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Raise the flame shield: Your "controversial" gaming opinion.

I've gamed consistently since the Atari 2600, and the Xbox 360 is my favorite console of all time...the era was flush with innovation: a persistent achievement score that carried across your entire collection, instant online, downloadable expansions for games I loved (yes, I know it became a problem), the Xbox 360 Indie Game marketplace, the retro revival that accompanied XBLA (games like Joust and Smash TV instantly available again), the high definition graphics, the cordless controllers that came standard, the very concept of a dashboard, games like Rock Band 3 (where you could use a real guitar), Skylanders (where your toys sprang instantly to life), and 1 vs. 100 (a live game show with actual prizes)...the list goes on an on.

Man, what a great time to game.
 
Darkmakaimura said:
Silent Hill 4: The Room is the best Silent Hill game.
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XdAWozh.png
 
Most of the big japanese Xbox 360 exclusive games were met with poor to mediocre reception, the best ones were niche games that didn't get out of Japan until last generation. The big bet that did work out for Microsoft was Dead Rising, whose creator, Keiji Inafune, made statements about the decline of the japanese quality and back then a lot of people agreed, only now there's a revisionism regarding it.

High risk should equal High rewards if got it right. Unfortunately we're in a state today where high risk means your best reward is still leagues below of ROI compared to what was possible generations before.
 
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FF7 Remake Part I & II are trash. Heavily bloated, generic quest design, generic level design, especially in the first game. With underwhelming combat that's way too easy. Tried to get into it , really had to force myself but after 7 hours I threw in the towel.
 
Illyrius said:
FF7 Remake Part I & II are trash. Heavily bloated, generic quest design, generic level design, especially in the first game. With underwhelming combat that's way too easy. Tried to get into it , really had to force myself but after 7 hours I threw in the towel.
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Just like the original then?
 
Elden Ring, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and all those Souls games kinda bother me.

Not having an easy mode prevents me from trying them out so I feel left out of their gaming culture significance at this point of time. I feel I'm missing out on "great games" and they look spectacular but for me, games are meant to be fun, not punishingly hard.

So I hope that genre comes to their senses and adds a God mode or easy mode so I can at least explore the mechanics, enjoy the graphics without feeling like I wasted $70.

No, I'm not going to spend $70 to try to get good at them.
 
thatJohann said:
Elden Ring, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and all those Souls games kinda bother me.

Not having an easy mode prevents me from trying them out so I feel left out of their gaming culture significance at this point of time. I feel I'm missing out on "great games" and they look spectacular but for me, games are meant to be fun, not punishingly hard.

So I hope that genre comes to their senses and adds a God mode or easy mode so I can at least explore the mechanics, enjoy the graphics without feeling like I wasted $70.

No, I'm not going to spend $70 to try to get good at them.
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Elden Ring was made for casuals though. Open world = casual gamer appeal.

Guess that's my controversial gaming take. 🤷‍♂️
 
Ok, bring on the hate. Heh.

I'm okay with trans characters in games and I think a game with a trans protagonist would be interesting so long as it's done right.
 
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thatJohann said:
Not having an easy mode prevents me from trying them out so I feel left out of their gaming culture significance at this point of time. I feel I'm missing out on "great games" and they look spectacular but for me, games are meant to be fun, not punishingly hard.
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These games are fun. Just because you don't find them fun doesn't mean they aren't to a lot of people.

"Spicy food is not good because I don't like spicy food"
 
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Gamer_By_Proxy said:
Xbox is competent. /s

PC gaming mostly sucks cause 3rd party games mostly suck.
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Ha! This aged poorly. But who knew back then it would be Eastern devs saving the industry and bloober would actually become great.

My other hot take is that first person view is just lazy and mostly shouldn't be done outside of VR games. Indiana Jones is proving my point imo.
 
Games should be fun but there are many different kinds of fun. RDR2, TLOU series, Soulsborne, Astrobot and Nintendo games are all fun in their own way to me.
 
Darkmakaimura said:
I love Star Ocean but then.... BOOM.... That ending to the third game destroyed the entire franchise in my opinion.

James "What Were They Thinking!?" Rolfe
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I don't play Star Ocean for the story. I play it for the gameplay and wanting to break the game. Star Ocean 3 has the best Item Creation and best battle system in the franchise
 
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People constantly claim that 343's Halo games have "amazing gameplay" or "the best gameplay in the series" and then run in circles to try and explain why they aren't having fun playing the game

Hint: The gameplay is dogshit
 
T-Reks said:
People constantly claim that 343's Halo games have "amazing gameplay" or "the best gameplay in the series" and then run in circles to try and explain why they aren't having fun playing the game

Hint: The gameplay is dogshit
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I usually see people criticizing 343 and instead praising Bungie when it comes to Halo.
 
Persona 2 has an interesting story locked behind 200 hours of bullshit.

Random encounters every 5 steps. Vague side quests. Secret dungeons. Every level is a fucking maze.
Old JRPGs are so fucking insufferable!
 
The Game Awards and subsequent news from Jez and the scuttlebutt about exclusives now being done done has really nailed home that XBox FOR ME is pretty much….dead….and that sucks.

Again I'm not saying they are dead and it's over or any of the console war nonsense….I'm just speaking for myself as a consumer.

Gamepass isn't enough of a draw on it's own to keep me…I bought a PS5 Pro (gave my daughter my PS5) and if I can get amazing 1st party stuff, 3rd party exclusives, PS Plus which I believe will be enough of a GP replacement, AND XBox games….why wouldn't I go all in? That's what I'm doing.

With crossplay being prevalent nowadays and almost everyone in my gaming sphere already migrated or migrating to PS, it's a no brainer for me.

I love my Series X and don't begrudge anyone at all for sticking around in the ecosystem, I just don't see the point anymore…

Curious if anyone else feels the same or has friends or anyone in their gaming community that feels similar.
 
  • Ghost of Tsushima was mediocre slop that only got good scores because it was a Sony exclusive. Empty world, copy/paste mission design, and unmemorable characters. Assassin's Creed is better.
  • The people clamoring for Sony to bring back Resistance and Killzone either never actually played those games are never played any FPS games from that era. They were second-tier games that were far behind the COD and Halo releases of the time in almost every conceivable way.
  • Halo 4 with mods is a great game. I don't know if I'd play it without them, though.
  • GTA5 is mostly boring and not worth playing. Saints Row and Sleeping Dogs are much better.
  • Elden Ring shouldn't have been an open world game. It adds nothing and only hinders the experience.
  • Sony has a very clear sequel problem. Spider Man 2, Forbidden West, and Ragnarok were all worse than the games that preceded them. Somehow all three had story and pacing issues despite being from three separate developers.
  • Old survival horror games, like the old Resident Evils, are mostly trash. Fixed cameras, bad controls, and bad inventory systems don't add tension. They just make the games frustrating and annoying to play.
  • The overwhelming majority of remakes and remasters are superior to their original versions.
  • Twitch streamers and the people who watch them regularly have had a net negative effect on gaming.
  • I don't value the opinions of people who only play a few F2P or annual slop titles.
  • FPGA emulation is a waste of time and money. Just use software emulators with runahead.
  • Retro gaming isn't about actually playing games at this point. It's about acquiring things to show off to other nerds on the internet.
  • The mechanical keyboard "community" is cringe and yet another example of a niche hobby being cover for rampant consumerism.
  • Returnal would have been a much better game if it wasn't a roguelike.
  • Ubisoft makes better open worlds than almost every other developer.
  • Days Gone wasn't underrated. It just wasn't a good game.
 
Astrobot has the charisma of a rock, and the game has nothing I've ever seen. Fun game...!

I had 10x more fun with Sonic x Shadow Generations...
 
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Gamer_By_Proxy said:
My other hot take is that first person view is just lazy and mostly shouldn't be done outside of VR games. Indiana Jones is proving my point imo.
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My turn. People who don't like first person games just haven't played games properly configured/designed for first person (which happens to be 95% of first person games on console)
 
I don't care if you like or don't like the dev decision of making a character black white fat thin ungly pretty woke or not... if you don't like it just don't buy/consume it... to me if I can buy the story and it doesn't break inmersion I can play the game on the dev's terms.
 
Infinite Warfare is one of the best Call of Duty games ever. And Lord of the Rings: The Third Age is severely underrated.
 
My controversial videogaming idea: Atari 5200 was the best console from that abortive transitional era 1982-1984. It's certainly Atari's most underrated home system, and I'll rank it higher than ColecoVision, Intellivision II, Vectrex or Arcadia 2001. That said, the 5200 is a very expensive system to really enjoy, as you'll need 1) refurbished joysticks or after-market joysticks (a fantastic dual-joystick was released early last year), 2) a digital joystick adapter for digitally-controlled games, and 3) a trackball controller.

Basically, you'd have to be the kind of kid who grew up in the 1980s or really want to recreate the "home arcade" style of videogames just before the US market collapsed. And you'll amost certainly have to be a big fan of Centipede and Missile Command, and want to experience unique analog control for classic games like Star Raiders, Ballblazer, Galaxian, Star Wars Arcade and River Raid.

The 5200 is the perfect metaphor for Atari's hubris and fall, the Great Gatsby of videogames. There's so much to hate and criticize. But there's so much to love, starting with the software library, which is where everything ultimately counts. And modern emulators have never properly done it justice. Expect to shell out five Benjammins for the full trip.
 
Other than for specific cases where it doesn't work (sports games, etc.) every single game should allow saved games at any time in multiple slots.
 
I have some more.
  • Soulsborne game have had an almost entirely negative influence on gaming
  • When people say, "GAMING USED TO BE SO MUCH BETTER" or "THERE IS NOTHING TO PLAY" they're either telling you they're boring people with terrible taste or they're depressed and trying to chase the feeling of being young again
  • Games need more customizable difficulty options. TLOU2 is the best example of how to do this. I like intense gameplay but don't want to fuck around with inventory bullshit, which is what the options in TLOU2 allows me to do.
  • Instead of begging for backwards compatibility or ports of old games, many would be better off with a cheap PC or Steam Deck to go along with their PS5/XSX.
  • The demise of exclusives has been universally good for gamers and the industry as a whole.
  • I have not played a Nintendo game in the last 20 years that wouldn't have been better if it was released on more powerful hardware.
  • Indie games are just as boring and devoid of creativity as AAA.
  • Survival games are almost all terrible.
  • The Horizon Zero Dawn remaster released this year looks better than many of the games considered for "best graphics 2024"
  • Dragon Age was never a really good game series. They had one great game and everything since then has been spotty.
  • The best Infamous game is Last Light because it's the shortest, so the repetitive gameplay and overall lack of creativity doesn't have time to wear it down.
  • There's no reason for Sony to make a handheld unless it can run PS4/5 games natively. A separate platform is DOA.
  • TLOU2 still has some of the best character animations of any game. It's shocking how well they've held up.
  • I don't give a shit if a game that's less than a decade old gets a remaster. It's a great way for people who are new to the industry to get experience or for people who aren't working on anything to keep busy. Game development is long and complex, so you'll often have teams involved in different stages who may not have a lot to do at certain times. If I don't think it's worth it, I simply won't buy it.
  • Caring about Steam concurrent player count is fucking smooth-brain.
 
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Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and Metro Awakening are the two best games of 2024.

Echoes of Wisdom is the best Zelda game at least when it comes to story and the main villain who makes Demise/Ganon look like a teddy bear.
 
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