What's your favorite game... and what's wrong with it?

[Leemaster777]

Since "What is your favorite game of all time" topics seem to pop up here so often, I thought I'd make one of my own. But, I felt like adding alittle twist to it.

To quote Yahtzee, "I've yet to play a perfect game", and no matter how much you may love a given game, there are bound to be flaws.

So, this topic is about embracing our favorite games, both the good and the bad bits.

For me, my favorite game of all time has to be Bioshock. The setting, the atmosphere, the gameplay, the story, it all mixes together to create a truly wonderful experience. But, it's far from perfect.

The moral choice system is the biggest one. In theory, it's supposed to make each encounter with a Little Sister a dilemma, in which you have to choose between her life and your own well-being... but in practice, there's no real difference gameplay-wise between the good and evil paths, and story-wise, it doesn't really make a difference until the very end of the game.

Speaking of which, the endings (both of them), kinda suck. Not horrible, but alittle focus (i.e., no moral choice system), probably could have helped.

The invention system is also a bit of a wasted opportunity, as aside from one or two inventable items, it's mostly unneeded.

And, without spoiling anything, did Bioshock REALLY need an escort quest in there? Really?

And that's my personal beef with Bioshock. So, what are your favorite games, and your issues with them?

(Before anyone makes a comment, no, I didn't forget the hacking minigame. I honestly never had an issue with it. Alittle flow-breaking, I'll admit, but not nearly as bad as some other minigames.)

 

[gritch]

I have always been a fan of the Monster Hunter series ever since I stumbled across the first one for the ps2 in the discount bin at my local game stop. I still love to play its later reiterations (Monster Hunter Tri is one of the few games I'd want a Wii for) but I must admit that the series is seriously flawed.

The controls have always been simply hideous - even more so on the Wii. I can't count the amount of times I was killed because of a back camera angle. And being from Japan there is a large amount of grind one must go through in order to enjoy the game (I must have killed at least 100 of 1 type of creature to get 1 plate in the first game).

But despite these flaws I still really enjoy the games. There's just something about killing a dragon 5 times your size and then making a nice set of armor from his hide that appeals to me.

 

[Austin Howe]

Final Fantasy VIII. What's wrong with it? Some balancing issues with how early you can break the game, though that really requires a fuck ton of grind time,s o that's not really an issue. I like the writing, but the main problem is the writing. Translation: I think Squall is one of the best characters in this medium and the game has one of the most sincere and best attempts at romance within the medium(despite the massive flaws therein), but the setting is not at all developed and the way events connect to each other in the game just reeks sometimes. Also, I don't, but a lot of people really hate Selphie and Zell, and it doesn't help that they have really minimal character development.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Persona 4 has its flaws. The guesswork in the Velvet Room is a big one. In the later parts of the game it becomes neigh impossible to summon the stronger persona without a guide.

Teddie is another, but this one is personal preference. I find him to be all kinds of annoying. When he narrated combat it would sound like high pitched whining and the *plop* sounds he makes when exploring a dungeon are grating. He is also a little too friendly around Nanako. I'm watching him.

The decision towards end game is poorly designed. If you make one dialogue mistake, one mind you, you get stuck with the Neutral Ending and miss out on two more dungeons.

Getting Naoto so late into the game also bugged me. I wanted more Naoto, dammit!

 

[Crumpster]

Demon's Souls for PS3.
I really love the game, finding errors is goddamn hard to be honest.

The fact that you can kill every boss by clever positioning yourself with a ranged weapon (be it spell or bow), ruins the difficulty and epicness of boss encounters.
The difficulty curve doesn't retain its steepness, it gets easier and easier! (Yahtzee addressed this problem with RPGs!)
Dying because I suck myself makes me angry.

Other than that, I'm not sure what's wrong with it, I'm sure I missed something though, a game can't have so little flaws.

 

[YouBecame]

Homeworld is awesome and all but the missions take *so* bleeding long, the game can feel poorly paced at times. The 8x speed up from Cataclysm really helped out here!
Also they *REALLY* missed a trick. They could have had an awesome opposition story that expanded the universe out, or even explained better how the hatred towards the player side came about.
Oh and the opposition sides could do with more than just artwork difference (The two ship difference hardly warrants mentioning)

There are my issues with it

 

[Radeonx]

KotOR.
The only flaw it has is that you couldn't get HK-47 sooner.

 

[Stammer]

Red Alert 3

What's wrong with it? Well, I guess I've always been a little disappointed at how distant it made itself from previous games in the series which were always about building impenetrable bases as well as building big armies. But Red Alert 3 was 99% about unit usage.

That being said, I like Red Alert 3 to play for my fast-paced action while I can play Tiberian Sun for my Sim City-wannabe. And really, aside from that I'd pretty much have to call it "the perfect RTS"

 

[AetherWolf]

My favorite one is also considered unanimously one of the best games ever. The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. And I don't see any major flaws in it.

Altrought I think Majora's Mask has one big thing better that Oot. People have their own life and that's amazing, the interaction between characters is something from another World!Unfortunantly that's only possible like this due to the 3day/use time machine system, which I don't really appreciate.

But this is about my favorite game, and it's Oot, And honestly it's hard to think how it could be better.

I was late to play the game, but the major flaws I could pick out: blocky, sometimes just plain ugly graphics, bad controls, horrid camera, just generally aging pretty badly. Forgive me for being older upon first playing it.

OT: Rez. Main issues: being too short, PS2 version being a sub-par port, not getting enough attention upon release, more story would be nice, and not being ported to PSN (ffffuuuuuuuu--).

 

[MadCapMunchkin]

Morrowind is my favorite game of all time.

It's flaws? Poor combat at low levels, boxes upon boxes of text for conversations (which Oblivion did the exact opposite of and I also hated), and of course a few glitches.

Still love it, though.

 

[Katana314]

Phoenix Wright is my ultimate favorite.
What's wrong with it? There are a few puzzles that don't quite make as much sense until you've seen the solution, and even then it doesn't feel so fitting. Plus, the game is fatally linear.

 

[xXBanisherXx]

Two favorite games (possibly):

ES4: Oblivion. Problems: No co-op (gets boring alone).
SW: KotOR. Problems: No free roaming. (VERY LITTLE, if any. Wished it had more side-quests)

 

[bloodymassacre]

Perfect Dark for N64, although unrealistic, a very fun game to play nonetheless

 

[Fr]anc[is]

Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines

Base game is buggy as hell, physics are wonky, combat difficulty can fluctuate a lot. Still awesome, Steam, $20, everyone reading this buy it now, patch 7.3

 

[Midnight Crossroads]

Three

-Fatal Frame 3. I hate every part with Kei in it. The only thing useful he does is move furniture. His filament for finding ghosts is either red or blue. Red meaning a ghost can see him, blue meaning it can't. Miku and Rei both have filaments which brighten when you point them at ghosts, so you can spot them in dark rooms when they try and sneak up on you.

The parts playing as him are the most frustrating in the game. Especially when he's stalked by this one particular ghost which happens to be almost completely black and likes to circle behind you and attack from range. He also attracts Reika and her one hit kills. All you can do against her is hide.

-Final Fantasy 9 has trouble with pacing. It also doesn't explore some characters enough. The card game is the worst minigame ever. I looked up guides online and even they can't tell you what's going on.

-Call of Duty United Offensive has crap online servers now. They're either 300 ping+ lag fests with servers which seem to be located in the Congo, or they're so bloated with mods to the point that it's no longer fun. They rarely if ever play good maps, instead keeping one on loop forever. Sicily and Foy are awesome, but there are other maps to play.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

My favorite game, Halo Reach (braces for abuse)

What's wrong with it, other Halo fans. I believe they are the main reason I get abuse for being a Halo fan, even though I'm nothing like them.

 

[mireko]

Baldur's Gate 2: Irenicus's dungeon (the start of the game) is incredibly boring on subsequent playthroughs. It can also be tiring to get the game fully patched, fixed and widescreened.

EDIT: Although it is still amusing to see the ad for Descent 3 after installing.

Persona 4: Margaret isn't Elizabeth. That sounds like a stupid criticism, but hey why not.

Planescape: Torment: Should have had multiple endings but they never finished them. The combat is pretty weak too.