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[balladofthewindfish]

I think Super Mario Galaxy is a very flawed game. I think many overlook its shortcomings because its presentation is outstanding. Tim Rogers uploaded two videos to accompany his damning review of the game - they are painful to watch, but if you suffer them, you will glimpse just how awful the game can be:

part 1
part 2

I think the New Super Mario Bros. games are much better than their 3D counterparts.

 

[Mr.Green]

The Last Of Us is one of the most overrated games of all time.

Don't get me wrong. It's not a bad game by any stretch of the imagination but it's not the second coming as fans would lead you to believe.

It's like your summer blockbuster movie. Production values through the roof but low on substance.

That being said, the intro is fucking epic though.

 

[Spectrasonic]

Nintendo should go third party. I mean, people like them for their games, right?

 

[DukeBobby]

People who only like single player games or play games for story ahead of gameplay are generally bad at video games.

I agree with the second part, but I don't see how only liking single player games means you're bad at games.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

Nintendo should go third party. I mean, people like them for their games, right?

Nintendo would not be able to have the output they currently have or publish games like Bayo 2 and whatsoever, so no.

 

[djtiesto]

I hate the turn based mechanic with a passion. It's archaic and unneeded. It's pretty much the only criteria that has ever automatically turned me off from a game.At this point, there's no reason whatsoever it should be used.

The reason it should be used is because perhaps... other people like the stuff?

I personally don't find first person shooters fun (even the critically acclaimed Half Life 2 I struggled to get anywhere in that game; at least the COD games have the decency to end quickly), but that doesn't mean I think there's no reason whatsoever it should be used.

 

[Pocky4Th3Win]

Crysis was a bad game.

 

[TheKastorian]

Crysis was a bad game.

I don't think that's controversial honestly . It was just a pretty game for the year it came out!

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Battle avoidance features in recent RPGs like Bravely Default are pure gamer bribery, AND are functionally the same as features going decades back which were NOT gamer bribery. The only reason these are mistaken as advancements are from it being in a more abstract and out-of-universe form of the drop down menu.

 

[Sweet Ivy]

I tried to like Dota 2 (20h), but can't avoid finding it extremely boring and pointless.

 

[Tensketch]

Games not having female characters doesnt make them any less enjoyable. Although in many cases it's no harm to have a female lead and some of the excuses used are just stupid, the amount of people jumping on the 'SEXISMS IN MY VIDEO GAME' bandwagon and haphazardly launching the word misogyny everywhere with little context is fucking ridiculous.

Eventually devs are going to put half arsed female characters into their games purely because theyre sick of the internet fucking moaning about it. To which they'll continue to moan despite finally getting what they want.

 

[Chubear]

LAIR is a great game that had great potential in sequels. Had it come out when motion gaming came in fuller swing with all consoles having their versions of motion gaming, it would have been harder to knock down.

One of the better gaming experiences I had last gen.

 

[Brawly Likes to Brawl]

Battle avoidance features in recent RPGs like Bravely Default are pure gamer bribery, AND are functionally the same as features going decades back which were NOT gamer bribery. The only reason these are mistaken as advancements are from it being in a more abstract and out-of-universe form of the drop down menu.

Could you elaborate what you mean by bribery?

 

[krameriffic]

After building my gaming rig and PC gaming after many years. I have to say that Mouse and Keyboard controls remain the most unintuitive, frustrating and fuckung ridiculous gaming input in existence. I have no ideal why PC gamers still put up with Keyboard and mouse controls

I think it's made shitty in a lot of games that could have much simpler/better control design if developers gave a shit about PC. It will always have more tweaking and more of a learning curve in complicated games, but shit like Mass Effect and AssCreed binding several actions to single keys, having shit mouse controls, flat out not letting you rebind certain things, etc. really makes it suck. Mouse look so far outstrips analog stick look that it takes some REALLY fucked up control design to make the MKB not worth it.

 

[djtiesto]

The only place that that belief is controversial is on NeoGAF

Spoiler

(lol)

My controversial opinion is that people who think that games that get a lot of coverage in the media are boring and that AAA games are becoming too "shootery" with "bald white space marines" and regret that the Japanese gaming industry is no longer very big in the US are just completely closed minded. Sure you might want more diversity in games but reducing the modern big-budget game to a somewhat-tired genre with overdone cliches just because your precious JRPGs and platformers just shows you're caustic to change and want to stay in a unrealistic version of the 90s where Sony and Nintendo ruled supreme and Western devs were limited to PC. Unlike your conspiracy theories that everybody in the media is pressured to listen to Western publishers or that media outlets might be bought out by publishers to buy into games, the journalists are normal people who genuinely like or look forward to these games, similar to many other consumers.

I don't get how wanting more diversity in games is being closed minded? Seems like you contradict your statement right away.

 

[The Hermit]

Besides Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64, all the rest is rubbish to me.

I even bought MK8 but I ended up beating Pikmin 3 that I got for free.

 

[R_thanatos]

Final Fantasy XIII is one of the best RPGs to come out in its generation.



Dragon's Dogma has major shortcomings that are often glossed over. The world is large and completely unvaried and filled to the brim with nothing even remotely interesting to discover and explore. Within 1 hour of playing it you've faced 90% of the enemies you will ever encounter. Some of these issues are fixed by the Dark Arisen expansion pack but unfortunately none of those enemies propagate into the larger game world and you can't realistically play that content for a long time. The combat is fun, although it's not super awesome like a Bayonetta or Ninja Gaiden. It's mindblowing compared to most action-rpgs, but imo most action rpgs have unforgivably terrible action and they completely blow the "action" genre they claim to meld rpg with. So compared to those, great combat in DD. You can climb enemies and attack them... but the camera is terrible and often times I can't even see my character when I'm climbing a dragon. On top of that, it feels like the controls get scrambled every time the camera moves. 60% of the difficulty in fighting large creatures is the camera. 35% is that eveything can one shot you. 5% is the enemy actually having challenging AI. There's also some graphical hitches but honestly those didn't bother me at all.

If you ignore all of that, DD is a gem. I enjoyed my time with it but mediocre sales and mediocre score is about where it should have ended up. It feels like a game where the team was working on it and got the core mechanics down packed and the world built. They were still working on the story, making quests, adding enemies, and creating interesting locaes when someone came in like, "whoa guys, I've been carrying a zero wrong all this time. We don't have 10 months left to finish. We have one" and the game shipped in a half finished state.

I don't agree with everything you've said, but you are mostly right.When you're climbing an ennemy you're fighting with the camera as a result.This is a problem that could have been solved if the camera could get away from the player when you're in open area.
Unfortunatly when you're in a indoor dongeon , it's impossible to do ( so they probably didn't do it as a result ) .

Also no way you've seen everything in dragon dogma within the hour , that's because the starting place is locked ( high level bandits on the left road, blocked road on the right road ) so you cannot see even 10% of the ennemy within the first hour, it's impossible.
After 10 hours ? maybe if you're on the exploring type.. but after 1 hour ? no way... unless you speedrun.

 

[Yagharek]

I think the focus on story in games like Last of Us, Uncharted, Enslaved, The Order, Heavy Rain etc are all unhealthy for the medium of games in general.

This isn't a comment about the quality of them however.

I think the focus on emulating the strengths of other media forms (film mostly) is doing a disservice to the strengths of games. So whilst games have the benefits of interactivity, the praise for these games seems mostly focussed on the narrative twists and turns rather than the actual player controlled moments (which in some of them is quite good on occasion).

Personally I think the strength of story telling within games is where the game environment itself as you wander through it forms the extent of exposition. Think Metroid Prime, or the first Halo game before the story went dumb. Those games exhibit the 'show, dont tell' method of story telling which keeps out of the way of play, and as a result enhances it. Shadow of the Colossus is another example of this.

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

I think it's made shitty in a lot of games that could have much simpler/better control design if developers gave a shit about PC. It will always have more tweaking and more of a learning curve in complicated games, but shit like Mass Effect and AssCreed binding several actions to single keys, having shit mouse controls, flat out not letting you rebind certain things, etc. really makes it suck. Mouse look so far outstrips analog stick look that it takes some REALLY fucked up control design to make the MKB not worth it.

I don't see how for most games that aren't FPS's, a dedicated controller rather than something like the keyboard and mouse merely appropriated for gameplay isn't vastly superior.

 

[Valhelm]

I think games which ape films are some of the most daring to be made in a long while. By not just focusing on combat or puzzle-solving, The Last of Us pushes the boundaries on what makes a game a game more so than any other recent title.

The Bioshock games are great, but totally bogged down by the need to focus on combat so heavily.

Unless you are playing as a tank-like supersoldier, most first person games have far too much combat. I love Skyrim, but fighting becomes a lot less fun when you realize how quickly you can take down bandits.

 

[Phat Michael]

The Last Of Us is one of the most overrated games of all time.

Don't get me wrong. It's not a bad game by any stretch of the imagination but it's not the second coming as fans would lead you to believe.

It's like your summer blockbuster movie. Production values through the roof but low on substance.

That being said, the intro is fucking epic though.

Agree with everything you said here. I think a lot of people bought into the hype. The last good game naughty dog made was uncharted 2.yes they all look good but the games lack a lot of fun and a reason to keep me coming back.

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

I think games which ape films are some of the most daring to be made in a long while. By not just focusing on combat or puzzle-solving, The Last of Us pushes the boundaries on what makes a game a game more so than any other recent title.

Will it be daring if everybody does it though? I don't see how sticking a plot onto a game makes the core game necessarily any better.

 

[The God]

Peace Walker battle 2 was one of the worst designed boss battles in recent memory.

 

[Yagharek]

I think games which ape films are some of the most daring to be made in a long while. By not just focusing on combat or puzzle-solving, The Last of Us pushes the boundaries on what makes a game a game more so than any other recent title.

The Bioshock games are great, but totally bogged down by the need to focus on combat so heavily.

Unless you are playing as a tank-like supersoldier, most first person games have far too much combat. I love Skyrim, but fighting becomes a lot less fun when you realize how quickly you can take down bandits.

Im struggling to think how it makes them daring? Perhaps some examples? These games are, for the most part, pretty low on surprises in a gameplay sense. Stealth sections, scrounging for resources, tension with zombies nearby etc.

In story terms, its nothing daring if youve ever read a book.

 

[Valhelm]

Will it be daring if everybody does it though? I don't see how sticking a plot onto a game makes the core game necessarily any better.

So many games feel the need to base themselves around combat, even when nothing new is brought to the table. Enslaved was an alright game with a wonderful setting, but because of the very repetitive combat, we rarely got a chance to see it. Games like Bioshock are wonderful, but lose so much of their philosophical impact when you kill thousands of people with no real consequence.

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

So many games feel the need to base themselves around combat, even when nothing new is brought to the table. Enslaved was an alright game with a wonderful setting, but because of the very repetitive combat, we rarely got a chance to see it. Games like Bioshock are wonderful, but lose so much of their philosophical impact when you kill thousands of people with no real consequence.

Yeah but... gameplay man. It's important to still have that. Enslaved and Bioshock are pretty awful examples as they clearly put their gameplay as second banana.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Could you elaborate what you mean by bribery?

Gamer bribery is where features or assets (ease and comfort mechanics, usually) are done as an end not a means. The reason I must use "bribery" for this is this method is used to bait a responce out of the playerbase to buy this instead of other products INSTEAD of convincing them to buy it for other, much better reasons of quality, emotional ties, or other metrics.

Further, the ease and comfort it leads to...

• An arms race to the bottom tuning wise.
  
• You know that old saying about free milk and a cow? Yeah. Long-haul games suffer drop-offs in paying and playing once players get sated. Ugly, but true.
  
• Players become incredibly high-strung about setback or failure.
  
• Setback, failure, complexity, etc are seen as products for masochists, as only a select few will go against our survival-tested caveman natures and not take the easy route out by buying heavily over-eased games (which are not but a little the same thing).
  
• Bad UI, tutorials, pacing, combat, art, etc get confused with tough tuning or intricate design.
  
• Some players become the "crooked cop" in the bribery angle, and demand certain gamer briberies before they'll deem fit to consider purchases (note I didn't say promise to buy).

You can see this very clearly in MMO talk about the last 6 years in that genre, the combat toggle situation I mentioned, or the treatment of the save state (which long existed in PC) to people unfamiliar with that functionality till recently.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

Dirge of Cerberus is a good game.

 

[Wesker28]

Mario 3D games > Mario 2D games

 

[Elitist1945]

Homefront is an amazing game and has (had) the best FPS multi-player.

 

[ZdkDzk]

Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded is one of the best games in the series, while Kingdom Hearts 2 is one of the worst and fails at most everything the original did well.

 

[Valhelm]

Yeah but... gameplay man. It's important to still have that. Enslaved and Bioshock are pretty awful examples as they clearly put their gameplay as second banana.

If combat is meant to be secondary to the story, why make it 75% of total gametime?

 

[Theognosis]

AAA games are for casuals who like their stories and movies. Hardcore gaming is about split-second hand-eye coordination and multitasking with mastery of the mechanics. Any game where you spend more time just talking, walking and controlling the camera is AAA junk.

 

[Theognosis]

If combat is meant to be secondary to the story, why make it 75% of total gametime?

That's distraction to 1/4 of the action.

 

[Theognosis]

I think the focus on story in games like Last of Us, Uncharted, Enslaved, The Order, Heavy Rain etc are all unhealthy for the medium of games in general.

This isn't a comment about the quality of them however.

I think the focus on emulating the strengths of other media forms (film mostly) is doing a disservice to the strengths of games. So whilst games have the benefits of interactivity, the praise for these games seems mostly focussed on the narrative twists and turns rather than the actual player controlled moments (which in some of them is quite good on occasion).

Personally I think the strength of story telling within games is where the game environment itself as you wander through it forms the extent of exposition. Think Metroid Prime, or the first Halo game before the story went dumb. Those games exhibit the 'show, dont tell' method of story telling which keeps out of the way of play, and as a result enhances it. Shadow of the Colossus is another example of this.

Couldn't have said it any better.

 

[CapHarlock]

I think reviews can be a very bad thing for gaming...Once you know there is a problem with a game you look for the problem in place of just enjoying the game. However I don't know where the blance point is to help you not pick up bad games.

On another note I think the WiiU will outsell the XBone in the long run.

 

[The_Endgamer]

Crash Bandicoot > Mario 64

Mario was the better crafted game but Crash was much more fun.

 

[Novan Leon]

Lost Odyssey is the best JRPG of last generation, with the only possible exception being Xenoblade.

 

[Storm Raider]

Resistance 1 > 2 > 3

 

[Orayn]

I enjoy "bad" voice acting that has a distinctly video gamey sound to it. The Souls series and the first Deus Ex are good examples of this.

 

[rich7sena]

Apple buying Nintendo would be a great thing.

 

[ScatheZombie]

By not just focusing on combat or puzzle-solving, The Last of Us pushes the boundaries on what makes a game a game more so than any other recent title.

I'm of the exact opposite opinion, I'm afraid. I find 'cinematic experiences' like The Last of Us to be an example of the wrong direction games should be going. It sets the precedent that if you mimic film quality writing and presentation, you can get away with lackluster gameplay - in fact, be considered one of the greatest games ever made, while actually being a horrible average game. I felt like the Uncharted series also suffered from this, it seems to now be Naughty Dog's calling card, but The Last of Us has essentially become the perfect example of rewarding a mediocre game because it's trying really hard to be a good movie.

 

[Rran]

Yoshi's Island DS > New Super Mario DS

 

[blankempathy]

I think the Destiny hype is over rated and looks like an mmo light minus the staying power/content of an actual mmo.

 

[stryke]

It could be a case of what I'm used to, but I prefer the DS3 thumbsticks over the DS4's.

 

[Probity]

On average, I can't stand Japanese games. This isn't necessarily because they are bad, it is because I can't get into them most of the time. It sounds odd to clump every game type from Japan in a category for not being able to enjoy, but it isn't anything about mechanics or type of game. It is the same reason I can't get into Anime most of the time. The simple truth is that I hate the art direction these sorts of games take and can't really get into a lot of the tropes or anything like that which are normal for the Japanese games. I am sure that a ton of them are great, or at least I imagine so, but my personal preference is towards realism (to an extent) in style. I am sorry, but I just have a lot of trouble doing it.

I do accept any and all recommendations though, if you have something you think could sway my opinion. The only Japanese games I have played fully and enjoyed are Kingdom Hearts (if that counts), some of the Final Fantasy games, the older Pokemon games from my childhood, Wind Waker, and any of those other games that most people have played I guess. It sounds sort of bandwagon-y to say I only really like the Japanese games that pretty much everyone likes (excluding Dark and Demons Souls as I haven't tried them yet, seeing as I don't understand the appeal all that much), but really it is true. I got over Final Fantasy's art style because I played Kingdom Hearts as a kid and grew a strong connection to certain characters, I guess. Really though, the normal Japanese art style just isn't something I enjoy, and it takes either a really strong story or great game mechanics (maybe both, actually) to sway me to get over them.

 

[Theognosis]

I'm of the exact opposite opinion, I'm afraid. I find 'cinematic experiences' like The Last of Us to be an example of the wrong direction games should be going. It sets the precedent that if you mimic film quality writing and presentation, you can get away with lackluster gameplay - in fact, be considered one of the greatest games ever made, while actually being a horrible average game. I felt like the Uncharted series also suffered from this, it seems to now be Naughty Dog's calling card, but The Last of Us has essentially become the perfect example of rewarding a mediocre game because it's trying really hard to be a good movie.

Chess is the greatest video game of all time and it doesn't have any story. Or perhaps there was one but the inventors decided to throw it out the window and focused on one thing that mattered most: GAMEPLAY.

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

"Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there, but it's not that important." - John Carmack

 

[Dagobert Duck]

Chess is the greatest video game of all time and it doesn't have any story. Or perhaps there was one but the inventors decided to throw it out the window and focused on one thing that mattered most: GAMEPLAY.

Really? Your example for a VIDEO game without a story is chess? Chess is a boardgame if i remember correctly but I might be wrong...

Awesome games without story: Tetris for example or Mario Kart. You just do what you got to do...

 

[freed]

"Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there, but it's not that important." - John Carmack

This is damn awesome quote