Games you restricted yourself from due to negative criticism

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Greetings weird sentient mounds of opinions and potential sustenance! Have ye postponed acquiring any games that you actually enjoyed due to listening or reading bad criticisms? Maybe during a sale that you thought 'fuck it, no-one's looking enough to judge and I'm pretty bored' that turned out much more fun than anticipated?

I would be obliged to add 'Song of the Deep' to this. Probably due to Yahtzee's clip that gave a completely different impression than I eventually received. I have far more rambly opinions on that, but it seriously ain't worth it. However, it did highlight an issue that I find quite intriguing; the effect of criticism on the public who may not be be able to formulate their own opinion from experience, and their willingness to believe more in negativity than anything else.
Though it could be a logical symptom of a society being fed a barrage of marketing intent on highlighting positivity in whatever needs to be sold. However, that matters not...have you been pleasantly surprised by a game that you assumed to be shit due to a less-than-positive critical reception?

 

[Prime_Hunter_H01]

Tom Clancy's The Division. I do enjoy my loot shooters, and after giving it a chance, the whole problem with the game is the name Tom Clancy.

You expect a semi realistic tactical shooter, where at this was Borderlands in New York. It is actually a really good loot shooter, it feeds you a good amount of high rarity items, and you have a nice selection of abilities to choose from. Though for its best shot at success, it should have been a new IP just called The Division. Despite launch problems, the Tom Clancy sub brand is probably what biased a lot of outlets and made its critical reception worse.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Tom Clancy's The Division. I do enjoy my loot shooters, and after giving it a chance, the whole problem with the game is the name Tom Clancy.

You expect a semi realistic tactical shooter, where at this was Borderlands in New York. It is actually a really good loot shooter, it feeds you a good amount of high rarity items, and you have a nice selection of abilities to choose from. Though for its best shot at success, it should have been a new IP just called The Division. Despite launch problems, the Tom Clancy sub brand is probably what biased a lot of outlets and made its critical reception worse.

Yeah, I kinda found it a bit alright, even with a distaste for new York in game settings. It had a reward system that was ok and they put a lot of attention to detail, which as a pedantic 'artist' I find appreciable.

 

[tippy2k2]

A handful off the top of my head...

Mirrors Edge (the first one, I haven't played the second one yet because...well...I've heard it's bad so that's another that might end up here eventually):

I had wanted to play Mirrors Edge just because it was such a unique concept that I felt like I had to get it. The reviews were quite rough to it so I held off buying it. While the game isn't 10/10 GotY material, I really enjoyed Mirrors Edge and probably would have been fine paying $60 for it rather than waiting.

Dragon Age Inquisition:

Yes I know, Bioware became da devil after Mass Effect 3 but I waited on DA:I because I had heard it was an absolute shit show on the 360 so I wanted to wait until I got my Xbox One before buying it. So maybe this example doesn't count since it WAS a shit show on the 360 but I'm very glad I waited to get it as I really enjoyed the game once I finally pulled the trigger on my One.

 

[Kerg3927]

I bought Mass Effect Andromeda at launch, but shelved it after only a few hours. Bioware announced they were rolling a bunch of patches to address a lot of the criticism, so I figure I'll wait and play it this summer. I'm also very apprehensive of playing it anyway because I didn't like DAI, and I don't like massive open world games. But I feel like I have to play it because the ME trilogy is three of my favorite games of all time. Even ME3, with its flaws, is an all time great game, IMO. So even if MEA is bad, I feel like I have see for myself how bad. :-/ But not yet.

 

[Prime_Hunter_H01]

Mirrors Edge (the first one, I haven't played the second one yet because...well...I've heard it's bad so that's another that might end up here eventually):

I had wanted to play Mirrors Edge just because it was such a unique concept that I felt like I had to get it. The reviews were quite rough to it so I held off buying it. While the game isn't 10/10 GotY material, I really enjoyed Mirrors Edge and probably would have been fine paying $60 for it rather than waiting.

Mirrors Edge Catalyst I would say fits here too. The man complaint I heard was the open world and exp systems. But having played it myself, it feels more like a modern take on the 3d platformers of old. Your exp skills are like the upgrades in abilities and movement you used to get. At at the moment the collectibles don't feel to overdone. Its like finding pieces of what ever in a platformer.

 

[kasperbbs]

Beyond two souls. I was never that interested in it since i didn't own a ps4 and i've watched Jim Sterling shit on it for years, but then a sale came along and i got it in a bundle with heavy rain for 13 bucks. I enjoyed it more than i expected, a lot of things didn't make sense, but after suffering through heavy rain this one was like a masterpiece in comparison.

 

[DoPo]

Heh, how appropriate - I am playing Massive Challice just yesterday. When I first heard of the game, it sounded interesting, but when it came out the reviews made it out to be underwhelming. I waited for a sale and eventually started playing it yesterday. It's actually pretty cool. It's sort of XCOM mixed with Crusader Kings and Rogue Legacy is the best way to describe it. You have to fight evil monsters in a tactical map and between the encounters you have your strategic map where you can do research (get new items, buildings, etc) and also manage your heroes - each of them has a bunch of traits similar to what you'd find in Rogue Legacy - some may be nearsighted, or slow, others might be better at hitting things and often it's a mix of these. The heroes age and die, but you can set up marriages for them to produce heirs and even "breed" new classes by combining parents with different ones.

I actually find it quite fun. Heck, even Simon Templeman is doing voice acting there - had I known, I would have tried out the game much earlier.

 

[wings012]

I might have bought Dawn of War 3 on release if I hadn't heard all the lukewarm responses to it. Right now I'm waiting for a sale or additional content.

Maybe I'll find it more fun than I expected when I finally do get it. Which is some time off I expect.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

I would consider it a personal character flaw to be so untrue with myself and betray my desires for a reason as petty as other random folks' opinions about something I myself value highly. By virtue of my interest being piqued, value has been endowed upon the game and nothing can ever shake that even a tiny bit. If anything, criticism of something I myself value is a sign I have work to do, correcting folks' wrong notions. It redoubles my enthusiasm in supporting something as opposed to make me want to abandon it in a cowardly and inauthentic manner.


Now, if we talk about something I know zero things about, I will place some weight in the opinions other people have and I will use them as some degree of barometer in deciding weather something warrants further investigation, but that is NOT a 1-1 ratio. For example, someone might have a negative opinion of something that sounds awesome to me, so while you would think that this opinion would dissuade further investigation, in my case it would encourage it.

Basically, I surgically remove facts from the opinions they are couched in and only ever pay attentions to those, disregarding the emotional and taste-based subjectivity found within typical opinions.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Too many to list, there's about 100 'not interested' titles in my Steam that are nothing more than Pay 2 Win Korean MMO's, and MOBA ports.

 

[Tiamattt]

Surprisingly I can only think of one specific example: Might & Magic Heroes VII

I was a long time fan of the series, saw the announcement for 7 a while back and was interested to see how it'd turn out. Now a mediocre score like 6/10 can be forgiveable, like there might still be a worthwhile game but with some annoying design choices. But then I read that there were gamebreaking bugs along with the company itself saying that it wouldn't support the game anymore/fix the bugs.....yeah that just screams stay the hell away. Hopefully someday 8 will be made with less issues.

 

[BrawlMan]

Legend of Korra on the consoles. The game may not be a 3/10, but there are major issues of it being rushed. Lok may have been $14.99, but that still felt too expensive for a game that is not that long, and has poor or rushed design choices. Speaking of which...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan - That one was no excuse, and I don't want Platinum ever work with Activision again. Such a wasted oppurtunity. I took it back couples later without opening it, and got my refund.

Star Fox 0 - No option for traditional controls killed it for me. Miyamota, Nintendo, nobody but you care about motion controls anymore. Stop forcing it down peoples throats.

 

[MysticSlayer]

I stayed away from Dragon Age 2 for a long time because of all the negative criticism. I think I eventually picked it up on sale since I had completed Origins and wanted to at least experience DA2 before trying Inquisition. While I did get annoyed by the repeating dungeons, the game otherwise was absolutely fantastic, and I have no shortage of love for the story, characters, and combat, all of which far more than make up for the lazy/rushed environmental design. The game now is sitting rather comfortably in my Top 5 favorite games.

Gone Home is the other major game in recent memory. I knew the game was contentious, and it was pretty clear the reason often fell along political lines, giving me the impression the game got really political at times. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. It was a very nice, albeit predictable, coming of age love story, and frankly we don't have a lot of good love stories in games (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is the only other one I can think of). And for a "walking simulator", it did a pretty good job keeping the focus on interacting with the environment, not simply walking into cutscenes.

 

[The Wykydtron]

I delayed getting Undertale because it was either the best game ever made or degenerate cancer ruined by its fanbase (which is at least half true unfortunately) depending on who you listen too. I managed to play it unspoiled at all so I had a good time.

Now i'm pretty much over other people bitching about a good game though. I think it helped that I play a decent number of the Visual Novels on Steam so I have to deal with my friends ribbing me about the title of the newest weeb game I picked up so I developed a thicker skin over it. I play Anime Hearthstone daily too. (AA0 rank boys, Master tier here we come) Funny how my dumbass gimmick decks do work even with 3 expansions and counting. Suicide Blood has fuckin' carried me through AA0 and I do not know how. Optimal play on turn 4 is to play a slightly over-stated minion that automatically reduces your health from 20 to 10 for god's sake.

People were bitching about the Prey 2017 trailer looking like garbage but the game is surprisingly excellent. It's pretty much what Dishonoured should have been in terms of mechanics and it is set in space which as we all know is the best setting for anything ever. I thought Arkane were losing their touch with Dishonoured 2 being pretty mediocre but new IPs (cmon Prey is basically a new IP after all this time) are their forte by the looks of it. Prey 2'll be mediocre and uninteresting I bet.

Also I wished i'd picked up playing Dungeons and Dragons sooner, the thing about it being the ultimate nerd watershed was holding me back until some friends got me into it almost by force. We were playing the multiplayer version of Baldur's Gate 2 which is pretty much computer DnD and I was bored to tears so we decided to actually play the game it was based on.

 

[Imre Csete]

It's going to be Fallout 4, eventually. The butchered RPG mechanics, asinine dialogues and the DLC focus on filler base building turned off everyone I know of.

Haven't picked it up yet, but I'm planning to. Since it's unlikely to get a complete edition any time soon, because Bethesda wants you to buy the season pass they even raised in price, it could be a while.

I plan to mod the hell out of it so I can get my post apocalypse fix. I don't expect greatness from it, but should pass the time.

 

[happyninja42]

Mass Effect Andromeda is the only one that comes to mind at the moment, though I am sleepy. I wasn't really eager for it in the first place, but then all of the complaints made me not get it at all.

Oh, well, AC: Unity would be one. I held off for a few years due to the graphic problems. By the time I played it, they'd fix the glitches so it ran just fine.

I'm sure there are others, but since i didn't get them, I don't remember them atm.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I would consider it a personal character flaw to be so untrue with myself and betray my desires for a reason as petty as other random folks' opinions about something I myself value highly. By virtue of my interest being piqued, value has been endowed upon the game and nothing can ever shake that even a tiny bit. If anything, criticism of something I myself value is a sign I have work to do, correcting folks' wrong notions. It redoubles my enthusiasm in supporting something as opposed to make me want to abandon it in a cowardly and inauthentic manner.

Haha, I like the cut of your jib. I don't let other people's opinions influence my gaming picks much at all. I can tell from gameplay with at least 90% accuracy if I'll like the game or not. I pre-ordered Prey and I'm loving it because I know exactly what kind of games Arkane makes and I love their games. Even if their next game isn't on point, there's sadly no other devs making games like them so it's worth taking the chance anyways. The hardest games to judge are the ones that story and characters are the main draw like Telltale games or the new Nier Automata. I'm apprehensive about Automata because I didn't find the story of the 1st one to be nearly that great and anything anime-ish are the most overrated things ever from anime that are rated as masterpieces by the majority being train-wreck bad IMO. I played the demo and the gameplay is fine, nothing special but I feel like the story will disappoint me thus spending my time doing something else will probably offer up more enjoyment.

I stayed away from Dragon Age 2 for a long time because of all the negative criticism... The game now is sitting rather comfortably in my Top 5 favorite games.

I remember Greg Tito getting blasted for his perfect score of Dragon Age 2 here on the Escapist (just looking it up now, the review has 507 comments). There's no such thing as saying things as XYZ game is "at best an 8" or "at worst like 6" that so many gamers feel is objectively true. Tito values the actual role-playing aspect of role-playing games, which is a lost element of the genre (at least in video game form). What I want from reviewers of anything is how much they enjoyed the game and rate it based on that, we rarely get that in video game reviews anymore. I'd rather play something someone truly loved vs playing a game getting consistent good/great scores just because it checks off all the right boxes.

People were bitching about the Prey 2017 trailer looking like garbage but the game is surprisingly excellent. It's pretty much what Dishonoured should have been in terms of mechanics and it is set in space which as we all know is the best setting for anything ever. I thought Arkane were losing their touch with Dishonoured 2 being pretty mediocre but new IPs (cmon Prey is basically a new IP after all this time) are their forte by the looks of it. Prey 2'll be mediocre and uninteresting I bet.

I love Arkane's games. The thing is they are really the only ones making games that focus on giving the player as much creativity as possible. And, with the industry still all into open world games, they are also one of the few devs that consistently put quality above quantity. Lots of people here were like 'Prey is just BioShock/Half-Life in space' or just a lame System Shock. Even if that would be true, the last BioShock was 4 years ago and we ain't getting another one, and the last Half-Life or System Shock was over 10 years ago. We don't get many of these type of games anymore, why not give it a try if you like those type of games? Even then, Prey is more open-ended and allows more creativity than those games because that's Arkane's thing so Prey was never going to be just BioShock in space. I found Dishonored 2 to be really good but it did do some things worse than the 1st game (like the alternate ways to eliminate targets wasn't near as elaborate); however, it did some things better like level design was better IMO. Dishonored 2 was still chalk full of player creativity, Arkane's specialty.

 

[springheeljack]

Mass Effect Andromeda is definitely one for me. I wasn't super stoked that there was going to be another Bioware game due to my problems with inquisition but I thought I might give it a go and see. Of course then I heard what and utter shit show it turned out to be and how they apparently got everything they used to be good at wrong. So I probably won't ever buy it.

Oh I guess the last two Batman games fit into this as well

 

[lacktheknack]

Arkham Asylum? Brilliant. Arkham City? Superb.

I'll never touch the next two. Ever.