Show some objectivity: criticize your favorite games

Right, so we all love games. And we all have those one or two games that we think are the greatest ever, so good that we either don't see anything that is wrong with them, or feel that anything that may be wrong with them is so insignificant that it does not impede the experience at all.

Anyway, I figured it was time to examine the flip side of these games, then- take a look at your favorite game(s), and start listing things that you know are wrong with them. Even if you don't think these things hinder the experience much or at all, put them out there. Let's see how objective you can get with your most beloved games.

I'll start:

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: A LINK TO THE PAST

• The combat is serviceable, but rather limited and banal
• Some of the boss fights were really mundane and repetitive, involving button mashing to win (I suppose this is a follow up to the first point?)
• Link had pink hair

(okay, that was really difficult)

POKEMON GOLD/SILVER

• Kanto was gimped
• Followed (although they did expand and perfect on it too) the same general structure as the previous games in the series.
• The level curve was uneven.

Er, okay that was fucking impossible.

PERSONA 4 GOLDEN

• The dungeons are pretty bad, with very few exceptions.
• The game takes forever to get going- if you are invested in the story and characters, this isn't an issue, but if you actually want to play your game, this three hour or so wait can be an issue.
• Too many fakeout endings

That was relatively easy.

Okay guys, your turn. Go.

Favorite Game: Gears of War.

Problem.........................never coming to PauperStation. Nah I was just kidding.

Rainbow Six Vegas, received a rehashed sequel that somehow killed the series. WTF?

Bring a next gen one!!!!

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

• Wolf sections are definitely a weak point in the game. Tedious and not as well-explored as they could have been.
• The game has a terrific art direction but visuals appear muddy at times.
• Dat beginning... the game takes forever to get going.

Final Fantasy XII

• The game would rather focus on the political story than the characters.
• The central character is made to be Vaan rather than Basch
• Gambit system could auto-play the game for you (wasn't an issue for me but I completely understand this issue for others)

Pokémon: HeartGold/SoulSilver

• Kanto is lackluster with its content
• Pokemon following you has ruined further iterations in the series as they don't have this feature

From recent games I've played:

L4D2 has some serious bugs and glitches in it

The AI in TLOU is not always the best and their are a number of immersion breaking instances

Demons/Dark Souls is too goat for most people

The Last of Us is just a little too perfect for me.

dark souls

the pc port was improper.

gankers have no honor.

Bioshock Infinite's final boss fight seemed so obnoxiously tacked on and unoriginal that I didn't bother to finish it and just watched the ending on YouTube.

Zelda: I've bitched enough about Zelda... (but it does need voice acting :P)

Elder Scrolls: Gameplay is more of a jack of all trades, master of none action adventure rather than an RPG. I find I need to do a little bit of everything rather than role play, say, a pure archer, or mage. Though assassin works ;) Not really a problem but more choice is always better in RPGs, and having a mage character forced into close combat or whatever can be annoying.

Bioware RPGs: Some cringeworthy "romance" options. Do romance right or not at all. Giving Morrigan shiny crap until she rides my dwarf cock is NOT "progressive" or "innovative", it's just awful.

Bioshock series: Gunplay is average, at best. Thankfully plasmids more than make up for that.

Civilization series: End game can be an eternal nightmare to finish out, even when you KNOW you have won.

Hmm..

Half-life 2 - not really a problem with the game, but last time I checked it didn't support cloud-saves for some reason, and the sequel may well never be made; other than that, the game is freaking flawless.

LoZ:WW - I was sort of disappointed they had to abridge the game a bit by having that one island be destroyed by the time you get there; it made for a great plot element and ramped up the drama, but I would have loved another well developed island town/dungeon thingy. I honestly even loved the sailing and the treasure hunting in that game so that was really the only thing I can come up with.

Halo: CE - Obviously, the fact that the last half of the game is essentially two rooms over and over again, but I found the gameplay and general atmosphere enough to pull me through it, and it is still one the best times I ever had with a shooter.

F.E.A.R - Pretty repetitive visually, but the gun play is the best I've ever seen and combined with the AI and story made for a sweet campaign.

Rage quit?

Dead Island: Little rough around the edges.

Lollipop Chainsaw: Camera can be a nuisance.

Resident Evil 4: Just some clipping issues.

Resident Evil Remake: Dated controls, but they don't really bother me.

No More Heroes 2: Camera problems, final boss fight isn't that great.

Just some favourites.

Ocarina of Time: I guess an actual jump button would have been nice.

Super Mario Galaxy: A tad easy.

Metal Gear Solid 3: As awesome of a fight The End was, I think I hated that he would tranquilize me and I would then have to travel back to his area.

Super Mario 64: Camera

SoulCalibur: Clones

Super Mario Galaxy 2: 1ups always respawning after death toned down the difficulty a lot.

Hah. Pretty close. Get all the way to the end and it's like... Uh, we don't have anything new here, so we'll just throw every mob you've fought in the game at you again all at once... Oh, and its an escort mission. Enjoy.. Probably would have been a rage quit if I'd tried it more than once. I have no patience for escort missions.

Souls series. They look like SHIT. Its mediocre looking like holy shit what is wrong with these devs? Why are they releasing a 2014 title that look like this... wtf!?!?!!? Art direction and gameplay saves them big time but come da **** on its a 2014 title, no an 08 one

Random games I like:

Okami

• Drags a bit near the end especially with the twin birds
• Visuals are slightly muddy at certain moments
• Yoshpet sucks (can be associated with first bullet point)
• Fighting Orochi three times throughout the game is dull; copy paste boss fights
• Wiimote controls sucked my baldios

SMG

• SMG 2 is better in every possible way
• Bubble blowing with wiimote sucks donkey
• Hub world was useless and slowed down the game
• Bowser fights sucked (also a problem in SMG 2)
• You get rewarded for beating the game fully... with Luigi! Yay...

LoZ: TP

• Whoever thought the wolf collectathon parts were a good idea needs to get stomped in the nuts
• Wiimote waggle for fighting
• Beginning did drag a little bit only because the game felt unoriginal
• Muddy visuals at times

Resident Evil 4

• Clunky controls at times
• Ending boss fight was kind of dumb
• Castle area was literally a waste of time in a way but lead you to some answers I guess

Jesus was RE4 hard to ridicule imo...

Legend of Zelda : A Link to the Past

• God, I don't think I can come up with anything other than maybe a handful, less than stellar boss fights.

Final Fantasy IV

• Theres maybe a little too much grinding than needs to be.
• the curve goes from comfortable and approachable to Hard as ****, really quick.

Actraiser

• Magical Star Dust is so overpowered it makes boss fights almost too easy... I try and use it as a last resort most times.
• I sometimes wish the city building had more depth... Kickstart this game please!!! someone?!?! Anyone!!!!

Mass Effect

• Combat isn't very tight, though I'd argue it is the most diverse of any of the ME games...
• Inventory system is a mess
• Technical Snafus and performance issues sometimes detract from it's stunning beauty

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic

• Spamming Fury in combat pretty much tanks you through almost every fight.
• Dark side has better force powers
• Item usage and accumulation is more a chore than fun to manage

BLAAAAAHHHHH.......... *Spit* *Patoooooeeeee* damn that was not easy... Good thread Char.

Metal Gear Solid - it set the bar too high for the following sequels.

welcome to the forum.

agreed. mgs1 is pretty much - faultless. it does make the other games hard to play, i'd prefer to play mgs1 again than mgs 2,3 or 4.

so true...

Dark Souls -

Shite pc port, and visually not all that impressive.

oh, and it can occasionally get frustrating.

Yes. I've had a game of Civ4: BtS going for almost 6 months now, largest map max civs Prince level. I'm all over that shit. I own all the uranium mines, I have nuclear-tipped subs off everyone's coast, I've wiped out all my mortal enemies and am now 5% landmass short of winning. I have to back-stab someone to get it, which is not big deal, I just don't feel like the long drawn-out shuffle it's going to take to move my hundreds of units into position.

I know once I'm ready to spring it'll be over quickly, I just don't feel like dealing with the logistics behind a sure thing. I really should finish it one of these days, though...it's been a hell of a game.

@br0kenrabbit: oh wow... that reminds me of this

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/18/tech/gaming-gadgets/civilization-ii-ten-years/

it's insane.

The Last of Us

• The AI can be bad at times
• DLC I don't care about and I already know what happens from the comic that was published before the game...
• It ended

Skyrim

• Magic users/talents felt meh compared to dual wield and marksmanship which were amazing
• Needed more Lydia

RE4

• The lack of Zombies from previous entries really killed it for me
• Ashley

FF12

• Should have been about Balthier
• No HD version/re release makes me a sad panda

@Ballroompirate: Weirdly enough I actually didn't mind Ashley at all most of the time. You would think AI like that would consistently piss you off but she tended to stay out of the way a lot of the time.

MAX PAYNE 3:

the control configurations are messed up, sure multi function is good,

but having the crouch button the same as the roll button? or melee the same as the vault cover button?

while up on the d-pad does nothing, ohh and checking bodies in multiplayer is the same button as 180 spin,

it is like they are trying to get me fucking killed in online.

DUKE NUKEM 3D

that is hasn't had a proper sequel, or true spiritual successor.

GTA ONLINE

that the focus is on cash cards,

totally broke the game, and it is still broken,

even rockstar know this so they held off on heists,

i miss December before the patches

Uncharted needs to take itself more seriously. I.E. Uncharted 4 should be M-rated.

@br0kenrabbit said:

@locopatho said:

Civilization series: End game can be an eternal nightmare to finish out, even when you KNOW you have won.

Yes. I've had a game of Civ4: BtS going for almost 6 months now, largest map max civs Prince level. I'm all over that shit. I own all the uranium mines, I have nuclear-tipped subs off everyone's coast, I've wiped out all my mortal enemies and am now 5% landmass short of winning. I have to back-stab someone to get it, which is not big deal, I just don't feel like the long drawn-out shuffle it's going to take to move my hundreds of units into position.

I know once I'm ready to spring it'll be over quickly, I just don't feel like dealing with the logistics behind a sure thing. I really should finish it one of these days, though...it's been a hell of a game.

How's your brain not exploded yet?

@br0kenrabbit: yeah. just about need to quit my job to play civ :P

Interesting. Thanks for the read. I might look this guy up and see if he ever achieved peace, or maybe even finished the game. LOL

I've got a pen and notepad just for this game. I love micro-managing when the outcome can still fork, but it's hard to get motivated when I already know what the outcome is going to be.

Okay let's do some classic and current.

Shining Force 2

Random battles could be really annoying and time consuming if you were exploring old areas

Fairly weak incentive to use most of the later characters

Ultima Underworld 2

Aged pretty badly, could do with a remake as I loved the alternate reality thing

Small window of view although improved from the first

Occasionally fiddly controls

Shenmue

I've already got one fuckin job. Don't make me get another.

Civilization

Civ 2 was so successful that number 3 could only worsen the series. That was frustrating. Every time they tinker with the series they risk taking it away from what it should be.

Elder Scrolls Series

Daggerfall was the buggiest game I've ever played for more than five minutes. It was so gigantic and complex for its day that this was unavoidable, but it spoiled the game a lot.

Oblivion had Patrick Stewart, Sean Bean, and yet still failed to have a really interesting story. Didn't help that Cyrodil felt vanilla.

Skyrim's frozen north could sometimes be too bleak. Also: Still buggy. For a game of this size, forgivable, because they didn't get in the way this time

Red Dead Redemption

Enough with the farming. We get it, he wanted the quiet life. A montage would have been appreciated.

Persona 4

Currently playing through this. Charming, good story, lots to do, but the dungeons feel like something much older. Also, I do prefer (a personal preference) that in games if I am willing to put the effort in I will have enough time to do everything. This is strictly adhering to a calendar which means you're going to miss out on stuff. I know it's part and parcel of the game.

TLOZ: A Link to the Past

• Pink hair?

Metroid Prime

• no screw attack

Final Fantasy IX

• Battles are too slow
• trance mode sucks
• lame final boss

Xenoblade:

-too many useless sidequests

-Half the world becomes inaccessible near the end of the game, making collectible grinding incredibly difficult

-it's on Wii

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy:

-Online was through PS3's ad hoc app

-Stupid story

Symphony of the night: Worst. Voice acting. Ever.

No. There's more than enough hipster whining going on in game forums these days.

@Bigboi500: oh c'mon you must have some small gripe with your favorite games... hell, I think that makes them all that much more appealing, knowing we still love these games despite their flaws.

... well, Resogun is too damn short, and saving all those humans is very hard. Dammit, now I'm a hipster too. :(

@Bigboi500: Those damn humans... I cracked 30 million in ResoGun, but those humans know how to mess up a perfectly good run, and I CAN"T NOT SAVE THEM!!!

Metroid Prime
-that fetch quest is lame

Ninja Gaiden Black
-It requires you to not suck. Apparently that's a flaw for some people.

Resident Evil 4
-It's part of that shitty Resident Evil franchise. It's too good for that series.

@jg4xchamp: Plus, Ashley.

Shadow of the colossus:
- terrible controls
- framerate gets choppy even in the HD version
- Some colossi are uninspired

Dark Souls:
- Some areas are noticeably unfinished
- Tomb of the Giants (nuff said)
- PvP'ing can be laggy as all hell
- Invasions while a cool idea can become aggravating and tedious at times

Majora's Mask - Replaying the first 72 hour cycle is a slow and kind of dull process.

Resident Evil 4 - Saddler is kind of an iffy boss fight. That's literally all I could think of

Yoshi's Island - I have nothing. Absolutely nothing.

When I played through SoC I had to remap the controls at the outset... it was as if a blindfolded gorilla mapped them as default.

I didn't put all that much stock in the visuals, frame rates etc... though it does seem to fluctuate between beautifully ahead of its time and just flat out fugly in spots, the Frame rate never bothered me...

Agreed... there are some Colossi through the middle run that you just kinda wish, dunno... had a better hook.

All in all, I'm really glad I sat down to finally play it. its pretty timeless and Id only accept a sequel if it was handled with the same elegance. great game.

T3B: Story's a mess.. what should've been a bit more plausible became something like magical stuff.. Then again, it's NOT called Parasite Eve 3 for a reason.

SS: needs map variety and melee buffs.. there's SS:D incoming tho

DA2: Needs map variety and armor flexibility

P4G would have been so much sexier with hand crafted, static, huge dungeons and 1 quick save slot.

RO VITA: Where's my damn original RO jobs skins (only 1st job are available).. I'm playing this mainly for Nostalgia!

This right here is why in my opinion this game, beautiful work of art though it may be, fails at actually being a competent game, and fails. It's why I think it is overrated, those two factors along with that damn camera make this game fail at being a great game. I mean, yes, I appreciate the story it tells and how it tells it, but when it does that at the expense of the 'game' parts, meh.

Although I hear the PS3 version fixes those issues up.

@j2zon2591: I think you need to type out the games there. Your acronyms could refer to a few games.

The Third Birthday, Soul Sacrifice, Dragon Age II, Persona 4 Golden, Ragnarok Odyssey Vita

I thought she was handled perfectly fine. Her existence provided solid jokes, the game used her as a blue print of "hey this is how you do escorts without making them suck", and the game had clever uses for Leon/player to play the role of badass guardian.