Topic: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

While we're on the 'Battle Royale' theme, I recently watched a video on BBC iPlayer about PUBG, in which Player Unknown (himself) had the cheek, when being interviewed, to voice his frustration about 'not being able to protect his concept' from copy cats ..which concept does he want to protect exactly?!

Battle Royale? Not his idea
Shooting? Not his idea
Survival? Not his idea
Last Man Standing? Not his idea
Open world? Not his idea

...now I actually like the 'Battle Royale' format - and I think that PUBG (as janky as it is) executes it pretty well - but there's nothing about the concept that isn't 'borrowed' from somewhere else!

Don't get me wrong, I get as frustrated as the next guy when a genre of game becomes 'on trend' (like Battle Royale or 'Games as a service') and we get a flood of nondescript copycats hitting the market - but, equally, I don't think the developer of a game containing next-to-no original ideas should be complaining that others are copying his copied concept!

To quote the immortal words of Tina Turner, just make your game "simply the best, better than all the rest" - then other Battle Royale games won't be a threat!

(ie. perhaps focus on fixing the game before adding new content? ..might be a good place to start! #Priorities
**grumble grumble**)

[/rant]

_{...probably not strictly an 'unpopular opinion' - but I just had to get it off my chest!}

@RancidVomit86

I agree with your unpopular gaming opinion. Most people are not ready for consoles and games that provide original content. It is why Dreamcast suffered and why the Wii U suffered. They didn't tow the line of what people were looking for and suffered from not bringing enough tried and true franchises with entries that people were comfortable with. In 10 years the Wii U will be hailed as an amazing console and sought after by collectors (just like the Dreamcast).

Sega continues to receive harsh criticism because they like to shuffle the formula up and do crazy things. People get upset because it is not what they were expecting or wanting. Maybe Sega's greatest sin is that they need to ditch the naming conventions and character recognition and release their games with new banners. This I assume would backfire too because no one is going to pick up Valkyria Revolution without the name recognition, but then are disappointed when it doesn't tow the line of the last release.

@RancidVomit86
"If all the people on the internet who claim they love JSR, Shenmue, Crazy Taxi, Panzer Dragoon and more had actually bought these game then we wouldn't have this discussion because those franchises would be wildly successful but they weren't"

I don't think you realize how much a software has to sell to be considered succesful. I think that if all the people and only those people who claim on the net to love those games actually bought them those games would have sold even less copies

I don't think a person can read as much internet posts in his life as are the copies sold for a game to be considered succesful. Maybe one could if he don't do anything else in his life, not even play games himself...

Last point here is that Sega has very little to their name now. Yes, they own Atlus, but no one really associates Atlus with Sega. Yes, they make PC and mobile games, but most remember their games from the 1990s and 2000s.

The only really recognizable association is Sonic the Hedgehog, and the constant screw ups aren't helping Sega's image.

Nintendo was a punching bag during the Wii U era, but the Switch's runaway success reversed that. Sega would need the same to stop being a punching bag.

@NaviAndMii That's a good point, it's enough of a combination of other gameplay elements that it might appeal to a variety of fans. It isn't "original" and was really just an inevitability, especially considering some of the other recent trends that came before it. However, my experience with the genre thus far has more closely reflected the characters in Battle Royale stories than I'd ever want in a game. It's too stressful for me to actually find fun, at least when I'm not just dying 2 minutes into the damn thing. It just doesn't seem worth my time.

Paragon was, though. It's a shame that it's not getting the attention it needs to keep going. The lack of staff is already showing. It's suffering from sever stability issues right now, and they keep mounting. I keep checking for updates on when issues will be fixed, and instead I see more announcements of known issues that have cropped up. It's a real shame. I wonder if they'll do what Dreadnought did recently, and take the game offline until they fix some things?

@CanisWolfred Haha! Yeah, I know what you mean! In a strange way, I think that I actually prefer watching people play Battle Royale games than playing them myself!

@DarthNocturnal Haha! Exactly! In the video, the hosts point to a popular Chinese PUBG knock-off (which I can't remember the name of off the top of my head) as an example - it almost looks like the PUBG code was literally copy and pasted to create that particular game, so I definitely have some sympathy there! ..but Player Unknown claimed that there was 'no IP protection in the gaming industry', which not only isn't true - people can't just rip-off PUBG's brand/code etc (in the West at least!) - but, as you said, it'd be a pretty sad state of affairs if the protection stretched as far as being able to lock down entire genres of game!

The thing I enjoyed when he talked about a lawsuit against Epic was that the game is built on Epic's engine so they could revoke his license to use UE and really put him in a pickle but things didn't ever reach that kind of nasty point.

Basically, he comes off as whiney. He should be happy with the runaway success of PUBG and be thankful for reaching the heights he has.

I'm not too onboard with this Labo business but saw this and thought it was fun

I played that Crazy Taxi game when the Dreamcast was the new thing, and I never understood how anyone could expect it to be a system seller, it was fun for a few minutes. I also looked into other Dreamcast games and couldn't find anything good. So i would say it's an unpopular gaming opinion of mine that Dreamcast is this legendary console with a great selection of games. It didn't even have a right thumb stick!

I think Crazy Taxi on Wii U with the Gamepad used as a GPS would have been a great showcase of the system's uniqueness (though not exactly a system seller unless the concept was expanded upon, perhaps into a management sim + taxi simulator), but it's now just a matter of "what could have been".

Though I would never expect SEGA to do anything so bold and original, so any suggestions of innovation of their IP is wasted on them. Just look at Sonic Mania. What a joke. Can you imagine the backlash if Nintendo released a "new" Super Mario Bros. game in the style of the NES games? Sure, they haven't exactly been saints as far as milking the classics is concerned (NES Remix, charging full price for an All Stars ROM dump on a disc etc.), but they consistently (and successfully) endeavour to push the series forward as we saw with Galaxy a decade ago and now Odyssey.

Also, if SEGA's D-list IP had as much value in the market as some delusional fans say they do, then we would be seeing new instalments of their games released at retail, as opposed to port after port of decades-old games on mobile devices.

Sega was pretty cool for buying Atlus and thus preventing a possible bankruptcy. I also applaud them for hiring M2 to make some really great 3D classic games. However, I can understand people's beef with Sega. Too many bad Sonic games, most of their IPs being stagnant and odd decisions such as launching Sega Forever only on iOS and Android.

Panzer Dragoon Orta is the finest rail shooter ever made. It's also the best looking 6th gen game and still looks good today.

But even I know it holds no mass appeal. Same with Jet Set Radio. Incredible game, no mass appeal.

I played Shenmue and liked it. I had fun. But, it's not even close to the best game ever. Not even when it released.

@Agriculture yes the same goes for me. The only Dreamcast game I like is Rez. But I prefer Child of Eden.

I think Pokémon is very boring. I can’t even get through Black 2.

@CreamyDream PUBG has come a long way on quality of product since the early days but yea it's still got a long way to go. Battle Royale is a fun concept and the it can provide intensity and a rush that few games can. Playing squads with friends is some of the most fun I have ever had with a multiplayer game. At the same time I can't tell you how many times I have said I was done with the game do to glitches or hackers but all it takes is that one good game to suck me back in. It really is a love-hate relationship I have with PUBG. It's a game of poor quality and I know I should hate it then again it also gives some rush that makes me say "ok one more". If they provide a couple of more maps, refine the game some more and do away with the recently implements pay to open loot crates then I feel the game is worth every cent of the ask price. As of right now I tell people if you can accept all it's flaws then buy it because it will offer some great fun and if the flaws for price is unreasonable for you then steer clear.

@Voldemort807 I agree with you. Even back when I was playing these types of games I preferred Digimon and Monster Rancher. Monster Rancher being my choice above all.

To be fair, I still love the recent Pokemon games, and I can't get through Pokemon Black 2, either. I personally think it's the laziest mainline Pokemon game to date.

It's weird to see the only "third game" that isn't an enhanced re-release being called the laziest one.

Anything after gen 4 isn't very good anyway. At least in terms of story and world design.

@CreamyDream wut? So B2W2 are lazier because they're not the "Yellow Version" of their generation? I didn't really understand your edit in your other post.

By my post I meant that B2W2 were the less lazy "third version", not USUM.

BW2 fit the same role as a regular third version (a game set in the same place, during the same gen, released after the first pair of games, that makes some things differently), so even though they are indeed sequels and are way better than any third version (imo), I still put them in the same basket whenever the topic comes up.

Anyway, USUM are for all intents and purposes just regular "third versions", they just were too lazy to come up with a singular third edition that complemented or unified the original duo, and instead just made two that kept the same differences.