Games that you love that don't give you much to talk about.

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Most games on here tend to allow much discussion and debate due to their storytelling nature and other quirks of the medium, yet there are a few that are enjoyable, but you cannot really say much about them other than how good you think they are. Lately for me it has been DriveClub, it is not something that has much capacity to generate conversation, other than "yeah, that's pretty good. It does everything...good. Better than expected." I guess a lot of these are mostly sport/racing party games or the rest, but there are some others that the experience itself needs to be enjoyed first hand and any explanation does no justice to the work. They deserve to be given some sort of spotlight at least. Any unexplainable pleasures like this currently beng utilised by your fleshy human selves.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Roller Coaster Tycoon. I love it, you love it. Everyone and their gopher loves it. But what can be said? Whats there to brag about or discuss outside of roller coasters so intense it kills guests?

 

[tippy2k2]

What is still one of my favorite games (and I have the sequel sitting here ready to go):

XCOM Enemy Unknown/Within

While there are gamers that have played games like Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy tactics, how do you describe a game like XCOM to people who have never played a TRPG? You get to move your guys and then I get to move my guys like chess except the game is constantly stacked against you, your team dies they stay dead so it's common that you have to start the entire game over (with a ton of luck involved too with the RNG), and you also spend half of your time playing base builder.

Maybe I'm just not good at stuff but it's surprisingly hard to describe what XCOM is to someone who isn't a TRPG fan.

 

[Saelune]

If there are any, they are so unable to talk about I cannot think of any. I dont know if its because I can talk about any game I love, or if I just tend to love games I can talk about at length.

 

[CaitSeith]

Let me think... Monopoly for the smartphone. That's all. Normally if I love something but not talk much about it is because: A) I don't want to give spoilers. B) I want to talk about something I know the audience generally hate to talk about.

 

[DoPo]

Maybe I'm just not good at stuff but it's surprisingly hard to describe what XCOM is to someone who isn't a TRPG fan.

Well...there are OTHER games that do turn based combat, too, you know. The entire genre of turn based strategy, for example: Heroes of Might and Magic, Disciples, Age of Wonders. You can also describe it in terms of board games because it's not really that off - that includes stuff like Hero Quest or Dragonlance (which are more of a stripped down D&D) as well as wargames such as Warhammer.

While XCOM is distinct, I don't think it's that unique as to be indescribable. I'd say it's a TBS meshed with a bit of roguelike.

 

[Saltyk]

I'd have to say Einhander. It's a 2.5D shoot 'em up game released by Squaresoft on the PS1. You pilot a ship that can pick up certain weapons from enemies and use them. It has some great music and is pretty damn fun.

And that's pretty much everything you can say about it. It doesn't really have a deep lore or history. There really aren't characters to analyze.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

What is still one of my favorite games (and I have the sequel sitting here ready to go):

XCOM Enemy Unknown/Within

While there are gamers that have played games like Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy tactics, how do you describe a game like XCOM to people who have never played a TRPG? You get to move your guys and then I get to move my guys like chess except the game is constantly stacked against you, your team dies they stay dead so it's common that you have to start the entire game over (with a ton of luck involved too with the RNG), and you also spend half of your time playing base builder.

Maybe I'm just not good at stuff but it's surprisingly hard to describe what XCOM is to someone who isn't a TRPG fan.

I agree with what you say here, xcom is difficult to describe its positives without losing the weight that those positives carry. I remember reading many glowing reviews before playing it, yet everything described, all the screenshots, gameplay clips, they are incapable of showing how artfully that game balances pressure and responsibility without ever seeming like it's being an intentional dick to the player (although the RNG accuracy can go a get fucked, the sadistic bastard!). It was only until I experienced enough of what the game had to offer that it hit home the game was special. All those descriptions could not do the game justice. Am not even a fan of the genre, I...think.

If there are any, they are so unable to talk about I cannot think of any. I dont know if its because I can talk about any game I love, or if I just tend to love games I can talk about at length.

There must be at least one anomaly...somewhere within you! Look deep inside yourself Luke, err, sorry...Saelune! Something you enjoy that you know trying to explain the experience to anybody through words alone will not be enough to portray how it feels. Not enough to break through initial cynicism of the average cynic.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

I'd have to say Einhander. It's a 2.5D shoot 'em up game released by Squaresoft on the PS1. You pilot a ship that can pick up certain weapons from enemies and use them. It has some great music and is pretty damn fun.

And that's pretty much everything you can say about it. It doesn't really have a deep lore or history. There really aren't characters to analyze.

Never heard of that one. Is it on the psn now service do you know? Or any sequels or spin-offs for the world?

 

[Evonisia]

I love "Tetris" but don't feel like there is much to discuss about it for it is just so damn simplistic. What makes arranging colourful blocks into formation so much more engaging than the average game to me? Who knows.

 

[Saltyk]

I'd have to say Einhander. It's a 2.5D shoot 'em up game released by Squaresoft on the PS1. You pilot a ship that can pick up certain weapons from enemies and use them. It has some great music and is pretty damn fun.

And that's pretty much everything you can say about it. It doesn't really have a deep lore or history. There really aren't characters to analyze.

Never heard of that one. Is it on the psn now service do you know? Or any sequels or spin-offs for the world?

Well, I looked up some info. And I can say that is on the Japanese PSN Store. But not anywhere else. I'm not sure if it's playable via Playstation Now. I'd tell you to try Amazon, but the copies I found ranged from $60 to over $500. This is one of those moments I'd loan it to you if I actually knew you.

Nor are there spinoffs or sequels. I read they were developing a sequel at one point, but it got shelved.

I guess, all you can do is try to get it off the Japanese PSN or hope you get lucky and find it in some shop for a decent price (I actually found Attack of the Saiyans in a Gamestop for $20).

It's a great game, but I would never tell you to buy it for any amount that high. It must be rare.

 

[Hawki]

Well, I can nominate:

-Advance Wars (series): I quite like this series. Played all four games, liked them all, liked the characters, the stories, I've commented recently that I would like an Advance Wars 5. Yet, this doesn't offer me much to talk about. The characters are broad archeatypes, and the stories are fine, I guess, but nothing special, and certainly the "Wars World" setting is bereft of any real worldbuilding. The only exception is Days of Ruin, but it's hindered by many people considering it the black sheep of the series, and while I'm not among them, even then, there isn't too much to discuss.

-Battlefield 2: Favorite Battlefield game, but, yeah - what's there to be said? The US, China, EU, and MEC are fighting each other because of...oil, I think? I dunno - looking at the maps I can infer that's the reason, that the US is invading both China and the MEC (in that they're always the invading side when the map allows for that), and whatnot, but, yeah. Not really much to say.

-Doom 3: Yep, another black sheep (you'll see a lot of black sheep on this list). Now, it's no secret that Doom 3 is my favorite Doom game, anymore that it's no secret that it's an installment that most people don't hold in high regard. But even then, there's a lot I can say about Doom 3 in of itself (mostly good), but to actually discuss? There's...not really anything. There's no deeper meaning, no themes, no particuarly interesting characterization...Doom 3 carries itself to me on its gameplay and atmosphere more than anything else. The former is moot to this thread, the latter is something that doesn't bear much weight. It's an interesting take on how a Martian base would actually operate in the 22nd century, shows how hostile Mars itself actually is (and by proxy, how alien the demons are by being able to exist on the surface without any ill effects), and contrasts the two well when Hell 'bleeds over'. Good stuff, but not something I can discuss at length.

-Gears of War (series): This is an odd one. I mean, there's a lot I can discuss about Gears, but that's only if I factor in its EU material, and unless I'm on a GoW site (I've long since given up visiting specific fan sites for discussion for various reasons), I can't count on people to be up to speed with it. So, taking the games by themselves, there's not much to talk about. Gameplay is good. Characters are good, plot is simple, but decent, but, yeah. Not too much to say if I take the games by themselves, and that's something I'd have to do most of the time in general conversation. Halo is similar, but the Halo games, if taken in isolation, do give me far more 'meat', so to speak. Gears is certainly a fleshed out setting, but the average player won't be exposed to it.

-Heroes of the Storm: Love playing this, but lore? Yeah...not much outside head-canon.

-Perfect Dark (series): Apply everything I said about Gears in regards to the "EU-only" material, and you see the same problem. Doesn't help that this is effectively a dead series, and that I get the sense that Deus Ex is the setting that most would prefer to talk about, even though both games started off at similar times, based on similar ideas.

-Torchlight: Well, I like this game. It gets a spot in my top 10 RPG list. But only because of the gameplay. The story/setting is pathetic. Like, astoundingly pathetic. It's always boggled my mind that it was D3 that everyone lambasted for its story, yet it was Torchlight that never got a whif of criticism. And I know it might seem strange to criticize story in an ARPG, but for God's sake, Diablo I did it over a decade before, and did it better. The only thing worth discussing is the 'layers of civilization' idea, and I'm probably giving the game too much credit in regards to that.

Like I said, like this game, but only for its gameplay.

I'm sure I can name others, and I'm not counting games that I love but can't discuss because they're so obscure (e.g. Marathon), but, yeah. There you go. Also helps that I can often find something to talk about in at least one of the five elements of story, so there's that I guess.

Edit: I guess I can also nominate Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie, because as good as those games are, there's not too much to discuss on the story front. And yes, I'm not including Sonic, because there actually is some stuff to discuss there (ducks flying object).

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I guess games that are just pure gameplay, which are quite a lot of them would be a game that's not really talked about a lot. I would say Platinum's games fit the bill like Bayonetta and Vanquish, they're just so damn fun to play, there's really not much to say about either game, you just play them and have blast. Battleborn is the most recent game that I've played a lot of and there's not much to discuss about it other than balance changes to characters.

Maybe I'm just not good at stuff but it's surprisingly hard to describe what XCOM is to someone who isn't a TRPG fan.

XCOM is your very basic turn-based combat that most gamers should know. XCOM's system is really nothing more than DnD's combat system. You have a move action and an attack action basically or you can do 2 move actions or defensive action; that's pretty much standard DnD stuff. Instead of playing as wizards, rangers, rogues, etc., you're playing as soldiers with guns vs aliens (instead of monsters).

 

[Cold Shiny]

I really love Child of Light, but what can you say? It looks nice and it has a cool battle mechanic. That's it. Is a very well designed game, but like the op said, you just can't say much about it.

 

[Saelune]

If there are any, they are so unable to talk about I cannot think of any. I dont know if its because I can talk about any game I love, or if I just tend to love games I can talk about at length.

There must be at least one anomaly...somewhere within you! Look deep inside yourself Luke, err, sorry...Saelune! Something you enjoy that you know trying to explain the experience to anybody through words alone will not be enough to portray how it feels. Not enough to break through initial cynicism of the average cynic.

Eh, I feel pretty confident I can talk about whats great about the games I find great.

Mystical Ninja is a fun action platformer set in Edo Japan where the antagonists are European Aliens who want to turn Japan into a theater stage.

Dark Cloud 2 is a fun action dungeon-crawler RPG with town building and tons of depth in a fun interesting world, that has a bit of everything and does it all well.

Tenchu Z, a game where you're a ninja and actually do ninja stuff. Something far rarer than it should be!

And dont get me started on Morrowind (or do, cause ya know, I can talk about it forever).

Only games I can think that are hard to explain are because they are so weird I dont know where to start, like say, Deadly Premonition, which is a horror investigation game like Silent Hill...except when it wants to be GTA...except when it wants to be something else from that!

Im a passionate person and I enjoy discussing my passions.

 

[SweetShark]

Well most games I see so far in the Thread isn't about that you don't have something to talk about. There are just to old/retro for the most now our days.

I am very positive if you go to very dedicated Forums of specific games series, then you would possible see a lot of discussions of any kins of game.
Hell, even here if someone talk something specific for a game, I am very sure maybe it will have replies. I mean, I created a Thread about DOOM's Plot. A game which you shoot Demons in Space.
Also I am the kind of guy which I can talk about not only for the story of the game, but also for it visuals and the strategies you can use in a game.
Even if you post about a Hentai game you, we can talk about how offencive are or how great is actually the gameplay or even the tits and asses.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Battlefield 4. Its a fun game, the poster boy for devs getting their shit together and fixing their games. They've added quite a lot of free DLC and have been offering the paid DLC for free. The game was the golden standard for netcode until Overwatch came out. There is so much shit in the options menus that PC gamers get turned on when the press Esc. It actually has a server browser when most games out there don't.

But at the end of the day its nothing unique, its simply a very polished and balanced Battlefield game that doesn't offer anything new.

 

[Pseudonym]

Geometry wars (2 or 3).


I would say more about it, but you've pretty much seen the entire premise from the first minute of that clip. Well, perhaps the fact that that player makes it look more boring than it has to be.

 

[Zhukov]

Mirror's Edge.

(Either of them.)

It's something of a love-it-or-hate-it case and it's pretty hard to describe why it's satisfying to pull off a series of smooth stunts or a perfect combat sequence. Nor is there really any narrative or thematic meat to sink one's teeth into.

 

[stroopwafel]

DriveClub and NFS Hot Pursuit for me. Played those games a ton but yeah, what is there to talk about? They're racing games. Though I'll add one thing which is that I wish there were more online race or chase games. The 1 vs 1 Interceptor mode in NFS Hot Pursuit is the most fun I ever had with an online game.