Discussion Games that hated playing/wasted money on/won't recommend to others?

[beep boop]

I'd actually like to hear your JRPG thoughts.

It just comes down to a lot of these being overlong, not mechanically strong enough to sustain such long games, having uninteresting or unoriginal overarching plots and having very flat, one-note or tropey characters. A lot of them also have not evolved (enough) mechanically since the late 90s / early 2000s. I like a lot of JRPGs, but most of them are among the first ones that I played in the genre. My possible (definite?) over-criticism mainly comes from wanting to really like them again but finding myself unable to.

I did like Final Fantasy 12 a lot most recently. Cool world, an actually compelling plot (until it kind of unravels by the end), excellent voice acting, a few interesting characters and I quite liked the combat system, even if I wanted it to have more granular gambit controls.

 

[Durante]

It just comes down to a lot of these being overlong, not mechanically strong enough to sustain such long games

I'm sometimes curious what JRPGs would look like if game reselling hadn't been as big in Japan as it was during many of the formative years of the genre.

 

[MegaApple]

I'm sometimes curious what JRPGs would look like if game reselling hadn't been as big in Japan as it was during many of the formative years of the genre.

That's a great thought.
Late 90s-early 2000s saw a glut of JRPGs, and I mean a GLUT! From the usual big ones, small AA studios were jumping as well as a pile of licenced games filled up like anything. Most imitating the ones that came before.

It's like how CoD4 got big in 2007 and AAA games lived in its shadow for half a decade.

 

[MegaApple]

I'd like to add one more. Call of Duty World At War Final Fronts in PS2.
Cross Gen ports were certainly worse, but this was mindnumbingly awful. In my eyes, all WW2 CoDs are good (even the 2017 one too), but this one is just painful. Do not play it.
This review will sum it up.

 

[Ge0force]

Kentucky Route Zero

 

[lashman]

Kentucky Route Zero

 

[MegaApple]

Kentucky Route Zero

 

[Trisolarian]

The original Persona 5.

Stop twisting yourself. Persona 5 is an AMAZING game and a FUCKING chore.

If you've bought into the Persona 5 experience, take the whole thing and get Persona 5 Royal. Don't half ass it.

Lotta suspect recs in here..... basically it boils down to personal taste. KR:Z, Journey, Gris, all one of a kind experiences and most likely totally inappropriate for a subset of the greater gaming community.

So, in that vein, let me be hyper-subjective: Doom Eternal. Game is wasted on PS4, with no controller support, greatly increased difficulty and a wrist strain, I should've fucking waited.

 

[NarohDethan]

The original Persona 5.

Stop twisting yourself. Persona 5 is an AMAZING game and a FUCKING chore.

If you've bought into the Persona 5 experience, take the whole thing and get Persona 5 Royal. Don't half ass it.

Lotta suspect recs in here..... basically it boils down to personal taste. KR:Z, Journey, Gris, all one of a kind experiences and most likely totally inappropriate for a subset of the greater gaming community.

So, in that vein, let me be hyper-subjective: Doom Eternal. Game is wasted on PS4, with no controller support, greatly increased difficulty and a wrist strain, I should've fucking waited.

The fact that OG P5 is 100 hours long makes me not wanna play it. Is Royal shorter?

 

[Trisolarian]

The fact that OG P5 is 100 hours long makes me not wanna play it. Is Royal shorter?

Royal has quality of life improvements that VASTLY improve the hour to hour gameplay. Its makes the game LONGER but more worthwhile.

Just like getting pregnant, you don't just "a little persona".

 

[Ge0force]

Post memes as much as you want. That game was a huge waste of time for me.

 

[Le Pertti]

Linear games, I have trouble playing any of them! It's like we have a medium that is the only one that can have freedom and interactivity yet some want to force it to be as linear and as non-interactive as possible. It's like making a movie but have it just be text.

 

[Ascheroth]

Lotta suspect recs in here..... basically it boils down to personal taste. KR:Z, Journey, Gris, all one of a kind experiences and most likely totally inappropriate for a subset of the greater gaming community.

Well yeah, ultimately it comes down to personal taste, which is I why I usually don't really like focusing on the negatives ("Worst game of the year", a thread like this, etc).
I loved Gris, and someone mentioned The Last Remnant in this thread here as one of the worst games they've ever played and yet it's one of my all-time favorites

 

[MegaApple]

Linear games, I have trouble playing any of them! It's like we have a medium that is the only one that can have freedom and interactivity yet some want to force it to be as linear and as non-interactive as possible. It's like making a movie but have it just be text.

Ah! I did not expect this one to drop here.

In my case, my love for gaming came from linear games (God of War II, Devil May Cry 3, point-n-click adventure games, Okami, Shadow of the Colossus) but it got strengthened because of the reasoning of your comment.

I can't say much on this. While there is theoretical potential in terms of freedom and interactivity for the medium, doesn't mean they can (monetary, capability reasons) or they want to (creative reasons). That's the reality.
We are fortune to have experiences like Fallout New Vegas and Outer Wilds, but most teams aren't big and well experienced like old Obsidian, nor have very good technical know-how like Mobuis Digital.

 

[Le Pertti]

Ah! I did not expect this one to drop here.

In my case, my love for gaming came from linear games (God of War II, Devil May Cry 3, point-n-click adventure games, Okami, Shadow of the Colossus) but it got strengthened because of the reasoning of your comment.

I can't say much on this. While there is theoretical potential in terms of freedom and interactivity for the medium, doesn't mean they can (monetary, capability reasons) or they want to (creative reasons). That's the reality.
We are fortune to have experiences like Fallout New Vegas and Outer Wilds, but most teams aren't big and well experienced like old Obsidian, nor have very good technical know-how like Mobuis Digital.

You are absolutely right about the potential of the medium held back by the production side, BUT I would count games that you mention, Shadow of the Colossus, Okami and even P'n'C as non-linear. I would even argue P'n'C games were one of the earliest open games, sure puzzles often only had one solution but you could often solve them in a free order and you could even wander around lost quite alot. And Okami and its inspiration Zelda was pretty much one of the first open world games.

I think the biggest force behind liner games is the obsession to make story and an experience instead of creating a world.

 

[Phoenix RISING]

Alien vs Predator 2010
Completely ruined the feeling of freedom that the 98 version provided and the sound was terrible

Yo I actually enjoyed that game, the multiplayer especially. Gave us "curb stomp" kills unique to the Predator and Xenomorph.

I'm said the multiplayer died. It was one of the few games I cared to play multiplayer.

 

[fspm]

DA:O wasn't that great either...

You cast a firestorm/blizzard and then move each party member out of harm's way cause friendly fire ho. And they are back in the center of it all in a second. Rinse and repeat for the next what 100 hours, not a fan either.

 

[Durante]

At least in DA:O it felt like you could gain an advantage in more difficult fights with smart positioning.

DA2 often just spawned waves at you randomly, rendering strategic positioning moot.