Games you've played to remind yourself why you don't play them anymore...

So, I made a terribly error this evening. I was going to sit down and get some quality time in with Catherine or FFI when I got this weird burr up my ass about how I haven't touched some games in my library. I stumbled upon FFX-2 which I have not touched since I beat it 7ish years ago. I figure, what the hell, I lost my old save file when I lost my memory card, and maybe its time to take a second look at that battle system everyone lavishes with praises. So I threw the game in and spent the evening playing, only to be horribly reminded why its been nearly a decade without so much as a spark of interest in strolling through it. While the gameplay is certainly the high point here, I completely forgot how stupid the story was, and how utterly trashy the dialogue was. If I ever bring myself back to play it, I will have to shut off the subtitles and play it on mute, if I wish to continue on...

So, when was the last time you played a game you haven't touched in a long time only to discover how awful it has aged, or has just always been?

The last one was probably Assassin's Creed actually. Flying through the last four or five assassination's before starting the second game made me remember not only how utterly mediocre it was as a whole, but how god damn annoying much of it was. I think I may have actually grown to dislike the game more because I forced myself to go through so many missions in the span of a day or two.

I've also been getting a bit of an urge to play Gran Turismo 5 again lately, but I'll be damned if I'm going to fall for that. It was decent enough at the start, but the problems pile up so high towards the end that I wanted to murder the Polyphony team. Luckily that's all too fresh for me to fall for it. Also, I think the game Mission Impossible for the N64 sort of qualifies in the sense that when I bought it a couple of years ago it was every bit as terrible as I remember, but I knew that going in and like it in spite of that.

Ugh yeah, the first Assassin's Creed. It's why I always tell everybody to just burn through it before even thinking about touching the sequels. The story is very interesting, but the gameplay has flaws that are impossible to ignore once you've played with all of the amazing improvements of later titles. The first time is like, oh wow this is cool but I need to take a break because it's getting on my nerves a bit. Plus you can drown in a knee high fountain. You dive into it from up high, and then instead of Altair being like "ouch, I fell from a high ledge!" he does his drowning animation and game over :<

Final Fantasy VII and Suikoden IV

Gran Turismo is a good call. I had GT3 for PS2 back in the day and every few months I got the itch to play it, only to remind myself how boring non-Mario Kart racing games are.

The most recent game for me is MvC3. I play it because I love the style and visuals but every time I play online I just get reminded how bad I suck at that game.

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Originally Posted by Del Murder

Gran Turismo is a good call. I had GT3 for PS2 back in the day and every few months I got the itch to play it, only to remind myself how boring non-Mario Kart racing games are.

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I'd say we have vastly different reasons for picking them though. GT5 is on my list because it's just a really bad game after you get past the first few initial races. GT3 and GT4 are hands down to of the best racing games I've ever played though.

I can't really think of any games I've gone back to and found to be significantly less than I remember them being.

Guess I just don't wear nostalgia goggles?

Kinda got that feeling popping in GT5 a few weeks ago but it's more of a case of me needing to spend a lot of time with it to build up my skills and then breeze past a couple races. Thankfully, whenever the main mode becomes a bore, the Special Races are like a second game (or multiple smaller games) unto themselves of interesting and fun challenges :)

Final Fantasy IV is one. In fact, I've kind of really hit that point where you first uncover the ugly spots of the title. The presentation is better than ever on PSP but I just can't ignore the gameplay anymore for this one. One, there's no customization system, and that's fine, some of my favorite DQ games don't have one and Xenogears isn't terribly worse off for it. But the battles really are just relentless slashfests with flying numbers that coudln't possibly be less meaningless. Because of how unbalanced the Gil rewards are, it's one of those FFs where you might as well have an inexhaustible cache of potions and hi-potions to heal up after a slashfest that gets your health kinda low. Because the dungeons don't have any clever puzzles or key paths to figure out, they're all just boring dungeon crawls with meaningless battles in order to buff the play time on the clock. And that's really lame. The story was good for its time, and the presentation makes it a classic RPG, but that's just not enough for me anymore.

Okami comes to mind. It took a third playthrough three years after the first to realize this game would be absolutely incredible if they would just have scrapped 90% of the dialogue. Wait, did I say dialogue? I meant monologue. And I'm looking at Issun. A.k.a. the spoiler of mental challenge.

SPOILERCan you imagine Okami without words? It would be paradise.

I was just wishing for a skip button.

I went back to play rumble racing wearing nostalgia goggles. I took off said nostalgia goggles and was still having a blast.
I probably could find a time when I replayed old games to find out why I stopped, but I can't remember any of those times.

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Originally Posted by Del Murder

The most recent game for me is MvC3. I play it because I love the style and visuals but every time I play online I just get reminded how bad I suck at that game.

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That's okay, since MvC3 sucks as a whole.

Zoo Tycoon.

Nevar again.

I've never seen so many Okami dislikers in one place (not just talking about this thread, but I've seen tons of hate for it in other threads for some reason). That game showed Zelda: TP how it was done IMO. :kakapo:

The most recent one I can think of is the Lunar Silver Star Story remake for PSX. I don't know how the hell I was able to play through it back then (the Eternal Blue remake too). But I can play the original Lunar games for hours without getting tired of them. Must be because the remakes are so horribly slow.

Most recently for me it's been Bioshock. It took me a long time to beat it when I played it for the first time a year and a half ago. A couple of months ago I figured I just didn't 'get' it my first time through and decided to give it another shot. But nope. I made it to the second level and just put it down and took it out of my PS3, probably for good.

Another was Mass Effect 2. I'd never played it until it was released on the PS3. I rented it, thinking a Bioware game would finally click for me. Unfortunately I was just reminded why everything the company makes just bores me to tears.

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Originally Posted by Polnareff

I've never seen so many Okami dislikers in one place (not just talking about this thread, but I've seen tons of hate for it in other threads for some reason). That game showed Zelda: TP how it was done IMO. :kakapo:

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Chalk me up as another Okami disliker. I never finished it and about a year ago I loaded up my old save and figured I'd resume my game already halfway through. Once the little bug started interrupting me at every point of interest on the map I stopped again. Twilight Princess was pretty bad like this too, but it had some amusing dungeon design that made it a lot less annoying.

Most recent one for me was Megaman Battle Network 4.

I keep it on hand, always, as my benchmark of "worst sequel of all time". I pick it up every now and then, not to enjoy it, but to wonder at the sheer artistry of how thoroughly and methodically a solid game series can be utterly destroyed by a single entry.

Seriously, the problems with FFX-2 don't come close to touching what's wrong with MMBN4. I don't think they could have made that game worse if they tried. And yet MMBN3 was one of my favorite GBA RPGs (after Golden Sun, of course).

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Originally Posted by Polnareff

I've never seen so many Okami dislikers in one place (not just talking about this thread, but I've seen tons of hate for it in other threads for some reason). That game showed Zelda: TP how it was done IMO. :kakapo:

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Don't get me wrong, Okami does a lot of things right. But it's like an awesome omelet ruined by putting to much salt on it; it has everything it needs to be legendary, but the one aspect overdone takes away the taste of pretty much the whole thing.

Back on topic:

About a year ago I went back to GTA IV, only to realize this game is absolutely hollow except the ending.

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Originally Posted by Skyblade

Most recent one for me was Megaman Battle Network 4.

I keep it on hand, always, as my benchmark of "worst sequel of all time". I pick it up every now and then, not to enjoy it, but to wonder at the sheer artistry of how thoroughly and methodically a solid game series can be utterly destroyed by a single entry.

Seriously, the problems with FFX-2 don't come close to touching what's wrong with MMBN4. I don't think they could have made that game worse if they tried. And yet MMBN3 was one of my favorite GBA RPGs (after Golden Sun, of course).

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Oddly, another one I wanted to mention earlier was Mega Man Battle Network 5. Now, I liked it when it came out due to the fact you could play as Colonel or Protoman (I owned the DS version but before that I had the Protoman one for GBA), but the Liberation missions left me cold. Even more so when I picked the game back up a month ago and remembered just how boring and stupid the whole game was.

Not only that but the AI is cheap as hell too. Games with challenge are awesome (I have beaten MMBN5 about 4 times) but that's just ridiculous. You get curbstomped until way later in the game, even with good strategies and chips.

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Originally Posted by Flying Arrow

Twilight Princess was pretty bad like this too, but it had some amusing dungeon design that made it a lot less annoying.

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Did we play the same game here? :p

I briefly considered replaying FFX-2 just to confirm whether it was really that bad, then I realised it was actually really that bad and continued playing Lemmings.

FFX-2 is awesome, y'all are haters.

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Originally Posted by Mirage

FFX-2 is awesome, y'all are haters.

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It has some positive aspects, but it also has some serious problems. Mostly involving its unnecessarily convoluted story and its obsession with fanservice. It can still be a fun game to play, but there is a lot of nonsense to put up with.

The battle system was solid and fun, Spira was just as much fun to explore as it was in FFX, and the more lighthearted tone was something that the series desperately needed to recapture.

lets see..... all the crashes after ps1
all the spyros after ps1

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Originally Posted by Skyblade

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Originally Posted by Mirage

FFX-2 is awesome, y'all are haters.

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It has some positive aspects, but it also has some serious problems. Mostly involving its unnecessarily convoluted story and its obsession with fanservice. It can still be a fun game to play, but there is a lot of nonsense to put up with.

The battle system was solid and fun, Spira was just as much fun to explore as it was in FFX, and the more lighthearted tone was something that the series desperately needed to recapture.

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Gameplay is 90% of the reason i play games, so i can put up with a lot of bulltrout when it comes to stories.

I don't really find the gameplay all that great to be honest. Dress changing is tedious and unlocking special skills through garmet girds involves using the tedious aspect when it can be done without the fluff. The game is actually slower than FFXII, with some of the skills having ridiculous charge times (dear god, how long does it take to charge up a sword attack or use a potion?) and the chain bonuses are barely adequate enough to warrant being mentioned as a feature. I haven't reached the point where I start to get the really broken crap. The accessories are also a poor equipment substitution which is why I can't believe they reused it for FFXIII.

I wouldn't say "to remind myself why I don't play them" so much as "in the hope that I'll enjoy it more this time" - a good example would be Oblivion. To be fair, I enjoyed the early hours of playing this in the previous playthrough but it dragged after I discovered how many Oblivion Gates there were. This time I'm playing with a few mods including OOO and it's been okay. Far, far more challenging. I may still give up once it gets a little tedious but this time - this time! - I'll try to at least finish the story. =x

I'll probably play FFX again... eventually. I'll just block my ears for the storyline.

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Originally Posted by Pete for President

But it's like an awesome omelet ruined by putting to much salt on it; it has everything it needs to be legendary, but the one aspect overdone takes away the taste of pretty much the whole thing.

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Dude if you want to make an omelete you're going to have a break a couple eggs.

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Originally Posted by Bolivar

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Originally Posted by Pete for President

But it's like an awesome omelet ruined by putting to much salt on it; it has everything it needs to be legendary, but the one aspect overdone takes away the taste of pretty much the whole thing.

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Dude if you want to make an omelete you're going to have a break a couple eggs.

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Not sure if we're still talking Okami here..?

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

it dragged after I discovered how many Oblivion Gates there were.

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I dunno about you, but I forced myself to close every single one. I can't remember if I did it or not. I don't want to know.

FFVII is an always will be my favorite game of all time. But replaying it recently led me to realize how much it could be improved on. Like having better dialogue, MUCH better character designs, and less random battles.

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Originally Posted by Jiro

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

it dragged after I discovered how many Oblivion Gates there were.

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I dunno about you, but I forced myself to close every single one. I can't remember if I did it or not. I don't want to know.

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I always hated going in there, so I only closed the necessary ones...

I hate going in there, but I hate them uglying up my world even more, so I force myself to go in and close them purely so I don't have them being an eyesore anymore. ...but then the fire remains forever. :( What's up with that!?

Hey BoB if you close them all the fire goes away!

:mwahaha:

That better not be true. :shifty:

Only one way to find out! ;)

GOOGLE

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Originally Posted by Polnareff

The most recent one I can think of is the Lunar Silver Star Story remake for PSX. I don't know how the hell I was able to play through it back then (the Eternal Blue remake too). But I can play the original Lunar games for hours without getting tired of them. Must be because the remakes are so horribly slow.

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OMG how can you say that!!! LSSSC is one of the greatest games of all time! I replayed it recently lol. (I love it so much I even bought the collectors edition).

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Originally Posted by Bolivar

Kinda got that feeling popping in GT5 a few weeks ago but it's more of a case of me needing to spend a lot of time with it to build up my skills and then breeze past a couple races. Thankfully, whenever the main mode becomes a bore, the Special Races are like a second game (or multiple smaller games) unto themselves of interesting and fun challenges :)Final Fantasy IV is one. In fact, I've kind of really hit that point where you first uncover the ugly spots of the title. The presentation is better than ever on PSP but I just can't ignore the gameplay anymore for this one. One, there's no customization system, and that's fine, some of my favorite DQ games don't have one and Xenogears isn't terribly worse off for it. But the battles really are just relentless slashfests with flying numbers that coudln't possibly be less meaningless. Because of how unbalanced the Gil rewards are, it's one of those FFs where you might as well have an inexhaustible cache of potions and hi-potions to heal up after a slashfest that gets your health kinda low. Because the dungeons don't have any clever puzzles or key paths to figure out, they're all just boring dungeon crawls with meaningless battles in order to buff the play time on the clock. And that's really lame. The story was good for its time, and the presentation makes it a classic RPG, but that's just not enough for me anymore.

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Yes to both.

Starfox 64 multiplayer SSSSUUUUUUUCKS! The multiplayer in Bond and Perfect Dark is nearly unplayable with 4 people due to single digit frame rates.

I tried to play the privateer recently...I have no clue how I was ever decent at that game let alone good. I can't figure that game out at all any more. Granted it has probably been about 16 years since I last played it? The controls just pale in comparison with the greatness of anything remotely modern. I bet it wouldn't be so bad with a joy stick but I don't even know if that would work in this day and age. It probably wants some sort of thing that isn't USB =P

I dusted off the first PSX game I ever bought... "Ridge Racer" and was bored before I'd even finished the first lap.

Plus, the fact that there is only one course in the whole game is a smurfing joke.

I then noticed the £40 price tag on the back of the case and decided to iron my own face in punishment for originally buying this piece of crap

I actually spent more time playing that little demo of "Galaga 88" during the credits...