A Favorite Game/Book/Movie/Band's/Etc Worst Release?

[Natemans]

Prometheus was so disappointing though Alien: Covenant was way worse.

A Good Day to Die Hard was a giant insult.

 

[Hawki]

So basically a "greatest letdowns" list?

Okay, I'll play:

-The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle (far too many issues with this book for me to put it in the same league as its predecessors)

-Command and Conquer: Tiberian Twilight (...do I even have to explain?)

-Halo 4 (ODST is technically worse, but this is still the biggest letdown, and worst main series entry)

-Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (not a bad book, but pretty lacklustre)

-James Bond: Quantum of Solace (okay, Diamonds Are Forever is worse, but coming off from Casino Royale, this leaves far more of a bitter taste)

-Merlin Series Finale (no! No! Not this way!)

-Perfect Dark Zero (okay, technically there's only three Perfect Dark games, but whatever, Zero deserves to be mentioned here)

-Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (I liked the first two films, found the third average, but this is just tedious)

-Power Rangers Mega Force (not that Power Rangers was ever Shakespeare, but two seasons ago we had RPM. How'd the series decline to this level since then?)

-Red vs. Blue: Freelancer (Seasons 1-5 were very good. Season 6 was brilliant. Seasons 7/8 were lacklustre, but bearable. Freelancer is garbage)

-Resident Evil Gaiden (luckilly it's a spinoff, so it's easy to bear)

-Sonic and the Secret Rings (say what you will about games like '06 or Labyrinth, least they're actually controllable)

-Soul Calibur IV (there's something...off, about this game. It's lacking the fire of its predecessors)

-Star Fox Command (why? WHY????)

-Stargate: Universe: Season 1 (but to be fair, season 2 is a marked improvement)

-Star Trek: Generations (an absolute mess of a film)

-Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie (a movie full of sound and fury, told by an idiot, signifying nothing)

-Terminator 3/The Sarah Connor Chronicles (which do I dislike more? Hard choice)

-Doctor Who: The Reign of Terror (I'm not lying, I actually fell asleep trying to watch this episode)

-Alien vs. Predator: Requiem (a blight on the wider Xenopedia universe as a whole. It's kind of disgusting actually)

 

[Sleepy Sol]

Post-2009 Dream Theater. Just all of it. Where's the life behind all the technical polish? It's just...vanished. You can make a decent argument for any of them being solid albums, but in my opinion you'd be damned to demonstrate that you actually remembered anything from them.

Game-wise, Circle of the Moon. I do not like that game at all relative to the rest of the Metroidvanias. Another easy game example is Final Fantasy 2, but I think that one's a bit more overt in its shittiness.

 

[Trunkage]

I watched Interview with the Vampire back in ?94 and enjoyed it enough to want to read the book of the same name by Anne Rice on which it was based. This turned into a love for her as an author and I?ve since read and re-read both her Vampire and Witches chronicles multiple times. Fast forward to 2012 when she announced yet another series, but this time based on werewolves. I was elated; I couldn?t wait to see her spin on one of my favorite mythical creatures. She came to the Dallas area and I attended a book signing when The Wolf Gift came out; I was excited to meet her and glad to find she was a very pleasant woman. The Wolf Gift, however, was NOT a very good book. With Vampires, she romanticized them, but made them extremely powerful and deep creatures; with her Witches, she included over 400 pages of family history going back nearly a thousand years in the first book; the Wolves were just? bleh. Nothing about them was very interesting; in fact, there came a point in the book when I ceased to even care that they were werewolves; it didn?t seem to matter to the story.

She lost me at Jesus was a vampire - Blood and Gold I think. I've never gone back to the series. Special mention to the Queen of the Dammed movie - that was... not good.

Wheel of Time Crossroads of Twilight aka the book you can skip entirely and miss almost nothing

There were whole parts of books that you could skip from about Fires of Heaven. But that was probably the worst book. If I remember it had the start of Egwene transformation at the Tower which I thought was awesome and Verin deciding not to poison someone and that it.

OT: The boxing episode of BSG, the newspaper season of the Wire, an episode involving the holodeck on any Star trek show, anything after the Serpentwar Saga by Fiest, anything without the Punisher in Daredevil season 2

 

[Arnoxthe1]

-Halo 4 (ODST is technically worse, but this is still the biggest letdown, and worst main series entry)

No.

No. At least Halo 4 had heart to it. Like they were truly trying but just couldn't because of clear development difficulties and incredibly high pressure to deliver from all sides.

Halo 5 was the Silent Tragedy. Quite literally the worst piece of shit released in 2015 that nobody ever talked about for some reason. Maybe ever. Not only was it bad, it was downright insulting to me personally as a long-time Halo fan.

Stripping out Forge and then making it require a constant internet connection. AND THEN making me pay for it... REALLY, Microsoft? Go fuck yourself. And that was just one thing. ONE THING.

 

[shyamdas]

I dont like any game to play

 

[Hawki]

-Halo 4 (ODST is technically worse, but this is still the biggest letdown, and worst main series entry)

No.

No. At least Halo 4 had heart to it. Like they were truly trying but just couldn't because of clear development difficulties and incredibly high pressure to deliver from all sides.

Halo 5 was the Silent Tragedy. Quite literally the worst piece of shit released in 2015 that nobody ever talked about for some reason. Maybe ever. Not only was it bad, it was downright insulting to me personally as a long-time Halo fan.

Stripping out Forge and then making it require a constant internet connection. AND THEN making me pay for it... REALLY, Microsoft? Go fuck yourself. And that was just one thing. ONE THING.

The "heart" of Halo 4 is the relationship between John and Cortana, and on that note, it succeeds. Unfortunately, it comes up short everywhere else. The plot is lacklustre, the characters are lacklustre, the level design is lacklustre, the music is...okay, I guess. Halo 4 is an overall mess that when you compare it to Halo 5, feels like a weird, transitory period between Bungie and 343.

Halo 5, on the other hand, is an overall improvement. It finally feels like its own entity rather than an unnecessary tag on to the Bungie games. The gunplay is better, the level design is better, the characters are...mostly better. I mean, okay, none of them are particuarly developed, but that's more than what Halo 4 gives us. Its plot is actually fairly interesting, since it deals with the Mantle and the fallout of blindly pursuing ideology causes - I can understand people not liking Cortana as a villain, but she's at least a villain with a clear goal and understandable motivations, as opposed to the Didact, whose motivations are "I want to wipe out humanity for reasons you need to read the Forerunner Trilogy to understand, or unlock terminals in the game and view them online." The Warden Eternal also has the benefit of actually being fought in-game, and not being a quick-time event.

Halo 5 isn't perfect, but Halo 4 is just lacking in almost every aspect.

 

[SirSullymore]

At World's End.

That movie is a special effects masterpiece. And despite the flaws I enjoyed the story as is, I mean you can clearly tell at least the makers cared about what they were making. They didn't feel like unnecassary as the last 2 movies that came out.

Weird, TWE was my favorite of the three, maybe it's because I'm an alcoholic...

 

[Hawki]

At World's End.

That movie is a special effects masterpiece. And despite the flaws I enjoyed the story as is, I mean you can clearly tell at least the makers cared about what they were making. They didn't feel like unnecassary as the last 2 movies that came out.

Weird, TWE was my favorite of the three, maybe it's because I'm an alcoholic...

Oh so THAT's why the rum's always gone.

 

[Xprimentyl]

-Halo 4 (ODST is technically worse, but this is still the biggest letdown, and worst main series entry)

No.

No. At least Halo 4 had heart to it. Like they were truly trying but just couldn't because of clear development difficulties and incredibly high pressure to deliver from all sides.

Halo 5 was the Silent Tragedy. Quite literally the worst piece of shit released in 2015 that nobody ever talked about for some reason. Maybe ever. Not only was it bad, it was downright insulting to me personally as a long-time Halo fan.

Stripping out Forge and then making it require a constant internet connection. AND THEN making me pay for it... REALLY, Microsoft? Go fuck yourself. And that was just one thing. ONE THING.

The "heart" of Halo 4 is the relationship between John and Cortana, and on that note, it succeeds. Unfortunately, it comes up short everywhere else. The plot is lacklustre, the characters are lacklustre, the level design is lacklustre, the music is...okay, I guess. Halo 4 is an overall mess that when you compare it to Halo 5, feels like a weird, transitory period between Bungie and 343.

Halo 5, on the other hand, is an overall improvement. It finally feels like its own entity rather than an unnecessary tag on to the Bungie games. The gunplay is better, the level design is better, the characters are...mostly better. I mean, okay, none of them are particuarly developed, but that's more than what Halo 4 gives us. Its plot is actually fairly interesting, since it deals with the Mantle and the fallout of blindly pursuing ideology causes - I can understand people not liking Cortana as a villain, but she's at least a villain with a clear goal and understandable motivations, as opposed to the Didact, whose motivations are "I want to wipe out humanity for reasons you need to read the Forerunner Trilogy to understand, or unlock terminals in the game and view them online." The Warden Eternal also has the benefit of actually being fought in-game, and not being a quick-time event.

Halo 5 isn't perfect, but Halo 4 is just lacking in almost every aspect.

I?ll have to agree with Arnoxthe1; Halo 5 was awful, my personal low point for the franchise. I understand 343 wanting to make the franchise their own, but the franchise is a success for the thing that it has been and done for over a decade before they got their hands on it; they have to give some nod to that fact and respect the expectations of those of us who?ve made it such a lucrative IP for them. The biggest misstep IMHO was taking the focus off of Master Chief. Reach and ODST aside, I play Halo to be Master Chief; why in Halo 5 is the MAJORITY of the game played not only as someone else, but as someone hunting Master Chief? The guy saved humanity 4 times by his goddamn self, and in the fifth installment of his story, you make me play most of the time as some glorified space cop out to arrest him? Fuck off. And I don?t mind single-player games with squad mechanics, but Halo did NOT need squad mechanics. This fucker fell from SPACE and got up just fine; who thought he now needed three bumblefucks to help him up when he gets a boo-boo or two? I don?t mind the multiplayer changes that much because after Reach, it was never important to me, but I did try it a few times and was sadden to see them doing that mobile game ?pay-to-win? bullshit that has no place in an established AAA, console-selling franchise.

Yeah, fuck Halo 5.

 

[SirSullymore]

At World's End.

That movie is a special effects masterpiece. And despite the flaws I enjoyed the story as is, I mean you can clearly tell at least the makers cared about what they were making. They didn't feel like unnecassary as the last 2 movies that came out.

Weird, TWE was my favorite of the three, maybe it's because I'm an alcoholic...

Oh so THAT's why the rum's always gone.

No no no...I just collect the bottles is all...

EDIT: Hahaha! Misread that as THE Worlds End, thought they were talking about the Edgar Wright flick. Yeah, AT Worlds End is the weakest of the three, but miles ahead of On Stranger Tides.

 

[DrownedAmmet]

Skyward Sword is the prime example of this for me. It was just so dull, each area was a separate zone they never felt like they were part of the same world, flying was boring and had me longing for the boat from Windwaker, but the final straw was the game makes you revisit each area once before the end. It's still the only mainline Zelda game that I haven't beaten.

Which is a shame because there were some cool dungeons in there, and the climbing and stamina wheel thing were obvious inspirations for Breath of the Wild, but they couldn't pull it together in a cohesive fashion

 

[Ogoid]

Alan Moore's Lost Girls.

It was just a misguided idea right from the start. The very notion of "thought-provoking porn" is like trying to read a book and run a marathon at the same time - even if you actually pull it off without falling flat on your face, you certainly won't be getting as much from either activity as if you were devoting them your full attention.

Also, anything Spawn-related the man ever wrote. Those proved beyond any doubt even his character-redeeming capabilities had their limits.

 

[Cycloptomese]

Post-2009 Dream Theater. Just all of it. Where's the life behind all the technical polish? It's just...vanished. You can make a decent argument for any of them being solid albums, but in my opinion you'd be damned to demonstrate that you actually remembered anything from them.

Game-wise, Circle of the Moon. I do not like that game at all relative to the rest of the Metroidvanias. Another easy game example is Final Fantasy 2, but I think that one's a bit more overt in its shittiness.

Mike Portnoy had been playing drums for them for 25 years and was heavily involved in a lot of their song writing before leaving he band in 2010. This likely explains a lot of what you're talking about. I still purchase and enjoy their albums but definitely admit that they don't feel as passionate as they used to.

Also, hello fellow Dream Theater fan!

 

[Ramdin44]

"The Ant and the Grasshopper" by William Summerset Mom.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Halo 5 isn't perfect, but Halo 4 is just lacking in almost every aspect.

I assure you, you have it entirely the wrong way around.

Here, look at this. It misses a few extra grievances I have but otherwise does a pretty good job summing it up:


Skip to 3:15 to cut to the chase.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Here, look at this. It misses a few extra grievances I have but otherwise does a pretty good job summing it up:


Skip to 3:15 to cut to the chase.

O_O Uh, yeah; he pretty much nails every one of my complaints.

 

[Queen Michael]

"The Ant and the Grasshopper" by William Summerset Mom.

Sorry to be a grammar Nazi, but his name is William Somerset Maugham.

On-topic, Hemingway's The Torrents of Spring. Love Hemingway, but reading that novella was a trial.

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

Game:

Silent Hill Homecoming for sure. Just how the hell did that happen? How would anyone attempting to make a decent Silent Hill game end up with something like this? Of course I could say the same for that roguelike that came out on the PSP or something but let's not pretend anyone played that.

Book: Well, the Discworld books are kinda backloaded in terms of quality and basically everything up to... I wanna say Feet of Clay was at best decent with moments of brilliance and at worst pretty aimless and kinda dull. That series hit its stride later on. I can't say which is the worst but I really don't have much love for Colour of Magic/Light Fantastic.

Film: The first The Fast and the Furious movie was easily the weakest. That's another series that only really kicked into gear (...I'm mighty proud of that one) around the end of Part 4. I have nothing but mostly unironic love for all the movies that came afterwards.

Music: This is turning into a bit of a running theme I'm aware but the first Gorillaz album, the selftitled one didn't have much that I actually liked. What it did have is Sound Check (Gravity) which is one of my favourite songs of theirs but aside from that and Clint Eastwood I'm pretty lukewarm on it.

 

[Hawki]

I?ll have to agree with Arnoxthe1; Halo 5 was awful, my personal low point for the franchise. I understand 343 wanting to make the franchise their own, but the franchise is a success for the thing that it has been and done for over a decade before they got their hands on it; they have to give some nod to that fact and respect the expectations of those of us who?ve made it such a lucrative IP for them.

I've never bought this argument, the idea that a creator (or creators) "owe(s)" fans anything. That's not how the world works. If you put out a product, and people buy it, and you're sustained by people buying it, you don't owe the people who consume the product anything, because you're providing them with a good/service. If they don't want the good/service, then they won't buy it. Much as I despise Halo 4, 343 doesn't "owe" me anything for it. I'm not that entitled.

The biggest misstep IMHO was taking the focus off of Master Chief. Reach and ODST aside, I play Halo to be Master Chief; why in Halo 5 is the MAJORITY of the game played not only as someone else, but as someone hunting Master Chief? The guy saved humanity 4 times by his goddamn self, and in the fifth installment of his story, you make me play most of the time as some glorified space cop out to arrest him? Fuck off.

I don't have a problem with not playing as John. If anything, I'd rather the series get away from him more. The Halo universe is bigger than just one Spartan-II - you can add Halo Wars, Spartan Assault, Spartan Strike, and 50% of Halo 2 to games/periods where we're not playing as John, so if you play Halo to play as John, more power to you, but if anything, I welcome a change in POV.

And I don?t mind single-player games with squad mechanics, but Halo did NOT need squad mechanics. This fucker fell from SPACE and got up just fine; who thought he now needed three bumblefucks to help him up when he gets a boo-boo or two?

More than a boo-hoo, given the events of Halo 4, and it's established the first time we see him that he's pushing himself to the limit.

Frankly, I welcomed the squad mechanics in Halo 5 (even if "squad mechanics" is a bit generous, more like "three AIs that are always with you"). It's fun on its own, and it's something the series hasn't done before. This is in contrast to Halo 4, which...what exactly DID Halo 4 do differently, or interestingly, or anything other than aping the previous games? Dual-wielding? Gone. Bubble shield and the other power ups? Gone. The Flood? Gone, replaced by Prometheans, which in Halo 4, are lacklustre (whereas Halo 5 gives them more enemy types and thus makes them more enjoyable to play). If you don't like squad mechanics, fine, but Halo 5 at least adds something to the series's gameplay (coupled with the enemy scan function and boosters), whereas Halo 4, if anything, takes away from the gameplay.

I don?t mind the multiplayer changes that much because after Reach, it was never important to me, but I did try it a few times and was sadden to see them doing that mobile game ?pay-to-win? bullshit that has no place in an established AAA, console-selling franchise.

I've played Halo 5 multiplayer quite a bit, there's barely anything approaching P2W. The only time it even comes close is in Warzone, and even then, if you've unlocked cards, you still need to earn the right to use them within the game itself at the start of each match, and 50% of Warzone is PvE. I've never had to spend any real money on Halo 5's multiplayer to feel that I'm more or less on the level as everyone around me. That, and the smaller multiplayer modes are purely arena shooters.

Halo 5 isn't perfect, but Halo 4 is just lacking in almost every aspect.

I assure you, you have it entirely the wrong way around.

Here, look at this. It misses a few extra grievances I have but otherwise does a pretty good job summing it up:


Skip to 3:15 to cut to the chase.

You know, if you have to rely on a video (one that I saw years ago BTW) to make your argument for you, it doesn't reflect favorably on said argument. And I'm not spending 40 minutes of my life watching it again. But skimming through it, arguments:

-Campaign Length: Never had an issue with Halo 5's length, and even if it is shorter than Halo 4's, I'd take a shorter but better executed campaign than a longer, poorly executed one.

-Microtransactions: Don't really have a problem with the Halo 5 system.

-Splitscreen: I agree it sucks that it doesn't have one, but it's not a personal issue, since I haven't played splitscreen Halo since Halo 2.

-Locke: As I said, I don't have a problem with playing as Locke, even for the majority of the campaign. Frankly, the dyanmic between them, while not what Hunt the Truth sold, is still more interesting than Halo 4. Which introduces the Spartan-IVs, who become a non-issue. Cortana gets one line ("they replaced you!") and John doesn't utter a word about it.

-Warden Eternal: I like him as a villain. I mean, okay, after the Didact, you can only really go up, but the Warden Eternal is fun to fight, and engages with the player in a constructive way (has charm and personality), whereas the Didact simply gives monologues (e.g. the Pelican mission) that sound like 343 is trying to imitate the Gravemind, but failing.

Maybe he goes more in-depth, but like I said, 40 minutes for a video I saw years ago. That's a large investment of time.