Games you expected to like but didn't/liked but not as much as you thought you would

[Armagon]

With the "games you didn't expect to like" thread recently opening up, i decided to ask the opposite question. You can also talk about games that you did like but not as much as you thought you would. Here's my answers.

Kirby: Star Allies: Look, there's no such thing as a bad Kirby game. What does exist is a disappointing Kirby game and that's exactly what Star Allies is. To me, Star Allies feels very uninspired compared to previous Kirby games and that feeling is amplified since the game that came before it was Planet Robobot, my favorite Kirby game and one of the best games on the 3DS. I'm borrowing the game from a friend and i honestly have no motivation to finish the game. Which is fine by him because he told me that he doesn't even miss the game that much. And while i don't give a damn about the technical aspect most of the time, i need to ask, why is Star Allies, a Switch game, 30 FPS with longer load times compared to Triple Deluxe and Planet Robobot, 3DS games that ran at 60 FPS with split second load times? If you do plan on getting the game, my recommendation is to buy it when it's on sale/wait for a price drop or just borrow it. It's not worth $60 imo.

Splatoon 2: This game's a case of me liking it but not as much as i thought i would. I had never played Splatoon 1 so when i got Splatoon 2, i was very excited. I regret downloading it (eShop should really allow refunds) because while i enjoyed the game.....it wasn't as fun as i had hoped. Look, maybe it's because i'm bad at the game but i never felt the need to play the multiplayer. Salmon Run, the best part of the game, is locked to certain days for whatever stupid reason. And the Octo Expansion isn't that appealing. It's a fun game at times but i feel that my money could've gone elsewhere. Because right now, it's just sitting there in my Switch home menu, gathering digital dust.

Tales of Phantasia and Abyss: While i like the characters of both of these games (not the plots though since they are cookie-cutter), i find the gameplay to be lackluster. In both games, i kinda just hold right or left and mash the attack button as fast as i can and there's no consequence to it. Benefit of the doubt, i'm still in the early parts of both games. Maybe it gets better, but right now, i lack motivation to beat both games. I'm borrowing Abyss and i should probably return it if i don't want to beat it. I already watched the anime, i know how the plot plays out.

[Nobody]

Xenoblade 2. I didn't find its world that good and I didn't like the characters or story that much either.  It was really disappointing compared to the first two xenoblades.

Wind Waker. I really like most Zelda games, but the ONLY thing I like about this game are the graphics and I guess the story. It's extremely boring, I didn't like its exploration (sailing for 15 minutes to find a small island), and the dungeons were really short and simple. Honestly, one of my least favorite games I've completed.

Mario Galaxy 2. I loved the first one, but couldn't get into this.

Edited May 29, 2018 by Nobody

[Shadow Mir]

Shadow Dragon. It was a massive disappointment relative to Radiant Dawn, which came right before it, and the FE series at large. There's a REASON why it's the only FE game I sold (and one of the few games I sold that wasn't due to lack of interest)...

Edited May 29, 2018 by Levant Mir Celestia

[SoulWeaver]

Project X Zone.
Much though I absolutely love the concept and gameplay of the game, I was really put out by the extreme amounts of boobage(thanks for teaching me that word NGNL) going on. I knew the game had Morrigan Aensland thanks to one of the Demos, so I knew there would be unnecessary cleavage happening, but the game unfortunately surpassed my expectations there. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate a good game with a lot of large-breasted women as much as the next guy, but when the only Unit Pair I can use without feeling a bit dirty for watching is X and Zero you know something's wrong. Obviously, they aren't the only Pair, there's Ryu+Ken, Chris+Jill, Yuri+Estelle, and Akira+Pai...but that's about it, and Pai only just gets through.

[Ertrick36]

Grand Theft Auto Online: Okay, this was pretty much the last game I let myself get super hyped about.  It seemed like it was gonna be so cool.  Now there's quite a bit to the game today, but let me take you on a journey back to October 2013.  Folks were promised this big, huge open world online game with lots of choice and content.  When it came out?  Apart from the supremely messy launch week that kept most people from being able to actually play it, all there was were a few samey missions and some of the modes you honestly would expect from GTA IV's multiplayer (minus some of the faves, like cops vs. robbers and the like)... except you also had to "level up" to get access to all the weapons.  Don't get me started on the garbage character creation system on the old gen consoles, either.  Oh, and there weren't any heists until, like, a year-or-so later.  And when those heists finally did come, you either had to have three other friends who play the game at the same times as you, or else you pretty much can't do the heists because you just can't rely on strangers.  So many still couldn't play those heists.  After that, I just dropped it because the whole experience of trying to enjoy the game soured my mood.  I probably haven't played it for three or four years now.

Hyrule Warriors: I've been riffing on this game lately, but I really did think I'd enjoy the game a lot.  I just hate the ridiculous S-rank requirements (trying to avoid getting hit at all is a major pain) and the giant bosses that much.  The former makes it frustrating to 100%, and the latter just don't belong in Warriors games at all because Warriors games are designed around slaughtering hundreds of random mooks and fighting soldiers roughly your size; when you throw in something big that you have to let perform attacks/actions just to seize a weakness and be able to actually friggin' damage them, the game slows way the hell down and it totally kills the pace of the game.  I never even finished the story.

Sims 2 (or 3?) Pets on Gamecube: I just like Sims games in general, even some of the console ones... but not this one.  It's got its own little quirks that make it interesting in its own right, but it's also so much more limited compared to all the other games.  Death doesn't exist, children don't exist unless it's puppies or kittens, and even cheats are a chore to use.  And unlike the good Sims console games, there isn't even a story mode to follow; you don't get to force Mr. Langraab out of his mansion, you don't get to bunk in with various premade families and help them resolve their issues, and you don't even get a story that revolves around your aspiration points.  It's just lame.  The most fun I had was making Waluigi burn down his house as I sang "Burnin' For You" by the Blue Öyster Cult in a Waluigi voice.

 

That's all I can think of atm.  But these games are the epitome of disappointing for me.

Edited May 29, 2018 by Ertrick36

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Nobody said:

Xenoblade 2. I didn't find its world that good and I didn't like the characters or story that much either.  It was really disappointing compared to the first two xenoblades.

That does not bode well for me, as Xenoblade Chronicles X was the most disappointing game I've ever played. Had such high hopes for that title but it was so incredibly underwhelming.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions is a game I really wanted to like more than I did. The gameplay was great, but the story was just so disinteresting for me.

[Nobody]

3 minutes ago, Jotari said:

That does not bode well for me, as Xenoblade Chronicles X was the most disappointing game I've ever played. Had such high hopes for that title but it was so incredibly underwhelming.

Xenoblade X is one of my favorite games of all time, so I don't really think it means anything. There are plenty of people who like 2 more than X.

Edited May 29, 2018 by Nobody

[Jotari]

1 minute ago, Nobody said:

Xenoblade X is one of my favorite games of all time, so I don't really think it means anything.

It can't be one of your favorite games of all time. All time hasn't happened yet.

[Armagon]

35 minutes ago, Jotari said:

That does not bode well for me, as Xenoblade Chronicles X was the most disappointing game I've ever played. Had such high hopes for that title but it was so incredibly underwhelming.

The general consensus among the Xenoblade community is that Xenoblade 2 is a great game and while the story isn't as good as Xenoblade 1's, it's better than X's story and the characters are better compared to 1's.

Though in X's defense, it's not like that game was about the story in the first place. Takahashi himself said that.

Edited May 29, 2018 by Armagon

[Johann]

Yoshi's Story: 10 year old me was pretty bummed to see the follow-up to Yoshi's Island (one of the greatest platformers ever and my personal favorite of the genre) reduced to something so short and effortless. I haven't played any Yoshi game since because from what I've heard, nothing has been able to follow in Yoshi's Island's footsteps. Somehow the brilliant controls and level design has turned into "crafts fair starring Yoshi", despite it originating from being the evolution of great Mario mechanics.

Skyward Sword: Doubling down on the worst things about 3D Zelda games really made this one a huge letdown. The sword controls weren't as tight and clever as I had hoped, though I will admit there were a few standout moments (notably, the final boss fight was the game's biggest highlight for me and one of the most challenging in the series, but then I don't use shields or fairies). I'm willing to go back and give this a second try at some point, however, but after Breath of the Wild, I'm sure I'll have to force myself through it.

Bravely Default: Loved everything about the demo for this game, but then the full game had a weak plot that takes itself far more seriously than the demo had me suspecting it would. It's still a strong game in terms of pure gameplay, but things like the writing/dialogue/some of the voice acting made it hard for me to get through it initially. The integration of the plot into the gameplay (which for spoiler reasons I won't go into) also made the second half of the game rather uninspired.

 

[Scoot]

Super Mario RPG: I really wanted to like this one because I love the Paper Mario and M&L games. I bought it on the Wii's virtual console a few years back and just couldn't get into it.

The Last Story: Bought this after playing Xenoblade because all of the online reviews said it was even better. I was so sure I'd like it that I got the special edition. (hey, it was only $5 more on Amazon)Turned out to be a total dud with boring characters and a confusing battle system.

[Vince777]

Danganronpa.

I thought the characters were largely unlikeable and the murder culprits easy to guess. The worst offender is the gameplay when it comes to the class trials but particularly the minigames which were atrocious, tedious and immersion-breaking. 

The Last Guardian.

 I loved Shadow of the Colossus so I had great expectations there. However, the game is one of the most frustrating I've played in which 80% of the time spent is trying to make Treeko do what you want it to do. I discovered I do not have this kind of patience. Also, none of the game's puzzles were worthy of being called that. 

Edited May 29, 2018 by Vince777

[Slumber]

Many BioWare games as of late. Namely, Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition, and Mass Effect: Andromeda. They kept pulling the wool over my eyes and using my love of older games in these franchises(Also fuck the critics for saying Inquisition was good), and these are probably 3 of the worst games I've played in the last decade.

Xenoblade. A similar case of "Goddammit why did I listen to the critics", but while I didn't enjoy it, I at least saw what people could like in this game. But the MMO-lite combat just bored me to tears, and the way the Monado was integrated into combat just killed it for me. The way level scaling worked baffled me, and the game balance got so wonky towards the end, that I just gave up after 70 hours of indifference, despite being so close to the end. I enjoyed the story up to a very certain twist/plot development, and I didn't hate the characters, but it just wasn't enough to bring me back to complete the game.

Zelda: Twilight Princess. This was basically ground zero for me. This was the first game that made me go "Wait, games in franchises/genres I like can be... bad?" It might just be because I was 15 and was thus just getting more critical of things, but I really hated my experience with this game. Not only did this game make me wary of Zelda going forward, it pretty much instantly killed the Wii for me, as the motion controls were so aggravating and immersion-breaking that the Wiimote was just DoA for me. Decent dungeons, but boring overworld, boring art style, and absolutely atrocious one-button combat with Wolf Link. I dreaded any time the game's core gimmick popped up, which was a bad, bad sign.

Edited May 29, 2018 by Slumber

[Ertrick36]

2 hours ago, Johann said:

Yoshi's Story: 10 year old me was pretty bummed to see the follow-up to Yoshi's Island (one of the greatest platformers ever and my personal favorite of the genre) reduced to something so short and effortless. I haven't played any Yoshi game since because from what I've heard, nothing has been able to follow in Yoshi's Island's footsteps. Somehow the brilliant controls and level design has turned into "crafts fair starring Yoshi", despite it originating from being the evolution of great Mario mechanics.

At first I read this as "Yoshi's New Island" and I was like "You had a preconception that it'd be good after hearing that awful kazoo chorus?".  From what I understand Yoshi's Woolly World was better, but not sure if it was as great as Yoshi's Island.  Yoshi's New Island was an insult to the intelligence of its target audience, and was the first game that really turned me off from what I call the "Baby Mode" - the setting that is so easy even a newborn could beat the game with it.  What was so bad about that is every death after the third one would force a prompt asking if you wanted to play that mode, and you couldn't even beat the game properly if you played on that mode.  And the music was atrocious; just a dozen different remixes of the first level's song, or otherwise just garbage.  Honestly, you dodged a bullet avoiding that game.

25 minutes ago, Slumber said:

Zelda: Twilight Princess. This was basically ground zero for me. This was the first game that made me go "Wait, games in franchises/genres I like can be... bad?" It might just be because I was 15 and was thus just getting more critical of things, but I really hated my experience with this game. Not only did this game make me wary of Zelda going forward, it pretty much instantly killed the Wii for me, as the motion controls were so aggravating and immersion-breaking that the Wiimote was just DoA for me. Decent dungeons, but boring overworld, boring art style, and absolutely atrocious one-button combat with Wolf Link. I dreaded any time the game's core gimmick popped up, which was a bad, bad sign.

Funny thing, I actually played it on the Gamecube, and didn't really hate it.  Crazy how removing motion controls can make a game better, huh?

Still, I find the game was relatively uninspired.  I mean, they were literally trying to recreate Ocarina of Time.  It has a hard time really standing on its own because it's basically Ocarina of Time with some gimmicks slapped on top of it and an artstyle that freaks me out (a baby should not make me as creeped out and uncomfortable as Malo does).  And that's why I was so glad to hear that Breath of the Wild would be trying to do something completely different.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Haven't touched TP in forever, and I had a disconnect since I left it for years dropped off at the start of Arbiter's Grounds. But I felt the motions controls, if not with the sword combat, did do wonders with the bow aiming.

 

Suikoden 2: Overrated. Once Luca Blight was gone, the game lost much of its narrative punch, which is all it has. Gameplay-wise certainly doesn't anything good, and the translation is quite flawed Yoshino.

Shadow of the Colossus: I wanted to see what it was all about, and while it wasn't bad, I can't say I truly felt the game like I was supposed to. 

 

2 hours ago, Jotari said:

That does not bode well for me, as Xenoblade Chronicles X was the most disappointing game I've ever played. Had such high hopes for that title but it was so incredibly underwhelming.

In retrospect, I can somewhat sympathize. Music is poor, characters, well I haven't touched the heart-to-hearts, but the Affinity Missions didn't make any of them particularly memorable. Combat-wise, I normally struggled against any large group at an equal or slightly lower level, once I learned infinite OD postgame, it is hard to ever imagine going back to without it, and Skells mess with things. Postgame is much too much grinding for my tastes. I never found the ingredients for these supposedly easy to make Appendage Crushers. The world is good, but even there, I found the caves disappointingly mostly the same. Not going to call it a bad game, simply of some flaws.

[Armagon]

2 hours ago, Scoot said:

The Last Story: Bought this after playing Xenoblade because all of the online reviews said it was even better. I was so sure I'd like it that I got the special edition. (hey, it was only $5 more on Amazon)Turned out to be a total dud with boring characters and a confusing battle system.

What was the battle system like, exactly?

19 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

At first I read this as "Yoshi's New Island" and I was like "You had a preconception that it'd be good after hearing that awful kazoo chorus?".  From what I understand Yoshi's Woolly World was better, but not sure if it was as great as Yoshi's Island.  Yoshi's New Island was an insult to the intelligence of its target audience, and was the first game that really turned me off from what I call the "Baby Mode" - the setting that is so easy even a newborn could beat the game with it.  What was so bad about that is every death after the third one would force a prompt asking if you wanted to play that mode, and you couldn't even beat the game properly if you played on that mode.  And the music was atrocious; just a dozen different remixes of the first level's song, or otherwise just garbage.  Honestly, you dodged a bullet avoiding that game.

I haven't played Yoshi's New Island (or any Yoshi game now that i think about it) but a few months ago, one of the songs from the game showed up on the "Rate the video game song above" thread and i had the uh, unfortunate experience of having to listen to it. Like, i know kazoos are a meme instrument but Jesus Christ, i don't know what the musicians were thinking there.

[Slumber]

28 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

Funny thing, I actually played it on the Gamecube, and didn't really hate it.  Crazy how removing motion controls can make a game better, huh?

Still, I find the game was relatively uninspired.  I mean, they were literally trying to recreate Ocarina of Time.  It has a hard time really standing on its own because it's basically Ocarina of Time with some gimmicks slapped on top of it and an artstyle that freaks me out (a baby should not make me as creeped out and uncomfortable as Malo does).  And that's why I was so glad to hear that Breath of the Wild would be trying to do something completely different.

I fully admit that I possibly would have had a better impression of TP if I had played the GC version and didn't beg my parents to get a Wii+TP on launch day for my birthday. Controls could have made a huge difference.

But I still don't think the dull, boring overworld or artstyle would have left any better of an impression on me.

[Alexmender]

Tales of Berseria. Like, the game isn't really bad (my sister loved it for one) but I just couldn't get into it, the combat felt like a worse Star Ocean and I just hated the menu interface in that game, reading about dismantling weapons to get materials to add onto another weapon that you'll dismantle again times x until you get a strong weapon was kinda overwhelming to me and that's saying something considering that I played SO 3-4 and did all the grind to get the ultimate synthesized weapons/armor. 

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. I loved OoT, TP, BotW, ALttP and WW but I just couldn't get into MM. Having the constant countdown on my shoulder made it too stressful (I felt the same with FFXIII:Lightning Returns although the thing that freezes time helped me to not get as stressed.), I'm sure it is a fun game but having a time limit just doesn't let me enjoy it.

[Ertrick36]

13 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I haven't played Yoshi's New Island (or any Yoshi game now that i think about it) but a few months ago, one of the songs from the game showed up on the "Rate the video game song above" thread and i had the uh, unfortunate experience of having to listen to it. Like, i know kazoos are a meme instrument but Jesus Christ, i don't know what the musicians were thinking there.

I am so sorry that is the one song you heard from that game; it's pretty much the worst one aside from maybe the title screen music (which is also kazoo hell).

From my experience, kazoos are only good if you're doing a gag/want to annoy the audience.  I'm not sure what the musicians intended, but I highly doubt it was either of those things.  It's just a big, fat failure.

5 minutes ago, Slumber said:

But I still don't think the dull, boring overworld or artstyle would have left any better of an impression on me.

Personally, the thing that usually leaves an impression on me is the characters.  I like the NPC casts of a lot of Zelda games.  But TP's cast... some were alright and had some moments, but as a whole I barely remember most characters who weren't directly involved in cutscenes/story, and even then I'm forgetting some faces/names.  It's why MM is one of my absolute favorites; there's this great focus on helping individual characters with their problems that I really like.

And I used to think the artstyle of TP was the best in the series, but lately I've found that I like all the other artstyles better.  Even Wind Waker's, which I used to dislike because it was so toony and I was at that age of thinking that cartoons were super lame and only for little kids.

[Interdimensional Observer]

4 minutes ago, Armagon said:

What was the battle system like, exactly?

Real time strategy action RPG featuring up to 5 characters per battle is how I would describe it. The main cast you'll see in battle is Zael, Dagran, Syrene, Yurick, Mirania, Lowell, and Callista, so mercenaries and a princess, but sometimes others join as the plot demands. Only on reruns of certain places can you choose who is on your team.

The player is always playing as Zael, the hero with the Power of the Outsider- he can magically draw all enemy aggro to him using it. That is important for the magic users in the group (Yurick, Mirania, Callista, Lowell), who don't want to be interrupted while casting. Each mage has 2 spells, an attack spell and a support spell, which they can use infinitely. Zael can guard, and if he times it right he can then deal a counterblow and even deflect enemy magic.

Zael's main weapon is a sword (these and Daggers used by mages are the only weapon types in the game), and using it he has plain old slashes, just a single simple combo normally. He can also use Gale- which lets him dispel the residual magic circle left by a spell for varying benefits. He has a Slash technique usable by hiding behind a piece of terrain and then leaping out attacking from it, if the enemy is confused with a question mark over their head, a Slash will deal more damage to them (and simply aggroing and then hiding for one second can trigger the question mark). The Vertical Slice is like Gale, but requires running against a wall for a few seconds, it's stupid there isn't a button to just use this technique instead of looking ridiculous.

Zael also has a crossbow and a variety of arrows, but even with headshots most arrows aren't that strong IRRC.

Sometimes, before a battle begins, you can stealth around a bit, and while doing some can help, guns ablazing works most the time. Thanks to Zael's Outsider powers, each character has five lives per combat episode (as in an individual battle of a chapter), which is extremely generous.

Dagran and Syrene are melee units like Zael. While Yurick is a fire mage with a support spell that can reverse enemy magic circles (rarely useful), Lowell has ice magic and can melee via use of a sword and a Berserker skill instead of a second spell. Callista and Mirania have heal magic and the former uses light while the latter has forest as their attack element. 

Each character also has a special skill demanding they consume a special meter built up over time to use.

Bosses are Zelda-esque, find their weakness and pound on them via it. Sometimes good, sometimes frustrating.

Overall, I think the combat was a decent experiment, it just needs more difficulty and much more nuance to it, it is much too simple as is. An okay first try, but nothing more.

The rest of the game, generic main romance, plot itself wasn't great (main villain is I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Ganondorf visually), but it tried something with being relatively microcosmic and set almost entirely on Lazulis Island. The characters can be okay, but nobody is really deep- the group dynamics and constant banter was good though. The graphics- good but strained by the Wii's limited power. Music wasn't really memorable. Lazulis City was compact, but I really liked it. Voice acting is British because like Xenoblade Chronicles, a game it was associated with by players in Operation Rainfall- protests demanding that XC, Pandora's Tower, and TLS being localized in Europe be brought to NA, it was translated by Brits.

The game also had online multiplayer, teaming up vs. a handful of bosses or a free-for-all battle mode where players could use one of dozens of characters, was pretty simple, too simple.

But online multiplayer did give you various special dyes that would add special cosmetic effects to your clothing. And I did like the cosmetic adjustability of armor in the game, but this is a fairly superficial detail. 

1 minute ago, Ertrick36 said:

And I used to think the artstyle of TP was the best in the series, but lately I've found that I like all the other artstyles better.  Even Wind Waker's, which I used to dislike because it was so toony and I was at that age of thinking that cartoons were super lame and only for little kids.

Nitty gritty realism was rather dull for me then, is sort of now. I think the Postimpressionistic-esque stylings of SS and BotW is a good compromise for now at least.

Speaking of TP issues, it drags on too long before you get to taste real freedom. Okay BotW might be too free, OoT not as free as it appears, and WW was almost as bad as TP, but it takes quite a while, until the second visit to Hyrule Castle, before the player really has the freedom to explore Hyrule. OoT let you roam the (empty) Hyrule Field after one dungeon, not that you could do too much (but you never can save the exception of Wild since you need dungeon stuff to a lot), but you never felt so forced along with the narrative.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Tales of Zestiria was a game I was looking for but disappointed me.

1. the game itself is horribly unbalanced.  it forces you to be armatisied. It's technically impossible to beat the elite Monsters when you're not armatizied unless the Team is like +10 levles higher than the monster. They hit like trucks and it becomes even nastier when their HP reach a certain % area to use their Special attack which can easily oneshot everyone (even being armatisied).
2. The game feels empty to me. The dungeons are incredibly dull with only very few enemies which actually doesn't even matter since grinding doesn't give much exp. anyways. Spirit bottles last an entire dungeon (shrines excluded) which is delicious for speedrunners.
3. Alisha is just a wasted characteru nfortunately. She's the typical stereotype princess, but the worst is that she's gone for good when Rose joins.
   Edit: Iirc Alisha returns for a very short time, but not very notable.

Currently I'm replaying it, but my opinion about this game hasn't become better.

Edited May 29, 2018 by Tear

[Johann]

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

I haven't played Yoshi's New Island (or any Yoshi game now that i think about it) but a few months ago, one of the songs from the game showed up on the "Rate the video game song above" thread and i had the uh, unfortunate experience of having to listen to it. Like, i know kazoos are a meme instrument but Jesus Christ, i don't know what the musicians were thinking there.

I don't know what your tastes are, but Yoshi's Island is a real gem and definitely worth checking out, especially if you really enjoyed using Yoshi in Super Mario World

[Jotari]

4 hours ago, Scoot said:

Super Mario RPG: I really wanted to like this one because I love the Paper Mario and M&L games. I bought it on the Wii's virtual console a few years back and just couldn't get into it.

The Last Story: Bought this after playing Xenoblade because all of the online reviews said it was even better. I was so sure I'd like it that I got the special edition. (hey, it was only $5 more on Amazon)Turned out to be a total dud with boring characters and a confusing battle system.

You ever finish The Last Story? Because I agree that it's a pretty disappointing game over all, but I thought it had a fantastic final boss.

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

In retrospect, I can somewhat sympathize. Music is poor, characters, well I haven't touched the heart-to-hearts, but the Affinity Missions didn't make any of them particularly memorable. Combat-wise, I normally struggled against any large group at an equal or slightly lower level, once I learned infinite OD postgame, it is hard to ever imagine going back to without it, and Skells mess with things. Postgame is much too much grinding for my tastes. I never found the ingredients for these supposedly easy to make Appendage Crushers. The world is good, but even there, I found the caves disappointingly mostly the same. Not going to call it a bad game, simply of some flaws.

I think those flaws are genuinely large enough to outright call it a bad game. The only thing I found enjoyable in it was trying to get to new mining points and setting up chains to make them the most effective. I could see how the gameplay could be fun for some people, but for me it just seemed too samey and the difficulty in healing really irked me.

Edited May 29, 2018 by Jotari

[Tamanoir]

6 hours ago, Armagon said:

Tales of Phantasia and Abyss: While i like the characters of both of these games (not the plots though since they are cookie-cutter), i find the gameplay to be lackluster. In both games, i kinda just hold right or left and mash the attack button as fast as i can and there's no consequence to it. Benefit of the doubt, i'm still in the early parts of both games. Maybe it gets better, but right now, i lack motivation to beat both games. I'm borrowing Abyss and i should probably return it if i don't want to beat it. I already watched the anime, i know how the plot plays out.

Tales of Phantasia was my first Tales of game, and I'm still somewhat fond of it due to nostalgia.
But I'll agree with Tales of Abyss.
It was my first 3DS games (and having to pay twice the price (well my parents bought it for Christmas, but still...) didn't put me on the best mood.)
The characters aren't really sympathetic themselve (Jade is funny, but he's a psychopatic jerk.). ANd Guy's backstory is really terrible.
It's not a bad game by any means, but the pros didn't really outweight the cons in my mind.

Finanl Fantasy X. I don't get it. I will probably never get it. Some people were really deeply moved by this game's story and I'll never understand why.
This game almost made me quit RPGs (and gaming as w whole) altogether.
It was my first real artistic divergence. How me and some others can have such a dramaicly different interpretation is still mysterious to me. 
...Because absolutely nothing worked for me in this game. The characters were at best boring. The world felt like it was made of plastic (really pretty plastic, but plastic nonetheless). ANd the story... The romance is Romeo and Juliet by people who don't get Romeo and Juliet (there's every reasons to beleive it will never works). And tehne there's Tidus decision at the end which makes a rather lame character into one of the most awfull peroson ever (because it was not just enough to have a terrible relationship, they had to makes sure it was absolutely awfull as well. ANd that's the game were translator decided to add : "I love you" ? No, really... I don't get it...)

[Slumber]

3 hours ago, Tamanoir said:

Final Fantasy X. I don't get it. I will probably never get it. Some people were really deeply moved by this game's story and I'll never understand why.

This game almost made me quit RPGs (and gaming as w whole) altogether.
It was my first real artistic divergence. How me and some others can have such a dramaicly different interpretation is still mysterious to me. 
...Because absolutely nothing worked for me in this game. The characters were at best boring. The world felt like it was made of plastic (really pretty plastic, but plastic nonetheless). ANd the story... The romance is Romeo and Juliet by people who don't get Romeo and Juliet (there's every reasons to beleive it will never works). And tehne there's Tidus decision at the end which makes a rather lame character into one of the most awfull peroson ever (because it was not just enough to have a terrible relationship, they had to makes sure it was absolutely awfull as well. ANd that's the game were translator decided to add : "I love you" ? No, really... I don't get it...)

I have a very up and down relationship with X. 

When I played it for the first. Time as an idiot 10 year old, I loved it. I replayed it after Twilight Princess ruined video games for m-- I mean made me "more critical", and I hated it. I hated Tidus, I hated Yuna, I hated Wakka, I hated Rikku, I hated Khimari, I hated Seymour, I hated just about everyone besides Auron, Lulu(Because they shut the fuck up every now and then and didn't seem like slack-jawed idiots when they DID open their mouths) and Jecht(Because he hated Tidus as much as I did). I didn't care for most of the music, as it came off as more ambient and really only fit within the game, compared to the Uematsu soundtracks, which not only fit the games, but were also fun to listen to on their own. The story was... whatever. I thought Spira was one of the dumbest, most nonsensical FF worlds. I hated how it ushered in an era of people being fine with strictly linear FF games. And I felt that it was too easy. 

I tried to go back to it a few times while I was still in high school and could never get further than the Moonflow. Listening to the goddamn Shupuff pilots always ran my patience into the ground. 

I played the HD version on Vita like, 3ish years ago over Christmas break, about 6 years after attempting to play it last. I managed to enjoy the game. Virtually everything I felt about it was exactly the same, but having FFXIII in the rearview mirror and seeing how much worse an FF game actually could be, my grievances were muted a bit. I found myself enjoying the combat a lot, even if I did think it devolved into Rock-Paper-Scissors way too much, and it having abysmal enemy variety(Seriously, there's like 3 different regular enemies in any given area, and you almost always see all 3 of them together in your first random encounter). But it was fun. I was aggravated when I realized that Rikku was actually the smartest member of the party. Instead of just dismissing her as another idiot in a group of idiots, I realized "Oh, maybe Rikku is talking some sense here and there. Oh God I think this means I have to actively listen to this voice." Tidus, Yuna and Wakka were actually worse than I remembered, and Khimari was even less of a character. But I enjoyed the overall experience enough to get through it and have the feeling that I'll probably never have to pick the game up again. 

But yeah, I am in the boat where I simply don't understand why people latch onto the game, though. As much as I think the combat system is fun, that is simply not enough to carry that game in my eyes. I think it was a lot of peoples' first Final Fantasy, which is why it had such an impact. But for everyone else? I don't know what they see in it. I legitimately think every single Final Fantasy 4-9 does almost everything X attempted, but way better. The main exception being combat, which X does better than I'd say most of them. But for everything else? Yeah. None of them have the arbitrary sad ending, which to this day I still say is manipulative. Especially when 7, 8 and 9 all ended with happy endings after hopeless situations. X's just felt like "Huh. The threat really kind of fizzled out and the game's not over yet. Sad ending time?" 

Spoiler

Tidus' "NO ONE WILL DIE ON THIS PILGRIMAGE" shtick feels especially douchey when he ends up going to the Farplane with Jecht and Auron at the end. I don't even care if it was his choice or not, him high-fiving his dad in the sort-of afterlife was dumb.