Topic: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

I dont get this statement, the fact that its mainstream and popular means people are voting with their wallet.

@CanisWolfred
I feel you man. I never understood why so many people keep buying every installment of those yearly big franchises like CoD. FIFA is another one where every new game is basically the same as the last one. Yet people keep on buying them.

What really makes me angry is when those people try to defend their purchases by saying stuff like Nintendo does the same with Mario and Zelda.

Some people just don't get what makes games great I guess.

I don't really care about CoD's existence. I'm in my own little Nintendo bubble

Which is a perfectly fine bubble to be in!

@DarthNocturnal
Yes, the New Super Mario franchise is an exception. But they say the same about any Mario game, which is stupid.

Exactly this!

Hilarious, people will complain about yearly installments of Sports games and COD but won't throw Pokémon in the conversation, it's the same thing lol. Yearly installments, minimal changes. If people enjoy them why does rub people the wrong way. Never understood how someone else liking something as trivial as a video game makes someone else upset. There's my unpopular opinion. Pokémon is just as glacial with improvements as yearly sports games yet gets a pass.

@redd214 Pretty sure a lot of people including myself skipped Ultra Sun/Moon due to minimal changes.

@PokeMario they're the 9th best selling 3ds game of all time. Sure it's down half from the original sun and moon but still, many bought it anyways. That's just one example. I mean was there a night and day difference between x/y, Omega Ruby/ Alpha Sapphire and Sun/Moon? I'm sure many hardcore Pokémon players could rattle off a list of minute differences just as hardcore COD fan could rattle of small changes between Ghosts, Advanced Warfare and Black Ops or a Soccer nut could between Fifa 16, 17, and 18.

Don't get me wrong I'm not a cod fan whatsoever so I'm not defending that franchise at all. Have played maybe 2 of them in the last decade and haven't ever purchased one. Point is its the same thing people rag on those games about but conveniently leave out the Nintendo franchise that does the same exact thing.

Just my opinion 😊

@Snaplocket 3D World is fantastic, I really love it. It's my third favorite 3D Mario after Galaxy and tied with Odyssey. I don't get the hate for it sometimes.

To be fair, Pokemon did skip the occasional year

Games are better with stories.

I'm not entirely sure this is a widespread unpopular opinion, but in my circles it definitely is.
Investing time and finding accomplishment in games that don't have at least a decent story is becoming more and more difficult for me. I used to LOVE the 2D Mario games for example, but for the last couple of years they don't do anything for me anymore. While I love Nintendo, I get less and less excited about their games as time goes on because of a lack of stories in them. DKC Tropical Freeze might be an excellent platformer, but what is the incentive to play if there are no stakes besides saving some bananas?

The biggest problem that comes with all this is that my favorite genre - from a gameplay standpoint - is 2D platformers. A genre that's notoriously lacking when it comes to stories. Luckily there are some indie games to alleviate my grievances. Iconoclasts, Celeste and Owlboy all released recently and have excellent stories.

Most people I talk to about this tell me they think stories mostly slow down the gameplay and are particularly annoying with repeated playthroughs. Well, when the stories and characters in them are compelling enough, they greatly enhance the experience for me.

Anyway, any thoughts about this?

@Iconorobin I agree with you, however, I see games DKTF with a light-hearted story that choose to narrate it while playing and with details that need to be observed instead of using cutscenes, dialogue or the normal tools that help the narration, because in their cases, they don't need them. For example, as you progress through levels, you can see that the invaders process the fruit of DK's territory to make it into jelly and then they freeze it to make popsicles.They also don't need a more complicated objective than saving their land from invaders or wanting to get their bananas back. In my case I like to play these kind of games after playing something with an intrincate story. My incentive to play is because I also enjoy discovering these kind of details in the levels while also experiencing the simple but fun story of the game through gameplay. I would put 2D Mario games in another category though, since they kinda lost this for me and they do feel bland and without other purpose than the pure gameplay.

That being said, I do get that when it comes to platformers this is the more popular route, and games with a more complex story are a few compared to these kind of stories. There's definitely space for more complex and elaborated stories in the genre and I would like to see more options out there. If you don't mind some recommendations, the Azure Striker Gunvolt games have more meat than the average 2D game in terms of Story. Shovel Knight is another good option, however you'll probably have already played that one.

@roy130390
I have played Shovel Knight, and while it was very fun, it was another case of "save the princess". I didn't get attached to any of the characters whatsoever. The gameplay was very good though.
As for Azure Striker Gunvolt, I tried a couple of levels from the first game on 3DS but I couldn't get used to the gun mechanics somehow. Might have to give it another chance. Thanks for the recommendation.

I'm gonna have to agree with @roy130390 when it comes to Tropical Freeze. I think story is important - but for different genres, different modes of story-telling are better. Cutscenes in a platformer can really slow down the pace - personally I'd be frustrated by anything more than a couple of minutes. Instead I think they should focus on telling a story through level design and world progression - which is exactly what Tropical Freeze does.

Saving your home from staying frozen is not an incentive?

@TheLZdragon
I was talking hyperbole of course.
Just compare it to the storylines of the games I mentioned previously and you'd have to agree that Nintendo lacks in this department. At least, if you value such things as stories and character development.

@Iconorobin Stories are a complement, but not my essential reason to play games. I play for the game mechanics, mastering them, and trying again at a higher skill level. I can enjoy a great story like Xenoblade or even laugh at an awful story like Metroid: Other M, but if the gameplay isn't there then why should I play? Gameplay is the heart and soul of, well, video games if you ask me.

That said, I do agree with you that games are better with stories, but in addition to having one, the way it's also how it's told is another factor. Metroid Prime has a shallow main story if you really think about it, but finding out what happened in the past and discovering how things come to be with the Scan Visor incorporates storytelling with gameplay in an extremely rewarding fashion. Just like exploring for powerups and upgrades, you're exploring to discover what happened to Tallon IV, Aether, Bryyo, etc. That right there is the perfect method of storytelling in games, when you can incorporate the story into the gameplay to take advantage of video games as a medium.

That's not to say that cutscenes and the like are awful, but for my money the best video game stories are those that take full advantage of video games to deliver something movies and books cannot tell on their own.

Anyways, I can play a game with absolutely no story and I'll have a great time no matter if I go back to it the next day or five years from then. But if the gameplay is average or lackluster, I don't have any reason to (re)play it unless the story is just so good.

@Buizel Haha you explained it a lot better than me, thanks.

@Iconorobin I see. What I loved about Shovel Knight's story was how every character's campaign was part of a bigger story and how many events only make sense if you play the 3 of them (soon to be 4). This game is another great example of experiencing a good chunk of the story through gameplay, like what happens in Hall of the Champions ans this game actually has a lot of them. Also, while they may be cliché, I think they were a cliché properly done. I'm not the kind to move easily with romantic stories, however for some reason both Shovel and plague Knight's story moved me haha. For example, in Shovel Knight's ending, they didn't use a kiss, a hug, or even dialogue to show the strength of the bond between him and Shield Knight, jut a simple cutscene that also manages to change what looked like a sad ending to a happy one.

@roy130390 @Buizel @EvilLucario
I understand what you guys are trying to say and I used to think the same way.
Maybe some of the recent indie games spoiled me? Iconoclasts, Celeste and Owlboy made me care so much about their world and characters they moved me to tears, shock and awe. It's hard comparing games like that to others that don't make me feel anything... except the joy of playing them of course.
I don't know how else to describe my feelings. Hopefully you understand, and if not... well, no biggie!