Overrated Classic Games

[DeliveryGodNoah_v1legacy]

-Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (this game is...okay, I guess? I mean, I like it, I just don't get why it's so beloved)

This one I can address, and it really is quite simple. It is a masterpiece of game design in every measure. It was simultaneously a "reboot", a reinvention and a resurrection of an old 2D franchise famed for its challenge, rotoscoping and platforming and somehow created a new genre too.

I also maintain, and I will argue this with anyone, that the success of this game is the main, if not sole, reason for Ubisoft going down the path it did, starting with Assassin's Creed, but I'll come back to that. Simply, PoP: SoT was a triumph in every way. It was a game that looked stunning, had a fantastic story, great gameplay and mechanics which tied into all of these things. The Dagger of Time was like the stardust that elevated this game, being the central core of both the story and the rewind time mechanic. That mechanic and its implementation was inspired and whoever came up with and/or implemented it was a genius.

The pace was perfect too, as the player learned to overcome new challenges and enemies, stringing together the impossibly large array of jumps, wall runs, ledge grabs, shimmies, slides, and rewinding time to help with the major downside of such a challenging and punishing game...making a mistake. It gave the players the limited ability to rewind time, but not enough to make the game forgiving. The Dagger also tied into the monsters and Sands themselves.

The characters were fantastic...all two of them, plus one if you include the villain. The Princess was fantastic, the story and their interactions were superb and the ending was sensational. The music and sound were utterly brilliant, capturing the exotic feeling of the levels and the atmosphere. The levels themselves were amazingly designed, from the baths to the gardens, aviary, barracks and what not. Each had its own feeling and challenges and were incredibly rich and immersive.

One thing that winds me up is when people describe the freeflowing combat as like "Batman: Arkham". Games like Sleeping Dogs, Shadow of Mordor, Mad Max, like Arkham shared that reactionary, frenetic combat but it's attributed to Arkham, when they should be attributed to Sands of Time. This game was the first hit I can remember that had that kind of combat, including parkour-style attacks from walls and such.

In summary, Sands of Time is not overrated, not even close. It is a masterpiece of video gaming, a genre defining game that I would further argue is singularly responsible for the parkour elements Ubisoft later popularised in AssCreed and have since become a staple of the generic "The Ubisoft Game" (any asscreed, far cry, watch dogs, etc). Sands of Time was lightning in a bottle that married every part of game design into a whole much greater than the sum of its parts. It was great in every department and I believe it couldn't exist in today's AAA industry. Innovative, challenging, with nods to its 2D ancestors, it deserves to be in any Top 10 games of all time list.

It's also worth mentioning that since Super Mario 64 came out, many, many companies had tried to do a 3D platformer, and failed miserably. For a while it looked like nobody outside Nintendo or Rare could pull it off. Then Sands of Time came out and finally broke the spell. Quite fitting that it should be done by such an iconic (and different to Mario) platforming icon.

This Prince of Persia: Sands of Time love has made me quite happy and made my day.

 

[Hawki]

I liked Other M; except for the ending (worst ending after ME3)

What was wrong with the ending?

I mean, okay, the ending has flaws (that's right Samus, go after Adam's helmet because that's SUCH an important object), but it's flaws are the same flaws that exist in the story/game as a whole.

This one I can address, and it really is quite simple. It is a masterpiece of game design in every measure. It was simultaneously a "reboot", a reinvention and a resurrection of an old 2D franchise famed for its challenge, rotoscoping and platforming and somehow created a new genre too.

You could just call it a reboot and save time.

It was a game that looked stunning,

What?

I played it 1-2 years ago. It hasn't aged well at all visually, especially with its cutscenes.

had a fantastic story,

I'd say it had a lacklustre story.

great gameplay

I'd say "good" rather than "great."

and mechanics which tied into all of these things.

Yes, and?

The Dagger of Time was like the stardust that elevated this game, being the central core of both the story and the rewind time mechanic.

Okay, the rewind time mechanic is pretty novel, but it isn't enough to elevate the game above all its shortcomings.

The pace was perfect too,

Disagree, the pacing is extremely flawed. There's a rhythem that one quickly sees - platforming-fighting-platforming-fighting, etc. That's all you do, and you do it in such a predictable apttern that tedium quickly sets in.

The characters were fantastic...all two of them, plus one if you include the villain.

Five, if we're being generous, but none of them are "fantastic." The Prince and Farah are decent at best, but that's about it.

The Princess was fantastic,

Disagree. Farah is...okay, I guess? She's your typical perky female companion that exists partly as eye candy, partly as a way to prop up the main character. Her arc apparently also revolves around falling for the man who helped sack her city and has unleashed potential armageddon because...that turns on Indian women? I could buy that she's just toying with the Prince to get him to lower his guard, but no, apparently she really does like him for some unexplained reason.

the story and their interactions were superb

Disagree. The story is incredibly simple when you get down to it. "Sands of Time unleashed, bad stuff happens, go stop the bad stuff from happening." That's really it. Oh sure, you can go into minuture, but there's not much worth talking about.

As for interactions, disagree again. Oh sure, some of the interactions are good (the library banter comes to mind), but they're few and far between beyond "go crawl through this hole" or "snark about crawling through holes."

and the ending was sensational.

What, you mean the ending that makes 95% of the game irrelevant? The ending that thinks it's clever with "Kalalukia" but comes off as hackneyed? The ending that makes no sense in its own context (there's no reason for the Prince to tell Farah any of the story, just explain the vizier is a traitor.)? The ending that has a simple boss fight where the strategy is "hack away?"

Yep. "Sensational."

The music and sound were utterly brilliant, capturing the exotic feeling of the levels and the atmosphere.

I do agree there actually.

The levels themselves were amazingly designed, from the baths to the gardens, aviary, barracks and what not. Each had its own feeling and challenges and were incredibly rich and immersive.

Mixed on that, but I'll let it go.

In summary, Sands of Time is not overrated, not even close. It is a masterpiece of video gaming, a genre defining game that I would further argue is singularly responsible for the parkour elements Ubisoft later popularised in AssCreed and have since become a staple of the generic "The Ubisoft Game" (any asscreed, far cry, watch dogs, etc).

Even if it's influential, that doesn't mean it's "good." And as I've stated, there's too many flaws in the game for me to consider it a "masterpiece."

Look, if you like it, more power to you. I mean, I do consider it a net positive at the end of the day. But I can't say I "love" it.

 

[Yoshi178]

Overrated is entirely subjective, but my vote would be everything made by Nintendo ever.

even universally hated Nintendo games like Metroid: Other M?

those are overrated too somehow?

So I never played Other M because I don't care for the Metroid series, but reviews seem to be positive. Like 8/10 across the board nearly. It can't be that bad.

Metroid Other M isn't a bad game.

But it's a terrible Metroid Game if that makes sense.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Metroid Other M isn't a bad game.

But it's a terrible Metroid Game if that makes sense.

No, it makes sense. Opinions on whether or not Other M is bad will differ, but I believe most Metroid fans will agree with the second part of your statement.

 

[Naldan]

Let's do this

Bunch of RPGs.

What RPGs do you like?

 

[sujalkaushal995]

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[Trunkage]

Let's do this

Bunch of RPGs.

What RPGs do you like?

Who said I didn't like these ones? They just overrated. Most of it comes down to "This has so much better xyz than Skyrim/Fallout." I do the quest and its still just a fetch/kill quest with very little added. And there are slides at the end that "makes your choices matter."

I was talking to someone the other day about how much they loved the Goodsprings fight in New Vegas, particularly as an example of a good choice in New Vegas. I pointed out that that exact same choice happened at the start of F3 with Megaton. Just with a Karma Meter instead of Faction Meter (a decent distinction, mind you.) But, as usual, those meter became the focus and not the actual quest. I think its because they're trying to inflate quests from NV well above F3 when only some are better and a few are worse. (F3 is definitely more wacky which might be a turn off.) I can see some of writing is way better than F3 but some is way undercooked (probably from the development time but then I played Pillars of Eternity last year, and its starting to turn me off Obsidian).

New Vegas is annoying becuase it puts you on rails for such a long time. The Witcher can only be played on its terms. I liked how F3 let you choose the way you play and lets you actually explore. But I understand that this comes at the cost of story and character

 

[gameicreate upload]

all of the DOOM games

I agree with you. all are Doom games and it was lot of hyper to quake.

 

[stroopwafel]

Doom, Metro, System Shock, Deus ex human revolution, max payne 3; all those games are pretty overrated imo.

 

[jademunky]

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was one of the worst games in the series (well, if you don't include those CDI ones). Not actually a bad game but had so many questionable design choices (water temple) and padded it's length to such an insane degree (mandatory horseback sections) that I just find it boring. Also Navi.

Majora's Mask, IMHO represented a refinement of what worked in the previous game. Like people at Nintendo said "ok, our mechanics and visuals are solid, lets take the padding out and focus on ways to get the player into the action quicker and tighten both the design of the game world AND the story itself so that it is actually a factor in the gameplay."

 

[CaitSeith]

I liked Other M; except for the ending (worst ending after ME3)

What was wrong with the ending?

Spoiler: Samus doesn't get to be the hero in the final climax

In the final battle, you don't get to shoot MB. Instead, Madeline freezes her with a freeze gun, and the military shoots her down. Meanwhile, Samus might as well had been background furniture during that climax. Then the Colonel tries to get Samus kicked out of the place, and she didn't even tried to defend her position or Madeline's. She even didn't get to save Madeline from the military (that feat goes to Anthony). So, what did she get as her big ending? A pointless boring inner monologue scene.

I mean, okay, the ending has flaws (that's right Samus, go after Adam's helmet because that's SUCH an important object)

Nah, that was post-game content. At least it gave a more proper final boss fight and the classic escape sequence. It's a shame that hard mode doesn't have it.