Games that you couldn't wait to quit

[DrunkOnEstus]

Checking out PS+ this month (really happy to finally have La-Mulana on Vita!), I saw the Twisted Metal reboot on PS3. I remember this game coming out, I remember Jaffe being a big deal about it after God of War, but I never played it. I remember playing a lot of local Twisted Metal destruction on the PS1, so I figured I would check it out.

...and holy hell I couldn't shut it off fast enough. It starts with a long scroll through an EULA, then a bandwidth test, and this other online shit (because everyone plays online), which leads to an overlong, corny, completely over the top nihilistic cutscene that feels so out of place and is all around laughable. When I finally took control of a car, everything went to shit. The graphics are incredibly dated (even considering the time of its release), and the control of the vehicle is terrible. By default, square was accelerate and even moving around this city-level felt like total ass.

I tried to figure out how to do everything else, but my brain firmly objected, reminding me of the much better experiences I could be having that did a much better job of convincing me to play them. I quickly quit and have no desire to fire it back up again, maybe it just isn't for me.

Any games you've started recently that you couldn't quit fast enough?

 

[Zhukov]

Okami.

It was described to me as some kind of beautiful, whimsical, charming game. Something like Journey, but with more mechanics.

Well, it starts off with a not-particularly-charming slideshow that sets out a fable-ish setting and backstory. Fair enough I guess.

Except then you get a second slideshow that promptly repeats what the first one just told you, but with a ton more extraneous detail. These slide shows are unskippable, have text that scrolls rrrrrreeeeaaaaaalllllly, rrrrrreeeeaaaaalllly sssssllllooooooowwwlllly and are accompanied by a little Sims-style voice chattering gibberish.

They also make you...

...

... press a button...

...

... every few words...

...

... in order to continue.

...

... Something like this.

Then you get a brief, ugly actual cutscene in which some stuff actually happens.

Then you get a fucking long, boring dialogue from a Zelda fairy in which the ssssslllllooooowww scrolling, press-to-continue text makes a triumphant return.

Then you actually get to start the tutorial.

Time between pressing "New Game" and actually playing? 26 minutes. Yes, I timed that shit.

Needless to say, I was pretty disgusted right from the word go. When the game turned out to be dull and looked like a Wii had thrown up on my PS3 I quickly threw it away like a warm turd.

 

[cojo965]

God of War: Ascension multiplayer. At the time it was the only PS3 online game I had so what the fuck right? OH MY GOD, MY EYES! There is no real strategy to the combat, the camera is zoomed out too far, I kept losing track of my character, and everyone else had abilities and weapons that wreaked my shit. It was horrible.

 

[Keoul]

Every bargain bin game I got on steam solely for the cards.
Plus Super Monday Night Combat, it was just so boring...

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

Le Snippage

I absolutely adore Okami, but I also can't disagree with you on this point. It's a hard sell, most people are conditioned, upon hearing "trust me, you need to give it an hour of kinda wasted time to open up" to think that the recommendation is full of it and that it's a sign of an actually terrible game.

But you are right, I've thought about playing through it for a third time, and the very thing...you bring up....crosses my mind...and I hear the *bleh bla bley blah blee blee bleh* fake voice acting in my head and decide it's not worth it.

I can see why the sales were terrible; if someone managed to look past the cartoony cover art and "weird" name, and was okay with playing as a wolf, even during a rental the first 45 minutes would cause waves of "fuck this" for many people. Despite that, I still feel it's the best Zelda game Nintendo didn't release.

 

[Frezzato]

Le Snippage

snipperoo

I also couldn't stand Okami for the same reason Zhukov said. I also timed the beginning and, with me spamming the skip button, it was around 17 minutes to get through the intro period. I mean spamming like you wouldn't believe, non-stop, pretty much the same way I beat the final boss in Heavenly Sword. I still have Okami though. I might finish it some day, right after I finish playing Oni.

A strange thing for me is that I finished Far Cry 2 even though I found it to be very mundane. I just wanted to see what the southern part of the map was like, only to discover it was exactly like the northern half. But I finished it, and yet I can't bring myself to finish the games I actually find interesting. Setting grass on fire was cool though.

And this is blasphemous, but I started to get a little tired of Shadow of the Colossus near the end, but the thought of killing all the lizards for more grip strength (to climb the spire) still tempts me. At least I think that's what killing all the lizards gets you. I also gave up on Ico for some reason.

 

[Hawki]

This is going to see be blasted ten ways to Tuesday for some of these entries, but, yeah. Proviso that I'm only including games that I still played to the end of, and that the urge to stop playing came long before the actual end of the game. However, this doesn't include apathy, only the desire to stop, rather than indifference as to doing so.

So, on that note:

-Diablo II: Yes, I think this is a "good" game. Yes, I acknowledge the influence it's had on the ARPG genre. No, I didn't particuarly enjoy playing it, to the extent where I prefer D1 and D3. While it started off strong, by the time I got to Act III (those damn fetishes), I'd let the fatigue sit in.

-Metal Gear: As in, the original. And anyone who tells you that the first installment of a series is the best needs to get their head checked. The entire thing was a drear, both in gameplay and story. Admittdly, Metal Gear Solid was the first game of the series I played, but going back to this game...well, as a fan of the series, I only played through to the end from a sense of obligation.

-Metroid Prime: Hunters: Hand cramps. Hand cramps galore. Oh, and repetitive bosses, an uninteresting story, and did I mention hand cramps? Not only is this easily my least favorite Metroid game, but it's the only one on this list that actually hurt me physically to play due to how awkward the control scheme is.

-Resident Evil Gaiden: The worst Resident Evil game I've ever played. The music sucks. It's hard to the point of insanity. The story is lacklusture. It's not counted among RE canon, and while I'm an inclusionist by default, I can't say I'll mourn it.

 

[Gretha Unterberg]

Planetary Anihilation.
the terrain is plain and spheric enough to matter little or not at all.
No real frontline or controled terretoriy.

This only comes into play during the inter planetary combat.
And there it was no back and forts , just an all or nothing.
You controle the planet entirely,
have an loop to ship your units there to ruin the ecomony while yours is safe at the other side of the sunsystem,
or destroy the planet entirely with the Deathstar of your choice.

I've tried a few more because I thought I just didn't grapsh then concept,yet. But it felt like such a step backwards from Supreme Commander that I couldn't wait to uninstall it again.


PS: Similar feeling abouts Beyon Earth vs Civ V.
Lets replace the Barbarians with "Aliens" and let eveyone try to win a science victory, whats the worst that can happen?

 

[Fallow]

This is going to see be blasted ten ways to Tuesday for some of these entries, but, yeah. Proviso that I'm only including games that I still played to the end of, and that the urge to stop playing came long before the actual end of the game. However, this doesn't include apathy, only the desire to stop, rather than indifference as to doing so.

So, on that note:

-Diablo II: Yes, I think this is a "good" game. Yes, I acknowledge the influence it's had on the ARPG genre. No, I didn't particuarly enjoy playing it, to the extent where I prefer D1 and D3. While it started off strong, by the time I got to Act III (those damn fetishes), I'd let the fatigue sit in.

-Metal Gear: As in, the original. And anyone who tells you that the first installment of a series is the best needs to get their head checked. The entire thing was a drear, both in gameplay and story. Admittdly, Metal Gear Solid was the first game of the series I played, but going back to this game...well, as a fan of the series, I only played through to the end from a sense of obligation.

-Metroid Prime: Hunters: Hand cramps. Hand cramps galore. Oh, and repetitive bosses, an uninteresting story, and did I mention hand cramps? Not only is this easily my least favorite Metroid game, but it's the only one on this list that actually hurt me physically to play due to how awkward the control scheme is.

-Resident Evil Gaiden: The worst Resident Evil game I've ever played. The music sucks. It's hard to the point of insanity. The story is lacklusture. It's not counted among RE canon, and while I'm an inclusionist by default, I can't say I'll mourn it.

That seems like an important distinction.


Dragon Age: Inquisition: Soooooo fucking slow with absolute mongoloids for companions. I really really didn't like this game, yet felt compelled to go through it for the story (I really liked DA:O and DA2). I had to punch the wall every time that Tourette's pants-on-head potato elf opened her mouth, and I kept wondering why BW decided to go all JRPG on the style and lore of a once-great game. I'm a completionist, which was not a good fit with game.

The last remnant: Started playing this when I was sick, with nothing else to do. Holy crap it's frustrating to have no control of your units. The concept was fun, but the implementation was so damn stupid I'm surprised even the grindiest of Koreans didn't give the devs a bonk on the noggin. Atrocious. Fortunately the story made me laugh quite a bit (though I think it was intended as a drama).

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

Black Mirror: I recently got into point and click adventures a bit more... especially slightly more modern ones with more intuitive controls (like how much more efficient it is to play the modernised Monkey Island vs the classic.) Black Mirror I enjoyed when I first played it. The story seemed pretty good, and I enjoyed exploring... then it just stared to drag. I realised that through all the exploring not much of it was relevant, the main character was a genuine asshole and The locales weren't as good looking anymore... just dark and dreary. Characters weren't very memorable, and stuff stopped making sense. I played to the end only so I could play the vastly superior Black mirror 2 without qualms.

Super Mario Galaxy 2: I introduced my ex to games... Got her a WII and exprerimented to see what she would play. She loved Super Mario Galaxy, and we played it until we had all 120 stars as Mario AND Luigi! This meant playing some levels, over and over, until complete. I was the 'player 2' who could shoot enemies with little star bits to distract them as the ex took them out... I was also on standby to complete the 'hard bits' for her. (In fairness, some were annoyingly fiddly... especially with Luigi's degraded controls). This was fine... we played it to completion and that was great. Then the sequel came out... and of course we had to do it again... But of course, Mario games do that annoying thing where only half the content it new... this meant that half the bloody levels were actually from the 1st game, with (very) minor differences, which some of those were Mario 64 bloody levels in the first place! And the fact that you have to visit worlds repeatedly to get all the stars... It. Got. So. Tedious!

FFIII: I bought Final Fantasy III and IV together for the DS. They were the last 2 that I hadn't played... I told myself I had to play them to the end, and I would play III then IV. I had heard good things about IV so I wanted that to be the last FF I experienced from scratch before I completed all the classic ones. So I played III. And unfortunately, I hated it! I really didn't like the gameplay! The Job system wasn't as good as Tactics or V (well, it was the first time it was done) and I didn't like it that much, then I just didn't like the story and hated the nails dungeons. (Have to save outide then get all the way to the final boss AND win without saving... all this with some enemies that have 1 hit kill attacks, for some reason...). Gah... had to drag myself through that knowing the entire time that there was a better game next!

 

[Aerosteam]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 on Veteran difficulty. I was so mad at it after completing it that I deleted all of its local content in my Xbox 360 so I can't go back to it.

 

[Major_Tom]

I quit Company of Heroes 2 after the second mission. In the next mission we probably murder puppies and burn down an orphanage while riding bears or something.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Legend of Dragoon - Dialogue was awful, music was lackluster, gameplay was finicky as hell, couldn't care less about the characters. It failed on pretty much every point it could as a JRPG.

 

[SmugFrog]

Planetary Anihilation.
the terrain is plain and spheric enough to matter little or not at all.

I've been so disappointed with that game. I check on it every now and then to see if they've added anything significant to it, but it looks like it's "complete" as far of their vision of it. What's really sad is that instead of it being Supreme Commander 3, it's more like Supreme Commander LITE. It's just a generic RTS with a neat concept of having planets as the play field, with some Supreme Commander UI and type graphics thrown in for good measure. Such a shame. I can't believe I was contemplating buying this when it was an $80 alpha - so glad I got it on sale, but still, if I could do it again I wouldn't spend more than $5 on it.

One of the more recent games that I just couldn't wait for it to be over was Ninja Gaiden II.... III? Was there a 3? I can't remember now. Whatever - it was the sequel to the Xbox remake. Horrible game. I just wanted it to be over so I could beat it but they kept throwing the same innane boss fights at you. The story had gone off the deep end into the toilet and I didn't care anymore.

 

[shrekfan246]

Uncrowded and Bad Rats.

Apparently, letting people know that I'm open to Steam game gifts to play in Youtube videos has opened the gates to just becoming Jim Sterling, and it's hilarious to watch people play really terrible games.

Sorry if those aren't the edgy, "look at how much I hate [Popular Game]" responses people want.

 

[THM]

Dark Souls 2.

And that's not to say I didn't try it; I did, I really did. I've been watching the playthrough Yahtzee is doingon his personal youtube channel, and it looked interesting, so I went out and got it (accidentally, but that's another story). After three separate play sessions, four different attempts to make a player-character, and about six to ten times I wanted to put my fist through my fucking TV screen, I decided 'Life's too short' and traded it in. There's challenge barriers, and then there's something that's gonna give me an ulcer. I tend to avoid the latter.

 

[Johnlives]

Other people don't like Okami...I thought I was alone.

I also didn't enjoy Rage. The shooty bits were ok but having to drive everywhere got dull quick. Drive quickly in wiggly lines spamming fire in a desert, then in the next section drive quickly in wiggly lines spamming fire in a desert. Plus there wasn't a lot to actually explore, you're just commuting. And the story was silly.

 

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

Dark Souls 2.

And that's not to say I didn't try it; I did, I really did. I've been watching the playthrough Yahtzee is doingon his personal youtube channel, and it looked interesting, so I went out and got it (accidentally, but that's another story). After three separate play sessions, four different attempts to make a player-character, and about six to ten times I wanted to put my fist through my fucking TV screen, I decided 'Life's too short' and traded it in. There's challenge barriers, and then there's something that's gonna give me an ulcer. I tend to avoid the latter.

I love the hell put of the original Dark Souls and I couldn't agree with you more. Dark Souls 2 was a slog to put it lightly. I've made no less than three separate attempts to play through it, all of which ended with me saying 'You know, I could be playing so many other better games right now.' Very few of the new mechanics and changes were warranted or added anything to the series. The whole design philosophy seemed to be completely misguided. Where the first game's difficult was intended to add to the game's foreboding, hopeless atmosphere, the second just tries to be as needless difficult as it can be in a shallow attempt to replicate what people liked about the first. Out of curiosity, did you play the Scholar of the First Sin version of the game?

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I don't really play games that I hate, or buy games known to be pure trash. But I've definitely gotten bored towards the end of long games and just...wanted them to be over.

That was Dragon Age Inquisition to me. Getting charm out of that game was like squeezing juice out of a dessicated orange. Every new area presented itself as a tiresome list of chores...the story and world-building elements swiftly buried under an avalanche of exceptionally tedious and numbing busywork. The game was niggardly with its power creep, too, making the "optional" content feel less than entirely optional. Every fight was a boring slog against a brick shithouse of nigh bottomless hit points, every trip back to base a cumbersome circuit festooned with loading screens so I could entice my gormless companions to vomit up another feeble blot of backstory or exposition. Shuffling units around on the "strategic map" swiftly revealed itself as the most exceptionally tepid Facebook game ever created. Everything was just so...ANTI-fun. You clicked on the tchotchke, now click on 10 more for a tiny jib of experience! You completed a 24 hour mission, here are 3 bits of ore, you need 70 to make that crap sword! Ooh, a companion needs you for a mission! Load for three minutes to spend 30 seconds in a room, then load for three more minutes to get back! Epic!

It was just so achingly mediocre, in almost every aspect of its development. I couldn't even get enthused about hating it because it was so devoid of distinguishing characteristics. Bland, flabby, turgid, badly written, poorly acted.

Just...ugh.

 

[Zen Bard]

Brutal Legend

I barely made it to the second chapter. The game was basically a long series of cut scenes with some basic button mashing wedged between.

Shame really, because it was such a great concept. Especially to a metal head/RPG fan like me.

Sadly, it went back to the bargain bin from whence it came.