Game letdowns

[Pumpkin]

Any games that you've heard a lot about, got pumped up to play, and then.... didn't like it?

I've run in to quite a few lately. Super Mario RPG, Chrono Cross, Secret of Mana. Those are the ones I can think of right now, but there have been others

[The Man]

FFVII and Ocarina of Time didn't live up to the hype, although I wouldn't call them bad games.

[Ayen]

Infamous and BioShock are the first ones to come to mind. Infamous became tedious as trout and BioShock bored the ever loving crap out of me.

[Colonel Angus]

Sims on the GameCube didn't do anything for me.

[Wolf Kanno]

FFVII and Ocarina of Time didn't live up to the hype, although I wouldn't call them bad games.

This, as well as FFX which I was hyped for until it I played it, MGS4, and Bioshock.

[Bolivar]

Killzone Shadow Fall was definitely rushed to make the PS4 rush, the whole game, particularly th emultiplayer, just wasn't up to the high standard set by KZ2 and 3.

[Pete for President]

Dark Souls 2 was a big one for me even if it was to be expected to be less holy than the first. Some others for me are FFXII, HAWX 2, GTA IV and even San Andreas to a certain extend. Oh and Red Dead Redemption.

[metagloria]

FINAL FANTASY TACTICS. Come at me, fanboys.

[Vyk]

Dark Souls 2 was a big one for me even if it was to be expected to be less holy than the first. Some others for me are FFXII, HAWX 2, GTA IV and even San Andreas to a certain extend. Oh and Red Dead Redemption.


FINAL FANTASY TACTICS. Come at me, fanboys.
The first Dark Souls wasn't even what I was hoping it would be. Just a bunch of cheap deaths, and a super cryptic story that just sounds like lazy writing to me. It was interested for a while, but all the "you must die 10 times to advance" crap got old fast. I got it for free. I tried it. Played 10 - 15 hours. Quit. Never looked back

Most GTA games as well. Everyone loves them so much. I keep trying them, to find out why. And keep getting confused. GTA 3, Vice City, GTA 4. Etc. There's just something about them. My biggest complaint with 4 was the driving. You constantly slide 4 blocks when you try to stop. The cars weigh like 2 pounds, and act like they're always on ice

And Final Fantasy Tactics was just battle, battle, battle, story, battle, story, battle battle battle. It's not an what I consider a strategy RPG. It's just a strategy game. There's no walking around towns, dungeons, interacting with NPCs, nothing. This actually turns me off to almost all JSRPGs these days. Disgaea, and every other NIS game included

There's a ton of things that come to mind for my own list though. Final Fantasy VIII. The GBA remake of Shining Force. But I think my saddest disappointments were for games that I found legitimately good, but had flaws that just completely took me out of them. Like Ni No Kuni's 18-hours of hand-holding. Or Valkyria Chronicles' ridiculous difficulty spike barely a chapter or two into the game. I loved both of them. But just couldn't do it. Same with Resonance of Fate. I LOVED the characters, and what little story there was. But their idea of dungeons being just battle, battle, battle. And you get to your destination, THEN you have to go through 20 consecutive battles again, just to get back out. Ugh

[Rez09]

Paper Mario Sticker Star.

I purchased my 3DS
FOR.
THIS.
GAME.

I thought it was going to play like the first two games and pre-release shots showed a chainchomp partner, so I was super hyped for the game. Then I bought it, annnnd . . . wow. I was bored the whole way through, normal encounters were actively detrimental, and everything was tedious; it was a miserable slog through the game.

Oh, and I never got my chain chomp. Q_Q

[Polnareff]

All the ones you mentioned, shion, plus Chrono Trigger (which I played before the hype), Devil May Cry 4, King of Fighters XII, Breath of Fire V (at first), and Paper Mario Sticker Star which was a big pile of shit. Final Fantasy-wise, FFXII.

Oh, and Dark Souls 1. Dark Souls was like a nerfed version of Demon's Souls with far less variety. Terrible sequel to a great game.

[Pumpkin]

Oh here's another one. Bravely Default. I like it, it has made it on my top games list, but I don't find it anywhere near as good as I was led to believe it would be. It is actually pretty low on my list

[Polnareff]

Bravely Default was the same way for me too. The combat system is so disjointed. I was hoping that S-E would remake FFV in 3D. Seems we got BD instead. Personally, I'd be happy with a real sequel to 4 Heroes of Light (which I know BD was supposed to be that, basically, but it plays nothing like the original).

[Pete for President]

Oh, and Dark Souls 1. Dark Souls was like a nerfed version of Demon's Souls with far less variety. Terrible sequel to a great game.

Ouch, the stomps on my precious Souls :( Fair enough if you like Demon's better, but what exactly do you mean by less variety? Is it weapons? Locations? Abilities? Bosses?

On topic again:

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon. It has so many good mechanics, but I can not forgive the team for going all CoD-like on the fans.

[Skyblade]

Megaman Battle Network 4
The worst sequel of all time. I hate this game. I hate this game with a fiery passion. It ruined a fantastic RPG series.



Super Paper Mario and Paper Mario: Sticker Star
What the HECK, Nintendo?! You come away from The Thousand Year Door, an absolutely brilliant game, and then you release these as its sequels?! Sticker Star was admittedly nowhere near as bad as Super Paper Mario, but its broken and pointless combat dragged down the entire game to a staggering degree. Super Paper Mario was just an unpolished mess all the way around.



Persona 4
Fantastic game, but it's not Persona 3. While a much better game from a technical standpoint, the use of tone and the depth of the story doesn't reach the pinnacle that Persona 3 did.



Rune Factory 4
Fantastic game, but it's not Rune Factory 3. Seriously, this game is really good, but the cast is just not quite as awesome, and there are a few technical decisions that just baffle the mind. Great game, well worth playing, but it's not as good as its near-flawless predecessor.



Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Everyone in the Fire Emblem fan base loved this game. I didn't. It felt to me more like an expansion or a ROM-hack of Rekka No Ken (or Fuin No Tsurugi) than it did its own game. The characters weren't as memorable, the story was "meh", the map and random battle system were implemented horribly, and the new animations just felt incredibly unpolished compared to all the old ones.



Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
Of course, compared to THIS game, Sacred Stones is a work of art. Worst game in the series to come to the US. Do not play.



Shining Force III
Only a third of the game came out in the West. Need I say more?



Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Hey, it's Harvest Moon without the farming or any real goal. A ton of freedom, but no real motivation to do anything. I lasted maybe half an hour.



Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver
These are fantastic remakes of the original Gameboy Color games. Pity they decided to junk everything the newer games had improved over the older ones except for the graphics.



Pokémon X and Y
Worst "Important" NPCs in the Series. Period.
The champion is an awful character who contributes NOTHING to the game, the villain is a nonsensical cookie caricature (even for a Pokémon villain).
The plot is not much better, especially coming off the great job they'd done with the last two generations.
Then, to make things even worse, they remove almost all the endgame content that made the game still fun to play for a casual gamer.

[Polnareff]

I seem to remember playing it and there were just skeletons (easy to beat skeletons at that) EVERYWHERE. I played for like 5 hours then said screw it, back to Demon's Souls. I never played Dark Souls 2, so I have no opinion on it. But yeah, DS1 seemed to be much easier and there were fewer screw-over traps, and less enemy variety. So I just didn't like it.

Demon's Souls was like a masochistic pleasure for me. Anything that game could do to screw you over, it would. :jess:

[Vyk]

Wow, because the little bit of that which happened in Dark Souls completely turned me off. Because everyone was all about the challenge and the skill level and all that jazz. But no. If the game is about memorization and repetition and stuff, that isn't a good show of challenge or skill level. That's trial-and-error. Memorization. And as you say, masochism, or for the game's sake, it's sadism. I don't consider being forced to die, a challenge. I'd play Lords of the Fallen, for a game that wants to give real challenge, and not be cheap or ridiculous. But it sounds like it may have swung the pendulum too far the other way and is then too easy for a game of its style. But then again, that just puts it in the realm of God of War and Darksiders, and not necessarily a bad game. But I lost interest in those games too

I'm glad the Souls games give the fans what they generally want, but they are truly not for me. Especially after playing something like Alien Isolation, which had about the same level of stress and deaths, but at the same time, I could navigate huge swaths of the game, relying solely on my actual skill to survive and have a pretty good chance if I was just patient enough. There was never any parts that were pretty much set-up just to kill me off and make me have to re-tread and re-learn what was going on in that area the way Souls always did when you went somewhere new. I love that kind of challenge and I'd like more games to embrace real challenge. I always considered Souls challenge to be cheap. But I guess if you're okay with dying a lot, then the challenge is only trying to retreive your lost souls. To each their own. Just not for me

[Polnareff]

I got Demon's Souls specifically to be abused xD

Like that's the only game I'll tolerate it from, just because the combat and exploration is so well done.

[Spuuky]

Half-Life 2 has to be at the top of the list.

[krissy]

watch_dogs

grand theft auto 3

and 4




the last guardian :(

beyond good and evil 2 :(

[Sephex]

I didn't like [critically acclaimed game]. It wasn't as good as [lesser known game of same type]. I also enjoyed [original game in series] far more than [latest game in series] because I am not a child or teenager anymore.

What really burned my ballsack was [obscure title that I know has a cult following]. I'm not just saying I don't like it just because I know there are people reading this who actually like the game.

[long running series] just doesn't innovate anymore. But I'm going to get mad when series goes off the beaten path ever so slightly and wonder why developers don't take chances anymore when sticking to the same formula garners the best sales figures. Then I'll get into this vicious cycle where I buy the game on launch day anyway, complain about what should be changed, and rush to the internet excitedly to tell everyone how disappointed I am in the title. Then if a developer actually changes things I complained about, I'll be mad they they messed with decade(s) old mechanics.

Also, [game I bought to justify my irrational hatred towards consoles or PCs] is loads better than [game that's actually not all that different]. I just can't fathom the fact that there are people out there that have different tastes, budgets, preferences, circumstances, etc other than my own! The only way I can feel better about my insecure decision making is to unload passive aggressive cheap shots about things I don't own, games I haven't played, or games that I clearly didn't give a shot in the first place.

[popular series] is also trash. I have no idea why people like this [genre]. I don't even like the [genre] to begin with, but I will put an inhuman amount of energy into complaining that other people like something I don't. This is what is killing gaming! Why can't [developer that I don't like] be more like [developer I like]? [developer I don't like] only wants to make money! How...how dare people want to make money! [developer I like] actually cares about their customers, and totally doesn't try to make money, and there is no way that they pay attention to sales figures or think of things from a purely business standpoint! Only the big, bad [developer I don't like] does that!

And what's WORSE are those people on the internet who write overly lengthy rants parodying common complains across an industry!

[Bubba]

Every time I got to a castle in Super Mario Bros.

Why don't you TELL ME which castle she's in? Instead of telling me it's ANOTHER castle ??

How about some directions you fungus-headed dick.

[Pumpkin]

I didn't like [critically acclaimed game]. It wasn't as good as [lesser known game of same type]. I also enjoyed [original game in series] far more than [latest game in series] because I am not a child or teenager anymore.

What really burned my ballsack was [obscure title that I know has a cult following]. I'm not just saying I don't like it just because I know there are people reading this who actually like the game.

[long running series] just doesn't innovate anymore. But I'm going to get mad when series goes off the beaten path ever so slightly and wonder why developers don't take chances anymore when sticking to the same formula garners the best sales figures. Then I'll get into this vicious cycle where I buy the game on launch day anyway, complain about what should be changed, and rush to the internet excitedly to tell everyone how disappointed I am in the title. Then if a developer actually changes things I complained about, I'll be mad they they messed with decade(s) old mechanics.

Also, [game I bought to justify my irrational hatred towards consoles or PCs] is loads better than [game that's actually not all that different]. I just can't fathom the fact that there are people out there that have different tastes, budgets, preferences, circumstances, etc other than my own! The only way I can feel better about my insecure decision making is to unload passive aggressive cheap shots about things I don't own, games I haven't played, or games that I clearly didn't give a shot in the first place.

[popular series] is also trash. I have no idea why people like this [genre]. I don't even like the [genre] to begin with, but I will put an inhuman amount of energy into complaining that other people like something I don't. This is what is killing gaming! Why can't [developer that I don't like] be more like [developer I like]? [developer I don't like] only wants to make money! How...how dare people want to make money! [developer I like] actually cares about their customers, and totally doesn't try to make money, and there is no way that they pay attention to sales figures or think of things from a purely business standpoint! Only the big, bad [developer I don't like] does that!

And what's WORSE are those people on the internet who write overly lengthy rants parodying common complains across an industry!

I didn't think I was being like that, I was just commenting on games I was excited to play but didn't like :confused:

Just like when I was little and convinced that adults drank wine and ate tiramisu, and now that I'm an adult I hate wine and tiramisu and drink chocolate milk and eat cookies instead




Seriously, tiramisu is probably the biggest letdown story of my life

[krissy]

i dont think that's a jab at ya shion ;)
that's just sephex's subversive silliness, seriously shown, surely slimly serious.

ed: tiramisu truly tried to tastefully treat, tied the tongue to terrible tastes

[Sephex]

My parody rant wasn't directed at you shion, nor anyone in particular. If I have a problem with something someone says I'll usually talk to them off to the side or whatever. The rest of this is more seriously elaborating on my parody post in a more expository manner and not addressing you at all.

My rant was poking fun at common opinions and the general misuse of threads like these. I feel that most people take a subject like this just to show how edgy or cool they are for liking or disliking something that most people like. I am sure there are people who genuinely dislike something popular, or whatever I mentioned in my previous post, but after awhile I get tired of the BS. I feel that another reason most people name popular games is just a way to make people feel better about themselves and/or to guilt trip people for enjoying something that they don't.

I don't want to mention a game that was already mentioned in this thread so no one feels singled out, so I'll name a popular title I don't like to get my next point across. I personally don't care for the Gears of War games all that much. I played and beat the first one, but never felt motivated to play the other ones. I have a friend that plays those games all the time. You know what I do or say when he plays them in front of me? This may seem like a radical idea. Brace yourselves:

Nothing.

I don't say a thing because he enjoys it. And so do other people. I may dislike the game (or in this thread's case I was letdown by the series), but honestly, it's not that big of deal at the end of the day. Carrying on about something I don't like on the internet or to my friend isn't going to do much good [insert hypocritical joke here]. Plus, there are far worse games out there than that series and every title listed in this thread.

Like, I would rather play Gears of War again than play Superman 64 or something. I'd also rather experience a popular game that let me down rather than garbage like that Ride to Retribution garbage (it's funny, but gets old fast).

Most of my problem stems from people not actually discussing something, as usual. These threads quickly become a contest on who disliked which popular thing the most.

EDIT: I should also probably clarify that the rant was me unloading on the gaming side of the internet in general, and not this forum exclusively.

[Pumpkin]

Well then

Let's just






*walks away awkwardly*

[Sephex]

Well then

Let's just






*walks away awkwardly*

No, get back here. Let's talk about less sensitive subjects like religion and politics.

[Pumpkin]

I am for or against certain religious and/or political opinions

[Scotty_ffgamer]

My biggest let down was probably Call of Duty Black Ops. Not really because of the game itself (all the CoD shooters are about the same to me), but because the people who were so excited for it and told me I had to buy it so I could play with them all abandoned the game the moment I bought it almost. I got one day of playing with them (and they were still talking about how awesome it was throughout the day), but then suddenly they all said the game sucked and went back to Modern Warfare 2. It sucked since I only bought that game so I could play with those friends online.

[Sephex]

I am for or against certain religious and/or political opinions

This offends all my triggers at once. I have been vanquished. The internet is safe once again.

But how long will that safety last? Until we know, none of us can sleep safely in our beds...er, shells.

[Polnareff]

Half-Life 2 has to be at the top of the list.

Half-Life period. :colbert:

[metagloria]

Bravely Default was the same way for me too. The combat system is so disjointed. I was hoping that S-E would remake FFV in 3D. Seems we got BD instead. Personally, I'd be happy with a real sequel to 4 Heroes of Light (which I know BD was supposed to be that, basically, but it plays nothing like the original).

I literally can't fathom anyone playing 4HoL and BD and coming away thinking the former was superior in any gameplay-related way.

[Polnareff]

I partly liked breaking 4HoL in half. You can't really do that with Bravely Default. Once you figure out how the points work in 4HoL, it becomes much more fun to play. That and the classes actually seem to be quite a bit more diverse.

Plus, I thought the whole brave/default system in BD bogged the game down to ridiculous amounts. When you have to sit there for 25 minutes even while fast forwarding the game to beat ONE boss, it gets tiresome. I'd like to see Square/Matrix make another RPG very similar to 4HoL, but without a mechanic that severely slows the game's battles down.

I know Sephex is probably referring to me when he made his post, but I seriously could not get into any of those games I mentioned before. Rag on me if you will, but I just couldn't. It's not a matter of being a hipster and hating things because they're popular. I beat Chrono Trigger twice, for example. Had to force myself through both times though. If that makes me a hipster, I guess I'm a hipster then. :jess:

[Shauna]

I was excited to play The Legend of Spyro games because how could they ruin Spyro? You're a frickin' dragon who collects gems while taking down a bunch of colourful characters in pretty great landscapes. It's such a simple concept.

They managed it, though. Of course they did.

[Ayen]

I was excited to play The Legend of Spyro games because how could they ruin Spyro? You're a frickin' dragon who collects gems while taking down a bunch of colourful characters in pretty great landscapes. It's such a simple concept.

They managed it, though. Of course they did.

I warned you. I think. Did I warn you? I know we had the Spyro talk before.
If I didn't the forum must have ate my message.

[Shauna]

I played them long before you were a member. xD

[Ayen]

I played them long before you were a member. xD

That explains it. Posts don't travel back in time yet.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

Having to spend more actual money, instead of in game money, to get different cars and tracks I wanted on the latest Gran Turismo sorta sucks. Plus things like the sound, collision damage, and system of car customization hasn't really improved that much.

When you combine with it the fact that track surfaces don't really change under race conditions as they should, cars still don't experience things like brake fade, and Polyphony still insists on having 8 slightly different versions of a car instead of actually bringing in different cars, it becomes a let down.

[Sephex]

I partly liked breaking 4HoL in half. You can't really do that with Bravely Default. Once you figure out how the points work in 4HoL, it becomes much more fun to play. That and the classes actually seem to be quite a bit more diverse.

Plus, I thought the whole brave/default system in BD bogged the game down to ridiculous amounts. When you have to sit there for 25 minutes even while fast forwarding the game to beat ONE boss, it gets tiresome. I'd like to see Square/Matrix make another RPG very similar to 4HoL, but without a mechanic that severely slows the game's battles down.

I know Sephex is probably referring to me when he made his post, but I seriously could not get into any of those games I mentioned before. Rag on me if you will, but I just couldn't. It's not a matter of being a hipster and hating things because they're popular. I beat Chrono Trigger twice, for example. Had to force myself through both times though. If that makes me a hipster, I guess I'm a hipster then. :jess:

I actually felt you explained yourself pretty well. My parody was more about making fun of threads and the responses I usually see, rather than one or more person. The rest of this post is further expanding my thoughts on my end of things, and is not in reply to you.

My thing is that I feel that most people name popular titles just because. Like, for example, if someone claims to say Halo is the worst first person shooter ever then they are either just trying to get a rise out of people, or that they clearly don't have that much gaming experience under their belt.

Most people just can't step outside of themselves and think, "Well, maybe this isn't for me." It's always black or white statements like, "[title] is the WORST game ever!" or something nearly/equally melodramatic. If feeling like an acclaimed title let you down is one of the bigger struggles in your life, consider yourself lucky and move on, you know?

I admit that I am the odd one out in situations like these. I have a more relaxed mindset. If something in terms of media lets me down, yeah, I feel bad about it. But I don't go patrol the internet and make sure every last person I come across HAS to feel like me. Life is just way too short to be that miserable. Something I wanted to like didn't pan out? Oh well, that sucks...

Time to move on.