Topic: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

@Snatcher Well, my point was the thread is largely about just complaining about a popular game rather than having an unpopular opinion. Viewing a bad game as good is just as unpopular as saying a good game is bad yet talking about how the bad game works well offers more interesting insight than simply calling something overrated trash which is the norm in the thread.

@jump I get ya I get ya.

@TheJGG I’m gonna have to disagree with the assessment about BOTW. I will say, from an open world/sand box style game, it does offer many options for the player. However, the game is vastly empty, with long stretches of bland, boring landscape. I could say the same for Skyrim, but when I’m playing that on my PC it looks gorgeous so while it has some long, empty stretches at least there is something breath taking to look at along the way. Same in Witcher 3. It suffers from the same long, empty sections but again, it’s gorgeous so there’s something for the player to sink their imagination into. So because BOTW’s empty areas aren’t justified like in more advanced games, it really kills the game for me.

@jump There are over 8,000 replies, I’m sure if you read through you’ll find what you’re looking for.

I don’t remember the world being extremely empty. There’s loads of areas and landmarks filling the place. Interesting ruins with chests, monster camps, shrines, and mountains. There’s tons to actually explore in the world. Open world games are bound to be a little empty anyways due to the sheer size of the world.

@VoidofLight It’s extremely empty, with long stretches of walking with nothing happening for as long as 4 minutes. That’s just excessive in a game as bland looking as botw! Which is a huge problem, because some of the stuff that you do encounter is actually fun. I just wish the game were more condensed so that you don’t have to hold “up” on the joystick meaninglessly.

@BloodNinja 4 minutes doesn't sound too bad actually. You can also take a horse if you are feeling too slow, warp if it is about convenience and less about exploring. Granted, after a certain point there is nothing really new to discover. I still think uncovering the map slowly and just enjoying the scenery for the first time takes enough time to feel more than satisfacted with the game.

@Solaine Yeah, that’s way too long. I’m surprised that people stand for it, to be honest. Feels like they aren’t thinking about what is presented.

@BloodNinja Fair, i like just strolling around in open world games though

@BloodNinja I see it as the complete opposite. It's because people are thinking about it that it's okay to presented like that, the purpose of BOTW's is to explore it and seeing things that catches your eye then going off to investigate it. It's not an action game where you need to be given things to fight constantly or you have to get from A to B as soon as possible to complete a quest.

@BloodNinja I doubt hardware power is a real excuse for an empty world, I suspect it’ll make little difference if the world has a few more things to do or not. And yes it’s an open world so of course there’ll be stretches of empty.

Have you heard of Death Stranding. I’d imagine you’d describe that game as boring, convoluted, and a waste of time excuse of a walking simulator. Game journalists were very polarised about it back in 2019 but the community itself sees it as a masterpiece. I having never played a Kojima game ever before, thought the same.

I do agree with @VoidofLight there is a ton to do. It’s not procedurally generated per se but it stays fresh for a long time. The enemy varieties are quite poor, yes, but the enemy tier system is not the worst substitute.

And if the game had a smaller world it would defeat the purpose of having an open world to begin with. It feels like it’s the perfect size for an open world game, and for me I am still discovering new things every day. And as @Solaine says you can just warp. Horses similarly, within five minutes of leaving the Plateau you can get a horse to speed up your journey. The Master Cycle Zero adds some fresh dynamic to the world but otherwise those are your methods of transport.

And you act as if this game is restrictive and deceitful. The physics can be exploited in a number of ways, including the flying machine minecart trick.

@jump I understand what it's purpose is, and I gave two examples of games that do the same thing leagues better. It would be great if the game were more condensed, or was more strikingly beautiful so that all the long, empty stretches were justified. I'm not here to argue about it endlessly, I thought the thread was for expressing unpopular opinions. I said what I said, doesn't mean I'm interested in getting into it with every user that disagrees.

@TheJGG Death Stranding is hot garbage directed by a has-been. The point is that the empty stretches need to be justified, like the examples I gave. At least Death Stranding is gorgeous to look at, so while you are walking doing nothing you can be wowed by something.

@BloodNinja Sigh... you’ve said literally the exact thing I’d guess you’d say, whether intentional or not.

I’m on a mobile phone at the moment but kindly expect a lengthier post on why this game is a masterpiece. For now I’ll say that the game was such a novel concept, and took so many risks in game design, storytelling and mechanics.

I do have to say that the Mario and Princess Beach line is pure cringe.

Happened plenty of times to me in the past with me @Snatcher. Especially being one of the few who enjoys the Sonic Boom games, and other less popular games in the Sonic games.

This kind of also adds to why I don't really like Metacritic scores. I can give my reasons why I like a game (not just Sonic, but with any game), some just will point to the score to why it's bad, like it's a fact. Even though these people usually don't play said game.

@TheJGG Of course it's what you would expect. We are talking about gaming, not exactly the deepest topic in the universe. So if you need to pat yourself on the back for a 50/50 guess, then you do you. And we are offering unpopular opinions, at that. I guess I should have expected that fan-boys are going to jump down my throat for talking trash about their beloved, ugly walking simulator. I wasn't expecting that in a thread designed for unpopular opinions.

I think Kid Icarus Uprising has great controls. The touch screen fills in the role of a second analogue stick, but offers greater precision. I actually wonder if a Switch port would control worse, although Splatoon works quite well with analogue+gyro so I guess that would be a good option.

@BloodNinja No need to classify me as a fanboy, I’d give a much less rational argument if I was. And it depends on which demographic the creator of this thread meant when he named it. Unpopular according to whom?

If it applies to the fans then I’d surmise that you are in the minority when you say that this game is just a walking simulator by a has been developer. So there’s nothing wrong with your comment.

Of course I respectfully disagree but you know that already. Or so I think, seeing as how I’m just a fanboy.

Yeah, Botw is an exploration game. The world is built in a way where you’re going to explore it. Horses and fast travel are meant to be the way you traverse the world mainly, not just walking around. If you ride a horse, the 4 minutes in an empty place feels like nothing. And even then, the “empty” place isn’t empty. A lot of them contain secrets, like the ice area on the edge of the map which has a lot of caves.

Well, it is possible to have an 'open-world' game with more to do in each area, potentially ..... But Breath of the Wild did have a reason for being relatively 'empty', after all! Not a fan of Death Stranding to go in depth on that but it presumably does have some rationale behind being 'empty', as well
Just to help understand those choices