Disappointing games

[Shattered Dreamer]

Looking at my games collection the other day & I saw a few of them that never really lived up to my personal expectations. Fallout 3 is the one game I own that really stands out in this regard. Now don't get me wrong Fallout 3 was a very good game but it has a few major flaws that kind of spoil a truly epic title (you can't aim down the sights of your weapons & the fact that it's an open world RPG that actually ends stick out for starters)

So I was wondering, have there been any games that any of you felt didn't live up to your own personal expectations, regardless of whether the games were a commercial success or received critical acclaim.

[Wolf Kanno]

A lot of my PS3 collection is like this.

Valkyria Chronicles - I don't know what it is about this game. I really should love it. A bit of steampunk, innovative SRPG design, gorgeous artwork, and a fleshed out cast and world, but good god I can't play this game for more than an hour before having to shut it off in annoyance. The story is just bland recycled Gundam crap, the main characters are easily the least interesting characters, the story interface is atrocious, the customization is weak, and even the battles have been getting boring in the newer chapters for me, mostly do to the lack of new elements being introduced. I really want to like this game, you know, reach a point where everything clicks and I start to love it as much as everyone else, but I'm not sure if I can keep playing for that long. :(

White Knight Chronicles - Promising premise, but once again, the plot takes too many cues from the "Big Book of RPG Cliches", the game can't really decide if it wants to be an MMO or a single player JRPG, the combo system is great if a bit limited but everything else about the gameplay is tedious and boring. Even using the White Knight itself feels underwhelming and I fucking love giant robots, so it's sad for me to say that. It definetly embraces too many of the more annoying aspects about MMO game design. I also never got past the whole "spend an hour building your avatar, so you can start the game and discover you made a mute side character, and the plot is about all these other people..." It's not a bad game by any means but I understand why it didn't set the gaming world on fire as well. It's jkust disappointing because Level 5 did such a great job breathing life into Dragon Quest that's it's sad I don't get the same experience from an original IP.

There are more but I'll post them later.

[Pike]

Civilization V - they just made a lot of changes that I didn't like overall; removed or simplified a lot of the good stuff from IV and BTS and good word I dislike One Unit Per Tile.

Hearts of Iron III - You know, this could have been good. This could have been the new Hearts of Iron 2, but with a better map and stuff. But then they had to go in and sterilize the tech tree and make it all impersonal and automate everything and make it so IT'S LIKE I'M PLAYING NOTHING AT ALL. NOTHING AT ALL. NOTHING AT ALL. in the words of one stupid sexy Flanders. But the worst part was this terrible sound effect that they play when someone rejects your trade, which you can't turn off. Screw that. I went back to HoI2/Darkest Hour/Kaiserreich.

[NeoCracker]

Most Recently Twisted Metal.

The Multiplayer was fine, which was kind of the point I guess, but I loved Twisted Metal for the different story modes you could run through. Now we have only three very brief campaigns, and while the cutscenes look great and the stories aren't to bad, it's extremely brief and lack luster.

[Hollycat]

Fallout New Vegas:
Pros: iron sights, multiple factions.
Cons: everything else.

[Alpha2099]

The only experience I've had with a game that had a ton of hype that I didn't like much was Final Fantasy 12. I was so excited to get it. I even bought the mammoth-sized strategy guide to read the charts and stats to understand the game better. Then I started playing it, and I really didn't like the License Board, nor did I really like the alterations to active battle, particularly with the gambits. I get that some people don't like micromanaging, but there's something to be said for too much automation, and that's how I felt about gambits. Then again, you can probably go through the whole game without using them at all, so maybe I just need to start over and do that, but overall, 12 disappointed me, to the point where I quit without finishing it.

[Skyblade]

Megaman Battle Network 4 - MMBN3 was a great RPG. Incredibly in depth customization and combat system, great world, fun characters, solid story, good music. Really a great, underrated game. Then MMBN4 comes along and destroys everything. Inferior translation, graphics, customization, music, plot, world, interaction. Every single aspect of the game is inferior to its predecessor, which is why it is on my list as "worst sequel of all time".

Master of Orion 3 - Fortunately I missed this one when it came out, and got to watch my dad play it first. Holy hell, did these people ever mess up a game. They seem to have forgotten everything that made the series wonderful. A true convoluted mess. Possibly a worse sequel than MMBN4, but I haven't played it myself, so I am not going to stick that title on it.

[VeloZer0]

Valkyria Chronicles

White Knight Chronicles
Lets see.

Last Remnant
I wouldn't say disappointing in the sense that I was expecting anything of it going in, but in this poor-to-mediocre game I see hints of something that could be absolutely amazing.

Blue Dragon
It is like they decided to check off all the boxes of things I think modern JPRGs have lost and just do a poor job of putting it all together. Do the world in a way that I love but give me a plot and characters I couldn't care less about. Use a job & turn based system but somehow make it the first RPG in history to make a job system become less interesting after halfway through the game.

Final Fantasy Tactics A/A2
Because you don't even come close to living up to your name.

Xenogears
Because you didn't give me a second disk!

[edczxcvbnm]

Mass Effect 2 - After a good but flawed first game they decided the story would revolve around gathering a team and scanning planets. This is the first 20 minutes of Oceans 11 and they only spent that amount of time in the movie because what follows is the interesting part. They also removed practically everything I enjoyed about the first game.

Xenosaga II - They pretty much just threw out all the work on Episode I and replaced it with a mountain of shit. Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong.

Dead Space 2 - I loved the first game and was scared the whole way through. I still am actually but the second game took out most of the horror and tension in favor of more action, enemies and other stupid crap. Plus Issac has a voice and it kept pulling me out of the game every time I was about to get into it.

There are probably other but they just are not coming to mind right now. I would have to actually look through my collection to pick out more games.


The only experience I've had with a game that had a ton of hype that I didn't like much was Final Fantasy 12. I was so excited to get it. I even bought the mammoth-sized strategy guide to read the charts and stats to understand the game better. Then I started playing it, and I really didn't like the License Board, nor did I really like the alterations to active battle, particularly with the gambits. I get that some people don't like micromanaging, but there's something to be said for too much automation, and that's how I felt about gambits. Then again, you can probably go through the whole game without using them at all, so maybe I just need to start over and do that, but overall, 12 disappointed me, to the point where I quit without finishing it.

I used gambits for my side characters but never for the person I set out to control. I didn't want something automated taking over in the middle of battle. The battles are just too real time to sit around and manage 3 people stopping every second to pick a command so I found 2 auto and 1 free to be the sweet spot.

[krissy]

Dead Space 2 - I loved the first game and was scared the whole way through. I still am actually but the second game took out most of the horror and tension in favor of more action, enemies and other stupid crap. Plus Issac has a voice and it kept pulling me out of the game every time I was about to get into it.


!!! i am so sad now, i was really looking forward to 2. loved dead space. everyone says 2 is actually more scary except for you...i'll see what i think one day, but this is the first negative thing i've heard about it...

anyway,

i loved the commercials, premise, idea, style of assasins creed 1

then i actually played the game

but only for 2 hours

[GhandiOwnsYou]

Resident Evil 4. I never really dove into the RE games, and it popped up on a PSN sale a little while ago. I had heard all about the tank controls before, but after the praise heaped on RE4, and as modern as it was i figured that had been ironed out. eeeeeeeenope. It wasn't clunky, it was attempting to drive a brick using telekinesis while wearing horse blinders. Gave up after about an hour, resolved to never attempt an RE game again.

Soul Caliber 2 and Dead or Alive 2 came highly recommended, but I never really felt comfortable with the controls. Same with the later entries in the Tekken series. Skate 3 was the first entry in the series that didn't rule my life for a few weeks. Something about the vibe just didn't quite do it for me like the first two games did.

[krissy]

Resident Evil 4. I never really dove into the RE games, and it popped up on a PSN sale a little while ago. I had heard all about the tank controls before, but after the praise heaped on RE4, and as modern as it was i figured that had been ironed out. eeeeeeeenope. It wasn't clunky, it was attempting to drive a brick using telekinesis while wearing horse blinders. Gave up after about an hour, resolved to never attempt an RE game again.

you get used to the controls
i promise
and to be fair
it is a million times better than the previous ones haha

[Alpha2099]

I used gambits for my side characters but never for the person I set out to control. I didn't want something automated taking over in the middle of battle. The battles are just too real time to sit around and manage 3 people stopping every second to pick a command so I found 2 auto and 1 free to be the sweet spot.
Ah, that could be what I was doing wrong. If I ever get the desire to trot the game out and try again, I will give that a go. Thanks for the suggestion.


you get used to the controls
i promise
and to be fair
it is a million times better than the previous ones haha
She's right. Personally, I think RE4 was my favorite of the bunch because it finally employed an over-the-shoulder camera. I don't like fixed cameras all that much. I just finished up Dino Crisis not too long ago, and their mix of sometimes fixed and sometimes roving was really hard to deal with.

[GhandiOwnsYou]

I did shell out non-refundable money for it, So I'll probably pick it back up again at some point. Drunk, and probably full of self loathing and a need to punish myself. At this moment I'm chalking up "getting used to it" in the same vein as getting used to stabbing myself in the thigh repeatedly after I finally sever all the nerves.

[Slothy]

you get used to the controls
i promise
and to be fair
it is a million times better than the previous ones haha

Don't listen to her. She lies.

Honestly, I've spoken so many times of how much I hate RE4 and why I think it really is a bad game I just don't have it in me at the moment. Suffice it to say, they made a lot of gameplay and design decisions that completely conflict with each other. It's an action game, but the controls are slow and plodding and you have few options for avoiding enemies efficiently. You'll face a crap ton of enemies in any given level, many of them getting tougher/faster/requiring you to shoot a specific weak point, but the laser sight won't show up on anything except objects and enemies you can shoot (despite everything including the levels being rendered in real time) so you'll wave the thing around a lot trying to find where it is, usually having no success until the enemy is 20 feet in front of you, at which point you fire off a shot or two and then run away to do it all over again. Plus you can't move while aiming. And to top it off, you will die to an unexpected quick time event. You will reload your game, and then you will die to the same quick time event because they changed the button you need to press for no reason except to smurf with you.

Honestly, the original RE games played better because even though they had tank like controls, they had tank like controls for a reason, and they included auto-aim to compensate. Later games like RE3 even included dodge moves and quick 180 turns to help you avoid the sort of tit that could be unfair in the early ones.

Anytime I see anyone trying RE4 I tell them to play the original Dead Space instead. It fixes pretty much everything that was wrong with RE4, while adding some cool stuff all it's own. Plus you can move while aiming and don't spend half an hour trying to figure out what you're aiming at. That alone makes it worth it. Ironically, after DS came along and fixed every problem I had with RE4, RE5 was released and not only didn't fix the stuff I hated, but changed some parts and added others which made the game even worse than RE4.

Huh, I guess I lied. I did have it in me.

[Alpha2099]

This is something I've noticed in the gaming community. RE traditionalists rail against RE4 because it wasn't like the first 3. As someone who's only ever played 4 and none of the others, I thought it was pretty good. The only thing I didn't like much about it was the Mercenaries mini-game.

[Slothy]

This is something I've noticed in the gaming community. RE traditionalists rail against RE4 because it wasn't like the first 3. As someone who's only ever played 4 and none of the others, I thought it was pretty good. The only thing I didn't like much about it was the Mercenaries mini-game.

Except if you'll notice, I said absolutely nothing about RE4 being bad because the originals were better. None of the problems I mentioned were a result of comparing it to the original titles. Arguably the tank like controls, but I didn't like them much in the originals. They worked in those games because they solved a design issue (how do you keep the player from getting disoriented and having the controls change every time the camera angle changes? Have up move you forward and left and right turn), and they designed around it. Aiming is difficult due to camera angles and not being able to tell exactly where you're facing? Well, most enemies aren't that fast or numerous, areas are fairly enclosed, and auto-aim can orient the player correctly for them (seriously, auto-aim made those games work).

But really, it was a design issue which was an artifact of the times and the decision to use pre-rendered backgrounds. It's something which should never happen again and those controls are best left in the past as well given how far technology has advanced.

RE4 was really just a game that wasn't sure whether to commit to action or horror and as a result did both poorly. The fact that I love Dead Space is pretty telling because it wasn't scary either, but it was a great action game, and was pretty much just a refined version of RE4. Literally every control or gameplay issue I had with RE4 Dead Space fixed and they didn't do it by making it more like the older RE games. They did it by recognizing what didn't work in RE4 and fixing it. Something Capcom wasn't even willing to do when they made RE5.

[krissy]

they are a generation apart...but i heart both. i also really liked re3: nemesis. i have never played re5 but from the looks of it i should't.

i thought the shooting range in dead space was such a holla to re4 though.

anyway disappointing horror games.
galerians. looked forward to playing that so much but it's honestly not that great. no idea what to do in that one, stuck in the first room. is it unfair of me to make this attack then? i don't care.

[Roto13]

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within is always the first game that comes to mind when I think of disappointing games. Sands of Time was great. The combat sucked, but it was very aesthetically pleasing with beautiful environments, a really awesome arabian-rock soundtrack, and just a great atmosphere in general. The story was pretty decent as far as video game stories go. (It had a good ending.) Then came Warrior Within. Holy crap. They took everything that was good about the first game and made it cheesy and bad. Changed the music to screamo, made the sand creatures bleed for some reason, made every female character super slutty, and even changed the Prince's accent for some reason. They "casualized" it, back when "casual gamers" were people who played dudebro shooters and madden. It was also a glitchy mess. My first time playing, I had to restart after an hour or so because I got turned into a Sand Wraith too early and couldn't progress. The best part was that they worked so hard to fix the combat and I still ended up using the same two moves on every enemy. At least The Two Thrones was pretty good. A return to form.

Runner up is No More Heroes 2. It's too dark. The first game had pretty poor gameplay but a lot of charm in the characters and cutscenes. The second one was much better to play, but kind of soulless. That one made me sad. I didn't play No More Heroes 1 for the gameplay (though the boss battles were awesome), I played it for the insanity.

[krissy]

aw yeah warrior within!

i agree. it was such a shift in mood, it didn't belong. but it did set up the third game... i like to think of it as a stepping stone. that said, some of the escape sections were pretty fun.

[Roto13]

aw yeah warrior within!

i agree. it was such a shift in mood, it didn't belong. but it did set up the third game... i like to think of it as a stepping stone. that said, some of the escape sections were pretty fun.

I will admit that I did like the Dahaka. :P

[Del Murder]

Besides FFXIII? ;)

I would say Dragon Quest IX was a disappointment because I really liked the direction it went with DQVIII. But IX was a backwards step going back to the 'collection of several localized quests' storyline and blank slate characters.

[Shattered Dreamer]

Besides FFXIII? ;)

I'm surprised it's taken this long for somebody to say FFXIII :lol:

[Alpha2099]

Besides FFXIII? ;)

I'm surprised it's taken this long for somebody to say FFXIII :lol:
We were all thinkin' it, but nobody wanted to be "that guy" to say it first. ;)

[Vyk]

Every Rockstar game ever :( Most notably L.A. Noire and GTA4. As they were the most recent and most lauded at the time. I didn't even bother with Red Dead because I hated GTA so much, and L.A. either bored or bothered the crap out of me. I have yet to figure out why these games get such high reviews, and even down-to-earth real gamers seems to enjoy them for some reason. I hated the other GTA games as well though so I didn't waste my money on these, but considering they were so highly regarded I did take a chance to taste test them and Rockstar is still not for me. And if nothing else, unless they fix their driving mechanics. They never will be for me. It should not take two blocks to skid to a stop on a clear summer day when you were not even speeding...

Speaking of Final Fantasys though, I'd say 8 and 10. 8 especially considering how much I loved 7. So I thought hey, 8's gonna be awesome, but with better graphics. And instead I get this needlessly convoluted and confusing sorcery plot with insanely awkward and annoying "romance" lathered on top. But really, everything I hate about these games are summed up quite well in Spoony's videos. Though an hour-long rant on each is probably not really summed up... but they're well worth the watch! lol

Most of the Zelda games that weren't Ocarina ended up boring the crap out of me :/ My friend went so far as to MAIL me his copy of Twilight Princess because he loved it so much and wanted me to experience it. And I played an hour or two. But just could not get into herding cows or whatever the crap was they wanted you to waste time doing in the beginning -_- But I have trouble getting into most Nintendo franchises anymore.. So that's just me. But I keep hoping I'll be able to love Mario and Zelda again. And maybe find a fondness for Metroid that has eluded me all these years. But even the great Metroid Prime didn't do it for me. And I actually bought that one back in the day :/

[Alpha2099]

I've seen Spoony's review of Final Fantasy 8. That was enough to convince me not to play the game.

[edczxcvbnm]

Dead Space 2 - I loved the first game and was scared the whole way through. I still am actually but the second game took out most of the horror and tension in favor of more action, enemies and other stupid crap. Plus Issac has a voice and it kept pulling me out of the game every time I was about to get into it.


!!! i am so sad now, i was really looking forward to 2. loved dead space. everyone says 2 is actually more scary except for you...i'll see what i think one day, but this is the first negative thing i've heard about it...

anyway,

i loved the commercials, premise, idea, style of assasins creed 1

then i actually played the game

but only for 2 hours

I can't figure out why everyone likes the second one so much. I felt it ventured too far into action, the atmosphere was predictable and not scary, the jump scares were telegraphed a mile away, Issac speak (I am a fan of the silent protagonist. Let me feel and don't tell me how the character feels), the story is completely unresolved to make way for more sequels (in the first you got away and presumably put everything to rest. Only the sequel opens it up with stuff you never even knew about) and the game felt very linear. I just move forward.

You know what? I wrote a review on it. Review (http://www.primaryignition.com/2011/02/11/dead-space-2-review/)

My only regret is that I think I gave it too high a score XD

Also, Assassin's Creed, while repetitive is still fun and there continues to be nothing like it on the market. The first one is fun and but suffers from some incomplete combat. The second steps it up and adds a ton of new things with a more interesting story. Brotherhood I feel is the best game as it refines many of the elements of 2 but continues to add and become its own game.

I played Brotherhood before I played 2 and I think it stands alone well enough. I picked it up for $10 around Christmas so I would wait until the price is that if you really want to give the series another chance.

[Roto13]

It's not... supposed to be scary. Neither was the first one.

Also linear?

[edczxcvbnm]

I don't know why I said linear. I was trying to remember exactly what it was about the game I didn't like. Then I remembered I wrote a review on it and said fuck it.

I thought the first game was super scary and tense the whole way through!

[Quindiana Jones]

Every Rockstar game ever :( Most notably L.A. Noire and GTA4. As they were the most recent and most lauded at the time. I didn't even bother with Red Dead...

I keep going back to GTA IV after I forget how much I disliked it. I've done the first island multiple times, but have never completed the second. And I never managed to complete LA Noire simply because it became so boring and repetitive. I say this so that you understand my position when I say that Red Dead is one of the finest games ever made. I like it so much, that I managed to annoy some mates - who also love it - by fangasming so much.

Anyway, on disappointing games. Mass Effect 2 was certainly one. I enjoyed it, but it was still a disappointment compared to the first one. When I hear people speak negatively about the gun customisation and planetary exploration (Mako ftw), I lose a little more faith in the future of gaming. Also, I recently found out that Sniper Elite V2 won't have splitscreen. Probably the most disappointed I've ever been in a game or game developer.

[Bubba]

I agree.

I had become so tired of the GTA formula that I didn't pick up Red Dead Redemption on release. I didn't even finish the first island on GTA IV I was that bored with it.

I bought RDR on an impulse buy for £15. It is simply a beautiful game. It does tread a similar GTA path with the mission layout but the world you are presented with is so rich and satisfying... I've spent hours simply scouring the plains skinning animals... or sat playing Texas Hold 'Em. I was genuinely upset when some scumbag thief killed my horse.

On to games that disappointed me... I wasn't happy with the feeling that Skyward Sword left me with. I enjoyed a lot of the elements but story-telling in games has come such a long way over the past few years that SS felt kind of empty. When you compare it to games like Uncharted 3 then you realise that Nintendo have really been left behind in that respect.

[Roto13]

I thought the first game was super scary and tense the whole way through!

I never really found it scary (and I can't even play proper horror games because I get too anxious xP) but I guess I can see how some parts were kind of creepy. Like that doctor who was stealing people's organs....

I don't think that was ever really the point, though.

[Shattered Dreamer]

I honestly don't get how anyone didn't enjoy GTAIV. The physics in the game are a bit of a pain for starters but the main game (which has 2 endings) & the 2 episodes were great. There are very few games that I have replied so many times.

[Bubba]

I honestly don't get how anyone didn't enjoy GTAIV. The physics in the game are a bit of a pain for starters but the main game (which has 2 endings) & the 2 episodes were great. There are very few games that I have replied so many times.

If I hadn't played GTA 3, GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas (the best one) then I reckon I would have loved GTA IV.

[Shattered Dreamer]

If I hadn't played GTA 3, GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas (the best one) then I reckon I would have loved GTA IV.

That explains it for sure :lol: Liberty City Stories & Vice City Stories were pretty good too. Part of me really wants to replay Vice City & San Andreas in the worse way!

[Slothy]

If I hadn't played GTA 3, GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas (the best one) then I reckon I would have loved GTA IV.

Honestly, I'm not so sure about that. Everything about GTAIV except the technology behind it rubbed me the wrong way. I didn't like the characters and I think they took themselves too seriously in the writing compared to the previous games. The gameplay also felt like it took several steps backwards with the city feeling smaller than things had been in a while, with less to see and do, and the god awful addition of maintaining relationships and being bothered by someone every five minutes to go bowling or play pool, or some other half assed mini game that wasn't enjoyable at all.

The whole thing really didn't feel like a GTA game to me. It felt like a game trying to be a GTA game but forgetting that they were usually pretty over the top and a lot of fun because of it.

[Roto13]

What happens if you just tell those people to sit on their pool cues?

[Slothy]

If you ignore them then the relationship deteriorates and you lose any bonuses associated with maintaining it. I'm not sure things could get to the point where they ended or not. Frankly I was so bored with the game I didn't care and just traded it rather than find out. I disliked being punished for not participating in the worst aspect of the game though, and I absolutely hated that these characters would call you fairly often, usually while I was on my way to do something that I actually had some minor interest in doing.

It was a terrible idea, and it made an already bland experience cross the line into really annoying territory.

[Peegee]

I have two brothers. they both play GTA 3+

I've played GTA 3 but couldn't sit through VC or SA though I've heard very nice things about SA :(

Anyway my youngest brother will not play GTA4 - he hates it.
My other brother who finished it grudgingly admitted it was at best a tech demo using GTA themes. I'm going to side with his assessment.

[Shattered Dreamer]

I will admit GTA IV went backwards in some ways from San Andreas, by taking away the sheer amount of character customization & stat building. But I still think GTA IV is one of the best games this generation & I'm really looking forward to GTAV

[krissy]

i have owned 4 gta games in my life, 1, 2, 3, vc

i spent the most time playing 2

and i never finished one of 'em. i just never got off on it.

[Vyk]

Quin and Bubba have convinced me to at least rent RDR and taste test it as soon as I get my 360 back from the house-fire salvage crew in a month or so

[Quindiana Jones]

I doubt your 360 is gonna work after all that...

[Vyk]

The fire didn't come near my stuff. Though its covered by insurance, so either way I'll have a 360 again in the near future. Though I did have 2 360s, I wonder if they'd let me buy a PS3 to replace the other one.. Buuuut this is totally off-topic lol

[krissy]

not really, it does sound like a gta side mission...
'COUSIN! I have always wanted the PS3, you know! Let's get one from my insurance company! Show up at my apartment with a molotov!'


immediately sorry if anyone got hurt in the fire

[Jessweeee♪]

Dragon Age II. I loved the changes made to combat and the characters were great, but the plot as a whole was just a bit lacking. Bioware says they're looking to "games like Skyrim" for DAIII, but that doesn't really put me at ease. Skyrim has no soul to it :(

[Shattered Dreamer]

Dragon Age II. I loved the changes made to combat and the characters were great, but the plot as a whole was just a bit lacking. Bioware says they're looking to "games like Skyrim" for DAIII, but that doesn't really put me at ease. Skyrim has no soul to it :(

I have always wondered about DA II. I love DA: Origins & thought it was an awesome RPG. I haven't bought DA II because 2 friends of mine who are also big fans of Origins said it sucked. To be honest if I see DA II 2nd hand I will probably pick it up anyway & see for myself.

When Bioware say they're "looking to Skyrim" for DA III what does that mean exactly? Changing the game to a 1st person game or what?

[Vyk]

not really, it does sound like a gta side mission...
'COUSIN! I have always wanted the PS3, you know! Let's get one from my insurance company! Show up at my apartment with a molotov!'


immediately sorry if anyone got hurt in the fire

Haha, awesome~ And nah, no worries. It was just a huge inconvenience. No injuries or anything

[Wolf Kanno]

Also, Assassin's Creed, while repetitive is still fun and there continues to be nothing like it on the market. The first one is fun and but suffers from some incomplete combat. The second steps it up and adds a ton of new things with a more interesting story. Brotherhood I feel is the best game as it refines many of the elements of 2 but continues to add and become its own game.

I played Brotherhood before I played 2 and I think it stands alone well enough. I picked it up for $10 around Christmas so I would wait until the price is that if you really want to give the series another chance.

The funny thing is that I felt Brotherhood is the weakest entry of the Ezio Trilogy. Mostly due to the myriad of bugs in the game and the "more frustrating than fun" sub-objective for mission. There are other problems with the game as well for me but I won't go into them here.

Though I will definetly throw my hat in with Assassin's Creed 1 being pretty disappointing and dismal. Thank god ACII fixed most of the games problems.

Here's a few more games that ended up disappointing me:

Metal Gear Solid 4 - The overhaul of the combat system to incorporate streamlined 3rd person shooter elements kind of wrecked the delicate balance of the stealth aspect of the game, and kind of sucked the challenge out of the game, especially thanks to the new weapon acquirement system and the introduction of a tranq gun with an infinite silencer and damn close to infinite ammo. The story has several wonderful moments and the cinematics in the game are great but trying to rectify the more sensible plots of MGS1 and MGS3 with the plot tumor that is MGS2 was going to lead to some hiccups and while they definetly did a much better job coming up with a rational explanation for everything than I thought possible, I did feel that the story pulled a few things that seemed really silly. Like resurrecting Big Boss so he can have one last speech to Snake and then promptly die for the third time in the franchise and pretty much anything involving Rosemary, Raiden, and Vamp.The constant loading screens are also a pain in the ass. I thought we got past that nonsense in the PS2 era. If Suikoden V can't go unscathed with load times in the PS2 era, how the hell does MGS4 get perfect 10s in the PS3 era with load screens that can take up to five minutes? Its not a bad game, but I definetly feel its overall the weakest entry of the MGS titles.

Street Fighter IV - Once again not a bad game, but I definetly question the choice of reverting the core game mechanics back to SFII. SFIV kind of taught me that some modern 2D fighting advancements (like air block) are actually quite handy and something I'm just accustomed to. The game is also pretty slow by modern standards and even the new patched versions still move like molasses. The game is fun but nothing I would dedicate too much of my time with. I'm still waiting for a SF game to succeed SFAlpha3 for me. Though to be fair, it's more playable than MvC3...

Xenosaga Episode II - A perfect example of how executive meddling can kill a good franchise. It's one of those titles where everything sounded good on paper and utterly failed in execution. The real amusing coincidence is that the only other game like it is Final Fantasy XIII, with both games having similar battle system concepts, linear unimaginative dungeon design, a poor and linear customization system, a weak side quest system that is often lauded for being more annoying than fun, and both games end with the final boss being the space pope. Well technically Albedo's the final boss of XSII but that fight is kind of a gimme. All of this just helped make XSIII so amazing since it overhauled everything and came out surprisingly well.

[Quindiana Jones]

ACII is my favourite of the lot. Haven't played Revelations yet, though.

[Mirage]

Final Fantasy 14 is the most disappointing game for me over the past 5 years, probably. FF13 and MGS4 were kinda disappointing, but mostly for the lack of replay value. The first time around, they were "all right". The main thing keeping me from replaying MGS4 is however the 5x installs. If they patched it to let me install the entire game at once, i would probably replay it.

[Lionx]

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQLmh0OG2eZcCTKFQgFOF8A1bWLLFl2ejqzFIWIehWMsndBY_oE7q1isUF-UA

The biggest ever...not to me though I kinda already knew it sucked, but in terms of what it was supposed to be? Yarp.


Street Fighter IV - Once again not a bad game, but I definetly question the choice of reverting the core game mechanics back to SFII. SFIV kind of taught me that some modern 2D fighting advancements (like air block) are actually quite handy and something I'm just accustomed to. The game is also pretty slow by modern standards and even the new patched versions still move like molasses. The game is fun but nothing I would dedicate too much of my time with. I'm still waiting for a SF game to succeed SFAlpha3 for me. Though to be fair, it's more playable than MvC3...

I still think the game is more like 3S than SFII...

[Slothy]

Street Fighter IV - Once again not a bad game, but I definetly question the choice of reverting the core game mechanics back to SFII. SFIV kind of taught me that some modern 2D fighting advancements (like air block) are actually quite handy and something I'm just accustomed to. The game is also pretty slow by modern standards and even the new patched versions still move like molasses. The game is fun but nothing I would dedicate too much of my time with. I'm still waiting for a SF game to succeed SFAlpha3 for me. Though to be fair, it's more playable than MvC3...

I still think the game is more like 3S than SFII...

I never played a lot of 3rd Strike so I can't make a good comparison, but I do agree that I never quite got the SFII comparison either having bought SFIV not long after getting the Super Turbo HD Remix and playing then both quite a bit at around the same time. There are quite a few aspects like focus attacks which are pretty fundamental to the game which weren't in II. Not to mention I agree that it felt quite a bit slower, not to mention quite a bit more convoluted than SFII with multiple meters and moves that are sometimes needlessly complex.

[Lionx]

I never played a lot of 3rd Strike so I can't make a good comparison, but I do agree that I never quite got the SFII comparison either having bought SFIV not long after getting the Super Turbo HD Remix and playing then both quite a bit at around the same time. There are quite a few aspects like focus attacks which are pretty fundamental to the game which weren't in II. Not to mention I agree that it felt quite a bit slower, not to mention quite a bit more convoluted than SFII with multiple meters and moves that are sometimes needlessly complex.

Some of the things that its similar and why i say so is in bulletpoints:

-Throws are LP+LK and not one button. Similarly, Taunts are also the same set of buttons.
-Focus Attacks are kind of a ghetto Parry.
-EX Moves started from the SFIII series.
-Super flash animation ripped straight from SFIII
-The ability to choose Ultras is very akin to choosing Super Arts from SFIII.

The only thing similar is that fireballs aren't negated by Parry straight out for some spacing, but even then theres many EX moves or moves that go through them. The reason i say this is because HDR and the original SFII relied heavily on positioning and fireballs are a key part of it. Its not as key to SFIV as they were in SFII thats for sure.

I am pretty confident that the comparison was purely for marketing on our nostalgia because outside of the original characters being there, the gameplay is surprisingly not very SFII.

On thate note, i really love the original game <3 It has a great charm to it even after all these years.

[Roto13]

Street Fighter III is the best one.

That is all.

[Shattered Dreamer]

Tekkan X Street Fighter is going to be a much better! To be honest this isn't a match up I particularly wanted to see. Would Street Fighter vs Mortal Kombat or doing a Marvel vs Capcom vs Namco game not have been better?

[Roto13]

What are you, SuperMillionaire?

[Shattered Dreamer]

What are you, SuperMillionaire?

Wouldn't I have to want a crossover between either & the Final Fantasy universe for that to happen :lol:

[Wolf Kanno]

I'm mostly miffed they removed Air Blocking because it was extremely useful and kind of an important part of my fighting style. While it has technical similarities to SFIII, I feel that SFIII was handled better and the Parry system really changed things, whereas the Focus/Revenge Counter system doesn't quite feel as polished as the Parry/Alpha Counters, its mostly there for advanced players and dealing with the new characters cheap move sets. I also feel the incredibly short turn arounds for Super SFIV and the next version update were also pretty annoying. At least there was some time in-between the older entries to get accustomed before they released an upgraded version. Wasn't the difference between SFIV and Super SFIV like only a year?

[Fonzie]

Prototype: I would say that this was pretty much one of the most disappointing games I've played in the past. The trailers really made it out to be this huge sandbox action-adventure game but when you got into it, you found yourself really bored with doing the same side-quests over and over again. I mean, I could only swoop-up and tear apart so many old ladies (then disguise myself as them while running up a building) before it got dreadfully boring. :p

[Quindiana Jones]

What are you, SuperMillionaire?

Wouldn't I have to want a crossover between either & the Final Fantasy universe for that to happen :lol:

Aw, come on guys. His heart's in the right place!

[Lionx]

I'm mostly miffed they removed Air Blocking because it was extremely useful and kind of an important part of my fighting style. While it has technical similarities to SFIII, I feel that SFIII was handled better and the Parry system really changed things, whereas the Focus/Revenge Counter system doesn't quite feel as polished as the Parry/Alpha Counters, its mostly there for advanced players and dealing with the new characters cheap move sets. I also feel the incredibly short turn arounds for Super SFIV and the next version update were also pretty annoying. At least there was some time in-between the older entries to get accustomed before they released an upgraded version. Wasn't the difference between SFIV and Super SFIV like only a year?

Yes it was only about a year, but to be fair, theres plenty of games that did that even back in the days. For example Capcom vs SNK 1 came out 2000 but in about a year Capcom vs SNK 2 came out, and it was vastly superior. SFII to CE was also about the same time frame.

I think we should really ask, was the difference between the two games in that one year big enough and deep enough to fix all the errors in the first game? In CvS1 - CvS2 i think so and SFIV - SSFIV maybe, but not for games like MvC3 and UMvC3. With the advent of patching, as long as the changes are not big enough, then there should be no reason to release another version of the game within the same year. -_-

Air blocking was strictly an Alpha thing. I think they really made that clear when only C Groove (the most Alpha-esque Groove) can do it in CvS2, and no other Groove. I am personally not sure if it would have been a good addition to the already slow and defensive style of SFIV. I do miss it though.

I also agree that the Focus system is not as good as the Parry system. It was much less skillful to produce results and destroys the zoning game for certain characters. At least with Parry, I feel like i done it myself instead of letting the system do it for me.


Street Fighter III is the best one.

That is all.

I actually hated that game when it came out, but with SFxT and stuff i must say the SFIII series were way better games. Freaking Auto Combos, 12 Char DLCs ON DISC, DLC gems, DLC auto combos...just DLCs in general. By the time you pay for everything you already paid for half a console. The $@^% man?

[Jessweeee♪]

Dragon Age II. I loved the changes made to combat and the characters were great, but the plot as a whole was just a bit lacking. Bioware says they're looking to "games like Skyrim" for DAIII, but that doesn't really put me at ease. Skyrim has no soul to it :(

I have always wondered about DA II. I love DA: Origins & thought it was an awesome RPG. I haven't bought DA II because 2 friends of mine who are also big fans of Origins said it sucked. To be honest if I see DA II 2nd hand I will probably pick it up anyway & see for myself.

When Bioware say they're "looking to Skyrim" for DA III what does that mean exactly? Changing the game to a 1st person game or what?

I liked it enough to replay it several times, but it wasn't as good as I was hoping it would be. I think the first one is better in pretty much every area but combat (my only complaint here is that mages no longer have GIANT FIRE TORNADOES). I bought it for about $25 and I feel it's worth about that much to me. The characters are really great, but nobody can replace Morrigan and Alistair. I always liked having them both in my party because they balance each other out so well and plot-wise it's like having a little shoulder angel and devil.

One other thing I do like is the Mass Effect style conversation wheel, but with no reputation system. You get to mix and match!

[NeoCracker]

Unrelated, best Street Fighter game was Alpha II.

[black orb]

>>> FF13 and Blazblue CS, thats pretty much everything... I dont like to waste money on games that will disappoint me..:luca: