Topic: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

@iKhan: really? How far into the game have you (and I suppose the other person as well) played? I completed it, and I'd say out of the dozens of RPGs that have played, XC's cast are by a long shot the most memorable and enjoyable that I've experienced playing through the game. I'm probably going to say as my unpopular opinion in this reply that I even think Shulk is a fantastic protagonist, cliched early on yes of course, but if you've played up to even about halfway through the game you should be able to recall the death of a certain bad guy, and the part Shulk played in it, even that one scene typifies the change that Shulk already had by that point. I'd be very surprised if you said you found that predictable. Also that scene brings out the best in Dunban as well, my third favourite videogame character behind Issun (Okami) and Ellie (The Last of Us). I can't even begin to comprehend how he of all characters is a 'hollow shell'.

I'd even go so far as to say the NPCs in the game have far more depth and are far more memorable than most other RPGs actual playable characters. I'm determined not to spoil anything here so I'll just throw their names out there, Dickson, Alvis, Egil, Mumkhar, Otharon and heck even really minor ones like Vangarre and Dunga play their part and are very memorable. And of course I have to give mention to Kalian, probably my favourite NPC ever, managing to be the unsung hero of the game despite not being playable. I'd like to hear what characters you consider memorable if you consider the likes of Dunban, Melia, Shulk, Kalian and Dickson to be 'hollow shells'.

I've beaten the game and replayed the first 10 hours.

My big issue with XC's characters is that they severely lack personality. When I play other JRPGs, I come off feeling like I know the characters well enough that I could predict their reaction to different scenarios, and that I could easily sum up their personality.

Riki and Reyn are the only PCs that I can do that with in XC. They all certainly have memorable stories sure, and the text sometimes mentions their character traits, but their personalities barely expressed, and are rarely relevant to the main story. Shulk is a nerd, but that really is never ever important in his decision making. For the most part, he just does what would be expected of a protagonist teenager who lost someone.

When I think of JRPG characters that aren't hollow shells, I think of Lloyd Irving, Yuri Lowell, Neku Sakuraba, or, to a lesser extent Mark Evans. All of those characters have personalities that directly tie to the main story, and bleed out in a significant amount of the dialogue. Lloyd is a bull-headed idealist, Yuri is a lone-wolf with his own sense of justice, Neku is a loner who doesn't feel like he should care for the rest of the world, and Mark is a natural leader, driven to encourage everyone to do their best.

Gimmicky technology gets a LOT of hate.

Halo Wars is a fantastic game and the Halo Wars 2 announcement has me really excited

I really liked the night levels in Sonic Unleashed. I didn't think they were too slow, and you could get through them pretty fast if you wanted to. I also liked how you could explore the night levels. The day stages are really fun, but you can't explore them too much.

Premise: TLOZ is my favourite video game series. I have played them all (aside from the obvious CD-i games) and have completed almost all of them at least once.
The games I haven't completed are the NES ones (they're good but I've never found them too attractive), Majora's Mask (I used to play it when I was 5 so I couldn't understand it, but as soon as I buy MM3D I'll be able to cleanse myself from this shame) and ALTTP.
I have the GBA version of ALTTP which I used to play when I was 8-10, but one day I got stuck on a boss battle (the eye-shaped thing) and never came back to it until a couple of months ago, when I decided it was time to finally bring back my GBA SP. I completed Link's Awakening and Oracle of Seasons in a couple of weeks and then dedicated myself to finally beating ALTTP. The thing is: I've beaten the first 3 dungeons in the Dark World and can't be bothered to go on. I don't know what, but something about ALTTP just doesn't click with me (and never has). It's a good game, a very good game indeed, but I feel like it's my least favourite Zelda ever; there's never a moment when I feel the urge to play it, and when I do I just don't enjoy it as much as many other games, both Zelda and non-Zelda.
Well, I guess I'll be condemned to never see the ending credits

When games (like Harvest Moon) go back to their roots, they need to retain the stuff they learned in later games.

I love Zelda games, but I couldn't get into Twilight Princess. I didn't like the artstyle and the game just felt overly complicated. It is my least favorite game in the series.

Innovative technology gets so much of hate.

*Partners in Time is probably my favorite Mario & Luigi game. I think Bowser's Inside Story is a little overrated.
*Rayman Legends may very well be my favorite 2D platformer of all time.
*I don't care much for the original Donkey Kong Country trilogy. The graphics were advanced for their time, I suppose, but gameplay-wise, I thought the games were a little boring. I think Retro has done a much better job than Rare.
*I prefer Yoshi's New Island over the original.
*Sticker Star wasn't great, but I don't outright hate it like most people.
*I think Waluigi is a sadly underrated character.
*To me, Smash Wii U feels a little light on content without a story mode similar to Brawl's Subspace Emissary. I'd happily pay as much as $20 for story mode DLC.

I think Ocarina of Time is really boring. The music is great and the visuals haven't aged that well but look good for an N64 game, but the gameplay bores me. hides

I think Dwarf Fortress looks much better without a texture pack.

However, it looks much better with a better font and some less eye-bleeding text colors.
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My setup:

@Artwark: Technology that is innovative gets praise. Perhaps technology that you appreciate isn't as innovative as you think.

@insertmemehere: That's your opinion and I can respect it. What year did you first play Ocarina of Time in?

@TylerTheCreator: I feel as though many simply hate the way Nintendo thinks of new ways to play games. Just because it doesn't have a standard controller doesn't mean that it should be the only way to play games on. Gamers feel like if the innovative technology is something that will replace the standard controller, they would have to force themselves to get used to the new style of controls which can easily drive them away if not done right.

I'm not a huge main series Poke'mon fan (prefer games like Mystery Dungeon) but Black 2 is my favorite. I liked the characters and story a lot. The post-game was great and I always felt like the online was the best in any Poke'mon game. I liked "Y" but it felt like there was nothing to do after you beat the game.

E.T. didn't crash the industry. The industry crashed the industry.
P.S. does anyone else wonder what today's gaming landscape would be like if the crash of 1983 never happened?

I don't think it would look much different. Also have you seen https://youtu.be/yk7wuI7VafQ I believe it is still on Netflix.

Gaming landscape today probably would look pretty similar. Increase in popularity of PC gaming might have happened a little earlier

The 1983 crash paved the way for Japanese companies like Nintendo, Sega, Namco, Capcom, and Konami to come in and dominate the video game industry though. But we're already in an era know that has shifted focus back to western developed games. There are relatively few big Japanese IPs left, especially outside of Nintendo.

Resident Evil
Final Fantasy

What other non-Nintendo Japanese games still sell 5+ million copies outside of Japan?

@Artwark: But the GamePad wasn't innovative, in my opinion. There are barely any games that utilize its technology well at all. People are not afraid of getting used to the new controller, they just think it's not a good controller. I don't think it's bad per se, but I think Nintendo pretty much failed the mission of what they wanted to do with the GamePad.

I'm a hardcore Nintendo fan, and I can tell you are as well. I love Nintendo, and I'm sure you do too. But, I'm willing to admit that Nintendo has done wrong when they do.