Games that peaked too soon

[twistedmic]

Far Cry 3 - Vaas:
After that fight with him...the rest of the game kind of goes downhill.

I have to agree with you there. The entire second island just felt tacked on to artificially stretch the game out. Vaas felt like a natural, organic climax to the story. Where as the second guy, can't even remember his name, came out of left field with almost no buildup. He only got one or two lines ordering Vaas around right near the very beginning.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Final Fantasy X

Sort of - I refer to the point where you defeat Yunalesca, and then have the entire map as your oyster while you prepare to take on Sin. A point where there's kind of lull, even though you've got to defeat this thing as soon as possible. The buildup to Zanarkand is excellent, and the Yunalesca fight is easily one of the hardest in the game. Sin/Jecht/Yevon are memorable fights as well, but there's kind of a lag in this period, at least narratively. And true, a lot of games do have the lag problem ("you have to save the world...but feel free to do as many sidequests as you want beforehand"), but I have seen it done better (e.g. Golden Sun: The Lost Age, how the music changes in the final act to convey the severity of the situation, even if you're still free to wander the map).

Spoiler: FFX Endgame thoughts

I see the endgame from the perspective of Jecht being able to more or less hold himself as Sin back while Tidus and crew do what they need to ensure the fight goes their way. Its kind of a headcanon handwave of sorts, yeah, but seeing as how Sin seems to be fairly tame for a world destroyer entity, I guess I felt that Jecht was a reluctant slave that did everything in his power to keep the impulses of Yu Yevon from dominating him completely. Plus if you remove the actual grind from the story (you know the whole JRPG thing of maxing character levels/abilities/stats out) then its easier to see the perspective of Tidus and crew hopping around the world on an airship taking out the ancillary baddies and ensuring their summoner has every Fayth backing her for "The final showdown with Sin!"
But I do get where you're coming from and almost every JRPG endgame has that same disconnect of Imminent World Destruction But We're Gonna Go Exploring for 20+ Hours First...

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Dragon Age Inquisition - The Battle of Haven (intro of the main villain) is about 1/5 of the way through the game and is the high point of the entire thing. The final boss fight ends up being a damp squib compared to the first encounter.

I agree with this. When the big bad enemy army comes storming over the mountains and you have to defend your little base, that was pretty epic. I figured the same thing was going to play out again toward the end of the game once you get your castle, but nope. Instead, Cory dorks around for the rest of the game while you build up your forces, and by the time you finally do get back around to dealing with him, the storyline for the game has become about something else entirely.

Continuing with Dragon Age, I feel Dragon Age II peaked with the Qunari. I get the, for the overall story of the series the mage conflict had to end the game, but the Qunari attack worked so much better. The whole game was just building to that, and for it to come halfway through the game just sucked the air right out of the final part.

 

[Zhukov]

BioShock

Okay, I'm still playing it, so this could change, but IMO, the game peaks at the point where you confront Ryan, and after that, things don't work quite as well.

Yeah, came in to say exactly this.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Okami. I was so hyped by the time that I beat Orochi that I literally wolf-howled at the same time as Ameratsu...and..then the game kept going.

I wouldn't say it peaks too early, but it definitely wears out its welcome once you beat the nine-tails.

 

[BrawlMan]

I feel like this is a common theme for Platinum games. The most over the top part of Nier was absolutely the first level. After that it's more quiet and contemplative. Even the ending doesn't come close in terms of over the top action.

Crap, I was actually thinking of buying Bayonetta's PC release. Does it have the same problem?

Not really, but there is calm part of sorts in Chapter XII or XIII. It's been a while, so I don't remember. Even if that was the case, don't let that stop you from buying an awesome brawler.

So I just started Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance again after losing my save a while back, and reflecting back on it... It never really gets much more awesome and hype than throwing a Metal Gear around and running on its rockets. It really peaked in its intro, and I don't mean that what comes after is bad. Oh no anything but. But it never really gets that level of badass.

So which other games do you think peaked too soon, regardless of whether they stayed cool afterwards or not?

Says you, the game only got more epic for me after fighting Bladewolf, seeing what crazy bosses I would fight next.


DMC4 - After you fight Dante a 2nd time, and control him in the 2nd half, everything is just lazy backtracking. With the only difference being some minor path differences.

Streets of Rage 2 - Not the game itself, but the series. SOR2 is the best console beat'em up ever made with 4 characters that played differently enough from each other. SOR3 was just a mission pack sequel, and everyone could dash. The problem was the absurd difficulty in the West. The series didn't reach the hype 2 had until the fan Remake came along. And even then, I still find myself playing 2 more than the Remake.


Doom (2016) - When it comes to the bosses. After fighting the Cyber Demon, the other two bosses feels like a step backward. The final boss is given an epic death, the fight against Spider Mastermind was just meh.


Gungrave - Bunji should have been the last boss, that is all.

 

[SweetShark]

Okami. I was so hyped by the time that I beat Orochi that I literally wolf-howled at the same time as Ameratsu...and..then the game kept going.

I was the exact opposite.
I was SO pleased when I heared from your small friend [I don't remember his name] your journey didn't over yet!
I was like "ooAAAAaH!!! Really!?!? Yes. YES!!!! MORE Okami"
I never felt a moment of disappointment in the whole game.
Even the ending was something completely unexpected and original. Perfect Pure Lange game.

With the today standards after Orochi's fight, Capcom would put the other half game as a DLC....

 

[sXeth]

But I do get where you're coming from and almost every JRPG endgame has that same disconnect of Imminent World Destruction But We're Gonna Go Exploring for 20+ Hours First...

Crono Trigger kind of gets around it with the time travel, lol.

My memory's a bit iffy, but I think Secret of Mana didn't really have a lot of random endgame power up sidequests pop up after the Mana Fortress lifts off either. You could grind the weapon levels, but no real narrative reasons. Final Fantasy 4 I don't remember having the endgame sidequest fest either.

 

[sanquin]

Far Cry: Primal.
The beginning of the game is very interesting. You have to run and hide and fight off enemies. And the parts in the cave in the intro can feel pretty tense the first time you play through it. After that though, it turned into a bog standard "the map is filled with icons" Ubisoft game. Especially since you become powerful very quickly and all those icons just become busywork and the main quests become a "I have to do them to progress" thing, even though if don't want to do them.

I'll second DA:I
Up until the battle for Haven I'm always pretty involved with what's going on. After that almost everything turns into what you'd expect from WoW's main quest line these days, not a single player story.

I'll even add a building/survival game: ARK: Survival evolved.
The start of the game is awesome. Dinos are dangerous so you have to watch out. You still really need to work to survive. Build a base dinos can't enter, gathering food, getting taming items, leveling up to be able to afford that recipe you really need, etc. And then you get your first raptor at lv 15... After that, the game only becomes more and more of a huge time sink and grind fest. Wild dinos become less and less dangerous since your own dinos can wreck them more and more easily. And all you basically do at that point is farming resources, building your base, or watching a taming bar slowly go up while you make sure the dino stays unconscious by feeding it a narcotic every X seconds.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Who remembers Dark Void? It was that game where you play as Attan Rand from Knights of the Old Republic 2 only now he's a World War 1 pilot who flies through the Bermuda Triangle and winds up on Robot-Alien Island. It's a competent 3rd-person shooter and it's mostly fun up until you get the Jetpack which makes the game downright excellent. The problem with the game is that it's very, very short. It takes a bit to get the Jetpack in the first place and the ending of the game comes right the Hell out of nowhere about 3 or 4 hours after that. It's a lot of fun while it lasts but it just doesn't last long.

 

[step1999]

The Platinum Transformers game. You start off fighting the big Megazord Decepticon, then a lot of just spins its wheels driving around the city (and the driving mechanics are nothing great) and basic 1 v 1 fights.

(minor spoilers)
Transformers Devastation tops that later with the fight against Devastator and Menasor at the same time, and the final fight with Megatron manages to feel pretty climactic due to the awesome music and dialogue. Also IMO the fights with Blitzwing and Shockwave are more interesting mechanically, though not as cool looking.

 

[CaitSeith]

Limbo

I can't say I can remember much of it past the spider.

The brain-controlling worms. But I agree that the whole spider thing ended a little too soon.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Says you, the game only got more epic for me after fighting Bladewolf, seeing what crazy bosses I would fight next.

Ohhh don't get me wrong, the bosses that I've seen after Bladewolf are absolutely cool as shit. Hell even Bladewolf was cool. It's epic and awesome all the way through. But y'know, it never quite gets "Holy shit I'm throwing a five-story robot around and run on the rockets it fires while Rules Of Nature is playing." epic, y'know?

I mean, you run on its rockets. On its rockets! On its rockets!

 

[PainInTheAssInternet]

Far Cry 3 - Vaas:
After that fight with him...the rest of the game kind of goes downhill.

I'll back that one up. It's not due to an inherent issue with killing off Vaas and replacing him, but how it was handled afterwards. The whole thing got substantially less interesting story-wise immediately upon setting foot on the second island. Even getting to the second island was anti-climactic; defend post with turrets, teleport during cutscene. Imagine getting in a firefight in the plane on the way over.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

MGSV ...The damn intro. Everything afterwards was just very enjoyable action/stealth gameplay with the story thrown to the winds of audio-tapes and weightless cutscenes. I get a very strong "Cannot be arsed with this bullshit anymore, seriously" vibe from the Kojima dude with plot. I honestly have nothing that sticks storywise from that game other than the intro. And "peak" is as generous as i can be, in context. Good stealth game though, of course.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

I actually found the intro somewhat tedious after a while. It's the kind of scripted linear filmic trial and error presentation you would expect from Call of Duty or Battlefield. Not like MGS at all. Worst thing about it is that you have to do it again later.

Hence why mentioned it was the most generous i could be with the game's storytelling. It's not great by any stretch, but its' peak was there. At least it afforded some mystery before the bullshit unraveled (And the ending is best throttled in the backyard well before the neighbours get home, the entire plot is something that ages like a chain-smoking fruit fly).

 

[Nuuu]

MGSV ...The damn intro. Everything afterwards was just very enjoyable action/stealth gameplay with the story thrown to the winds of audio-tapes and weightless cutscenes. I get a very strong "Cannot be arsed with this bullshit anymore, seriously" vibe from the Kojima dude with plot. I honestly have nothing that sticks storywise from that game other than the intro. And "peak" is as generous as i can be, in context. Good stealth game though, of course.

I think the game suffers from having a little too little in the middle. The strongest parts were shoved to the back half of the game.

Plus you really can't forget Mission 43.

 

[sXeth]

The Platinum Transformers game. You start off fighting the big Megazord Decepticon, then a lot of just spins its wheels driving around the city (and the driving mechanics are nothing great) and basic 1 v 1 fights.

(minor spoilers)
Transformers Devastation tops that later with the fight against Devastator and Menasor at the same time, and the final fight with Megatron manages to feel pretty climactic due to the awesome music and dialogue. Also IMO the fights with Blitzwing and Shockwave are more interesting mechanically, though not as cool looking.

I honestly don't remember the final fight at all. I do remember the two giant guys, though that was in the bit with the space bridge which just utterly confused me. (First they were on the ground, then suddenly you were fighting Starscream in space... then suddenly back in the city. I literally have no idea what happened there in the plot. They were talking about having to go to Cybertron, but the space bridge just went back to earth?)

Blitzwing was the side scroller bit, I think? Which was kind of an interesting diversion (along with the highway f-zero esque chase with Megatron in a truck early on). But yeah, I'd stand by the first bit with the Constructicons where you take them one in pairs then have to face down the combined version as more solidly built up to a climax then most of the later encounters.

(I'm not really a Transformers guy either. So there may be a loss in translation for how awe inspiring some of the enemies are supposed to be. I literally only know Megatron/Starscream/Soundwave.)

 

[BarryMcCociner]

So I just started Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance again after losing my save a while back, and reflecting back on it... It never really gets much more awesome and hype than throwing a Metal Gear around and running on its rockets. It really peaked in its intro, and I don't mean that what comes after is bad. Oh no anything but. But it never really gets that level of badass.

So which other games do you think peaked too soon, regardless of whether they stayed cool afterwards or not?

That was your peak in Metal Gear Rising?

Nothing tops the Armstrong fight for me. It's so fucking well designed from a gameplay perspective, and well presented from a thematic perspective it hurts. The only bad thing about the Armstrong fight is that it completely overshadows the Metal Gear fight just before it.