Unpopular Gaming Opinions

General and high profile video game topics.
DaHeckIzDat
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Re: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

Postby DaHeckIzDat » January 5th, 2020, 10:56 am

The original Donkey Kong Country trilogy are better than any side scrolling Mario game that's ever been released.

Donkey Kong Country Returns is okay, but sucks compared to the original three on SNES. It feels too...busy. Two many different mechanics, too much happening in the background. The originals didn't have much going on, but the levels still had tons of atmosphere and the characters had, well, character. Returns felt like it was trying to substitute quality with quantity, and because of that very few of the stages felt real. I haven't played Tropical Freeze, but if it's anything like Returns then I probably won't like it either.

Donkey Kong Country 1 is the weakest of the original three. 2 is the best, but I think 3 isn't that far behind. It gets a lot of hate, and I've never understood why. The levels are as fun and challenging as ever, the graphics are still stunning, and the signature DKC soundtrack is every bit as good as the first two.

(Now for something that isn't Donkey Kong related...)

Bioshock is boring. Maybe it's because I actually like the method of storytelling used in JRPGs, but I never liked the "in-game cutscene" method that a lot of FPSs use these days, where you stand around and get talked at for a minute before a new objective appears on your hud. I know it's to help you feel like you are the character, but I can't connect with a character who never speaks. Maybe if I could see whoever those hands were attached to, watch him interact and react to what's around him, I might like it more. But the way it is, I couldn't care less about anybody in this admittedly cool looking city.

This shouldn't come as a surprise to any of you by now, but a good story can save a mediocre game for me. As long as the game is playable, IE not outright broken, I'll push through it just to see how the story plays out. That's why games like Tales of Xillia are some of my favorites, even though I've always said that their gameplay is lackluster at best. It's also why Tales of Zestiria got such a low grade from me, since it had the boring gameplay but no worthwhile story to hold it up.

There is no such thing as a scary video game. I've played Silent Hill 1 and 2, Resident Evil 4, Dead Space, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Outlast, Fatal Frame, and probably a few others I've forgotten to mention, and not a single one of them has managed to scare me. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy some of them. The atmosphere in Silent Hill alone makes it worth playing. But apart from the odd jumpscare (which does not count!) I haven't once caught a case of the heebie jeebies.

Speaking of which, Resident Evil 4 is not that great. Bad? Not at all. But even when it was new, I never understood the heaps of praise it was getting. The shooting was clunky (even after playing it three or four times, I've never gotten the hang of it) and the rotating tank controls mixed with the over-the-shoulder third person view was clumsy as hell, especially since you couldn't strafe. And again, it wasn't scary! The version I liked best was on the Wii, since it was so much easier to aim.

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DrLitch
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Re: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

Postby DrLitch » January 5th, 2020, 11:45 am

My unpopular opinion is.....

Zelda, as a series, is actually not all that great. Action RPG, lite on the RPG, lite on the action even. Link is a ridiculous hero with his green hat and shorts. By appearance alone, he is more likely to be molested by an in game character than be it's overall champion. How this series became such a big deal is an enigma. That is not to say there are no good titles. There are but most are incredibly overrated.

Zelda 1 / NES - Extremely mediocre title, poor man's RPG, D
Zelda 2 / NES - Better than first Zelda but still a chore to play, C-
Zelda Link to the Past / SNES - A classic title, best Zelda Game, A+
Zelda Link's Awakening / Gameboy - Another classic title, A
Zelda Ocarina of Time / N64 - An important title at the time for a poor/flagging console, it's alright, B-
Zelda Majora's Mask / N64 - 2nd best 3D title, B+
Zelda Oracle of Ages / GBC - It's alright I managed to play to end, C+
Zelda Oracle of Seasons / GBC - ditto, C+
Zelda Wind Waker / Gamecube - Too much Grinding and Boring Fetch Quests/Sailing, C
Zelda Minish Cap / GBA - Quite good 2D Zelda title, B-
Zelda Twilight Princess / Wii - I did not get into this, boring, C
Zelda Skyward Sword / Wii - Bad controls, graphics, gameplay, D
Zelda Link Between Worlds / 3DS - Absolutely friggin great, loved it, A
Zelda Breath of the Wild / Switch - Best 3D Zelda although quite Sparse due to size, A

I never played four swords or any spin offs.

Stalvern wrote:The arcade game is the original.


Thanks for fix, arcades mostly got ported to home and rarely the other way around 8-)

Voor
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Joined: April 14th, 2015, 8:08 pm

Re: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

Postby Voor » January 5th, 2020, 12:59 pm

Interesting takes regarding Donkey Kong Country. I think they were amazing, and agree that are probably better platformers than Mario, but Mario World has such a heavy emphasis on secrets, I find them hard to compare.

I think Mario Bros 3 is the best in terms of level design, in that it introduces A new idea, explores it a lot in a single level, and moves on to another new idea in another level. I actually feel DKC does a good bit of that as well.

I scare easily, and have never played RE4, but plan to this year.

Here’s mine—as impressive as Metal Gear Solid is, I don’t find it very...FUN. Granted, I’m only a few hours in, but I don’t like the visual field it gives you, and the constant phone call interruptions are annoying. But I’m going to give it more time.

CharlieR
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Re: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

Postby CharlieR » January 20th, 2020, 8:42 am

A bold opinion, but I think the 2d Sonic the Hedgehog games on Sega Genesis can be considered a little overrated. It may seem blasphemous to say, and while I do think the first two games are nostalgic and fun to go back and play every once in a while, I’ve noticed that I really only love certain parts of these games, where the rest can be annoying.

Allow me to explain for the first two games. This doesn’t really apply in a huge way to Sonic 1, as the only real drag, in my opinion, is Labyrinth zone. Some people say Marble zone can be a drag, but I’m fine with it.

Sonic 2 starts out really good; the first half of the game is fun, but the rest of the game can be a real drag. Oil Ocean and Metropolis zones are a mess, and there just not a whole lot of compelling stuff in the latter part of the game.

Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles are way overrated I think. I must be the only one who hates Sonic & Knuckles. I feel like it gets praised for being the best 2d Sonic game, which is crazy to me. I rarely get past Flying Battery zone, and I was disappointed to see it return in Sonic Mania. Sonic 3 also seems to have long, drawn out levels as well

ThePixelatedGenocide
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Re: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

Postby ThePixelatedGenocide » January 20th, 2020, 10:01 am

CaptainCruch wrote:I think the original 'Strider' on the Sega Genesis is horrible and I do not understand the praise. It's choppy, has tons of slow-downs, average music, average animation, sloppy controls, bad hit detection, annoying floaty jumps and uninteresting level design. Why does everyone seems to love this game so much?


Everything was choppy back then. The focus was more on the exhilaration of your jump. Each animation frame shows your character putting his entire body into it, instead of giving the player a generic Mario leap, or a Ninja Gaiden spin. Your weapon is designed to take out everything you'll face, instead of providing a pixel perfect challenge.

Back then, it felt like a power trip. Especially if you were used to the cheap deaths of Castlevania.

The music is atmospheric, and it all tells a story. There's an extra chill in the Siberian snow. You can feel the power of the engines that reverse gravity. People love to mock the chaotic "music" when the satellite crashes, but it's perfect for a system breaking down.

But the biggest strength of the presentation, and very rare for the time, was that every character feels like they actually belong in this world, beyond their contribution to the gameplay. And even sub-bosses can receive a dramatic entrance. It was a surprise finding out that most of these characters aren't in the manga, and that the overall series was pitched as multimedia from the start, because it all feels like a top tier licensed title.

So, on to the gameplay - in today's world, where Miyamoto perfection is the baseline for an action indie title, yeah, it can be a bit rough by comparison. Sometimes, you'll be frustrated, and if you give into your frustration, you'll screw yourself over. Especially with one determined bounty hunter.

And there are bugs. Your robot panther is nowhere near as useful as it is in the arcade, the AI in the Genesis version was clearly modeled after a real cat.

It couldn't care less about hanging out with you, when summoned.

But.

The checkpoints are reasonable. Most of the time, if you get hit, it was entirely your fault. As hinted at before, there's the beginnings of a Devil May Cry style power fantasy here, without completely breaking the game the way your Altered Beast forms do. And it's always revealing new tricks, every step of the way.

In 1990, no other action game even came close to touching this. And while it's all aged badly, the strengths it offers are still there, waiting to be uncovered by anyone with an open mind.

Lucifixion
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Re: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

Postby Lucifixion » January 21st, 2020, 6:44 pm

I'm going by what I read on sites like Metacritic, but it seems that Chrono Cross is beloved by many and seen to be one of the greatest RPGs of all time. Unpopular? Based on this metric, yes. I think Chrono Cross does shame to it's namesake and 'legacy'. It took me until a couple of years ago before I finally forced myself to experience this game. I had attempted it when it was relatively new, and perhaps again several years later, but just simply could not be inspired enough to stick with it.

To be as fair as possible; I'm a huge fan of Chrono Trigger. I bought it within a few months of the original SNES release in early 1996 when I was a young, impressionable teenager. Everything about Chrono Trigger was amazing to me. The bright, colourful graphics, the stunning musical compositions that stick in my head to this day, the complex story (at least for its day), and the infinitely satisfying gameplay - these all added up to one of my favourite games.

So maybe expectations were unfair, especially given that virtually none of the 'dreamteam' (Sakaguchi, Horii, Uematsu, et al.) were involved with Chrono Cross. Now, to my point. While Chrono Cross exhibits some excellent music and visuals, it is relatively devoid of the refined gameplay that Chrono Trigger provides. Rather than natural progression of your party, there exists a strong need for grinding out levels in order to tackle the next task. Rather than interesting combinations and deep characters, we have a bunch of repetitive techniques that quickly become tiresome. And then there's the story. Obviously this was an attempt at creating the depth and attachment that Chrono Trigger gave us. Sadly, the scenario, script, and characters all come off as far more two-dimensional than it's forebearer and namesake.

To be honest, I'm griping with a very poor memory of the game at this point in time. It has been a couple of years since I played through to the very end without actually finishing the game. That's as far as I could get. A treat in terms of presentation, but lacking anything to make this more than a middle-of-the-road RPG, I found it instantly forgettable and cannot for the life of me understand what it is that makes this game so revered by so many. In an era with so many of the best console RPGs, Chrono Cross is mediocre at best. Good intentions, lacking talent. For its generation, I'd compare this to 7th Saga for SNES. Some innovation, but ultimately lacking anything that sets it apart from its peers.

End hate rant.

Shapur
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Joined: July 31st, 2015, 8:10 pm

Re: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

Postby Shapur » February 9th, 2020, 8:38 pm

Mario Kart is not all that good. When you win it doesn’t feel like you deserve it, when you lose it’s the same. Stuff just happens.

People adore it but I’ve been spoiled. Even the so so port of Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing Transformed is so much more satisfying than Mario Kart 7 on the 3DS. Every time I play a few rounds of 7, I go back to Sonic to master each course.

CharlieR
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Joined: April 23rd, 2016, 8:04 am

Re: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

Postby CharlieR » August 19th, 2020, 9:45 am

Always fun to talk about these.


I don't know if this is unpopular or not, as there may be people who just don't like the game, but I think Super Mario Sunshine is not a good game. Didn't feel like a Mario game, and pretty much everything in the game felt like a chore.

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LoganRuckman
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Re: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

Postby LoganRuckman » January 13th, 2023, 12:53 pm

So, anyone who's familiar with me on these forums might know I'm a pretty big Nintendo fan. And they might also know that I'm a huge Mario maniac in particular.

So with that in mind, remember that era from 2006-2013 when Mario was pretty much an annual franchise, with the exception of 2008? I know a lot of people grew tired of Mario by the end of it and kinda saw it as stale at that point, but being the big Mario freak I am, I loved it! Personally, I thought it was awesome that we were getting a new mainline Mario title every year, and I kinda wish we were still getting a main entry Mario every year.

Which is why I tend not to criticize Assassin's Creed and Madden and COD and other yearly franchises, because I'd be a massive hypocrite if I did.

Bring on the Mario, I say!

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LoganRuckman
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Re: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

Postby LoganRuckman » April 28th, 2023, 2:22 pm

The second NES Mega Man trilogy (4, 5, and 6) are better than the first three games.

I understand that at the time, Mega Man was pretty much an annual franchise and people were getting tired of it and it was kinda getting stale, but...

Viewed through a modern lens, the level design and mechanics were superior in the later three games.

I will concede that the first three games do have better Robot Masters and probably better soundtracks though.

But Mega Man 5 in particular might just be the best NES Mega Man game. God tier level design for sure


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