Topic: Games You Feel are Overrated

@Vee_Flames @Maxz Okay, I may have lied. Your explanation of star stealing sounds veeeeery vaguely familiar. I think I may have played it like once or twice with a friend.

I was looking at it yesterday, and I think I've found a pretty telling way of looking at the NSMB series. The US box art for NSMB DS is a nicely composed image where Mega Mario's eyes direct the eye toward the 3D title, itself contrasting against an even red / blue / yellow / green color scheme. How Mario is cut off helps to illustrate the concept of the mega mushroom while also not creating an abrupt edge because of where the DS box label is:

And here is ever other NSMB game ever made, with two generic Toads just thrown in astride three Yoshis, crowding the image with their sightlines going every which way while the blue and pink pair are cut off randomly so the image can be large in frame. The title blends in with the field of red it is sat against — and which also scrunches the actual box art — so they can bluntly convey the bullet point of 4 player co-op both visually and in text:

I may be reading too much into this, but I really like the DS box art in the US, lol.

Zelda train wreck ds over hyped to the teeth enuff said

To go the opposite direction, Spirit Tracks and PH were some of the most enjoyable Zelda games I ever played. I was always so confused when I finally got into the internet and game forums to find out everyone hated them

Personally, having played it from start to finish, I like Spirit Tracks. The gameplay felt a little repetitive at times, but the music and story were great.

P.S. Even though I never owned the DS New Super Mario Bros, my friends did, and I absolutely destroyed them in the multiplayer mode when I had a chance 😆

Clearly you haven't played too many JRPGs, if you think Xenoblade's writing or voice acting is notably poor

Still makes it better than Ni No Kuni or Bravely Default, being brutally honest here (even if I didn't love Xenoblade, I would say this). Not even the few scenes I dislike in Xenoblade are in the same league of bad as woman obsessed idiot acting the exact same, unfunny way every 2 minutes in Bravely Default or the constant "take 10 minutes to explain what could be explained in 1" scenes in Ni No Kuni.

Bravely Default is a great throwback JRPG with almost the sole exception of I don't like the characters at all, which killed the game for me. It's legitimately a shame, but I found at least 3 of the 4 main characters to be completely dull (or obnoxious) and actually shockingly 2 dimensional. And they spent time with conversations (sometimes optional) that should've been characterization but instead was just the exact same characterization, repeated constantly. It's below the average of SNES JRPGs. I got more out of Earthbound's party members, and they almost never talk!

Never played BD, because I thought the artstyle was horrendous.

I tried the Bravely Default demo, and I really like the battle system, but I don't think the game is for me.

I thought Phantom Hourglass was perfect for what it was (a nifty pocket Zelda which sat somewhere between the 2D and 3D titles), and I really had a blast with it. Sadly, I didn't get on as well with Spirit Tracks, as it just felt comparatively bland and claustrophobic to me. It's odd, because you've got these wide empty spaces in both of them, but for some reason a sea of blue feels liberating and inspiring, but a sea of green feels kind of suffocating and restrictive. And then you've got the obvious difference that Phantom Hourglass's travel mechanic is very literally on rails, while Phantom Hourglass at least provides the illusion of open-sea freedom by allowing you to plot your own paths.

Speaking of RPGs, can anything think of any examples that do have genuinely standout writing? The Mario RPGs certainly tick that box, but I'm curious if there are many games with a more 'traditional' RPG aesthetic that are also renowned for their script and characters. There've been a few titles I've been interested in, but ultimately put off by the idea of investing a large amount of time into a bunch of party members who turns out to be irritating one-dimensional cringebags.

Pikmin 3. It was overhyped to me, and while I wouldn't call it a bad game by any means (overall I still enjoyed it), I'm also hesitant to pick up another Pikmin title. I liked the aspects of fruit collecting, but I didn't like the time limit imposed, and the Pikmin themselves were only slightly more intelligent than bricks grumbles more about AI. While cute, I also wasn't too fond of any of the playable characters.

@Snaplocket For those who only own Nintendo platforms, how does the list look? Presumably a fair bit smaller?

I feel like Xenoblade's characters are the most overrated thing in the game. People talk about how they really feel they know the characters, but in that case I question if they've ever played another well received JRPG.

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?

@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!