Criticize Your All Time Favorite Game...HARSHLY

[CarbonEagle]

Far Cry
Trigens - They run around a corner, jump at your face and kill you faster than you can unload a clip into their face.

Rocked Shooting Trigens - They blow up everything (including you) while you proceed to empty all the ammo in your gun into their face before they die.

The part where your thrown into the jungle filled with trigens and your only defence is shitting yourself when you see 5 trigens chasing you (or maybe it was a trigen induced nightmare, I repressed most of it so its pretty fuzzy)

If the silenced smg wasnt so useful I probably would have killed myself out of frustration in any situation with mercs.

In short the game can be summed up as
-Sniping is fun
-Sneaking and headshotting mercs with the silenced smg is fun
-Carpet bombing with grenades from the hangglider is fun but ineffective
-FUCK TRIGENS!!

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

Shadow of the Colossus:

-Save points are too far apart
-game becomes frustrating too quickly, "hints" are often extremely unhelpful
-cheap deaths from being thrown off of creatures
-Color pallet is very limited
-Mounting the horse requires being in too specific of a position
-Default controls are a little inconvenient

Very happy how early this game was mentioned. I actually didn't think the distance between save points was too long, and that's even considering that I went through the game only saving after Colossi.

I'll add to that list:
-Empty game world. There needed to be a bit more items of interest in the massive world they built. I kept wanting to ride Aggro around exploring it and every time I'd be disappointed with how there was nothing there.
...
Okay I thought I had more.

Since I used SotC last time there was a thread like this I'll mention another one of my favorite games.

ICO:

Spoiler: ending spoiler

The beach part of the ending, the game should have ended with Ico drifting away from the falling castle on the boat. It would have been a more depressing ending, but I'd have greatly preferred that to the happy "Everyone's okay!" ending that they finished with. In my mind the beach part didn't happen.

-The combat was lacking, considering the team that they had to build the game with I realize they couldn't afford to improve it. But that doesn't change the fact that the combat sucked.
-More exposition. Even if there were just small hidden clues, I wanted to know more about the characters and the castle
-Non-fixed camera. This is probably the biggest one, if they could have made one improvement in the HD rerelease I would have loved for them to have the camera follow Ico in third person. I wanted to see more of the incredible scenery!

 

[Mikejames]

Oh lawd. That never happened to me thank heavens. I just went invisible whenever I heard the infernal squeak and set all the things on fire, and didn't fall off the tower.

Also, I quite liked the Meat Circus. Maybe it's because I got lucky and finished the escort quest quickly and by accident.

I'll remember next time that the solution is just not to fall off. lol

At the time the first few timed sections greatly surpassed any prior moment of frustration, but I still enjoyed the whole theme and delivery of things.
Plus the set-up of water drowning the tent made you utilize multiple skills, and finally reaching that last ladder was satisfying in a way that only an old difficult platformer could be.

 

[Mikejames]

Very happy how early this game was mentioned. I actually didn't think the distance between save points was too long, and that's even considering that I went through the game only saving after Colossi.

I'll add to that list:
-Empty game world. There needed to be a bit more items of interest in the massive world they built. I kept wanting to ride Aggro around exploring it and every time I'd be disappointed with how there was nothing there.

I think a forgotten land of decrepit isolation was a theme they were going for, but I suppose I can understand wanting more incentive for exploring than just finding lizard tails.

I couldn't help but sigh whenever I realized that the mountain crossroad I chose was just a dead end set to put me ten minutes in the wrong direction. lol

 

[sXeth]

Ultima 7

-The jabs at EA (which I didn't have any clue about til years after my intial play) are a bit obtrusive.
-Speaking of which, the "Chase Elizabeth and Abraham" from town to town plot was ludicrous handholding.
-Combats is largely a mess, and the enemy mages spam-tastic unlimited spells are just dumb.
-Serpent Isle is way too glitchy and obviously rushed. Both expansions have incredibly overpowered rewards.
-I think the series took a huge step backwards in returning to the "Big Bad" formula. The Avatar Trilogy (4-6) was not just an incredibly out of the box direction for RPGs, but overall a more fulfilling experience in that you triumphed through proactivity on the good guys part, rather then reactionary against an invading evil.


Final Fantasy Six
-The side characters were unquestionably silly. (A Yeti, a Mime who lives in a Sarlacc-expy, etc)
-Leo could've used more screen time to give his death more impact, probably by expanding Sabin's early side trip to cover the Doma battle more, and less of the goofy bit with Gau).
-Locke being optional in the second half (and probably one of the last/debatedly hardest to find people without a guide) when he was a decent candidate for being the protagonist in the first half was a bit derailing.
-The first installment to really kick in with obvious strategy guide buying bait. Most of them weren't entirely obscure, but theres a couple that really would never be done otherwise (The crazy chain of Colloseum betting, and the Paladin Shield for instance)
(If you're wondering about this statement)

Spoiler

-Locke saves Terra and introduces her to the Returners.
-He then gets an almost completely solo mission working directly against the antagonist, and rescues Celes, converting her to the Returners.
-After Terra goes nutty, he's the one who initiates their chase.
-He leads the mission into the Empire to rescue the Espers
-And again when the Espers go psycho, he's the other representative alongside Terra from the Returners (joining Celes and Shadow from the Empire)
-He has more non-optional party membership then any other character on the first disc.

Heroes of Might and Magic 3
-The Conflux expansion city was completely bloody horrible.
-All those silly money-grab scenario packs.
-If you're gonna have eight factions, make them relevant. I distinctly remember the Lizardfolk and the Barbarians didn't really have anything to do with the main story.


Neverwinter Nights
-The first OC was like one of those bad Forgotten Realms novels that're pumped out like Harlequin Romances was used as the storyline. The second OC was chopped to hell for some reason, had the lamest villain in D&D RPG history (with a horrible puzzle-fight) and didn't balance properly in MP (in a game designed for MP), and the third one didn't even work in MP at all (and got ludicrously over the top).
(Its always surprised me when people are surprised Bioware went goofy on a story, because NWN's ranged from average to god-awful)
-Good god the sequel was bloody horrible, and seemed to forget it was supposed to be a primarily MP and/or easily custom scenario'd game.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

Very happy how early this game was mentioned. I actually didn't think the distance between save points was too long, and that's even considering that I went through the game only saving after Colossi.

I'll add to that list:
-Empty game world. There needed to be a bit more items of interest in the massive world they built. I kept wanting to ride Aggro around exploring it and every time I'd be disappointed with how there was nothing there.

I think a forgotten land of decrepit isolation was a theme they were going for, but I suppose I can understand wanting more incentive for exploring than just finding lizard tails.

I couldn't help but sigh whenever I realized that the mountain crossroad I chose was just a dead end set to put me ten minutes in the wrong direction. lol

I'm aware of that, but they could have filled the world a bit more without sacrificing the theme of isolation (which I actually liked a lot). Even putting interesting buildings, structures or viewpoints aside from those you encounter with the Colossi. I think the best implementation would be areas that allude more to the storyline and the history of ancient lands

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Pokemon

-The story is always super cheesy, and while the franchise has made small steps in the right direction with Black and Whit 1 & 2, it still kind of sucks.
-There hasn't been a really really awesome rival since Gary/Blue.
-The in-game trainers don't use any in-depth strategy at all, making it super easy to just sweep through their entire team. Most of the time, when you don't win against a tough trainer, it's because your monsters aren't at a high enough level, not because you're going about the battle the wrong way
-Certain legendary Pokemon being obtainable only through promotional events sucks. I'll probably never get my hands on a Mew or a Celebi.
-Forcing me to teach my party Pokemon battle-useless HM moves to get to cool areas.

gary/blue?!?!?!

what.the.fuck.is.wrong.with.you.

blue is the stunt double wanna be that no one talks about, RED IS HIS NAME.

Red is the name of the main character.

OT:
I'm still debating whether I prefer Persona 4 or The Walking Dead. But either way, Persona 4 takes way too fucking long to get started and TWD...the facial animation is bad in the first few episodes?

Woops I misread "Rival" as "Rivalry" for some reason and assumed he was speaking about both. (I could be 100% wrong, but I thought in pokemon red/blue their was choices for both characters to be red or blue? and usually ash defaulted to red and gary to blue, but Like I said could be wrong.)

Blue is the name of Red's rival in the manga/games, and Gary from the show is based on that character. I was saying that there hasn't been a rival as good as him in the games. I just said "Gary/Blue" because technically in the games it's not actually Gary, but a lot of people refer to him as Gary. I wasn't saying the main character's name was Blue.

yeah i clearly misread it the first time around, whoops, i also should've put a /sarcasm at the end as it was meant to be lighthearted banter but came off not so much.

but yeah I agree, gary vs the other supposed "rivals" is just not a fair comparison, gary wins by a mile.

 

[I am only a man]

Mirror's Edge: (edited for longness)

...Your story was forever hinting at something grander than it ever actually rose to. You said up a dystopian city, give us great ideas and scribblings on walls that hint at political brainwashing, then you drop it like a hot potato and solve the small substory instead. Actually, let me put "solve" in quotes. YOU BETTER HAVE A SEQUEL TO EXPLAIN YOURSELF.



...Man, I need to go play some Mirror's Edge.

Couldn't have said it better. That game had so much potential. As for my favorite game... well, one of them...

Journey. There is absolutely no real challenge to this game. There is no failure or any major consequences. All you need is a bit of curiosity and a knack for exploration. Aside from that, there's nothing to do but float around and chirp to whoever you may be around if they wanna stick around. The game is just so sparse.

Okay seriously that criticism is a major stretch and completely ignores the point of the game. It's damn near perfect in my book and should not be passed up.

 

[Haefulz]

yeah i clearly misread it the first time around, whoops, i also should've put a /sarcasm at the end as it was meant to be lighthearted banter but came off not so much.

but yeah I agree, gary vs the other supposed "rivals" is just not a fair comparison, gary wins by a mile.

All good man.

I will admit though, I think Team Plasma is the best evil gang since Team Rocket. And Colress is almost as cool as Giovanni.

 

[Jfswift]

Xenogears

- The TEXT. It's soooooo slow.
- I realize the PSX was only so capable of handling graphics but when they zoom in on the sprites things get gross. At far distances the anime style looks good

Persona 4
- . . . um, I don't have a Vita so I can't get Golden? Honestly I tried people, I tried

With Xenogears, I generally liked the puzzles but there was one nasty one toward the end of the game. Who would think to jump into the ceiling to make blocks fall down (when the ceiling isn't even shown). There are zero visual cues to figure that one out. Also why was Billy chosen to operate that giant cannon? What would he know about operating a computer controlled canon.

 

[Darks63]

Thief 2
- all the annoying mechanical robots that i had to waste water arrows to immobilize
-the metal cameras of which only some had off switches
-the final mission being about building some device instead of really using much sneaking
-some of the levels seemed way too long, i especially hated the submarine base mission it seemed more like a fan made one instead of a official one due to how ugly and uninspired the stage design was
-Victoria Dying
-Karras's laughable voice which makes it hard to believe that he was able to get a major following in the first place for his heretic version of the hammer temple

 

[roastbeefy]

Persona 3:
-This game had some design choices that I liked despite them being objectively bad. Having to talk to a character to equip them with something or have them heal the group certainly adds to immersion, but it's awfully unintuitive and I can't fault them for "fixing" it in P4.

Chrono Trigger:
-Some techniques rely on a character's position, but there's no way to move your characters in combat.

My main criticism for both these games, however, is the preposterously long boss fights. I realize that an epic adventure out to have a suitably epic conclusion, and they aren't bad boss fights, but they really don't need to be as long as they are. It's awesome how the fight with Lavos takes place all across time, and how the battle with the Nyx Avatar has 14 separate stages, all relating to a Major Arcana and each with it's own strategy, but when I die on the last stage, look at the clock and realize that I just spent an hour on a fight that I ultimately lost, it's a bit disheartening.

 

[gritch]

A game I will always fondly remember Monster Hunter:

I really enjoy this game for some reason. I guess the challenge wailing away at a giant dragon-dinosaur with a sword the size of myself until it dies is just too satisfying. Also I was a huge dinosaur fan as a little kid so maybe by the time I was old enough to play this game some of that latent excitement about dinosaurs was still there.

But I'll readily admit it had plenty of flaws:
-The Camera. What a mess. No lock-on and you had to manually press L1 every time you needed to center it (which was often considering it's didn't adjust while you moved). I got used to it after soo many hours of play but it's undoubtedly awkward for those learning the ropes.
-Grinding. The grind was truly hideous. For some of the higher level gear in particular it might be necessary to get a particular material that is only dropped from one particular monster maybe 1 out of 100 something times. Needless to say it would take quite a while and could be extremely tedious.
-'em Egg Quests. Anyone who's played a Monster Hunter game will know what I'm talking about. Basically you need to grab a monster egg from its nest and waddle it (and I do mean waddle) all the way back to you base. Not only that but there's all these pests between you and the base that will break the egg and make you restart if they even so much as brush up against you. And good luck if the poor egg's big nasty mother decides to show up... Rinse, lather, and repeat about 3 times and you have an Egg quest.
-Continuity As a series Monster Hunter has jumped between console to handheld back to handheld and all over the place. Of course I would never own the system the developers decided to make the next game for so I'd be out of luck (or if it never released outside of Japan/Korea!). It's sort of a petty complaint but there you have it.

 

[TheJazzyH]

Pokemon

-The story is always super cheesy, and while the franchise has made small steps in the right direction with Black and Whit 1 & 2, it still kind of sucks.
-There hasn't been a really really awesome rival since Gary/Blue.
-The in-game trainers don't use any in-depth strategy at all, making it super easy to just sweep through their entire team. Most of the time, when you don't win against a tough trainer, it's because your monsters aren't at a high enough level, not because you're going about the battle the wrong way
-Certain legendary Pokemon being obtainable only through promotional events sucks. I'll probably never get my hands on a Mew or a Celebi.
-Forcing me to teach my party Pokemon battle-useless HM moves to get to cool areas.

While I do agree with all of this, I found one interesting exception to that "in-game a.i. is dumb" problem today in Black & White 2.

There's this one scientist in Relic passage with a Grimer that kept spamming minimize and mud-slap, increasing its evasion while lowering the accuracy of my mons. Imagine my frustration when I couldn't hit him at all. Of course, this is just one out of a sea of idiotic trainers, and I won anyway (after using way more potions and antidotes than I should have in such a battle). However, this was still the most frustrating (more so than any elite four/champion battle!) and refreshing battle at the same time meeting an in-game trainer that might actually have a brain.

 

[Xman490]

Super Mario Bros./Sunshine? Ha, this'll be easy! (I know I'm missing the main point, but these ARE the games I've been loving for years upon years, even though I don't play them very much nowadays.)

- poor level variety
- controls that take a lot of getting used to
- poor boss variety
- and few people care about them as much as their sequels (SMB 3 and Galaxy).
The above apply to both of them. Of course, I tend to ignore these flaws.

 

[Vault101]

Mass Effect 3 broke me worse than any real person ever could

Fuck you mass Effect 3....I LOVED YOU DAMMIT!

 

[Retsam19]

Okay, let's do this, the big one:

FFX, I love you, I really do, and not only because you were my first exposure to the final fantasy series.
But let's talk about the reasons why I seem to be the first one to be willing to call you my favorite game [Well, let's call it my favorite console game], despite your older brother FFIX being mentioned like 4 or 5 times.

• 
  Bizarre EXP system. I don't mean spheres (though I'll probably get there), but rather that characters get 100% exp for being in the battle (regardless of how much or how little they do) and 0% exp if they aren't. And do I mean 100%, not 100%/n where n is the number of characters who participate as might make sense. If 3 characters fighting a battle get 2000 exp each, then 6 characters get 2000 exp each. This encourages you to spastically switch characters in and out, rather than just choosing the best character for the job, which is the proper motivation use my characters balanced.
  
  Kimahri. Sorry, Kimahri, but you kind of suck. Yes, you serve the role of mysterious protective mentor figure well and are really cool looking, but...
  • 
    -Your part in the plot is easily the least interesting of any of the main characters. Barely interacting with any of them by being the silent type will do that.
    -You're far and away the the least useful in combat. Rather than having your own unique abilities, you're able to follow someone else's sphere path of choice and have their abilities. But being an inferior copy of someone else just makes you ... well... inferior. And lancet allowing you to steal monsters moves generally gives you middling power moves that can be used once every 10 or so battles. Yes, you can eventually get some really powerful moves like this, but what am I supposed to do with you before the end game? (A simple improvement here would be to make the moves lancet gives you normal moves, not overdrives, and give him a different overdrive)
    
  
  Ridiculous and scandalous costumes. Rikku before you join the party, I'm looking at you. This is a major frustration in JRPGs, as it seems to come out of nowhere. (I had a major problem with this in Lost Odyssey, when I was unable to play that game in front of some friends and family due to the inappropriate costumes of party members) I expect objectification of women from my FPSs, not my RPGs.
  

I could go on, but I probably won't. I imagine enough people could give plenty of complaints here without needing my help.

 

[Sir Pootis]

Psychonauts:
Also, the latter part of the game contains a large tower section, where if you fall, you're going to fall back to the start. Also not helped by awquard jumps and the camera facing slightly downward while using Levitation.

The exploding rats... *shudder*

Oh yes, and the exploding rats. (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

 

[squeekenator]

Final Fantasy X

- FUCK SIGILS

That is all.

Oh, I guess that unskippable cutscenes are annoying too. Especially the 5 minute one in front of the hardest boss in the game.