So Much Untapped Potential

[Woe Is You]

Watchmen: The End Is Nigh. It had everything good going for it, but the battle system was reduced to "Punch 1, Punch 2 and The Other Key" everything had to be done using a combination of the three. Although I have to admit, it's still really awesome to play as Rorshach (Nite Owl who?).

It isn't the amount of buttons that's the problem in a game like that. One of the most intricate fighting games of all time uses a stick and three buttons and combinations of those for kicks, punches, blocks, throws and a whole load of counters for those.

(For the record, that game is Virtua Fighter 5.)

RTS: More strategy in my games and less tactics

Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron and Total War come to mind. You might also like Gary Grigsby's games, though those aren't real-time for the most part.

 

[skcseth]

Bully: Scholarship Edition!
That game's premise seemed like so much fun, until I played it. It's just really glitchy and the character movements just aren't that fluid. The story is great and the writing had a sense of humor that was perfect for the game, but the gameplay just drug the game through the dirt.

 

[The AI]

Oh my god. When I read your question, one game popped into my mind.

OBLIVION.

I was so hyped for that game. I had spent months hearing nothing but greatness about it. When I finally got it, I popped it into my disk drive and hopped right into it. At first I didn't know what to think. It wasn't bad... but I didn't love it either. As I played it more, I realized something. This isn't the game they promised me! I was hoping for a huge, open world RPG hearkening back to the days of Fallout and other classics in which I could be whoever I wanted to be. What I got was basically Grand Theft Equine.

It's not bad in the least, and has some moments of sheer brilliance (like when you do actual role playing), but (as Yahtzee said) everytime I started to feel immersed in the game world, some NPC starts humping the geometry or engages in an IQ-lowering conversation with another NPC. I soon got bored of the game and shelved it until I started getting into the business of modding. After that, it finally started to live up to its potential. All I can say for people who want to buy the game is GET THE PC VERSION.

Thank God Bethesda learned from their mistakes with Fallout 3.

Another game that had this effect on me was Spore, though 10 times as hard. I literally expected an experience that woul be nothing like anything other and would be the end to gaming as we knew it. Boy oh boy, was I wrong.

Coming back to it, it's a ton of fun, just not the earth shattering game that everyone expected. Besides, the content editors were so unreasonably awesome that they justify the full price of the game and its expansions. So, it arguably realized its potential more than Oblivion.

/wall of text