We hates it, precious!

[Singing Gremlin]

I tend to avoid starting threads, because they have pretty much all without exception, failed miserably and served only to make me look like a fool. While this probably is no different, I have regained the levels of optimistic naivety to throw myself at the mercy of you evil internet hounds. So here we go.

I have something of a question. Why is it, that there doesn't seem to be a new game out there that most people don't seem to hate? Forgive the hyperbole, but I am getting a distinctly negative vibe from the gaming community as a whole about pretty much everything.

I shall tell you something. I loved Neverwinter Nights 2. But I've heard so much crap that it isn't a worthy game and is rubbish compared to the original. Now, personally, weighing it up, I think that's a really unfair comment, and NWN 2 is more than a worthy successor. But no, the internets tell me. It is bad. Halo 3? I liked it. I loved both the fables. Mass effect seemed to me to be unholy in its quality. I even thought Crysis was great fun!

I even remember, in the ye olde days of yore, when the original Xbox was but a youngling, playing a game called fireblade. Everyone seemed to hate it, but not me!

Ah, but a little irritatingly logically self deprecating voice tells me, Occam's razor tells you that you're just easy to please! And this is quite likely, but I still think there's either something here I've missed, or when I wasn't looking we all became massively nostalgic about past games and wildly cynical about current ones. So which is it? Am I just easy to please, or are there others out there equally baffled by the degree of hate out there for every game and its dog?

And seriously, if anyone can explain the hate for NWN 2, that'd be nice. I understand the complaints for all the other games, but that one still mystifies me.

 

[Clairaudient]

It's easier to judge than to be judged for your opinions.

 

[Brokkr]

It does seem that a lot of hate is being thrown around about a lot of games. I don't know if it has just gotten more popular to hate games or what, but there are definitely a lot of games out there that don't necessarily deserve the amount of hate that has been leveled at them.

 

[kapzer]

You're absolutely right. There are plenty of games that I like, but in the general gaming community are deemed to be bad games, and people supposedly hate them, even people that have never even tried them.

Don't hate the player hate the game? -shrug- .

 

[Galletea]

I think it's partially a defence mechanism against the fanboys. Things get so raved about that we're sick of hearing it, and when the game turns out to be less than uber impressive we feel cheated and resentful.

 

[curlycrouton]

...we all became massively nostalgic about past games and wildly cynical about current ones. So which is it?

It's both, sadly.
I wholeheartedly agree with you on this, by the way.

 

[kapzer]

I think it's partially a defence mechanism against the fanboys. Things get so raved about that we're sick of hearing it, and when the game turns out to be less than uber impressive we feel cheated and resentful.

You make a valid point too. Since many games these days are a sequel, or a continued franchise, fanboys and fangirls inevitably exist. This means there is already a userbase that is hardcore-obsessed with the game. Many feel intimidated by this and resolve it by 'hating' the game and criticising it and it's fanfolk.

 

[shatnershaman]

Complaints about NWN2:
The camera S-U-C-K-S
Takes up alot more resources than it should
Dumb A.I

There are new games that everyone doesn't hate like Left 4 Dead and NHL 09.

 

[Zippy1313]

Do you mean like Resistance 2? Everywhere I look, people are hating that game. I personally love it and have been playing it a decent amount between everything else that came out. My only gripe with this game is that you can now only carry 2 weapons instead of all of them like you could in the first one.

 

[geizr]

The net is full of whiners who can not be pleased by anything. If something does not fit their extremely narrowly defined ideology of absolute perfection exactly to within infinite precision, then they complain and whine all over the place. They are extremely vocal, and that may be skewing your perception. You have to be able to read around these kinds of opinion and think carefully and clearly about the reality of the situation.

 

[GloatingSwine]

It's quite simple. When someone makes an "I hate X post", they are intimating that they are better than everyone who likes X. They may also ascribe a set of properties to people who like X, and thereby imply that they do not share those properties themselves.

You will note that there is never any argumentation as to why X is something which one should not like, and certainly no objective discussion of it's qualities or lack thereof beyond grade school level.

If you see this kind of post, even the stealth ones (usually they say something along the lines of "X is average but everyone says it's great"), you know that you are dealing with a cock who can safely be ignored.

 

[Singing Gremlin]

Complaints about NWN2:
The camera S-U-C-K-S
Takes up alot more resources than it should
Dumb A.I

There are new games that everyone doesn't hate like Left 4 Dead and NHL 09.

Fair points, although I think bad cameras kinda come with the territory with RPGs. I never noticed the AI being particularly thick, maybe I was just lucky. Or ignorant.

And yeah, I laid the hyperbole on a bit thick. There are widely liked games, but even they seem to have very vocal opposition. I suppose it's a benefit of the internet that no matter the opinion someone will disagree with it, but I maintain that there is real and widespread hate even for L4D.

 

[kapzer]

Complaints about NWN2:
The camera S-U-C-K-S
Takes up alot more resources than it should
Dumb A.I

There are new games that everyone doesn't hate like Left 4 Dead and NHL 09.

Aye, NWN2 does seem to be very resource-intensive. I should easily be able to play it in 'full' graphics, but I can't get anywhere near it because somehow everything takes too much. And the AI is ridiculous - I'm actually at a point where they will NOT follow anymore.

I'm at where SPOILER ALERT: you try to get the lizardmen to join you against the king of shadows.

Basically my party will no longer attack on their own, no matter what I try. It means I get ambushed and my party cannot fend for their own. So I thought, after many-a try, 'sod it' and just uninstalled the god forsaken thing.

 

[hellthins]

I love Neverwinter Nights 2. I think its characters are all genuinely better than NWN. Well, except Deekin. Everyone loves Deekin. I love how they've expanded on character creation, I love how they've tried to bring it a little more in line with DnD, so on and so on.

That being said, there are two glaring issues. It's not very optimized. Still, it's not too incredibly annoying since I just play on low and only get hangups on massive fights. And even then, only at the start.

But the real problem is the AI is a bunch of retards with nerf bats. I'm sitting here, getting ready to rest, and what is Khelgar doing? AHHHHHHHHHHHG THERE'S AN UMBER HULK WAY DOWN IN THE BACK OF THE TUNNEL LET ME ATTACK IT!

Or the good fun of in combat, my party joins me in focus firing one guy down... then begins to switch around trying to hit every one else at least once before doing another round of love taps. I want people DEAD, not injured.

Also, they occasionally try to heal themselves in battle. In the middle of a group of enemies. When the cleric is right there trying to cast Cure Critical Wounds.

The AI is a special brand of retarded. Still, I'd have to say it's a better game than the original NWN. Then again, I like that they actually decided to added in base classes outside of the PHB because, honestly, some of those classes have fallen out of favor. Specifically the Fighter. Stupid Fighter.

 

[Singing Gremlin]

Complaints about NWN2:
The camera S-U-C-K-S
Takes up alot more resources than it should
Dumb A.I

There are new games that everyone doesn't hate like Left 4 Dead and NHL 09.

Aye, NWN2 does seem to be very resource-intensive. I should easily be able to play it in 'full' graphics, but I can't get anywhere near it because somehow everything takes too much. And the AI is ridiculous - I'm actually at a point where they will NOT follow anymore.

I'm at where SPOILER ALERT: you try to get the lizardmen to join you against the king of shadows.

Basically my party will no longer attack on their own, no matter what I try. It means I get ambushed and my party cannot fend for their own. So I thought, after many-a try, 'sod it' and just uninstalled the god forsaken thing.

Eh, did you accidentally turn on puppet mode? It's dead easy to do and just turns off their AI so you can control everything. I've fallen foul of it more than once.

 

[hellthins]

Complaints about NWN2:
The camera S-U-C-K-S
Takes up alot more resources than it should
Dumb A.I

There are new games that everyone doesn't hate like Left 4 Dead and NHL 09.

Aye, NWN2 does seem to be very resource-intensive. I should easily be able to play it in 'full' graphics, but I can't get anywhere near it because somehow everything takes too much. And the AI is ridiculous - I'm actually at a point where they will NOT follow anymore.

I'm at where SPOILER ALERT: you try to get the lizardmen to join you against the king of shadows.

Basically my party will no longer attack on their own, no matter what I try. It means I get ambushed and my party cannot fend for their own. So I thought, after many-a try, 'sod it' and just uninstalled the god forsaken thing.

V>E (Exploration)>E (Follow me!) They'll start following again. Then just switch them to attack mode with V>(Whichever button's combat)> (ATTACK YOU IDIOTS!) and they'll follow you and proceed to beat people in the face.

It's an annoying bug, but not there worse. For a while I couldn't get out of the Sunken Flagon without the DM NPC. I discovered why later on down the road when Grobnar tried to join my party. Every time the party menu screen came up, my NWN2 locked up. Though that was an issue with Storm of Zehir, and thankfully the patch fixed it.

 

[kapzer]

I've made multiple post on their support forums with no solution. Even got into direct contact with Atari support, to no avail. I'll...I think I deleted the save file, actually. Yeah, I really can't be bothered to do all that again. :/

 

[Juan Regular]

Absolutely with you here.
Even if games get good reviews and people are really looking forward to them, it takes only a few days when they start complaining about them.
I liked most of those overhyped games that came out recently and loved some of them.

I think it's a great time to be a gamer right now.

 

[LesIsMore]

Tastes are subjective - everyone has different ones, and forums tend to serve as a place where people get defensive when their tastes are challenged. They also allow people the freedom to act like taint scrapings since they know no one can get in their face about it.