heck, I went back to play Pokemon Emerald, and I actually didn't like the excessive grinding. I do believe that EXP share SHOULD be optional, but it doesn't ruin the experience for me. I also actually quite like the Dynamax feature and, from what I can tell, there might be less dungeons, which were always my least favorite part of Pokemon.

I do think it deserves criticism, but people harassing defenders and telling them they're ruining the industry by buying the games? Just no. ...Although I do agree with Gym Leader Ed and Sacred Almighty that people who aren't happy with Pokemon now should give other mon collectors/battlers a try. There's a lot of good ones, and I'm still playing the heck out of Nexomon Extinction and Monster Rancher DX.


----------



## TrishaCat (Jan 7, 2022)

BadRoy said:


> Nuclear take: As someone who was a Yoko Taro fanboy before it was cool I found *Nier Automata* to be a bit of a letdown. It's polished, it plays well, it looks great, but it never gave me that Taro tingle. I finished all the endings and was just like "Huh, that was fine." and never went back to it.
> 
> I think my issue is the characters and the fact that the game kind of re-treads the themes of original Nier. The characters do almost nothing for me because they're just robits doing robit things. As expected from a Taro game they're confronting what it means to exist and what humanity means to them, but at the end of the day they lack the relatability I want from my DrakenNiers. No human-dragon romances (_extremely relatable_), no charming found-family of weirdos. And yeah when it comes to themes I was already assuming that humanity proper was basically over by the end of Nier so seeing the story continue felt, I guess, unnecessary. The events of Nier Automata we're more or less exactly what I expected in the future of original Nier. The last remnants of humanity just bouncing around looking for purpose.
> 
> I feel like Nier Automata blew up so huge because it was a lot of people's first Taro experience which will always be special because of the earnest way he writes and directs his games. Also the Platinum pedigree (but tbh I found the gameplay just serviceable too).


I am so glad there is someone out there besides myself that likes the original Nier (and its remaster) more than Automata
Nier Automata's gameplay was definitely weaker even as a Platinum game. Its a lot more fun to play something like Metal Gear Rising or Bayonetta. My biggest issue with Automata's combat was that so many of the boss fights were fighting androids that look and fight similarly to you. You don't get nearly enough exciting and unique fancy robot battles (opera singer of course being the most memorable). I didn't think the game was very well balanced either. Either way too easy on normal or one-to-two hit death on Hard.


----------



## Imperial Impact (Jan 8, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Even the terrible StarForce and Legends games are better.


But those are good games?


----------



## BadRoy (Jan 8, 2022)

TrishaCat said:


> I am so glad there is someone out there besides myself that likes the original Nier (and its remaster) more than Automata
> Nier Automata's gameplay was definitely weaker even as a Platinum game. Its a lot more fun to play something like Metal Gear Rising or Bayonetta. My biggest issue with Automata's combat was that so many of the boss fights were fighting androids that look and fight similarly to you. You don't get nearly enough exciting and unique fancy robot battles (opera singer of course being the most memorable). I didn't think the game was very well balanced either. Either way too easy on normal or one-to-two hit death on Hard.


Yeah Automata's combat (and Revengeance imo) have the responsiveness and flashiness you expect from Platinum, but they lack the depth that I want from the genre. The directional inputs and techniques just aren't there. In both I find myself button mashing while keeping an eye out for dodge opportunities, something you can't afford to do in Bayonetta or Devil May Dank.


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 8, 2022)

Orchestrated music =/= superior

This is the same snobbish thinking aiding AAA crunch culture as the people demanding """deep""" writing and photorealism in every single major project.
Different hardware and digital instruments have beautiful sound fonts that provide a unique energy depending on the game. I cringe when I see people say 16 bit Super Nintendo games need to have their audio "updated" with orchestra. You have got to be fucking kidding me. Homogeny is destructive.


----------



## Waifu (Jan 8, 2022)

I've played each mainline pokemon gen game twice at least and love each gen for different reasons.
So, my spicy take is I think Sword and Sheild is perfectly decent! Nice games even. Sure, it could be better, but the hate feels unnecessary if it's only cuz people wanted to play the same exact Pokemon team for every single generation.
And Gen 1/Gen 5 is overrated. I enjoyed both gens but they aren't epitomes of perfection that will absolutely blow your mind to high heaven compared to any other gen.


----------



## Imperial Impact (Jan 8, 2022)

Battlechilli, Why did you make another account just to make a lame Pokemon take?


----------



## Baalf (Jan 8, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Orchestrated music =/= superior
> 
> This is the same snobbish thinking aiding AAA crunch culture as the people demanding """deep""" writing and photorealism in every single major project.
> Different hardware and digital instruments have beautiful sound fonts that provide a unique energy depending on the game. I cringe when I see people say 16 bit Super Nintendo games need to have their audio "updated" with orchestra. You have got to be fucking kidding me. Homogeny is destructive.



Never been a fan of orchestrated music. There's always something empty or bland about it.

Also, "deep writing" is also overrated. More often than not, I just want to enjoy the experience. If "deep writing" means bland characters, depressing twists and a lack of creativity, then I don't want deep writing. 

Also, wanna complain about Genshin Impact again: specifically Gorou. I hear people talking about how amazing his lore is, and honestly, his lore is entirely ruined by his design. If they put so much effort into his lore and story and character, then they actually could have put effort into his design instead of Human with fox ears/tail, assuming he's SUPPOSED to be non-human. In general, I cannot buy designs like that. How does a human obtain an animal's ears and tail? Or does an animal evolve to look just like humans? Regardless, they don't make sense to me. Why couldn't he just have been an anthropomorphic fox or even something creative? I'm sorry, but ugh.


----------



## TrishaCat (Jan 9, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> Battlechilli, Why did you make another account just to make a lame Pokemon take?


I promise they're not me,  no matter how right I think they are on Pokémon x3
I dunno about Gen 5 being overrated tho. Gen 5 was kind of a breath of fresh air in some ways.


----------



## Guyzer0414 (Jan 9, 2022)

Coming to this thread was a terrible idea. I should've known better than to try to reason with people who have "unpopular opinions" in the first place. Normally, they don't present them to offer fresh perspectives or insights but just to dig in their heels. I never should have commented, although I guess there is one thing I could say, and that is that good and bad don't exist in my world when it comes to technical "quality."


----------



## TrishaCat (Jan 9, 2022)

Guyzer0414 said:


> Coming to this thread was a terrible idea. I should've known better than to try to reason with people who have "unpopular opinions" in the first place. Normally, they don't present them to offer fresh perspectives or insights but just to dig in their heels. I never should have commented, although I guess there is one thing I could say, and that is that good and bad don't exist in my world when it comes to technical "quality."


I just didn't reply to your post cause I don't have many thoughts on the sonic series. I can agree that it's a bit of a bummer that sonic is often relegated to meme status rather than being taken a bit more seriously.

Also I'm confused cause this thread has been full of discussion on games where people offer different perspectives on a wide variety of titles. Helps one learn to appreciate and understand the different aspects of games that people might like or dislike


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 9, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Never been a fan of orchestrated music. There's always something empty or bland about it.
> 
> Also, "deep writing" is also overrated. More often than not, I just want to enjoy the experience. If "deep writing" means bland characters, depressing twists and a lack of creativity, then I don't want deep writing.
> 
> Also, wanna complain about Genshin Impact again: specifically Gorou. I hear people talking about how amazing his lore is, and honestly, his lore is entirely ruined by his design. If they put so much effort into his lore and story and character, then they actually could have put effort into his design instead of Human with fox ears/tail, assuming he's SUPPOSED to be non-human. In general, I cannot buy designs like that. How does a human obtain an animal's ears and tail? Or does an animal evolve to look just like humans? Regardless, they don't make sense to me. Why couldn't he just have been an anthropomorphic fox or even something creative? I'm sorry, but ugh.


I like orchestrated music in general, but video games have all manner of appeal. Imagine for a minute if Ridge Racer, Blaster Master, Carnage Heart or hell, even some JRPG's (which people always say should exclusively be orchestrated) just universally used the same damn sound. You lose so much.

And a reminder for everyone: You can always shit on Genshin Impact for any reason. It's always morally correct. 
God, people_ really_ went wild over this. It was fucking _everywhere _on Twitter regardless of who you followed.



Spoiler: weak shit












another underaged cat girl with the exact same face as every anime girl since 2004. WOW!!! 8D


----------



## Baalf (Jan 9, 2022)

I've said it before and I will say it again. WHY COULDN'T SHE JUST BE AN ANTHRO!?

I know I'm kind of making a big deal out of this, but I have been begging for a nonhuman character since the beginning. At this point, it feels like the makers of genshin impact just refuse to actually have one, so we keep getting this. And yeah, anime games in general pull this way too often and it gets frustrating.


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 9, 2022)

Baalf said:


> I've said it before and I will say it again. WHY COULDN'T SHE JUST BE AN ANTHRO!?


anime


----------



## TyraWadman (Jan 9, 2022)

Guyzer0414 said:


> Coming to this thread was a terrible idea. I should've known better than to try to reason with people who have "unpopular opinions" in the first place. Normally, they don't present them to offer fresh perspectives or insights but just to dig in their heels. I never should have commented, although I guess there is one thing I could say, and that is that good and bad don't exist in my world when it comes to technical "quality."


You shouldn't feel the need to fully persuade someone onto the other side. Leave your take, discuss, disagree and just move on! 

Humankind will never be a synchronized unit. Especially when it comes to hobbies, and thats not a bad thing. XD


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 9, 2022)

Guyzer0414 said:


> Normally, they don't present them to offer fresh perspectives or insights but just to dig in their heels.


That's the point of this thread. To just post opinions, not to argue or defend them. I don't see a problem.


----------



## Guyzer0414 (Jan 9, 2022)

As the local definition of cringe, I came to this forum looking for some semblance, at the very least, of community, but lo and behold, it's beginning to dawn on me that maybe furries are truly both different and the same so to speak. That is the say that I thought that furries understood the most of what it felt like to be treated as an outcast whether for just for being who you are or having a hobby or some other circumstance, but it looks like I stand corrected wherein cringe is the same name of the game one way or the other.

After incidents YouTube and DeviantArt, the former where I challenged someone openly concerning an anime I was interested in at the time, and the latter where I felt a group's reaction against a voice actor was wholly disproportionate, I made a vow to myself that I would never touch these places again. As far as I became concerned, these so-called communities could destroy themselves if all they cared about was having their cake and eating it, too.

I have grown to reject the concept of the "unpopular opinion" on a number of grounds. For one, it's provocation for its own sake based on little to no concrete proof. Almost one-hundred percent of the time, people will form unpopular opinions just to appeal to their own status. It's about power most of time over "issues" that are far and few between if not nonexistent. The only reason it becomes relevant is when someone with more acclaim speaks up about it, otherwise I bet nobody would give a hoot. And if by some chance it is a legitimate problem, everyone is a target and not select individuals. Next comes the side-taking followed by cries for neutrality, and anyone who refuses must be eliminated at all costs.

My thought process was that people need to be able to debate in order to come to a center on something and evolve, but the current ethos dictates that that is just about the worst sin anyone can commit. My hope for this community was that people would put aside their biases and prejudices and actually worked together for a common good through reason.

Apparently, the answer will always be no.


----------



## TyraWadman (Jan 9, 2022)

Guyzer0414 said:


> As the local definition of cringe, I came to this forum looking for some semblance, at the very least, of community, but lo and behold, it's beginning to dawn on me that maybe furries are truly both different and the same so to speak. That is the say that I thought that furries understood the most of what it felt like to be treated as an outcast whether for just for being who you are or having a hobby or some other circumstance, but it looks like I stand corrected wherein cringe is the same name of the game one way or the other.
> 
> After incidents YouTube and DeviantArt, the former where I challenged someone openly concerning an anime I was interested in at the time, and the latter where I felt a group's reaction against a voice actor was wholly disproportionate, I made a vow to myself that I would never touch these places again. As far as I became concerned, these so-called communities could destroy themselves if all they cared about was having their cake and eating it, too.
> 
> ...



You started a conversation and didn't even get back to me when I asked for clarity on what the thread was about.
You haven't even put any effort into your own threads. :/


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 9, 2022)

Guyzer0414 said:


> As the local definition of cringe, I came to this forum looking for some semblance, at the very least, of community, but lo and behold, it's beginning to dawn on me that maybe furries are truly both different and the same so to speak. That is the say that I thought that furries understood the most of what it felt like to be treated as an outcast whether for just for being who you are or having a hobby or some other circumstance, but it looks like I stand corrected wherein cringe is the same name of the game one way or the other.
> 
> After incidents YouTube and DeviantArt, the former where I challenged someone openly concerning an anime I was interested in at the time, and the latter where I felt a group's reaction against a voice actor was wholly disproportionate, I made a vow to myself that I would never touch these places again. As far as I became concerned, these so-called communities could destroy themselves if all they cared about was having their cake and eating it, too.
> 
> ...







WHAT are you TALKING about?


----------



## Baalf (Jan 9, 2022)

I'm struggling to figure it out myself, to be honest. But hey, if there is anything I can do to help, let me know.


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 9, 2022)

We're just talking about video game nerd shit. No one here is really taking this that seriously or personally regardless of the hard stances we have. 
Like "power"? "Appealing to status"? This is the gaming section in a furry forum. This is not deep.


----------



## Imperial Impact (Jan 10, 2022)

Guyzer0414 said:


> As the local definition of cringe, I came to this forum looking for some semblance, at the very least, of community, but lo and behold, it's beginning to dawn on me that maybe furries are truly both different and the same so to speak. That is the say that I thought that furries understood the most of what it felt like to be treated as an outcast whether for just for being who you are or having a hobby or some other circumstance, but it looks like I stand corrected wherein cringe is the same name of the game one way or the other.
> 
> After incidents YouTube and DeviantArt, the former where I challenged someone openly concerning an anime I was interested in at the time, and the latter where I felt a group's reaction against a voice actor was wholly disproportionate, I made a vow to myself that I would never touch these places again. As far as I became concerned, these so-called communities could destroy themselves if all they cared about was having their cake and eating it, too.
> 
> ...


Get in the robot, Shinji.


----------



## TrishaCat (Jan 10, 2022)

Genshin Impact characters are cute. CUTE!!!!!


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 13, 2022)

Ok. Big one.


Spoiler: Nerd Screeching



Not that anything recent has happened to my knowledge, but I just have to say. At _this_ point, if you are making a Nintendo fan game, you are fucking stupid.

Not because Nintendo is morally right for strong arming celebratory passion projects or because copyright law is fair in my eyes. But think about this...
Your neighbor has a huge violent dog. He's had this dog for 15 years. It ALWAYS bites people no matter their approach or time spent around him. It has bitten and injured people 10 times and snarls at everyone else without fail for daring to approach. What in the fuck makes you think that you will be the special dog whisperer it will allow to pet it?

We know corporations swear by copyright law and have a "Legal Obligation to Protect Their IP™". We know intimately that Nintendo is King Big Shit at shutting down the most respectful, non profit, but ultimately _illegitimate_ use of their property. The people _making _these fangames know more than anyone else what they're facing. It's not some new practice. They've done it openly for decades.
We just saw this juggernaut company successfully sue a couple for 12 MILLION dollars, an inflated number_ just_ to coldly make an example of them. I know that was a different case but it shows how seriously these corporate entities are about safe guarding their shit. Where they'd choose to -destroy your life- instead of just shutting you down. Why would you even chance that kind of destruction? Why waste years of your life doing asset development, debugging, coding, QA just to potentially have your life destroyed for something you couldn't even make money from in the first place?

Mother 4, as fantastically well made as it is, I find especially dumb because they could name it something else and change nothing. It's not using anything from Nintendo except the name. It's an original story  with original characters and assets. But because it's called "Mother 4" they are actively running the risk of ruination.

Absolutely insanely stupid. I'm not simping for this shit company. It's just about being smart to protect yourself. I'll take the damn violent dog over what Nintendo could do to me.


----------



## ScaratheWolf (Jan 13, 2022)

Fortnite is stupid, but Apex Legends is good (Minecraft is best UwU)


----------



## Imperial Impact (Jan 13, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Ok. Big one.
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Nerd Screeching
> ...


Mother 4 is a scam tho.


----------



## TrishaCat (Jan 13, 2022)

Dailies in games suck
Being incentivized to keep playing a game to get bonuses for playing each day turns gaming into a job. I don't want another job.


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 13, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> Mother 4 is a scam tho.


lmfao
What happened?


----------



## Imperial Impact (Jan 13, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> lmfao
> What happened?


A few years ago, A big fight broke out between members of the Mother 4 team. One member went on /v/ and dumped what little progress they made, Which is like a couple of sprites and texture and he claimed that the team didn't updated the game since 2014.


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 13, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> A few years ago, A big fight broke out between members of the Mother 4 team. One member went on /v/ and dumped what little progress they made, Which is like a couple of sprites and texture and he claming that the team didn't updated the game since 2014.


Ok, assuming they still haven't made progress (which from what I'm seeing is not the case), that's shitty but I wouldn't call that a *scam*.

Also, my example is bullshit because they DID change the name (to Oddity.)


----------



## Imperial Impact (Jan 13, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Ok, assuming they still haven't made progress (which from what I'm seeing is not the case), that's shitty but I wouldn't call that a *scam*.
> 
> Also, my example is bullshit because they DID change the name (to Oddity.)


I don't know why fan groups are like that now a days, It's like they would do -anything- for attention.


----------



## Rimna (Jan 13, 2022)

I kinda don't really like that 3rd person perspective that a lot games have, where the camera moves independently from the character and you have to follow up with the mouse or the gamepad.  I've found that only World of Warcraft has done it to my liking.


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 13, 2022)

Rimna said:


> I kinda don't really like that 3rd person perspective that a lot games have, where the camera moves independently from the character and you have to follow up with the mouse or the gamepad.  I've found that only World of Warcraft has done it to my liking.


I don't like this when you have to manually move the camera *all* the time. I've played a lot of indie platformers that just never have the camera reasonably follow the player from an optimal angle. So you have to move it even during tense winding vertical segments. It's annoying. I get camera's are hard, like REALLY hard to code, but it feels like sometimes it's not taken into account for the levels.


----------



## Sappho_Cortez (Jan 14, 2022)

Solo, story driven games will always be better than PvP, battle royale games. 

Seriously, games were invented to be fun not a competition for assholes to shit on everyone.


----------



## Lioedevon427 (Jan 14, 2022)

Haven’t played it but I’ve heard security breach is really bad and buggy


----------



## Lioedevon427 (Jan 14, 2022)

TrishaCat said:


> Animal Crossing New Horizons is dreadful to play. Not due to the lack of content, I mean that is a problem but I can accept its simple phone gamey nature.
> What really bugs me about Animal Crossing is how slow and tedious everything is. The loading times are so bad. When starting the game you have to wait a good while just to get to the main menu, then when you press A you have to wait a while longer for the game to start. Going in and out of houses takes a while. And heaven forbid you want to visit a friend's island, you have to go through several dialogue prompts at the airport, then you have to go through a long cutscene with the exact same dialogue before finally arriving at your friends island. And then decorating your island requires doing things one by one (such as with tiles). Everything is so slow and tedious its painful to play.
> I actively don't want to start the game anymore because I don't want to go through all the waiting.


I personally love the game and it’s not for everyone (but nostalgia may be fogging my glasses a bit, I’ve played since I was little) but the UI is really fucking terrible, like having to select everything one at a time is just a stupid decision on the devs part, also they really do have some time wastey stuff- think “seaplane”
Design Doc has a good video on the topic (acnh is talked about at the end)





(At least resetti only exists in the cafe and on the phone now, so new players won’t be scared shitless like I was as a kid)


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 14, 2022)

Zip > Redial


----------



## Rayd (Jan 16, 2022)

fable 3 was a fun game, and generally speaking, only gets hated on for daring to be different from the games before it. if it didn't have the fable namesake, it would probably be revered as a classic.


----------



## Baalf (Jan 16, 2022)

Rayd said:


> fable 3 was a fun game, and generally speaking, only gets hated on for daring to be different from the games before it. if it didn't have the fable namesake, it would probably be revered as a classic.


The game took a less-is-more approach which might be why people didn't like it.

Speaking of which: Rune Factory 2 > Rune Factory 1. Again, the game took a less is more approach. It polished up the stuff it had instead of just adding more and more. Like, one cave dedicated to each season instead of a whole bunch. It's more simplified and less excessive IMO.


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 16, 2022)

Baalf said:


> The game took a less-is-more approach which might be why people didn't like it.


I would really prefer if more games did this today. It's why Rivals of Aether and Kaze are so good. Doing more with a focused small package.

Only ever played Fable 1 though.


----------



## Imperial Impact (Jan 16, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> I don't know why fan groups are like that now a days, It's like they would do -anything- for attention.


Or anyone in that matter, For example.


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 16, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> Or anyone in that matter, For example.


u r mean


----------



## Imperial Impact (Jan 16, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> u r mean








						List of notable namefags and tripfags - lurkmore wiki
					






					www.lurkmore.com


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 16, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> List of notable namefags and tripfags - lurkmore wiki
> 
> 
> 
> ...


WHAT am I looking at? lmao


----------



## Imperial Impact (Jan 16, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> WHAT am I looking at? lmao


Guyzer is Duelgundam2099, An annoying tripfag from /m/.


----------



## Baron Tredegar (Jan 17, 2022)

I enjoyed the Force Unleashed II.
I dont like Fortnite, especially after all the crossovers they have done.


----------



## JuniperW (Jan 17, 2022)

I like the early 2000s Sonic games. They’re not perfect, sure, but the modern ones just don’t have characters that particularly resonate with me.


----------



## ScaratheWolf (Jan 17, 2022)

Blitz 2000 was the best game of my childhood besides pinball


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 22, 2022)

BadRoy said:


> Nuclear take: As someone who was a Yoko Taro fanboy before it was cool I found *Nier Automata* to be a bit of a letdown. It's polished, it plays well, it looks great, but it never gave me that Taro tingle. I finished all the endings and was just like "Huh, that was fine." and never went back to it.
> 
> I think my issue is the characters and the fact that the game kind of re-treads the themes of original Nier. The characters do almost nothing for me because they're just robits doing robit things. As expected from a Taro game they're confronting what it means to exist and what humanity means to them, but at the end of the day they lack the relatability I want from my DrakenNiers. No human-dragon romances (_extremely relatable_), no charming found-family of weirdos. And yeah when it comes to themes I was already assuming that humanity proper was basically over by the end of Nier so seeing the story continue felt, I guess, unnecessary. The events of Nier Automata we're more or less exactly what I expected in the future of original Nier. The last remnants of humanity just bouncing around looking for purpose.
> 
> I feel like Nier Automata blew up so huge because it was a lot of people's first Taro experience which will always be special because of the earnest way he writes and directs his games. Also the Platinum pedigree (but tbh I found the gameplay just serviceable too).


I remember playing the demo to Automata and was genuinely blown away. It was fun, fluid, had a lot of variety, and did it all very well. 
I skipped the first one just because I heard that it did a lot of JRPG bullshit but tried to be tongue in cheek about it....while still doing exactly what it satirized. So I didnt play it. And I never played anything else by the dev.

Regardless, I got into Automata. My PC was awful but I got 10 hours in. But even as someone uninitiated to Taro's work, I felt somewhat unimpressed up to the point I was forced to stop. The beginning sequence (the demo) left an impression of rapid gameplay. But it kind of...fell flat for me. I still liked my 10 hours. If I picked it up, I'd probably finish it and not have any other issues. But it wasnt what I thought it would be. 
And I'm not compelled by anime writing. Ever. So whatever story it had to tell, I don't care about. Not enough to make up for what was leaving me kind of "meh".

Not terrible by any means though. I think it was just the spread of the exciting things and pacing that hurt my experience. You go from that almost arcade opening to doing chores and grinding. It never got *that* exciting again. The BIG bosses were fun but, I dont remember anything else.

Also side take:
If you think 2B is thick or has a fat ass, immediately schedule an appointment with your optometrist. And dont give me that oxymoron "slim-thick" crap.


----------



## TrishaCat (Jan 22, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> I skipped the first one just because I heard that it did a lot of JRPG bullshit but tried to be tongue in cheek about it....while still doing exactly what it satirized. So I didnt play it. And I never played anything else by the dev.



Drakengard 3 does this with a lot of tedious bad platforming segments where Zero will go "ughhhh this so tedious and annoying" which it is and then makes you do it anyways.
But I dunno what you could be referring to in the original Nier. The fact that you have to replay half of it to get the full story maybe?
Nier Replicant is less of a JRPG and more of a Zeldalike action adventure game. The JRPG aspects are limited to you just having stats that level up but mechanically it functions more like Zelda since the new abilities you get are rewards for beating bosses and the game is built around going from forest area to desert area and fighting bosses in these places' respective dungeons. You don't gain new melee attacks at any point so your combat repertoire stays the same throughout minus the new magic abilities you unlock from beating each boss


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 22, 2022)

TrishaCat said:


> Drakengard 3 does this with a lot of tedious bad platforming segments where Zero will go "ughhhh this so tedious and annoying" which it is and then makes you do it anyways.
> But I dunno what you could be referring to in the original Nier. The fact that you have to replay half of it to get the full story maybe?


I don't know myself. I'm only going based on warnings friends have told me because they know my thin patience for games like this. That's _their_ words I was using. Not my own.


----------



## Judge Spear (Jan 25, 2022)

Not seeing why Kefka is gassed up the way he is. Joker but with stock angsty Pokemon villain dialogue.


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## TrishaCat (Feb 11, 2022)

Xenoblade 2 has a more fun cast and better cutscenes than xenoblade 1, and the fact that it's character designs are "weeb bait" is actually one of the things that makes Xenoblade 2 so appealing.


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## GagePatoineFORUMS (Feb 11, 2022)

_might as well just add some "Confessions of a Gamer" '
(C) = Confessions of a Gamer
(UO) = Unpopular Opinion
if there's a ? in it, that means it's kind of not an unpopular opinion or a confession of mine, but it still kind of works for the category_

- (UO) I don't really like Quirrel. I don't get how people like him... 
- (UO) LittleBigPlanet 3 is the best LBP game to come out, mainly for how much you can customize how you make music.
- (C) I've never beaten any Crash game except for It's About Time.
- (UO) Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm is somewhat better than Deadeye Derby, despite never playing the game. Fight me.
- (C) I could never get past the final boss of Sonic Generations until around 2017/2018.
- (C) I literally cried tears of joy when I got my first S rank in Sonic Generations.
- (UO?) The flash version of The Binding of Isaac is pretty sick.
- (UO/C) I have never played any of the other genesis games except for Sonic 1, 2, 3 and Knuckles (the "complete" rom hack btw, beat the entire game with tails), and have since never thought anything of the other Genesis games. I just... Honestly think they don't beat Sonic.
- (C?) I can't speedrun.
and finally...
- (C) I *DESPERATELY *want to try either Smash Ultimate, Snipperclips or the Miitopia remake. They just sound so cooool!!


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## PLEASE DELETE ACCOUNT (Feb 12, 2022)

I really dislike doom eternal, despite liking all previous doom games (yes I like the much hated doom 3)

The platforming is out of place.
The game penalizes you for the combat forward style of 2016.
The levels never seem to be designed to be a functional facility on earth or Mars, it feels more like just an arcade shooter with no cohesion. Where as doom 3 and 2016 the bases were designed to be semi believable, doom eternal has designs with 3-4 levels on most big battle areas to highlight the new dash and platformer mechanics rather than just being doom guy.

I dislike the grenade system and basically don't use it, or the shoulder cannon thing. 

It feels very disjointed and haphazard in execution. And oh god the flaming circle things like from Mario make me irate.


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## Baalf (Feb 13, 2022)

TrishaCat said:


> Xenoblade 2 has a more fun cast and better cutscenes than xenoblade 1, and the fact that it's character designs are "weeb bait" is actually one of the things that makes Xenoblade 2 so appealing.



Honestly, Rikki from the first game is annoying, talks in a stupid way , and is still probably my favorite character from the franchise on the sheer fact that they actually tried something different for a playale character. I keep looking at the trailer for the upcoming Xenogears 3, and my interest was completely drained once I saw the cast would just be humans again.

Earthlock isn't a great RPG, and I like the game more than 90% of other modern rpgs because, again, the makers tried different things for their cast. Gnart and Taiga aren't SUPER original (at least not Taiga, Gnart's kinda cute) but I'd take them over the "relatable/familiar/Supposed to care about this guy just because they're human looking" human characters. Plus, I like the fact that Taiga is yellow because Red XIII is red and Repede is blue and that's all the primary colors. 

To a lot of people, gameplay is the most important aspect of a game. For me, it's the characters and story. My enjoyment of a game tends to be based on how much I like the main character(s) and how willing I am to hear their story. Mad Rat Dead, IMO, doesn't have the best gameplay for beginners, but it had a cool, compelling character that was unique and interesting, and a story that was sad, yet intriguing. I can have fun with a game still if its story is sad or basic, but what a story and its characters should never do is piss me off, either with its boring characters or warped morals. The upcoming kirby game has this anti-nature feel to it that honestly makes my skin crawl, and that's going to greatly affect my enjoyment of the new Kirby game.


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## Judge Spear (Feb 13, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Honestly, Rikki from the first game is annoying, talks in a stupid way , and is still probably my favorite character from the franchise on the sheer fact that they actually tried something different for a playale character. I keep looking at the trailer for the upcoming Xenogears 3, and my interest was completely drained once I saw the cast would just be humans again.


I'll take Xenoblade 1 and X any day of the week personally. 2 was bad gacha body pillow fodder that couldn't keep a consistent tone. Here's an entry in a generally serious series of games:

"Oh, hey! Heres 5 loli's with bolted on tits in mere *suggestions* of clothing. Whats that, out of place lewd interactions with the shota bait protagonist? Coming right up! Whats this game about again? This tiddy bitch is supposed to be a deep character.....woops!"

And it made the series visually indistinguishable from the other 700 anime games released hourly. On top of *somehow* having weirdly...shoddy animation. Mainly in their faces which kills me considering they're all same. 3 looks no different. Seeing how 2 stripped the series of all its interesting elements, I cant be excited for 3 though. Just port X and adjust the early game please.

Speaking of character design, while they're not preferred avatars in general, I'll take the Switch Sports Mii's over the old ones. Never did like Mii's honestly.


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## BadRoy (Mar 3, 2022)

- I like *No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Again more than NMH3*. They both have the style and atmosphere that I want from my Suda game, but TSA felt much more intimate and, idk, heartfelt? NMH3 in comparison felt a little try-hard. It didn't leave much of an impact on me after I finished it. Not to mention how weirdly empty 3 felt. Why make that huge map if you're going to make ⅓ of it completely inaccessible? Even down to the bosses! In TSA they were Travis' idols so right away there's this weird melancholy about fighting them. But in 3 they made a gag out of half of the bosses being twist fights with no build-up. IMO it's not really a twist anymore when I'm expecting the next alien boss to get merked before I even fight them.

I think I miss serious Suda. He's known for being le wacky, meta game man, but my favorite game of his is still Killer7 with NMH 1 close behind. They are bonkers and stylish, but they had much more serious undertones than like Killer is Dead or the NMH sequels.

- I like *Luminous Avenger iX2*! I heard so much pants-wetting over Copen's dash getting 'nerfed' as I was working my way through the Gunvolt games. When I finally got around to iX2 I just didn't see the problem. You have to play differently until you get 1,000 kudos but it's not like it's boring. Instead of pinballing around the stage you're frantically trying to string together Quick Razors for score. The chainsaw isn't perfect. I don't like how long the final hit lasts, I think you should be able to dash cancel it. But I'm all for adding some melee in to mix up Cope'n Seethe.

The best thing about iX 2 in my eyes is that Copen's sprite is smaller so there's more room to see when you are zooming around. Also he doesn't have the annoying after-image anymore. Those two changes make the game so much more enjoyable to me. I didn't realize how cramped the GV games felt until I got to iX2. The difficulty is bugging me a little. Normal is way too easy (and I'm not even using the free heals) and I hear Hard mode is a little excessive. Not sure why they did away with Kudos styles. That was a really good way to regulate challenge.


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## MaetheDragon (Mar 3, 2022)

Am I the only one who really likes The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword? I hear some people genuinely hate it, and I don’t know why. I think it’s fun. One of my favorites, actually.

I also never finished Majoras Mask, even though I went through all the trouble of buying an N64 to play it. :/


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## TrishaCat (Mar 3, 2022)

MCtheBeardie said:


> Am I the only one who really likes The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword? I hear some people genuinely hate it, and I don’t know why. I think it’s fun. One of my favorites, actually.
> 
> I also never finished Majoras Mask, even though I went through all the trouble of buying an N64 to play it. :/


I like what I played of it! I struggled with the flying controls but when I actually arrived at places I quite liked it! Its really fun having to actually aim your sword swings, and I like the game's extra emphasis on its characters and story. Plus its soooo pretty!! I need to play more of it to confirm I like it of course, I was planning on getting the HD version on Switch at some point since I'd prefer that to playing the Wii version. The maps for areas you go to seem quite large with lots of stuff going on in them which I liked. Dungeons are pretty good too.
also play majora, there's a plethora of ways to play that game now and it is absolutely worth your time. Just wish I could find an expansion pak so I could play it on my n64. I've got the game, and I've got an n64, but no expansion pak


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## Judge Spear (Mar 4, 2022)

God.

This isnt really an unpopular opinion but I was watching my friend play GenSHIT Impact and that game makes me sad because it was almost a good game even being an open world AND gacha.
Theres a handful of moments where the world has very exciting and mysterious set pieces that dont immediately give up their secrets. But the reward would satisfy when its conditions were satisfied.



Spoiler: Nerd screeching



In Monstadt, theres a place you can go to up in the hills that looks like a giant arena. You trek up there in the daytime and upon dropping into the arena, icy fog slowly encroaches on you, and the eyes on the curved wall way out in front of you begin to dimly glow. Clearly its important, but nothing happens.

Advance a side plot though and it leads you back to that place. A brief scene reveals...






Suicune.
And its a decent (friendly) boss that becomes repeatable.

Theres a few more moments like this in Liyue. Theres a sort of haunted place with these destroyed towers. Its own music and gloomy, dead sky seamlessly set in as the region's normal atmosphere melts away. It's eerie. 
You have to find all of these stones exclusive to the region and light the ruined structures. They tease you each time you light one with the scene of an ancient door crumbling bit by bit. But once you do light all the towers, the door opens. It leads you to a crypt where you are ambushed and need to survive an intense encounter with an overwhelming amount of large constructs. You are rewarded handsomely but the dangerous fight itself made the quest worth it. It took me like 10 minutes and I barely made it.
There were -no- cutscenes or NPC's involved in this quest.

And again in Liyue. Theres a gorgeous village I was exploring, and I saw a little square on the map just outside of it. I climbed up a mountain, jumped off, and glided down to the closed off lake.
BOSS.
A fairly challenging one at that.

Stuff like all those events is what I wish more games like this would do...including Genshin itself. I shit on the game but those few moments of legitimate rewarding exploration and unique, handcrafted scripted progression were highlights that I like thinking about.


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## Baalf (Mar 4, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> God.
> 
> This isnt really an unpopular opinion but I was watching my friend play GenSHIT Impact and that game makes me sad because it was almost a good game even being an open world AND gacha.
> Theres a handful of moments where the world has very exciting and mysterious set pieces that dont immediately give up their secrets. But the reward would satisfy when its conditions were satisfied.
> ...



Honestly, aside from the characters, that "Suicine boss" brought up something else I have always hated about the game: No matter what alignment they're supposed to be, if you see a non-human entity, more often than not, you will have to fight it. This always broke the immersion for me and made the world feel less charming and more cliche because, instead of being an entity that could exist just to add charm and color to the world and lore, now exist to be a punching bag for you're generic human protags.

I know I complain about the characters a lot, but at this point, it honestly feels like the makers are saying "fuck you!" So many ideas that would have made for interesting non-human characters: a race of beast-likes, a demon girl, a kitsune, and even an all powerful dragon god, and they ruin them by humanizing them every single time. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Nekos do NOT make any logical sense. A creature that looks virtually indistinguishable from humans except somehow having tails and ears of an animal, yet has inhuman abilities and lore despite being built EXACTLY like a human except for a tail that would realistically do NOTHING for them but get in the way and ears that MIGHT enhance hearing, but always feel tacked on and unnatural to the design? These creatures always break my immersion into a world, and these kind of characters have basically replaced non-humans, and are not dying off anytime soon.


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## Baalf (Mar 4, 2022)

On another note: CTR: Nitro Fueled > MK8 DX.

I swear, I keep going back to MK8, and pretty much every Reyes has amounted to driving for 20 seconds, getting destroyed by a shell, move 10 more seconds, get zapped, move 10 more seconds, get blasted by a bullet bill, etc. Online gameplay feels more like a slugfest then anything else, and is usually one by getting the most overpowered items rather than skill unless you're a god at the game. Plus, the driving feels stiffer in general than in CTR. In CTR: NF, the driving is cleaner, the drifting is easier and more satisfying, and the items are much less overpowered.


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## Rimna (Mar 4, 2022)

Playing MMOs solo is not as bad as people make it out to be.
Multiplayer games are better than singleplayer games.


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## TyraWadman (Mar 4, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Honestly, aside from the characters, that "Suicine boss" brought up something else I have always hated about the game: No matter what alignment they're supposed to be, if you see a non-human entity, more often than not, you will have to fight it. This always broke the immersion for me and made the world feel less charming and more cliche because, instead of being an entity that could exist just to add charm and color to the world and lore, now exist to be a punching bag for you're generic human protags.



It's an open world game (I haven't played it but it's advertised as such) and based one Judge Spears experience, it sounds like a 'sidequest'. You have the option of NOT initiating it and therefore it can exist without being harmed. Lots of people have complained about the outcome of some sidequests, demanding or disliking the different outcomes, but no one ever has the brain to go 'maybe the happier outcome is just by NOT doing it'??? If it's optional, it doesn't mean you're obligated to do it. Might even benefit the NPCs that way. So the next time you decide to play Genshin Impact and you have the option of punching an animal, don't do it!



Rimna said:


> Playing MMOs solo is not as bad as people make it out to be.



It's great if you can do it solo, but most MMO's I've tried to play will say 'fuck you get some friends' at some point and you can no longer progress.


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## Lenago (Mar 4, 2022)

MCtheBeardie said:


> Am I the only one who really likes The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword? I hear some people genuinely hate it, and I don’t know why. I think it’s fun. One of my favorites, actually.


I played the HD version, i liked it. Sure its a more linear Zelda but, still very fun with very memorable dungeons, the Sandship is my favorite


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## Baalf (Mar 4, 2022)

TyraWadman said:


> It's an open world game (I haven't played it but it's advertised as such) and based one Judge Spears experience, it sounds like a 'sidequest'. You have the option of NOT initiating it and therefore it can exist without being harmed. Lots of people have complained about the outcome of some sidequests, demanding or disliking the different outcomes, but no one ever has the brain to go 'maybe the happier outcome is just by NOT doing it'??? If it's optional, it doesn't mean you're obligated to do it. Might even benefit the NPCs that way. So the next time you decide to play Genshin Impact and you have the option of punching an animal, don't do it!
> 
> 
> 
> It's great if you can do it solo, but most MMO's I've tried to play will say 'fuck you get some friends' at some point and you can no longer progress.



Then I'd be pretty much avoiding everything, tbh.


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## TyraWadman (Mar 4, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Then I'd be pretty much avoiding everything, tbh.


You are the only one trapping yourself in this negative paradigm.
Do your research before you buy a game. You could tell from just the trailers and screenshots of gameplay what this is going to involve. Don't buy it if you know you won't like it.


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## TrishaCat (Mar 4, 2022)

TyraWadman said:


> You are the only one trapping yourself in this negative paradigm.
> Do your research before you buy a game. You could tell from just the trailers and screenshots of gameplay what this is going to involve. Don't buy it if you know you won't like it.


They were just complaining about the game, and in an unpopular opinions thread no less, its fine. Its not even a game you buy as its free as long as you don't put money into the gacha, there's nothing wrong with them complaining about something they don't like about it.
tbh the complaining about non-human enemies is tiring since its been said time and time again but like, you're getting up in arms over a nonissue.


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## TyraWadman (Mar 4, 2022)

TrishaCat said:


> They were just complaining about the game, and in an unpopular opinions thread no less, its fine. Its not even a game you buy as its free as long as you don't put money into the gacha, there's nothing wrong with them complaining about something they don't like about it.
> tbh the complaining about non-human enemies is tiring since its been said time and time again but like, you're getting up in arms over a nonissue.



Being 'up in arms' and to the point are very different things.
If you do not have years of context about the user in question, you might not understand.


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## Judge Spear (Mar 4, 2022)

Baalf said:


> On another note: CTR: Nitro Fueled > MK8 DX.
> 
> I swear, I keep going back to MK8, and pretty much every Reyes has amounted to driving for 20 seconds, getting destroyed by a shell, move 10 more seconds, get zapped, move 10 more seconds, get blasted by a bullet bill, etc. Online gameplay feels more like a slugfest then anything else, and is usually one by getting the most overpowered items rather than skill unless you're a god at the game. Plus, the driving feels stiffer in general than in CTR. In CTR: NF, the driving is cleaner, the drifting is easier and more satisfying, and the items are much less overpowered.



I literally just got off MK8. lol
I can only really stomach the game on 200cc and in time trials. I'd play CTR if it wasn't *Activision*. I'm not putting that or Crash 4 (or Spyro) back in my consoles after the shit that came out with them last year. They get NO data from me.
But personal indignation aside, CTR is neck and neck with Sonic Transformed as best kart racer. MK just has the clout.


MCtheBeardie said:


> Am I the only one who really likes The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword? I hear some people genuinely hate it, and I don’t know why. I think it’s fun. One of my favorites, actually.
> 
> I also never finished Majoras Mask, even though I went through all the trouble of buying an N64 to play it. :/


I want to like Skyward Sword. I 100% it when it was new but it was painful. The temples, and just the temples, were really the only things I greatly enjoyed. But the overworld and bosses were horrible save for Koloktos. The swordplay's faults are exaggerated, but they are problematic and I got annoyed with the motion excess on more than one occasion. And the general pace of the game was completely shot.

If you gave me Skyward Sword's temples, with N64 Zelda's overworld/boss design and pacing that would be a god tier game. But I just found the experience marred.


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## Judge Spear (Mar 4, 2022)

Also, I want to state that Andrius in Genshin is not an enemy. He's more of a sparring partner that rewards you and is to my knowledge the only thing remotely resembling an animal as far as bosses are concerned. He protects his area because he deems you an intruder at first but the boy he and the other wolves raise step in to clear things up. I'm pretty sure that's how that quest went.

You can return to Andrius to face him for weekly rewards but he can't be *killed*. He's a god. lol

Everything else I can remember facing that was legit an enemy are these giant elemental plants, spirits of indiscernible shape, monsters, other faction humans, and...whatever the fuck the Hypostasis is supposed to be.







Awesome...


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## Thrashy (Mar 4, 2022)

Pokémon is overrated, repetitive and boring.


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## Judge Spear (Mar 4, 2022)

Thrashy said:


> Pokémon is overrated, repetitive and boring.


Correct opinion.


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## MaetheDragon (Mar 4, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> I want to like Skyward Sword. I 100% it when it was new but it was painful. The temples, and just the temples, were really the only things I greatly enjoyed. But the overworld and bosses were horrible save for Koloktos. The swordplay's faults are exaggerated, but they are problematic and I got annoyed with the motion excess on more than one occasion. And the general pace of the game was completely shot.
> 
> If you gave me Skyward Sword's temples, with N64 Zelda's overworld/boss design and pacing that would be a god tier game. But I just found the experience marred.


I mean, I’ll throw you a bone and say the bosses weren’t very memorable or challenging, but as for the pace of the game itself, for me, it wasn’t jarring enough to take me out of the experience, I barely noticed it. I also must have positioned my Wii sensor just right, because the only real gameplay issue I had was with the Skyward Strike. Everything else worked just fine for me.

I respect your opinion, though! It’s interesting to hear about the negative experiences with the game, and I do agree that taking inspiration from the N64 titles would make it absolutely god tier.


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## Baalf (Mar 4, 2022)

TrishaCat said:


> They were just complaining about the game, and in an unpopular opinions thread no less, its fine. Its not even a game you buy as its free as long as you don't put money into the gacha, there's nothing wrong with them complaining about something they don't like about it.
> tbh the complaining about non-human enemies is tiring since its been said time and time again but like, you're getting up in arms over a nonissue.


To be fair, I've said it to the point of becoming a flanderization, so at this point I'm used to people getting at me over it.


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## Judge Spear (Mar 4, 2022)

MCtheBeardie said:


> I mean, I’ll throw you a bone and say the bosses weren’t very memorable or challenging, but as for the pace of the game itself, for me, it wasn’t jarring enough to take me out of the experience, I barely noticed it. I also must have positioned my Wii sensor just right, because the only real gameplay issue I had was with the Skyward Strike. Everything else worked just fine for me.
> 
> I respect your opinion, though! It’s interesting to hear about the negative experiences with the game, and I do agree that taking inspiration from the N64 titles would make it absolutely god tier.


There's just a lot of really dumb shit they threw in to pad game length they feared would be too short. And the sky was just...terrible. On top of the game grinding to a halt every other minute because Nintendo stopped having faith in the ingenuity of players many years ago. So Fi and NPC's had to tell you about the most mundane shit that the game already naturally explained. There was just a lot of disruptions for me.

Along with dungeons, I do give it credit in it's functional art direction. It tries to emulate the artstyle of Paul Cezanne. The background objects blurring into simulated watercolor to reduce memory consumption is one of the more underrated praises of the game. And while I don't prefer orchestra in video games (I find it exceeding overdone/rated) most of Skyward Sword's music still sticks in my mind. Particularly Lanayru Mining Facility and the theme for Koloktos and Moldarach.


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## Baalf (Mar 9, 2022)

Am I the only one that just really hates It Takes Two? This game won GotY, and everything in the game just pisses me off. Apparently, we can't make a story about divorce and break ups without toxic parents, evil squirrels, evil bees, dismembering a cute elephant slowly and painfully, and "I'm gonna kick your furry ass."


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## TrishaCat (Mar 9, 2022)

Retro game pixelart looks better with raw pixels. CRTs and scanlines are fugly


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## Judge Spear (Mar 9, 2022)

I went through Metroid Prime 3 again and I honestly cannot understand how Sora looked at all 3 Dark Samus fights across two games and came to the conclusion that she needed to be a clone of Samus.

Daisy, Dr. Mario, Roy, Chrom, Lucina (CHRIST Fire Emblem), and Richter I understand because aside from Richter, they haven't really had distinctions in their specific games. Richter, to all intents and purposes, should have been the main fighter while Simon was the echo. Most of Simon's moves in Smash actually come from Richter. But Richter only ever really built on Simon in his games and nothing really too crazy either. And obviously the OG is going to take center stage. So both make sense.

Dark Samus??

She has three unique battles and multiple cinematics as an aggressor. She's the _final boss_ of the trilogy for Christ's sake. She's done more than enough to warrant a kit all her own and they did literally nothing with her. In fact, certain things in Smash she's never even done in any of her appearances. She does not have a screw attack. She doesn't go into morph ball. She doesn't use a tether. It's interesting because one of her signature moves she does as a victory screen. I just don't get it.



TrishaCat said:


> Retro game pixelart looks better with raw pixels. CRTs and scanlines are fugly


It's give or take usually. CRT's smooth out the hard edges of older pixel games that took the CRT displays into account. It gives a clearer image of what something is supposed to represent. But today, most developers doing pixel art take this into consideration and use different techniques. And scanline/CRT filters are usually terrible. I've only ever seen it done ok in Sega's front end for their Genesis collection.


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## Judge Spear (Mar 11, 2022)

Link's Awakening S has the dumbest controls since the DS Zelda entries. It's not unplayable, but how did you fuck up traditional top down controls when you got it SO right on the 3DS for both major styles of Zelda? It almost feels spiteful.

You can only use the stick to move, but Link only moves in 8 digital directions vs the fluid analog motion of Worlds on the 3DS? Why?
Why did two shoulder buttons have to be dedicated to shield and the other two to pegasus boots?
Why is the dpad a useless camera panning tool?
Why does the right stick do literally nothing? Like actually no functions mapped to it.
Why can't I change any of my controls?

Mega Man 11 had the brilliant idea to map old common actions in the series that were needlessly left to menu selection for a decade after the NES. You could remap everything in that game and even with the new gear system, you still had buttons left over for Rush Jet, Rush Coil, single button sliding, AND a secondary rapid fire button. They also had the brilliant idea of letting you use the right stick as a weapon quick select which only sped things up dramatically. It's not even cycling, you just instantly select what you want. As long as you didn't need to use replenishing tanks, you -never- needed to interrupt the game's flow to go into the menu once because Capcom realized that Mega Man's controls needed updating. They couldn't have done a better job. And it's not the only game I can point but it's similarly a classic title

Inventory management is one of Zelda's most consistently contentious elements. Link's Awakening could have pulled from other classic style games and done a *lot* of the same things along with ideas from the 3DS refreshes. I don't know why they dropped the ball like it's New Years.



Spoiler: more screeching









D-Pad Up - Ocarina
Other 3 directions - bottles
LB - Pegasus boots (because that's all you need)
RB - Shield _(because that's all you need)_
ZR - Bow
ZL - Bombs

Give Link analog movement like he should have on a *stick.*
Right stick is then left to select the remaining 6 items. Highlight one and then hit Y or X.

Nintendo's had a habit of weird control options lately and it's annoying.


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## Vishunei (Mar 14, 2022)

There is no perfect game.


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## Judge Spear (Mar 15, 2022)

Huntress in ROR2 is fucking awful.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 2, 2022)

Mashing should be outlawed in game design much the same as certain seizure inducing light patterns.
Under no circumstances should a game ever require or directly encourage that kind of strain.
Its not even about demanding stupid accessibility options. There just is no place for it no matter where you fall.

There are so many muscle issues that are exacerbated or outright developed through acute, repetitve, harsh motions. Tendonitis, arthritis, carpal tunnel, Ehler's Danlos, etc. Things -everyone- can face as early as their 20's. I have heard uncountable stories of people who play a game regularly and because mashing is optimal or outright required, they develop wrist issues in literally under two years.

On top of that, it just isn't good on the hardware. The speeds some actions require you to mash and the durations don't exactly allow for a delicate hand. You are expeditiously ruining the life of your controllers.

Anything you design that requires mashing can be replaced by a different, less destructive input method if you think a *little* harder. And if it simply can't be worked around, then your mechanic is intrinsicly bad and should be reworked entirely.

And honestly, mashing just isnt fun. Impressive to see how fast some people can do it. But its not fun.

I'm glad more developers are thinking about this.


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## Baalf (Apr 2, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Mashing should be outlawed in game design much the same as certain seizure inducing light patterns.
> Under no circumstances should a game ever require or directly encourage that kind of strain.
> Its not even about demanding stupid accessibility options. There just is no place for it no matter where you fall.
> 
> ...


In Minecraft, it gets tedious having to mash the build or destroy button to build/destroy blocks accurately 1 by 1, so I agree.


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## SolDirix (Apr 2, 2022)

I really like hypersaturated graphics, like in Diddy Kong Racing and other classic Rareware titles. That stuff was like LSD for me as a kid. Nintendo games still look amazing today, but I'll be damned if the 90's had some of the most appealing looking games for kids, even if they were a migrane to look at for adults.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 2, 2022)

SolDirix said:


> I really like hypersaturated graphics, like in Diddy Kong Racing and other classic Rareware titles. That stuff was like LSD for me as a kid. Nintendo games still look amazing today, but I'll be damned if the 90's had some of the most appealing looking games for kids, even if they were a migrane to look at for adults.
> 
> View attachment 129810View attachment 129811


I miss these days man...


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## BadRoy (Apr 2, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Mega Man 11 had the brilliant idea to map old common actions in the series that were needlessly left to menu selection for a decade after the NES. You could remap everything in that game and even with the new gear system, you still had buttons left over for Rush Jet, Rush Coil, single button sliding, AND a secondary rapid fire button. They also had the brilliant idea of letting you use the right stick as a weapon quick select which only sped things up dramatically. It's not even cycling, you just instantly select what you want. As long as you didn't need to use replenishing tanks, you -never- needed to interrupt the game's flow to go into the menu once because Capcom realized that Mega Man's controls needed updating. They couldn't have done a better job. And it's not the only game I can point but it's similarly a classic title


This probably isn't an unpopular opinion, but Megaman 11 is a sexy game. It was really solid and made me feel like I was 7 again.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 2, 2022)

BadRoy said:


> This probably isn't an unpopular opinion, but Megaman 11 is a sexy game. It was really solid and made me feel like I was 7 again.


Audio aside, Mega Man 11 was a fucking crown jewel. Perfected their formula. Again.
Amazing game.


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## TrishaCat (Apr 3, 2022)

Until I get my hands on a Steam deck to see what it's like: the Vita is by and large the most wonderful handheld I've had the pleasure of using. I went on a plane trip to a family reunion and on the plane I finally decided to break out a Vita I bought from a friend to pass time. I only charged it from dead for a half hour and that lasted me gaming the whole flight. It has an impressive battery life (much better than the Switch) for the amount of power you're getting from it, which is sorta like a slightly worse ps3. Sure that's a bit dated nowadays, but it still is impressive for what it is and when it came out, and you really do get console quality games in handheld mode. Gave the Vita Resistance game a try and it's impressive how well it runs for how it looks and how fast it's action is. The right analog stick is a great improvement over the PSP's singular stick, which tbf the Switch has two, but the Vitas size makes it a lot easier to use as a portable. I can fit it in my pocket! Can't do that with a Switch either. Access to the PSP and PS1 libraries is pretty rad too. The screen size makes PSP games not too terribly worse to look at from its original hardware.
I really like this little thing and I'm really sad now that I'm using it that it got sidelined. This should've btfo Nintendos handhelds no problem.
Not to say the Vita is perfect; using the PS Store on it is a nightmare, so many bugs and issues arose over the change in how PS accounts work once the PS4 came out. But this thing kicks ass.


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## The Spirit Guardian (Apr 3, 2022)

Shotgun users in COD are the embodiment of all of life's pain.

Specifically the .410 Ironhide users. People who run around with those as their mains is the example of how to ruin a good game. For good clean kills, or maybe mastery progress, I can understand, but simply abusing the rancid power of the gun that never got a nerf....

Its painful, like the Tec-9, Mashal "handgun", EM2, and several others.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 3, 2022)

Baalf said:


> In Minecraft, it gets tedious having to mash the build or destroy button to build/destroy blocks accurately 1 by 1, so I agree.


I wouldn't really consider MineCraft the mashing I'm talking about. It is tedious though.

But I mean shit like *this*. Pay attention to DK. Every swing is a press of the A button.





This is even worse.


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## TyraWadman (Apr 3, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> I wouldn't really consider MineCraft the mashing I'm talking about. It is tedious though.
> 
> But I mean shit like *this*. Pay attention to DK. Every swing is a press of the A button.
> 
> ...



Technically the switch controllers are garbage to begin with so they were broke long before Mario Party was released. Even the plugin controller was giving issues on its first week for me.

OLDER controllers however, are still functional and survived fairly well on my part in storage, despite mastering these kinds of games. Can't say the same for everyone else though. XD


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## Judge Spear (Apr 3, 2022)

TyraWadman said:


> Technically the switch controllers are garbage to begin with so they were broke long before Mario Party was released. Even the plugin controller was giving issues on its first week for me.
> 
> OLDER controllers however, are still functional and survived fairly well on my part in storage, despite mastering these kinds of games. Can't say the same for everyone else though. XD


Playing Brawl definitely wore out the sticks on my GameCube controllers to the point they drift in certain games with lower tolerances now. Smash Bros requires really stupid kinds of fucking mashing that looks nonsensical to break out of grabs.

I do want to clarify that when I say "encourage" I mean directly tell players to exert themselves rapidly pressing buttons. So Pokey Pummel, breaking grabs in Smash, MuscleFoot, mashing QTE's in action games, etc.

Not games where mashing just *happens* to work like Metroid's Prime's power beam, rapid side attacks in F-Zero, or the X buster in Mega Man X. You should still be mindful of those mechanics, but I'm more annoyed by deliberate choice of it.


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## BadRoy (Apr 3, 2022)

TyraWadman said:


> Technically the switch controllers are garbage to begin with so they were broke long before Mario Party was released. Even the plugin controller was giving issues on its first week for me.
> 
> OLDER controllers however, are still functional and survived fairly well on my part in storage, despite mastering these kinds of games. Can't say the same for everyone else though. XD


It bums me out because the Switch Pro controller is one of my favorite feeling controllers, but everyone I know who's gotten one had it end up with stick drift within 2 years. I guess Nintendo know they're going to sell their proprietary stuff so why bother making sure it lasts?


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## Judge Spear (Apr 5, 2022)

Shinobu Yagawa of Raizing fame has very unique and controversial design philosophies that I like. The main thing about him is his approach to death in games. You've played all kinds of games that make death something to be avoided and there's an ever prevalent dilemma of how to punish players. But I like Yagawa's approach in that if you aren't actively, regularly killing _yourself_, you will lose. 

A lot of people I talk to hate it and don't understand his games. But I love what always went for and they were very engaging, difficult games.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Apr 12, 2022)

Melee is overrated and awful to play, 98% of open world games are insanely boring and terrible, DMC: DMC is insultingly stupid and annoying but the gameplay is actually fine (in the definitive edition cuz they took out the colored enemies mechanic) the N Sane Trilogy plays and looks way worse than the original games, most AAA today are terrible, bloated messes made for the lowest common denominator instead of having a real and interesting vision behind it, I’d rather play interesting lower budget games and older niche games from Japan


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## DemonHazardDeer (Apr 12, 2022)

TrishaCat said:


> Dark Souls 1's level design is horrifically bad
> Lets put aside the dreadfully slow combat for a minute. Why are there so many extremely narrow passages with enemies that make it extremely easy to fall of cliffs? Why does the game give you absolutely no direction and let you wander to your death over and over just to find the right path? Why are there a bunch of cheap traps with no way to know they're coming at you until they already hit you once? And because your character is so cumbersome to control you're not really equipped to deal with any of this.


I’d argue against some of this, not an attack or anything, you don’t like what you don’t like of course. I’d say the level design (for the most part is pretty great, you’re not too constricted to where you might want to explore, the only real hurdle is if you’re skilled enough to take on certain enemies. You actually can physically see every trap in the game, it’s just a matter of you paying very close attention to your surroundings. The reason they want you to die so many times is to feel all that more triumphant when you do progress, it’s supposed to frustrate you and make you feel hopeless so you feel even greater than if everything was explained to you out loud by your character coughcoughHorizonForbiddenWestcoughcoughshutthefuckupAlloycough. There definitely is some bullshit in there I won’t deny that, like the fucking invisible bridge, just…why? And the glitchy-ness of some cliffs and hit boxes are due to low budget sadly, last half of the game suffers from it. Again perfectly fine if it’s just not your thing, just thought I’d give my two cents.


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## Rayd (Apr 12, 2022)

i think it's a crying shame that most people aren't aware of the existence of Yu-Gi-Oh Falsebound Kingdom, and many of the people that do write it off as an awful game just because it's not a card game. sure, it definitely has it's objective flaws, and may not be great by any stretch, but i can genuinely say it may be one of the most unique concepts for a game i have ever played, and i've found myself coming back to it once every couple years to play through each of the 3 campaigns, solely because it served an experience that i've yet to see be remotely replicated since it's release in 2002.

commanding a bunch of generals in a RTS style overworld, each general having their own teams of 3, and commencing in RPG style turn based combat with other generals and bases when they encounter each other was a really awesome experience. it suffers from lack of difficulty, lack of content/mechanics and no multiplayer, but for it's time it was a very neat niche. and while it probably could have gone without the Yu-Gi-Oh branding and probably would have even benefited from it, it was definitely cool that it was Yu-Gi-Oh themed as a Yu-Gi-Oh fan myself.

i know for certain that due to how poorly it was received and just how niche/obscure it is, we will never see a sequel, despite how amazing i think people would think it is nowadays, especially if they touched up on the problems i stated before. it's sad, but i'm still hoping for the day that i find a game that's super similar in concept.

not to mention, it had a flawless soundtrack imo.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Apr 12, 2022)

Rayd said:


> i think it's a crying shame that most people aren't aware of the existence of Yu-Gi-Oh Falsebound Kingdom, and many of the people that do write it off as an awful game just because it's not a card game. sure, it definitely has it's objective flaws, and may not be great by any stretch, but i can genuinely say it may be one of the most unique concepts for a game i have ever played, and i've found myself coming back to it once every couple years to play through each of the 3 campaigns, solely because it served an experience that i've yet to see be remotely replicated since it's release in 2002.
> 
> commanding a bunch of generals in a RTS style overworld, each general having their own teams of 3, and commencing in RPG style turn based combat with other generals and bases when they encounter each other was a really awesome experience. it suffers from lack of difficulty, lack of content/mechanics and no multiplayer, but for it's time it was a very neat niche. and while it probably could have gone without the Yu-Gi-Oh branding and probably would have even benefited from it, it was definitely cool that it was Yu-Gi-Oh themed as a Yu-Gi-Oh fan myself.
> 
> ...


Oh hey I've heard of this one! Seems interesting, it's the one about the War of the Roses right?


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## Rayd (Apr 12, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Oh hey I've heard of this one! Seems interesting, it's the one about the War of the Roses right?


you're most likely thinking of Duelists of the Roses, but thinking about it, it's possible that Falsebound is also loosely based on it.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Apr 12, 2022)

Rayd said:


> you're most likely thinking of Duelists of the Roses, but thinking about it, it's possible that Falsebound is also loosely based on it.


Oooooh gotcha! I watched a vid on unusual Yu-Gi-Oh games and both were in there, guess I combined them into one lol


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## Judge Spear (Apr 12, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Melee is overrated and awful to play, 98% of open world games are insanely boring and terrible, DMC: DMC is insultingly stupid and annoying but the gameplay is actually fine (in the definitive edition cuz they took out the colored enemies mechanic) the N Sane Trilogy plays and looks way worse than the original games, most AAA today are terrible, bloated messes made for the lowest common denominator instead of having a real and interesting vision behind it, I’d rather play interesting lower budget games and older niche games from Japan


All of Smash Bros feels terrible honestly. 64 gets a pass for obvious reasons.
Melee feels like ass. Just everything about it.

Brawl is slow and gross. And tripping.

Smash 4 probably handles the best but is sort of slippery. But things worked how they should have and it was sped up from Brawl. Balance fucked that game but thats not a control issue.

Then Ultimate doesnt even work how its supposed to. Fast, aggressive ass game that feels like wading through cement. You put in a sequence of actions and the game's stupid input queue and hold buffer work around the shorthop+aerial macro and give you a completely different outcome. Gotta deal with that on top of the Switch's inherent input lag and the worst online in the last 20 years. Murky, soupy ass game.


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## Agent_Awassi (Apr 12, 2022)

Modern Paper Mario is really good and Thousand Year Door fans are the worst part of the fan base


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## Judge Spear (Apr 12, 2022)

Consoles should have pack in games. No exceptions. 
And not piddly shovelware trash. A decent, well made fun game that people will enjoy and learn the console with. Sony did a good job just having Astro preinstalled. That game is really enjoyable and shows why the DualSense is so exciting. Every piece of hardware should have something similar. A nice little 4-6 hour romp to just play immediately. Not everyone can afford everything you need to get a full console experience at once so the least you could do is provide a game. $300-$500 machines that need $60 online subscriptions, $60-70 games, and possibly other peripherals like Nintendo's dumbasses wanting you to buy *Wii U* ethernet adaptors because a 2017 machine didn't have one stock.

Am I crazy for thinking this? Is that asking to much? Because I really don't think so.



Agent_Awassi said:


> Modern Paper Mario is really good and Thousand Year Door fans are the worst part of the fan base



I remember trying TTD and I just got bored. Paper Mario overall is not mechanically interesting to me outside of kinda sorta Super Paper Mario, but that game is tedious as fuck.


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## KimberVaile (Apr 13, 2022)

Video games going mainstream has hurt the medium overall more than it helped, as it currently stands.


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## Yakamaru (Apr 13, 2022)

Suck at a game? Well, that's a you problem, not everyone else's problem.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 13, 2022)

You should have to file a form to some kind of committee for approval before you're allowed to use the term "Bullet Hell". ]:¬{
It's done more harm to my favorite genre being flagrantly misused today. It's either used as a falsely applied sensational tagline or derogatory invalidation over the last decade. I personally find it annoying.



KimberVaile said:


> Video games going mainstream has hurt the medium overall more than it helped, as it currently stands.






Video games were so much better conceptually from the 80's to 2000's.
Gaming isnt *shit* and I won't pretend it was peachy in the era I gave. But its worse in a lot of ways for developers and consumers alike.

When we decided chasing cinema was the pinnacle goal and focused on short term casual markets, gaming permanently took a step back. Then people wonder why publishers are hiking prices, crunching the shit out of their underpaid devs, and loading games up with microtransactions. We asked for this.

Gaming should've stayed niche.


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## Baalf (Apr 13, 2022)

FromSoftware is just about the most overrated videogame company out there. The difficulty of games like Dark Souls, Seikiro, Bloodborne, Elden Ring, etc. That doesn't bother me. The fact that FromSoftware doesn't seem to have a single creative bone in their body is what bothers me. The worlds are always dark and edgy with little charm to them, the heroes are ALWAYS human-sues, there almost always has to be an evil or antagonistic dragon, and virtually everything besides humans (and Elden Ring's uninspired horse mount because that is the ONLY mount a hero is allowed to have, apparently) exists just to fight you or be fought by you. Maybe they have decent gameplay, but I don't get an enjoyable EXPERIENCE from them.


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## Baalf (Apr 13, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> You should have to file a form to some kind of committee for approval before you're allowed to use the term "Bullet Hell". ]:¬{
> It's done more harm to my favorite genre being flagrantly misused today. It's either used as a falsely applied sensational tagline or derogatory invalidation over the last decade. I personally find it annoying.
> 
> 
> ...



The worst of the microtransactions are games you ALREADY had to pay for, but they added them anyway. Chocobo GP (And apparently Babylon Falls), I'm looking at you! At this point, I'm half expecting Square Enix to add them to Kingdom Hearts 4.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 13, 2022)

Baalf said:


> and virtually everything besides humans exists just to fight you or be fought by you.


???
I literally don't understand this criticism. An action game in a perilous world has things to fight to advance your game state. That's how most action games operate. You beat up challenging things to progress. I'm not understanding.


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## Balskarr (Apr 13, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> ???
> I literally don't understand this criticism. An action game in a perilous world has things to fight to advance your game state. That's how most action games operate. You beat up challenging things to progress. I'm not understanding.


That's just what Baalf does. Don't think it's the first time in this thread even that they've made these comments about From and their games. Nor will it likely be the last time here or anywhere else in this section of the forum. The point of the game doesn't even matter. They just don't like it when games have you beat up monsters. Especially as a "human-sue".


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## Green_Brick (Apr 13, 2022)

Is it just me, or do games feel way more corporate after the Gamecube/Playstation 2/Xbox generation? I heard that the Xbox 360/Wii/Playstation 3 era wasn't bad, but... truth be told, I have no energy or enthusiasm to get a console for anything beyond those generations. In fact, I still have my Gamecube from back then. --- Maybe I'm just an old fart and so on. Though when I see these companies make dumb decisions with microtransactions or (What used to be expansion packs/DLC) patches to clean up what they couldn't get right before launch day... it really turns me off from getting another console... :\


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## Baron Tredegar (Apr 13, 2022)

Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi was a good game


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## Baalf (Apr 13, 2022)

Green_Brick said:


> Is it just me, or do games feel way more corporate after the Gamecube/Playstation 2/Xbox generation? I heard that the Xbox 360/Wii/Playstation 3 era wasn't bad, but... truth be told, I have no energy or enthusiasm to get a console for anything beyond those generations. In fact, I still have my Gamecube from back then. --- Maybe I'm just an old fart and so on. Though when I see these companies make dumb decisions with microtransactions or (What used to be expansion packs/DLC) patches to clean up what they couldn't get right before launch day... it really turns me off from getting another console... :\



Meh, I feel like it started sometime around that time that games got more unimaginitive and corporate. Then again, every once in a while, I do see triple A games that do have some charm and creativity to them, plus not all games have microtransactions. Still, they USED to be exclusive to f2p games. Not sure when we started getting 50$ games with microtransactions, but it feels like this year.



Judge Spear said:


> ???
> I literally don't understand this criticism. An action game in a perilous world has things to fight to advance your game state. That's how most action games operate. You beat up challenging things to progress. I'm not understanding.



Ultimately, my problem with it stems from the idea that humans are above all other life forms to the point where everything is worthless. The idea that humans are the ONLY creature who can be good and valuable, and the desire to see the human race in flying colors, which often results in humans being shoved into roles they don't fit (coughNekoscough). In addition, the only heroic actions benefit humans. If you care about creatures other then humans, you are corrupt. I've seen the  extremist animal activist cliche so often that it's not even funny. It's true I complain about this a lot, but it's something that will always bother me.

Many people I know argue that FromSoftware games have tons of bad humans, but that's never been good enough for me. I don't want to see "bad" humans, I want to see other creatures being portrayed as things besides "creatures below humanity/creatures who exist to be killed or fought by humanity" besides cats/dogs/horses (though I usually am a little more lenient if I can actually play as the cat/dog/horse itself. It's a big reason why I like Curse of the Moon 2 more than the first). Video games, for me, are a means of temporary escapism from the harsh reality. FromSoftware games generally do not let me do that, and as a result, I generally do not enjoy them.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 13, 2022)

Balskarr said:


> That's just what Baalf does. Don't think it's the first time in this thread even that they've made these comments about From and their games. Nor will it likely be the last time here or anywhere else in this section of the forum. The point of the game doesn't even matter. They just don't like it when games have you beat up monsters. Especially as a "human-sue".


I've been very familiar with him for like a decade. I know how he feels about that angle of character design and to an extent agree with him. Sometimes.

It seemed like he took umbrage with an action RPG having you beat up things when thats the point of the game. I was lost.

But now hes explained it. Its worse, even more shortsighted reasoning but at least my initial confusion was cleared up? I guess?


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## Rayd (Apr 13, 2022)

speedruns with no glitches or game breaking exploits are more fun to watch

don't get me wrong, it takes a tremendous amount of skill to learn and successfully pull off these crazy glitches every run consistently, but there's something about the purity of optimizing your play to the fullest extent to get the lowest time in a speedrun naturally that's so admirable.


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## Rayd (Apr 13, 2022)

speaking of which, here is my verified speedrun of rocky on gamecube i ran yesterday where literally all i did the entire time was spam X and A

how fun


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## DemonHazardDeer (Apr 13, 2022)

Rayd said:


> speedruns with no glitches or game breaking exploits are more fun to watch
> 
> don't get me wrong, it takes a tremendous amount of skill to learn and successfully pull off these crazy glitches every run consistently, but there's something about the purity of optimizing your play to the fullest extent to get the lowest time in a speedrun naturally that's so admirable.


I just love how this was posted on the same day as someone figuring out how to glitch up the ladder in MGS3, perfect timing


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## Baalf (Apr 14, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> I've been very familiar with him for like a decade. I know how he feels about that angle of character design and to an extent agree with him. Sometimes.
> 
> It seemed like he took umbrage with an action RPG having you beat up things when thats the point of the game. I was lost.
> 
> But now hes explained it. Its worse, even more shortsighted reasoning but at least my initial confusion was cleared up? I guess?



You know, I was going to leave at what I just said, but I don't see how being misanthropic, therefore not liking games that remind me why, is such a narrow-sighted reason for not liking games where everything except the very creature I DON'T like are bad, yet so are most humans. It's made worse for me because of people like you telling me "Oh, that's a stupid reason for not enjoying a game" as if I have to put up with a story that's painful for me to get through because "oh, it's the GAMEPLAY you should care about!"

Let me put Monster Hunter as an example. My opinion on the games lately has... slightly improved. I'm still not a fan, but there is one thing I've appreciated about later games: the actual ability to show life outside of humans as being more than just "Ooh, random creature. Kill it." It feels like every game has added more to it besides Evil Monsters that exist to hunt and be hunted by humans. Even from the beginning, they had Felynes, but in World, they had more wildlife that existed either to be a useful ally or to exist just to exist as wildlife. Rise even has owls as potential companions. FromSoftware games don't do that. ...you know, aside from their lowest-hanging-fruit mount in Elden Ring. You're human. The only goodguys are humans. Most of the creatures exist more or less just to kill and be killed by you, and even the non humans that DO have other purposes aren't exactly "good."


Which brings me to another problem. Human or not, games feel the need rehash the same characters and ideas over and over because that's what is "relatable and familiar." Why did the hero in Elden Ring need a horse? Why couldn't they have had something more creative like, say, LITERALLY anything else? Because the hero needs to be "grounded in reality" because that's "relatable." (I thought the point of videogames was to get away from reality.) You cannot design a character with even the slightest bit of creativity because "creativity isn't relatable." Even in anthro games, a lot of times, the hero is a bunny or something ridiculously common. I'd love to see a game with something more exotic and underrated.

But that's always been another problem: the hero needing to be uncreative because "Ree-lay-tuh-bill-it-tee."


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## TyraWadman (Apr 14, 2022)

Baalf said:


> You know, I was going to leave at what I just said, but I don't see how being misanthropic, therefore not liking games that remind me why, is such a narrow-sighted reason for not liking games where everything except the very creature I DON'T like are bad. It's made worse for me because of people like you telling me "Oh, that's a stupid reason for not enjoying a game" as if I have to put up with a story that's painful for me to get through because "oh, it's the GAMEPLAY you should care about!"



















--- All friendly in Elden Ring


Baalf said:


> FromSoftware games don't do that. ...you know, aside from their lowest-hanging-fruit mount in Elden Ring. You're human. The only goodguys are humans. Most of the creatures exist more or less just to kill and be killed by you, and even the non humans that DO have other purposes aren't exactly "good."


I really don't think you've played the game at this point.



Baalf said:


> Which brings me to another problem. Human or not, games feel the need rehash the same characters and ideas over and over because that's what is "relatable and familiar." *Why did the hero in Elden Ring need a horse?* Why couldn't they have had something more creative like, say, LITERALLY anything else? Because the hero needs to be "grounded in reality" because that's "relatable." (I thought the point of videogames was to get away from reality.) You cannot design a character with even the slightest bit of creativity because "creativity isn't relatable." Even in anthro games, a lot of times, the hero is a bunny or something ridiculously common. I'd love to see a game with something more exotic and underrated.
> 
> But that's always been another problem: the hero needing to be uncreative because "Ree-lay-tuh-bill-it-tee."




The _horse_!!! I can respect an unpopular opinion but it sounds to me like you didn't even play the game at all. Here is a video explaining as to why things were designed the way they were. And NOT because every artist out there has an insatiable bloodlust for anything inhuman. A lot of videogames follow this same idea: making stories out of weird/cool/bizarre stories/religions from _*human*_ history.


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## Outré (Apr 14, 2022)

I think playing games on a computer with a keyboard and mouse sucks… I’m sure that’s an unpopular opinion…


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## Baron Tredegar (Apr 14, 2022)

Outré said:


> I think playing games on a computer with a keyboard and mouse sucks… I’m sure that’s an unpopular opinion…


I agree with this.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Apr 14, 2022)

Outré said:


> I think playing games on a computer with a keyboard and mouse sucks… I’m sure that’s an unpopular opinion…


Depends on the game for me but most suck using mouse and keyboard, how can people play a 3D platformer with a mouse and keyboard, legitimately impressive but no thank you lol


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## TrishaCat (Apr 14, 2022)

Regarding the last page: I don't disagree on the concept of video games going mainstream having a detrimental effect in a lot of ways, but gaming itself is just soooooo much better than it used to be in terms of just, games that exist out there and how they feel to play and how available they are.
People always talk about how video games used to be better and like, what?
There's SO MANY amazing games constantly coming out, more than I could ever play in my lifetime. Video games used to be in some ways harder to develop as there weren't common game engines and so many easily available tools out there too, so there was a lot less. Not to mention just some of the general quality of life improvements over the years that stuck, like the right analog stick being used for camera control. Even my favorite genre, JRPGs, have improved in various wonderful ways in terms of quality of life. For example, nowadays most games when you win a fight your whole party gets EXP, not just whoever was in the fight. This is *wonderful* because it significantly reduces the amount of time spent doing boring grinding just to have an evened out party.

I'm gonna go out and say: Video games are better than they've ever been, and modern video games are generally better than older video games.


Baalf said:


> The worst of the microtransactions are games you ALREADY had to pay for, but they added them anyway. Chocobo GP (And apparently Babylon Falls), I'm looking at you! At this point, I'm half expecting Square Enix to add them to Kingdom Hearts 4.


if square adds microtransactions to any non-mobile Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts or Nier title, i will die


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## KimberVaile (Apr 14, 2022)

TrishaCat said:


> Regarding the last page: I don't disagree on the concept of video games going mainstream having a detrimental effect in a lot of ways, but gaming itself is just soooooo much better than it used to be in terms of just, games that exist out there and how they feel to play and how available they are.
> People always talk about how video games used to be better and like, what?
> There's SO MANY amazing games constantly coming out, more than I could ever play in my lifetime. Video games used to be in some ways harder to develop as there weren't common game engines and so many easily available tools out there too, so there was a lot less. Not to mention just some of the general quality of life improvements over the years that stuck, like the right analog stick being used for camera control. Even my favorite genre, JRPGs, have improved in various wonderful ways in terms of quality of life. For example, nowadays most games when you win a fight your whole party gets EXP, not just whoever was in the fight. This is *wonderful* because it significantly reduces the amount of time spent doing boring grinding just to have an evened out party.
> 
> I'm gonna go out and say: Video games are better than they've ever been, and modern video games are generally better than older video games.


Disagree just on the premise of how video games in terms of concepts and mechanics were far more creative during and before the Ps2 Generation. 90% of the modern games I've played are samey repetitive slogs that are either brimming with microtransactions or are vast open worlds barren of any significant content. There are improvements and quality of life features that have been added sure, but they're iterative changes. I'd have expected that much at the very least.

I had some fun with modern games, sure. There are good ones out there, but they are often crowded out by a sea of stale samey crap.


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## TrishaCat (Apr 14, 2022)

KimberVaile said:


> There are good ones out there, but they are often crowded out by a sea of stale samey crap.


But that's just it! There's so much out there its easy to ignore all the lame stuff and find the juicy goods released each year. And there's always lots of em! Least imo, anyways. But also I recognize my tastes in video games are....weird so I totally get other people not being as excited happy with the current output.

I will agree though, AAA games from the ps2 era and before were def a lot more creative. Yaaaay, more over the shoulder 3rd person cinematic story games... :/


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## Judge Spear (Apr 14, 2022)

TrishaCat said:


> But that's just it! There's so much out there its easy to ignore all the lame stuff and find the juicy goods released each year. And there's always lots of em! Least imo, anyways. But also I


I struggle to find anything these days. Sometimes there's a nice spurt of stuff I want, but I rarely find like a nice deluge of stuff I'm super excited for. 2022 is a bit of an exception, but usually it's like "oh sweet...3 somewhat fun games this year".
Indies piss me off and AAA games depress me.


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## Khafra (Apr 15, 2022)

About FromSoft....
Sekiro is the only game of theirs I find playable. The combat in Souls games is stiffer than a wooden pole, and incredibly dull for the most part. There's some very cool design ideas in those games, but it's all locked behind the mind numbing experience that is watching knight people slug it out/roll around with drawn out, repetitive stagger animations and silly proportions.
On the other hand, I love Sekiro because of how well it engages you in combat. Deflecting a flurry of slashes and killing an enemy swordsman with one well-placed blow is pure ecstasy.


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## Baalf (Apr 15, 2022)

TyraWadman said:


> View attachment 130424View attachment 130425
> 
> 
> 
> ...



The whole "historically accurate" argument just brings me back to both the uncreativity problem and my problem with escapism. I mean, it really just feels like "oh, we're taking inspiration from HISTORY" just feels like another excuse to do the same thing everyone else is doing. Oh, THAT company took inspiration from History, too. ...And so did that one. ...And that one... and THAT one. And these laws tend to ONLY be bound to the heroes, and RARELY the villains, who take inspiration froom other-worldly things and POSSIBLY depictions of old demons, similarly to what we do with angels. ... Oh, wait. We just  depict angels as winged humans, not as what they're supposed to look like.

Also, again, A lot of people, myself included, play games to ESCAPE from reality, not have it shoved in my face. Also, putting horns on a horse doesn't make it different, especially since humans came up with the concept of unicorns.

As for playing the game, here is one that might be a REALLY unpopular opinion: You ready?

...


...You do not need to play a game to know that you won't like it, nore do you need to play the game to have a general understanding of its lore. I have looked up a LOT of wikis, and nothing I've read on the game so far has mentioned "friendly nonhuman NPCs." I've even had people try and convince me that the Divine Dragon from Seikiro is totally a goodguy, even though his role in the game is PURELY an antagonistic one. He exists as an obstacle. He exists for you to fight and harvest his tears. He exists for virtually no other reason within the game. Am I going to look those creatures up (including that adorable snake person *Rawr!*) and find out the same thing?

Well, the turtle at least doesn't really seem to be antagonistic. You can still kill it, but other then that, it doesn't really seem to be an antagonist.



Outré said:


> I think playing games on a computer with a keyboard and mouse sucks… I’m sure that’s an unpopular opinion…



I have played a lot of fighting games on the computer. I've actually gotten used to keyboard controls for them, and they actually do well enough. I can pull off Sonic Booms and Flash Kicks without too much difficulty. Heck, I went back to playing Mortal Kombat XL reccently, and playing with either the D-Pad or the Joystick just feels... wrong. The D-Pad is too stiff, yet the joystick is too eratic, and it makes performing even the simplist of moves a chore. I find myself constantly jumping when I'm not trying to, or doing the wrong move because it's hard to get used to the controls. Maybe I'm just too used to Street Fighter, but Mortal Kombat controls on the next gen consoles have never really felt right for me.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 15, 2022)

Khafra said:


> About FromSoft....
> Sekiro is the only game of theirs I find playable. The combat in Souls games is stiffer than a wooden pole, and incredibly dull for the most part. There's some very cool design ideas in those games, but it's all locked behind the mind numbing experience that is watching knight people slug it out/roll around with drawn out, repetitive stagger animations and silly proportions.
> On the other hand, I love Sekiro because of how well it engages you in combat. Deflecting a flurry of slashes and killing an enemy swordsman with one well-placed blow is pure ecstasy.


Bro I hate Dark Souls combat so much. I cant stand the sluggish "dodge roll for ten years and poke once" combat of games like that. Much prefer fast, combo centric, freeform Capcom combat like Viewtiful Joe, DMC5, and Mega Man Zero.


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## Khafra (Apr 15, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Bro I hate Dark Souls combat so much. I cant stand the sluggish "dodge roll for ten years and poke once" combat of games like that. Much prefer fast, combo centric, freeform Capcom combat like Viewtiful Joe, DMC5, and Mega Man Zero.


Oh yeah, especially DMC in my case. I played it so much, I unwittingly compare combat systems of similar games to DMC5 in my head.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 15, 2022)

Khafra said:


> Oh yeah, especially DMC in my case. I played it so much, I unwittingly compare combat systems of similar games to DMC5 in my head.


Dark Souls is like...teeth gnashingly tedious for me. You know when a game is SO slow, you just frustratingly mash buttons during recovery and start up animations in a futile effort to just make the game *move it's fucking ass?* That's how I got when I played DS. DMC you can't exactly just do what you want, but when you do press something, Dante just does it.


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## TyraWadman (Apr 15, 2022)

Baalf said:


> The whole "historically accurate" argument just brings me back to both the uncreativity problem and my problem with escapism. I mean, it really just feels like "oh, we're taking inspiration from HISTORY" just feels like another excuse to do the same thing everyone else is doing. Oh, THAT company took inspiration from History, too. ...And so did that one. ...And that one... and THAT one. And these laws tend to ONLY be bound to the heroes, and RARELY the villains, who take inspiration froom other-worldly things and POSSIBLY depictions of old demons, similarly to what we do with angels. ... Oh, wait. We just  depict angels as winged humans, not as what they're supposed to look like.


*Inspired. Not accurate. 


Baalf said:


> Also, again, A lot of people, myself included, play games to ESCAPE from reality, not have it shoved in my face. Also, putting horns on a horse doesn't make it different, especially since humans came up with the concept of unicorns.


It's a mount for sure, but it ain't no horse. XD It's closer to a Yak but not quite, obviously. I honestly called it a goat because of how many times I used it to climb the mountainsides. 


Baalf said:


> As for playing the game, here is one that might be a REALLY unpopular opinion: You ready?
> 
> ...You do not need to play a game to know that you won't like it, nore do you need to play the game to have a general understanding of its lore.



No, you don't, but what I'm getting at is there are so many holes in your logic that you can't even get the facts about the game right. A lot of dummies will boot up a game and act homicidal and kill everything, but after thinking about it, I don't think any of the dragons you encounter are mandatory. They're all optional, minding their own business, and only turning mean when you decide to get up in its face, because creatures can be territorial like that. And even if they do spot you, you can just run or trot away on your mount and they'll go back to minding their own business again once they're sure you've left for good.



Baalf said:


> I have looked up a LOT of wikis, and nothing I've read on the game so far has mentioned "friendly nonhuman NPCs." I've even had people try and convince me that the Divine Dragon from Seikiro is totally a goodguy, even though his role in the game is PURELY an antagonistic one. He exists as an obstacle. He exists for you to fight and harvest his tears. He exists for virtually no other reason within the game. Am I going to look those creatures up (including that adorable snake person *Rawr!*) and find out the same thing?


I don't know much about the other games that took place in between because I didn't even know half of them existed until maybe the last 2 years. But I can definitely speak for Elden Ring.


Baalf said:


> Well, the turtle at least doesn't really seem to be antagonistic. You can still kill it, but other then that, it doesn't really seem to be an antagonist.


*spoilery ish, some extra details here and there*
The old turtle is wearin' a pope hat. Of course he's a gentle soul! XD
Blaidd helps you in  a battle multiple times.
Alexander (the jar) aids you in battle multiple times.
Boc isn't antagonistic in the slightest and shares a similar story to the snake girl.
The snake person is ashamed of her existence but you can choose to fulfill that request or just leave her. When you leave her she leaves behind a letter thanking you for your kindness.  If you really did your research on the game (or played it) you would have known this. Some characters may have tragic endings, but we all know it wasn't their choice/fault, and that's why they're some of the most beloved characters in the community.

Elden Ring is an open world game and characters will ultimately die based on the choices you make. Is it worth getting doll coochie to you? No?_ Then don't progress that storyline._ Is that armor set really worth sacrificing a loveable NPC for? No? _Then don't get it. _It's that simple! A lot of people will ask you to 'serve' them but it doesn't lock you out into anything nor does it lock you out from everything else. It just opens up more opportunities for quests and storylines, which you can always choose to never do. Some people are kinda dumb and don't actually read what they're agreeing to and get mad later on when a cool character dies, but that's their fault obviously.

You can hate a game, dislike it, whatevs. But you asked a while back for advice on how to manage your temper, so here I am trying to give you a longwinded explanation of how your own temper could be the very thing that causes you to miss out on an experience. Not necessarily Elden Ring, but any other game. But you can of course choose to throw that to the wind, or maybe learn to take a risk now and again, and perhaps just try something with zero expectations.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 15, 2022)

Some of the enemies in Elden Ring are hilariously bullshit. That weird...pendulum thing on wheels that spins for like 3 hours is crazy.


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## Baalf (Apr 15, 2022)

TyraWadman said:


> *Inspired. Not accurate.
> 
> It's a mount for sure, but it ain't no horse. XD It's closer to a Yak but not quite, obviously. I honestly called it a goat because of how many times I used it to climb the mountainsides.
> 
> ...



It's nice that at least THOSE things do exist, but honestly, I still don't feel right with the protagonist. Also, a few examples don't really make the game fun for me. They make me dislike it a little less, but they don't redeem the experience for me entirely. Maybe it's just because the protagonist is one of the most important things for me in a game. Do I like the protagonist? I like protagonists that look cool, are creative, and fun to watch. While I do value storytelling and characters, I want to actually like the hero first. Overall, the characters are not real, and first and foremost, I want to have fun with the protagonist. I just can't. I'm sorry.

I will correct you about the dragons: there ARE two that do go after you. As for the horse? ...It's a horse. It has horns. It has long ears. It climbs mountains. But essentially, horse dominates its design. Maybe if it wer actually closer to looking like a goat, I'd cut it some slack, but no. It's a horse with horns, long ears and the ability to climb mountains. At bestt, it's a mule with horns.


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## KimberVaile (Apr 15, 2022)

What even happened to this thread?


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## TyraWadman (Apr 15, 2022)

Baalf said:


> It's nice that at least THOSE things do exist, but honestly, I still don't feel right with the protagonist. Also, a few examples don't really make the game fun for me. They make me dislike it a little less, but they don't redeem the experience for me entirely. Maybe it's just because the protagonist is one of the most important things for me in a game. Do I like the protagonist? I like protagonists that look cool, are creative, and fun to watch. While I do value storytelling and characters, I want to actually like the hero first. Overall, the characters are not real, and first and foremost, I want to have fun with the protagonist. I just can't. I'm sorry.
> 
> I will correct you about the dragons: there ARE two that do go after you. As for the horse? ...It's a horse. It has horns. It has long ears. It climbs mountains. But essentially, horse dominates its design. Maybe if it wer actually closer to looking like a goat, I'd cut it some slack, but no. It's a horse with horns, long ears and the ability to climb mountains. At bestt, it's a mule with horns.



You don't have to fight them though. You can just breeze past them. (Assuming it's the white with red lightning)

Don't like it, don't play it, but don't let your rage prevent you from experiencing something awesome.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 15, 2022)

KimberVaile said:


> What even happened to this thread?


What do you mean? There's some debating, but it's not what I'd consider derailed or heated.


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## KimberVaile (Apr 15, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> What do you mean? There's some debating, but it's not what I'd consider derailed or heated.


The current debate is just odd to me, more specifically, the Baalf thing about Elden Ring being anti monster. Just weird to me. I wouldn't call it a derailment more than just a complete turn to just, weirdness. Weird isn't inherently bad, but I am having a hard time seeing where Baalf is coming from. But I dunno, maybe I just don't 'get it.'


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## Judge Spear (Apr 15, 2022)

KimberVaile said:


> The current debate is just odd to me, more specifically, the Baalf thing about Elden Ring being anti monster. Just weird to me. I wouldn't call it a derailment more than just a complete turn to just, weirdness. But I dunno, maybe I just don't 'get it.'


You learn to live around it.


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## Balskarr (Apr 16, 2022)

Baalf said:


> It's nice that at least THOSE things do exist, but honestly, I still don't feel right with the protagonist. Also, a few examples don't really make the game fun for me. They make me dislike it a little less, but they don't redeem the experience for me entirely. Maybe it's just because the protagonist is one of the most important things for me in a game. Do I like the protagonist? I like protagonists that look cool, are creative, and fun to watch. While I do value storytelling and characters, I want to actually like the hero first. Overall, the characters are not real, and first and foremost, I want to have fun with the protagonist. I just can't. I'm sorry.


I can't resist the meme anymore.

My brother in Christ!
*You made the character!*


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## Baalf (Apr 16, 2022)

TyraWadman said:


> You don't have to fight them though. You can just breeze past them. (Assuming it's the white with red lightning)
> 
> Don't like it, don't play it, but don't let your rage prevent you from experiencing something awesome.


I'll decide for myself what is awesome. I don't need thousands of people telling me something is the best game ever, then I feel pressured to play a game I end up not only not enjoying, but come out feeling frustrated and angry with. Even with those few token NPCs, I know I'm not going to like Elden Ring. I've seen enough of the story, character, lore and even gameplay to know I'm not going to enjoy the game


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## TyraWadman (Apr 16, 2022)

Baalf said:


> I'll decide for myself what is awesome. I don't need thousands of people telling me something is the best game ever, then I feel pressured to play a game I end up not only not enjoying, but come out feeling frustrated and angry with.


Good. Just don't let your rage get the best of you. It's how you miss amazing opportunity. Or in this case, experiences.


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## Baalf (Apr 16, 2022)

TyraWadman said:


> Good. Just don't let your rage get the best of you. It's how you miss amazing opportunity. Or in this case, experiences.


Stop telling me "Oh, it's such an amazing game and experience." To YOU, maybe. Not to me. Stop telling me it's such an amazing experience. I don't think so.


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## TyraWadman (Apr 16, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Stop telling me "Oh, it's such an amazing game and experience." To YOU, maybe. Not to me. Stop telling me it's such an amazing experience. I don't think so.


I'm not though.
What I meant by 'in this case' is gaming (experience), whereas opportunity is usually geared towards business or life opportunities.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 16, 2022)

Western boxart has had fumbles but by and large, it's not nearly as big a deal as weird Japanophiles make it seem.

Territories change international media to fit cultural norms and appeal to regional demographics where cheaply possible.

*Get over it.*

It is not just the US. Every country that gets games and movies does it to some extent. If it doesnt come at the expense of individuals in the works or false advertises what does it matter?


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## TyraWadman (Apr 16, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Western boxart has had fumbles but by and large, it's not nearly as big a deal as weird Japanophiles make it seem.
> 
> Territories change international media to fit cultural norms and appeal to regional demographics where cheaply possible.
> 
> ...



Am I understanding this right?
People are getting upset over the artwork featured on the game box/case?


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## KimberVaile (Apr 16, 2022)

I haven't the slightest clue how unpopular it is but god almighty, I hate Civ 6's art style. It's like, something you'd see out of a pre school coloring book for historical figures. It's awful, like patronizingly awful. That aside, the game's pretty enjoyable. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


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## BadRoy (Apr 16, 2022)

The Sonic R soundtrack is dank.
And I'm tired of pretending it's not.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 16, 2022)

TyraWadman said:


> Am I understanding this right?
> People are getting upset over the artwork featured on the game box/case?


It's been a popular thing people cry about, yeah. It's not just boxart really. The same people pee their pants when like a 12 year old girl is sexualized in JP but is properly clothed for Western releases because we kinda don't play that shit here. But boxart changes are more standard practice so that's usually what draws that specific ire.

The steed of choice when they need to beat a dead horse is "furious" US Kirby vs happy Kirby in Japan. Because something something "it appeals to US aggression" something something. Or some other insane nerd ramblings that don't really make any sense. Even if the different style is still _good_ it's seen as a poor change and they flail their arms like it's gonna do anything. 

Again, if something comes at a direct expense of someone, sure. But people will often just cry because a change was made at all. It's exclusively anime nerds who think this doesn't happen in Japan but I guarantee would have zero issue with it if they did. 

I only really get annoyed because they blow it up to be some egregious conspiracy in many cases. It's really the most nothing shit and nothing is being erased for it.



BadRoy said:


> The Sonic R soundtrack is dank.
> And I'm tired of pretending it's not.


Part of me wants to say we need to ditch the thought of "guilty pleasures". That thinking can be oppressive because people will collectively feel a misplaced shame in enjoying something that _is enjoyable_. Not because it's actually bad, but just because it's an outlier. 

I have actually never in my life met a single person that did not thoroughly love Sonic R's music. Not one. But people wanted to pretend it was bad because it was cool to do so. Bayonetta's music was another one that fell into the same trap because reviewers called it "girly" which...it isn't.


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## Rayd (Apr 17, 2022)

the entire design of the halo's flood took a massive tumble in halo 3.

although its canonically fitting, aesthetically i don't like the "special" forms. to me this just makes them resemble any other generic zombie type enemy in other games. the fact that they make them also talk makes it worse. i've always felt that the grotesque, mangled bodies of the original flood were a lot more horror-centric than the comical, distinguished designs of the special forms. the familiarity of the normal flood is what makes them scary - you know what they used to be, be it human, elite or brute, and you can see visual evidence of what happened to them, how their bodies were twisted and contorted to be forcefully turned into efficient killing weapons.

the one thing i'll commend halo 3's flood design for is the addition of infection forms being able to infect living targets, and making struggling animations/voicelines of terror. regardless, personally i think the flood peaked in halo 2. not only did i like their design more, but they were also much stronger, so fighting them in general was terrifying.

then they were just turned into...world of warcraft enemies.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 17, 2022)

Holy shit, PS2 RPG's sucked...
I'm only bringing this up because I'm trying to play some. Why are these the slowest, most teeth gnashingly tedious games ever? No sense for quality of life during this period and some really god awful control if they tried to go the action route. @-@

Things are so much better for this genre today and SNES RPG's are still highly playable. The fuck was going on with PS2?


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## DemonHazardDeer (Apr 17, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Holy shit, PS2 RPG's sucked...
> I'm only bringing this up because I'm trying to play some. Why are these the slowest, most teeth gnashingly tedious games ever? No sense for quality of life during this period and some really god awful control if they tried to go the action route. @-@
> 
> Things are so much better for this genre today and SNES RPG's are still highly playable. The fuck was going on with PS2?


Which ones are you trying?


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## DemonHazardDeer (Apr 17, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Western boxart has had fumbles but by and large, it's not nearly as big a deal as weird Japanophiles make it seem.
> 
> Territories change international media to fit cultural norms and appeal to regional demographics where cheaply possible.
> 
> ...


I do think Boxart is really important, nothing I'll piss and cry over tho lol, but I have been disappointed by stuff like DOOM 2016's very generic cover compared to the reversable side, but it goes both ways because a boxart with super generic anime characters is just as disappointing as "grizzled man or solder with gun in colorless world" covers, gotta make that shit interesting no matter where it is or where it came from


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## Judge Spear (Apr 17, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Which ones are you trying?


Dragon Quest 8, *FFX*, *FFXII, KH1*, KH2, .hack, *Samurai Musashi*, Star Ocean, Tales of the Abyss, Dark Cloud, PSU, Shadow Hearts, *Odin Sphere*, *Mega Man X Command Mission*, Dirge of Cerberus, and a few others. Bolded are the ones I tried recently, but I've played all of these at some point in my life and certain sequels. I lost interest in them in like 3-5 hours.

I was having fun with Odin Sphere until they destroyed the combat flow making me play as the really boring fairy princess (I was playing it's remaster). She plays like a horrible run n gun. Dragon Quest 8 is like...good, but I immediately just want to play 11 instead.



DemonHazardDeer said:


> I do think Boxart is really important, nothing I'll piss and cry over tho lol, but I have been disappointed by stuff like DOOM 2016's very generic cover compared to the reversable side, but it goes both ways because a boxart with super generic anime characters is just as disappointing as "grizzled man or solder with gun in colorless world" covers, gotta make that shit interesting no matter where it is or where it came from


Don't worry, I'm not ripping on people who just simply dislike boxart. But like I said, people who think it's some seedy conspiracy that truly needs reform like it's some anti-Japan big fucking deal need to get a life. It's up to personal preference, of course. But it's a nothing issue that could have the screeching directed at something more pressing. Get upset when regional changes actually legitimately affect gameplay.

Capcom's Auto Modellista was an excellent game. Until it left Japan. For some bizarre reason, they overtuned everything in the States and the game's handling was destroyed. It's NTSC version is not fun to play and it fell to the wayside of better racers. Capcom hasn't made a racing game since and it's a shame because this beauty is something we could use more of in the racing sim space. Things like that are regional changes worth being upset about if you ask me.


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## Imperial Impact (Apr 17, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> You should have to file a form to some kind of committee for approval before you're allowed to use the term "Bullet Hell". ]:¬{
> It's done more harm to my favorite genre being flagrantly misused today. It's either used as a falsely applied sensational tagline or derogatory invalidation over the last decade. I personally find it annoying.
> 
> 
> ...


In the PS3 era of gaming, North Americans were buying more videogames more than Japan was. So there's your probelm.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 17, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> In the PS3 era of gaming, North Americans were buying more videogames more than Japan was. So there's your probelm.


Americans were buying more games from the start. It's why the console market got anywhere in the first place after we crashed it. Things were fine for 20 years but the wrong people saw the wrong money in video games around your timeframe. Then things creatively took a dump.


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## Imperial Impact (Apr 17, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Americans were buying more games from the start. It's why the console market got anywhere in the first place after we crashed it. Things were fine for 20 years but the wrong people saw the wrong money in video games around your timeframe. Then things creatively took a dump.


From NES era to all the way to the Gamecube era was mostly Japan's doing.


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## TurbidCyno (Apr 17, 2022)

Squirrel Stapler should be remade with the Doom 3 engine.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Apr 18, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Dragon Quest 8, *FFX*, *FFXII, KH1*, KH2, .hack, *Samurai Musashi*, Star Ocean, Tales of the Abyss, Dark Cloud, PSU, Shadow Hearts, *Odin Sphere*, *Mega Man X Command Mission*, Dirge of Cerberus, and a few others. Bolded are the ones I tried recently, but I've played all of these at some point in my life and certain sequels. I lost interest in them in like 3-5 hours.
> 
> I was having fun with Odin Sphere until they destroyed the combat flow making me play as the really boring fairy princess (I was playing it's remaster). She plays like a horrible run n gun. Dragon Quest 8 is like...good, but I immediately just want to play 11 instead.


Interesting to see some of my favorite games on here, I really like seeing other's different opinions on this stuff. some of those *definitely *haven't aged well for sure _coughcoughKH1cough _and others have a REAL goddamn slow opening (KH2) or have other problems. Yeah, Mercades is definitely the weakest playable character by far, she gets a bit better but her story is a bit of a slog. It really picks up again in the next one but I def don't blame yah for dropping it at here section, I took like a 6 month break myself after getting to her. Cornilius is my fav btw


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## Judge Spear (Apr 18, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Interesting to see some of my favorite games on here, I really like seeing other's different opinions on this stuff. some of those *definitely *haven't aged well for sure _coughcoughKH1cough _and others have a REAL goddamn slow opening (KH2) or have other problems. Yeah, Mercades is definitely the weakest playable character by far, she gets a bit better but her story is a bit of a slog. It really picks up again in the next one but I def don't blame yah for dropping it at here section, I took like a 6 month break myself after getting to her. Cornilius is my fav btw


Yeah the first girl was fun enough but Corny made me real hype to play the rest of the game. INSANE combo game.

Then they almost spitefully wreck that flow. Like I legit do not even want to pick the game back up because Merc is extremely boring. Even looking at her through a run n gun lens, she's just lame. That playstyle isnt fun in a game like this. At least not how they did it.


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## Baalf (Apr 18, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> I do think Boxart is really important, nothing I'll piss and cry over tho lol, but I have been disappointed by stuff like DOOM 2016's very generic cover compared to the reversable side, but it goes both ways because a boxart with super generic anime characters is just as disappointing as "grizzled man or solder with gun in colorless world" covers, gotta make that shit interesting no matter where it is or where it came from



These days, it feels like it's all about minimalism. That's been the "in-thing" for a while.



Judge Spear said:


> Dragon Quest 8, *FFX*, *FFXII, KH1*, KH2, .hack, *Samurai Musashi*, Star Ocean, Tales of the Abyss, Dark Cloud, PSU, Shadow Hearts, *Odin Sphere*, *Mega Man X Command Mission*, Dirge of Cerberus, and a few others. Bolded are the ones I tried recently, but I've played all of these at some point in my life and certain sequels. I lost interest in them in like 3-5 hours.
> 
> I was having fun with Odin Sphere until they destroyed the combat flow making me play as the really boring fairy princess (I was playing it's remaster). She plays like a horrible run n gun. Dragon Quest 8 is like...good, but I immediately just want to play 11 instead.
> 
> ...



Personally, I prefer 8 to 11. ...Then again, 8 has mon-taming. I really wish they'd either release a new Dragon Quest Monsters in the states, re-release OLD ones or just add mon-taming back into the main series.

...Then again, wanting a new DQM game probably isn't that unpopular of an opinion.

Also, DQ8 was surprising for the fact it actually had an ugly protagonist character. While still not a huge fan of Yangus, it was at least a tad refreshing to see a character that wasn't skinny and handsome like every modern RPG character has to be, apparently.

Honestly, with minimalism and prettyfication, modern gaming just feels sterylized at times. But that's what sells, apparently.


----------



## Rimna (Apr 19, 2022)

Green_Brick said:


> Is it just me, or do games feel way more corporate after the Gamecube/Playstation 2/Xbox generation? I heard that the Xbox 360/Wii/Playstation 3 era wasn't bad, but... truth be told, I have no energy or enthusiasm to get a console for anything beyond those generations. In fact, I still have my Gamecube from back then. --- Maybe I'm just an old fart and so on. Though when I see these companies make dumb decisions with microtransactions or (What used to be expansion packs/DLC) patches to clean up what they couldn't get right before launch day... it really turns me off from getting another console... :\



I was thinking about it too but after watching a bunch of Angry Video Game Nerd episodes again this month, now that I am an adult, I can see that the gaming industry has always been bursting with corporate crap meant to make a quick profit without a care for quality. 
The LJN games on 8-bit Nintendo, all the movies and cartoons and series based games are generally garbage.

I thought that everything started going downhill after microtransactions and "games as a service" became widespread, but the gaming industry has always been shit.

That said, I do like collecting weapon skins for CS:GO. I'm mostly focusing on skins that go up in value now. So I have embraced the "problem" and it's not as bad as I thought. Well, that is because of the way the steam market operates. I don't do this for any other game.


----------



## DemonHazardDeer (Apr 19, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Yeah the first girl was fun enough but Corny made me real hype to play the rest of the game. INSANE combo game.
> 
> Then they almost spitefully wreck that flow. Like I legit do not even want to pick the game back up because Merc is extremely boring. Even looking at her through a run n gun lens, she's just lame. That playstyle isnt fun in a game like this. At least not how they did it.


I think it’s cuz you have to constantly reload, especially at the beginning. It gets way better the stronger she gets but it’s so annoying and slow at first. I get why, gotta balance this RPG somehow but it really destroys the pacing after Cornilius, but they at least let you play as the second best character after her


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## Judge Spear (Apr 19, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> I think it’s cuz you have to constantly reload, especially at the beginning. It gets way better the stronger she gets but it’s so annoying and slow at first. I get why, gotta balance this RPG somehow but it really destroys the pacing after Cornilius, but they at least let you play as the second best character after her


I just know it takes like 4-6 hours and GOD I just don't feel like it.

Btw... Is there a NG+ or point when you have to play as all the characters again? Seemed like you're missing a lot for them the first run.


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## Green_Brick (Apr 19, 2022)

Rimna said:


> I thought that everything started going downhill after microtransactions and "games as a service" became widespread, but the gaming industry has always been shit.
> 
> That said, I do like collecting weapon skins for CS:GO. I'm mostly focusing on skins that go up in value now. So I have embraced the "problem" and it's not as bad as I thought. Well, that is because of the way the steam market operates. I don't do this for any other game.



I'm fine with microtransactions, as long as it's not implemented in a "pay-to-win" style. I've dumped about $20 into TF2 for a few items or cosmetics and I was happy with it. Mainly since it's all for appeal, rather than "You must give us money if you want to win!". I'm not a big fan of the microtransactions that are solely for cosmetics. Not at a fundamental level, but rather it's just not a major selling point to me. However, I am fully aware that there's a ton of other people who invest heavily in the TF2 item market with their unusuals and so forth. ^^;


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## Judge Spear (Apr 19, 2022)

Another long one.



Spoiler: nerd screeching about depression games



I had a really awful bout with depression into my teen years until I was about 19. It was spurred by a lot of rapid negative life changes and new conflict that I couldn't process. I wasn't making healthy choices to work out of it faster. It was a low point where I nearly lost my life twice. My family suffered behind it and it made me blind to the good things I really did have.

That preface aside, I find games about depression abjectly terrible. Not that they should be banned or not made. Make what you want. I just hate them.

Obviously, there's the classic argument of them being counter intuitive to the low effort escapism games are meant to provide.
My main issue is that I think they trivialize the fuck out of depression. I've never seen them go beyond baby's first metaphor, surface level BAFTA bait bullshit that almost romanticizes it.
Depression is not some fanciful journey. It's not artful. It isn't pretty. It isn't fun, exciting, or an expressive world to traverse. There's no beauty in real depression.
It's a grimy, foul miasma. It is rife with bilious self loathing, grotesque substance abuse, and vice fueled stagnation that, at it's worst, brings _everyone_ around you down to _your_ lowest.

That's not something I feel can be gift wrapped in a pretty, artsy fartsy watercolor or "quirky" style with a cute little gray bow on top. I already think video games tell bad enough stories 90% of the time. Often flying in the face of the medium's strengths to do so.
So seeing a game attempt to tackle something like depression with it's edges sanded off to appeal to more people is just shit comedy to me. Especially when we know how most will start, progress, and end as soon as the purchase is made.

Beyond that, why the fuck am I trying to play even a _good _video game about depression? Right off the bat, gameplay is secondary. So "for fun" is immediately out of the window. And I have to ask; should I even BE having fun when the game's entire goal is to "teach" me about the spiraling woes of people with hideous chemical imbalances? Wouldn't that minimize the grim feelings you want me to experience? It would be inherently contradictory in both directions.

Am I supposed to understand something more about depression? I don't know about anyone else, but I gain no deeper insight into the unique, personal, traumas of people from a fucking _video game_. Games can lead me to new people at most, but provide me no life experiences.
So...for empathy? Towards who?
Am I supposed to play a game like Gris or Depression Quest (Christ, that fucking name), look at a depressed person afterwards and go "Hey man, I feel your specific emotional inhibitions on a deeper level after experiencing a diluted, prettified generalization of it from a fucking indie _*video game*_. I'm also a bastard. And I'm stupid."

So the game isn't fun. I gain no introspection. And it's most salient points teach me nothing about the topic or even an individual. Cool! 
I can't see in any way enjoying some shit like that. It's just not a valuable experience to me. I think they're all pretty fucking pointless endeavors that target pretentious people who want to feel something in a safe, padded room. If I need to feel some kind of painful emotion relative to real strife, I'll go check recent Yemen headlines, read up on Junko Furuta, or casually browse Twitter, or something. I don't need self-fellating indie games trying to articulate real sadness.

In my honest opinion, they're the _lowest_ gaming can be just above Steam hentai games.  I can't be convinced they serve a purpose.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Apr 19, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> I just know it takes like 4-6 hours and GOD I just don't feel like it.
> 
> Btw... Is there a NG+ or point when you have to play as all the characters again? Seemed like you're missing a lot for them the first run.


The end game involves going through each of them again


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## BadRoy (Apr 19, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Holy shit, PS2 RPG's sucked...
> I'm only bringing this up because I'm trying to play some. Why are these the slowest, most teeth gnashingly tedious games ever? No sense for quality of life during this period and some really god awful control if they tried to go the action route. @-@
> 
> Things are so much better for this genre today and SNES RPG's are still highly playable. The fuck was going on with PS2?


I feel like the PS2 generation was a big point in the switch from gameplay focused design to "Wow check out our graphicz." Game costs ballooned, suits started mandating big showcase scenes, eand risks became verboten. I feel like a lot of that is the reason so many games of the time were slow cinematic lame-fests.

To be clear we all know there were great RPGs at the time, but for every good one there were like 3 slow, mindless, repetetive games that did nothing new of value.


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## TurbidCyno (Apr 19, 2022)

BadRoy said:


> I feel like the PS2 generation was a big point in the switch from gameplay focused design to "Wow check out our graphicz." Game costs ballooned, suits started mandating big showcase scenes, eand risks became verboten. I feel like a lot of that is the reason so many games of the time were slow cinematic lame-fests.
> 
> To be clear we all know there were great RPGs at the time, but for every good one there were like 3 slow, mindless, repetetive games that did nothing new of value.



PS2 was pretty lackluster for rpgs, but for PC and to a lesser extent Xbox it was a great era. That was the time of Morrowind, KoTOR, Baldurs Gate 2 and Fable to name a few.

I can't really think of anything great for PS 2 exclusive at all.


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## Baron Tredegar (Apr 19, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Another long one.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I have this exact same opinion on tv shows and movies about suicide. As someone who had suicidal thoughts a few years ago, it is not something to be romanticized. I didnt know depression games existed and they sound exactly like all those shows and movies I am thinking of. The only depression game I want to play is if I am playing as a mobster in the 1930s.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 19, 2022)

BadRoy said:


> I feel like the PS2 generation was a big point in the switch from gameplay focused design to "Wow check out our graphicz." Game costs ballooned, suits started mandating big showcase scenes, eand risks became verboten. I feel like a lot of that is the reason so many games of the time were slow cinematic lame-fests.
> 
> To be clear we all know there were great RPGs at the time, but for every good one there were like 3 slow, mindless, repetetive games that did nothing new of value.


It's funny because most JRPG's tell just horrendous stories but that's what people say you're supposed to play them for.


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## Baalf (Apr 20, 2022)

Just going to say it, Minecraft is one of my favorite games to play. ...*When it wants to WORK!* I have had two game-breaking bugs in JUST THIS WEEK that are forcing me delete minecraft and reinstall/reupdate the bloody game.


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## Baalf (Apr 20, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> It's funny because most JRPG's tell just horrendous stories but that's what people say you're supposed to play them for.


My favorites are the ones where the story is about Evil Misanthropic Stereotype who wants to wipe out humans (as we all want to do according to media) which leads to a moral that basically ammounts to nothing deeper than "humans are shit and the world just has to deal with it." No greyness or color. No punishing the truly evil. No actual message for the characters to follow (who probably wouldn't anyway). Just "humans are shit. Deal with it."

Aside from that, the misanthropic villain is overdone and very rarely (if ever) captures realistic misanthropy.

This is one of two things that killed Tales of Vesperia for me. The other being that a big part of the story is basically finishing off a race of critically endangered creatures. Am I supposed to feel good about that? I stopped playing the first time it happened, but looking it up online, apparently it happens MULTIPLE times.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 20, 2022)

All Tales games are bad.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 22, 2022)

Dragon's Crown > Odin Sphere >>> Muramasa The Demon Blade


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## KimberVaile (Apr 22, 2022)

TurbidCyno said:


> PS2 was pretty lackluster for rpgs, but for PC and to a lesser extent Xbox it was a great era. That was the time of Morrowind, KoTOR, Baldurs Gate 2 and Fable to name a few.
> 
> I can't really think of anything great for PS 2 exclusive at all.


Does Kingdom Hearts 2 count? Probably an unpopular opinion, but despite the stupid premise, it's a fun "rpg". Might be a stretch to call it one, but it plays pretty well.


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## Imperial Impact (Apr 22, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> All Tales games are bad.


Bruh


----------



## Judge Spear (Apr 22, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> Bruh


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## Imperial Impact (Apr 23, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> View attachment 130920


"All tales games are bad, Even the Japanese one I have never played before."


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## DemonHazardDeer (Apr 23, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> All Tales games are bad.


I do really like Tales games but I ain't even gonna pretend they're not budget ass titles lol, they got plenty of valid negatives


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## Judge Spear (Apr 23, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> I do really like Tales games but I ain't even gonna pretend they're not budget ass titles lol, they got plenty of valid negatives


They're some of the games that aided in putting me off to the genre for years. I very generously played 8 games in the series.

Vesperia especially was among the worst games I put in my 360 but its treated as some hallmark of JRPG's. I do not see it.


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## Imperial Impact (Apr 23, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> They're some of the games that aided in putting me off to the genre for years. I very generously played 8 games in the series.


Name them?


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## Judge Spear (Apr 23, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> Name them?


Xillia (I dont think I played 2), Phantasia, Vesperia, Graces, Innocence, Abyss, Symphonia, and Berseria. Though I put the least time into Berseria. I just saw the writing on the wall with it.


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## TrishaCat (Apr 23, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> a REAL goddamn slow opening (KH2)


See people always bring up kh2 and twilight princess as games having slow openings and it's like
Those help introduce you to the world and characters and make helps set what the world was like before everything went wild and called for the hero to save the day. They add a human element to things. Like Roxas is so much more human and easier to empathize with than Sora in part because the opening showed he's just a normal teenager wanting to hang with his friends during summer vacation


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## TrishaCat (Apr 23, 2022)

Tbf even as a jrpg fan I think Tales of games have weak combat. They feel very button mashy beyond needing to block and jump backwards on occasion, and they're a tad stiff.
And I've fallen in love with these games is the thing! A friend sold me his vita and I've been playing Tales of Hearts R on it and I've been having a lot of fun! It does a good job of making you feel like you're a hero on an adventure. Tales of Zestiria too as I'm also playing that. I love the skits. Just...the combat sucks.


Judge Spear said:


> Vesperia especially was among the worst games I put in my 360 but its treated as some hallmark of JRPG's. I do not see it.


From what I played I think Vesperia is appealing just cause it gets to the action fairly quickly and the main character Yuri is extremely likable. He's an adult man which in itself is a rarity in the genre and he's the type that takes no shit and is willing to get into mischief while simultaneously being smart instead of the usual dumb hero archetype (see Symphonia's MC) or the rather normal goody goody hero that plagues so many


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## Judge Spear (Apr 23, 2022)

Weak combat and woefully shitty progression


TrishaCat said:


> Tbf even as a jrpg fan I think Tales of games have weak combat. They feel very button mashy beyond needing to block and jump backwards on occasion, and they're a tad stiff.
> And I've fallen in love with these games is the thing! A friend sold me his vita and I've been playing Tales of Hearts R on it and I've been having a lot of fun! It does a good job of making you feel like you're a hero on an adventure. Tales of Zestiria too as I'm also playing that. I love the skits. Just...the combat sucks.
> 
> From what I played I think Vesperia is appealing just cause it gets to the action fairly quickly and the main character Yuri is extremely likable. He's an adult man which in itself is a rarity in the genre and he's the type that takes no shit and is willing to get into mischief while simultaneously being smart instead of the usual dumb hero archetype (see Symphonia's MC) or the rather normal goody goody hero that plagues so many


For me, Tales characters (if they can be called that) universally fall between mildly annoying or aggressively insufferable so I can't relate on Yuri. The exception was the dog who was the best character because he was the only one that didn't fucking talk. I generally go into JRPG's expecting bad writing/characters as it is, so this isn't anything I put any real emphasis on. After the first couple of scenes, I just mash through it all. 
The combat, world, and progression was what bothered me most in these games. They do everything they can to be as tedious and flat as possible outside of combat. Then combat itself is as stiff as a corpse with rigor mortis set in.

Music's lame too.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Apr 23, 2022)

TrishaCat said:


> See people always bring up kh2 and twilight princess as games having slow openings and it's like
> Those help introduce you to the world and characters and make helps set what the world was like before everything went wild and called for the hero to save the day. They add a human element to things. Like Roxas is so much more human and easier to empathize with than Sora in part because the opening showed he's just a normal teenager wanting to hang with his friends during summer vacation


Oh don't get me wrong I legit love the opening to KH2, Roxas's story is one of my favorite things in the series and that heartbreaking scene at the end always gets me, plus reincorporating his theme into one of the best fights in the game later on is just so fuckin good! I'm just saying I don't blame people for not getting to the really good shit if the opening doesn't grab them because it's slow and 3 hours long


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## Miles Marsalis (Apr 23, 2022)

We're at the point in game development where most action RPGs could be open world with branching gameplay.


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## Baalf (Apr 23, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Weak combat and woefully shitty progression
> 
> For me, Tales characters (if they can be called that) universally fall between mildly annoying or aggressively insufferable so I can't relate on Yuri. The exception was the dog who was the best character because he was the only one that didn't fucking talk. I generally go into JRPG's expecting bad writing/characters as it is, so this isn't anything I put any real emphasis on. After the first couple of scenes, I just mash through it all.
> The combat, world, and progression was what bothered me most in these games. They do everything they can to be as tedious and flat as possible outside of combat. Then combat itself is as stiff as a corpse with rigor mortis set in.
> ...



Repede didn't have any personality... and he was still my favorite character because it was refreshing to see a playable besides, well, you know.

The long-haired guy was pretty "meh" personality wise, the boy was... a boy. The old man looked WAY younger than they keep making him out to be. The magician was a typical tough tomboy. The only human character I sorta liked was Estelle (I think that was her name). She was kind of a typical goody-goody, but there were a few things about her I could at least relate to, even if I didn't find her to be the most interesting character in existence. Oh yeah, I guess there's the dragon rider, although I honestly liked Baul more than her. Plus, she had the worst voice in the game. So squeaky and eerie.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 23, 2022)

Baalf said:


> So squeaky and eerie.


Every anime girl.
Honestly, I'd rather play Ni No Kuni 2 if I want was Tales offers. The game's story and characters are even WORSE, but that game is fun as _shit_.


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## Baalf (Apr 24, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Every anime girl.
> Honestly, I'd rather play Ni No Kuni 2 if I want was Tales offers. The game's story and characters are even WORSE, but that game is fun as _shit_.



My problem is that the first Nino Kuni game had a somewhat cliche plot, but a Charming world, and I loved the Mon-Taming element. The second game feels like every modern RPG out there. Also, you cannot get me to relate to a Nekomimi (who goes COMPLETELY against the lore of the first game) or someone who is willing to kill you for trying to cross the desert unless you bring their daughter back. There is going to be a new mobile game, and unfortunately that looks like it's going to go down the path of being like every other jrpg out there, too.


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## Hoodwinks (Apr 24, 2022)

I can't stand The Sims.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 24, 2022)

Baalf said:


> My problem is that the first Nino Kuni game had a somewhat cliche plot, but a Charming world, and I loved the Mon-Taming element. The second game feels like every modern RPG out there. Also, you cannot get me to relate to a Nekomimi (who goes COMPLETELY against the lore of the first game) or someone who is willing to kill you for trying to cross the desert unless you bring their daughter back. There is going to be a new mobile game, and unfortunately that looks like it's going to go down the path of being like every other jrpg out there, too.


The story was instantly trash from the start. The moment the president was nuked by an ICBM and woke up _younger_ in fairy world was the moment I knew the devs truly just want you to play the game for its varied gameplay elements. They didnt give a FUCK about this game's characters or story. Good. 

But god. I know they suck but the characters could have been modeled and animated better at least.

And 2 does have something of a monster taming element. Sort of. Its more Pikmin style though. But I think they removed what you're talking about for this neat town builder thing the games got going on. Honestly NNK2 is one of my favorite action RPG's. I thought it was loads of fun if fucking stupid.


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## Baalf (Apr 24, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> The story was instantly trash from the start. The moment the president was nuked by an ICBM and woke up _younger_ in fairy world was the moment I knew the devs truly just want you to play the game for its varied gameplay elements. They didnt give a FUCK about this game's characters or story. Good.
> 
> But god. I know they suck but the characters could have been modeled and animated better at least.
> 
> And 2 does have something of a monster taming element. Sort of. Its more Pikmin style though. But I think they removed what you're talking about for this neat town builder thing the games got going on. Honestly NNK2 is one of my favorite action RPG's. I thought it was loads of fun if fucking stupid.



You mean the Higgies? Those lifeless, uninspired dolls that existed basically to say "F*** you! We're not putting any effort into the designs of the protagonists." The cat kid's partner looks very similar to the main protag from Tales of Zesteria, and do I even need to comment on the cat kid himself? (Nekomimis are awful. Thee end)

Just saying it, I'd go back to NNK1 for the characters and story alone. The familiars had some pretty interesting designs, and it was fun trying out different characters and going through with favorites. Also, Drippy was pretty fun at times, if a bit pushy.

And, just saying it, NNK1's gameplay was not all that and a handshake. It was playable, but a little stiff. Plus, you get teleportation pretty late, meaning you'll be doing a lot of back tracking early on. This truly is a game you need to be patient for. But, IMO, it picks up once you beat the Hamelin arc.


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## Imperial Impact (Apr 24, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Xillia (I dont think I played 2), Phantasia, Vesperia, Graces, Innocence, Abyss, Symphonia, and Berseria. Though I put the least time into Berseria. I just saw the writing on the wall with it.


So you barely played the good 2D one then, huh?


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## SolDirix (Apr 24, 2022)

Hoodwinks said:


> I can't stand The Sims.


I've been putting off trying the series for a long time now. Anything I should be concerned about?


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## TrishaCat (Apr 24, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> So you barely played the good 2D one then, huh?


if someone plays 7 games in a series and doesn't like any of them i think its safe to say they wouldn't like any of the others lol


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## Imperial Impact (Apr 24, 2022)

TrishaCat said:


> if someone plays 7 games in a series and doesn't like any of them i think its safe to say they wouldn't like any of the others lol


The people who worked on the 2D games had nothing to do with the 3D games.


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## Rayd (Apr 24, 2022)

all these simulation yugioh games need to be stopped.

it feels like there hasnt been an actual proper yugioh game for like 15 years. i want a game with an actual campaign where u can go around and collect your own cards and make your own decks to duel people with. come on man.


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## Hoodwinks (Apr 25, 2022)

SolDirix said:


> I've been putting off trying the series for a long time now. Anything I should be concerned about?


I mean, I think it's to each their own. I just find it incredibly boring. 

I'm not great at building and designing the houses and I don't really care about making silly people live Slice of Life existences, even if they are wacky. I much prefer games that have a more RPG basis where you can build your house as a side-element, rather than the whole game revolving around that. But that's just me.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 25, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> The people who worked on the 2D games had nothing to do with the 3D games.


You know what? Just for you, Impact. I'll give just Phantasia another shot. 
I gave it 6 hours in the past before I quit because I thoroughly believe if a game is not fun the moment you press start, then it's bad. 
But, you know what the kids say: "You can only judge an 80 hour game if you've 100% it." 

I'll be even more generous and give it a whole _7_ hours this time. 
That'll be 13 total hours of my life spent on a Tales game. Just for you. Because I like ya a lot.

*


*


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## Imperial Impact (Apr 25, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> You know what? Just for you, Impact. I'll give just Phantasia another shot.
> I gave it 6 hours in the past before I quit because I thoroughly believe if a game is not fun the moment you press start, then it's bad.
> But, you know what the kids say: "You can only judge an 80 hour game if you've 100% it."
> 
> ...


Why Phantasia and not the Ps2 remake of Destiny and Lengendia?


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## Judge Spear (Apr 25, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> Why Phantasia and not the Ps2 remake of Destiny and Lengendia?


Because that was the one I listed and thought you were talking about in your last response.


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## Imperial Impact (Apr 25, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Because that was the one I listed and thought you were talking about in your last response.


Both of those two are 2D?


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## Judge Spear (Apr 25, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> So you barely played the good 2D one then, huh?


I'm referring to this.


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## Imperial Impact (Apr 25, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> I'm referring to this.


Fair enough.


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## Phischermen (Apr 25, 2022)

I never really cared for Skyrim. It took forever to get to new places on the map, and a lot of places looked the same to me. The combat and stealth was boring for me; I have never been a fan of stamina systems, so that is what mostly turned me off of combat. For some reason, I couldn't see anything when I dove under water; swimming is favorite part about playing as an Argonian!


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## Baalf (Apr 25, 2022)

Phischermen said:


> I never really cared for Skyrim. It took forever to get to new places on the map, and a lot of places looked the same to me. The combat and stealth was boring for me; I have never been a fan of stamina systems, so that is what mostly turned me off of combat. For some reason, I couldn't see anything when I dove under water; swimming is favorite part about playing as an Argonian!



...

...

...Oblivion was better.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Apr 25, 2022)

Phischermen said:


> I never really cared for Skyrim. It took forever to get to new places on the map, and a lot of places looked the same to me. The combat and stealth was boring for me; I have never been a fan of stamina systems, so that is what mostly turned me off of combat. For some reason, I couldn't see anything when I dove under water; swimming is favorite part about playing as an Argonian!


Oof, totally felt this one. People always act like I'm weird for not liking Elder Scrolls and it's really fucking annoying. Sorry I don't give a shit about something that has nothing in it that interests me personally and prefer to play games I like.


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## Baalf (Apr 26, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Oof, totally felt this one. People always act like I'm weird for not liking Elder Scrolls and it's really fucking annoying. Sorry I don't give a shit about something that has nothing in it that interests me personally and prefer to play games I like.



Honestly, Elder Scrolls is one of those games I like in spite of its flaws. Yeah, it's glitchy, and the story's nothing to write home about, but I still enjoy playing as an Argonian more than I enjoy playing a lot of other games in the genre.

And I'm just going to say it, regardless of whether it has a turtle pope or not, Elden Ring is still boring, cliche and overrated IMO.


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## KimberVaile (Apr 26, 2022)

Phischermen said:


> I never really cared for Skyrim. It took forever to get to new places on the map, and a lot of places looked the same to me. The combat and stealth was boring for me; I have never been a fan of stamina systems, so that is what mostly turned me off of combat. For some reason, I couldn't see anything when I dove under water; swimming is favorite part about playing as an Argonian!


The mod content for the game was more interesting than the game itself.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 26, 2022)

Bro, Skyrim was lame.
Every last little cool thing left from Oblivion was removed. Nothing to commit to. No specialization indicative of a _role _playing game. You go in, steam roll everything, become everything unanswered, and don't have to make any kind of real decisions towards a build. Granted it's not like there's any reason to. Half the game is clearing out Draugr from copy pasted dungeons anyway because open worlds are SO interesting. 9-9

Also why does Bethesda have a fetish for ugly as fuck, nasty ass looking characters? Why is everyone in every TES (and FO) just maniacally hideous? Can they get an appealing art style? What is the issue? I don't even bother with custom characters in their games because there's quite literally no way possible to make something visibly pleasant regardless of race or gender. I'd just pick the default male Nord because I couldn't begin to care.

TES 6 and StarField are probably about to have the same crusty, musty, dusty ass looking people.



KimberVaile said:


> The mod content for the game was more interesting than the game itself.


It's such a pain in the ass trying to mod that game. I just gave up.


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## Phischermen (Apr 26, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Oblivion was better.


It really was! Of course, it benefited from being the first Elder Scrolls game I played, but I recall being much more engrossed with its world. And it was also just really funny sometimes!


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## KimberVaile (Apr 26, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> It's such a pain in the ass trying to mod that game. I just gave up.


It can be a bit finicky, yeah but the new mod manager makes it easyish? Sorta. Though, full disclosure, I just dug all the furry mods, lol.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 26, 2022)

KimberVaile said:


> It can be a bit finicky, yeah but the new mod manager makes it easyish? Sorta. Though, full disclosure, I just dug all the furry mods, lol.


DubMare used to run around as thick ass Khajiit baddies with better faces. If it were as simple as getting my Blaze mod in Sonic Generations, I'd be playing Skyrim daily. But it takes like a week just to understand to get it all running and then you better HOPE it works.

Fuck that. I'll just boot up PSO2 NGS if I want to run around as a thick furry in a boring RPG. lol


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## KimberVaile (Apr 26, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> DubMare used to run around as thick ass Khajiit baddies with better faces. If it were as simple as getting my Blaze mod in Sonic Generations, I'd be playing Skyrim daily. But it takes like a week just to understand to get it all running and then you better HOPE it works.
> 
> Fuck that. I'll just boot up PSO2 NGS if I want to run around as a thick furry in a boring RPG. lol


They do have step by step guides now that make it tolerable to get through. I do get your pain though, some of the mod tools are kind of a bitch to get to work, but I dunno man. I guess I'm just willing to jump through all the hoops for the femboy wolf boys and related degenerate furry crap. I aint at all about to dress up the entire reason behind the motivations. It's trash content for utterly trash interests lol.

Still it's nice when it all works, for what little consolation that is.
I suppose that does bring up something else. Mainly, I would probably be less willing to do any mods if I had more dummy thicc fox boys by default. Lol

You hear me game industry? The furry coomer market is real! I'll buy whatever shitty, bland open world snorefest you make if you do. I'll even pretend to love it and give it poorly explained perfect scores on metacritic.


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## Baalf (Apr 26, 2022)

Phischermen said:


> It really was! Of course, it benefited from being the first Elder Scrolls game I played, but I recall being much more engrossed with its world. And it was also just really funny sometimes!



Did you ever run into the woman who's dialogue LEFT AN OUT-TAKE in the game?


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## Judge Spear (Apr 27, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Did you ever run into the woman who's dialogue LEFT AN OUT-TAKE in the game?




__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1514052612018126849


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## KimberVaile (Apr 27, 2022)

How can Oblivion be brought up without anybody mentioning how great the adoring fan is?


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## Judge Spear (Apr 27, 2022)

Oblivion is SO old.
I have a Game Informer magazine from just when it was announced.

"Oblivion Revealed for *XBox 2*!"


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## Phischermen (Apr 27, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Did you ever run into the woman who's dialogue LEFT AN OUT-TAKE in the game?


I never met her when I played, but I saw that video before! If I experienced that in-game, I'd have loved it!


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## KimberVaile (Apr 27, 2022)

Chad Oblivion guard Vs Virgin Skyrim guard


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## Judge Spear (Apr 27, 2022)

This was the best thing about the PS5 and Sony didn't get nearly enough credit for it. They're the only ones this gen that gave you a free, _good_, lengthy pack-in game. Preinstalled. No update required. Fully offline. Well made with care and replayability. It elegantly demonstrates the DualSense and seamless design that PS5 games are striving for all while it repeatedly punches you in the chest with celebratory nostalgia.

MicroSoft I give a _little _bit of a pass because you're going to be getting an XBox sub anyway. That instantly gives you like 600 games and is a better value than it's competition. But that requires an Internet connection, and you know, a _sub_.

Nintendo gave you nothing. Again.


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## Baalf (Apr 27, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> This was the best thing about the PS5 and Sony didn't get nearly enough credit for it. They're the only ones this gen that gave you a free, _good_, lengthy pack-in game. Preinstalled. No update required. Fully offline. Well made with care and replayability. It elegantly demonstrates the DualSense and seamless design that PS5 games are striving for all while it repeatedly punches you in the chest with celebratory nostalgia.
> 
> MicroSoft I give a _little _bit of a pass because you're going to be getting an XBox sub anyway. That instantly gives you like 600 games and is a better value than it's competition. But that requires an Internet connection, and you know, a _sub_.
> 
> Nintendo gave you nothing. Again.



Not neccessarily true. My switch actually came with a free download code for Mario Kart 8. So...

...I guess SOME people got something. Come to think of it, that still kinda sucks. -_-

Sony does what Ninten-don't.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 27, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Not neccessarily true. My switch actually came with a free download code for Mario Kart 8. So...
> 
> ...I guess SOME people got something. Come to think of it, that still kinda sucks. -_-
> 
> Sony does what Ninten-don't.


If you got a *bundle* thats different. I'm talking about at launch, an original, free, next gen game that comes with every unit.

Mario Kart 8 was 4 years old when the Switch was new.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 29, 2022)

Fi > Pyra


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## DemonHazardDeer (Apr 30, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Fi > Pyra


Daaaaaaaaamn now that's controversial


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## Judge Spear (Apr 30, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Daaaaaaaaamn now that's controversial


Fi is annoying from a design standpoint that was very fixable and was addressed elegantly.

Beyond that, she's immediately a better character that fits a similar role.


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## Nexus Cabler (Apr 30, 2022)

I don't like that almost all shooters make the starting weapon the pistol. It feels just so overdone, and I would much rather enjoy the idea of maybe another type of firearm to start and a pistol introduced later in gameplay that is decent and powerful to use.

Maybe start with an smg, or shotgun, then later you come across a desert eagle or other type of powerful handgun.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 30, 2022)

ZippyZap said:


> I don't like that almost all shooters make the starting weapon the pistol. It feels just so overdone, and I would much rather enjoy the idea of maybe another type of firearm to start and a pistol introduced later in gameplay that is decent and powerful to use.
> 
> Maybe start with an smg, or shotgun, then later you come across a desert eagle or other type of powerful handgun.



I was glad that Doom Eternal just completely ditched the pistol and started you with the shotgun. You're going to replace the pistol in like 3 minutes in any FPS and never use it again anyway outside of fringe non-combat utility use anyway. So you might as well just adjust the use cases of the next tier in firepower and let people start with that.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Apr 30, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Fi is annoying from a design standpoint that was very fixable and was addressed elegantly.
> 
> Beyond that, she's immediately a better character that fits a similar role.


I could never get invested in her character, I dunno if it was the emotionless robot angle or what but it just never clicked personally, she def gets too much hate tho like all of Skyward Sword. Then with Xenoblade 2 I was bawling my eyes out at the end with Pyra. Xenoblade 2 really got me attached to the characters, Nia, Zeke and Rex were also highlights for me.


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## Judge Spear (Apr 30, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> I could never get invested in her character, I dunno if it was the emotionless robot angle or what but it just never clicked personally, she def gets too much hate tho like all of Skyward Sword. Then with Xenoblade 2 I was bawling my eyes out at the end with Pyra. Xenoblade 2 really got me attached to the characters, Nia, Zeke and Rex were also highlights for me.


God bless you because Xenoblade 2's characters made me want to break Geneva Conventions.




Here's me any time a character in XB2 opened their mouth.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Apr 30, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> God bless you because Xenoblade 2's characters made me want to break Geneva Conventions.
> 
> View attachment 131399
> Here's me any time a character in XB2 opened their mouth.


Pffffft! I will say I get the hate since you only start getting attached by a certain point. Rex himself is really unlikeable in the beginning (which is for legit story reasons but I understand not getting invested) and a lot of them early on do lean on anime tropes before actually developing them. But goddamn by the end they feel so fuckin real and worm their way right into your heart, for me at least. Will say the beginning is awful and only gets good at a certain point, even as a huge fan of 1 I had to push myself forward in 2 before I really got into it both gameplay and story wise because both sucked me in at the same plot point, not gonna say you need to play it for 10 hours before it gets good because if you don't wanna slog through those 10 that's just what you prefer, I don't fuckin blame ya lol


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## Judge Spear (Apr 30, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Pffffft! I will say I get the hate since you only start getting attached by a certain point. Rex himself is really unlikeable in the beginning (which is for legit story reasons but I understand not getting invested) and a lot of them early on do lean on anime tropes before actually developing them. But goddamn by the end they feel so fuckin real and worm their way right into your heart, for me at least. Will say the beginning is awful and only gets good at a certain point, even as a huge fan of 1 I had to push myself forward in 2 before I really got into it both gameplay and story wise because both sucked me in at the same plot point, not gonna say you need to play it for 10 hours before it gets good because if you don't wanna slog through those 10 that's just what you prefer, I don't fuckin blame ya lol


The characters are insufferable but the game itself was what made me stop playing. I cant imagine finding value in them but I can always tune out characters and I always do. I cant tune out level 80 flying creatures aggro'd from 5 miles away and one shotting me from 5 contintents away. Or terrible, misplaced gacha mechanics. Or reduction in build depth from XB1 and XBX. 

But its interesting you criticize the opening few hours because XBX had the same exact issue despite being a much more interesting game. Very obtuse questing. Monolith is kind of horrible with pacing and progression curves.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Apr 30, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> The characters are insufferable but the game itself was what made me stop playing. I cant imagine finding value in them but I can always tune out characters and I always do. I cant tune out level 80 flying creatures aggro'd from 5 miles away and one shotting me from 5 contintents away. Or terrible, misplaced gacha mechanics. Or reduction in build depth from XB1 and XBX.
> 
> But its interesting you criticize the opening few hours because XBX had the same exact issue despite being a much more interesting game. Very obtuse questing. Monolith is kind of horrible with pacing and progression curves.


They really do improve, at least I thought so. I can actually remember all of them like 1, unlike X and a ton of other bland JRPGs, but again it takes a long ass time. I do also quite enjoy the level 80 monsters from all the Xenoblade games, I think X actually did it quite well especially, just swimming around and spot something weird to have it turn into a level 96 mecha trying to kill me lol. I don’t really mind the one shoting since it doesn’t send you to your last save like a ton of other RPGs. As for depth, in the beginning it is a total reduction from the past games, but it really does build and become surprisingly engaging by the end, I was super bored by it till that certain plot point I mentioned where it introduces a familiar mechanic and snowballs into a much deeper system.

See I agree that X had the same problem but I fucking hated X. Well maybe hated is a bit strong but it’s definitely my least fav out of all the Xeno games. I didn’t like the characters, the create a character I didn’t like because you get no personality, I personally rather be frustrated at first and then eventually love Rex as a character than have no feelings towards my stand in character. I liked the combat switching and music but overall I barely remember anything from X, but I can remember so much of 1 and 2 off the top of my head. It’s like Pokémon X and Y for me, they aren’t bad games but I barely remember anything about them or any feelings I had playing them.


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## Judge Spear (May 1, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> They really do improve, at least I thought so. I can actually remember all of them like 1, unlike X and a ton of other bland JRPGs, but again it takes a long ass time. I do also quite enjoy the level 80 monsters from all the Xenoblade games, I think X actually did it quite well especially, just swimming around and spot something weird to have it turn into a level 96 mecha trying to kill me lol. I don’t really mind the one shoting since it doesn’t send you to your last save like a ton of other RPGs. As for depth, in the beginning it is a total reduction from the past games, but it really does build and become surprisingly engaging by the end, I was super bored by it till that certain plot point I mentioned where it introduces a familiar mechanic and snowballs into a much deeper system.
> 
> See I agree that X had the same problem but I fucking hated X. Well maybe hated is a bit strong but it’s definitely my least fav out of all the Xeno games. I didn’t like the characters, the create a character I didn’t like because you get no personality, I personally rather be frustrated at first and then eventually love Rex as a character than have no feelings towards my stand in character. I liked the combat switching and music but overall I barely remember anything from X, but I can remember so much of 1 and 2 off the top of my head. It’s like Pokémon X and Y for me, they aren’t bad games but I barely remember anything about them or any feelings I had playing them.


I just need an RPG to be fun and let me tinker with numbers really. I cant really think of any where I liked the plot/characters. But I find that oddly lets me enjoy them more because I can just get right to what matters much faster.


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## Baalf (May 3, 2022)

Liking a protagonist based on their looks is not this horrible concept it's made out to be. In real life, not judging someone (or something) by how they look is a great lesson to learn, but in a videogame where the creator has full choice over how things look, why is it so important that the protags need to look boring? Yes, I get it, "different strokes for different folks" but that argument goes out the window when most companies copy/paste the same designs over and over. At that point, you're just pandering to one particular group.

Even in Pokemon it gets frustrating. Someone who likes big, imposing monsters is gonna have a bad time because almost none of them are any good. On the other hand, stick-figure Pokemon tend to be super powerful to the point where you basically need them if you want the strongest team possible, which sucks when you don't like those designs. It also gets frustrating being told to use Pokemon I literally hate the design of and just get over it. Besides, you WILL like them if you use them. Well, I've tried using Greninja and Pheremosa and other Pokemon I hate, and guess what: *I still hate them.*

And, I'm sorry, but the characters I play as tend to be the characters I like asthetically, especially in games where there's more than one character I like with more than one playstyle. Oftentimes, I lose interest in games if I basically HAVE to use characters I don't like.

And yes, you could argue that "looks aren't everything," but here's the thing. I can often forgive some unlikeable traits if I like the character, but not only do I have a harder time investing myself in characters I don't like asthetically, but the vast majority of characters I don't like astheticall I ALSO don't like as characters. That also goes out the window in Mon collectors because monsters don't have characters in those.

...But you know what? That's part of the fun of it. Sometimes when I play Pokemon or Nexomon or Digimon or other mon-collectors, I come up with my own character traits for them. Once again, this is helped by liking a character asthetically.

Also, slaying badass monsters is not inherently badass. Like, let's get one thing straight: I have nothing against fighting monsters in games. But I also believe in this: A villain is only as strong as the hero. If you have a badass villain with a badass design and/or relatable goals, but the hero is a human-sue and they've written the villain as an unrealistic extremist in a desperate attempt to stop you from relating to them more than the hero, who's goals more often then not will ALSO make the world worse off by allowing the very problems the villain had that motivated their goal to continue, great! Now I hate everyone!


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## DemonHazardDeer (May 3, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Liking a protagonist based on their looks is not this horrible concept it's made out to be. In real life, not judging someone by how they look is a great lesson to learn, but in a videogame where the creator has full choice over how things look, why is it so important that the protags need to look boring? Yes, I get it, "different strokes for different folks" but that argument goes out the window when most companies copy/paste the same designs over and over. At that point, you're just pandering to one particular group.


I actually do agree with this one, a ton of games I end up looking into is because a character looks cool and caught my attention. Xenoblade 1, Mad Rat Dead, TWEWY, Jet Set Radio, all of them I picked up cuz I thought a character and/or the visual style got me interested in some way, gameplay and story too but style can go a long ass way, much more than realism. It also works in reverse for me as well, if a character's writing is great I can ignore a design I don't like, like Rex's first design for the majority of Xenoblade 2 looks fuckin stupid but as Rex develops as a character the design bothers me less and less, plus he gets bonus points for it at least making some sense since he's a deep sea diver, unlike FF Tactics Advance's fuckin pizza cutter sword ass and... sheet metal holster? I still have no idea what that is lol


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## Judge Spear (May 6, 2022)

Open Your Heart > Live and Learn


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## ben909 (May 7, 2022)

i know i will be called a heretic for saying this(in general, not specifically)

i an slowly changeing my mind about softwere as a service type things, mean paying a monthly or yearly rate for a game from a developer, rather then buying a new version every 2 years or so


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## Kope (May 7, 2022)

Multi-player was a mistake


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## Judge Spear (May 7, 2022)

Bowser's Fury > Odyssey. 

Not that Odyssey is at all a difficult game to top.


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## QueenSekhmet (May 8, 2022)

voldo's BDSM gear makes up for all the other sexy stuff in soul calibur.


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## Frank Gulotta (May 8, 2022)

Kope said:


> Multi-player was a mistake


You play with toxic?


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## Kope (May 8, 2022)

Frank Gulotta said:


> You play with toxic?


Nah I just want more single player games : P


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## Frank Gulotta (May 8, 2022)

Kope said:


> Nah I just want more single player games : P


Don't most games have a single player mode? although AIs can be pretty dumb


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## QueenSekhmet (May 8, 2022)

Frank Gulotta said:


> Don't most games have a single player mode? although AIs can be pretty dumb


some don't have ANY,though (looking at you,overwatch). sometimes you just want a nice story and to play at your own pace without some jack ass yelling at you because the team lost,despite that they are the one that took the time out in the middle of the game to message you about it.


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## Judge Spear (May 8, 2022)

QueenSekhmet said:


> some don't have ANY,though (looking at you,overwatch). sometimes you just want a nice story and to play at your own pace without some jack ass yelling at you because the team lost,despite that they are the one that took the time out in the middle of the game to message you about it.


So then go play them. Lol


Frank Gulotta said:


> Don't most games have a single player mode? although AIs can be pretty dumb


Theres so many hundreds of thousands of single player games or games with an SP component yeah.


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## QueenSekhmet (May 8, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> So then go play them. Lol
> 
> Theres so many hundreds of thousands of single player games or games with an SP component yeah.


i do. but i shouldn't have to deal with morons when i just dropped $60+ on a game because i find the lore interesting and the gameplay fun (aside from the forced multi-player). if people are allowed to complain about no hard mode in pokemon than i get to complain about no single player mode in overwatch.


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## Kope (May 8, 2022)

QueenSekhmet said:


> i do. but i shouldn't have to deal with morons when i just dropped $60+ on a game because i find the lore interesting and the gameplay fun (aside from the forced multi-player). if people are allowed to complain about no hard mode in pokemon than i get to complain about no single player mode in overwatch.


This plus I don’t want to be responsible for someone else’s fun


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## QueenSekhmet (May 8, 2022)

Kope said:


> This plus I don’t want to be responsible for someone else’s fun


you are never responsible for some else's fun: you're just a player just like they are so your only focus should be if YOU'RE having fun. some people wouldn't have fun no matter what you did,anyway so no point worrying about it.


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## TyraWadman (May 8, 2022)

QueenSekhmet said:


> i do. but i shouldn't have to deal with morons when i just dropped $60+ on a game because i find the lore interesting and the gameplay fun (aside from the forced multi-player). if people are allowed to complain about no hard mode in pokemon than i get to complain about no single player mode in overwatch.



It's weird to hear such a game doesn't have a solo mode. Even league has a custom mode where you can play exclusively with friends or just do silly things alone.


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## QueenSekhmet (May 8, 2022)

TyraWadman said:


> It's weird to hear such a game doesn't have a solo mode. Even league has a custom mode where you can play exclusively with friends or just do silly things alone.


right? hell,they clearly put a lot of work into the lore and backstories of characters and everything but instead of giving us a story mode to explore it with,they decided to do it the hard way via webcomics and graphic novels. it kind of baffles be that they would care that much about the lore but not give you the chance to experience it for yourself via gameplay.


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## Frank Gulotta (May 8, 2022)

QueenSekhmet said:


> some don't have ANY,though (looking at you,overwatch). sometimes you just want a nice story and to play at your own pace without some jack ass yelling at you because the team lost,despite that they are the one that took the time out in the middle of the game to message you about it.


That's a very specific scenario, I know it does happen but in very many cases, multiplayer experience can be very fun


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## Frank Gulotta (May 8, 2022)

Kope said:


> This plus I don’t want to be responsible for someone else’s fun


But if several people are having fun together, the whole of the fun is more than the sum of its parts.


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## QueenSekhmet (May 8, 2022)

Frank Gulotta said:


> That's a very specific scenario, I know it does happen but in very many cases, multiplayer experience can be very fun


between all the toxic man-children and the overly skilled players that know how to play the game so well after spending hours and hours a day on it: sometimes it's just nice to at least have the option to play the same game without all the competition since some people just play for fun.


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## Judge Spear (May 8, 2022)

Play something else?
I dunno. Like I said theres thousands of single player games.


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## QueenSekhmet (May 8, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Play something else?
> I dunno. Like I said theres thousands of single player games.


you play something else. i want to play the game i just wasted $60+ on on the first day because it looked really fun but then found out that not only do i need to spend EXTRA money of some subscription just to even play the game i just bought at all but that said game doesn't even let you just sit back and enjoy the game on your own. SMART companies sell to everyone,not just a small minority like the esports crowd. if you're not going to offer anything better than "play something else" then don't weigh in because it's about as helpful as "git gud".


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## TrishaCat (May 9, 2022)

QueenSekhmet said:


> SMART companies sell to everyone


Making your audience "everyone" typically results in very boring games in the sense that everyone has different tastes and desires in games. Trying to please everyone means companies are looking at the most common and well received aspects of big AAA titles and focusing exclusively on those to the point that games wind up looking like each other and being "safe". 
Your overall sentiment on wanting multiplayer games to at least have like a "casual" or "for fun" mode I agree with though. Heaven knows I wish it was easier to play Yugioh Master Duel unranked. I avoid MOBAs outright in part because their communities seem so tryhard. Tried playing a game of League with friends once and they were telling me to tell players what role I'll be playing on the team which confused the fuck out of me as someone that doesn't even know what those roles are and it being something the game sure doesn't teach


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## QueenSekhmet (May 9, 2022)

TrishaCat said:


> Making your audience "everyone" typically results in very boring games in the sense that everyone has different tastes and desires in games. Trying to please everyone means companies are looking at the most common and well received aspects of big AAA titles and focusing exclusively on those to the point that games wind up looking like each other and being "safe".
> Your overall sentiment on wanting multiplayer games to at least have like a "casual" or "for fun" mode I agree with though. Heaven knows I wish it was easier to play Yugioh Master Duel unranked. I avoid MOBAs outright in part because their communities seem so tryhard. Tried playing a game of League with friends once and they were telling me to tell players what role I'll be playing on the team which confused the fuck out of me as someone that doesn't even know what those roles are and it being something the game sure doesn't teach


of course everyone has different tastes and what have you: what i meant was that smart companies make the game ACCESSIBLE to everyone. games are supposed to be fun so the idea should be to make it fun not just for a single demographic (just look at how big games like pokemon and mario are: they are popular both because of their history AS WELL as their ability to be inclusive to all kind of people,such as pokemon clearly being made with kids in mind but there being so much hidden lore that only someone older would even pick up on it). everyone should be able to play any game how they choose,be it a pokemon nuzlock or just sticking to player mode in a mostly multiplayer game. THAT'S where the money is at.


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## KimberVaile (May 9, 2022)

Speaking of multiplayer. The new Battlefront 2 game from EA went from being total doghshit to actually kinda decent. I'm kind of shocked. Still think the classic 2005 Battlefront is better but still, not bad considering it's launch.


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## Kope (May 9, 2022)

QueenSekhmet said:


> you play something else. i want to play the game i just wasted $60+ on on the first day because it looked really fun but then found out that not only do i need to spend EXTRA money of some subscription just to even play the game i just bought at all but that said game doesn't even let you just sit back and enjoy the game on your own. SMART companies sell to everyone,not just a small minority like the esports crowd. if you're not going to offer anything better than "play something else" then don't weigh in because it's about as helpful as "git gud".


I think Dark Souls is a good counter arguement to Smart Companies sell to everyone.


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## TrishaCat (May 9, 2022)

Kope said:


> I think Dark Souls is a good counter arguement to Smart Companies sell to everyone.


I was going to bring this up
I do not know how one could make Dark Souls appeal to everyone without severely harming its identity from a mechanical, enemy, and level design perspective in a way that would push away people into the series. I say this as someone that's iffy on Souls games.


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## QueenSekhmet (May 9, 2022)

Kope said:


> I think Dark Souls is a good counter arguement to Smart Companies sell to everyone.


how many people do you think are buying dark souls compared to people buying pokemon or mario? not to mention the fact that all anyone ever says about darks souls is that it's hard,not that it's actually any good. people buy it for the challenge not the game itself.


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## Baalf (May 9, 2022)

QueenSekhmet said:


> how many people do you think are buying dark souls compared to people buying pokemon or mario? not to mention the fact that all anyone ever says about darks souls is that it's hard,not that it's actually any good. people buy it for the challenge not the game itself.


Not to mention, the game is so monochrome and devoid of apparent whimsy that, as soomeone who's not into dark, edgy games, kinda pushes me away.

...Then again, the typical White Anime-Humans Slaughtering Monsters kinda games don't appeal to me either. Then again, that might fall under what TrishaCat mentioned as they tend to be an example of the "Safe" games designed to appeal to everyone.


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## AceQuorthon (May 9, 2022)

I absolutely hate hunger & thirst survival mechanics in games


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## QueenSekhmet (May 9, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Not to mention, the game is so monochrome and devoid of apparent whimsy that, as soomeone who's not into dark, edgy games, kinda pushes me away.
> 
> ...Then again, the typical White Anime-Humans Slaughtering Monsters kinda games don't appeal to me either. Then again, that might fall under what TrishaCat mentioned as they tend to be an example of the "Safe" games designed to appeal to everyone.


you're not alone in it. granted,i'm actually into darker things but i don't like stuff that is just dark for it's own sake (it's why all the live-action DC movies suck) so i have no interest in games that are just "dark,gritty hero kills stuff". that's just not my cup of tea.


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## TrishaCat (May 9, 2022)

QueenSekhmet said:


> all anyone ever says about darks souls is that it's hard,not that it's actually any good. people buy it for the challenge not the game itself.


People wouldn't play Souls games if they thought they weren't good. The challenge is an appeal but not the sole factor in people's enjoyment. Unfortunately I'm not a Souls fan so I can't say why people like it other than that the combat kinda feels good in Bloodborne and Souls 3. I like shooting enemies from afar and learning their movement patterns.


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## QueenSekhmet (May 9, 2022)

TrishaCat said:


> People wouldn't play Souls games if they thought they weren't good. The challenge is an appeal but not the sole factor in people's enjoyment. Unfortunately I'm not a Souls fan so I can't say why people like it other than that the combat kinda feels good Bloodborne and Souls 3. I like shooting enemies from afar and learning their movement patterns.


i like kicking their asses head to head and pushing them off the edge of the stage. i'ma fighting game gal.


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## TrishaCat (May 9, 2022)

Baalf said:


> ...Then again, the typical White Anime-Humans Slaughtering Monsters kinda games don't appeal to me either. Then again, that might fall under what TrishaCat mentioned as they tend to be an example of the "Safe" games designed to appeal to everyone.


No actually, when I think "safe" games I think stuff like Dad of War, Last of Us, Horizon Zero Dawn, Watch Dogs, Assassins Creed Valhalla, maybe Final Fantasy XV. Games that try to appeal to the mass market and oftentimes are very similar mechanically. Right now it's "over the shoulder 3rd person story games that aren't too hard and very Western".


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## Kope (May 9, 2022)

QueenSekhmet said:


> how many people do you think are buying dark souls compared to people buying pokemon or mario? not to mention the fact that all anyone ever says about darks souls is that it's hard,not that it's actually any good. people buy it for the challenge not the game itself.


Oof bad take The game is so good


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## Kope (May 9, 2022)

TrishaCat said:


> No actually, when I think "safe" games I think stuff like Dad of War, Last of Us, Horizon Zero Dawn, Watch Dogs, Assassins Creed Valhalla, maybe Final Fantasy XV. Games that try to appeal to the mass market and oftentimes are very similar mechanically. Right now it's "over the shoulder 3rd person story games that aren't too hard and very Western".


And open world collection


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## Yakamaru (May 9, 2022)

Certain games require a certain skill level in order to get some potential enjoyment out of the game. 

If you don't enjoy the the game, chances are one or several of these:
a) The game may not be for you
b) You don't have enough skill in order to enjoy it
c) Game mechanics may be too difficult for you to understand
d) You're not willing to put some effort into actually learning the game and its mechanics

Know what you're spending your money on. Do some research from for instance let's play's. Want a better AI? Go see if the game have a Steam Workshop that makes the AI more of a challenge.


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## DemonHazardDeer (May 10, 2022)

QueenSekhmet said:


> how many people do you think are buying dark souls compared to people buying pokemon or mario? not to mention the fact that all anyone ever says about darks souls is that it's hard,not that it's actually any good. people buy it for the challenge not the game itself.


Okay hang on a minute, you're not wrong about everyone saying it's hard, but there is _so_ much praise and talk surrounding the world design and lore. Even before I got into the games, I heard that alongside the difficulty


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## DemonHazardDeer (May 10, 2022)

QueenSekhmet said:


> i like kicking their asses head to head and pushing them off the edge of the stage. i'ma fighting game gal.


What's some of your favs? Sorry it's not exactly on topic but I rarely get to talk fighters with people, so I like to hear what others like when I get the chance


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## QueenSekhmet (May 10, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Okay hang on a minute, you're not wrong about everyone saying it's hard, but there is _so_ much praise and talk surrounding the world design and lore. Even before I got into the games, I heard that alongside the difficulty


all i know is that,as someone who has never played it and doesn't know anything about it EXCEPT that it's hard: it being hard is all i personally hear about it.


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## QueenSekhmet (May 10, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> What's some of your favs? Sorry it's not exactly on topic but I rarely get to talk fighters with people, so I like to hear what others like when I get the chance


i'm a hardcore soul calibur fan (i've had every main game since soul calibur II and even played soul edge in a arcade once when i was younger). i'm also into smash bros and have played two of the dead or alive games,dragonball fighter Z,dragonball xenonerse,pokken tournament,naruto ninja storm and skull girls. but soul calibur is my one true fighting game love.


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## DemonHazardDeer (May 10, 2022)

QueenSekhmet said:


> i'm a hardcore soul calibur fan (i've had every main game since soul calibur II and even played soul edge in a arcade once when i was younger). i'm also into smash bros and have played two of the dead or alive games,dragonball fighter Z,dragonball xenonerse,pokken tournament,naruto ninja storm and skull girls. but soul calibur is my one true fighting game love.


Niiiiiice! I haven't dipped my toe too far into SolCal, mostly just played 2 and 6, but I really enjoy them. Dead or Alive can be really fun (for various reasons) DBFZ is quality ArcSys, haven't played much Pokken but that's mostly cuz I want it to just play like Tekken lol. Also been a Skull Girls fan for a long ass time, I'm glad they can keep working on it after the whole shit storm


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## QueenSekhmet (May 10, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Niiiiiice! I haven't dipped my toe too far into SolCal, mostly just played 2 and 6, but I really enjoy them. Dead or Alive can be really fun (for various reasons) DBFZ is quality ArcSys, haven't played much Pokken but that's mostly cuz I want it to just play like Tekken lol. Also been a Skull Girls fan for a long ass time, I'm glad they can keep working on it after the whole shit storm


if you're looking to give it another go,SC recently rebooted the entire series with soul calibur VI so that would be a GREAT place to jump off from (SC is VERY story and character driven and VI has new story mode where it focus on one character at a time and it's all part of one canon story so it would be good for learning about the characters and such without having to look up a bunch of lore). also geralt from the witcher,2B from nier and haohmaru from samurai shodown are all playable characters if any of those tickle your fancy.


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## DemonHazardDeer (May 10, 2022)

QueenSekhmet said:


> if you're looking to give it another go,SC recently rebooted the entire series with soul calibur VI so that would be a GREAT place to jump off from (SC is VERY story and character driven and VI has new story mode where it focus on one character at a time and it's all part of one canon story so it would be good for learning about the characters and such without having to look up a bunch of lore). also geralt from the witcher,2B from nier and haohmaru from samurai shodown are all playable characters if any of those tickle your fancy.


Haohmaru def pushed me into finally getting VI, since I absolutely love SamSho, and from what I've played of VI I'd say him and Yoshimitsu are my mains. I just gotta actually play more of the game lol


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## QueenSekhmet (May 10, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Haohmaru def pushed me into finally getting VI, since I absolutely love SamSho, and from what I've played of VI I'd say him and Yoshimitsu are my mains. I just gotta actually play more of the game lol


it's really quite good once you start getting into the story of it all. my mains are tira and hilde.


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## Punji (May 10, 2022)

Creating consistent access to readily available force-multipliers creates a negative and toxic playerbase where the vast majority of players abuse the most powerful things as an alternative to utilizing skill.

Therefore, force-multipliers are an inherently negative tool to add in competitive/competitive-CO-OP multiplayer games.


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## Kope (May 11, 2022)

Punji said:


> Creating consistent access to readily available force-multipliers creates a negative and toxic playerbase where the vast majority of players abuse the most powerful things as an alternative to utilizing skill.
> 
> Therefore, force-multipliers are an inherently negative tool to add in competitive/competitive-CO-OP multiplayer games.


I feel like players will abuse anything powerful but you got a fair point


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## Baalf (May 11, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Okay hang on a minute, you're not wrong about everyone saying it's hard, but there is _so_ much praise and talk surrounding the world design and lore. Even before I got into the games, I heard that alongside the difficulty



I couldn't disagree more. Sure, a lot of the VILLAINS have some interesting lore, but why am I supposed to like the VILLAINS? Why can't the hero or the goodguys have that kind of interesting lore? You're a random human risen from the dead. You go around slaughtering everything that doesn't look like you. Maybe if you're lucky, you get to be an anthro-dragon after partaking a certain questline, blah-blah-blah.

Yet, the bosses and villains are gruesome, imaginitive and have plenty of interesting lore. All it does is make me wish I was playing as THEM and not the insanely generic and uninspired hero. I don't get this: why make the characters that I am NOT supposed to like interesting? I mean, isn't that the point of a villain is that I'm not SUPPOSED to like them? I'm not SUPPOSED to root for them? I mean, I don't mind liking the villains, but I want to like the hero FIRST before I like the villains. I might have said this before, but I'll say it again: A villain is only as strong as the hero. (Meaning, a strong villain design and character only works with a comparably strong hero design/character IMO.) I didn't find anything the game WANTED me to appreciate to be even remotely interesting.

Also, I know I commented on the villains being imaginitive, but... The first boss in Dark Souls feels like a demented, less cartoonish version of Balzak/Pruslas/Night Clubber.


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## Balskarr (May 11, 2022)

It almost feels now that liking Elden ring or any of the souls games before it is starting to become an unpopular opinion in this very thread. I will sing my praises of all the games in that case and go even further on the unpopular opinions and say Dark souls 2 is still my favorite in the series. I will have to see how Elden ring ends up in a few balance patches and maybe a DLC or two to see if DS2 gets dethroned as my favorite.


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## Judge Spear (May 11, 2022)

QueenSekhmet said:


> you play something else. i want to play the game i just wasted $60+ on on the first day because it looked really fun but then found out that not only do i need to spend EXTRA money of some subscription just to even play the game i just bought at all but that said game doesn't even let you just sit back and enjoy the game on your own. SMART companies sell to everyone,not just a small minority like the esports crowd. if you're not going to offer anything better than "play something else" then don't weigh in because it's about as helpful as "git gud".


I do play other things when I don't like something. lmfao
What kind of Kindergartner clapback even was that?

I don't particularly care that you dislike OW or multiplayer games or eSports. I just never understand when people get upset about multiplayer games existing like you don't have, for the third time, *thousands *of alternatives.

And no. Sorry. Not every game needs to appeal to everyone. If you want to make money sure. If you want to make something GOOD, you have a focus.


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## QueenSekhmet (May 11, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> I do play other things when I don't like something. lmfao
> What kind of Kindergartner clapback even was that?
> 
> I don't particularly care that you dislike OW or multiplayer games or eSports. I just never understand when people get upset about multiplayer games existing like you don't have, for the third time, *thousands *of alternatives.
> ...


you're trying to pick a fight on a thread about unpopular video games opinions and I'M the kindergartner? grow up.


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## Judge Spear (May 11, 2022)

QueenSekhmet said:


> you're trying to pick a fight on a thread about unpopular video games opinions and I'M the kindergartner? grow up.


You started arm flailing when I very calmly told you to play games that appeal to you as this would solve your problem.


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## Kope (May 11, 2022)

Balskarr said:


> It almost feels now that liking Elden ring or any of the souls games before it is starting to become an unpopular opinion in this very thread. I will sing my praises of all the games in that case and go even further on the unpopular opinions and say Dark souls 2 is still my favorite in the series. I will have to see how Elden ring ends up in a few balance patches and maybe a DLC or two to see if DS2 gets dethroned as my favorite.


Ds2 is too frustrating for me (I beat it btw)


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## DemonHazardDeer (May 11, 2022)

Kope said:


> Ds2 is too frustrating for me (I beat it btw)


Did you play the original release or the Scholars remaster? Cuz scholars actually fixes some stuff but is still not great, it is better tho


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## Lexiand (May 11, 2022)

I hate stamina mechanics in games that does not need it.


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## DemonHazardDeer (May 11, 2022)

Baalf said:


> I couldn't disagree more. Sure, a lot of the VILLAINS have some interesting lore, but why am I supposed to like the VILLAINS? Why can't the hero or the goodguys have that kind of interesting lore? You're a random human risen from the dead. You go around slaughtering everything that doesn't look like you. Maybe if you're lucky, you get to be an anthro-dragon after partaking a certain questline, blah-blah-blah.
> 
> Yet, the bosses and villains are gruesome, imaginitive and have plenty of interesting lore. All it does is make me wish I was playing as THEM and not the insanely generic and uninspired hero. I don't get this: why make the characters that I am NOT supposed to like interesting? I mean, isn't that the point of a villain is that I'm not SUPPOSED to like them? I'm not SUPPOSED to root for them? I mean, I don't mind liking the villains, but I want to like the hero FIRST before I like the villains. I might have said this before, but I'll say it again: A villain is only as strong as the hero. (Meaning, a strong villain design and character only works with a comparably strong hero design/character IMO.) I didn't find anything the game WANTED me to appreciate to be even remotely interesting.
> 
> Also, I know I commented on the villains being imaginitive, but... The first boss in Dark Souls feels like a demented, less cartoonish version of Balzak/Pruslas/Night Clubber.


I dunno man, I prefer interesting villians over generic cookie cutter ones with no personality honestly. You can like a villain but not side with them, villains that exist to only be evil usually just are interesting or memorable. Like the only Tales villain I can really remember liking is from Abyss since Asch is an actual character and not a comically evil doer of evil because he just likes to be evil. I can understand wanting the hero to have their own lore, I usually hate user made heroes for single player games like in Xenoblade X, but in DS the whole point is you're a nobody, just some random guy who's gonna get his ass handed to him countless times but with enough will power and training can take down the toughest foes. I personally really like that angle, way more than "YOU ARE GENERIC CREATE A CHARACTER GARY SUE CHOSEN ONE AND YOU WILL EASILY BEAT EVERYONE BECAUSE YOU ARE COOL AND POPULAR AND STACEY IS TOTALLY INTO YOU DUDE" kinda shtick. Nothing wrong with not liking it but I like it myself. FromSoft has shown they can make cool player characters with actual lore too like Wolf in Sekiro, but their bread and butter has mostly always been just focusing on the world and atmosphere even back on the PS1


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## Baalf (May 11, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> I dunno man, I prefer interesting villians over generic cookie cutter ones with no personality honestly. You can like a villain but not side with them, villains that exist to only be evil usually just are interesting or memorable. Like the only Tales villain I can really remember liking is from Abyss since Asch is an actual character and not a comically evil doer of evil because he just likes to be evil. I can understand wanting the hero to have their own lore, I usually hate user made heroes for single player games like in Xenoblade X, but in DS the whole point is you're a nobody, just some random guy who's gonna get his ass handed to him countless times but with enough will power and training can take down the toughest foes. I personally really like that angle, way more than "YOU ARE GENERIC CREATE A CHARACTER GARY SUE CHOSEN ONE AND YOU WILL EASILY BEAT EVERYONE BECAUSE YOU ARE COOL AND POPULAR AND STACEY IS TOTALLY INTO YOU DUDE" kinda shtick. Nothing wrong with not liking it but I like it myself. FromSoft has shown they can make cool player characters with actual lore too like Wolf in Sekiro, but their bread and butter has mostly always been just focusing on the world and atmosphere even back on the PS1



How is the generic "Risen from the dead guy who will slaughter every demon in their wake" that much different from the chosen one cliche? He still feels incredibly bland and lacks personality. Heck, even Wolf is boring, IMO. Sure, he has a backstory, but there's nothing about his story or character for me to latch onto.

Like, I get it: relatability and whatnot, but I'd rather my hero be interesting, creative, fun, likeable, exciting, etc. than "relatable." I don't neccessarily need to see myself as the hero, and a big reason mon-collectors tend to be my favorite games is because of how many options there are for characters, plus the human avatar is often on a quest to save the monsters, which I find more relatable than "hunter kills demons and whatnot." Also, you could argue that "Oh, Mon-collectors have you enslaving animals." ...Is that really any worse than flat out killing them in other games. Plus,, there's generally the idea that you protect each other, with the monsters you "enslave" being more or less immortal (unless you run nuzlocke) companions of the main character rather than slaves. One more thing: I tend to have more fun coming up with my own stories for the Pokemon/Nexomon/Coromon/etc. I catch than hearing about the generic human monster hunter.


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## Kope (May 11, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Did you play the original release or the Scholars remaster? Cuz scholars actually fixes some stuff but is still not great, it is better tho


Scholars


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## Balskarr (May 11, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> I dunno man, I prefer interesting villians over generic cookie cutter ones with no personality honestly. You can like a villain but not side with them, villains that exist to only be evil usually just are interesting or memorable. Like the only Tales villain I can really remember liking is from Abyss since Asch is an actual character and not a comically evil doer of evil because he just likes to be evil. I can understand wanting the hero to have their own lore, I usually hate user made heroes for single player games like in Xenoblade X, but in DS the whole point is you're a nobody, just some random guy who's gonna get his ass handed to him countless times but with enough will power and training can take down the toughest foes. I personally really like that angle, way more than "YOU ARE GENERIC CREATE A CHARACTER GARY SUE CHOSEN ONE AND YOU WILL EASILY BEAT EVERYONE BECAUSE YOU ARE COOL AND POPULAR AND STACEY IS TOTALLY INTO YOU DUDE" kinda shtick. Nothing wrong with not liking it but I like it myself. FromSoft has shown they can make cool player characters with actual lore too like Wolf in Sekiro, but their bread and butter has mostly always been just focusing on the world and atmosphere even back on the PS1


It's alright, man. He doesn't actually realise that in an RPG it's more your own job as the player to make your *own* character that *you* design interesting to you. Failing that suggests more of an issue on the player's end than there truly being a case to completely condemn the choice for a custom character.


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## DemonHazardDeer (May 11, 2022)

Baalf said:


> How is the generic "Risen from the dead guy who will slaughter every demon in their wake" that much different from the chosen one cliche? He still feels incredibly bland and lacks personality. Heck, even Wolf is boring, IMO. Sure, he has a backstory, but there's nothing about his story or character for me to latch onto.
> 
> Like, I get it: relatability and whatnot, but I'd rather my hero be interesting, creative, fun, likeable, exciting, etc. than "relatable." I don't neccessarily need to see myself as the hero, and a big reason mon-collectors tend to be my favorite games is because of how many options there are for characters, plus the human avatar is often on a quest to save the monsters, which I find more relatable than "hunter kills demons and whatnot." Also, you could argue that "Oh, Mon-collectors have you enslaving animals." ...Is that really any worse than flat out killing them in other games. Plus,, there's generally the idea that you protect each other, with the monsters you "enslave" being more or less immortal (unless you run nuzlocke) companions of the main character rather than slaves. One more thing: I tend to have more fun coming up with my own stories for the Pokemon/Nexomon/Coromon/etc. I catch than hearing about the generic human monster hunter.


Relatability isn't why I like them tho? Being turned into an immortal beef jerky man isn't something I've ever done lol I honestly think relatability is severely overrated in all of media. It just depends on the games, like Pokémon I think other than the designs there is absolutely nothing interesting about the player character, but they aren't the focus of the game for the most part, the Pokemon are. It really just depends on other factors. Like I hate the create a character in Xenoblade X because this series that is known for its great character writing, one of my fav aspects, is now written around this character that you cannot characterizes in fear of alienating the player who the character is now, so you just get people spouting exposition to them while your character stares and says nothing. But in DS the story and lore are in the background, the focus is the world and combat and how fuckin shitty everything has become


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## Kope (May 11, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Relatability isn't why I like them tho? Being turned into an immortal beef jerky man isn't something I've ever done lol I honestly think relatability is severely overrated in all of media. It just depends on the games, like Pokémon I think other than the designs there is absolutely nothing interesting about the player character, but they aren't the focus of the game for the most part, the Pokemon are. It really just depends on other factors. Like I hate the create a character in Xenoblade X because this series that is known for its great character writing, one of my fav aspects, is now written around this character that you cannot characterizes in fear of alienating the player who the character is now, so you just get people spouting exposition to them while your character stares and says nothing. But in DS the story and lore are in the background, the focus is the world and combat and how fuckin shitty everything has become


I just like hitting big monsters with big sticks called greatswords


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## DemonHazardDeer (May 11, 2022)

Kope said:


> I just like hitting big monsters with big sticks called greatswords


It do be real fun


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## BadRoy (May 12, 2022)

Playing Rogue Legacy 2 made me realize that I'm officially through with the 'Dark Souls' aesthetic. You know the one. picturesque, crumbling castles, spires, lumbering bosses laden with hidden #lore...

Dank Shoals is great and I'll never forget my time with the series, but so many games have aped off of the same aesthetic now that I'm like "OK, can we go back ot sci-fi, or ninjas, or anything else please?"


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## Baalf (May 13, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Relatability isn't why I like them tho? Being turned into an immortal beef jerky man isn't something I've ever done lol I honestly think relatability is severely overrated in all of media. It just depends on the games, like Pokémon I think other than the designs there is absolutely nothing interesting about the player character, but they aren't the focus of the game for the most part, the Pokemon are. It really just depends on other factors. Like I hate the create a character in Xenoblade X because this series that is known for its great character writing, one of my fav aspects, is now written around this character that you cannot characterizes in fear of alienating the player who the character is now, so you just get people spouting exposition to them while your character stares and says nothing. But in DS the story and lore are in the background, the focus is the world and combat and how fuckin shitty everything has become



Yeah, I'm not a fan of those "Blank slate" characters, especially if my character is doomed to be someone with narrow goals existing in a world where everything just exists as target practice, oftentimes either fighting a caotic-evil monster with no morals or someone with relatable goals that they desperately needed to make an extremist so you side with the hero, even though a lot of the real problems brought up by the extremist villain will not be solved if the hero wins (and in some cases, the world's debatably WORSE off if the hero wins).

As far as Seikiro goes, I think that is ultimately my problem. FromSoftware is not known for showing the world as much more than just "it's a s***hole inhabited by s***holes" but there's usually something within the universe that exists for a reason other than for the hero to eventually kill/fight them. I cannot think of anything in Seikiro that really exists in-game for any other reason. Even the Divine Dragon, who someone tried to convince me was totally a good creature, exists PURELY as an antagonist. He doesn't really do anything good before hand, and he doesn't do anything after you harvest his tears. As a character, his role is antagonist, and frankly, I don't want all this depth and lore if it's just going to be put into a character I'll eventually have to fight. Like, I don't care WHY it's an antagonist. I care that it is.

That whole bit is pretty much what I play games to escape from. I mean, that's always kind of been what games have been for me: a way to escape from reality. It's one of the reasons why I'd rather have a likeable cartoon animal that's whimsical, fun, has a charming personality, but not that much lore to them, than a "Relatable" and "grounded in reality" character I'm supposed to relate to because they look vaguely like my species. Like, I don't totally mind fighting monsters, but like I said: I want to like the hero before I like the villain.


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## Raever (May 13, 2022)

I think my expectations for most Visual Novels and RPG games with character customization or deep choices are just too high. I wish more games took the Red Embrace Hollywood approach and provided more dark, sordid tales with actual meaningful choices and side-areas that actually led to something meaningful later down the road which also impacted the story in some way beyond "you have an extra apple" or something useless. I don't want every game to be as depressing, I just want the character - even if it's one I made, - to feel like an actual person and have the personality traits selected feel like there was a point behind them. Same for NPC interactions. Why is this so much to ask???


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## Imperial Impact (May 13, 2022)

Pokemon is fucking shit.


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## Judge Spear (May 14, 2022)

"Metroidvania" is a horrible name for a genre and should be retired as a phrase.

It sounds bad. It's like some lazy garbage YouTube funnyman "reviewers" with one of those stupid cartoon personas would come up with.

It also strip mines every game the label gets slapped onto. As if theres no other core differences each game has that allows them to step out of the shadows of giants into its own light.

Imagine calling AG racers "WipEoutZero's". Or any side scrolling STG "GradiusType's". Or if I called Dusk a "QuakeNukem". Sounds pretty _fucking _stupid_, _huh_?_

Souls-Like and Smash Clone should be ditched too. Honestly a lot of genre monikers get on my damn nerves. Or at least for many cases just how theyre used.
"Rogue-lite survival crafting simulator platformer Souls-like with RPG elements"
Shut the FUCK. :l


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## SirRob (May 14, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> Pokemon is fucking shit.


Super Robot Wars is shit!! It's just lame weeaboo fanservice for shows I've never even heard of!!! They don't even have Transformers!!!!!


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## Imperial Impact (May 14, 2022)

Oof so desperate to get a reply.


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## SirRob (May 14, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> Oof so desperate to get a reply.


Please pay attention to me Impact, I need your affection!!!


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## Imperial Impact (May 14, 2022)




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## SirRob (May 14, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> View attachment 131953


Probably Young Link although one can make arguments for Toon Link


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## Imperial Impact (May 14, 2022)




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## TrishaCat (May 15, 2022)

i really missed seeing you two bantz


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## Xitheon (May 15, 2022)

I actually loved Xen (the border world) in the original Half-life. It was weird and quirky and fun to play.

Edit: that said, Xen in Black Mesa is epic and much better.


----------



## SirRob (May 15, 2022)

TrishaCat said:


> i really missed seeing you two bantz


Unfortunately Impact’s brand of, whatever he does, can be so stupefying that I don’t even know how to respond


----------



## WeAreOneArt (May 15, 2022)

Doom 3 is my favorite Doom


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## Imperial Impact (May 15, 2022)

I am glad my post cause people to have a psychology attack like affect on them.


----------



## Punji (May 16, 2022)

Sequels don't have to be dramatic departures from the previous titles, nor do they require new mechanics to be fun and engaging.

It can be fine to just give the players more of the same content they already enjoyed.


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## Judge Spear (May 16, 2022)

Forgotten Land was mid.

It was a watered down, worse performing Mario 3D World with a shittier method of padding the game length.
A Switch game that looks worse, feels worse, and lasts 1/3 of the time of a Wii U game.
I don't care if it's Kirby's first 3D entry. That's not a milestone anymore for an enormous juggernaut company that _pioneered_ 3D action adventure. Everyone else his age went 3D 4 generations ago. And they had more fulfilling games.

Like it's _alright_. But the series peaked at Kirby Returns honestly. At least it's actually a game this time instead of a self playing interactive movie like Star Allies.


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## TheCrocWhoSoldTheWorld (May 17, 2022)

The terrible DMC american reboot has way better combat and combos than Metal Gear Rising: Revengence


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## Baalf (May 17, 2022)

TheCrocWhoSoldTheWorld said:


> The terrible DMC american reboot has way better combat and combos than Metal Gear Rising: Revengence



Honestly, MGS in general is overrated, basically going from clunky overhead shooters with tank controls to generic FPSs.


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## SirRob (May 17, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Honestly, MGS in general is overrated, basically going from clunky overhead shooters with tank controls to generic FPSs.


To be fair all the praise I hear about it is for its story, not necessarily its gameplay.
Although I never played any of the games myself, not big on shooters.......................that aren't Star Fox.


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## Judge Spear (May 17, 2022)

MGS is funny as fuck.


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## Attaman (May 17, 2022)

To a degree much of _Metal Gear'_s reputation comes from it being people's first forray into a non-RPG with a plot and characters possessing defining traits other than "The heavy", "The tech specialist", "The femme fatale", and whatnot.

This isn't to dump on the series. It's fun, has something it wants to say (if sometimes the thing it wants to say is dumb), tends to have reasonable production quality, there's (sometimes oddly specific) attention to detail, etc. 

But it's very obvious that somebody needs to Play More Games or Go Outside or Read A Book or whatnot when they come in with hot takes like "The _Metal Gear_ series is great because it has a great story and doesn't try to get political!" or "You won't find a better written character than Quiet!" or whatnot. "But you don't get it! They keep track of whether you kill or knock out enemies!" My dude. Welcome to "A hell of a lot of games since the 90's". "But it doesn't try to shove anything down my throat!" Literally the entire game series is about a cavalcade of people fucking up a person's last wishes in either interpretation or implementation. "Isn't Armstrong so cool and right?" Tell me you played the game while also telling me you didn't play the fucking game challenge.


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## Judge Spear (May 17, 2022)

Doom 2 was topped almost immediately.
It's still great but the moment Quake dropped, Id had outdone their previous masterpiece.

Beyond them, most of the indie boomer shooters coming out now are as good, if not, better than their inspirations. Between Dusk, Proteus, Ultrakill, Ion Fury, and Amid Evil, I think its safe to say we've perfected and pushed the classic formula beyind it's limits.

The Shadow Warrior rebooted trilogy is garbage though.


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## Attaman (May 17, 2022)

Speaking of _Doom_, I feel as though _Doom 3_ is underrated. It's not amazing (it's very much _not_ amazing, and I have some thoughts about the person who decided to make part of a _Doom_ game revolve around needing to carry a flashlight at the expense of firepower), but what it does well it does _well_.


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## Judge Spear (May 17, 2022)

Attaman said:


> Speaking of _Doom_, I feel as though _Doom 3_ is underrated. It's not amazing (it's very much _not_ amazing, and I have some thoughts about the person who decided to make part of a _Doom_ game revolve around needing to carry a flashlight at the expense of firepower), but what it does well it does _well_.


Doom 3 was fun enough to complete once, but I had no desire to go back to it. It's visually and audibly impressive but it really just feels terrible to play.
Oddly enough I did like the choice of having to switch between weapons and your light. In *any* other game that would be great tension building.
But the game is just a sluggish departure. I don't give it more grief than it deserves, but does get an appropriate amount of ridicule in my opinion.

Now Quake 4...
WOOOO what a STINKER.


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## TheCrocWhoSoldTheWorld (May 18, 2022)

Attaman said:


> To a degree much of _Metal Gear'_s reputation comes from it being people's first forray into a non-RPG with a plot and characters possessing defining traits other than "The heavy", "The tech specialist", "The femme fatale", and whatnot.
> 
> This isn't to dump on the series. It's fun, has something it wants to say (if sometimes the thing it wants to say is dumb), tends to have reasonable production quality, there's (sometimes oddly specific) attention to detail, etc.
> 
> But it's very obvious that somebody needs to Play More Games or Go Outside or Read A Book or whatnot when they come in with hot takes like "The _Metal Gear_ series is great because it has a great story and doesn't try to get political!" or "You won't find a better written character than Quiet!" or whatnot. "But you don't get it! They keep track of whether you kill or knock out enemies!" My dude. Welcome to "A hell of a lot of games since the 90's". "But it doesn't try to shove anything down my throat!" Literally the entire game series is about a cavalcade of people fucking up a person's last wishes in either interpretation or implementation. "Isn't Armstrong so cool and right?" Tell me you played the game while also telling me you didn't play the fucking game challenge.



That last part about Armstrong, i couldn't agree more.
Like, peope can like the character and all, he's goofy as hell; But he isn't right, he wants a world where the strong rule over the weak, but his strenght isn't his own, he adquired his powers through nanomachines, that's what a bunch of ppl often overlook.
The same thing goes for one of my favorite SW charater: Kreia
From the start she tries to win you over with her "wisdom" and teachings that while interesting and sometimes valid are often filled with traps, she wants you to agree with her and see things the way she does so she can use you, she even says it herself thowards the end of the game


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## KimberVaile (May 18, 2022)

TheCrocWhoSoldTheWorld said:


> That last part about Armstrong, i couldn't agree more.
> Like, peope can like the character and all, he's goofy as hell; But he isn't right, he wants a world where the strong rule over the weak, but his strenght isn't his own, he adquired his powers through nanomachines, that's what a bunch of ppl often overlook.
> The same thing goes for one of my favorite SW charater: Kreia
> From the start she tries to win you over with her "wisdom" and teachings that while interesting and sometimes valid are often filled with traps, she wants you to agree with her and see things the way she does so she can use you, she even says it herself thowards the end of the game


I presume most people didn't agree with Armstrong but I could be wrong. But I'd be lying if I didn't love every scene he is in, just so over the top and bombastic. He's got a fun energy to him, and he gets some of the funniest lines in the game. Of course finding him enjoyable is different from, "Oh hey, Armstrong is totally right!" He's just a fun villain.

"Making the mother of all Omelettes here Jack. Can't fret over every egg!" _Proceeds to deck Raiden. _

Metal Gear Rising is great with just how it manages to both take itself seriously and just not take itself seriously at all at the same time. I don't quite know how it manages to do that, but I love it for that.


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## Attaman (May 18, 2022)

KimberVaile said:


> I presume most people didn't agree with Armstrong but I could be wrong.


Most people didn't, but an alarming amount still did / do. Admittedly an alarming amount of people are also unironic fans of Caesar's Legion and the Enclave from _Fallout_, so it's not like the MGR:R crowd is breaking new ground in "Tell me you played the game while also telling me you didn't play the game".

That said, I feel like a lot of people understate just how seriously we're meant to take Armstrong. His entire _thing_ is putting on theatre and a show to disarm (sometimes literally) critics and opponents. Just look at how many people will regurgitate his "Let people grasp their own future" rhetoric from game's end while forgetting that _just two chapters prior_ he's fingered as the dude who signed off on a project to kidnap, vivisect, and brainwash thousands of kids into Cyborg PMCs. Or, hell: That a few minutes later he outright kicks Bladewolf like a football for functionally saying "I've decided to grasp my own future".


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## Judge Spear (May 18, 2022)

Armstrong was so fucking funny, bro.
MGR is like top 5 funniest games I've ever played in general. What a STUPID fucking game. lmfao


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## KimberVaile (May 18, 2022)

Attaman said:


> Most people didn't, but an alarming amount still did / do. Admittedly an alarming amount of people are also unironic fans of Caesar's Legion and the Enclave from _Fallout_, so it's not like the MGR:R crowd is breaking new ground in "Tell me you played the game while also telling me you didn't play the game".
> 
> That said, I feel like a lot of people understate just how seriously we're meant to take Armstrong. His entire _thing_ is putting on theatre and a show to disarm (sometimes literally) critics and opponents. Just look at how many people will regurgitate his "Let people grasp their own future" rhetoric from game's end while forgetting that _just two chapters prior_ he's fingered as the dude who signed off on a project to kidnap, vivisect, and brainwash thousands of kids into Cyborg PMCs. Or, hell: That a few minutes later he outright kicks Bladewolf like a football for functionally saying "I've decided to grasp my own future".


Most of the Metal Gear Rising bosses have that same quality to them. This heightened theatrical bombast. Like there are memes based entirely on the goofy expressions made by Jet Stream Sam. Or that whole angst fest Raiden had about why he's called "Jack the Ripper" like he is trying to outedge the equally goofy Monsoon. Or just Sundowner screaming he's "fucking invincible". The game has things to say, yeah important things even. But it's so seeped in campy goofy exaggeration at it's core. I don't feel like the theatre is unique to Armstrong, really. It just seems to be a quality to the game. A natural progression of a series that already was in love with theatrics and bombast. Revolver Ocelot, looking at you, lol. All the characters do have things to say, or ideals they stand by, but the game also wants to have fun with it more than anything.


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## Imperial Impact (May 19, 2022)




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## DemonHazardDeer (May 19, 2022)

Attaman said:


> Speaking of _Doom_, I feel as though _Doom 3_ is underrated. It's not amazing (it's very much _not_ amazing, and I have some thoughts about the person who decided to make part of a _Doom_ game revolve around needing to carry a flashlight at the expense of firepower), but what it does well it does _well_.


I always describe it to people who've never played DOOM 3 as "It's a great survival horror game, just not a great DOOM game."


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## BadRoy (May 19, 2022)

Silent Hill 3 is the best. Get bent SH2 (it's good, but idk I just prefer 3 overall)


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## DemonHazardDeer (May 19, 2022)

BadRoy said:


> Silent Hill 3 is the best. Get bent SH2 (it's good, but idk I just prefer 3 overall)
> 
> View attachment 132248


3 is def my fav, but 1,2 and 4 are all right under it


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## Baalf (May 20, 2022)

I don't know if it's an unpopular opinion, but I'm really getting sick of the "Hur-dee-durr! I'm useless!" characters. You know the ones. The ones that make you do all the work? Bonus points if they act like a big shot and that them doing nothing is noble and heroic? I've seen so many characters and it gets frustrating. Yes, I get it. The joke is that "hur-dee-durr! He/she is useless!" But it's a joke that's way outstayed its welcome.


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## Vishunei (May 20, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Everything about Kingdom Hearts that isn't strictly Kingdom Hearts 3's gameplay is terrible.
> The story, characters, and gameplay of the previous games are all bad.
> 
> 3 is genuinely enjoyable if you just treat it as a platforming action adventure. It sucks as an RPG and the moment you start comparing it to anything else with some teeth to it's combat, it falls apart. Even Mega Man Zero has a deeper combat system than KH. All KH boils down to is abusing i-frames and spamming it's awkward as shit block then mashing the shit out of X. You have _some_ options and the game is still *fun*, but it's not some beacon of 3rd person action it's for some inexplicable reason hailed as.
> ...


With all due respect, and me potentially not always getting sarcasm, I'd have to disagree. The story is indeed a mess; we all know how infamously and unnecessarily convoluted it is. But I'd urge people to try the other games if they've only played one of them, especially the more underrated ones like Recoded or Chain of Memories, for there is something to be found in those entries.


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## Judge Spear (May 20, 2022)

Vishunei said:


> With all due respect, and me potentially not always getting sarcasm, I'd have to disagree. The story is indeed a mess; we all know how infamously and unnecessarily convoluted it is. But I'd urge people to try the other games if they've only played one of them, especially the more underrated ones like Recoded or Chain of Memories, for there is something to be found in those entries.


I've played 1, 2, CoM, BBS, 3D, 358, and Union X. Most to completion.


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## Judge Spear (May 28, 2022)

I will take it to my grave that Sine Mora is horrible in every facet except visual fidelity and even that is functionally fucked. I will never understand the praise. Its a thoroughly awful STG.

I hate Grasshopper Manufacture's games so much.


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## TheCrocWhoSoldTheWorld (May 29, 2022)

BadRoy said:


> Silent Hill 3 is the best. Get bent SH2 (it's good, but idk I just prefer 3 overall)
> 
> View attachment 132248


SH2 is a great game, but i agree that SH3 is better in many ways, it's kind of sad that every time someone has tried to revive SH they always want to copy SH2.
Which brings me to my "gaming hot take TM"

I think SH should be left alone, the first few games were lighting in a bottle and now the OG team has scattered to the wind, and the few that are still online kind of dislike what has happened to the IP, iirc even Ito has mentioned that he'd only work on another SH game if he gets to kill off Pyramid Head.
I just don't trust any other dev with the type of horror and ambience SH does, not even Kojima. And how could i not, after Book of Memories and Homecoming


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## Baalf (May 29, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> I will take it to my grave that Sine Mora is horrible in every facet except visual fidelity and even that is functionally fucked. I will never understand the praise. Its a thoroughly awful STG.
> 
> I hate Grasshopper Manufacture's games so much.



You're the only person I ever hear talk about it, tbh.


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## Judge Spear (May 29, 2022)

Baalf said:


> You're the only person I ever hear talk about it, tbh.


I'm mainly speaking from the angle of reviewers. It got really high marks and I still see people recommend it when talking about this genre. 
And people praise the studio as a whole. I just could never see it with them. Let it Die, No More Heroes, Sine Mora, Killer 7. I tried all of them and I just do not see it.


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## Baalf (May 29, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> I'm mainly speaking from the angle of reviewers. It got really high marks and I still see people recommend it when talking about this genre.
> And people praise the studio as a whole. I just could never see it with them. Let it Die, No More Heroes, Sine Mora, Killer 7. I tried all of them and I just do not see it.



Speaking of No More Heroes, I wanna talk about the general plot of the third movie. Boy meets alien, alien goes home, alien comes back, surprise! Alien is evil!

JBH, I'm really f@#$ing sick of aliens only existing to destroy Earth (unless they look like humans. Dammit, Star Ocean!). Do you wanna know one other cliche I'm REALLY getting sick of? Our obsession with profaining the innocent.

I swear, why has this become so common. Like with It Takes Two, this is one of the things that ruined the game for me. "Oh, bees and squirrels are cute and harmless. ...LET'S MAKE THEM BAD!!!" And then there's games that have you beat up young animals, like how Dragon Quest has you killing baby tigers. Also, a really common trend I've seen in movies is taking cute animal characters and making them evil serial killers. They did it with Banana Splits, Willy's Wonderland revolved around this, and now there's going to be one where Winnie the Pooh and Piglett are serial killers. Seriously? There's no hope for us.

Just, anytime I see anything cute and harmless that the game expects me to kill, or have me get attached to a creature only for it to become bad and die a villain, this is ALWAYS going to piss me off. Not EVERYTHING needs to be villainized, people.


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## Judge Spear (May 29, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Speaking of No More Heroes, I wanna talk about the general plot of the third movie.



The third *movie*. lmfao
Savage.


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## DemonHazardDeer (May 29, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> I will take it to my grave that Sine Mora is horrible in every facet except visual fidelity and even that is functionally fucked. I will never understand the praise. Its a thoroughly awful STG.
> 
> I hate Grasshopper Manufacture's games so much.


Honestly Grasshopper is one of the few Dev studios I consistently love. Instead of just making boring lowest common denominator games for money they rather make actuallly interesting shit, even their few licensed games have that spirit.


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## DemonHazardDeer (May 29, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Speaking of No More Heroes, I wanna talk about the general plot of the third movie. Boy meets alien, alien goes home, alien comes back, surprise! Alien is evil!
> 
> JBH, I'm really f@#$ing sick of aliens only existing to destroy Earth (unless they look like humans. Dammit, Star Ocean!). Do you wanna know one other cliche I'm REALLY getting sick of? Our obsession with profaining the innocent.
> 
> ...


The problem is that you’re playing a Suda51 game, one that is in a series that was made on the dissection and parody of someone living out their psychotic violent video game fantasies. I agree with you on media that’s just, “the twist is they’re bad!” With no real substance (lookin at you Superman but bad troupe) but NMH3 does it in a great way imo like it does with all it’s villains (excluding 2 because Suda had almost no involvement and the villains are super generic)


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## Judge Spear (May 29, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Honestly Grasshopper is one of the few Dev studios I consistently love. Instead of just making boring lowest common denominator games for money they rather make actuallly interesting shit, even their few licensed games have that spirit.


Power to you I guess. 
Don't see it.


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## Judge Spear (May 29, 2022)

Oh my god. lmfao
I just saw this on my feed. Feel like it fits here.


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## Baalf (May 30, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Power to you I guess.
> Don't see it.


I don't either, honestly. Even with the explination, it doesn't change how I feel.


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## Baalf (May 30, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Oh my god. lmfao
> I just saw this on my feed. Feel like it fits here.


...I don't get it.


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## Judge Spear (May 30, 2022)

Baalf said:


> ...I don't get it.


dont worry about it


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## Baalf (May 31, 2022)

BadRoy said:


> Speak all of your unspeakable, blasphemous opinions here.
> 
> - I actually prefer Megaman X2 over Megaman X1. Levels, bosses, music. I just prefer it overall.
> - I'm kind of sick of the quirky atmosphere so many indie games have. I was playing Death's Door (A great little game) and I realized while talking to the quirky typist crow that I've seen that same character since, like, Earthbound. Or Dark Souls. I know writing is hard and not everybody has budgets or whatever, but idk, spend some time making strong, likable characters sometimes instead of "_I save your game! Isn't it funny that I know about saving your game file?_"
> - Smash Ultimate is a laggy, slow, lagfest. I don't know how I was so into it for like 2 years straight. The amount of content and fanservice is admirable, but playing it, yeesh.



I'd rather have games be quirky than take themselves way too seriously. Considering how Triple A games love being overly serious, I don't blame indie companies for trying to be quirky.


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## Judge Spear (Jun 1, 2022)

"Too much water" gets meme'd on, but IGN was right.


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## Judge Spear (Jun 1, 2022)

Baalf said:


> I'd rather have games be quirky than take themselves way too seriously. Considering how Triple A games love being overly serious, I don't blame indie companies for trying to be quirky.


Usually I'm in this boat, but I generally can't stand "indie quirky" these days because I feel like they recycle the same sort of off brand Toby Fox humor today. Or they try so hard to force quirky dialogue and characters to cover for their boring game. Especially when they're not REALLY even that quirky.

This game is quirky.





This is an affront.





Personally, I like a nice middle ground of colorful and fun regardless of where their tone lies. Like Klonoa, Bomber Man, or Mega Man. 
But I don't say no to gritty games if they're good and the style is still neat.


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## Baalf (Jun 1, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Usually I'm in this boat, but I generally can't stand "indie quirky" these days because I feel like they recycle the same sort of off brand Toby Fox humor today. Or they try so hard to force quirky dialogue and characters to cover for their boring game. Especially when they're not REALLY even that quirky.
> 
> This game is quirky.
> 
> ...



I gotta try Monnomals one day. I've been eyeballing that game, but have yet to try it. ...Then again, I don't know much about it.

Also, for the second game, at least the game has a fitting name, because that's what most people think the game is. "Yick!"

Though I do admit, just trying to be quirky by overusing meta humor and fourth wall breaking can be annoying. But... Honestly, it's not why I have a hard time getting into Death's Door. It's a good game, but... I dunno, I thought I'd be able to get past the dark artstyly by playing as CAIM THE MERCILESS!!! (I'm constantly calling the protag of the game Caim after the demon of the same name), but honestly the tone of the game kinda feels... boring? It's hard to explain.

Also as far as quirkiness goes, I've been playing Rainbow Billy, AKA the exact opposite of Dark Souls, and I'll admit while the game has such a harmless, innocuous tone to it, it does often come off as sugary. It's always kind of disappointing befriending monsters because they usually start out pretty badass before you befriend them, but afterwards they get kinda lame and disappointing. I feel like that game could have toned down on the cutesyness a little. I still enjoy it. I tend to prefer more colorful games and they tend to hold my interest more, but it can get a bit much at times.


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## TrishaCat (Jun 1, 2022)

Be silly but take yourself seriously anyways
makes for maximum fun
see: kingdom hearts, shadow the hedgehog


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## Judge Spear (Jun 1, 2022)

Baalf said:


> I gotta try Monnomals one day. I've been eyeballing that game, but have yet to try it. ...Then again, I don't know much about it.
> 
> Also, for the second game, at least the game has a fitting name, because that's what most people think the game is. "Yick!"
> 
> ...



Yeah, I dropped out of Death's Door as well. It just felt kind of dull to me. Its one of those games where I was excited for it but it ended up not being exactly what I hoped and what it was advertised as. Then it was completely buried for me when Tunic dropped because that game is godlike.
I'd rather just start a new file of CrossCode or Tunic honestly. Deaths Door isnt even a bad game. I just stopped caring.

I think characters just need to stop talking in a lot of these "funny" games. RayMan Origins was funny as fuck and the characters barely say anything. So nothing feels forced or overplayed. It's all very snappy quickwitted humor that comes from the presentation. Like GoodBoy Galaxy is a lot of fun but some characters do not need to speak as much as they do and it'd still be a charming little platformer.

---

Unrelated. Sonic Frontiers looks genuinely awful.


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## BadRoy (Jun 2, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> The problem is that you’re playing a Suda51 game, one that is in a series that was made on the dissection and parody of someone living out their psychotic violent video game fantasies. I agree with you on media that’s just, “the twist is they’re bad!” With no real substance (lookin at you Superman but bad troupe) but NMH3 does it in a great way imo like it does with all it’s villains (excluding 2 because Suda had almost no involvement and the villains are super generic)


As a huge Suda fan since Killer7 I have to agree that NMH 3 dropped the ball in many ways including the main conflict with FU. Is that an unpopular opinion? I half-hated NMH3. 

Honestly Travis Strieks Again made way more of an impact on me.


----------



## DemonHazardDeer (Jun 2, 2022)

BadRoy said:


> As a huge Suda fan since Killer7 I have to agree that NMH 3 dropped the ball in many ways including the main conflict with FU. Is that an unpopular opinion? I half-hated NMH3.
> 
> Honestly Travis Strieks Again made way more of an impact on me.


I’m not quite sure if it’s unpopular actually, I haven’t seen many have problems with FU but that doesn’t mean they’re not there. I will say a point I wasn’t a big fan of was all the fake outs, like I do like how it wraps up certain characters stories or introduces cool new ones but I wanted to fight way more of the cool alien bosses! I wanted more Velvet Chair Girl like fights. Also, glad to see another one who can really appreciate TSA, best game with Suda’s involvement since NMH 1, I know it’s not what a lot of people wanted gameplay wise but story wise I absolutely loved it


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## BadRoy (Jun 3, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> I’m not quite sure if it’s unpopular actually, I haven’t seen many have problems with FU but that doesn’t mean they’re not there. I will say a point I wasn’t a big fan of was all the fake outs, like I do like how it wraps up certain characters stories or introduces cool new ones but I wanted to fight way more of the cool alien bosses! I wanted more Velvet Chair Girl like fights. Also, glad to see another one who can really appreciate TSA, best game with Suda’s involvement since NMH 1, I know it’s not what a lot of people wanted gameplay wise but story wise I absolutely loved it


Oh the fake-outs got old after the second time. It's not a twist when you come to expect it. And it wastes the build up inherent in a game where you're gunning for a series of eccentric bosses.
The biggest knock for me is the huge chunks of map that are just... not finished, and how there are no pre-boss levels. You fight the same mooks in the same arena X times and then they dump you into a boss that, again, get replaced at the last second half the time. The gameplay is maybe the best of the three, but it's not deep enough to make that set-up work.

In terms of presentation NMH3 is exactly what I want from a Suda game, but as a game it's just a mess.


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## a sleepy kitty (Jun 3, 2022)

Vaati needs to be put in Smash Bros


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## DemonHazardDeer (Jun 3, 2022)

BadRoy said:


> Oh the fake-outs got old after the second time. It's not a twist when you come to expect it. And it wastes the build up inherent in a game where you're gunning for a series of eccentric bosses.
> The biggest knock for me is the huge chunks of map that are just... not finished, and how there are no pre-boss levels. You fight the same mooks in the same arena X times and then they dump you into a boss that, again, get replaced at the last second half the time. The gameplay is maybe the best of the three, but it's not deep enough to make that set-up work.
> 
> In terms of presentation NMH3 is exactly what I want from a Suda game, but as a game it's just a mess.


Yeah, felt a bit rushed when it came to the actual world and encounter design. I’m glad the combat was really good like 1 again, but it does feel like that was what got the most attention


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## SirRob (Jun 4, 2022)

beanie the sleepy kitty said:


> Vaati needs to be put in Smash Bros


Poor guy can’t even get into Hyrule Warriors, and mind you there have been FOUR of them PLUS DLC!


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## Judge Spear (Jun 4, 2022)

This character deserved the world.






I appreciate MicroSoft trying to really put him on the map in the early 2000's. Really good contrast to the grit of Halo and just rounded out the XBox cast nicely. But I really just don't think his gameplay appealed enough. They did everything else right but somewhat dropped it with gameplay. Music, aesthetic, premise, art, marketing was all very nice.
If I had it my way, I'd up the speed of the game to something along the lines of Mario. I'd ditch the vacuum gimmick and give him a different weapon that keeps a good pace. Like some kind of sick wand that's more fun to interact with and makes more sense with the game's neat time mechanics.

I dunno. Maybe it just wasn't his time. All the other mascots at the time, he kind of just got sandwiched with XBox being a totally new player. And he didn't take advantage too much of some of the more main XBox selling points I guess. Shame. This sort of slick 2000's character design is so slept on.


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## Kemonoguilmon (Jun 4, 2022)

I find first person view is the most limiting view point within games, it works okay with shooters but try something else like platforming, or fighting beyond very basic boxing which stinks when there is dozens of fighting styles like Jeet Kune Do, Karate, Judo, Greek wrestling, Shoot wrestling, so on, so on.

I highly dislike playing WRPGs at times as they feel like very complex fanfiction generators, finding other peoples "work" based on their experiences far more enjoyable.

I love sex in games, sleazy I know but after a couple of decades of watching many games trying to imitate, than up the ante with, Martyrs, I would like to see more white stuff instead.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Jun 4, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> This character deserved the world.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The biggest problem I have with the first game (and others too) was how slow the gameplay was, it was more of a puzzle game than a platformer in design. I love the idea, time mechanics and character design but yeah it’s definitely got problems. I wish Microsoft would actually invest in Japanese developed games again, so many cool and unique games on Xbox and 360 but nothing on the bone and sex that isn’t already on other platforms


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## Judge Spear (Jun 5, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> The biggest problem I have with the first game (and others too) was how slow the gameplay was, it was more of a puzzle game than a platformer in design. I love the idea, time mechanics and character design but yeah it’s definitely got problems. I wish Microsoft would actually invest in Japanese developed games again, so many cool and unique games on Xbox and 360 but nothing on the bone and sex that isn’t already on other platforms


I'm indifferent to it. I just wish they'd port some of the stuff from their old libraries to PC. I dont think Blinx is on GamePass or Steam.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Jun 5, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> I'm indifferent to it. I just wish they'd port some of the stuff from their old libraries to PC. I dont think Blinx is on GamePass or Steam.


He isn’t, and I know that for a fact because Microsoft doesn’t own him anymore, they let their rights expire meaning he’s available for purchase assuming no one’s already bought him. But seriously, where the hell are the good ports? I want the actually good versions of Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2, I want Jet Set Radio Future, I want weird shit like Oktogi 1 and 2 on Switch damnit!


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## Judge Spear (Jun 5, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> He isn’t, and I know that for a fact because Microsoft doesn’t own him anymore, they let their rights expire meaning he’s available for purchase assuming no one’s already bought him. But seriously, where the hell are the good ports? I want the actually good versions of Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2, I want Jet Set Radio Future, I want weird shit like Oktogi 1 and 2 on Switch damnit!


Otogi. Now there's a name I havent heard in some time.
I haven't seen mention of those games since 2005.


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## KimberVaile (Jun 8, 2022)

Might be a popular opinion, but I'll post it here since I think most people feel positively about Far Cry as a series.

I never played a Far Cry game before 6, but I decided to pick it up cause I heard you could hijack a tank and you know. I'm a huge sucker for vehicle combat.

Far Cry 6 as a game, gives me the impression that modern gaming is only getting more watered down and less enjoyable as most companies desperately do everything they can to cast wider nets. The hardest difficulty mode of that game feels like normal difficulty in any game at all from 2015 or before. The AI is god awful, the only way I can describe it, is that they're like a deer in the headlights, they won't take cover, won't regroup, and have an infuriating tendency to simply stand still and even get stuck on stairs. Everything about the game is boiled down to it's most basic form. The shooting, the looting, the quests. I just

I don't understand what people see in that game. I guess it's good for dumb fun, I tuned out of the super grim dark narrative real quick, because it clahses violently with the wackiness of the actual gameplay. Maybe I'm just a perpetual stick in the mud. but it's honestly a rather boring, disjointed mess of a game.

I suppose the tanks are fun at least, though it hardly saves the game.


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## Judge Spear (Jun 8, 2022)

KimberVaile said:


> Might be a popular opinion, but I'll post it here since I think most people feel positively about Far Cry as a series.
> 
> I never played a Far Cry game before 6, but I decided to pick it up cause I heard you could hijack a tank and you know. I'm a huge sucker for vehicle combat.
> 
> ...


Ubisoft games suck bro. Bothers me because every AAA action adventure game that wasnt a railroaded 8 hour cutscene like Last of Us or Uncharted became a 500 hour FarCry clone.

FarCry peaked at 3.


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## Kemonoguilmon (Jun 8, 2022)

Something weird I discovered today while talking to other people about modern games, things like environmental destruction that was huge in the original Xbox era like in games such as Red Faction and area damage that was found in Soldier Of Fortune, a PC game released in 2000, was stripped out and a lot of games feel like we're just back to an early PS1 games only with prettier dolls on display.

Basically it feels like games actually gone backwards over generations for the sake of appearing like an interactive movie.


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## Judge Spear (Jun 8, 2022)

Kemonoguilmon said:


> Something weird I discovered today while talking to other people about modern games, things like environmental destruction that was huge in the original Xbox era like in games such as Red Faction and area damage that was found in Soldier Of Fortune, a PC game released in 2000, was stripped out and a lot of games feel like we're just back to an early PS1 games only with prettier dolls on display.
> 
> Basically it feels like games actually gone backwards over generations for the sake of appearing like an interactive movie.


The scale of modern games has likely made that extremely expensive and absurdly difficult to make possible. When I see games today that try similar dynamic environments, it's a complete shitshow.
It's overrated anyway. Just bloating min spec requirements for something that hardly helps the design of most games it could likely be in.


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## Faustus (Jun 9, 2022)

I hate multiplayer games, especially when it’s multiplayer ONLY but looks like it would make an awesome single player game.

I especially hate it when a single player game that supports multiplayer has trophies that REQUIRE you to play multiplayer mode to get everything.

Multiplayer is full of jerks. Also since I’m usually lumped onto a European server, it can be difficult to find someone who speaks good enough English to play with sometimes.


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## Rayd (Jun 9, 2022)

speaking of multiplayer games, i sort of attribute the common beliefs people have that "gaming is stale now" and "hardly any good games come out anymore" to single player content no longer being the main focus in most high-end games to opt out for optimized multiplayer experience 

single player content.. you know.. the core of just about every game


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## Punji (Jun 9, 2022)

Along this line, almost all multiplayer games can be improved with the addition of bots-only offline and CO-OP modes.

Bots may be stupid and aimbotty but they don't cheat beyond their inherent capabilities, are never abusive, rarely if ever team-kill/act to the detriment of the team, and usually at least try to play the objective properly. Sometimes bots are better and smarter than the rando pubbies one gets stuck with too.

There are quite a few multiplayer-only games that would be a lot more fun with the option of bot-only matches.

-------------------------------------------------------------------​
CO-OP games should not have a set required number of players. This ties in with the above; When playing a CO-OP game with one friend sometimes the player is forced to join X number of other randos to play against an AI or whatever.

Much of the time additional players are not at all required to win. If they absolutely are, there should be the option to fill their slots with AI teammates in a private friends-only game.


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## TrishaCat (Jun 9, 2022)

Punji said:


> bots-only offline


i just wanna take a moment to talk about how 007 Nightfire had this for its multiplayer and you could even adjust how the bots acted, what their strategies were, what they looked like, and how aggressive they were. I didn't get to play multiplayer very much on my PS2 as a kid so I always had a blast experiencing what that game's multiplayer would be like with just bots. It was such a cool feature and one of the many, many reasons why 007 Nightfire is a kickass game. You had these large maps that you could explore, grapple onto buildings, use turrets, and even adjust what kinda weapons appeared on the map. It was really fun playing with laser tripwire bombs.


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## Judge Spear (Jun 9, 2022)




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## Lucierda Solari (Jun 18, 2022)

Final Fantasy VIII needs a Remake


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## Inferndragon (Jun 18, 2022)

I enjoyed Fallout 76... During it's original launch... because it was the only Fallout game that felt like a true nuclear disaster occured and the environmental storytelling was good... (as soon as they introduced human NPCs... It felt too... generic)


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## Delv (Jun 19, 2022)

Halo Combat Evolved is boring and has outdated level design.


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## KimberVaile (Jun 19, 2022)

Personally I think Halo CE is great and has some of the most memorable levels in the series. I also don't really don't see the argument for it being too slow, unless the only games you play are the Unreal Tournament series of games and nothing else.

Anyways, I mention that since it'd just be awkward to transition directly into what I am about to say. I really despise Microsoft and their always online horseshit. They tried it with the Xbox One and got nowhere, they're trying it Windows 11 and I suspect they'll have some success with that. And you know, was told I'd only have to log in once to the Master Chief Collection and I'd not have to deal with Xbox Live until I really wanted to. BTW, Halo 2 and 3 managed to have a great Single player and Multiplayer all at once even with having a multiplayer focus, you can do both quite well if you aren't, you know. Terrible at making games.

Anyways, was asked to sign in again to play the campaign mode. Just lol.I own the fucking game and can't play offline content with some sign in bullshit. Fuck. Off.  It's like you don't even own the shit you plop into your god forsaken machine even more.

At this rate, I genuinely hope piracy becomes rampant in the current games industry, especially anything cosigned by Microsoft or Activision. These studios don't deserve shit. I hope piracy eats into their revenue to the point where they go under. I'll fucking co sign that. Fucking bite me Microsoft and your spyware horseshit.


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## LameFox (Jun 19, 2022)

I certainly hope it has outdated level design it's two decades old lol.


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## Rimna (Jun 19, 2022)

Delv said:


> Halo Combat Evolved is boring and has outdated level design.


I recently bought the Halo Master Chief collection on Steam. I was thinking about refunding it when I saw that I must create a Microsoft account in order to play it. I decided I might as well, I have very fond memories of the game.

I played combat evolved for a few hours and the game hasn't aged well. Everything feels super slow and not as responsive as I remember it. I feel like I'm playing a different game. Maybe it's the remastering of it, maybe it's the Mandela effect, maybe I'm just dumb - who knows. I remember liking it far more when I played in in high school like 13 years ago or whatever.


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## KimberVaile (Jun 19, 2022)

Rimna said:


> I recently bought the Halo Master Chief collection on Steam. I was thinking about refunding it when I saw that I must create a Microsoft account in order to play it. I decided I might as well, I have very fond memories of the game.
> 
> I played combat evolved for a few hours and the game hasn't aged well. Everything feels super slow and not as responsive as I remember it. I feel like I'm playing a different game. Maybe it's the remastering of it, maybe it's the Mandela effect, maybe I'm just dumb - who knows. I remember liking it far more when I played in in high school like 13 years ago or whatever.


I still love the game quite a bit, but I can't help but seethe over the sign in crap. That's really what's kinda bugging me right now. Microsoft just wants your data. It all makes me want to pull my hair out. And all I'm saying is that I really wouldn't lose any sleep if piracy suddenly became common with Microsoft Products.

Also, to anybody who's upset over that tame statement. I'm sorry I'm not simping for cancerous corporations with a blatant fucking disregard for privacy.


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## Inferndragon (Jun 19, 2022)

KimberVaile said:


> I still love the game quite a bit, but I can't help but seethe over the sign in crap. That's really what's kinda bugging me right now. Microsoft just wants your data. It all makes me want to pull my hair out. And all I'm saying is that I really wouldn't lose any sleep if piracy suddenly became common with Microsoft Products.
> 
> Also, to anybody who's upset over that tame statement. I'm sorry I'm not simping for cancerous corporations with a blatant fucking disregard for privacy.


Na, people aren't upset. It's microsoft. They bought Activision Blizzard and still allowed Diablo Immortal to exist and have the most predatory microtransaction in the world of games.


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## Baalf (Jun 19, 2022)

LucierdaSolari said:


> Final Fantasy VIII needs a Remake


I thought it got one a while ago.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Jun 19, 2022)

Baalf said:


> I thought it got one a while ago.


It got a remaster, but not a remake


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## Judge Spear (Jun 19, 2022)

I love Sonic music. Like pretty much all of it.
I love the rock. I love the more techno tracks. I love the cheesy vocals. But it really was at it's peak when it was pulling from late 80's New Jack Swing, Funk, and other "city" music.
He should definitely keep the upbeat variety but I'd like more experimentation with those sounds evocative of classic artists like Bobby Brown, Keith Sweat, and Boyz II Men. Because Sonic's really the only one in gaming who really _ever_ did it.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Jun 21, 2022)

I don't remember if I said this already, but I fucking HATE the Demon's Souls remake as a fan of the original. All the enemy redesigns look goofy and stupid, the new music is generic and horrible, and while it looks pretty the original lighting looked way better aesthetically. Instead of elevating or reimagining the original it spits and pisses on it.


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## Baalf (Jun 21, 2022)

I know this game is a little obscure, but among rhythm game enthusiasts, Rock Band 3 has the greatest video game setlist of all time.

Just...

NO!

While Guitar Hero had a nice mix of recognizable songs and hidden gems, everything in Rock Band 3 is either painfully obvious music that everyone has already heard to death by now or random obscure crap with AT BEST niche appeal. While I actually liked most of the songs in the Guitar Hero games, I liked about five songs in this 80 song setlist. I liked NONE of the Punk songs, despite punk rock being one of my favorite genres of music, the supposed Heavy Hitters are so obvious and overdone to the point of talking down to the player, there's virtually no Alt Rock despite the game being heralded is having a little for everyone (the same critics criticized Guitar Hero 5 for having a varied setlist, yet praise Rock Band 3), very few of the songs have energy to them oh, and the ones that do have energy are usually, again, painfully obvious and overplayed or poorly constructed, and I also love how it takes the absolute worst songs from Guitar Hero. Hey Man, Nice Shot!? Lasso!? In The Meantime!? 20th Century Boy? Also, RB3 RUINED One Armed Scissor for me, somehow. They added weird Harmonies that made the song sound jarring and the "CUT AWAY!!!"s that were subdued in Guitar Hero World Tour are more aggonized and obnoxious in Rock Band 3.

Now don't get me wrong, the set list isn't all bad. I did like a few songs like Dead End Friends, The Con, Beast And The Harlot and a couple of others, and some of the songs have notes of Competency that could have been better like Viva La Resistance, Living In America by The Sounds and a few others, but then you get turds like Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before, Outer Space, Last Dance by the Ravonettes, Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Part 1, etc. Songs that all have a similar, emotionless feel to them that will appeal to almost no one and feel like they were added purely as filler. Also, unpopular music opinion but... I @#$%ing HATE Freebird.

Overall, I'd say not only does the game NOT have the best rhythm game setlist, it honestly has the WORST one.


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## a sleepy kitty (Jun 21, 2022)

I almost never ship Link with Zelda, unless it's Link and the Zelda from Skyward Sword (who is also the incarnation of the goddess Hylia).


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## TyraWadman (Jun 21, 2022)

beanie the sleepy kitty said:


> I almost never ship Link with Zelda, unless it's Link and the Zelda from Skyward Sword (who is also the incarnation of the goddess Hylia).


100%
I SHIP LINK WITH ME!!! D8<


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## TrishaCat (Jun 22, 2022)

Link x Midna tho


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## Judge Spear (Jun 22, 2022)

I talked about this a few weeks ago in another thread with Kope but I really want to slam them here.

 Bethesda has the worst character design artists in all of AAA gaming.
The cryptid freaks they insist on making you play as must be designed with spite in mind. That or they are not looking at people and other games/art as they create their models. They have yet to ship a single mainline title that isn't aggressively hideous.
They literally only just now got it somewhat right with ESO. They finally figured out that cats are universally pleasing creatures to look at.









Shouldn't be no more complicated than this. But of course it wasn't all good because Argonians are *fucked* in that game. I don't know who approves shit over there.
We have to _play_ as these characters, _Howard_.
For upwards to 400 hours, _*Howard*_.
I'd like something aesthetically pleasing without relying on your community, *Howard*.


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## Imperial Impact (Jun 22, 2022)

TrishaCat said:


> Link x Midna tho


Midna is a shit.


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## Baalf (Jun 22, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> I talked about this a few weeks ago in another thread with Kope but I really want to slam them here.
> 
> Bethesda has the worst character design artists in all of AAA gaming.
> The cryptid freaks they insist on making you play as must be designed with spite in mind. That or they are not looking at people and other games/art as they create their models. They have yet to ship a single mainline title that isn't aggressively hideous.
> ...


They've been getting better, at least. Skyrim Argonians aren't as ugly as Oblivion Argonians, although they have a look that stares into your soul. Same with Kahjiit. They look... better in Skyrim, but have some uncanny facial expressions. Their happy face that's SUPPOSED to look pleasant just looks WROOOOOOOOONG.

...But I'd still play as them over the other races. In Oblivion, all the races looked kinda bad. Even the humans didn't look quite right.


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## R3sh_.R4c0on (Jun 22, 2022)

not sure if [A] roblox myth counts [BUT]..

The days unions lore is too much, kind of ruins it all together.


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## Fatal (Jun 22, 2022)

Undertale has to much lore and the fact that MatPat said Sans is Ness just ticked me off.


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## Judge Spear (Jun 23, 2022)

Baalf said:


> They've been getting better, at least. Skyrim Argonians aren't as ugly as Oblivion Argonians, although they have a look that stares into your soul. Same with Kahjiit. They look... better in Skyrim, but have some uncanny facial expressions. Their happy face that's SUPPOSED to look pleasant just looks WROOOOOOOOONG.
> 
> ...But I'd still play as them over the other races. In Oblivion, all the races looked kinda bad. Even the humans didn't look quite right.


Yeah, Skyrim Argonians arent bad. Maybe a little TOO over the top reptilian? Their heads clash with their very stock bodies sometimes. But they aren't ugly at least. 
I like what they appear to be doing with Khajiit's in ESO in that they resemble actually different species instead of "vaguely feline". I would like to see that with Argonians instead of just squashing and contorting their features haphazardly like they did in ESO. Not all reptiles, most in fact, aren't these ShadowGate ass violent looking demon dragons. I mean keep that, but a touch of variety would be neat.

Skyrim Khajiit's look like withered people. Their texture work and feature placement is so bad. They're -eons- better than the Oblivion Khajiits because whoever made _those _hate cats and hate people who wanted to play as one. But Skyrim's are still pretty grotesque.



Spoiler: Yeah, I'm an image happy person, I know...



Seriously what are these fucking textures? Is he made of paper Mache?




I know he's not a cat, but look at Fox *9 years* prior with far less of a budget and tragic dev cycle.




And here's what a whole 2 mods from some guys working at Kroger's or Staples or something got me.


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## Chaosmasterdelta (Jun 23, 2022)

I found fortnight to be just ok. Though I liked the building part of the game, it takes up a ridiculous amount of memory (about 80 GB) and it takes a long time to even start it.

I like to play one game at a time instead of trying to play a whole bunch at once. I also like to move on from a game when I am satisfied with how completed it is (usually when the main story is complete or, if it doesn't have anything like a main story, whenever I have tried most of the things in it).


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## TrishaCat (Jun 23, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> Midna is a shit.


Wrong
Supremely wrong
Ultra omega wrong
Ultra omega wrong classic
Ultra supreme omega wrong redux complete mega mix (& Knuckles)


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## Nexus Cabler (Jun 23, 2022)

Halo 4 was one of the best Halo games they made. 

While Halo Reach was good. I felt it wasn't good enough due to its rather short campaign.


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## KimberVaile (Jun 23, 2022)

Warcraft 3 is an all around more enjoyable game than WOW was. The lore was much better done there too.


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## KimberVaile (Jun 23, 2022)

Nexus Cabler said:


> Halo 4 was one of the best Halo games they made.
> 
> While Halo Reach was good. I felt it wasn't good enough due to its rather short campaign.


Reach was close to the peak, imo. Though I honestly thought the original Halo was the strongest Halo game. Best Ai, level design and close to the best enemy design, sans the flood. Which, even in Halo 3, was considered weak compared to the covenant.


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## Judge Spear (Jun 23, 2022)

I went back to Halo 4 in November and quit in the first mission. I don't know how you guys stomach it.
I don't know how MY ass did it when it was new.


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## KimberVaile (Jun 23, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> I went back to Halo 4 in November and quit in the first mission. I don't know how you guys stomach it.
> I don't know how MY ass did it when it was new.


I mean, it's almost literally the same experience I had. The game was so painfully dull and neutered compared to what came before. Somehow the fifth Halo was even worse than that, which is an accomplishment in it's own right.

As I understand it, a bunch of former Dice developers helped develop Halo 4, which. You know, enough said. Halo Infinite was the only passable non Bungie Halo they made imo. But, that's just me.


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## Judge Spear (Jun 23, 2022)

KimberVaile said:


> I mean, it's almost literally the same experience I had. The game was so painfully dull and neutered compared to what came before. Somehow the fifth Halo was even worse than that, which is an accomplishment in it's own right.
> 
> As I understand it, a bunch of former Dice developers helped develop Halo 4, which. You know, enough said. Halo Infinite was the only passable non Bungie Halo they made imo. But, that's just me.


I dunno. Battlefield 3 and Mirror's Edge were great games that came out around the time 4 was being developed so I'd personally expect _better_.

But I don't know why 343 can't make a quality Halo game. They had the building blocks in place for Infinite to be good and then they fucked everything surrounding it. It felt good to play and the maps were great. That was it.

Man being a Halo fan SUCKS. lol
I thought being a Sonic fan post 2012 was bad, but Halo is in the fucking doghouse. 4 was bad, 5 was bad, Infinite is bad. You have a show by people who openly spite the fanbase and proudly claim they know fuck all about the IP There's no other supplementary content to my knowledge worth enjoying.
All you got is the MCC, old games, which is about to do some fuck shit to open the gates for further typical AAA nonsense down the line.





And it's not even like Halo games are particularly frequent. So when one is shit, looks like that's another 5-7 years of your finite existence before another shot at something worth a damn. lol


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## KimberVaile (Jun 23, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> I dunno. Battlefield 3 and Mirror's Edge were great games that came out around the time 4 was being developed so I'd personally expect _better_.
> 
> But I don't know why 343 can't make a quality Halo game. They had the building blocks in place for Infinite to be good and then they fucked everything surrounding it. It felt good to play and the maps were great. That was it.
> 
> ...


Yup, lol.

I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm absolutely relieved to see the Foreunners and Prometheans dropped like a rock. Terrible and boring enemy design. Keeping it to just the covenant was a relief. Yet they still keep shit like aim down sights.

"It's more realistic" Is an absolutely idiotic reasoning for why a mechanic should be in a game. I want whats enjoyable, and hipfire encourages more use of movement, encourages faster paced combat and meshes SO much better with melee and grenade mechanics. Halo always had Unreal Tournament and Quake DNA in it, and it's always been better for that. But nah man, let's get aim down sights in there, and hey how about some squad mechanics too? Fuck off.

Like, I'm not a hard core traditionalist when it comes to what a game 'should be' but at the same time, the game direction for what is added to the game in terms of mechanics is leaning more towards military shooters and less so towards about the original base of gameplay fundamentals. Fundamentals which leaned more in the direction of the Quake era shooters than military shooters. The devs had a couple grab bag of ideas they could have reached into to use to further develop the series. Yet, of all the wells of inspiration they could have drawn from to find ways to add to the game, they decide, yeah fuck all those old fast paced arena shooters, let's look at Military Shooters.

Military shooters, in a game about being stuck on a giant life ending ring where you fight alien midgets, samurai Ridley scott aliens, and shaved 'roid wookies.
What a great fit for grounded military shooter mechanics. Just amazing.

I suppose that's why I gave Halo Infinite some credit, the grappling hook at least seemed like Halo was finally taking little baby steps in the right direction.

I don't even want to get started with the god awful TV show. The TV show alone made me question why I even liked Halo to begin with. I had to play some of the original games to remind myself why I even liked the series at all with how embarrassingly the show handled the characters and lore.

Just look at the fucking people who LIKE the TV show. Maybe 5% of them are people who actually played the original games. Most of the people hyping up that piece of dogshit are people who never played any of the games. And I've already bitched about how the MCC is being handled before. I'm almost unsurprised they're trying to just water down the game series even more than it already is with "Spartan Points'. The fact that the Halo Tv series has been greenlit for another season just proves this whole franchise may as well be dead. It reminds me quite a bit of the whole Star Wars Fandom in that way. I think the most insulting part of all of it, is that Pablo Schreiber's character is who the Master Chief really is in terms of canon. Just, Christ almighty man.

To quote a really shit meme

I want to get off of Mr Bones Wild ride, 343.


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## Judge Spear (Jun 28, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Bro, Skyrim was lame.
> Every last little cool thing left from Oblivion was removed. Nothing to commit to. No specialization indicative of a _role _playing game. You go in, steam roll everything, become everything unanswered, and don't have to make any kind of real decisions towards a build. Granted it's not like there's any reason to. Half the game is clearing out Draugr from copy pasted dungeons anyway because open worlds are SO interesting. 9-9
> 
> Also why does Bethesda have a fetish for ugly as fuck, nasty ass looking characters? Why is everyone in every TES (and FO) just maniacally hideous? Can they get an appealing art style? What is the issue? I don't even bother with custom characters in their games because there's quite literally no way possible to make something visibly pleasant regardless of race or gender. I'd just pick the default male Nord because I couldn't begin to care.
> ...


Funny how things change as I recently replayed Skyrim and found a complete 180 in my opinion on it. I was so incredibly wrong.
.......
Except the aesthetic. Games still ugly but I dont mind using mods for that.


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## BadRoy (Jun 30, 2022)

Unless you include the Souls games I don't think I've ever loved a sandbox game. 
Give me a 6-7 hour thoughtfully made game experience any day.


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## Judge Spear (Jun 30, 2022)

BadRoy said:


> Unless you include the Souls games I don't think I've ever loved a sandbox game.
> Give me a 6-7 hour thoughtfully made game experience any day.


Been saying this for a decade.


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## MonsterTeddy (Jun 30, 2022)

+ We need more multiplayer games centered around socializing and cooperation instead of PVP, I'm bored of the hostile, competitive environment so many games foster

+ A game with stylistic graphics kicks realism's ass EVERY time

+ It's time to stop making medieval fantasy games

+ There aren't enough "roleplay" games that are actually built with roleplaying in mind

+ We need a game platform like Roblox for adults - I like the concept, just not the execution and "community"

+ Probably not an unpopular opinion among people who know what I'm talking about, but I just gotta say, Toontown deserved better


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## Judge Spear (Jun 30, 2022)

MonsterTeddy said:


> + There aren't enough "roleplay" games that are actually built with roleplaying in mind


Bro, I HEARD that. RPG's are so hell bent on just letting you be everything with no consequence or specialization.
But these days if people are forced to make a real choice in a game and have a game tell them "no", they cry about it.


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## KimberVaile (Jun 30, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Bro, I HEARD that. RPG's are so hell bent on just letting you be everything with no consequence or specialization.
> But these days if people are forced to make a real choice in a game and have a game tell them "no", they cry about it.


It's hilarious how Skyrim let's you join every single faction it has in game with no consequence, yet on the same hand, they decide to have 'essential' NPCs and invincible children. I'd laugh but almost every open world 'rpg' is like Skyrim. There are no longer classes or restrictions on what you can do. Sounds great in theory, but then you find out how terribly shallow it makes everything.


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## Judge Spear (Jun 30, 2022)

KimberVaile said:


> It's hilarious how Skyrim let's you join every single faction it has in game with no consequence, yet on the same hand, they decide to have 'essential' NPCs and invincible children. I'd laugh but almost every open world 'rpg' is like Skyrim. There are no longer classes or restrictions on what you can do. Sounds great in theory, but then you find out how terrible shallow it makes everything.


As much as I like Skrum, it's shit at being an RPG, yeah. They completely stripped that and it wasn't even a gradual change. It was immediately from Oblivion to Skyrim. Then you have JRPG's that just railroad into what the game wants you to use. Usually because nothing is ever fucking balanced to be worth shit except magic.


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## Baalf (Jul 1, 2022)

Elden Ring has absolutely terrible lore and story. It's enough to not just ruin the game for me, but constantly having to be told I HAVE to love this game and I HAVE to get over every detail, big and little (just going to say: almost EVERYTHING about Elden Ring's story and lore pisses me off!) doesn't help. The hero's a borderline human-sue, most of the villains are furries, the game has an EXTREMELY shallow view on life, etc. The only thing I DON'T hate is the turtle pope.

Also, I will never play the game. I've done enough research to know there's no way I could POSSIBLY enjoy the game.


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## Judge Spear (Jul 1, 2022)

From what I understand, most Dark Souls fans would agree that Dark Souls games have comicly nonsensical world building and stories that makes zero sense. And its increasingly apparent that its by design. Which is fucking hilarious.


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## BadRoy (Jul 1, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> From what I understand, most Dark Souls fans would agree that Dark Souls games have comicly nonsensical world building and stories that makes zero sense. And its increasingly apparent that its by design. Which is fucking hilarious.


The world-building, and really the whole From catalogue has been blown out of proportion in the FNAF style where it's so big and over-hyped that people getting into it now are like "That's it? Lame."

I never took the lore in Dank Shoals as some grand overarching story. More like several cool vignettes strung together by the actual baseline story of each game (which usually amounts to 'You should try to fight fate, or not lol'). Man I don't care, I just want to soak up that atmosphere and swing my meaty sword around.


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## Judge Spear (Jul 1, 2022)

Platinum fell off for me honestly.

Was reminded how aggravating and tedious Astral Chain was and I really miss the hayday of Platinum when they made straightforward but deep games like Vanquish, MGR, and Bayonetta. Really consistent bangers.
All they have to their name these days is a mid STG with Sol Cresta, the honor of having jointly made the *shittiest *StarFox, garbage ass Babylon's Fall, and a clunky detective game that nothing will ever play like ever again.

Bayonetta 3 could not release sooner.


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## Average_Lurker (Jul 2, 2022)

Dark Souls 2 is best of the trilogy.


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## Kemonoguilmon (Jul 2, 2022)

I like the "_child_" protagonist of JRPGs, it is a very, very, *VERY* welcomed change to typical western media of "tough grizzle macho old guys".

I find Skyrim's open ended nature left me feeling like it's just fantasy Sims rather than an "rpg", and that's at best, at worst it is just a very complex fanfiction generator.


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## Judge Spear (Jul 2, 2022)

Neon White immediately looks like shit. Wtf


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## Dolox (Jul 5, 2022)

crash wrath of cortex is a good game


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## Judge Spear (Jul 7, 2022)

Virgin = "Mega Man 2 is the best"
Sigma male grindset = "Mega Man 4 is the best"


Mega Man 9 enjoyers


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## Imperial Impact (Jul 9, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


>


11 is better.


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## Judge Spear (Jul 10, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> 11 is better.


Fair opinion but I wasn't talking about 11.


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## RachelTheFictionkin (Jul 10, 2022)

I wish Angels of Death/Satsuriku no Tenshi had more horror elements to it, I wish there was more gratuitous gore and bloodshed. I wish Zack wasn't crippled through a majority of it. But that is what fanfics and dreams are for. But I don't know anyone who portrays Zack as a heinous sadistic criminal besides me.


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## Judge Spear (Jul 12, 2022)

It was nice that Nintendo got more eyes on the mini market and showed other publishers that's a viable idea. But the Nintendo minis themselves were trash offerings.


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## TrishaCat (Jul 13, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Bayonetta 3 could not release sooner.


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## Judge Spear (Jul 13, 2022)

TrishaCat said:


>


Nice callback.


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## Judge Spear (Jul 19, 2022)

Ratchet and Clank is S tier gaming with charm, great VA, and fun characters. But these games are NOT funny, I'm sorry. There's an ok gag here and there, but it's like once per game. The "funniest" is probably just Nefarious getting so mad he malfunctions, freezes, and starts playing the audio of some soap opera from his voice speaker.

I've played some funny ass games, but that series is not one of them. I wouldn't call it cringe inducing, but it's just dull.
Also: Rift Apart > UYA > '16 > Deadlocked > the rest (I don't know how I'd order them tbh those four just stand out to me the most)


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## Baalf (Jul 19, 2022)

I don't know how unpopular this opinion is, but I see complaints for it a lot, and I think it is way overblown.

So anyway, I decided to download Crash Bandicoot 4 with my PS Plus subscription, and I've been having a good time. I don't even mind getting 100% in the levels because so far they have been a pretty nice challenge and encourage me to keep my eyes out. And ultimately, whenever I beat a level, I do honestly feel accomplished like I was able to figure out every puzzle in that stage and whatnot in order to clear every stage with all the gems. The one aspect I do admit deserves a little bit of criticism are Platinum relics. In order to get 106%, you need to get at least platinum on all levels, and it does require a pretty tedious mechanic that you have to pull off over and over. I do admit that it is flawed...

... but my God is it aggravating seeing people act like the entire freaking game is ruined because of this. Like, people realize that this aspect is optional, right? You don't necessarily need to get 106% if you don't want to. You can just settle for 100% and watch the secret ending online if you believe that getting Platinum is too hard. But no, "WAAAAH! PLAT RELISH TOO HARD! GAME RUINED!" Well I personally still enjoy the game even if the Platinum relics are too hard for me personally to get. It's not going to ruin the game for me because I can't obtain them. I still like the rest of the game, I still like the level designs, I still like the challenge, I still like being able to play as Dingodile, etc. That one aspect doesn't even come close to bothering me. I'm just going to decide that getting 106% is not for me and I'm fine with that. I'm fine with just getting 100%. I wish people could just enjoy the game and not complain about this one aspect that, once again, is optional.


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## RachelTheFictionkin (Jul 20, 2022)

Baalf said:


> I don't know how unpopular this opinion is, but I see complaints for it a lot, and I think it is way overblown.
> 
> So anyway, I decided to download Crash Bandicoot 4 with my PS Plus subscription, and I've been having a good time. I don't even mind getting 100% in the levels because so far they have been a pretty nice challenge and encourage me to keep my eyes out. And ultimately, whenever I beat a level, I do honestly feel accomplished like I was able to figure out every puzzle in that stage and whatnot in order to clear every stage with all the gems. The one aspect I do admit deserves a little bit of criticism are Platinum relics. In order to get 106%, you need to get at least platinum on all levels, and it does require a pretty tedious mechanic that you have to pull off over and over. I do admit that it is flawed...
> 
> ... but my God is it aggravating seeing people act like the entire freaking game is ruined because of this. Like, people realize that this aspect is optional, right? You don't necessarily need to get 106% if you don't want to. You can just settle for 100% and watch the secret ending online if you believe that getting Platinum is too hard. But no, "WAAAAH! PLAT RELISH TOO HARD! GAME RUINED!" Well I personally still enjoy the game even if the Platinum relics are too hard for me personally to get. It's not going to ruin the game for me because I can't obtain them. I still like the rest of the game, I still like the level designs, I still like the challenge, I still like being able to play as Dingodile, etc. That one aspect doesn't even come close to bothering me. I'm just going to decide that getting 106% is not for me and I'm fine with that. I'm fine with just getting 100%. I wish people could just enjoy the game and not complain about this one aspect that, once again, is optional.



Purple relics is where it's at.


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## Baalf (Jul 20, 2022)

Dolox said:


> crash wrath of cortex is a good game


Also, I actually liked that game, too.


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## Imperial Impact (Jul 21, 2022)

After beating Tales of Vesperia, I can see why Judge Spear hates it. It's contains
-Mostly unlikable characters (Karol and the dog get a pass)
-Relies on world building which is bad because it just dumps on you.
-Patty is fucking awful.
-Combat is mostly a brain dead button masher.
-Arc 1 and 2 have bad pacing.
-The heroes un-relatable.


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## Judge Spear (Jul 21, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> After beating Tales of Vesperia, I can see why Judge Spear hates it. It's contains
> -Mostly unlikable characters (Karol and the dog get a pass)
> -Relies on world building which is bad because it just dumps on you.
> -Patty is fucking awful.
> ...


Even if I liked the series, I wouldn't get why that one was seen as the definitive entry.
It exacerbates every major issue I could ever have with JRPG's.


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## Imperial Impact (Jul 21, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Even if I liked the series, I wouldn't get why that one was seen as the definitive entry.
> It exacerbates every major issue I could ever have with JRPG's.


Because Tales of fans were like Persona 5 fans, They don't play their games.


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## Judge Spear (Jul 21, 2022)

Baalf said:


> I don't know how unpopular this opinion is, but I see complaints for it a lot, and I think it is way overblown.
> 
> So anyway, I decided to download Crash Bandicoot 4 with my PS Plus subscription, and I've been having a good time. I don't even mind getting 100% in the levels because so far they have been a pretty nice challenge and encourage me to keep my eyes out. And ultimately, whenever I beat a level, I do honestly feel accomplished like I was able to figure out every puzzle in that stage and whatnot in order to clear every stage with all the gems. The one aspect I do admit deserves a little bit of criticism are Platinum relics. In order to get 106%, you need to get at least platinum on all levels, and it does require a pretty tedious mechanic that you have to pull off over and over. I do admit that it is flawed...
> 
> ... but my God is it aggravating seeing people act like the entire freaking game is ruined because of this. Like, people realize that this aspect is optional, right? You don't necessarily need to get 106% if you don't want to. You can just settle for 100% and watch the secret ending online if you believe that getting Platinum is too hard. But no, "WAAAAH! PLAT RELISH TOO HARD! GAME RUINED!" Well I personally still enjoy the game even if the Platinum relics are too hard for me personally to get. It's not going to ruin the game for me because I can't obtain them. I still like the rest of the game, I still like the level designs, I still like the challenge, I still like being able to play as Dingodile, etc. That one aspect doesn't even come close to bothering me. I'm just going to decide that getting 106% is not for me and I'm fine with that. I'm fine with just getting 100%. I wish people could just enjoy the game and not complain about this one aspect that, once again, is optional.


I stopped playing the game because I'm very deathly serious about my boycott of it's publisher. But before I dropped everything from them, I fucking loved what I played of this game in particular. I had no real concerns with it and thought it was an excellent long awaited sequel. 
A lot of people I remember cried that it was difficult which is always funny to me.


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## Baalf (Jul 22, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> I stopped playing the game because I'm very deathly serious about my boycott of it's publisher. But before I dropped everything from them, I fucking loved what I played of this game in particular. I had no real concerns with it and thought it was an excellent long awaited sequel.
> A lot of people I remember cried that it was difficult which is always funny to me.


Don't get me wrong, I do think that the difficulty and padding deserves criticism, but it isn't a game breaker for me, and some of the difficulty does honestly feel fulfilling.


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## Silverthunder (Jul 22, 2022)

Late to the party again, and this may have already been said, but does anyone else DESPISE the theory bating trend FNAF started in indie games?

It was absolutely absurd in hello neighbor, bendy, and now Poppy, but those aren't the only ones that have done it. Any intentionally and unnecessarily esoteric and ambiguous elements left open in the story or plot of a game to promote people talking about and discussing it in other mediums. In reality, the creators have absolutely no idea how it all ties together themselves, they just wait for youtubers and twitch streamers to come up with the best ideas and refuse to ever actually address or conclude it themselves.

Mystery and intrigue is one thing, but too often these creators will come up with random things and completely forget about them later down the road in favor of something else that sounds cooler... FNAF... that's just lazy story telling for the sake of advertising. Granted, I don't think FNAF did this intentionally in the beginning, I doubt it was ever meant to be a story driven game, let alone some deep multi medium universe...


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## Judge Spear (Jul 23, 2022)

Silverthunder said:


> Late to the party again, and this may have already been said, but does anyone else DESPISE the theory bating trend FNAF started in indie games?
> 
> It was absolutely absurd in hello neighbor, bendy, and now Poppy, but those aren't the only ones that have done it. Any intentionally and unnecessarily esoteric and ambiguous elements left open in the story or plot of a game to promote people talking about and discussing it in other mediums. In reality, the creators have absolutely no idea how it all ties together themselves, they just wait for youtubers and twitch streamers to come up with the best ideas and refuse to ever actually address or conclude it themselves.
> 
> Mystery and intrigue is one thing, but too often these creators will come up with random things and completely forget about them later down the road in favor of something else that sounds cooler... FNAF... that's just lazy story telling for the sake of advertising. Granted, I don't think FNAF did this intentionally in the beginning, I doubt it was ever meant to be a story driven game, let alone some deep multi medium universe...


Trust that this was not at all FNAF's fault. People making stupid as fuck theories that only highlight how bad video game writing is has been around since Zelda. Then MatPat came around with his terrible EarthBound and UnderTale theories and that exploded it further. But this desperation to find something deeper in things you have to be high to think is astute coherent literature has been a trend for decades.


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## Silverthunder (Jul 23, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Trust that this was not at all FNAF's fault. People making stupid as fuck theories that only highlight how bad video game writing is has been around since Zelda. Then MatPat came around with his terrible EarthBound and UnderTale theories and that exploded it further. But this desperation to find something deeper in things you have to be high to think is astute coherent literature has been a trend for decades.



Oh for sure, it just feels like some devs run with and embrace that kind of stuff now. Whereas before, like with undertale for example, it wasn't designed specifically to be vague at any point I don't think. Like you said though, people like to assign grand, complex, and deep meaning to just about every little rock and pebble. And I still think the first few FNAF games weren't meant to be anything more than a fun experience with a few things sprinkled here and there. 

But... some devs embrace that hunger for deeper meaning, highlighting everything that's slightly out of place and saying 'see that? see that? it's important too!' and again, never actually addressing it or anything beyond showing something equally vague following it later on. 

I guess I'm just salty about the laziness of it and the obvious cash grab aspect. You know hello neighbor had a TV show pilot, books, and plushies? Gotta read the book if you wanna understand xy and z! Guess they thought that was more important than actually polishing their game...

Part of me thought Death Stranding was going to do the same thing when I first opened that one up... lol


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## Judge Spear (Jul 23, 2022)

Silverthunder said:


> Oh for sure, it just feels like some devs run with and embrace that kind of stuff now. Whereas before, like with undertale for example, it wasn't designed specifically to be vague at any point I don't think. Like you said though, people like to assign grand, complex, and deep meaning to just about every little rock and pebble. And I still think the first few FNAF games weren't meant to be anything more than a fun experience with a few things sprinkled here and there.
> 
> But... some devs embrace that hunger for deeper meaning, highlighting everything that's slightly out of place and saying 'see that? see that? it's important too!' and again, never actually addressing it or anything beyond showing something equally vague following it later on.
> 
> ...


Devs run with it because Zelda fans twisted Nintendo's arm to make the stupid, hardly discernable Zelda timeline canon. And you know Nintendo is Apple. They do something and it's a good idea to everyone else.


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## Kope (Jul 23, 2022)

Every popular game gets something copied and done worse (Ubisoft even copies their own formula and does it worse although that one is not an unpopular opinion)


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## Baalf (Jul 23, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> I stopped playing the game because I'm very deathly serious about my boycott of it's publisher. But before I dropped everything from them, I fucking loved what I played of this game in particular. I had no real concerns with it and thought it was an excellent long awaited sequel.
> A lot of people I remember cried that it was difficult which is always funny to me.


Also, just going to say it, I kind of don't have the same animosity towards Activision. At least some of their sub companies put genuine effort into their games they make, and I hope even with them being bought by microsoft, they will continue to have quality games, especially if it means we get good Spyro and Crash games, because I'd love to see characters like these stick around and not die out.


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## Judge Spear (Jul 23, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Also, just going to say it, I kind of don't have the same animosity towards Activision. At least some of their sub companies put genuine effort into their games they make, and I hope even with them being bought by microsoft, they will continue to have quality games, especially if it means we get good Spyro and Crash games, because I'd love to see characters like these stick around and not die out.


I can't get behind the abuse they put their workers through and play their games with mental clarity. It goes beyond crunch into  heinous predation. When a woman takes her own life because she is sexually assaulted repeatedly and executive suits down to her colleagues took an impish glee in it, I have to stop supporting it. Knowing that was not even close to the extent of their insidious culture additionally disgusts me.
I might complain about them but I can deal with a company fucking me over or putting out bad content. Nintendo is anti-consumer as fuck and I hate their games. I'll curse their name, but I can live with it because there isn't an apparent rampant culture of abuse and sexual deviancy I'm aware of, you feel me? Them and many others are shit companies. I just draw the line at tremendous exploitation of the people who churn out your products.

And I know it does nothing to AV and maybe I'm a hypocrite because I'm sure I patron other places where awful things are done to the people who form the backbone of the companies. There are certain evils I come to expect but there are things I have to realize in my life I cannot reasonably do without or know everything about. Like food plants or insurance firms. They're crooked but what _can_ I do in those deadlocks? If I can cut as many as possible, that's enough for me.
I don't _need _video games. I especially don't need AV. I can kick them to the curb cleanly and be just a little happier.

But, I'm not huffing my progressive fumes so much as to tell anyone else to join me in this. If you want to play their games, that's perfectly fine. This is purely a personal conviction for peace of mind.


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## Baalf (Jul 23, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> I can't get behind the abuse they put their workers through and play their games with mental clarity. It goes beyond crunch into  heinous predation. When a woman takes her own life because she is sexually assaulted repeatedly and executive suits down to her colleagues took an impish glee in it, I have to stop supporting it. Knowing that was not even close to the extent of their insidious culture additionally disgusts me.
> I might complain about them but I can deal with a company fucking me over or putting out bad content. Nintendo is anti-consumer as fuck and I hate their games. I'll curse their name, but I can live with it because there isn't an apparent rampant culture of abuse and sexual deviancy I'm aware of, you feel me? Them and many others are shit companies. I just draw the line at tremendous exploitation of the people who churn out your products.
> 
> And I know it does nothing to AV and maybe I'm a hypocrite because I'm sure I patron other places where awful things are done to the people who form the backbone of the companies. There are certain evils I come to expect but there are things I have to realize in my life I cannot reasonably do without or know everything about. Like food plants or insurance firms. They're crooked but what _can_ I do in those deadlocks? If I can cut as many as possible, that's enough for me.
> ...



What Activision does to its workers is bad, but remember: they are just publishers. They don't make the games themselves. In a perfect world, it would be easy to support the game developers and not the publishers. Unfortunately, if you want to punish a publisher by not buying their games, then you're also going to punish the game makers.


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## Judge Spear (Jul 23, 2022)

Baalf said:


> What Activision does to its workers is bad, but remember: they are just publishers. They don't make the games themselves. In a perfect world, it would be easy to support the game developers and not the publishers. Unfortunately, if you want to punish a publisher by not buying their games, then you're also going to punish the game makers.


But they get the bulk of the money and data they sell to the highest bidder. I'd much rather the devs get no money from me than their abusive execs getting money that they're barely seeing and using it to further subjugate them. 
Speak with your wallet. That's what I'm doing.


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## Kemonoguilmon (Jul 23, 2022)

Very, very off topic buuuut...

Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced would had been so much better if Mache was just a defeatist, a person who doesn't believe things is going to change and doesn't want to do anything, and in fact in a pretty good position back "home" while everyone else was in various degrees of crap.

Also the fact everyone keeps bringing up the bullies suffering tend to ignore the fact in the opening they willingly packed snowballs with stones during a playground fight, and laugh when they drew blood. They are not exactly "_*good"*_ people that many gamers try to make them out to be.


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## Baalf (Jul 23, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> But they get the bulk of the money and data they sell to the highest bidder. I'd much rather the devs get no money from me than their abusive execs getting money that they're barely seeing and using it to further subjugate them.
> Speak with your wallet. That's what I'm doing.


Just saying, not giving Activision money unfortunately means not giving the hard working game programmers money, either. And, honestly, Crash and Spyro are two of my favorite franchises. I WISH Toys For Bob, Vicarious Visions and Beenox owned those and didn't have to work for Activision, but unfortunately...


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## Judge Spear (Jul 23, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Just saying, not giving Activision money unfortunately means not giving the hard working game programmers money, either.


Better option of the two.


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## BadRoy (Jul 23, 2022)

Kemonoguilmon said:


> Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced would had been so much better if Mache was just a defeatist, a person who doesn't believe things is going to change and doesn't want to do anything, and in fact in a pretty good position back "home" while everyone else was in various degrees of crap.
> 
> Also the fact everyone keeps bringing up the bullies suffering tend to ignore the fact in the opening they willingly packed snowballs with stones during a playground fight, and laugh when they drew blood. They are not exactly "_*good"*_ people that many gamers try to make them out to be.


Immature schoolyard bullying means you deserve to be turned into a monster and killed? OK.

The bullies are the least of the issues with indulging in the fantasy of Ivalice. Ivalice was forced upon the real world and was conjured to please the whims of a handful of sad kids, especially Mewt. No one else had a say in their lives being overwritten/ erased. So Marche, being *100% based*, realized that the only righteous course of action would be for each of them to stand up to each of their struggles and give up the selfish delusion. It must have been so hard for him, but he stood by his morals.


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## ben909 (Jul 23, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Just saying, not giving Activision money unfortunately means not giving the hard working game programmers money, either. And, honestly, Crash and Spyro are two of my favorite franchises. I WISH Toys For Bob, Vicarious Visions and Beenox owned those and didn't have to work for Activision, but unfortunately...


coders can find jobs elsewhere if these companies get no money


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## Baalf (Jul 23, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Better option of the two.


I'm sorry, but I don't agree. Not only do I want those franchises to continue because they're some of the only creative franchises left in Triple A gaming, but again, it's not the programmer's fault. Yes, they can find new Publishers or work independently, but then what kind of games are they going to be able to make if they do go independent? Obviously they can't use those franchises, so would they try to make a spiritual successor or new charming IP that ends up failing, or are they just going to make what everyone else is making? Usually one of those two things happens: They make a charming spiritual successor/new IP that fails or make a successful game with cliche heroes, aggravating storytelling and shallow lore. Very rarely do I see anything that appeals to me actually become successful: they either fail or get overshadowed by other games. Even if game programers work for a scummy company, I'm just glad SOMEONE is able to keep those kind of games alive.



BadRoy said:


> Immature schoolyard bullying means you deserve to be turned into a monster and killed? OK.
> 
> The bullies are the least of the issues with indulging in the fantasy of Ivalice. Ivalice was forced upon the real world and was conjured to please the whims of a handful of sad kids, especially Mewt. No one else had a say in their lives being overwritten/ erased. So Marche, being *100% based*, realized that the only righteous course of action would be for each of them to stand up to each of their struggles and give up the selfish delusion. It must have been so hard for him, but he stood by his morals.


The amount of mental torture that bullies are able to cause is something I see understated way too often. I honestly don't mind seeing them as the villains, especially considering that it's relatable to have a character that rises up against their bullies without succumbing to the "just ignore them and they'll magically go away and get pumished" philosophy.


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## Kemonoguilmon (Jul 23, 2022)

BadRoy said:


> Immature schoolyard bullying means you deserve to be turned into a monster and killed? OK.
> 
> The bullies are the least of the issues with indulging in the fantasy of Ivalice. Ivalice was forced upon the real world and was conjured to please the whims of a handful of sad kids, especially Mewt. No one else had a say in their lives being overwritten/ erased. So Marche, being *100% based*, realized that the only righteous course of action would be for each of them to stand up to each of their struggles and give up the selfish delusion. It must have been so hard for him, but he stood by his morals.



Ah. I guess throwing stones and rocks is a-okay, because it was schoolyard shenanigans of the 1950's and that is good enough for modern America. 

I hate anti-escapism aesop because people take it too far the other way, dreams are worthless and we must take a defeatist idea because nothing can be fixed and we should just except reality as it.

Also Marche was a physically fit kid with both parents and no real true problems in his life, his brother was so sick he couldn't go outside or anywhere without his wheelchair, Ritz is an outcast of constant ridicule and often targeted by the school bullies, Mewt's mom's dead and his dad is a drunk and lastly Doned has health problems that will never be fully fixed no matter how much "moral and willpower" one strains out.

Marche is basically those out of touch rich assholes telling people to pull themselves up by the bootstraps.

In a true to real life ending no one's problems would be fixed, in fact it would be much worse and everyone would be plotting Marche's demise soon after.  So that leads me to believe the true ending is Marche killed everyone, which no matter how you cut it he does commit mass genocide on a grand scale, and just created a new world where he is a "hero"

Of, and just telling me someone is "moral" doesn't make them right. My dad took me out of school at a very young age and became a doomsday prepper, abused my mom for years, and ran to the middle of nowhere and kept me trapped for decades and gaslit to the point I believed all of his bullshit because he truly believed in his warped morals.

But as I had seen in the past, this is a truly unpopular opinion among gamers. Which is funny because the game is escapism, which is saying all escapism is bad and evil, which everyone agrees with but won't give up said games.


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## Silverthunder (Jul 24, 2022)

Might I offer a less philosophical or existential video game hot take? Probably a little off topic but... 

Nuclear power plant explosions (this goes for movies too). You see it mostly in strategy games of course, like command and conquer and sim city type games, but nuclear plant meltdowns don't cause gigantic nuclear explosions that wipe out entire cities. It's a steam explosion. Granted, they can be as gnarly as any power plant explosion, and you add on the whole radiation thing, but that's an entirely different topic from wiping out my entire city and creating a giant crater I can't build my radioactive slums on!


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## BadRoy (Jul 24, 2022)

Kemonoguilmon said:


> Ah. I guess throwing stones and rocks is a-okay, because it was schoolyard shenanigans of the 1950's and that is good enough for modern America.
> 
> I hate anti-escapism aesop because people take it too far the other way, dreams are worthless and we must take a defeatist idea because nothing can be fixed and we should just except reality as it.
> 
> ...


You seem to be struggling with nuance. 
Of course bullying isn't OK and they should be punished... but not to the degree of being turned into monsters and attacked, that's ridiculous. 
The game doesn't say escapism of any kind is reprehensible... it says overwriting reality with a selfish fantasy world is reprehensible. And it doesn't even make that black and white as Marche is repeatedly tempted to stay. 

The moral of the story, and it's a good one, is that you'll be a better, stronger person by coming to terms with your problems instead of constantly avoiding them via escapism. And that's borne out in the ending where everyone gets past their baggage and faces life head-on.

Basically it's Evangelion, but with moogles :3 



Silverthunder said:


> Nuclear power plant explosions (this goes for movies too). You see it mostly in strategy games of course, like command and conquer and sim city type games, but nuclear plant meltdowns don't cause gigantic nuclear explosions that wipe out entire cities. It's a steam explosion. Granted, they can be as gnarly as any power plant explosion, and you add on the whole radiation thing, but that's an entirely different topic from wiping out my entire city and creating a giant crater I can't build my radioactive slums on!


One of those things where over time society came to expect big mushroom clouds. 'Reality is unrealistic'


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## ScaratheWolf (Jul 24, 2022)

Fortnite sucks apex legends is good in Minecraft is the best game of all


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## Baalf (Jul 24, 2022)

Kemonoguilmon said:


> Ah. I guess throwing stones and rocks is a-okay, because it was schoolyard shenanigans of the 1950's and that is good enough for modern America.
> 
> I hate anti-escapism aesop because people take it too far the other way, dreams are worthless and we must take a defeatist idea because nothing can be fixed and we should just except reality as it.
> 
> ...



Yeah. Rancid morals in games suck. By now, a lot of people know how much I hate misanthropic villains and "Save humanity plots," but a lot of times, it's on a moral level. I can sorta understand "save humanity" plots in a setting where they're a dying species, but even in those, I typically see tons of species coming together just to wipe out ONE species, one that generally doesn't care about any species other than themselves (to be fair, in the situation I mentioned, their situation is dire and it's understandable that humanity would come first, but still). It REALLY bothers me, however, in stories where humans are populous and nature/monsters are struggling.

Like, here's my problem: Saving the World and Saving Humanity are almost always counterproductive to each other. Even in the fantasy usniverses, humans typically mess with nature, destroy forests, wipe out species, etc, and more often than not, by "Saving humanity," the story basically says that nature's struggles are not important in comparison to the convenience of evil people. Oh, but the force trying to wipe out humanity is ALWAYS an extremist. They're always portrayed to want to wipe ALL of humanity out, or worse, wipe EVERYTHING out just to wipe out humanity, so you can't POSSIBLY relate with the VILLAINS, right? The problem is that the heroes are usually extremists themselves, but in the other direction. They want to save ALL of humanity, including the people that SHOULD be punished. I don't care if the heroes are the "lesser of two evils," the world is still going to suffer regardless of who wins because it's always one extreme VS the other. There's never standards put into play, so all that happens is that I am against BOTH sides. I hated this plot in Kid Icarus Uprising. I hated it in Tales of Vesperia. I hated it in Pokemon X/Y. I just flat out hate these plotlines, in general. And regardless of how I feel about each other's goals, I'm always at LEAST going to RELATE to the villain more because I can relate to their pain and struggles more.


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## Judge Spear (Jul 25, 2022)

God I really could not get into the 3DS.
They're closing this service down next year so I'm looking to see if there's anything I'd actually play.
I just do not give a shit about this consoles library beyond like 3 originals and some retro ports.

It's just remakes, Pokemon, Mario's lamest entries, and the same JRPG 40 times in a row. I think this was the first Nintendo handheld I just couldn't appreciate because I was a fiend for some DS and GBA games.


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## BadRoy (Aug 3, 2022)

I think speedrunning is really dumb. I don't see any fun at all in not just beating a game quickly, but hunting down every ridiculous exploit possible to beat games as fast as possible.
Like if it was just beating the game without any glitches or whatever I can almost see how that would be fun, but when people have to jump in a corner for five minutes so they can skip 1/5 of the game I just don't care at all.


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## Delv (Aug 3, 2022)

I don't like any of the Zelda games, I think they're boring 
(Pls don't crucify me)


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## Judge Spear (Aug 4, 2022)

BadRoy said:


> I think speedrunning is really dumb. I don't see any fun at all in not just beating a game quickly, but hunting down every ridiculous exploit possible to beat games as fast as possible.
> Like if it was just beating the game without any glitches or whatever I can almost see how that would be fun, but when people have to jump in a corner for five minutes so they can skip 1/5 of the game I just don't care at all.


I like speedrunning a lot, but only specific types of games where speed is the whole point and doesn't require serious level skipping glitches.
Being good at games is fun and it gets you closer to understanding a lot of things developers put in place. That's just fascinating. "Playing close to code" as people call it.
It's also just good competition in the right community...

...now watch this drive.


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## Judge Spear (Aug 6, 2022)

Driving assists should not be a thing for online racing.


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## Baalf (Aug 19, 2022)

Not sure how unpopular of an opinion this is, but...

I just beat N. Tropy(s) in Crash 4, and I've heard that the fight's kinda disappointing, and yeah, I can see why. It's not that bad, but it does feel like there should have been one more phase. But a lot of people I know think that N. Tropy's original fight in Crash 3 was the best. In my opinion, *N. Tropy has NEVER had a decent boss fight.*

I mean, his fight in Warped is okay-ish. He sends energy orbs with unpredictable patterns and electric fields, but one thing REALLY takes me out of the fight: Dealing damage.

Do you deal damage by sending an attack back at him? No.

Do you deal damage by reaching a certain object that triggers damage? No.

Do you have to go through a gauntlet of attacks while trying to reach him? No.

...He, literally, LETS YOU attack him! He summons platforms for you to jump across and just kneels there to LET YOU attack him! What kind of powerful master of time are you, N. Tropy!?


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## Imperial Impact (Aug 21, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> God I really could not get into the 3DS.
> They're closing this service down next year so I'm looking to see if there's anything I'd actually play.
> I just do not give a shit about this consoles library beyond like 3 originals and some retro ports.
> 
> It's just remakes, Pokemon, Mario's lamest entries, and the same JRPG 40 times in a row. I think this was the first Nintendo handheld I just couldn't appreciate because I was a fiend for some DS and GBA games.


You forgot about Fire Emblem.


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## Judge Spear (Aug 21, 2022)

Imperial Impact said:


> You forgot about Fire Emblem.


I gave one of the 3DS Fire Emblems an honest shot and I got incredibly tired of it.
The GBA ones are my favorite because they look better, they sound better, and they just get to the point. 

The one I played on 3DS felt more like Sims with a strategy game tacked on. 
Oh build your castle. Oh feed your """""""dragon""""""" girl. Oh make sure you replay a shit ton of missions to grind. Oh you absolutely *_have_* to talk to these garbage characters now on top of the millions of cutscenes already present. 
Blazing Blade, you just see a few lines of dialogue, set your team up, and jump right in. You talked to characters as an additional little secret treat that got you an occasional reward. And you had to be receptive of who should talk to who. 

Everything you need to get stronger takes place right in the battlefield and you never need to constantly replay shit because the progression curve was immaculate. Missed something? Tough. You have plenty of scouting options and can plan as much as you need to. Any fuckups were your fault. Get better.

So many dumb padded features to draw out design pillars the older games did just fine and it takes forever to do anything. I got that vibe with a lot of 3DS games. Just padded lifestyle nonsense.


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## Judge Spear (Aug 23, 2022)

If your connection does not meet a minimum threshold, it should be considered griefing and you should be banned from online competitive modes. Or at least kicked from every match until you leave whatever subterranean, lead lined bomb shelter you're playing your game from.

Not ALL online. Just any sort of ranked play if the game has it.


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## Imperial Impact (Aug 23, 2022)




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## DemonHazardDeer (Aug 23, 2022)

Kemonoguilmon said:


> Also Marche was a physically fit kid with both parents and no real true problems in his life, his brother was so sick he couldn't go outside or anywhere without his wheelchair,


Marche doesn't have a dad, at least not one we know of, and there is an entire scene dedicated to him explaining why his life wasn't all smiles and rainbows either, since their mom had to look after his brother and could never give him much attention, but he never resents his brother for it. Marche is the in the best situation out of the kids, but that doesn't mean his life was perfect, and wanting to see and live with his mother again is a pretty damn good reason to want to return How I see FFTA is it's a game about kids going to a fantasy world to get away from their problems and forcing others into that false reality. The message I got from it was that dreams are important, but you can't let them turn into fantasy that overwrites reality in a sense, because then you'll never actually move forwards to a better reality. Of course, I like how there's not true hero of the game, both sides have pretty good arguments as to why they want to stay or go


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## DemonHazardDeer (Aug 23, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Not sure how unpopular of an opinion this is, but...
> 
> I just beat N. Tropy(s) in Crash 4, and I've heard that the fight's kinda disappointing, and yeah, I can see why. It's not that bad, but it does feel like there should have been one more phase. But a lot of people I know think that N. Tropy's original fight in Crash 3 was the best. In my opinion, *N. Tropy has NEVER had a decent boss fight.*
> 
> ...


Agreed, the Crash 3 fight is nothing to write home about, but that's just how I feel about Crash 3 in general


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## DemonHazardDeer (Aug 23, 2022)

Sony needs to go back to how things were. I don't care about sad dad and empty open world games, make them if you're passionate about it, but you need fucking variety, something Japan Studio excelled at! But they were still closed down even tho they made some of the best games on all 4 PlayStations! Now the only ones carrying the consoles are Third Party Japanese devs


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## Judge Spear (Aug 24, 2022)

"Sony"

Buddy, _everyone _sucks today.

Consoles and PC.
US and Japan. 
MS, Sony, and Nintendo.
AAA and Indie. 

All of this shit sucks now.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Aug 24, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> "Sony"
> 
> Buddy, _everyone _sucks today.
> 
> ...


Nah, we still got amazing games like Xenoblade, and way more games that are willing to have more colors than brown or grey and not everything is generic military FPS anymore, a lot of shit still sucks but I still think we're better off than the PS3/360 era, but I like colorful and niche Japanese gamesand theirs at least more of them now than that era, not quite Wii and PS2 levels tho sadly


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## Judge Spear (Aug 24, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Nah, we still got amazing games like Xenoblade, and way more games that are willing to have more colors than brown or grey and not everything is generic military FPS anymore, a lot of shit still sucks but I still think we're better off than the PS3/360 era, but I like colorful and niche Japanese gamesand theirs at least more of them now than that era, not quite Wii and PS2 levels tho sadly


We had way more back then. Most of what drops today is trash honestly.

The best thing these days is the sheer number of ports. But as far as original content goes, loooooool


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## DemonHazardDeer (Aug 24, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> We had way more back then. Most of what drops today is trash honestly.
> 
> The best thing these days is the sheer number of ports. But as far as original content goes, loooooool


Most, but not all


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## Judge Spear (Aug 24, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Most, but not all


Yes thats what I said.


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## Tetrachroma (Aug 24, 2022)

The more graphically impressive a game is, the shittier it is as a video game. Most modern AAA titles all look and feel like the same damn thing -- I just want something like oldschool Serious Sam for once. Plus, it's hard to get immersed in a video game world that just looks exactly like real life. The imperfect graphics and lighting are what really pull me into these game worlds (again, something like old Serious Sam please)

Also Life is Strange is pretentious trash and none of the characters behave anything like human beings.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Aug 24, 2022)

Tetrachroma said:


> The more graphically impressive a game is, the shittier it is as a video game. Most modern AAA titles all look and feel like the same damn thing -- I just want something like oldschool Serious Sam for once. Plus, it's hard to get immersed in a video game world that just looks exactly like real life. The imperfect graphics and lighting are what really pull me into these game worlds (again, something like old Serious Sam please)
> 
> Also Life is Strange is pretentious trash and none of the characters behave anything like human beings.


Don't forget how LiS fucking lies to you and is so rigid in structure it's comical they ever state "Your choices matter"


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## KimberVaile (Aug 25, 2022)

The amount of Smash Clones circulating right now gaining traction. Christ almighty, it is amazing how as more time passes the games industry finds new way to me aggressively unoriginal.

Also. Fucking lol at Goku being put into Fortnite. What a fucking abomination of a video game.


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## SirRob (Aug 25, 2022)

There needs to be more Smash clones. Ones that are able to compete with Smash. The Nickelodeon game came and went, that had passion behind it but not the budget. Multiversus is new, but follows a F2P model. Remains to be seen how that'll fare in the long run. The one I'm most excited for is Rivals of Aether 2. I've never played the original, but the sequel looks fantastic. Definitely interested in picking it up when or if it gets released.

And I think all of these games are plenty original. "Smash clone" is a genre, a platform fighter. 2D fighting games are all very similar to each other as well, but we don't call those "Street Fighter clones". The moniker doesn't do anything to help the genre thrive, which sucks because it's a genre that has a lot of potential.


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## Baalf (Aug 25, 2022)

SirRob said:


> There needs to be more Smash clones. Ones that are able to compete with Smash. The Nickelodeon game came and went, that had passion behind it but not the budget. Multiversus is new, but follows a F2P model. Remains to be seen how that'll fare in the long run. The one I'm most excited for is Rivals of Aether 2. I've never played the original, but the sequel looks fantastic. Definitely interested in picking it up when or if it gets released.
> 
> And I think all of these games are plenty original. "Smash clone" is a genre, a platform fighter. 2D fighting games are all very similar to each other as well, but we don't call those "Street Fighter clones". The moniker doesn't do anything to help the genre thrive, which sucks because it's a genre that has a lot of potential.



Not even sure how WB is able to afford Multiversus. From the looks of things, WB is going uunder.


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## KimberVaile (Aug 25, 2022)

SirRob said:


> There needs to be more Smash clones. Ones that are able to compete with Smash. The Nickelodeon game came and went, that had passion behind it but not the budget. Multiversus is new, but follows a F2P model. Remains to be seen how that'll fare in the long run. The one I'm most excited for is Rivals of Aether 2. I've never played the original, but the sequel looks fantastic. Definitely interested in picking it up when or if it gets released.
> 
> And I think all of these games are plenty original. "Smash clone" is a genre, a platform fighter. 2D fighting games are all very similar to each other as well, but we don't call those "Street Fighter clones". The moniker doesn't do anything to help the genre thrive, which sucks because it's a genre that has a lot of potential.



If there were better examples of the formula, I wouldn't call them Smash Clones. If they had enough originality to merit some distinction, I'd bring attention to it. But I can't really look at Multiverse and start singing it's praises, it's a monetized to shit Smash Brothers concept with WB character and Lebron James as one of the lead characters. You can tell when a game has passion and when it doesn't. Multiverse doesn't really fill me with confidence that there's been this passing of the torch. Or that the developers loved Smash and just wanted to make their own spin on the formula. It's a kid copying homework of the A student because he didn't bother studying.

I'm sure it'll be successful, but this doesn't have the same inspiration that Nickelodeon game did. I can at least give it that. Though I've always tended to think it had little of it's own blood or ideas. There was some care and appreciation for the genre though.  It's not the damage model of Smash that is inherently bothersome to me. It's the lack of inspiration and originality. People called uninspired FPS games in the 90's Doom Clones for largely the same reason I'm citing. It's the lack of originality that's bothersome. If you're going to try a forumula, try and add your own twist or ideas. It's all I ask.


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## Judge Spear (Aug 25, 2022)

SirRob said:


> There needs to be more Smash clones. Ones that are able to compete with Smash. The Nickelodeon game came and went, that had passion behind it but not the budget. Multiversus is new, but follows a F2P model. Remains to be seen how that'll fare in the long run. The one I'm most excited for is Rivals of Aether 2. I've never played the original, but the sequel looks fantastic. Definitely interested in picking it up when or if it gets released.
> 
> And I think all of these games are plenty original. "Smash clone" is a genre, a platform fighter. 2D fighting games are all very similar to each other as well, but we don't call those "Street Fighter clones". The moniker doesn't do anything to help the genre thrive, which sucks because it's a genre that has a lot of potential.


I think this is one of the most agreeable stances I've seen from you honestly. Couldn't have put it better. Especially the moniker of Smash Clone. I think I posted about that as well as the use of MetroidVania. They're just corny, lazy names that really dismiss the creativity of other titles.

Additionally, platform fighters don't have to be multiverse, crossover, IP soup. I think that's one of the reasons Smash's moveset creativity is spotty in my eyes. They have to either use things seen in the games of the character or come up with things that would fit them if there's little to go on. And in my opinion a lot of what they come up with tends to lack synergy. I feel like it puts them in a box. I have zero desire to play MultiVersus so I can't speak on that. But Smash specifically I have that gripe a lot.

Though one cool thing that no other crossover game in the genre did that PS AllStars had was a specific detail to the stages. Instead of just "God of War stage" or "Ratchet stage", the stages themselves crossed over. I distinctly remember KillZone mech's invading the Little Big Planet level and it would alter how you play during a match. It would be really neat to see that sort of thing in Smash. Having water flood Great Cave Offensive only for Perfect Chaos to form and cause problems for players would really add a whole new dimension to Smash I'm stunned Nintendo has not considered to this day.

And I too am excited for Rivals 2. I played the first one since it's early access launch in 2017 and have followed Dan's work since Super Smash Land. I'm skeptical of 2 since it's adding all of the mechanics I hate about Smash that Rivals 1 omitted. But I think Dan will make it work because he's aware of the issues those features pose. I can't wait to see what he cooks up. The other games in the Aether universe are not to my taste, but I love his world and characters. Marc Knelson's art breathes life into it and gives it an extreme character.


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## KimberVaile (Aug 25, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> I think this is one of the most agreeable stances I've seen from you honestly. Couldn't have put it better. Especially the moniker of Smash Clone. I think I posted about that as well as the use of MetroidVania. They're just corny, lazy names that really dismiss the creativity of other titles.
> 
> Additionally, platform fighters don't have to be multiverse, crossover, IP soup. I think that's one of the reasons Smash's moveset creativity is spotty in my eyes. They have to either use things seen in the games of the character or come up with things that would fit them if there's little to go on. And in my opinion a lot of what they come up with tends to lack synergy. I feel like it puts them in a box. I have zero desire to play MultiVersus so I can't speak on that. But Smash specifically I have that gripe a lot.
> 
> ...


There's a reason the term sticks. Some games are 'Smash Clones' because they do next to nothing to add anything to the formula. I don't really get why it's this all or nothing game. People called things clones when they fail to add anything new. You call something a 'platform fighter' when the game in question isn't so ludicrously derivative of the game that started the genre of Platform fighters. People called other games clones when they were exactly that. Uninspired clones of the game that spawned the sub genre.

It's exactly the issue with the whole debate between Souls Like and Souls Clone. There's a time and a place for each term. Other terms like MetriodVania are the best attempt at describing a type of game, sometimes it gets unfairly applied. But it'd rather have a world where there is some vague idea of what a game will be about then say, I dunno, some stab in the dark.

Like, notice that I said nothing about Rivals of Aether or PlayStation All Stars. This wasn't me creating some catch all term for every game that has a similar system to Smash. This was me specifically criticizing particular types of games. Calling a spade a spade should be wholly uncontroversial, really. No, I really don't think a lazy game that uses the Smash Formula and adds nothing new deserves brownie points. That's ridiculous.


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## Judge Spear (Aug 25, 2022)

KimberVaile said:


> There's a reason the term sticks. Some games are 'Smash Clones' because they do next to nothing to add anything to the formula. I don't really get why it's this all or nothing game. People called things clones when they fail to add anything new. You call something a 'platform fighter' when the game in question isn't so ludicrously derivative of the game that started the genre of Platform fighters. People called other games clones when they were exactly that. Uninspired clones of the game that spawned the sub genre.
> 
> It's exactly the issue with the whole debate between Souls Like and Souls Clone. There's a time and a place for each term. Other terms like MetriodVania are the best attempt at describing a type of game, sometimes it gets unfairly applied. But it'd rather have a world where there is some vague idea of what a game will be about then say, I dunno, some stab in the dark.
> 
> Like, notice that I said nothing about Rivals of Aether or PlayStation All Stars. This wasn't me creating some catch all term for every game that has a similar system to Smash. This was me specifically criticizing particular types of games. Calling a spade a spade should be wholly uncontroversial, really. No, I really don't think a lazy game that uses the Smash Formula and adds nothing new deserves brownie points. That's ridiculous.


I wasn't talking about you. lol


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## KimberVaile (Aug 25, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> I wasn't talking about you. lol


Fair 'nuff. Mi bad.

Half of it was just an excuse to talk about the clone vs inspired thing, which I've been seeing alot of. Had some opinions on it for a while. So on. So forth.


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## TrishaCat (Aug 25, 2022)

KimberVaile said:


> Multiverse doesn't really fill me with confidence that there's been this passing of the torch.


Multiversus from what I played feels like Playstation All Stars, which is to say, its crap. Everything's too slow and floaty, nothing feels like it has *oomph* to it, the f2p model sucks, the artstyle is ugly, and it doesn't feel like it has anything about it to call its own.


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## KimberVaile (Aug 25, 2022)

TrishaCat said:


> Multiversus from what I played feels like Playstation All Stars, which is to say, its crap. Everything's too slow and floaty, nothing feels like it has *oomph* to it, the f2p model sucks...


I've generally felt really drained by the games industry lately. Tons of it is such uninspired schlok, but for whatever reason. Multiverse just really took that cake as just, the most derivative uninspired dogshit I've seen in a long time. Something something old fox yells at cloud. I dunno man. I just don't like it.

I would even mind if it had passion behind it. But I don't see it if it's there.


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## Judge Spear (Aug 25, 2022)

TrishaCat said:


> Multiversus from what I played feels like Playstation All Stars, which is to say, its crap. Everything's too slow and floaty, nothing feels like it has *oomph* to it, the f2p model sucks, the artstyle is ugly, and it doesn't feel like it has anything about it to call its own.


This is generally what I felt. I tried it for about 20 minutes with 6 characters and it felt horrendous. There's so much hangtime to every single action you do like the game is trying to force you to do something afterwards. It feels robotic, scripted, and inorganic. Every character plays like how Sora plays in Smash but worse. And yes, there's like no feedback to hits.

It feels sloppy Especially when you play Rivals of Aether.... 
It's only played because "lol funee crossover", the cashing in on Internet zoomer humor, and it's free.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Aug 25, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> I think this is one of the most agreeable stances I've seen from you honestly. Couldn't have put it better. Especially the moniker of Smash Clone. I think I posted about that as well as the use of MetroidVania. They're just corny, lazy names that really dismiss the creativity of other titles.
> 
> Additionally, platform fighters don't have to be multiverse, crossover, IP soup. I think that's one of the reasons Smash's moveset creativity is spotty in my eyes. They have to either use things seen in the games of the character or come up with things that would fit them if there's little to go on. And in my opinion a lot of what they come up with tends to lack synergy. I feel like it puts them in a box. I have zero desire to play MultiVersus so I can't speak on that. But Smash specifically I have that gripe a lot.
> 
> ...


I do like the term Search Action instead of Metroidvania's, a lot more fitting than something like fuckin "Character Action," way to name one of the coolest and stylish genres out there the most generic name ever conceived, good job guys.


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## Judge Spear (Aug 25, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> I do like the term Search Action instead of Metroidvania's, a lot more fitting than something like fuckin "Character Action," way to name one of the coolest and stylish genres out there the most generic name ever conceived, good job guys.


Search action is such a perfect name and I use that now. I'm surprised it hadn't caught on because Nintendo themselves coined it.
I just prefer real, neutral words to describe a category.


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## RubberfemAsriel (Aug 25, 2022)

Undertales soundtrack sounds repetitive and is overrated 
The ruins theme has a little bit of sphere of justice in it
The game over theme has asgores theme in it 
Dog song has enemy approaching in it 
Hopes and dreams has long ago in it 
And undertales AU music excluding deltarune sound much better.


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## Judge Spear (Aug 26, 2022)

Rouge will not be in Sonic 3.


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## KimberVaile (Aug 28, 2022)

Aim down sights actively makes a good chunk of shooters worse.


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## Judge Spear (Aug 28, 2022)

KimberVaile said:


> Aim down sights actively makes a good chunk of shooters worse.


Only ever wasn't bothered by it in TitanFall because it really was just for better target acquisition. Most guns actually had functioning hipfire. Every other game completely neuters it to force this artificial extra step. I understand the appeal because it's mostly to evoke an emotional response, but a lot of FPS action generally stutters because of it.


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## KimberVaile (Aug 28, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Only ever wasn't bothered by it in TitanFall because it really was just for better target acquisition. Most guns actually had functioning hipfire. Every other game completely neuters it to force this artificial extra step. I understand the appeal because it's mostly to evoke an emotional response, but a lot of FPS action generally stutters because of it.


There's a couple games where I don't mind it, slower paced games generally benefit the most from it. Though usually the feature is just tacked on without second thought as you mentioned.
Which is my biggest complaint about it, brings the pace of most shooters to a grinding halt, makes camping more viable and other really fucking boring strategies. Movement used to play a much more integral gameplay purpose, it added new layers.

It takes greater skill/mechnical mastery to hipfire fast targets imo. Games like Cod that are already fast paced would benefit from just axing ADS. It already doesn't give a shit about realism, why would it matter?


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## Judge Spear (Aug 29, 2022)




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## Lenago (Aug 31, 2022)

This is more of a personal problem and not a actually bad opinion of a game

Xenoblade chronicles 3
I hear thats a fun and beautifull game, but i am very at the fence do to the battle system, since it kind  of auto attacks and i tend to really dislike RPGs that do that.

The problem is that, i cant coment if i hate the game  since i havent played it, but since i am fearfull of a battle system that can really turn me  off from a game, i am not willing to risk 60€ on it...kind of wish the game had a demo.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Aug 31, 2022)

Lenago said:


> This is more of a personal problem and not a actually bad opinion of a game
> 
> Xenoblade chronicles 3
> I hear thats a fun and beautifull game, but i am very at the fence do to the battle system, since it kind  of auto attacks and i tend to really dislike RPGs that do that.
> ...


Have you played the first 2? And what part of auto attacking do you not care for?


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## Lenago (Aug 31, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Have you played the first 2? And what part of auto attacking do you not care for?


The first two the problem is the same, a bir fearfull of putting 60€ on something i might not like

Humm hard to explain really, i just dont like the ideia of the game playing for me ya know, kind of beats the point of playing something. In a RPG i like to have full control of my action  so i can strategize as battles go on, and having a auto battle type of system often dampers that experience for me


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## DemonHazardDeer (Aug 31, 2022)

Lenago said:


> The first two the problem is the same, a bir fearfull of putting 60€ on something i might not like
> 
> Humm hard to explain really, i just dont like the ideia of the game playing for me ya know, kind of beats the point of playing something. In a RPG i like to have full control of my action  so i can strategize as battles go on, and having a auto battle type of system often dampers that experience for me


Hmmm, I see, well just in case you didn't know since they don't explain it in depth too much in game, Auto attacks aren't for damage, in 1 they're for filling up the talent gauge (the big circle in the middle of your Arts menu) and in 2 they refill your Arts gauges, so arts are for doing everything strategically and auto attacking only isn't how you're gonna be winning any fights. It's everything around auto attacking that is strategic, trust me later on you have to manage art cool downs, talent gauge levels, position to the enemy, saving the party gauge to either revive or do a chain attack and what arts to use in a chain attack for the most efficiency, there's a ton of strategy and player input after the beginning. But hey how you feel is how you feel, I know I have some I just can't shake myself lol


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## Lenago (Aug 31, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Hmmm, I see, well just in case you didn't know since they don't explain it in depth too much in game, Auto attacks aren't for damage, in 1 they're for filling up the talent gauge (the big circle in the middle of your Arts menu) and in 2 they refill your Arts gauges, so arts are for doing everything strategically and auto attacking only isn't how you're gonna be winning any fights. It's everything around auto attacking that is strategic, trust me later on you have to manage art cool downs, talent gauge levels, position to the enemy, saving the party gauge to either revive or do a chain attack and what arts to use in a chain attack for the most efficiency, there's a ton of strategy and player input after the beginning. But hey how you feel is how you feel, I know I have some I just can't shake myself lol


Humm i see  might think about it, if the game hits a sale


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## The_Happiest_Husky (Aug 31, 2022)

In World of Tanks, the Rinoceronte is actually really good


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## Servyl (Aug 31, 2022)

So this one has probably been said a lot.

Genshin is a great game, don't get me wrong, but there really _isn't_ anything special about it IMO. Wayyyy overrated.


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## Judge Spear (Aug 31, 2022)

Lenago said:


> This is more of a personal problem and not a actually bad opinion of a game
> 
> Xenoblade chronicles 3
> I hear thats a fun and beautifull game, but i am very at the fence do to the battle system, since it kind  of auto attacks and i tend to really dislike RPGs that do that.
> ...


Honestly you're missing nothing passing over 2 and 3.
Just play X if you really want try the series. But the auto attack thing is really stupidly implemented in all 4 games (and similar RPG's) because it doesn't take range into account with enemies.

I say "play X" like it's on Switch. My bad.


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## Lenago (Aug 31, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Honestly you're missing nothing passing over 2 and 3.
> Just play X if you really want try the series. But the auto attack thing is really stupidly implemented in all 4 games (and similar RPG's) because it doesn't take range into account with enemies.
> 
> I say "play X" like it's on Switch. My bad.


I think i just find the whole MMO gameplay style not really fitting a single player RPG experience

In a MMO sure  there are many players  so a turn based  or action rpg style does not mesh well.
But as a single player rpg. I just find that style not really a good fit compared to maybe a action rpg style.


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## Judge Spear (Aug 31, 2022)

Lenago said:


> I think i just find the whole MMO gameplay style not really fitting a single player RPG experience
> 
> In a MMO sure  there are many players  so a turn based  or action rpg style does not mesh well.
> But as a single player rpg. I just find that style really a good fit compared to maybe a action rpg style.



I think the combat is very immediately dated myself. I just don't get the point of it. Even with FF12, I didn't (although I felt even less involved in that game). 
I get that it's just taking the middle man out of menu based combat, but the game isn't exactly turn based either so I don't understand. Just give the player that little bit of control.


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## Lenago (Aug 31, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> I think the combat is very immediately dated myself. I just don't get the point of it. Even with FF12, I didn't (although I felt even less involved in that game).
> I get that it's just taking the middle man out of menu based combat, but the game isn't exactly turn based either so I don't understand. Just give the player that little bit of control.


I belive it was a product of that era maybe. Not sure how things are today, but i think during that time  there was a MMO craze, world of warcraft and all that. So maybe square thought single player rpgs would follow down that gameplay style and that classic jrpg gameplay was not relevant.


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## Judge Spear (Aug 31, 2022)

Lenago said:


> I belive it was a product of that era maybe. Not sure how things are today, but i think during that time  there was a MMO craze, world of warcraft and all that. So maybe square thought single player rpgs would follow down that gameplay style and that classic jrpg gameplay was not relevant.


If I recall FF12 did pretty well. I got a little tired of it so I never finished it. But the amount of walking, even in the ZA port, coupled with battles really not involving you all that much got dull. I just don't like when I'm able to move in a game and it literally doesn't matter.

Yeah you have attacks in Xenoblade that are context sensitive with positions. But beyond that movement is pointless. That legit bothers me. It's like an unnatural disconnect I have.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Aug 31, 2022)

Lenago said:


> I think i just find the whole MMO gameplay style not really fitting a single player RPG experience
> 
> In a MMO sure  there are many players  so a turn based  or action rpg style does not mesh well.
> But as a single player rpg. I just find that style not really a good fit compared to maybe a action rpg style.


Oh yeah you'd hate X especially since it's focus on exploring a huge map and characters are very bland compared to the other Xeno games. Even tho it doesn't have the amazing Gambit system the party members in Xeno games are quite smart, I've rarely had moments where I'm yelling at the healer to actually heal me over my hundreds of hours playing them lol.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Aug 31, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> If I recall FF12 did pretty well. I got a little tired of it so I never finished it. But the amount of walking, even in the ZA port, coupled with battles really not involving you all that much got dull. I just don't like when I'm able to move in a game and it literally doesn't matter.
> 
> Yeah you have attacks in Xenoblade that are context sensitive with positions. But beyond that movement is pointless. That legit bothers me. It's like an unnatural disconnect I have.


Well enemies have AOE attacks, and you have to move close to party members to either encourage or revive them, plus there are tons of areas that force you to take terrain into account, like keeping your team members out of poison areas or bosses that have targets you need to destroy all around the battlefield. I will say tho that 2 is very different than 1 because movement is not encouraged in combat like in 1. In 1 you can continue auto attacking while moving as long as you are in range, making using directional arts easier, but in 2 you don't auto attack while movie and your movement speed in battle is really slow. There is a great trick in 2 to charge up your arts super fast and that's tapping the control stick lightly to constantly reset your auto combo, filling up your arts way faster lol


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## Lenago (Aug 31, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Oh yeah you'd hate X especially since it's focus on exploring a huge map and characters are very bland compared to the other Xeno games. Even tho it doesn't have the amazing Gambit system the party members in Xeno games are quite smart, I've rarely had moments where I'm yelling at the healer to actually heal me over my hundreds of hours playing them lol.


I tried 12, the gambit is a incredivel system in paper. But agains, it feels like the game plays itself ya know? Yeah there is a more classic style system there, but to me it felt very messy  almost forcing me to use the gambits.

I much prefer the classic turn base styles of the older final fantasies, where i can plan out, and have full control of my parties skills and movements

Or a action rpg style, like kingdom Hearts or the Ys series, where i have full control to dodge and attack enemies


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## DemonHazardDeer (Aug 31, 2022)

Lenago said:


> I tried 12, the gambit is a incredivel system in paper. But agains, it feels like the game plays itself ya know? Yeah there is a more classic style system there, but to me it felt very messy  almost forcing me to use the gambits.
> 
> I much prefer the classic turn base styles of the older final fantasies, where i can plan out, and have full control of my parties skills and movements
> 
> ...


Interesting, cuz I love the Gambit system so much because it really gives me that same level of strategy without having to constantly hit A, makes grinding insanely easy lol. The one I really hate is Persona 3 FES, they're mostly competent but it sucks when you NEED MISTURU TO HEAL YOU AND SHES TRYING TO FUCKING CHARM AN ENEMY!!!


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## Lenago (Aug 31, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Interesting, cuz I love the Gambit system so much because it really gives me that same level of strategy without having to constantly hit A, makes grinding insanely easy lol. The one I really hate is Persona 3 FES, they're mostly competent but it sucks when you NEED MISTURU TO HEAL YOU AND SHES TRYING TO FUCKING CHARM AN ENEMY!!!


Thats why i always like have full control of a party hahaha.
Heh i  just don't really like games that take control from me.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Aug 31, 2022)

Lenago said:


> Thats why i always like have full control of a party hahaha.
> Heh i  just don't really like games that take control from me.


I def get that, but I feel like now games like that are smart enough to make the AI good, Xenoblade, The Last Story and Dragon's Dogma AI part members are legit really good, well DD takes awhile but that's kinda the point of the Pawn system lol


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## Judge Spear (Aug 31, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Well enemies have AOE attacks, and you have to move close to party members to either encourage or revive them, plus there are tons of areas that force you to take terrain into account, like keeping your team members out of poison areas or bosses that have targets you need to destroy all around the battlefield. I will say tho that 2 is very different than 1 because movement is not encouraged in combat like in 1. In 1 you can continue auto attacking while moving as long as you are in range, making using directional arts easier, but in 2 you don't auto attack while movie and your movement speed in battle is really slow. There is a great trick in 2 to charge up your arts super fast and that's tapping the control stick lightly to constantly reset your auto combo, filling up your arts way faster lol


A gorilla enemy threw a punch and it hit me 20 feet away.
And a level 70 bird enemy swiped me with talons from the treetops before I knew what triggered the battle music and killed me.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Aug 31, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> A gorilla enemy threw a punch and it hit me 20 feet away.
> And a level 70 bird enemy swiped me with talons from the treetops before I knew what triggered the battle music and killed me.


? Must've been a glitch with the gorilla cuz normally that's impossible


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## Judge Spear (Aug 31, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> ? Must've been a glitch with the gorilla cuz normally that's impossible


That's kind of just been a thing for Xenoblade since the first game. There weren't any ranged enemies on the way to that town with the neko people. All of them hit you with melee attacks regardless of distance almost entirely. And I distinctly remember this for 1 and X as well. It was just the worst in 2 because they felt like putting aggressive enemies you couldn't conceivably kill on the main paths to your primary objective. I clearly remember those instances where I died because a creature one or two shot me with apparently mile long invisible limbs. I did eventually worm my way around the fuckers to continue the game but it was annoying as fuck.

I didn't pay much attention to the brief time I gave 3.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Sep 1, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> That's kind of just been a thing for Xenoblade since the first game. There weren't any ranged enemies on the way to that town with the neko people. All of them hit you with melee attacks regardless of distance almost entirely. And I distinctly remember this for 1 and X as well. It was just the worst in 2 because they felt like putting aggressive enemies you couldn't conceivably kill on the main paths to your primary objective. I clearly remember those instances where I died because a creature one or two shot me with apparently mile long invisible limbs. I did eventually worm my way around the fuckers to continue the game but it was annoying as fuck.
> 
> I didn't pay much attention to the brief time I gave 3.


It was a thing in 2 I do remember but 1 I've never seen that, only thing I cn think of for 1 were ranged attacks that could be hard to see in the Wii and 3DS ver, but 1 I've straight up never seen it in. I will say tho 2 has a lot of flaws especially early on, but personally the story and characters were so good it became one of my all time fav games along with 1, but I def understand people who couldn't get into it since imo it doesn't get good till chapter 3 which is several hours in.


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## Judge Spear (Sep 1, 2022)

I don't like the philosophy of level design being something you should want to _not _interact with in games. I don't know why you'd spend weeks designing a linear path and then actively encourage players to skip it with extreme ease. Like design a stage with that intent that large chunks should not be played. "Player choice" to a lot of people means "don't actually *play* the games" and that's weird to me.
Kills me because people want games where you can just avoid most of the content and then complain when games aren't 700 hours long. Well if you're always easily skipping huge portions of the game, YEAH, you're not gonna get a full experience!! >:l

Basically what I'm saying is that platformers should have either nerfed movement or more closed level design. lol



DemonHazardDeer said:


> It was a thing in 2 I do remember but 1 I've never seen that, only thing I cn think of for 1 were ranged attacks that could be hard to see in the Wii and 3DS ver, but 1 I've straight up never seen it in. I will say tho 2 has a lot of flaws especially early on, but personally the story and characters were so good it became one of my all time fav games along with 1, but I def understand people who couldn't get into it since imo it doesn't get good till chapter 3 which is several hours in.


I haven't played 1 in like 7 years but again, I only remember it being particularly bad with 2.  1 didn't frustrate me at all. I just remember it having the odd enemy interaction that wasn't intuitive every now and again. X frustrated me for pacing reasons. 2 is just no.
I should pop 1 back in some day. I remember getting about 40 hours in but then I had to move and start school. Never went back to it.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Sep 1, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> I don't like the philosophy of level design being something you should want to _not _interact with in games. I don't know why you'd spend weeks designing a linear path and then actively encourage players to skip it with extreme ease. Like design a stage with that intent that large chunks should not be played. "Player choice" to a lot of people means "don't actually *play* the games" and that's weird to me.
> Kills me because people want games where you can just avoid most of the content and then complain when games aren't 700 hours long. Well if you're always easily skipping huge portions of the game, YEAH, you're not gonna get a full experience!! >:l
> 
> Basically what I'm saying is that platformers should have either nerfed movement or more closed level design. lol
> ...


Woof, yeah X is certainly... a game lol, not necessarily bad but not all that great for a lot of reasons. 2 it def happens a lot in the first area and they just pack so many enemies into this space that's a lot smaller than Guar Plains with the slower movement speed. 2 has a lot of gripes even from me, still personally one of my fav games but that troubled dev cycle is pretty damn obvious


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## Judge Spear (Sep 1, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Woof, yeah X is certainly... a game lol, not necessarily bad but not all that great for a lot of reasons. 2 it def happens a lot in the first area and they just pack so many enemies into this space that's a lot smaller than Guar Plains with the slower movement speed. 2 has a lot of gripes even from me, still personally one of my fav games but that troubled dev cycle is pretty damn obvious


X's opening grind is just weird.
It was really hard just figuring out...how to progress. They asked so much of you to advance your game state but you couldn't really find ample enough things to do to move on. I remember it being some sort of rank you needed to increase before the next main quest became available. But the requirements for it got immediately steep. And what few things you could do were very obtuse and up to extreme amounts of chance.
It wasn't hard to kill things and you weren't in any extreme danger of being carpet bombed by an end game raid boss while you're only level 0.03.

Oddly enough it's still my favorite of the 4.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Sep 1, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> X's opening grind is just weird.
> It was really hard just figuring out...how to progress. They asked so much of you to advance your game state but you couldn't really find ample enough things to do to move on. I remember it being some sort of rank you needed to increase before the next main quest became available. But the requirements for it got immediately steep. And what few things you could do were very obtuse and up to extreme amounts of chance.
> It wasn't hard to kill things and you weren't in any extreme danger of being carpet bombed by an end game raid boss while you're only level 0.03.
> 
> Oddly enough it's still my favorite of the 4.


Uhg yeah I hated progression in X, "here's this huge area with a bunch of NPCs, which one will help you progress? I dunno you figure it out." I did like being able to switch between melee and ranged combat, but overall the story was so cookie cutter and uninvolved compared to every other Xeno game I just couldn't like it nearly as much, still a fun game tho


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## Judge Spear (Sep 1, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Uhg yeah I hated progression in X, "here's this huge area with a bunch of NPCs, which one will help you progress? I dunno you figure it out." I did like being able to switch between melee and ranged combat, but overall the story was so cookie cutter and uninvolved compared to every other Xeno game I just couldn't like it nearly as much, still a fun game tho


I don't even know what the story is. Don't care. 
I just wanted to kill shit and customize myself. And get rich.
I was hoping to fight the BIG fuckers.


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## KimberVaile (Sep 11, 2022)

Holy shit, it is so painful to have any interest at all in Halo rn.
343 just keeps finding new ways to mangle this franchise. Lordie


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## Judge Spear (Sep 11, 2022)

KimberVaile said:


> Holy shit, it is so painful to have any interest at all in Halo rn.
> 343 just keeps finding new ways to mangle this franchise. Lordie


I literally just watched a video before coming here on how they fucked up again.
They're so bad, dude. Splitscreen's been a thing since the dawn of 3D consoles. Don't give me that shit of "too many resources". 
I wish developers would at least be straight in the reasons they don't do things. 

You don't wanna put in splitscreen because the game is too expensive to develop for, as most are, and it's a failure. So you want to cut less popular features and content to pump the manpower and money into what will keep your currently listing ship from capsizing. It's a feature that won't get them money but that's not an answer that's good for PR. No one is that stupid to think they can't get an_ arena FPS_ some damn splitscreen on one of the most powerful consoles in history AND PC. Fuck outta here.


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## Baalf (Sep 13, 2022)

Honestly, after several days of them being announced, I can officially say that Ceruledge and Armarouge are my new least favorite Pokemon. I already don't like them because I'm not a fan of robots, emotionless designs or human designs / designs that look like they could just be human in armor, but people seem to think that these designs are untouchable, and that they are the most badass and objectively awesome designs in Pokemon, and that your opinion is wrong and stupid if you do not like these designs. Even my old least favorite, pheromosa, wasn't this overrated.


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## Judge Spear (Sep 14, 2022)

Alliteration is the only way you should be naming your platforming levels!!!

I'm BIG PISSED Kirby moved away from that shit and that Sonic only did it once!!!


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## KimberVaile (Sep 14, 2022)

I played a bit of the original Unreal Tournmanet for kicks.
I had more fun with this game I got for less than 2 dollars than Farcry 6 or any other shooter I played this year.

Lmao


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## DemonHazardDeer (Sep 15, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Honestly, after several days of them being announced, I can officially say that Ceruledge and Armarouge are my new least favorite Pokemon. I already don't like them because I'm not a fan of robots, emotionless designs or human designs / designs that look like they could just be human in armor, but people seem to think that these designs are untouchable, and that they are the most badass and objectively awesome designs in Pokemon, and that your opinion is wrong and stupid if you do not like these designs. Even my old least favorite, pheromosa, wasn't this overrated.


I like them because they're NetNavi's from Megaman Battle Network, like for some reason Game Freak looked at Megaman BN and said "Yeah that should be a Pokemon." I'm still not gonna get S/V cuz I'm just tired of Pokemon


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## Judge Spear (Sep 15, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> I like them because they're NetNavi's from Megaman Battle Network, like for some reason Game Freak looked at Megaman BN and said "Yeah that should be a Pokemon." I'm still not gonna get S/V cuz I'm just tired of Pokemon


Gives me Pulseman vibes.
Also look at you... Making optimal financial decisions and shit.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Sep 15, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> Gives me Pulseman vibes.
> Also look at you... Making optimal financial decisions and shit.


Oh yeah they do look like they could fit in with Pulseman! And thanks, wish I could do it normally...


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## Judge Spear (Sep 15, 2022)

This is something I've been sort of bothered by over the last few years.
I've had my eye on this for months. This game looks like LOADS of fun. I'd fuck this up.....but I'm not trying to play as this kind of character. If she was like some punchy looking robot girl with a slick design or just stylized to have more energy in general, I'd be cool. 
She's just a little girl. Not a _video game_ girl if that makes sense.

A lot of characters are like this today with no flavor and I'm just not with it. :/


__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1570458375439130624
That combat KINDA clean tho...


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## Baalf (Sep 15, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> I like them because they're NetNavi's from Megaman Battle Network, like for some reason Game Freak looked at Megaman BN and said "Yeah that should be a Pokemon." I'm still not gonna get S/V cuz I'm just tired of Pokemon


Well I don't like that some people don't even think I'm allowed to not like them. Then again, what else is new?


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## DemonHazardDeer (Sep 15, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Well I don't like that some people don't even think I'm allowed to not like them. Then again, what else is new?


Wut? I was just saying I like em, doesn't matter to me if you don't like em


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## DemonHazardDeer (Sep 15, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> This is something I've been sort of bothered by over the last few years.
> I've had my eye on this for months. This game looks like LOADS of fun. I'd fuck this up.....but I'm not trying to play as this kind of character. If she was like some punchy looking robot girl with a slick design or just stylized to have more energy in general, I'd be cool.
> She's just a little girl. Not a _video game_ girl if that makes sense.
> 
> ...


There's one that looks really fun with a cool robot girl mc that I've been following for a while, but I can't remember the title! I'll link it to you next time I see a post from them


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## Baalf (Sep 15, 2022)

DemonHazardDeer said:


> Wut? I was just saying I like em, doesn't matter to me if you don't like em


Sure, but not every opinion needs to be followed up with an opposite opinion. That usually just shows you don't respect the opinion your commenting on.


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## DemonHazardDeer (Sep 15, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Sure, but not every opinion needs to be followed up with an opposite opinion. That usually just shows you don't respect the opinion your commenting on.


Oh? Well, sorry I genuinely didn't intend it to read like that. I just thought we were sharing opinions about stuff, that's what the whole thread is about after all. But also having the opposite opinion doesn't mean people think you can't have yours, at least that's what I've always thought


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## Judge Spear (Sep 15, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Sure, but not every opinion needs to be followed up with an opposite opinion. That usually just shows you don't respect the opinion your commenting on.


Boy, no it doesn't. It's a forum and you posted a comment. Demon just wanted to discuss it. There's no harm in that.


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## Judge Spear (Sep 17, 2022)

KimberVaile said:


> I played a bit of the original Unreal Tournmanet for kicks.
> I had more fun with this game I got for less than 2 dollars than Farcry 6 or any other shooter I played this year.
> 
> Lmao


You gotta try SplitGate if you haven't. I got addicted to this shit today.


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## KimberVaile (Sep 17, 2022)

Judge Spear said:


> You gotta try SplitGate if you haven't. I got addicted to this shit today.


Oh, like Halo but with portals. Huh. I might give it a try, kind of a neat concept they got going.


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## Judge Spear (Sep 18, 2022)

KimberVaile said:


> Oh, like Halo but with portals. Huh. I might give it a try, kind of a neat concept they got going.


I honestly think you'd like it a lot.
It's free, VERY easy to get to grips with, *super *light on the HDD/GPU, has the fastest matchmaking I've ever seen, and matches are over in like 5 minutes. It feels very good to play. It's very classic and smooth.


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## Judge Spear (Sep 19, 2022)

I'm just...gonna reiterate. Holy shit, I love SplitGate.



Spoiler: SplitGate is gud



If you've ever complained about modern multiplayer FPS's, this is the game for you. It's as inventive as it is refreshingly simple. 

You play the game and it's just immediately good. All of the murky bullshit that makes these new age shooting games a chore right from the boot sequence is not present here. 
You're not bombarded with legal jargon or stupid intro sequences you can't skip. You don't get forced into drawn out tutorials as if you installed the latest mobile gacha for lemmings. 
The game downloads in 3 minutes and you're in a match in 30 seconds. Games last 4-8 minutes and downtime between matches is low to facilitate the classic momentum from when online gaming was actually good. And it doesn't take up 3 petabytes of hard drive space or make your PC fans sound like the engines of an F-35.

There's no looting or character skills or matchups beyond the *guns*. Guns actually just function as expected. You don't have to approach the fucking assault rifle like it's a Tekken character and it won't surprise you with some stupid quirk that unnecessarily harms it's effectiveness. 
You pick the fucking thing up, point it at someone's head, and it shoots how a video game gun should shoot. Whoever it's trained on will die in a reasonable amount of time provided your aim and positioning decisions are clean.
There's no bullet drop, damage fall off, intentionally gimped hipfire, laughable spreads for "balance", overemphasis on ADS, arbitrary per weapon movement nerfs, 2 year long weapon swap animations, bad feedback, or generally just sloppy mechanics. You'll never dump 3 drum magazines into a guy and wonder how he's still at full health. You and another player point your guns at each other and press M1 until one of you dies. A gunfight is lost through shittier fundamental skill than an opponent instead of not having a "purple rarity gun" with "legendary attachments" and armor perks.

Characters aren't constantly making these canned, Marvel Cinematic Universe quips every time they do basic actions because SplitGate's characters do what every video game character should do: _Shut the fuck up_. 
There's no time wasted on pointless, extrinsic character "lore" in a solely online competitive action game with no plot. There's no soulless, clashing crossover bullshit. SplitGate doesn't feel the need to add Peppa Pig, Captain Planet, the 2021 Kia Rio, or Steph Curry in the roster. The competitors you play as actually look like they belong in the damn game.

And you actually have more than two game modes which is stunning in 2022. I can actually play some different game modes beyond "Battle Royale" and "Options". 
Fiesta, Swat, Team Deathmatch, Evolution, Take Down, King of the Hill, VIP, CTF, Racing, Laser Tag, FFA, and _much _more. It's beautiful.

I'm trying to play this as much as I can since it'll be dead in 3 years because of the things that actually make it _good_.


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## KimberVaile (Oct 20, 2022)

It's not terribly unpopular but I have nowhere else to bitch about it. The Skyrim creation Kit really is a heap of shit, making your mods with that thing is a nightmare.


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## Thrashy (Oct 20, 2022)

San Andreas is better than V.


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## Baalf (Oct 22, 2022)

Smash 4/Ultimate's DLC broke both games. I don't care that I "don't have to buy the DLC," I care that they actively told people who criticized the repetative roster to go !@$# themselves . People have been actively complaining about all the generic sword wielders and what do they do? They fill their DLC roster up with generic sword wielders. I could almost tolerate Sora. Steve and Hero if we didn't ALSO get Joker, Sephiroth, Byleth and Pyrra Mythra. Characters that actually would have Diversified the roster like cuphead or Sans were Miu costumes, and instead of variety, we get 10 generic humans and ONE non-human. If we'd gotten Crash and a Gen 8 Pokemon rep, I wouldn't mind Sora or some of the other choices. And I also might not be as infuriated by their choices if they didn't pull the same s*** the first time they did DLC. Overall, the DLC roster in both games felt like an actual f*** you, and I refuse to buy smash ultimate for this reason. As tempting as K. Rool being playable is, I'd rather play Rivals of Aether. Heck, even Brawlhalla was running laps around Smash Ultimate with its DLC at the time because the creators actually cared about VARIETY.

(Also, two representatives from Final Fantasy 7 specifically, even though the hero from Dragon Quest represented multiple games. Don't get me wrong, Final Fantasy 7 is my favorite game in the main series, but I still don't believe we needed two representatives from Final Fantasy 7 specifically.)

Speaking of Brawlhalla. Brawlhalla is not good. Then again, my biggest problem with Brawlhalla is that there's no happy medium. When fighting a computer-controlled opponent, There is five difficulties. Hard, which is the third difficulty, is a little too easy while the difficulties after that border on being psychic. They call just about every move you make, it's impossible to strategize against them unless you are a god at the game, and you are going to break a lot of controllers trying to fight the hardest difficulty, and every time I actually do beat the fourth difficulty, it feels like I got lucky. Online, the vast majority of opponents you fight are going to be on the level of Epic or Legend, in other words not fun to deal with. I know that's mostly a difficulty issue, but still.


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## Rayd (Oct 22, 2022)

elden ring is among the worst games in the souls genre


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## Judge Spear (Oct 22, 2022)

Baalf said:


> Smash 4/Ultimate's DLC broke both games. I don't care that I "don't have to buy the DLC," I care that they actively told people who criticized the repetative roster to go !@$# themselves . People have been actively complaining about all the generic sword wielders and what do they do? They fill their DLC roster up with generic sword wielders. I could almost tolerate Sora. Steve and Hero if we didn't ALSO get Joker, Sephiroth, Byleth and Pyrra Mythra. Characters that actually would have Diversified the roster like cuphead or Sans were Miu costumes, and instead of variety, we get 10 generic humans and ONE non-human. If we'd gotten Crash and a Gen 8 Pokemon rep, I wouldn't mind Sora or some of the other choices. And I also might not be as infuriated by their choices if they didn't pull the same s*** the first time they did DLC. Overall, the DLC roster in both games felt like an actual f*** you, and I refuse to buy smash ultimate for this reason. As tempting as K. Rool being playable is, I'd rather play Rivals of Aether. Heck, even Brawlhalla was running laps around Smash Ultimate with its DLC at the time because the creators actually cared about VARIETY.
> 
> Speaking of Brawlhalla. Brawlhalla is not good. Then again, my biggest problem with Brawlhalla is that there's no happy medium. When fighting a computer-controlled opponent, There is five difficulties. Hard, which is the third difficulty, is a little too easy while the difficulties after that border on being psychic. They call just about every move you make, it's impossible to strategize against them unless you are a god at the game, and you are going to break a lot of controllers trying to fight the hardest difficulty, and every time I actually do beat the fourth difficulty, it feels like I got lucky. Online, the vast majority of opponents you fight are going to be on the level of Epic or Legend, in other words not fun to deal with. I know that's mostly a difficulty issue, but still.



I havent had Ultimate installed in like 2 years. I was so hype for it too but found no enjoyment anywhere in the game like the previous 4.
It's the only recent digital purchase I regret because shit ass Nintendo is the ONLY one with no refund policy. Because of course they are.


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## Nexus Cabler (Oct 22, 2022)

Cheat codes should still be a thing in modern games, of course outside of online matches. 

It made a game a lot more interesting and fun to experiment with. One game I remember playing had an infinite jetpack fuel cheat that allowed me to ascend higher and higher above the map to the point of absurdity. Another could turn a city of pedestrians into zombies. Flying cars, invincibility, unlocking a bunch of hidden content that was not worth the effort or time to get regularly. When I had a favorite gun I had to settle using sparingly because of it's ammunition scarcity, limitless ammo made an incredible turn around to fully enjoy what tools I had at my disposal. 

I feel these helped add to the fun and liveliness of playing games. They are after all games. It feels natural being able to alter the world in creative, hilarious, and godlike ways.


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## Judge Spear (Oct 22, 2022)

Nexus Cabler said:


> Cheat codes should still be a thing in modern games, of course outside of online matches.
> 
> It made a game a lot more interesting and fun to experiment with. One game I remember playing had an infinite jetpack fuel cheat that allowed me to ascend higher and higher above the map to the point of absurdity. Another could turn a city of pedestrians into zombies. Flying cars, invincibility, unlocking a bunch of hidden content that was not worth the effort or time to get regularly. When I had a favorite gun I had to settle using sparingly because of it's ammunition scarcity, limitless ammo made an incredible turn around to fully enjoy what tools I had at my disposal.
> 
> I feel these helped add to the fun and liveliness of playing games. They are after all games. It feels natural being able to alter the world in creative, hilarious, and godlike ways.


I actually asked a AAA game dev years ago why this went the way of the dinosaur and the answer I was given was really kind of...sad but I understood.


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## RamblingRenegade (Oct 22, 2022)

Personally it's like pulling teeth for me when a game does something like.. you need 5 key items to progress and each one is on the opposite far corner of a map and like a 40 minute grind to get each one and then magically the last piece is right next to the door you need to unlock


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## Twopaw Tarnished-Silver (Nov 13, 2022)

KimberVaile said:


> Aim down sights actively makes a good chunk of shooters worse.


I cannot tolerate in a literal sense any default game mechanic- especially in an FPS, wherein I often struggle to aim with my hand-eye reverse/oppositional disabilities- that suddenly changes the view or configuration of my UI at the _exact moment _I'm about to do something requiring considerable focus and control, like firing a weapon or choosing to use or pick something up; fighting my manual, instinctive reaction and either making the shot or missing it completely.

Half-Life and Half-Life 2 were both great games to play and begin my home FPS gaming,  because when picking up, firing or reloading a weapon, each and every weapon's in-game behaviour was the same, even if the weapon itself functioned differently, like the RPG compared to a crossbow and bolts, to the handgun-sidearm, and it was _predictable_. My aiming and accuracy depended entirely upon the viewport reticle, not the weapon's contextual (narrative?) behaviour nor its precise position on the screen.

Some games, like Doom 3 and Quake 4 (same engine) allow you to toggle downsight aiming back and forth, or keep it there whenever you wanted, or not use it at all. I think F.E.A.R. also has this property as part of its aiming and firing mechanics; it does improve your aim, by default slows your movement and evens the Point Man's pace while aiming downsight/ironsights, but it is a voluntary choice you're encouraged to try it on your own terms and not forced on you without any choice in the matter.

-2Paw.


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## NilsTeutschLW97 (Nov 18, 2022)

The Modern Warfare games were the best Call of Duties


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## Judge Spear (Dec 2, 2022)

Machines can be anything and everything except scary. I have never played a video game where robots insight fear in me. This completely killed any possible tension Soma had because machines are just not scary. They're even less horrifying than the undead for me.



NilsTeutschLW97 said:


> The Modern Warfare games were the best Call of Duties



???
I think most people born before 2010 will point to MW1 and 2 as the franchise peak. Some offshoots will say WAW and BO1 but, generally you'll get the original MW's.


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