Those games that only you seemed to like.

[FakeSympathy]

We all have one or two of these games. The games that are known by many to be horrible if not just okay, but you and those in the minorities seemed to like it. What are those games.

For me;

Dragon Age 2
Now, I agree they severely cut down the character customization by allowing human race only, and the story was pretty weak, but I see its own Pros here and there. The prosecution of mages as dangerous threats relates to racism happening within our world. The fights now longer feel slow, and is more fast paced. The UI is more cleaner than DA:O. The class system allows players to be more free in creating unique ones.

Fallout 4
Seriously, people! Calm down on metacritic. Yes, the game may not live up to FO3 and NV, but come on, that doesn't mean the game deserves less that 5/10. Yes, the dialogue is very limited but there's no more zooming into npcs and companions face. Yes, the graphics may look not as good as other AAA games, but it is best looking Fallout game to date. Yes, they got rid of the traditional skills set system but they replaced those with complete perk chart which grants similar abilities as would could with skills set in FO3 and NV. And yes, the story is kinda weak, but deciding HIS fate (won't spoil it here) made the faction and ending choice that much harder. FO4 also introduces fully fleshed out weapons and armor customization. Grant it, this was introduced in NV, but they made it so much better.

Batman AK
Okay, so the game got a lot of backlashes from constant crashing, but when the game works, it's a fun game. I will admit bat mobile/tank was bit over done, but you can't deny the fact that you enjoyed the short time you had fun with it (admit it, you enjoyed Riddler race tracks). We all saw the disappointing reveal of Arkham Knight's identity, but players can also understand where does his hate for batman came from. Just like FO4, this was the best looking batman game. gliding around the city at rainy night, rain drops reflecting off the neon-lit signs, etc. Batman still looks badass when he's beating up the thugs, and there's more enemy variants so you can't use same tactics over and over again. And then of course, hallucination of a old friend.

Mass Effect 3
80% of the hate comments I see are from the ending of the game, which should not overshadow the rest of the game. The game looks great, Liara looks sexier, the gameplay is solid, and you meet so many interesting people and learn interesting lores that could rival those of star wars and trek (which is arguable). I won't deny the fact that the ending was crap, but everything else about the game is great.

 

[Dalisclock]

Assassins Creed 3

I totally agree, it's not as good as 2 or 4 by a longshot, but I appreciate the fact AC tried to do something different with the main story. Conner also seems to get a lot more shit then he really deserves, considering his background and situation, though I suspect Haythem taking the first 3 chapters didn't help matters in comparison. The Homestead was also a nice diversion from some of the other AC side quests, giving a sense of Conner building a new life for himself without playing real estate manager(looking at you, Ezio). I also appreciate the fact they finally dealt with the 2012 plot they'd been teasing for 5 games at that point(even if it did leave them with little to replace it with).

To be fair, I'm not defending the fact that Conner got shoehorned into every major event of the American Revolution(Hey conner, watch us sign this REALLY IMPORTANT DOCUMENT THAT YOU JUST HAPPEN TO BE PRESENT FOR!) or the fact it really doesn't feel like an AC most of the time.

It also had one of the best DLCs in an AC game to date, the Tyranny of King Washington, whicb somehow had Evil George Washington with a Laser staff and made it work through sheer refuge in audacity.

 

[baddude1337]

Brink. I actually did enjoy this one quite a bit. Online was kinda fun while it had a player base, and now it's a decent bot shooter to kick back and relax playing. It still has one of the more unique art styles out there, and the world was pretty interesting. Even if they didn't really do anything with it.

Neverwinter Nights 2. Whenever I see anybody talking about this game it's usually about how awful it is. I am personally having a great time with it, a solid D&D based RPG. It's modding community is amazing too, with total remakes of Baldurs Gate and Icewind Dale, along side countless other campaigns. Granted, I haven't played any of the original campaigns yet and went straight to Baldur's Gate Reloaded, but the graphics are great and the controls (which are pretty customisable with multiple different options) are nowhere near as bad as people make them out to be.

Mad Max. The only game I picked up in the winter sale. Maybe it's because I haven't played an open world game in a while so I'm not burnt out on the genre. Or maybe it's because I recently watched Fury Road for the first time. Either way I'm having a blast with it. Sure, it is pretty uninspired in it's design and it is basically 'open world the game', but the mechanics are pretty solid (crappy counter mechanics notwithstanding). Especially the car combat which is great fun once you get a few upgrades.

TMNT: Out Of The Shadows. Honestly I thought this was a pretty solid Arkham clone. The combat was a pretty unique mix of Arkham combat and brawlers, and was just plain fun to play. It even did the whole "multiple characters fight at the same time that you can switch between with team combo attacks" before Knight came around.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I've seen a lot of support for all the games you list, OP. Save AK, which a lot of people seem to have reacted to poorly even if they didn't play the game on PC.

The one game that I alone like (not because of any general criticism, but because I never see or hear anybody talking about it) is Odin Sphere. In fact, most Vanillaware Ltd. games - Odin Sphere, Grim Grimoire, Dragon's Crown...

 

[iseko]

Colonial marines.

A lot of faults but in the end of the day I got too shoot aliens with a pulse rifle and occasionally burn them with a flame thrower. Im not a complex man

 

[josemlopes]

Jagged Alliance BiA, I know its not a true sequel to the older ones since it isnt even turn based, but there are so few games that let you sequence orders in pause and then let it play out that I really enjoyed the experience. Preparing ambushes is so fun in that game.

 

[shrekfan246]

Wow. This is the first time I've genuinely felt surprised at how popular the games listed in the OP of a thread like this were.

Usually they're at least a little bit niche and obscure and actually janky games (exception given to Arkham Knight on PC, of course).

For what it's worth, OP, I'm a big fan of Dragon Age II and Mass Effect 3, and I'm sure I'd be a fan of Arkham Knight as well if I had a PC that could play it.

The one game that I alone like (not because of any general criticism, but because I never see or hear anybody talking about it) is Odin Sphere. In fact, most Vanillaware Ltd. games - Odin Sphere, Grim Grimoire, Dragon's Crown...

I've gotta play Odin Sphere still. I got it as a PS2 Classic on my PS3, but I haven't gotten around to it yet because of everything else. Grim Grimoire looks really interesting as well, though I'm not sure if it'll end up being my thing. I dug Dragon's Crown, but something about the scope of it just felt pretty... limited? and it ended up losing my interest.

Now, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, that's where it's at. I was very glad when that got ported over to the Vita, cause that game is amazing.

OT: Sonic 4 - I've rarely seen anybody else even talking about it, let alone positively. Admittedly, Sega did a real good job of killing it before it was even finished; making it episodic was a terrible idea, and the first episode having such bland level design and poor controls meant that people weren't even inclined to give the second episode a chance (it still has its issues, but they at least did a great job fixing up the level aesthetics and controls, and the boss fights were actually interesting for once).

Also, in the light of Sonic Boom, everything except Sonic '06 looks even better to me just by proxy.

Blackguards - It got a bit of publicity when it came out, and obviously did well enough to get a sequel, but that's another game I don't usually see anyone talking about, and if they are it typically involves how much they don't like it. As for me, I'm still only a few hours into the game and I can see how it's perhaps a bit restrictive for peoples' liking, but I've found it to be a lot of fun. Considering that the developer is almost exclusively known for adventure games, I've found it to be a pretty surprisingly solid RPG experience.

Cloudbuilt - Now I'm sure this one has its fans, but aside from way back when TotalBiscuit and Jim Sterling did videos on it, I've never heard it brought up by anyone except me. And it's got way more content than it did back when those two covered it. It's a niche title, as I don't think anything that's basically a cross between Mirror's Edge and Mega Man and is as hard as the latter could not be, but it's such a well-designed game.

Eradicator - Here's another one that I'm sure has a fanbase, particularly because I'm coming to it very late as it was originally released in 1996. It's an old-school DOOM-style shooter. But, most of the emphasis of the game is actually placed on exploring the environment and figuring out little puzzles. There are three different playable characters, which I believe might have their own unique weapons and possibly even levels (I've only played as one of the characters so far; even beside all of that there are something like fifteen different weapons just for that one character). Not to mention that it has a third-person camera mode, which doesn't always work but is far better than you'd expect out of a pseudo-3D FPS that uses 2D sprites for all of its characters and items. I don't know if it was quite so good back when it first released (for one thing, I know a lot of DOS games didn't have great mouse support, and lacking mouse aim is crippling in shooters, even old ones), but coming to it today it really surprised me. Especially since it only came out a year after Star Wars: Dark Forces, which was already a massively innovative spin on what DOOM began.

 

[DefunctTheory]

Fallout 4

Be fair, man. You know 90% of the people who played Fallout 4 thought it was at least serviceable. All the bad numbers are just a display of how disappointed people are. The average playtime for each person is probably still about 30-40 hours though.

Batman AK
I will admit bat mobile/tank was bit over done, but you can't deny the fact that you enjoyed the short time you had fun with it (admit it, you enjoyed Riddler race tracks).

I, in fact, can. I hated the Batmobile, and the first Riddler race track is when I quit the game for good. 100% mess.

Personally, I can't think of any games I liked everyone else hated. I think I may be one of the few people who still does a yearly Half Life 2 clear because I still think its fun, but that's find of different. Kind of hard to find anyone who thought HL2 was junk on release, or even now.

 

[Lufia Erim]

Alpha protocol. Very good game. I seem to be the only person who got the bug free version.

Alan wake. Great story, had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I seem to be the only one who appreciates story in games these days.

Edit: i was one minute late with alan wake.

 

[shrekfan246]

Kind of hard to find anyone who thought HL2 was junk on release, or even now.

Hi.[footnote]I'm intending to give it a third chance pretty soon. It took me a very long time to get past the barrier to entry for Baldur's Gate and Deus Ex, so I'm hoping that with a bit more perspective I can come back and actually find Half-Life 2 fun. If not, oh well.[/footnote]

Eldritch - Never got anyone interested in this game. I really liked it for how it was made, with the running and grappling and hiding and creepy sounds. But it is a rogue-light survival horror that looks like minecraft. That's probably hard to swallow.

Eldritch is pretty good, yeah. It's one I was considering mentioning myself, though I thought it was a bit better-known so I didn't. It's a nice Lovecraft-lite game, too, which are in very short supply in the video game industry. I'd like if it had some more truly horrifying monster designs, though.

Bioshock 2 - Looks like people mostly consider it "meh", but I actually liked it more than both the original Bioshock and Infinite.

I don't like it more than Bioshock or Infinite, but I like the general gameplay more than at least the first game. It also doesn't fall on its face in the final third like the first game did.

 

[Harlemura]

I'm one of those freaks of nature that really, really liked Final Fantasy XIII. Sure, the story wasn't fantastic and the linear hallways got a bit dull, but I really liked the fights. Even the basic fights at the start of the game were pretty fun when you had three party members to be managing and making sure they're all being efficient, which only got better and better as you got access to more and more paradigms. Plus the game's visuals are some of the best I've seen. I know that games shouldn't be judged on graphics alone, but if there's one thing about Final Fantasy XIII that you have to admit was pretty good, it's how it looked.
Also Sazh. Sazh was amazing. I'm surprised people aren't more lenient on the whole game just because it has Sazh.

 

[DefunctTheory]

I'm intending to give it a third chance pretty soon. It took me a very long time to get past the barrier to entry for Baldur's Gate and Deus Ex, so I'm hoping that with a bit more perspective I can come back and actually find Half-Life 2 fun. If not, oh well.

I wouldn't bother. I think we're well beyond the point where ones opinion on HL2 will change, barring brain injury or a major change in mental state.

Not that there's anything wrong with any of that. Different strokes and all.

I'm one of those freaks of nature that really, really liked Final Fantasy XIII.

Now, there's an unpopular opinion that can get you into a fist fight.

 

[Dalisclock]

Also Sazh. Sazh was amazing. I'm surprised people aren't more lenient on the whole game just because it has Sazh.

I think most people will agree that Sazh was a good character. The problem is, Sazh seems like the ONLY good character in the game while the rest are useless, annoying, dull or some combination of the above. As opposed to most FF games where normally you have the one character that most people don't like(Quina, Titus, Cait Sith, Squall(?), whoever people hated in 6) whereas in XIII it's most of the cast that most people don't like.

That and it takes all the flaws of X and magnifies them(Good story/interesting world buried under shitty as hell execution and dialogue, linear gameplay broken up by pretty movies).

 

[shrekfan246]

I'm intending to give it a third chance pretty soon. It took me a very long time to get past the barrier to entry for Baldur's Gate and Deus Ex, so I'm hoping that with a bit more perspective I can come back and actually find Half-Life 2 fun. If not, oh well.

I wouldn't bother. I think we're well beyond the point where ones opinion on HL2 will change, barring brain injury or a major change in mental state.

Not that there's anything wrong with any of that. Different strokes and all.

Well, it's more that I've been expanding the bounds of what I play and, given more time to grow myself, maybe I'll have more appreciation for the game coming to it now than I did three years ago.

I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with the game (other than the overly-long skiff sections).

Get to the Ravenholm if you haven't already. I've ditched HL2 at least three times, but once I've got there it was actually kind of fun.

Yeah, I got to Ravenholm the last time I played, and then shortly after getting out of there I was getting kinda bored again.

 

[The Wykydtron]

I would say Dragonage 2 but clearly enough people in this thread agree that game was decent. Gameplay was pretty meh but I enjoyed the ending.

I guess Comyu? I never see it come up in the Visual Novel recommendation threads and I wonder why every time. Yeah it's not particularly subtle with its subject matter and spin on philosophy but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The art is good, the soundtrack is good, the story has some decent plot twists and the characters are good, if not particularly well developed and the action scenes are pretty well written.

Some people would say that the way the routes are forced in a set order is bad but as much as I would have loved to do Kagome first not last, it would have taken away a lot of the impact since her route is basically the true ending.

I doubt Comyu will come to Steam either, at least not soon. It's not Grisaia levels of funny and/or depressing nor G-Senjo levels of intriguing mystery starring a charismatic villain. It's definitely well above average though.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Hoo boy has this game been getting bashed around here. Which is really funny too, because when it came out, everyone was telling everybody how utterly awesome it was. Unlike everyone else though, I still think it's awesome. I went back to Oblivion and even back to Morrowind some but at the end of the day, Skyrim's just got a better stats and combat system than both, plus a better world than Oblivion by far. Is it perfect? Hardly. But compared to the past ES games, it was an important step forward.

ESV also lends itself really well to RPing. And no, you're not gonna have EVERY SINGLE option to RP your character EXACTLY how you want them to be. But dang, they still put a lot of effort into it FFS! I also hate how people keep ragging on Bethesda for churning out a "mediocre" product with Skyrim. WTF? No one yet has EVER been able to do a better job at what Elder Scrolls can do than Bethesda themselves. And don't give me any of that Witcher 3 crap. Witcher 3 is a much more focused game than ES. More on rails. And this is neither good nor bad. They're just different games.

 

[Hawki]

Got a few:

Aliens: Colonial Marines

Alright, let's dive straight in. First, let's get two things out of the way. First, the trailer Gearbox released was far better looking, and far better playing than the game. Second, by all accounts, development of this game was a mess. Funny that a game that expresses its contempt for Alien 3 ends up having similar problems. But hey, I like Alien 3. And perhaps even more controversially, I like Colonial Marines. But why?

Well, for starters, I didn't encounter any glitches - certainly nothing like the "hello my baby" clip that went viral. Secondly, I found it enjoyable. Flawed, but enjoyable. I liked how human enemies were incorporated, how it dictated different tactics from the xenomorphs. I liked the health and inventory system. Story wasn't special, but it wasn't awful, and I think it certainly captured the feel of Aliens. I certainly found myself using the motion tracker a lot, even if it wasn't needed. While the game was pitiful in some cases (e.g. the final boss fight) or frustrating in others (e.g. the power loader fight), I still felt it was quite tense in other cases. Not a perfect game, but still an enjoyable one, even if it never lived up to the hype. Honestly it's a shame we'll never get a continuation of the story, but I feel that the Alien/Predator/Prometheus universe is one where the setting is the main appeal. That the setting generally remains static, and it's a case of stories being told in that setting that generates the appeal elements. So I can live with it, safe in the knowledge that the marines were probably killed by W-Y, and the USCMC probably bought out, as per Alien vs. Predator (the recent game). I think. Lore's hazy in some areas.

Army Men: Sarge's Heroes

This is kind of a gimp, as I've never really gauged what the general consensus of the Army Men series is, bar it being good at one point, then descending into mediocrity. Certainly the game ratings seem to reflect that. But I will say that yes, I loved this game, regardless of which side of the quality scale it fell on.

Command and Conquer: Tiberian Twilight

Okay, calm down. First, I'll establish, I don't LIKE this game. I quit playing it almost immediately due to the gameplay. It wasn't CnC, and that would be fine if it actually had depth to it, but didn't. It had the numbers of an RTT, welded with RTS mechanics. I want to actually complete it one day and see what it has to offer, but, yeah, don't like this.

That said, I don't hate it as much as most people do, courtesy of its story via YouTube. Yes, this is far from a definitive take, having not actually, y'know, played the game, but I'll say this...I don't mind it. I hesitate to call it good, but I'm sympathetic towards it because of a) from what I've heard, CnC4 was never meant to be a CnC game, and the developers were trying to make do with the best they had in terms of budget and time, and b) it's...different. Very different, actually, compared to the tone of previous games. Now I'd argue that each Tiberian (and Red Alert) game has had a different tone from its predecessors, and Twilight continues that trend. It's by far the most personal story, and by far the most mystical. That can turn people off, but consider the leap from Tiberian Dawn to Sun, as we go from "near future setting" to "sci-fi adventure setting." Tiberian Twilight I can sympathize with, and even admire from that angle. And one thing this game definately deserves props for is its music.

Like I said, don't really like the game, but more forgiving to it than most.

Diablo III

Ah, Diablo III. General consensus I get nowadays is that, some vitriol aside, D3 is at least a good game. Whether it measures up to D2 (a game I don't like...yes, feel free to flame me) is another matter, but like I said, most seem to agree that it's at least decent. But what about pre-Reaper of Souls? Anyone remember the absolute vitriol the game got back then? How it had a rating of 3/4 out of 10 on Metacritic as a user score? Remember that? Because I certainly do. Enough to make me go "whoah," and think, "okay, I better play D1 and D2 before this, because if I end up liking this game, I'm in for some trouble." So, play through D1 and D2 I did. Finished them, thoughts on them aside, I played D3. And...well, I liked it. And this was before RoS.

Maybe it was inevitable that D3 got the backlash it did. You have to deal with a wait of 10-plus years, what was effectively a different developer (Blizz South, not Blizz North), and a different game in almost every regard bar the four act premise and selection of classes, and even they were different (e.g. actual characters rather than blank slates). But...yeah. I thought, and think, D3 was/is good. I liked the gameplay, I liked the story, I didn't notice (or care, to be honest) about any loot drop rates that so many cried foul of. To be honest, gear is a means to an end for me in these games, not an end in itself. If it gets the job done, I don't care how shiny it is. And yes, I liked the story. And even if I agreed with the notion of it being bad, I have to ask, "why?" D1 basically had no story,* D2 had a lackluster story, Torchlight manages to get by with basically no story at all, and I gave up on Path of Exile by act 2, but wasn't impressed either. And yet, D3 was the one that got the flak.

So yes, liked, like, D3. Right from the start, to be honest. In all fairness, having played D2, I can understand why people may not like it, because of how different it is. But having played D1 and D2 before it (and I actually like D1), D3 still manages to be my favorite Diablo game.

Sonic the Hedgehog (early 3D games)

Okay, this is weird - there are some Sonic games that are universally loved (usually the 2D ones up to Sonic & Knuckles). There's some Sonic games that are universally hated (Boom, 2006). Then there's every other game, in which case I can't cite a consensus at all. There tends to be, um, trends (e.g. Generations and Colors tend to be liked), and one of them in particular caught my eye - the idea that 3D Sonic games were never good until those games. To which I scratch my head again, because I thoroughly enjoyed Adventure, Adventure 2, and Heroes. I wasn't until Shadow that I felt the series started going downhill, and I was still enjoying the 2D games. And it wasn't as if 2D stinkers hadn't existed before (e.g. Sonic Labyrinth, the early racing games, etc.) So when did this become a thing?

There was a YouTube reviewer on why the series is so divisive in regards to its gameplay, but I will say that yes, I enjoyed the Adventure games and Heroes. Perfect? No. Adventure 2 has to deal with tedious level design in the Knuckles/Rouge stages, Heroes's story is lacklustre, and Adventure 1 has to deal with Big. Plus, there's the sense that in both of these cases, the Sonic stages get the priority, while the other characters don't fit in so well. But in spite of all this, yes, I did enjoy this era of games. Certainly more than, say, Unleashed, with the introduction of the Boost mechanic. Here, I felt far more in control of the characters. Going fast, yes, but not where I have to "press button to go."

Star Fox Adventures

There's some games I'm leaving off this list. For instance, StarCraft II - it's had its share of flak, but not so much that I feel like I'm in a minority for liking it. Likewise, Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, or Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. RPGs I actually like, but don't feel the need to defend for whatever reason (e.g. TTA being a poor man's FFX, or TBS not living up to its predecessors). Yet I feel the need to list Star Fox Adventures, because I feel the flak it's recieved has been retroactive in nature. As in, when it came out, I enjoyed it, a friend of mine enjoyed it, and...yeah. Yet I feel in recent times it's become the black sheep of the franchise. But why?

Well, for starters, I'll establish it's far better than Command, which was a drear. But yes, SFA is arguably a poor man's Legend of Zelda, having the elements of gameplay, but being linear. Second, it's arguably out of place in its setting. Dinosaurs, magic, etc. Doesn't help that this game was once meant to be called "Dinosaur Planet" with original characters and whatnot. Yet I feel the game is enjoyable enough to be...well, enjoyed. For better or worse, it did introduce Krystal. It did feature Star Fox characters. It did establish Sauria as being part of the setting, and remaining part of said-setting in Assault. It's the odd one out, but still a fun odd one out, I'd argue. I feel no Star Fox game has ever matched Lylat Wars, but that doesn't stop me from still liking Adventures (and Assault, for that matter).

Edit 1: Half-Life 2

Wait, people dislike this game? As in, enough to put one in a minority? Huh.

Well, to be honest, I don't particuarly like Half-Life 2, but I don't dislike it either. It's a very mixed bag for me, in both gameplay and story. Sometimes it works excellently, sometimes it doesn't. It's average, but in the sense that the good and bad balance out for me, rather than it being "huh, that was okay." But not a bad game by any means IMO.

*Note that when I say "story," in this context I mean "plot." Under the Five Elements of Story Paradigm, D1 actually excels in worldbuilding, but that's still one element out of five.

 

[Kingjackl]

I was going to bring up Mass Effect 3, but it seems I've already bee beaten to it in the first post. My controversial opinion is I actually think it's the best game in the trilogy, with 2 being the worst. 1 had the best writing, but was marred by dated gameplay and a terrible inventory and upgrade system. 2 had great moments and a more realised world, but suffered severely in the writing and the over-simplification of gameplay elements. 3 had the best balance of action and RPG gameplay, and the writing did it's best to tie up some of 2's mistakes. Obviously not enough to save it in the end, but I appreciate it nonetheless.