Games you Love Despite Objectively horrible gameplay?

[RJ 17]

In case it hasn't been mentioned yet: Dynasty Warriors.

Man, I used to love me some DW...to the point where I actually had to make the conscious decision that after DW6 and DW6 Empires I was done with the series. No big falling out (apparently I'm one of the few people that LOVED DW6 and it's Empires rendition...except for what they did to Dian Wei...that guy is 7 different kinds of worthless in DW6 xP) with the game series, I just thought it was time I gave it a rest.

The problem with the DW games is that every - single - one is at it's core the exact same game: charging through hordes of generic soldiers, slaughtering them as I pass, until you come up to a general which is only marginally more difficult than the generics (so they give the bosses what I call "God Mode Aura" which makes your attacks do next to no damage while making them able to kill you in two hits). What did it for me was the story and the characters. I LOVE the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story and alllllll the characters, and that's what it was about for me. I grew up playing the RotTK games, so when I found out that the DW series was all my favorite names and people from those games only fleshed out with 3D character models, I had to get in on it.

I had every DW game since DW4, so that's 4, 5, 5E, 6, 6E, and I picked up Warriors Orochi along the way, which got me interested in the Samurai Warriors series, so I ended up picking up SW2 and 2E as well. After DW6E, I made my vow that I was finally done. Hell, that was 9 - count'em, NINE (5 DW games, 2 SW games, and 2 Orochi games) - games that are all basically the exact same from a gameplay standpoint...and the gameplay wasn't even that great...as I said: just mowing down hordes of generic soldiers while you yourself are a god until you get to the final boss of the stage then HE becomes the god. 9 frickin' games that are all the same...now THAT takes some brand loyalty! It's easily the series that I've had the most installments from by a very wide margin. So I decided it was time to retire the series and move on with my life. That is until those rat-bastards at Koei made Warriors Orochi 3 promising Ryu Hyabusa and Ayane...that was enough to drag me back for one more game (which I loved like all the rest) and round out my collection with a nice even 10. The one thing that could get me to get yet another one would be if they came out with an Orochi Empires. Until then, I had my fun, but it's time to move on.

 

[Raine_sage]

Kingdom Hearts.

I love the first game to death, but every time I play it the camera and jump controls, combined with some occasional awful level design make me completely understand why some people can't stand it.

Man I love this game despite not having actually played it. I had the same problem the jump+camera controls made the platforming to unwieldy for me to manage. It didn't stop me from following the story through lets plays though, I've been thinking about picking up the HD release since they apparently tightened up some of those controls.

 

[IanDavis]

I really don't see the horrible gameplay with most of these titles being mentioned. When I think of "games I love, but have really terrible gameplay", I think of stuff like The Void and Cargo!. No way are they good games, but they're so freaking weird you have to admire that they even exist.

 

[Dango]

Infinity Danger, an Xbox Live indie schmup/Bullet Hell. While I wouldn't say the gameplay (which is the whole game) is objectively horrible, I would definitely say some aspects of it are. It's pretty repetitive and the area you can fly around in is too small too accommodate the fights, but god damn I gotta get the high scores and HOLY SHIT THAT SHIP IS SO HUGE OH GOD GOTTA DODGE ALL THE BULLETS AND ROCKETS AND OH GOD UMPH YEAH.

Still definitely worth the one dollar it costs.

 

[drthmik]

Vampire: The Masquerade Redemption
All the slow imprecision of a point and click adventure game except the enemies can kill you
up to 3 clueless Kamikaze "Helpers"
Lots of bugs
combined with a fun and interesting story, believable characters and a rich world full of posibility

 

[Quadocky]

Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator. A very off-beat game that even with many newer games in existence still stands out as 'Different!' The only problem with it is that the combat is or can be unusually sluggish and not very exciting. It also can be frustrating sometimes because they throw difficulty curveballs like no one's business without warning. Not so much hardcore so much as completely unfair.

Black Sigil: Blade the Exiled. So much love went into this game and is development, yet the encounter rate is VERY high, rendering the game quite tedious overall. But, what so amazing about it is that it really does hearken back to the SNES style JRPGs without being a parody, even going as far as to break tradition and be interesting and inclusive. Its hard to describe really. There is no dramatic plot twists, and the story is pretty straightfoward, but it just works very well because its told in a fashion that is very believable. I just wish the game was more polished and had less bugs, could have been a 10/10 game if it was.

Mage Knight: Apocalypse. Its more of a guilty pleasure really, but this game has a lot of 'quality' to it, yet its just soooo bad. When I mean quality, its like the game WANTS to be awesome and cool, yet the gameplay is so stilted and stiff that it ends up like a cheap-o-rama-cash-in title. Its also the only PC game I know of that was designed for the Soundblaster Xi-Fi soundcard and the EAX advanced HD. Weird really. I think this is another case of a game that could have used a lot more polish to end up more enjoyable rather than an incredible slog of a game. The leveling system involves doing things over and over and over and over again to level them up. Even on the hardest difficulty it can take A LONG time... uuugh.

 

[balladbird]

In case it hasn't been mentioned yet: Dynasty Warriors.

Man, I used to love me some DW...to the point where I actually had to make the conscious decision that after DW6 and DW6 Empires I was done with the series. No big falling out (apparently I'm one of the few people that LOVED DW6 and it's Empires rendition...except for what they did to Dian Wei...that guy is 7 different kinds of worthless in DW6 xP) with the game series, I just thought it was time I gave it a rest.

I'd have at least played 7 before calling it quits on the series. Not because the gameplay changed. naturally it didn't. 7 just marked the games finally making it to the end of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novels, after over a decade. XD It was nice finally having some closure to the campaign, even if the final victor was a huge letdown.


As to the topic, I don't know if I should count games that are deliberately stilted, or designed to be tedious to play through, such as Silent Hill 2, or Spec Ops: the line, so I'll just say the bushido blade games.

Here you had an excellent concept: a fighting game with no health bars. you're fighting with swords, so if you get one hit to the right spot, you're dead. Sounds interesting on paper, but sadly, the limitations of the technology rendered it almost arbitrary.

 

[The_Scrivener]

Although not straight up horrible, FF8's Junction system is so breakable, but I still like the game a lot.

Catherine had really crap controls if you were on the back of the block wall, but was a really amazing title.

The 1-hit KO possibilities and long no-save periods even after/between bosses in Persona 3 and 4 are inexcusably stupid. Nights: into Dreams suffers similar flaws.

 

[The Madman]

Despite being one of my absolute favourite games I have to admit that The Longest Journey is a thoroughly mediocre if not subpar gameplay experience. That said it's also by far my favourite story in the gaming genre with one of the most imaginative settings, beautiful art, and some of the most vibrant and believable characters in the entire gaming genre.

I bloody love The Longest Journey warts and all!

 

[DementedSheep]

I don't that its "objectively" bad but always hated the combat in the first ME and Bioshock. Both just feel really clunky to me.

As far as I'm concerned there is only one correct answer.

Vampire The masquerade - Bloodlines.

Everything about this game is amazing. The world building, the atmosphere, the level design and the quests. At least until about 3/4 of the way into the game. Though to be fair, the World of Darkness (which the game is based on) does have amazing atmosphere anyway, but it was good to see it translated fairly well.
But the game play itself is bloody atrocious.

The shooting wasn't too bad once you sunk some...ok a lot of points into but dear god the melee was terrible. I got through most of the combat killing things using powers, stealth kills or feed.

 

[Kyrdra]

Hmm I think it is Eve for me. It isnt called the prettiest spreadsheet management simulation without a reason, but for me it is just more fun I like the combat even more than in most MMO and the adrenalin rush you get in a fight cant be matched by any game I ever played