Holy crow, I actually own almost every game on this list :O
I still love Valkyria Chronicles though! The gameplay was fun and I felt bad for Selvaria :(
Crisis core was good too (minus Genesis and the fact that I couldn't grind levels the way I wanted because of those slots grr) but there was a lot of feels shed for Zack at the end. I basically love Crisis core for Zack alone. That's right, smurf you Cloud, Zack is 100x better than you in every aspect. Yeah. I went there.
01-19-2015, 02:23 PM
Loony BoB
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno
Sorry I haven't updated. I wrote up something last night and I took so long the page froze and I had to refresh and lost everything. I'll try to re-type it later this weekend.
Restore Auto-Saved Content ftw. You could have got it all back... :(
Quote:
Yeah, these types of threads are amusing. I did have the funness of discovering this little gem while hunting down images for my posts.
51. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - PC, 2002
52. Batman: Arkham City - PS3, 2011
53. Alundra - PSX, 1997
54. Grandia II - PS2, 2000
55. EoFF: Sick Irony - PC, 2000
56. Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced - GBA, 2003
57. Crysis - PC, 2007
58. Dune - PC, 1992
59. Mario Kart 64 - N64, 1996
60. Worms (series) - PC, 1995-2003
61. Final Fantasy XII - PS2, 2006
62. Resistance: Fall of Man - PS3, 2006
63. Burnout Paradise - PS3, 2008
64. inFamous - PS3, 2008
65. UFO: Enemy Unknown - PC, 1994
66. Deus Ex: Human Revolution - PS3, 2012
67. Wipeout HD - PS3, 2008
68. SimCity (series) - PC, 1989-2003
69. Streets of Rage (series) - SMD, 1991-1994
70. Star Control - PC, 1990
71. Gothic II - PC, 2002
72. Lost Odyssey - 360, 2007
73. Crash Bandicoot (Naughty dog series) - PSX, 1996-1998
74. Civilization II - PC, 1996
75. Squarez Deluxe! - PC, 1998
76. Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit - PSX, 1998
77. Destruction Derby - PSX, 1995
78. Syndicate - PC, 1993
79. Army of Two: The 40th Day - PS3, 2010
80. Jump 'n Bump - PC, 1998
81. Wolfenstein 3D - PC, 1992
82. Duke Nukem - PC, 1991
83. Tomb Raider (2013) - PS3, 2013
84. Final Fantasy IX - PSX, 2000
85. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - SMD, 1992
86. Jetpack - PC, 1993 87. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - PC, 2006
:stare:
01-19-2015, 03:12 PM
Polnareff
I seriously thought that Ruins of Lore was the second best game in the series. I wish I could find a legit copy of it.
I didn't notice until Rin pointed it out that Valkyria Chronicles was on the list.
VC was a weird game for me. I appreciated the battle system but there was so little variety that you basically did the same thing over and over for the whole game. I loved the graphics though.
In this case, I actually prefer VC2 for PSP, since the stages are smaller and there seemed to be more variety.
01-19-2015, 06:31 PM
Wolf Kanno
Quote:
Originally Posted by Polnareff
I seriously thought that Ruins of Lore was the second best game in the series. I wish I could find a legit copy of it.
I felt it was a lost opportunity and the game kind of felt more like other RPGs of the time than the Lufia series I grew up with. Frankly, Lufia's world is only interesting because of the whole Sinistral/Dual Blade dynamic so dropping it for a plot that sounds like the sea of other JRPGs out there was not exactly exciting for me. The puzzles were also not as exciting and while I liked the Pokemon monster catching aspect, I just felt the Job System was again, a bit too straight forward and borrowed from better games whereas I felt Lufia 2 and The Legend Returns had far more interesting and original customization systems. I may have liked the game a bit better had it not been given the Lufia title, but I also feel it would have been 10x more forgettable because nothing about the game really stands out from its peers.
Quote:
I didn't notice until Rin pointed it out that Valkyria Chronicles was on the list.
VC was a weird game for me. I appreciated the battle system but there was so little variety that you basically did the same thing over and over for the whole game. I loved the graphics though.
In this case, I actually prefer VC2 for PSP, since the stages are smaller and there seemed to be more variety.
Funny enough, when I was looking up a few things on the game when I was doing the write up, I came to the conclusion I may have actually enjoyed the sequels a bit better, specifically VCIII, which sounds more like the game I was kind of expecting VC to be.
01-19-2015, 06:37 PM
Spuuky
Lufia 1 and 2 are so great. I haven't played this game, though.
01-19-2015, 06:39 PM
Wolf Kanno
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spuuky
Lufia 1 and 2 are so great. I haven't played this game, though.
Yeah, I really enjoyed the first two. Maybe I went into this game with high expectations and felt disappointed but I just really couldn't get into it. Check it out though, like Polnareff, you may get something out of it that I couldn't.
01-19-2015, 06:40 PM
Polnareff
My thing with Ruins of Lore is that is actually did remind me of the second game, just pared down a bit with the puzzles. Lufia 1 ranks third for me, and the GB game ranks dead last. ^^; Not gonna stop me from buying the GBC game on the eShop though.
I never played VC3. I did get a lot farther in VC2 than I ever did in VC1, though. The only thing that stopped me from playing it again was losing my save file.....
01-20-2015, 12:56 AM
Egami
Damn, been years since i last visited this forum! :)
Anyway, really cool thread so far Wolf, haven't played most of the titles but I agree with your points about Crisis Core. VII is my favorite FF game and one of my favorite games ever but I didn't like Crisis Core at all, specially it's disregard for the canon and Genesis who has one of the most cringe worthy dialogue/characterisation I have ever seen in a video game. Sadly this style has very much become the norm in modern FF titles; where the dialogue is mostly about melodramatic statements and vague metaphors which come off as contrived and do nothing to flesh out a character or advance the plot but rather end up making the characters feel stereotypical and unrelatable. This scene from the game very much embodies everything that is wrong with it and a great part of modern FF titles, all style and cool flashy graphics with no substance or relevance starting characters acting/talking in ways that no human person acts like (which ends up making them unrelatable):
For my part, when it comes to the FFVII compilation I am of the opinion that it shouldn't have been made, just like The Matrix sequels. The original game just like the original movie was complete as is, self-contained and having no need for sequels or prequels.
Looking forward to the rest of the list, not really troubled by any of the choices so far :p
01-20-2015, 06:21 AM
Pete for President
Quote:
Originally Posted by Egami
Damn, been years since i last visited this forum! :)
Anyway, really cool thread so far Wolf, haven't played most of the titles but I agree with your points about Crisis Core. VII is my favorite FF game and one of my favorite games ever but I didn't like Crisis Core at all, specially it's disregard for the canon and Genesis who has one of the most cringe worthy dialogue/characterisation I have ever seen in a video game. Sadly this style has very much become the norm in modern FF titles; where the dialogue is mostly about melodramatic statements and vague metaphors which come off as contrived and do nothing to flesh out a character or advance the plot but rather end up making the characters feel stereotypical and unrelatable. This scene from the game very much embodies everything that is wrong with it and a great part of modern FF titles, all style and cool flashy graphics with no substance or relevance starting characters acting/talking in ways that no human person acts like (which ends up making them unrelatable):
For my part, when it comes to the FFVII compilation I am of the opinion that it shouldn't have been made, just like The Matrix sequels. The original game just like the original movie was complete as is, self-contained and having no need for sequels or prequels.
Looking forward to the rest of the list, not really troubled by any of the choices so far :p
Never played Crisis Core, but the cringe is definitely real in that clip :erm:
01-20-2015, 06:38 AM
Mirage
Heh. It's even worse than I thought it would be.
01-20-2015, 06:57 AM
Ayen
Like most characters that annoy the fanbase, Genesis never bothered me that much. They obviously didn't make me care about him, but the only character who makes me want to rip off my own ears is Snow. Only time Genesis bother me was when the writers decided to put him in the infamous Mako reactor scene WHERE HE DOESN'T BELONG!
01-20-2015, 04:16 PM
Egami
Quote:
Originally Posted by ToriJ
Like most characters that annoy the fanbase, Genesis never bothered me that much. They obviously didn't make me care about him, but the only character who makes me want to rip off my own ears is Snow. Only time Genesis bother me was when the writers decided to put him in the infamous Mako reactor scene WHERE HE DOESN'T BELONG!
Yes Snow is insufferable as well, probably my favorite thing about XIII is that we see Lighting hit him repeatedly. Agreed about the sacrilege that was putting Genesis in the Mako reactor scene, seriously what where they thinking?
01-20-2015, 09:03 PM
NeoCracker
Oh god I forgot about this one entirely. LIke, I remember nothing about it other then I played it, got bored, and dropped it. Really while I could kind of dig The Legend Returns, I could never really get into that one either.
Still haven't touched the DS one that got made. :p
01-20-2015, 10:01 PM
Skyblade
The worst bit about that clip is that it's not even the worst part of Crisis Core.
01-21-2015, 09:19 PM
Del Murder
Why is everyone talking about FFXIII when that wasn't even on WK's list (yet)?
Back on topic...I never even knew Lufia had more sequels other than Lufia 2 though it looks like it's better that I didn't know. I really liked the first two Lufia games. Lufia 2 in particular had some of the best puzzle solving in an RPG.
01-21-2015, 09:30 PM
Fynn
I think we can just... feel it. We all know it's coming
Sorry this is taking so long, a combination of real life issues and debating how to go about the next entry keeps postponing it. I'm debating about doing something special for one of the two but I frankly don't feel like I have the time. So just wait and see.
More clues:
One of the games is an action-rpg, the other wishes it was.
One game has an obnoxious save system that sucks the suspense out of the game, the other one doesn't actually have a save system.
Both games were available on PC.
Both games try to get around grinding issues and manage to make it worse.
I feel both games are poor knockoffs of better games either in terms of themes or gameplay.
01-22-2015, 10:24 PM
Ayen
Uhh... Uhh... Uh.
I got nothing.
01-22-2015, 10:25 PM
Pumpkin
Is... is one of them Dawn of Mana? Although I thought you said you had to go back and play it or something...
I gots nothing
01-22-2015, 10:27 PM
Wolf Kanno
It's not a Mana game. Honestly, most of you have probably never even heard of one of them let alone played it.
But seriously canoe why is valkyria lower than the abomination known as xenosaga?
01-23-2015, 07:25 AM
Fynn
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirage
But seriously canoe why is valkyria lower than the abomination known as xenosaga?
I'm guessing because he didn't like it?
01-23-2015, 07:38 AM
chionos
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pumpkin
XIII had a normal save system though didn't it?
I assumed he was referring to FFXIII as the game that had a save system that sucked the suspense out of the story. Which is based on the idea that one of these last two games is FFXIII.
There's always the possibility that WK finds FFXIII so atrocious and offensive that it doesn't even deserve to be on a "bottom 10" list since that would be giving it too much credit.
I can pretty much understand the list so far. Nothing too surprising. I just hope that I can finish XIII before WK posts his rant about it. I don't want to be convinced not to finish it.
01-23-2015, 11:22 AM
Loony BoB
That's why I play games and make up my own mind about them rather than relying on one person's opinion, chionos. xD And yeah, FFXIII is without doubt one of the last two, we've all known that from the get-go though.
The most amusing part about this list is that it actually makes me want to try these games because if WK hates another game I really enjoy, maybe I'll really enjoy these ones too. :smash:
01-23-2015, 11:31 AM
Pike
I'm still waiting for this game that WK said I'd played before
01-23-2015, 04:42 PM
Del Murder
Quote:
Originally Posted by Loony BoB
That's why I play games and make up my own mind about them rather than relying on one person's opinion, chionos. xD And yeah, FFXIII is without doubt one of the last two, we've all known that from the get-go though.
The most amusing part about this list is that it actually makes me want to try these games because if WK hates another game I really enjoy, maybe I'll really enjoy these ones too. :smash:
I heard he really hates eating poop too. You should give that a try.
01-23-2015, 04:54 PM
Loony BoB
EDIT: All my desired responses to the above post involve Del Murder's mother and I have decided to no longer comment out of decency. :(
01-23-2015, 04:55 PM
Fynn
Jesus! People! :stare:
01-23-2015, 04:57 PM
Loony BoB
He started it! *runs*
01-23-2015, 04:58 PM
Pumpkin
Poor Wolf Kanno's thread
01-23-2015, 05:13 PM
Skyblade
I am kind of shocked to learn that they released FFXIII on PC. Did not know that. Would probably play on PC if I were ever to play it again. But, let's face it, not worth purchasing twice.
01-23-2015, 05:21 PM
sharkythesharkdogg
Will it be something random like Return to Krondor?
No. No, it wont'.
01-23-2015, 05:32 PM
Del Murder
Quote:
Originally Posted by Loony BoB
EDIT: All my desired responses to the above post involve Del Murder's mother and I have decided to no longer comment out of decency. :(
Dammit I missed it.
01-23-2015, 06:08 PM
chionos
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skyblade
I am kind of shocked to learn that they released FFXIII on PC. Did not know that. Would probably play on PC if I were ever to play it again. But, let's face it, not worth purchasing once.
There. Fixed.
Or maybe I read it wrong. Maybe you meant:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skyblade
I am kind of shocked to learn that they released FFXIII. Did not know that. Would probably keep in the WC if I were ever to play it again. But, let's face it, not even worth pissing on.
01-23-2015, 06:09 PM
Pumpkin
You guys are going to hate my list
01-23-2015, 10:23 PM
Madame Adequate
I bet it's The Granstream Saga and then Digimon World 2.
01-23-2015, 11:01 PM
Ayen
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pumpkin
You guys are going to hate my list
Your opening post should be a picture of you in riot gear. -nods-
01-24-2015, 02:31 AM
Slothy
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pumpkin
You guys are going to hate my list
It's okay though. We can still be friends.
01-24-2015, 03:41 AM
Wolf Kanno
2 Attachment(s)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Del Murder
Quote:
Originally Posted by Loony BoB
That's why I play games and make up my own mind about them rather than relying on one person's opinion, chionos. xD And yeah, FFXIII is without doubt one of the last two, we've all known that from the get-go though.
The most amusing part about this list is that it actually makes me want to try these games because if WK hates another game I really enjoy, maybe I'll really enjoy these ones too. :smash:
I heard he really hates eating poop too. You should give that a try.
Will it be something random like Return to Krondor?
No. No, it wont'.
I feel it's for the best.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mister Adequate
I bet it's The Granstream Saga and then Digimon World 2.
Afraid not, I took one look at Gainstream Saga and figured it was not going to please me. The only Digimon game I've played is Digimon World Dusk which was surprisingly fun.
01-24-2015, 05:53 AM
Mirage
so stop messing around and post the damned games already
01-24-2015, 06:38 AM
Wolf Kanno
Hey... recording audio and editing video while working a job and dealing with family takes time. It's coming.
Don't worry, the next two are on their way... :shifty:
01-24-2015, 06:52 AM
Mirage
You're starting to sound like Square Enix...
We have an announcement to make: We will make an announcement next week!
01-24-2015, 07:28 AM
Ayen
Don't miss the announcement of an announcement of an announcement.
01-24-2015, 09:44 AM
Mirage
I was getting there. Next week's announcement is actually a roadmap that shows that the game's development is scheduled to start next month.
01-27-2015, 10:44 AM
NeoCracker
I think I may be one of the only people here who has played Digimon World 2. I am also probably the only person alive who loves that game. (No, it is not good. No, I do not recommend it to ANYONE. It's a rather trout game.)
01-29-2015, 03:56 AM
Wolf Kanno
1 Attachment(s)
Okay, so I'm terribly sorry this took so long but I was kept busy by real life stuff and I mulled around about how to address the last two entries. We've reached the titles that I actually hate.
Number 2 should come as no surprise to anyone who has been on this forum since 2009. I have made it pretty clearwhere I stand on this gameon numerous occasions and because of that, I decided I couldn't simply write up a wall of text explaining my grievances. I've done that, it's repetitive, and I'm an artist dammit, I can be more creative. So I wrote some of my feelings in the form of a song...
By which I mean I wrote up some cheesey lyrics in the tune of an established song, half-ass sang it with no music and then made a video with the same level of effort as a freshmen working on assignment for their least favorite subject that didn't count towards their grade. So basically I put as much effort into it as the developers did. I hope you enjoy. :wcanoe:
01-29-2015, 04:20 AM
Pumpkin
Your voice is deeper than I had imagined
01-29-2015, 05:15 AM
chionos
Dude, you put more work into that than FFXIII deserves, but I applaud your dedication to hating the game.
01-29-2015, 06:13 AM
Vyk
Somehow that reminds me of a Disney character. I imagine you as Aladdin now :P Very well done though, interesting concept and well done on the delivery
01-29-2015, 06:21 AM
Wolf Kanno
The song is from Avenue Q by the way.
It's a musical about an adult satire of Sesame Street where they deal with adult issues but it still involves puppets and is absolutely hilarious.
01-29-2015, 06:25 AM
Ayen
Yeah, FFXIII sucks. It's like if you troutted out horse vomit.
01-29-2015, 01:08 PM
Elpizo
Well, that was as bad as FF XIII was, Wolf, no offence. ^^" Mission accomplished?
01-29-2015, 02:17 PM
Loony BoB
With how much time WK invests in FFXIII, I'm starting to think he secretly likes it, but doesn't want anyone to know so overcompensates with trash talking. >=]
01-29-2015, 02:38 PM
Slothy
BoB, there's an old marketing adage: a satisfied customer will tell 3 or 4 people. An unsatisfied customer will tell 9 or 10.
01-29-2015, 02:55 PM
Loony BoB
So what do you call someone who tells hundreds of people at every opportunity they get, years after the experience? :D Guilty pleasure, I'm thinking. ;)
01-29-2015, 03:21 PM
Mirage
nah. it's just bad
01-29-2015, 05:30 PM
Slothy
We call that a customer who's rage knows no limits.
01-29-2015, 08:30 PM
Galuf
FF XIII is pretty cool game. though i had no expectations when playing it so eh idk
01-29-2015, 10:33 PM
Ayen
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirage
nah. it's just bad
It sucks so bad he makes up his own songs.
01-29-2015, 10:44 PM
Wolf Kanno
Quote:
Originally Posted by Loony BoB
With how much time WK invests in FFXIII, I'm starting to think he secretly likes it, but doesn't want anyone to know so overcompensates with trash talking. >=]
You were accused of stalking when you were young weren't you?
BoB: No no, the restraining order is just her way of saying she loves me.
I've only played the game once and to date it's the first FF I have ever debated about trading in, which is something I don't do with any of my games. I won't bother with the sequels because frankly there wasn't anything about the original I liked enough to warrant going back through them. smurf this sorry excuse for a game.
01-29-2015, 10:58 PM
Egami
There really is no excuse for how much XIII blows. There is truly not a single aspect of the game I like and it is the only FF game I actually dislike. There are some FF titles I enjoyed and even respect but don't care much for, but XIII and it's sequels are just...let's just say that I think Toriyama should never be allowed to direct a FF game aver again.
01-30-2015, 01:59 AM
Madame Adequate
FFXIII is a pretty decent game and I had a lot of fun replaying it a few months back. I 5-starred every mission and thoroughly enjoyed it.
01-30-2015, 02:35 AM
Spuuky
I'm not a huge fan of FFXIII but there's zero chance it would be on this list if it didn't have Final Fantasy in the name.
01-30-2015, 02:37 AM
chionos
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spuuky
I'm not a huge fan of FFXIII but there's zero chance it would be on this list if it didn't have Final Fantasy in the name.
Maybe not on WK's, but it'd be on mine.
01-30-2015, 02:42 AM
Del Murder
Like Spuuky implied, FFXIII is a good game, just not a good FF game.
01-30-2015, 02:52 AM
Ayen
No, it's just a bad game period. Only if it wasn't Final Fantasy we wouldn't be talking about it five years after the fact.
01-30-2015, 02:53 AM
Pumpkin
I like it. It was a subpar Final Fantasy imo but it was still a fun game and that's why I've played it 3ish times
01-30-2015, 06:11 AM
VeloZer0
I won't say that FF13 was a good game that was judged to harshlet because it bore the FF title, but I will say that FF13 was a so-so game that unfortunately couldn't come close to living up to the FF name. I don't regret the time I spent playing it, but at the same time I have no particular desire to play it ever again.
.... much like FF12.
01-30-2015, 06:43 AM
Fynn
I just think FF13 is a ton of wasted potential, with a world that is interesting on paper but is executed so poorly with it's writing, further bogged down with the unbelievably boring gameplay. Seriously, even X was better, and that used to be my least favorite FF.
01-30-2015, 12:39 PM
NeoCracker
Yeah, I don't get the 'only bad by FF Standards'. FF Standers range from amazing to crap. They cover the entire spectrum. :p (Except the Music, it's pretty consistantly great.)
01-30-2015, 01:28 PM
sharkythesharkdogg
/ramble
Just came here to say the majority of the music was nice, and the work put into the world, monsters, etc was also pretty good.
I've played other games that sort of lead you from one place to the next with very little in the way non-linearity or variety and it was fine. The first Xenosaga comes to mind. You basically are carried from one dungeon area to the next with scripted scenes in between. (looooong scripted scenes)
I guess the difference is I understood the story, I cared/was interested in the story, and I liked the characters. I also liked the combat system and the ability system for those Xeno characters. So even though it wasn't a very open world, I didn't care. I wanted to know what happened next, and really felt like continuing down the corridor to figure it out. Also, at least it had towns instead of random orbs.
For FXIII I still really don't know what the story was. Considering I follow Xeno games just fine, and I didn't really follow XIII, I think that's not a good sign. The characters, maybe because I didn't fully understand their motivation, also kill me. Everyone hates Snow, for example, and I agree. Pumpkin knows I always say he's a combination of Fred Durst and Mathew McConaughey. Some of them are okay, but none really grab me. There's more characters I actively dislike than ones that I'm neutral towards.
Then there's the fact that I feel like the combat is on autopilot. The paradigm systems sounds freaking great. I was so excited to try it, but I was left disappointed. It's not really the system itself, it's the combat system it's attached to. I don't particularly enjoy MMO style combat engines, and that's the path other RPGs are taking. I'm only partially controlling one character, and the others are left completely to their own devices. It pulls me from getting into the game even more because it's actively less engaging to me.
So I'm left with a game that has lots of scenes trying to explain a story to me (poorly), and using characters that I don't really resonate with to do it. When it's actually my turn to play I'm left traveling down corridor after corridor to get where ever we're going. Since I don't really care about where we're going, I have time to notice that getting there might look different, but it basically feels the same in every location. When I finally get to engage with the characters (combat), I find I really only get to engage with one character, and even that feels like a surface level of control. I basically say, "Okay, try this set up. All right, shift to this pattern." Then I watch and see how it goes. I hope they heal when they need to, buff when they need to, etc., but I can't really control it.
I watch scripted scenes, I watch characters run blindly down hallways, and I have what feels to me minimal input into characters once their finally in a fight, so I'm basically watching that too. I'm watching a story I don't really care about unfold basically on it's own.
It feels like an interactive book/movie and when you have one of those you better make sure the characters are engaging and the story makes sense. XIII never did to me, and so it was completely forgettable.
01-30-2015, 02:09 PM
metagloria
I'm going to say something I don't think anyone here has ever heard before...
XIII's not a great game, but it's better than VI.
01-30-2015, 02:20 PM
Egami
Quote:
Originally Posted by metagloria
I'm going to say something I don't think anyone here has ever heard before...
I'm going to say something I don't think anyone here has ever heard before...
XIII's not a great game, but it's better than VI.
:stare:
01-30-2015, 03:24 PM
Elpizo
Quote:
Originally Posted by metagloria
I'm going to say something I don't think anyone here has ever heard before...
XIII's not a great game, but it's better than VI.
Run, run, or you'll be well done!
01-30-2015, 04:01 PM
Pumpkin
I agree the story was wasted potential but I think for me personally IF it had been executed properly it would have been one of the more interesting ones in the series. The characters I'm torn on. I like half of them, I don't mind one, and I hate the others. But I thought the Paradigm system was buckets of fun and it's one of my favourite things. I think it's what helped me get involved in the combat since most of it was automated. But switching to the right Paradigm at the right time was the difference between winning and losing. Even regular fights could take forever if you didn't think about your party set up. The lack of towns was also exhausting
But despite that, there were some beautiful locations, some moments that I thought were touching, the story still interested me despite not living up to its full potential, and I had fun playing it. So :shrug:
01-30-2015, 04:07 PM
Fynn
The music was beautiful :monster:
01-30-2015, 07:44 PM
Bolivar
Wolf, you have such a beautiful voice!
Writing could use some work, though.
01-30-2015, 09:03 PM
Slothy
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spuuky
I'm not a huge fan of FFXIII but there's zero chance it would be on this list if it didn't have Final Fantasy in the name.
Even ignoring the title, it is at the very least the worst RPG I played last generation. Which is impressive since there were some real stinkers I played. And it's more likely one of the worst RPG's I've ever played.
Multimillion dollar budgets, and relatively high production value will never be able to hide god awful gameplay and writing. If it were a game with half the budget made by a company other than Squenix and without the FF name, I think much fewer people would be defending it.
01-31-2015, 05:00 AM
Wolf Kanno
Last entry will be up before the weekend is over and I'm probably not doing anything special for this one.
Hints:
It is the oldest entry on this list.
Most of you have probably never heard of it.
It had awful sequels on Sega platforms
It's a terrible port of a so-so PC game.
01-31-2015, 05:06 AM
Scotty_ffgamer
I feel like I've heard of this game and that it's going to really bother me that I can't guess it based on the clues.
01-31-2015, 05:06 AM
Ayen
Shadow of the Beast?
Wait, that's not a JRPG. Haha, I'm silly. Clues reminded me of that game though.
01-31-2015, 05:24 AM
Scotty_ffgamer
I'm going to guess (probably incorrectly) that it might be Hydlide. I feel like this is wrong, but who knows. I'm pretty sure it's a bad game that was a port of a PC game. I also feel like it had sequels on the Genesis and Saturn.
01-31-2015, 08:19 AM
Skyblade
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scotty_ffgamer
I'm going to guess (probably incorrectly) that it might be Hydlide. I feel like this is wrong, but who knows. I'm pretty sure it's a bad game that was a port of a PC game. I also feel like it had sequels on the Genesis and Saturn.
But Virtual Hydlide for the Saturn was a remake, not a sequel...
02-01-2015, 06:58 AM
Wolf Kanno
6 Attachment(s)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skyblade
But Virtual Hydlide for the Saturn was a remake, not a sequel...
Well yeah, it would help if I got my facts straight. Didn't realize it was a remake until I looked it up. Hell I didn't realize it had a backwards save system until I popped it back in a week ago to double check I wasn't crazy about how awful it is.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scotty_ffgamer
I'm going to guess (probably incorrectly) that it might be Hydlide. I feel like this is wrong, but who knows. I'm pretty sure it's a bad game that was a port of a PC game. I also feel like it had sequels on the Genesis and Saturn.
Originally I was thinking of doing one of those psyche out entries where I would say FFVII or some trout but frankly I don't care enough anymore to do it.
So number one is a game I doubt many of you have heard of and to go back to a discussion I had with Bolivar about how one comes to obtain bad games, I am partly wrong. It is true no one buys a bad game for themselves, but sometimes you do buy them for other people. This game was an odd Christmas present I received a number of years ago along with Seicross (which I doubt anyone has ever heard of) and Power Glove which is most famous for being the game that came with the Nintendo Power Glove peripheral which sadly I did not receive with this game.
This was easily my least favorite game on the NES that I actually owned, I think only the Uncanny X-Men game and the Back to the Future games come close to being worse than this title but I luckily don't own any of those games. Through the years it has remained one of my least favorite games with only a handful more actually joining that list but still the contempt simply grew.
Hydlide is an old Action-RPG for the MSX and the NEC-PC series of computers in Japan in 1984. The first game was ported to the Famicom and later the NES. It recieved two sequels for the MSX, the third entry was eventually ported to the Sega Mega Drive and retitled Super Hydlide, from what I've heard, this entry is actually pretty decent if a bit forgettable. Finally, as Skyblade pointed out, the first game was remade for the Sega Staurn as a 3D Action RPG and um yeah... It's probably one of the reasons why the Saturn failed outside of Japan. So what is so gosh darn awful about Hydlide? Well just about everything actually...
Imaging if the original Dragon Quest and the original Legend of Zelda had a child together. Not a bad idea on paper but let's also say the people designing this game didn't know jack what they were doing. Hydlide looks like a Zelda game in action except when Jim (yes that is the heroes name) attacks, instead of getting a visual of the sword attacking you simply see a box in the corner switch from Defend to Attack. The sprite remains the same and you have to be on top of enemies to hurt them. There is close to know real feedback on how you are doing besides watching the life bars and noticing how Jim is losing health like it was out of style while the enemy doesn't.
There are no healing items in the game, instead, Jim regenerates health very painfully slow by standing on grass completely still. If you were silly enough to stand still on the edge of the screen, an enemy can easily just spawn right next to Jim and murder him. I should point out that these stipulations also means that when you go exploring dungeons, Jim cannot heal unless you leave them and thus reset all the monsters, meaning dungeons and bosses have to be tackled in one setting.
To achieve this without dying, Jim gains levels by killing monsters, like DQ, this is a very long and drawn out process as it takes forever to gain the XP needed to get a level up and you need seriously leveling to not be murdered by the majority of creatures in the game. There are of course a couple of problems with this, the lack of feedback from combat mentioned above means you might get killed quickly if you're not paying constant vigilance and you need to kill A LOT of monster if you want to level up. The other issue is that once you've leveled up enough, less challenging monsters stop giving XP. They can still murder you pretty quickly if you are not paying attention but killing them is largely pointless after that point. Once you reach this point, it's time to play the wonderful game of randomly attacking every new monster to discover which ones you can beat and get XP from, and which ones will just flat out murder you. This part is surprisingly frustrating.
Jim, like Link, collects items as well that aid him on his quest. Unlike link, none of them show their value to you in a logical way. Did you know you need the Cross Item to even hurt the Vampire boss? All the item does is allow you to actually inflict damage on it, without you can't. Didn't know that and tried to fight him anyway? Sucks to be you, course some lucky players most likely found the item before they ever found the Vampire making this a moot issue but I feel this all really shows the issues with the games design. In fact probably one of the few decent things that came out of playing this game is understanding the absolutely brilliant design of games like Dragon Quest 1 and The Legend of Zelda because they have things like townspeople to drop hints, items that give immediate feedback (most of the time) and a world structure that slowly branches out that makes absolute sense. Hydlide is pure trial and error with excessive grinding and arbitrary item collection
Now granted this game kind of predates Zelda and DQ, and normally I try to be more fair to older games where designers didn't really have any prior knowledge to go on and simply through ideas on a wall until something sticked. With that said, I feel I can still see this game for being as awful as it is simply because DQ and Zelda learned from this games clunky UI and design on how not to make a frustrating and ultimately poor game. They made the world branch out in a good pace which rewarded exploration or being daring to seek out the fringes of what was safe with better equipment to help expand the world. They had incredibly user-friendly interfaces that even a child could understand with both visual and audible feedback to tell you how you were doing; they made growing stronger much more rewarding and satisfying. Most importantly, they made the goals clearer and easier to understand by setting you up with simple objectives that when added up, create actual progress; instead of just endless wandering, with no direction, and constantly trying everything to see if something new might happen to make you feel like you're getting somewhere.
Play this game to understand where the genre has been and then be grateful. Don't come to me whining about how (insert relatively well known game) is the worst RPG you've played. Play this game and tell this is not one of the most frustrating, least rewarding, and terribly designed RPGs ever concocted.
With that said, you now know my Bottom Ten JRPGs I owned. I now bid you Eyes on Final Fantasy, Adieu.
02-01-2015, 07:37 AM
Scotty_ffgamer
Oh! I was right. I was a little iffy on the sequels part, but I was pretty certain I had heard that we got sequels on Genesis and Saturn. I've never played Hydlide, though I've seen the cartridge at used game stores before. The only reason I even know about it is because of the Angry Video Game Nerd video about it (one of my friends and I watched through all of those one summer because we were bored). Anyways, it looks every bit as terrible as you describe. Someday I feel like playing it just so I can experience how terrible it is, but I'd rather play good games.
Super Hydlide actually looks like it did some interesting things though. I looked up the other games after I made my guess just to see if I was correct. I'm still not sure if I'd ever want to play it, but it's not the worst looking game I've seen. Also, it has a point where you are just walking in space, killing bad guys. Can't go wrong there.
Thanks for the entertaining list, Kanno! I enjoyed reading every bit of it, and it's always interesting seeing some contrarian views on more popular games.
02-01-2015, 10:14 AM
Pike
I haven't played any of these games.
Well that was anticlimactic.
02-01-2015, 10:17 AM
Elpizo
I've known of Hydlide since the Angry Video Game Nerd did a video on it. Didn't expect it to be your number one, though.
02-01-2015, 10:32 AM
Fynn
I have not heard of this game either, but it was still a really enjoyable read.
Great list, Wolf, as was to be expected :)
02-01-2015, 01:42 PM
Pumpkin
Awww its over now :G
Great list!
02-01-2015, 06:19 PM
Vyk
I too only know of Hydlide thanks to AVGN, but I actually tried Super Hydlide. And it isn't a steaming pile like the first game. But it is also not really that good. I think when Ys came around and used the exact same fighting and leveling mechanics, and did it a thousand times better, they maybe learned their lesson and actually tried a little. Not very hard, but they tried just a little. Its actually kinda funny how GOOD Ys is, considering it too has you walking into monsters to kill them without any animations or anything
02-03-2015, 03:15 PM
Skyblade
1 Attachment(s)
ProJared's awesome Hydlide reviews:
For those who didn't watch them all, let me point something out:
Look at that box art. The bit right at the top. Published by ATLUS. Yes, that ATLUS. They only did the publishing in the West, but still...
02-04-2015, 06:07 PM
Rocket Edge
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spuuky
I'm not a huge fan of FFXIII but there's zero chance it would be on this list if it didn't have Final Fantasy in the name.
Well, dunno about WK but XIII is easily the worst game I've played.
02-04-2015, 08:22 PM
Polnareff
I had the displeasure of playing and owning Virtual Hydlide. It is actually probably the worst out of the series, if you can believe it.
05-21-2022, 11:18 AM
Christmas
I read it as top ten and was wondering why FF XIII made it into the list while FFVI is out. :lol:
05-23-2022, 10:17 AM
Forsaken Lover
There is no way in hell FFXIII is anywhere close to the worst JRPG ever. It's not even as bad as another FF game, VIII.
Then there are a ton of troutty little shoestring budget JRPGs from Idea Factory/Compile Heart, like the first Neptunia or Chaos Wars.
05-23-2022, 06:04 PM
Wolf Kanno
Quote:
Originally Posted by Forsaken Lover
There is no way in hell FFXIII is anywhere close to the worst JRPG ever. It's not even as bad as another FF game, VIII.
Then there are a ton of troutty little shoestring budget JRPGs from Idea Factory/Compile Heart, like the first Neptunia or Chaos Wars.
Well if you read the opening post you would know these are my bottom ten JRPGs I own. I'm sure there are worse games than XIII, hell I listed one of them. But I also have the foresight to know I wouldn't like many of them and thus I don't play or own them.
With all that said, I still do consider XIII to be pretty bad for a AAA title from a flaghsip franchise made by a company that sort of wrote the book on what JRPGs should be.
05-23-2022, 09:09 PM
Galuf
Boy am I glad "Shadow of Mind" isn't on this list!