Topic: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

This one's really unpopular.

While I don't think video games make people violent, or that they should be banned, violent video games are distinct from other media forms in that they are interactive. In a movie, you watch someone get killed, while in a game, you do it yourself. Because of this, I can understand why some people have a bit of a moral issue with certain games. I've played some games that genuinely made me feel bad when I wasn't necessarily supposed to.

Along that same line of thought, there needs to be more games that take advantage of that "bad feeling" than there are right now. Even a movie that gets it's enjoyable core from violence like Django Unchained recognize death as a bad thing. Not every game needs to be Spec Ops, but more need to bring it up.

Maybe not super unpopular but I hate how long games are getting. My two favourite games last year were Link Between Worlds and Black Flag (a hugely pleasant surprise). Black Flag I played for about 30 hours and never got any where near the end. I eventually got over it and moved on but my problem is that I have a lot of great memories with the game but I didn't get any closure - there was no triumphant victory or epic crasendo to leave me completely satisfied. Now, Link Between Worlds can be criticised for being too short, but that meant that I could play it for 10 amazing hours and get a truely satisfying ending. Now I've replayed it twice since then and that is why I love shorter games - they're not bad value if they're super replayable. I honestly groan everytime a game that I'm interested in is announced to be any more than 25+ hours.

I don't feel bad mowing down Nazi's with a chaingun in Wolfenstein 3D. That's not to say I don;t have any morals, I just think it depends on how the game presents the violence to you. Games like Wolf 3D, Bullestorm, and Borderlands go for a more lighthearted and comical approach to the violence and you're not supposed to take the game seriously. Other games that aim for a more realistic or grounded tone can be somewhat disturbing when you actually think about what you're doing.

I think it really depends on the person. Madworld is a game with very cartoony violence, but that doesn't make me any more comfortable with it. You are still splattering blood everywhere and brutally killing people with a game. For me, that's just too much, though it might be perfectly innocent for someone else.

I do think presentation matters though. If a game has me shoot someone and blood goes everywhere, that's in a sense a glorification of violence. On the other hand, if you fight an enemy in a JRPG, and the following cutscene shows that the battle ended up killing them, the act of violence kind of goes over your head.

Sandbox games never really make good use of the amount of space, and the act of traversing great distances to get from A to B is just used to make games feel longer and bigger than the actual content which is spent with fulfilling objectives.

Absolutely agreed!

So when a game has aged badly, does it make the game fun to play anymore like take Phantasy Star 2 or maybe Ocarina of Time.

I get extremely frustrated that people fail to realize that criticizing an old game in this current time is just plain stupid. If games were reviewed back then, then what's the point of being harsh to the game now?

I hate the original Legend of Zelda (NES). It feels terribly aged and haphazard.
I can't get into Yoshi's Island (SNES). I don't know why. It just feels like a very average platformer to me.

2012 is the 3DS' worst year yet. It started great with Mutant Mudds and Uprising. After that, there were a couple of great games, but no more standouts like other years had.
2011 wasn't that hot either, but there was more novelty to the console, we got a port of Ocarina of Time during July, Star Fox 64 3D shortly afterwards and two great Mario games at the end of the year. Also, the eShop releases were better than 2012.

While I'm on the subject: I don't think this is an unpopular opinion, but 2013 is the best year yet for the 3DS. Great instalments for various Nintendo franchises and amazing release schedule. The third-party and eShop support were really solid, too.
2014 had a bad release schedule, but it gave us Shovel Knight and Smash, plus Triple Deluxe and ORAS, so all is forgiven.

2013 >> 2014 > 2011 > 2012

A&B is the worst two-button row on the 3DS

Preach it!

I think 2011 was actually a pretty good year for the 3DS.

Super Street Fighter IV 3D & Samurai Warriors: Chronicles were both great launch titles, and even Pilotwings: Resort was decent (putting the system's 3D effect to good use). I haven't played it, but I hear Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars was another great launch title.

Then you had at least one solid game every other month:

• March (launch) - Super Street Fighter IV 3D, Samurai Warriors: Chronicles, Pilotwings: Resort, Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars
• May - Dead or Alive: Dimensions
• July - OoT3D, Resident Evil: Mercenaries 3D
• Sept - SF643D
• Nov - SM3DL, Ace Combat
• Dec - Mario Kart 7

It wasn't a great year by any means, and I could see an issue if you go first party only, but if you were just looking for solid titles (regardless of whether or not they were remakes), there was at least one title released every other month that I would consider to be a worthy addition to your library.

I disagree, especially since I watch reviews that do critique the game taking into consideration when it was released, but even then you have to consider how well the game ages when you want to recommend a game to somebody. Not every game is a Final Fantasy 6 or Street Fighter 2 or even Super Mario World, some games are going to age horribly and not be recommendable in its original form.

I have to disagree. With the virtual console service, old games are being played in the modern day, and sites like NintendoLife are reviewing these older games. I fell like if the game is reviewed in the present, it should be held up to present expectations, graphics being pardoned.

Pokemon has lost sight of what it used to be. Being "for all ages" shouldn't mean there is a complex competitive scene that you requires you spend hours on end in an heavily watered down RPG experience. If they want to cater to a competitive scene, announce an official battle simulator that people can buy, where they can build their own Pokemon.

Pokemon doesn't need to be Final Fantasy, but I feel like with each new installment, most new features focus on making it easier to train Pokemon. At the same time, elements that made the in-game experience great, like a non-linear world, limited TMs that require some thoughts and strategy, more complex gyms and caves to navigate, among a number of other things have been reduced in favor of making the main RPG easier and more convenient.

Speaking of Pokemon, here's another unpopular thought. Event Pokemon are a horrible practice. It's essentially on-disc DLC that happens to be free for the purchase of selling some other merchandise. Even outside of the moral issues, Event Pokemon have been watering down the gameplay since GSC. Having random locations in the world that don't do anything outside of events (usually Japan exclusive ones), creates a world full of fake secrets you may never "discover". What they should do is make what used to be Event pokemon into super obscure secrets that are hard to find. Create a sense of mystery, and give the player the joy of finding something like that. They can still have events where they give these pokemon out, but they shouildn't be completely inacccessible.

Last point. They need to quit caring about story in Pokemon. GSC is my favorite in the series, and it has a throwaway story. That's because Pokemon isn't about story. Putting story in is like putting story in a Mario platformer.

I don't consider Yoshi's Story a sequel to Yoshi's Island. Both games had Yoshi in it... and then the similarities kind of die out. I consider them both separate games that stand on their own really well. Personally, I like Yoshi's Story better. One of my favorite games. I wish they had made a sequel to that rather than Yoshi's Island, but that's neither here nor there.

I have so much nostalgia for Yoshi's story. I remember, out local grocery store had a childcare facility, so when my mom went grocery shopping she'd drop me there. I remember playing Yoshi's story all the time there.

I don't entirely agree but Yoshi's Story general gameplay I remember being better. I just wish it had more levels and didn't try too hard to appeal to kids (and I say that as a Kirby fan, so that's saying something...and it didn't make sense if you remember the later castle levels...). I think if we made a Yoshi's island, with Yoshi's Story's gameplay, Wooly World's art style, as made by the Mario Galaxy guys, we would have the perfect platformer.

I have yet to see one other person praise the game New Super Mario Bros. 2. It's a great game that I regularly go back to. Sure, the name is generic, the 3D kinda sucks, the main game is the same-old, and the two-player mode was poorly done. But coin rush mode is so much fun! Of course, you have to race as regular Mario and not white-tanooki Mario, and you should steer clear away from the DLC courses (even the free one), but once you've done that, the randomly-generated set of 3 courses has such replayability, and certain abilities stack-up your coin total. It's really exciting, and it's got a killer StreetPass function! If only other players would put enough time in to set a record that was actually hard to beat. I don't even have to put any effort in to beat somebody's record 5 times over. It's because no one I pass has liked the game enough to bother getting any good at it.

P.S. Additionally, each time you play, all of your coins are added to your grand total, which is constantly being displayed. I feel like I'm contributing each time!

This is the last generation for handheld gaming consoles as we currently know them. Nintendo may continue to produce a side niche device, but there won't be heavy support for it. I think next generation we will likely see Nintendo try to work with the smart device industry to make something that is more competitive to a large audience though.

I disagree. I'm expecting Nintendo to at most, make a gaming handheld that has a lot of iPad friendly things to advertise with. Or a Nintendo DS Smart Phone or whatever. Maybe even something closer to the App store instead of the eShop(god forbid).

Perfect Dark is a much better game than Goldeneye 007.

Yeah. I don't think the 3DS selling the numbers it's doing is a bad, but I think sales numbers will continue to drop in the system succeeding the 3DS. I think an issue is that, for the first time, seeing someone casually carrying a dedicated handheld gaming device is an anomaly. Most people don't think of playing a 3DS or a Vita during short waits.

I have a GBC and a DS, but even I don't play my 3DS in those holes that I used to fill with the GBC and DS. My iPhone has just filled that role for me. So Nintendo needs to find a way to recapture that role, and they can't do it with another ordinary handheld device.