Games everybody loves but you can't see why

[Baradiel]

Counter-Strike and Half-Life. Never seen how they're so good. Valve have done amazingly well with L4D, Portal and TF2. I love all of them, but Half Life and CS I don't like.

Also Bioshock. Probably because I got it on PC, and the controls didn't fit right. I've borrowed it on 360, so it'll hopefully be better on a controller.

 

[DazBurger]

I don't hate Half-Life... But I still find it dull and uninteresting, with kinder-garden grade puzzles.

I find Halo a great deal more entertaining, as I find the story and its sub-stories more interesting and absolutely love getting together with friends and try to beat the games in new ways.

Anyone remember the Scarab in Halo 2, where you have to get inside and kill a bunch of Elites?
We managed to splatter a bunch of them with a Warthog... INSIDE the Scarab.

 

[MirrorSweep]

Fallout 3, played it for a few hours. Disliked it. Am I missing something?

 

[demoman_chaos]

Halo to me is a very samey FPS that is trying (unsucessfully) to not be a Doom clone with less enemies and less effective weapons. The main guy is a guy in green power armor (the Doom Guy's armor has a white helmet and no sleeves, but look very similar minus those 2 differences and some small details) who uses a mix of conventional and energy weapons to bring down giant monsters hellbent on killing off humanity. Halo could have been a proper Doom 3 if they had the Doom demons and weapons (very minor tweaks to the story is all that was needed). The covenant all look like they could be Doom enemies anyways.

I've never understood JRPG's. There are too many reasons to name, but they really don't sit well with me normally.
Starcraft makes the list too, along with all other RTS games like it. It is less strategy, and more trial and error as you figure out the build orders that work. Only strategy is figuring out which build order you should use.

 

[Hazy]

The Assassin's Creed and Fable Franchises.
Solid games, but nowhere near the level of excellency that I've seen them held to.

Halo as well. It's an incredibly middle of the road series save for a surprisingly good soundtrack and functional online play.

 

[Terminate421]

Half-life (2)

Seriously, I just don't get all of it.

 

[PrototypeC]

I love Bioshock. It's not perfect, but it's clever and well done, in my opinion.

Now, Gears of War.... what is with those games? They're not fun, they're not clever, and the protagonists are the biggest self-righteous douchebags I've ever seen, even beating out Alex Mercer in biggest displays of assholiness. I didn't like the enemy design, the gunplay or the cover-based shooting. I guess it's not too clunky or hard to play, but that doesn't make it worthwhile. They're just... boring, I guess. Halo had unique and beautiful architecture and vehicle design, interesting enemy types, and a story, but Gears of War doesn't even have that.

Don't forget Dom's wife.
"Well, I guess she's traumatized and a vegetable. That's depressing... I guess next I'll have to get her to a safe place so Dom can spend the next years after the war helping her overcome it and remem- what? HE SHOT HER? WHY?! Couldn't he just- I mean... *sigh* ...what the f**k."

 

[Dauntlessidiot]

World of warcraft.....

i really dont see whats so good about it.... its just boring.... and overpriced at that...

 

[Reagus]

Half life 2 i'd say.

It's the single most overrated game I have ever played in my entire life. I found some parts fun i'll admit, and it's not a bad game, but its just SO boring its unbelievable. The story is deceptively simple for the most part and the characters are nothing more than the stereotypical one's you'd find in a cheesy Sci-Fi novel

I know the boring comment will probably get people responding with "Ohhh you just didn't GET it, it's meant to be realistic" Well my fellow escapist poster, it doesn't feel realistic at all with the characters being unrelatable and two dimensional and the environments and travelling being so dull I would rather shove a pencil up my backside

 

[krugerrand123]

halo,And Madden games. Halo because it is just a bit better than average and madden because if you want to play football, why not go outside and play it.

 

[PxDn Ninja]

As a street fighter fan (as in still plays ST, SSF4, and 3rd strike, competitively) its really only appealing to people with a competitive nature. You need to have the drive to improve your self. Not in just pulling off moves or doing combos (though doing a fancy combo like it was nothing is pretty cool sometimes), but improving yourself in meaningful ways like being less predictable, learning the difference between being patience and hesitation, or aggression and recklessness. And learning how to manipulate others like confusing your opponent, forcing your opponent to react a certain way, and a lot more stuff.

Sometimes just keeping up with the technical knowledge is very challenging to new players. Even things most veterans of the genre consider "basic" can be overwhelming to learn. New players usually have a hard time controlling their character, pulling off special moves or doing basic combos. Someone learning to defend themselves is pretty hard to (blocking, throw defense and anti airs). Then theres really hard stuff, like frame traps, option selects, 1 frame links, tick throws, mix-ups, footsies, zoning and mind games that someone has to deal with when they can barely just move and press buttons! So these games are a nightmare to learn on your own with no one helping you.

So basically if your a "games are art" kinda guy that doesn't give two shits about how a game works then you wont like fighters ever. If your think your the best at everything and you don't need anyone to tell you how to play then you will also never enjoy this genre cause any competent player worth their quarters will body your ass for fucking free and you'll just whine about how cheap everything is! But if you like a challenge and wanna learn how a certain game works and see who is the best out of your circle of friends, always looking to improve yourself, you could have a good time.

I work as a software engineer in the industry, and have design credits as well, so while I feel games are indeed art, I most certainly care about how they work.

I also enjoy fighters. Guity Gear, Soul Calibur, BlazBlue, all great games. I'm extremely competitive as well. Truely by all means I should love Street Fighter, but every time I play I feel as if I have played better before. When I played 3rd Strike, I remember thinking that Guilty Gear felt cleaner, and looked nicer. When SFIV came out, DOA and SC4 had already been out and surpassed it in my opinion.

I guess that is the crux of my issue with Street Fighter. It always has had this "Best Fighting Game" ever following, yet every version I have seen did little to expand on the title and what it did do had already been done and done better. I know SF started the fighting genre basically, and respect for that, but once the genre expanded, SF hasn't seemed to really keep up to me.

But again, I support anyone playing what they enjoy. Those who do enjoy the game (and there are a lot), by all means play it and enjoy it. It has a following, so it is doing what it does correctly for it's fans. I'm just not in that group.

 

[PrototypeC]

It may not be a game, but THIS FUCKING THREAD.

It's made about five times everyday, it's split between about five responses, and even more vastly filled with hypocrisy, as people perform exactly their complaints in the very post containing them.

This is not a good thread. Guides for making sandwiches are good threads. Make those.

Man has a point. I guess it's just a chance for people to get the hate out of their systems, but it's not a good thing to rip on these games like this...

 

[Baskerville]

Never understood the whole Counter-Strike culture.

What culture?
The games good though.

Hmm, let me see.

Street Fighter.

Maybe it was just a local thing but everyone was crazy about it here. ''F$?KING HEADSHOOT BOOM'' and all their conversations were about diffrent kills ^^

 

[Vykrel]

Any and all Final Fantasy games, I have attempted to play a wide variety of them but I really don't see what is so awsome. I like RPGs but their is something that throws me when it comes to FF. That and after I beat fallout three my opinion of it dropped. Also I found red dead to be painfully boring. The one saving grace of that game as I dragged itself to the end was hunting bears that was like a survival horror game.

agreed... its my least favorite franchise, and it bores me to death x.x everyone i know seems to like it, especially my brother, but they were all somewhat disappointed with 13.

 

[subject_87]

MW2. It's at least functional, but you die if someone breathes on you and the story is pretty much "YAY MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX".

 

[Atmos Duality]

Fallout 3

It's a truly depressing day in the gaming world when Crash to Desktop: The Game wins "Game of the Year".
I'm serious...what makes Fallout 3 so fucking great? The only part I can see is the styling, because everything else either sucks or is mediocre.

People may love that game; all it did was piss me off.

 

[Shining_Pyrelight]

I guess it does seem like I hate what's popular, but I believe there's a good reason for my disliking, I hope;

I've seen how addictive Facebook games can be, and I personally didn't get any enjoyment whatsoever out of them.
I really don't like any form of sports especially in video game form.
I think the God of War series is extremely overrated. The characters stunk along with the story.
I play the Fable series and like them, but I don't see where all the fun is. Same with Fallout 3.(Though I did just buy Fallout New Vegas)
Demon's Souls, I shelled out $70 for the Deluxe version and didn't see how it became so popular. It got boring, really fast.
Grand Theft Auto series I just dislike. I don't see anything fun to them.
Call of Duty is just a generic FPS. I didn't see any appeal to it, and I hate dealing with it's fanbase.
Halo, I actually like the story especially in Reach. But gameplay-wise it's generic.
As for Rock Band and Guitar Hero, I find them to be a big waste of money. There's also a new version at least once a year or so, which I find rediculous. DJ Hero fits into this category as well.

As for what games I'm "currently" playing;
Fallout 3...
Castlevania Lords of Shadow
Etrian Odyssey 3
Atelier Rorona Alchemist of Arland
Phantasy Star Portable 1 & 2
Ys 7
Ivy the Kiwi
World of Warcraft
Plants vs Zombies
Mass Effect 1 & 2

Facebook games, never saw the appeal and thankfully never got addicted.
Call of Duty(entire series)
Sports games (entire genre)
Rock Band
Guitar Hero
Halo
God of War series
Fallout 3
Fable (hopefully 3 will change things)
Demon's Souls
Grand Theft Auto series

No offence meant, but from the looks of that list, you just hate everything popular. I'm sure you have good reasons, but I'd at least like to hear them... also, what games do you like?

OT: I'm currently playing Half-Life 2 (will have to stop tomorrow and won't be able to resume until I come back on holiday here - reasons are annoyingly complicated). I just finished Ravenholm.

The game certainly isn't bad - fuck, it's a long way from the mire of badness. Indeed, Ravenholm was really terrifying, and the passive storytelling isn't bad - On "Water Hazard", I found myself staring up at the top of the canal from the dry, nearly water-free bottom and noticing an old water-line very near to the top. About 7 metres up. What the fuck have this "Combine" been doing to our planet? Hell, I even found the physics puzzles mildly diverting.

But having said that, the game was only on the upper end of average. The combat was very linear, the Combine cop enemies were awfully boring and lacking in variety (and stupid, to boot), and dear god... the vehicle section. It was utterly shit, completely awful, went on for so damn long... I really hated that airfanboatbike thing. Even when using it to run people over, it was horrible. Using the D-pad to switch weapons was fine and fluid when you only had a few, but when you started stocking up every weapon in the game it became tedious and annoying to have to press the D-pad multiple times to get to the Magnum or gravity gun.

And yet, there are people who treat it like the second coming of Christ, like some sort of FPS god, and treat anyone who likes a lesser FPS - say, Halo - like lesser beings. They are the worst kinds of fanboy, and this game doesn't even deserve it. It's certainly not as good as Halo.

So yeah, I think Half-Life 2 qualifies for this list.

 

[Hairetos]

All of the Final Fantasies
Half-Life...anything
Bioshock

There are a lot more. I'm very picky about my gaming.

 

[Dense_Electric]

Call of Duty, and CoD4 in particular. Everyone seems to think it's so damn great, but frankly I just don't see it. You run around with some generic modern weapons and shoot people. Everything is either grey or brown, it's all "realistic," you get the idea. Basically the most bland, generic game I've ever played.