Topic: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

@CJD87 interesting. I had to look up what ship of harkinian actually was. Of course, I completely respect where you guys are coming from. A free roaming camera would be nice, but it doesn't hinder the experience nearly as much as say, SM64 does. The camera gets in the way of that game more than OoT. Well, I'll probably be playing it this November as that's what I usually do. Not sure if I'll play on my wii u or the 3ds version.

@FishyS I couldn't get into BoW for that same reason. But then again I don't like sandbox games where they have no story just wonder around and do what you want. On top of that the quality of Hyrule's weapons.... Yeah in my opinion it's the worst Zelda ever.

I will say, BOTW and TOTK is the most understandable opinion for either extreme (within the high standards Zelda has at least). They are simultaneously some of the best and most interesting open world video games you can play and also inherently repetitive games that throws away a good chunk of why Zelda games are good. And as someone who loves the classic Zelda formula to death, if I didn't love the new games, I would've been furious with these games. While the innovation was understandable (especially with the success of the final products), it is bewildering that people wouldn't want to just play games like classic style Zelda games anymore. It's obviously awesome, and other games already proved that you could innovate Zelda while still keeping a lot more of what made it Zelda-like.

The only takes on them that annoy me are the ones that lazily call them Assassin's Creed clones or undersell the incredible music/sound design. Especially dumb when they pretend they don't have catchy music anymore, when there's quite a few songs that are like...the best, most memorable, catchy songs in the franchise in maybe the past two decades.

@NintendoByNature Do you have Steam, or any kind of PC gaming capability? Honestly, I couldn't recommend the SoH version any higher - it truly is remarkable.

Funny you mention SM64, as a similar PC mod version exists - whereby a free roaming camera has been implemented. So many deaths saved...!

I'm definitely not crapping on OoT btw, it remains (in any form) one of my top 10 GOAT games. But once you've played SoH it is really difficult to go back. Admittedly, I've never played the 3DS version - so I only have the NSO version to compare to, which IMO definitely lacks QoL!

@kkslider5552000 I agree. It feels like people really like to argue in bad faith about these games. Also when people call it a Ubisoft clone, it makes me realize they haven't played any Ubisoft games before. Also agree on the music. Totk has some bangers. The shrine battle theme, the snow rito village theme, the colgera theme, and the demon dragon theme are all amazing. I do have a dlfferent opinion in that I vastly prefer the open world games, but I really appreciate when people can see the nuance in things, instead of just blindly hating.

@CJD87 too bad. I don't have any PC gaming options unfortunately. I've considered a steam deck but I dk how much use I'd actually get out of it. The 3ds version actually looks great on a small screen. The colors are vibrant, and there's a hint system. It's actually a really nice upgrade even with a smaller screen. The MM upgrade is nice too. Even threw in a fishing pond in that game which wasn't in the original. And they also changed some of the boss fights to make them less frustrating.

@NintendoByNature I got my deck a year ago, since I sold my PS5, and it was/is a great investment… so now I’m 100% portable between Switch/Deck. Gives me the best of both worlds, but with Switch2 supposedly around the corner it might just be worth waiting for the update

It’s funny because both devices could learn a lot from each other. If you could take the best bits of Switch/Deck you’d have an amazing piece of kit.
I hope Switch2 has fully some of the deck features like fully re-mappable controls and maybe even FPS / TDP sliders
Also, a bit frivolous, but being able to freak the UI and update images for games is pretty cool

@CJD87 the only reason I was considering it was really for some 3rd party games but now that I have a series s I really don't need it. I may just wait til they're on a really deep discount since I'll be buying the switch successor soon, I'm sure.

I'm curious to know why? I think it's interesting to hear different opinions on video games. For me, it's my favorite Zelda game with TotK and Oot following after.

Unpopular opinions, eh? Well here is mine: I do not like MarioKart 8 Deluxe. I just borrowed it from my library this weekend, and while I can see the appeal, I honestly did not like how much content there was. I know, that sounds dumb (especially from a Splatoon fan lol) but if felt like quantity over quality. Even though the game is polished, I just prefer the simplicity of MKWii more. That said, playing with Blue Shells only was stupidly fun.

I will say, I've wondered what BOTW is like if you ignore the majority of the game and just do the most important stuff. It might be worth playing it that way, or at least in a way where that level of open world exploration is secondary (in some ways that might be an improvement, since like half of the resource gathering is just for selling or to get the highest level of upgraded equipment, the latter of which is completely unnecessary). Though there are still the Koroks...

I think for all its changes, for good or bad, there is still a pretty decent Zelda game of sorts underneath the open world elements if you just focus on its most blatantly important and exciting segments. (more clearly so in TOTK tbh). For a decent chunk of those segments, they don't feel dramatically different from other Zelda games, barring a few notable difference. At least not to the same extent the long term open world experience does at least.

Yeah, I feel the same about TotK. It's a game with a lot of cool, small moments separated by hours and hours of downtime. In Breath Of The Wild, I was willing to put up with the downtime because the world was new and I wanted to explore it. When I'm already familiar with the world, it just didn't feel worth it to get to the good stuff.

@StarryCeil I actually feel the opposite! I played TotK first so it was all new to me, and when I played BotW it mostly kinda boring

I sort of did that last year with my first playthrough of Master Mode. Just focused mostly on the Divine Beasts and Towers. No shrines, no Master Sword, none of that. I got whooped hard as a result, but it was a fun challenge. Though it did end up feeling a bit shallow as a result, mostly because I'm used to just exploring the land and taking in the environment.

On the subject of launch-era Switch games, here's an opinion that gets more contentious depending on where you look:

Super Mario Odyssey is a solid Mario game and I don't get why so many people have turned on it in such a vitriolic way.

Sure, some of the criticisms are valid; the overabundance of moons is as much a detriment as it is a benefit, some of the kingdoms could've fleshed out a little more, and there could be more intersection between the focused platformer sections and main areas, but none of those take away from what I consider to be it's greatest strengths - solid controls, a great set of investible and personality-driven characters(eat your heart out Rosie), the aforementioned platforming sections, and the overall wild ideas on display in a story that actually goes out of its way to expand on the standard Mario dynamics(to an extent), resulting in one of the funniest endings in a Mario game. It walked forward what could be done for Mario from a design standpoint and a creative standpoint and that deserves to be recognized.

@N00BiSH Idk I feel the backlash against Odyssey, BotW, etc. is a vocal minority. I think with any popular game once the initial praise dies down you tend to hear more of the negative even if the game was well-received by a majority. You don't find that people tend to gush over a game, repeating it's praise, years after it's release - whereas people seem more quick to voice any opinion that differs from the "consensus", especially here in the unpopular opinions thread.

Personally? I think Mario Odyssey is far and away the best 3D Mario game, and honestly I consider it to be the best 3D platformer of all time. I don't see an issue with the moons whatsoever - to me they each feel like a fun discovery and make the worlds fun to explore. I can understand why someone might prefer other styles of Mario game though, much as I understand why BotW might not be someone's cup of tea.

@Buizel That's kind of why I said it depends on where you look. I myself keep seeing a lot - mostly on Twitter, which seems to flip-flop on liking/disliking games 6 days after they release.

I like Odyssey's controls, but for whatever reason I cannot enjoy the game for the life of me. I played through it once, but I can't bring myself to play through it more than that. I always stop around halfway into it.

My speculation is mostly the over-abundance of moons that turns me off from enjoying the game. Either that, or the fact that most kingdoms have the same few side tasks on repeat through the game, just differentiated by the fact that those tasks are easier/more difficult depending on the kingdom you access them in.

@N00BiSH oh absolutely. I don't use twitter these days but I imagine it's not a good place to gauge popular opinion on any subject - an opinion with high engagement isn't necessarily the popular one, or it may be popular but only in select crowds as you mention. And on my point I don't think being the 10,000th person to tweet that they liked BotW or similar is going to get much engagement...

@Buizel 100% this. Twitter's pointless engagement bait, amongst a slew of other issues brought about by its imbecilic leader, have made it exhausting to use. I'm jumping ship come the 31st because of that.

@VoidofLight When it comes to the side tasks, is it a thing with Odyssey specifically? I know the Galaxy games tended to reuse specific mission formats for its levels, as well as the other 3D Marios that've done that to an extent.