Topic: Games You Feel are Overrated

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
6/10 game in my opinion

steamworld dig shudders

@Maxz Persona, obviously, has incredible writing. It's best to start with 3, 4, or 5. The pace of those games is very slow and an acquired taste, but the battles aren't much different to Pokemon with active party members.

@Maxz Lost Odyssey! That has the best writing I've ever read in any video game

I like the characters regardless (and they are better than the ones in Golden Sun or maybe even Radiant Historia, much as I love those two games, main character characterization wasn't why for the most part). But for me, a big part of why also came with the gameplay and the goofy, shamelessly quoteable and fun dialogue in battle, and how they're used in battle (whether controlling them or just as party members), is a big reason why I love them (especially Seven). But I can kinda see why people would not get into the characters. Especially Riki, who is probably way too close to the line between endearing and annoying.

As a sidenote though, I love JRPGs, but a lot of them in general are not as great as people think in some aspects of storytelling or characterization. Chrono Trigger and Suikoden 2 are not the norm for the genre.

I agree, but I feel it almost cheats in a way, as the best writing in the game is mostly just short stories IN the game.

Xenoblade battles are needlessly loud and repetitive with characters screaming their poorly written catch phrases or just actually screaming set to blaring butt-rock music that doesn't even play well through the Wii. And don't get me started about the unskippable premonitions popping up ever 10 seconds and the god-awful shift to the not-really-dynamic peril music.

@Snaplocket I'm not faulting your list or trying to score points in some sort of inane argument. I'm just speaking from the self-interested perspective of someone who would like to play a well written RPG but only really owns Nintendo consoles.

I'd like to try a Persona game, as they seem to be well received, but again I run into the Nintendo console problem. I think the 3DS has a few SMT titles though, and the Switch has one upcoming, so maybe that would be worth looking into. I suppose Tokyo Mirage Sessions kinda counts as an SMT game (and that was well received I think) but there was too much putting me off it in the end.

How to the Persona games generally stand out against the wider SMT franchise? Are they normally better regarded than the mainline SMT titles? Or just... different?

@Maxz There's... a rift between the fans of both series, I'd say. Some people like both, others only like one and not the other. I've seen resentment from the SMT fanbase toward the Persona series since it became more well-known than the mainline series, but I don't know how widespread it actually is.

Both series are well-regarded in terms of reviews, though. You can't go wrong with either one, but they're certainly different from one another. Persona is more accessible than SMT, which is much more unforgiving. To a fault, in my experience.

@Snaplocket Thanks, that's really useful. And yeah, it's an interesting point about the PS2, I'm sure you can get them dirt cheap now! I generally only have one console plugged into the TV, due to the limited numbers of plug/power sockets in and around the TV, but it's got me contemplating getting a secondhand Vita (or maybe an original PSP) in case any of the games on your list have appeared there. Handhelds tend to be a bit more convenient for obvious reasons.

I'd certainly like to get a bit more on an education beyond the Nintendo stable, so I'll keep the idea in mind. Even within those Nintendo restrictions though, I'm still spoilt for choice. I expected my 3DS to be retired by now, but it's still getting a surprising workout!

@Maxz SMT is more serious I suppose IMO. It is missing much of the anime/pseudo dating/teenage angst trappings that the persona series has. SMT is less anchored by a "real world setting", even when it takes place in Japan as usually the world gets destroyed or you get warped away very quickly. SMT tends to have a pseudo narrative (pseudo because not every game incorporates it) where Lucifer is rallying against YHWH and that ties into the alignment choices. I was also grateful that IV went back to the first person view that III discarded. I think both have their strengths, although I enjoy SMT more than Persona myself. But SMT is full of spin offs...Devil Children was the more kid friendly version of the series.

GTA III. At the time, there were much better racing games and much better third person shooters. GTA III did not do much very well. It's like the Fast and Furious of the gaming world. Naff...but amazingly they keep churning them out.

@GrailUK GTA III let you take a baseball bat to a granny's head, beat her to a pulp and then nick her pension money. I'm not sure what else you could possibly want.

Puerile video game violence is overrated.

It's been quite some years, but I have a feeling the old dear was asking for it, pretty sure she made some uninvited comments towards me, so I would have just been trying to teach her that if she didn't have anything nice to say she should wallow in a pool of her own blood, and pay me for the privilege.

C'mon, when GTA 3 came out it was a total riot, 'jacking cars in the best open world yet realised in gaming, evading cops, shooting down helicopters, jumping off multi storey car parks...

I haven't played GTA 5 yet, but 4 was good but stick to the same mission mechanics as 3 too much. But 3... 3 was a revolution in gaming, at least to me.

@Snaplocket Just to clarify, I was just half-serious. Doom 2016 is one of my favorite games of recent memory and that's a violent power trip from beginning to end. The power fantasy that involves beating up powerless NPCs for the sake of comedy however, that's what I find more juvenile.

"I hate fun"
k

@kkslider5552000 I love having fun as much as anyone else. That's just not my definition of fun.

My definition of fun involves putting various objects on my head and seeing how long I can go about my daily business without them either falling off or someone noticing.

It's surprisingly easy with games cartridges, but much harder with consoles (though N64 carts and GameBoy Micros show that this rule is not infallible).

The joy of the challenge is balancing the conspicuousity of the object against its inherent instability. And also obviously, just... well, balancing. Balancing the object on your head.

Thoroughly recommended for any fun-loving thrill seekers.

I always preferred Spirit Tracks to Phantom Hourglass. I felt that it fixed a lot of the problems with its predecessor, had more memorable bosses, and while train travel was more limited in some aspects, I found it refreshing (plus I like trains anyway).

Compared to other Zelda games, they don't measure up well. However, they're still quality games that were some of the best on the DS (IMO).

@Snaplocket: I may try Pikmin 2 at some point, but we'll see. Too many other games to play. XD

I haven't played much GTA other than a few short stints of Liberty City on my cousin's PS2 years ago. I wasn't too impressed, though I had a fun time stealing and wrecking random vehicles.

I agree 100%. I'm not against violence in games, but beating up someone like a defenseless grandmother is cowardly, IMO.