Topic: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

2022 vs 2023 is a really interesting debate.

For me personally, last year heralded 2 of my favorite gaming experiences of all time - Elden Ring and Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak. These games both blew me away to a capacity that nothing this year has quite matched. 2022 also brought Return to Monkey Island, which was a breath of fresh air and got me really into Adventure/P&C titles.

2023 though... I've had a great quantity of wonderful experiences, albeit less 'impactful' (vs Elden Ring for instance). TOTK was great... until I burned out after 30ish hours, just felt I'd seen it all before. I really enjoyed Blasphemous 2 and Lies of P though. Also, a couple of weeks ago I played an indie P&C "The Will of Arthur Flabbington".... amazing, and very reminiscent of Monkey Island.

I am just about to start BG3, and this might change things. For now though, I think Lies of P is my personal GOTY...delighted it has been received so well by the 'Souls community' and can't wait for the impending DLC

@Ralizah My personal GotY is probably going to end up being NieR Reincarnation or something.

@CJD87 While I think ER is massively overhyped, I'll give it this: it finally got me to stop avoiding the Souls games after my less than positive experience with Bloodborne.

I also finished it, which is more than I can say for TotK. Although I think I spent an about equal amount of time with them. There's just way more to do in TotK, IMO.

People say there is way to much to do in TOFTK , but I honestly think that was the case in the first game as well, and honestly what worried me about two, there just so much to do but way to much to do, which is fine I guess you don’t have to do it but it’s honestly vary over whelming for me and it makes exploring just, I don’t know but my brain just wants to tune to a whole separate channel when playing it.

@Ralizah Elden Ring is a divisive one I guess.... I like how FromSoft made it (arguably) their most accessible Souls-y offering to date, and I had a great time with it personally. I'd argue more that Bloodborne is a tad overrated - and that Sekiro (my personal favorite) is underrated!

I really don't understand the criticism about there being "too much to do" given how open-ended the games are. You can play as much or as little of the "story" as you like, and once you've had enough, you can just go straight to the final boss (and I found BOTW Ganon to be easy enough to defeat in my second or third attempt tops, even without conquering all four Divine Beasts).

Potentially unpopular opinion: Commander Keen was the Mario/king of 2D platformers on PC/DOS in the early 90s. Fight me.

It's a complete travesty that iD Software shafted him in favour of FPSes. Yes, the classic DOOM games were especially great, but they could have had Tom Hall continue working on more Keen games (as that was his passion project).

@Sisilly_G honestly for me it’s not really a criticism, it’s just kinda what is going to be when you make this kind of game, because you have to fill it with a lot of content, fill it with too little and the it looks empty. I just say this because for me there’s so so much to do which like I said before is actually fine, it can just be pretty overwhelming for me and it kinda overload my brain a bit.

Now I say this for botw one, I haven’t played tears so for all I know there actually really is just too much in that game, I just know for me in one it already feels like a lot.

Ok I agree sekiro is underrated like out of all the soulsborns I feel like no one really talks about it! And it’s such an amazing game and is so different from other soulsborns, so much so it just caught be off guard with what it did. And the final boss is just amazing!

@Snatcher I am yet to play Sekiro (I have to find it first) but it does not look good to me. The Japanese/Asian setting is just boring for me. I prefer the fantasy one in the other souls games even a bit generic.

It is the ONLY Fromsoft game that I have not played Still nothing can beat Bloodborne!

@Snatcher : I get not wanting to invest in excessively long games, and I've shied away from most RPGs for that reason, as I tend to hoard them but never make any progress. So while I've heard great things about, say, Persona, Shin Megami Tensei, Final Fantasy etc., I've ultimately decided to skip on these franchises, and I suppose I'd say that I find them "overwhelming" too, especially if the projected run time is in excess of 100, 200 hours. Noooo, thank you.

I'd rather enjoy a shorter game that I can actually complete than hoard a bunch of tedious, repetitive, convoluted longer ones.

But I think what makes BOTW/TOTK work so well is that it doesn't matter if you've taken a long break between sessions as the game is open ended and the story isn't necessarily integral to the gameplay, so I never feel lost when I get back into it (and the final boss is always just a stone's throw away for those who just want to get it over and done with). But when I've taken a break from any other Zelda game, I always end up restarting as I have no freaking idea where I'm at, the more advanced mechanics etc. I've found BOTW/TOTK to be completely burdenless in that respect, and it's perhaps its greatest strength.

I played a bit of Skyward Sword HD upon its release, but I know I'd have to restart that too as it's so story/mechanic heavy. Ugh.

I'm also not into games that are punishingly difficult, so I ended up skipping Dark Souls (though I still bought the amiibo for the collection).

@Snatcher @Zuljaras
If you guys enjoy Bloodborne, and are itching for a Souls-fix, let me recommend 'Lies of P'...

I actually can't get over how good it is, and plays like it was actually developed by FromSoft (!) It openly borrows many of From's tropes from a lot of their catalogue, but also introduces new mechanics/elements that work really well. The boss battles are challenging, and the atmosphere is very reminiscent of Bloodborne.

It is free on Gamepass, and also on PS/Steam (I actually played this on Deck, got a stable-ish 45FPS and enjoyed my time with the game massively)

@CJD87 Pretty much everyone likes Elden Ring. Even I did, and I refused to play Soulsborne games for seven years after Bloodborne. They did a great job combining 'open air' design elements with Soulsian design principles.

I just think the online gaming community ignores the issues with their games a little too readily.

So, about Sekiro... I sort of want to play it, but I SUCK at parrying in Souls games. Like, I've tried, and I can't get the timing down. And I'm aware that it's pretty much a requirement in Sekiro. Should I just avoid that game, or is it easier to pull off in that game, or what?

@CJD87 It was the first game I've beaten on the PS5. Amazing game!

I have a problem with Lords of the Fallen though. After the first boss I have trouble holding my attention to it

I will try it again in time.

@Zuljaras That is interesting because I was far more excited for LotF vs Lies of P.... but then they both released, and LotF didn't seem to land particularly well with critics or fans of the genre. Kind of glad I've held back from purchasing for the meantime. Lies of P is so good though right! The last boss though... nightmare

@Ralizah Honestly I'd say that the parry mechanic in Sekiro is probably the most generous window I've known, and thankfully works well... which you'd hope it would, considering the entire game is built around it! It is definitely a challenge, but maybe worth picking up on Deck (it runs v well) and then refunding if you dont like it? (if you play less than 2 hours on Deck games think this is OK)

Unpopular opinion: Super Mario World is one of Nintendo's worst 2D Mario games to date. Total downgrade from SMB3, and even compares poorly to more modern entries like NSMBU and Wonder.

@CJD87 Good to hear. I'll definitely try it sooner than later, then.

If it was between that and Dark Souls 3, which would you recommend going for first?

I thought about DS2, but it seems like the games drowns the player in mobs, which could get frustrating.

@Ralizah : I never cared for the NES/SNES Mario games, but I thoroughly enjoyed the GB games.

I would give them a second look one of these years via my Wii All Stars disc if I can get a place of my own and set it all up again, but for now, I'm stuck with whatever I've got on Switch/3DS.

@Sisilly_G Super Mario Land kinda sucks, but I played it to death as a kid, so it gives me the warm fuzzies when I play it.

The sequel is actually a pretty decent Mario platformer, though.

@Ralizah : I love the original Super Mario Land in all of its simplicity (and its memorable music). A bite-sized game I'm happy to revisit anytime. It certainly beat the crappy LCD games I grew up with as a kid. The sequel rocked though. That could perhaps do with a remake.

Anyway, back to unpopular opinions...

@Ralizah DS3 is a great game, but it will likely feel quite antiquated in a lot of ways - now that you've played Elden Ring. ER builds upon a lot of assets, mechanics, elements from D3 - - -> essentially Elden Ring is 'Open World Dark Souls 4'. Also, the linear nature of DS3 leans back into the 'git gud' mentality, with no open world areas to explore and level up easily.
Sekiro would be my pick, as it is also somewhat linear (opens up a bit in second half) but once the combat clicks it is one of the most rewarding games ever. An early skill-check boss, Lady Butterfly, will have you punching air when you manage to beat her! And if you can beat her, you have all the tools needed in your locker to beat the game