Your unpopular opinions for general games/media (besides Fire Emblem)?

[Magical Glace]

I said that if this forum had a like system, it would become a horrible place, like the dead Serenes Forest in Path of Radiance.

...oh.

Okay I'm good here carry on.

[Ebony]

Don't you mean Diebuster here ?

Actually no. I did not like Diebuster.

[Sylphid]

-I feel like the problem with modern anime isn't anime itself but the Japanese market.

I'm not sure I would call this one unpopular, though it certainly isn't the most popular one either.

Regardless, I agree. (Also similar issues plague not only anime, but other Japanese entertainment industries as well.)

(and I'm actually fine with the removal of Tom Bombadil and the Scouring of the Shire- the former serves little purpose and the latter really felt like ending fatigue tinged with anticlimax).

This reminds me of one opinion I feel is unpopular: I actually liked the Scouring of the Shire part of the books. It's almost my favorite part, in fact, alongside the timeline that records what happens after the events of the trilogy.

(I do agree it was okay to leave out of the movies, however)

Edited November 2, 2016 by Sylphid

[BlueLeafeon]

Golden Sun is a meh game and I will never understand why anybody liked it.

I believe remakes should remain true to the originals in every way EXCEPT gameplay/mechanics. Its music should be remastered, but not remixed, its graphics updated, the script the same (unless it's edits to fix typos and the sort,) and if voices are involved, either keep them the same or hire someone who sounds similar to the original. Don't replace a bass character with a tenor one, and don't make a 17-year-old girl sound 10.

For this reason, I highly detest HG/SS and Star Ocean: Second Evolution.

Although I will forgive certain script changes. The ones made to FR/LG and OR/AS to add in new features and areas are perfectly acceptable. Forcing me to go into a dungeon which was originally optional, just to catch the title legend, which has NO BEARING ON THE PLOT AT ALL, is not acceptable.

[ping]

This reminds me of one opinion I feel is unpopular: I actually liked the Scouring of the Shire part of the books. It's almost my favorite part, in fact, alongside the timeline that records what happens after the events of the trilogy.

(I do agree it was okay to leave out of the movies, however)

I feel that way about both the Scouring of the Shire and the Tom Bombadil sequence (although I don't think I could name any specific favourite part in LotR). Imho, both work very well written down - Tom to show that there is a world outside of the plotted areas and the Scouring to show Saruman's petty character - but both would probably destroy the pacing of the respective films. The ending really is long enough as it is. ;)

[Tamanoir]

Golden Sun is a meh game and I will never understand why anybody liked it.

Exaxt same reason FFVII is popular. Nostalgia, and it was the very first JRPGs many played through,so it more or lss conscienciously paved the way we saw the genre.

[Ema Skye]

Some more from me:

- resolution doesn't matter to me

- frame rate doesn't matter provided its over 30

[Zera]

I think Yoshi's Island isn't the best platformer on SNES. The completion requirements are too insane.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Exaxt same reason FFVII is popular. Nostalgia, and it was the very first JRPGs many played through,so it more or lss conscienciously paved the way we saw the genre.

I wouldn't pin purely nostalgia as the reason for FFVII's popularity. I know lots of folks, myself included, who played it the first time 10+ years AFTER it came out and loved it, no nostalgia involved.

I think Yoshi's Island isn't the best platformer on SNES. The completion requirements are too insane.

This isn't unpopular at all. Super Mario World is more universally praised as the SNES' best platformer, and sometimes best game period. The Donkey Kong Country games are generally more praised as well.

[Loki Laufeyson]

I didn't want to be that person, but I was going to say the same thing. Really, it was the PS Vita Golden that ramped the animu up to eleven.

And this is coming from someone who started the series though P4. I had on rose-tinted glasses for a long time until I started playing through the other SMT games and the earlier Persona games. The second entry, in particular, is nothing like A N I M E B U L L S H I T and focuses more on the studies and concepts brought up by C.G. Jung. The "anime" portions in it are quite sparse and doesn't saturate the game too heavily.

I remember when the first Persona game came out, people kept talking about how deep and relatively edgy it was. I never played it but it kept getting all these glowing reviews from people. Second one, same thing. So im really going to believe you with that.

Here's a non-gaming one that people have legitimately gotten angry at me for:

The Godfather films, all three of them, Parts I, II, and III...are some of the worst films I have ever had the displeasure of seeing.

Real talk, they arent my favorites by any means, but those films are pure art regardless of what you think about them. Respect the art, mang.

I said that if this forum had a like system, it would become a horrible place, like the dead Serenes Forest in Path of Radiance.

my unpopular opinion is that this is inaccurate. While theres plenty of schlubs on these boards, not everyone ever is a baby with soiled diapers. At least i want to keep faith in that....

Final Fantasy 7 was a legit really good game, this coming from someone who finds that franchise to be boring as shit and overbloated BS. Nostalgia be damned. That story and characters (yeah even Aeris whom i hate) are decently written and just a really good time.

Tolkien opinions? DONT MIND IF I DO!

I actually am ok with not owning the extended editions of the LotR trilogy, but i do love those. (i have seen the extended versions more than once and they are pretty gr9)

Im actually ok with the removal of Tom Bombadil because i feel like he would have broken tone and challenged suspension of disbelief with the general movie going public.

I cant say the same, though, about the removal of the Scouring of the Shire. I was legit salty about that. I got over it but it still....its a wee bit of an old wound.

The Hobbit movies were actually really close to being absolute rubbish. Radagast and Thranduil saved them from being so. But just barely. The third one was a huge disappointment and ill never not be salty about it. I was looking SO FORWARD to the Battle of Five Armies.... D: (Martin Freeman was a great Bilbo tho)

Legolas was always overrated. Elrond is The Guy

I think Yoshi's Island isn't the best platformer on SNES. The completion requirements are too insane.

Spoiler Alert, i actually didnt care for that game.

Shadowgate 64 was a fantastic game with heaps and heaps of worldbuilding. Nevermind the hilarious (even for the time) graphics.

[Rapier]

• I don't really care about band music at all and I rarely listen to it; I'm almost always just listening to video game soundtracks. Queen is just about the only band I can think of where I can actually say that I like the band's work in general and not just some specific songs that they made.
• I honestly kinda find it hard to do anything but root against characters who are unrepentantly mean/self-centered/"""pragmatic""", no matter how attractive or whatever they may be. If there's a redemption arc for them and they genuinely change their ways to not be so callous anymore, then I can get behind them, but otherwise I don't care for them at all. I don't object to their presence in the story so long as they're well-implemented, but I'm definitely not gonna, like, side with them or anything.
• I actually really like genuinely-kind and goodhearted characters and I don't think there's anything inherently boring or unrealistic about them whatsoever. That's certainly not to say that they have to be 100% morally-spotless little angels or anything, since that is rather unrealistic, but I really like characters who are fundamentally good, compassionate people at their core and who express that through their actions.

First point: Agreed, although I only really like Queen when they perform and their original songs aren't that good to me (with some exceptions).

Second point: I can actually like a character who is pragmatic, manipulator and mean if they show human weaknesses and understandable motives for doing those things. I think Alberich from the Saint Seiya series is an example (probably no one knows what I'm talking about, though), or Elpizo from Mega Man Zero (although he isn't a bad guy - he becomes one after a huge failure and disappointment, sinking into despair and searching for power at all costs)

Third point: Same. I think it also applies to villains. I'm ok with characters like Ashnard and the Joker, and I don't think a villain needs a 15 minute episode explanation for why they are villains, nor in-depth psychological probings that reveal they became evil because someone killed their kitty when they were an innocent child. Some people are ambitious/deceitful/cruel by nature, this isn't unrealistic.

[Augestein]

Golden Sun is a meh game and I will never understand why anybody liked it.

I can actually explain the Golden Sun one. When GS first came out, there were like... No RPGs on the GBA. If you wanted your fix for RPGs, it was either a SNES port or this. As a RPG, they are pretty mediocre, and in some regards I'd say they are like Lufia 2 but worse-- the puzzles are considerably simpler, the characters were considerably less fleshed out, and the plot was strung together with more of a random mish-mash of events rather than an actual overarching plot (this kinda goes for both, but GS is considerably less structured in its base designs). However, what it wasn't was offensive. It gave you just enough to satisfy anyone's hunger for a *new* portable RPG.

[Tamanoir]

I wouldn't pin purely nostalgia as the reason for FFVII's popularity. I know lots of folks, myself included, who played it the first time 10+ years AFTER it came out and loved it, no nostalgia involved

I never said it was a bad game. Like I never said Golden Sun was bad.

FFVII is a (really) good game, but nostalgia and lack of options made it terribly overrated (First FF to come in EU, became incredibly popular desoite its terrible translation.).

The same way, Golden Sun 1 and 2 are fine games. They're not the best, but they were amongst your rare options.

And both introduced JRPGs to a whole new generation of players.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

• I don't play videogames because of the story. Idc for it tbh.

• Music is more important for me than graphics.

Xillia 1 was unnecessary. Xillia 2 should become 1 and Namco make a sequel with Elle as main character.

FE10 is the only reason why I still keep my Wii. Wii had awful games for the most part (exceptions: FE10, Brawl, Xenoblade Chronicles, Pandora's Box, Kirby's Return To Dreamland, Donkey Kong platformers)

I want another remake of Persona 3 + 4 for the 3DS.

The music of today is just disgusting for me: So much shitty rap, dance and trashpop à la Lady Gaga

Edited November 6, 2016 by Ayama Wirdo

[Augestein]

FFVII is a (really) good game, but nostalgia and lack of options made it terribly overrated (First FF to come in EU, became incredibly popular desoite its terrible translation.).

Except not all RPGs need a plethora of options to be good. I'd say that from a design perspective, it's considerably better than FF8 and FF8 has more options for customization for your characters than any other Final Fantasy. FF9 is often considered one of the best in the series and it has less options as well. And the translation for FF7 isn't even THAT bad. It could definitely be better, but it has nothing in terms of syntax problems that earlier RPGs had such as text limitations , honest to god mistranslations, and a horrid localization to go along with it (meaning that things that WERE translated were too straight of a translation and thus didn't make any sense to people outside of the context of Japan and this was before you could just grab a English / Japanese dictionary, grab a Japanese script or hell, have a Japanese import of the game ). It's some of the reason I think that crazy puzzles from earlier games have been filtered out of newer games because it's literal hell on the translators and the players alike.

I have an unpopular one because of this: people blame nostalgia and use it as too much of an all-encompassing reason for why things are liked.

[Jedi]

I have an unpopular one because of this: people blame nostalgia and use it as too much of an all-encompassing reason for why things are liked.

Going to second this one.

[Water Mage]

I have an unpopular one because of this: people blame nostalgia and use it as too much of an all-encompassing reason for why things are liked.

I third that.

Seems to me these days that people love blame nostalgia for everything in games.

Edited November 6, 2016 by Water Mage

[Tamanoir]

Except not all RPGs need a plethora of options to be good. I'd say that from a design perspective, it's considerably better than FF8 and FF8 has more options for customization for your characters than any other Final Fantasy. FF9 is often considered one of the best in the series and it has less options as well. And the translation for FF7 isn't even THAT bad. It could definitely be better, but it has nothing in terms of syntax problems that earlier RPGs had such as text limitations , honest to god mistranslations, and a horrid localization to go along with it (meaning that things that WERE translated were too straight of a translation and thus didn't make any sense to people outside of the context of Japan and this was before you could just grab a English / Japanese dictionary, grab a Japanese script or hell, have a Japanese import of the game ). It's some of the reason I think that crazy puzzles from earlier games have been filtered out of newer games because it's literal hell on the translators and the players alike.

I have an unpopular one because of this: people blame nostalgia and use it as too much of an all-encompassing reason for why things are liked.

That wasn't my point. Bad formulation here, sorry. I just meant that their wasn't that much RPGs arond, especially in EU (France, more precisely.)

I actually agree that you don't need tons of options to makes a good game

And I was talking more about the French translation that is famously terrible, and have all those mentioned problem (whole line left in English, typos, bad structure...)

As for nostalgia... I think it works as an amplifier. In both way, actually. First, you play this game as a children and it's the best game ever made. It might becomming Nostalgia backlash later (because the game isn't as well as you remember, so you may judge it to harshly then.).

It's really hard (maybe even impossible) to be totally objective with those games (FFVII is a particuliar case here, due to Square's treatment of it as the St Graal, their best work even made (and such negating at least 6 main titles afterwards).)

Nostalgia isn't the only reason, obviously. If the game hadn't any quality at all, no one would remember it.

There's also points that are elated to nostalgia, but still differs slightly, like the context of their releases, and the test of time. (the titles that created a whole genre typically suffers from this, contributing to create games better than themselves (sometimes, in the same Franchise. See Pokémon.)

Denying the influence of nostalgia entirely is as stupid at saying nostalgia is responsible for everything.

[Water Mage]

As for nostalgia... I think it works as an amplifier. In both way, actually. First, you play this game as a children and it's the best game ever made. It might becomming Nostalgia backlash later (because the game isn't as well as you remember, so you may judge it to harshly then.).

It's really hard (maybe even impossible) to be totally objective with those games (FFVII is a particuliar case here, due to Square's treatment of it as the St Graal, their best work even made (and such negating at least 6 main titles afterwards).)

Nostalgia isn't the only reason, obviously. If the game hadn't any quality at all, no one would remember it.

There's also points that are elated to nostalgia, but still differs slightly, like the context of their releases, and the test of time. (the titles that created a whole genre typically suffers from this, contributing to create games better than themselves (sometimes, in the same Franchise. See Pokémon.)

Denying the influence of nostalgia entirely is as stupid at saying nostalgia is responsible for everything.

I won't deny that nostalgia influences the players, but these days, people are blaming nostalgia for everything, which is getting kinda stupid.

[Augestein]

And I was talking more about the French translation that is famously terrible, and have all those mentioned problem (whole line left in English, typos, bad structure...)

As for nostalgia... I think it works as an amplifier. In both way, actually. First, you play this game as a children and it's the best game ever made. It might becomming Nostalgia backlash later (because the game isn't as well as you remember, so you may judge it to harshly then.).

It's really hard (maybe even impossible) to be totally objective with those games (FFVII is a particuliar case here, due to Square's treatment of it as the St Graal, their best work even made (and such negating at least 6 main titles afterwards).)

Nostalgia isn't the only reason, obviously. If the game hadn't any quality at all, no one would remember it.

There's also points that are elated to nostalgia, but still differs slightly, like the context of their releases, and the test of time. (the titles that created a whole genre typically suffers from this, contributing to create games better than themselves (sometimes, in the same Franchise. See Pokémon.)

Denying the influence of nostalgia entirely is as stupid at saying nostalgia is responsible for everything.

That makes more sense. I can't speak for the French translation as I didn't read it nor do I speak or read French.

But that's not how it works. It's a longing for things in the past. If you're actively playing it, you're going to remember why you like it or realize that you don't like it as much as you remember. Not everyone played these games as a child, so "nostalgia" feels like a lazy way of handling it. Especially when they can't have it because they never played it. Example: I remember having fun with Secret of Mana as a child, but I more so realize that I like SoM as a child because of the time I spent with my friends-- it made me miss going outside and running around in the park etc. SoM was a gateway to an active imagination, but SoM was never a special game. And it's still not now. It's not an amplifier at all. Things that I didn't finish as a child, I've gone back looked at them and been like : "Eew, I remember why I never finished this." Or I've come back to things and been pleasantly surprised for it being better than I remembered. Final Fantasy X comes to mind. I liked it, but I'm more impressed at what it did at the time now than I was then. I'm not going to judge it harshly either, just for what it is at face value. FFVII just got lucky to get all of that attention, it's not like say... FFXIII where it was literally shoved in our faces like Toryiama did and was like "DO YOU LIKE IT NOW!?" Cloud is pretty iconic as a character, and I think SE deserves to give their originally best selling game in their series a bit more love. Hell, FFIV has been remade and ported so many times, it's unreal. It even got a small sequel for it, which is pretty wild. FF1 and FF2 got remakes as well. The only ones that don't really get a lot of love in the first 6 are 3, 5, and 6. With 5 and 6 being treated the worst of the bunch.

Except nostalgia doesn't have much of an influence as you'd think. People use it way too much as a crutch to explain why they don't like something and why others do is the problem. It's basically akin to saying "I think people overrate this, but I'm not sure why so 'NOSTALGIA!'"

[ping]

From what I've heard, a big problem with FFVII is that the characterization of most of its cast has been changed massively in the expanded universe and that many players misremember how they were portrayed originally. I haven't touched the EU (and I sure as hell won't), but I still thought that Tifa was the confident one and Aeris the pure, innocent one. And then I watched a SSLP of it and saw how both of them threatened to castrate a pimp and realized that I might have to revise the memories of my playthrough as a stupid 12yo. :D Looking at the game now, of course I know that it's far from perfect. It's probably too easy, important parts of the general plot are very easy to miss and the localization really isn't great ("This guy are sick", "Beacause you're a puppet" come to mind). But in my opinion, its good points outweigh that by far. The main cast and their dynamic is amazing, the plot is great (if hard to follow sometimes), Sephiroth works well as a villain (and I refuse to change my mind about that just because there are 13850233 ~~~Sephiroth123~~~'s running around the internet), the customization mechanism (completely exchangeable Materia, but still differences between the characters) is fun and Midgar is the best videogame city I've seen so far.

Except nostalgia doesn't have much of an influence as you'd think. People use it way too much as a crutch to explain why they don't like something and why others do is the problem. It's basically akin to saying "I think people overrate this, but I'm not sure why so 'NOSTALGIA!'"

I agree with that. Blaming nostalgia for people appreciating a game is somewhat of a lazy argument, Tamanoir. You're basically stating that people like something for a wrong reason without bothering to address their arguments and without giving any reasons youreself why said something isn't as good as they think.

If you just think that FFVII is overhyped even though it's a good game - keep in mind that it's also overhated, so it all evens out on average. ;)

[Tamanoir]

I should learn how to write, because I'm not sure what I started here...

Well, FFVII is overhated because it was overhyped by its mother company.

I won't go over all of this agin (I still remember when the PC Port was being announced as a major event ) , but they once said they will never be able to do anything better than FFVII (which insults indirectly a big part of their creators and of their public).

The hate over FFVII is misguided, sure, but it doesn't come out of nowhere.

I'm not using nostalgia as a quick way to dismiss anything. Maybe I expressed myself badly, but that was never my intention.

I even refrained quoting FFX,because I knew it would be dishonnest. This game may have an awfull romance, but it has clear qualities.)

I used nostalgia as a mean of explanation. Your first game will always be special, and you'll awlays have a somewhat rose-teinted view of them until you replay through them later (when your view may turn black).

And for me, both FFVII and Golden Sun are my first games in a way (FVII because I watched my brother plays through it, GS, because it was one of my early game.) I should play through them again to renew my opinion, but I will never say they're bad. I can also use the examples of FFIV, V, VI I played as a kid, and still loved afterwards.

And I never said nostalgia was a "wrong" reason, ping, because I'm not sure there are any good reasons to like/hate anything.

Sure, you can try to rationalize, but in the end, it's either you're sucked in, or you're thrown out (or you don't care) almost immediately. Why did I hate FFX, and loved the first Wild ARMS, while the former is objectively better than the latter ? I can't really says. (Nostalgia can't count since I played them both recently)

Maybe Im giving it too much importance to nostalgia, and it works for a specific context I didn't entionned, because I thought it was implied (Guess I was wrong.) : games you played a s a kid who left you a strong impression, and you haven't touched for a while, but you keep mentionning as a paragon, while it have aged more or less badly, and may not be that good.

@Augestein : I feel like we're talking about different things here. If you played the game for the first time recently, or didn't loved them as a kid, obviously nostalgia have no meaning. It can only used for games you used as a kid, and indeed not alone. You must have all your others argument to explain it may not be as good as the other remembered.

I honnestly never saw nostalgia used alone as an "argument" to dismiss someone's favourite game/show/whatever. (I may not come to the right place)

I've seen more often extremists saying any change to the game's formula is bad, and that it was better before (often commingfrom the oens wwho are fervently against AAA, telling you that we don't make any good game anymore.) (That may be a different debate.)

Well. This a TL;DR post that goes on all possible ways, and may not makes more fun, but I still hope it somehow clarify my opinion. Because it really seems to me as a gigantic msiunderstanding right now.

[Augestein]

The PC was a big event, because it was a PSX game that was being multiplatform at the time. Sort of like back in the day it was HUGE when Sonic and Knuckles was announced on the PC as well due to its popularity. Also, I'm pretty sure that translation was a bit of a mistake on their part. What it was meaning is that nothing has ever been as good as FFVII so far. Not that they never will make something as good as FFVII. Nothing sold like FFVII from SE since.

You may have misspoken, because it's a common argument on the Internet. And I got exactly what you're saying, and I'm saying that it's not true. The rose-tinted glasses people speak of often doesn't work, and more and more people are hurling the word "nostalgia" around without understanding anything about it. FFVII in this case is a game that's literally almost 20 years old at this point there's plenty of people that like it on their first playthrough and don't even have nostalgia around to help them, and it's certainly not their first game. To use myself as an example: FE4 is my first Fire Emblem game, and outside of its uniqueness, I believe it's not a very good game in general.

And yes, I believe you're giving too much emphasis on nostalgia here. And no, my unpopular wasn't aimed at you or to argue either, but merely... It's something that does drive me a bit bonkers. But it's a very popular opinion.

There aren't many people that argue that a change to a formula is bad unless the departure is so far removed that the game is no longer what the original game's premise was. IE, people from the Shining Series complain about the game going from a SRPG to hack-n-slash and they just want their good old fashion SRPGs back.

[Tamanoir]

The PC was a big event, because it was a PSX game that was being multiplatform at the time. Sort of like back in the day it was HUGE when Sonic and Knuckles was announced on the PC as well due to its popularity. Also, I'm pretty sure that translation was a bit of a mistake on their part. What it was meaning is that nothing has ever been as good as FFVII so far. Not that they never will make something as good as FFVII. Nothing sold like FFVII from SE since.

You may have misspoken, because it's a common argument on the Internet. And I got exactly what you're saying, and I'm saying that it's not true. The rose-tinted glasses people speak of often doesn't work, and more and more people are hurling the word "nostalgia" around without understanding anything about it. FFVII in this case is a game that's literally almost 20 years old at this point there's plenty of people that like it on their first playthrough and don't even have nostalgia around to help them, and it's certainly not their first game. To use myself as an example: FE4 is my first Fire Emblem game, and outside of its uniqueness, I believe it's not a very good game in general.

And yes, I believe you're giving too much emphasis on nostalgia here. And no, my unpopular wasn't aimed at you or to argue either, but merely... It's something that does drive me a bit bonkers. But it's a very popular opinion.

There aren't many people that argue that a change to a formula is bad unless the departure is so far removed that the game is no longer what the original game's premise was. IE, people from the Shining Series complain about the game going from a SRPG to hack-n-slash and they just want their good old fashion SRPGs back.

Still, saying they didn't made Something a good as FFVII, with all the other FF made after and before (FFV, FVI, FFIX, FFX).

I still think we use different notion of nostalgia, but since I was missing the context, my argument must be flawed.

I guess it depends of the community, because the removal of weapons uses in Fates wasn't taken so well around hee, when first anounced.

(Shining example is interresting, since it was first a Dungeon RPG. It already changed genre before, so it's not so surprising to see it change again.)

[Knight Falchion]

• The music of today is just disgusting for me: So much shitty rap, dance and trashpop à la Lady Gaga

I see this opinion all the time tbh, and I always wonder why so many people seem to think that what's currently popular represents all current music.