Topic: "Well-loved Games YOU never liked"

Yeah, BioShock really muddled for me what it means for a game to be a masterpiece. Like I genuinely don’t think the shooting mechanics are that great, the way you manage powers can be clunky and stuff like the hacking mini game stuff is just awful. Plus the difficulty balance is kinda messy, because the vita chambers really kind of make difficulty settings somewhat redundant and really the main difficulty comes from constantly running out of ammo.

However, I just love being in Rapture, I have never played a game more times than the original BioShock as exploring Rapture just never gets old to me. All the texture, detail and environmental storytelling. I just can’t soak up enough of it. No other setting has come close since to me, no one has recaptured this masterclass in storytelling through the shape of the world, for me. Even Columbia just doesn’t have the same magic - although Infinite is a much better core game, imo.

Rapture alone to me effectively makes BioShock one of the best games of all time for me, because the experience of exploring Rapture just couldn’t be replicated in the same way in a passive medium like say a movie, so that is why I think it is a masterpiece of a game.

But I also recognise the core, more conventional, parts are weak enough that I don’t get surprised if people bounce right off.

Mass Effect does not have the best start, but I do think its worth giving another shot.

Tales of Symphonia. Never understood why people liked it, I put tens of hours into it to force myself to see its good side but still found nothing interesting. Linear progression with no exploration or customization. Okay writing at best. Simple button mashing combat (and I played on Hard). Dungeon designs are awful, honestly. You have to walk back and forth to solve simple puzzles which seems more like a time drainer than a brain scratcher. I could bring up more reasons. The game just wasnt my thing, I can see a lot of people online loving it.

This applies to all Tales games, by the way. I have tried Zestiria, Berseria and Vesperia with very similar experiences.

I think you’re right. I was probably unfair to it at the time, and I’ve grown to appreciate more story-focused games so perhaps it’d do better with me these days.

❗Stretching it to Game series', I would include:

🔸️Super Smash Bros. and
🔸️Animal Crossing.

I first played SSB:M back in 2003 and L🤩VED it so much, it became my favourite GameCube Game so when SSB:B came out on Wii, I bought that but within five to ten minutes of playing it, realised I wasn't having as much fun as on 'Melee'.

I just couldn't be bothered to re-unlock Trophies etc and quickly sold/traded it in.

I thought I'd give the series a final go when I got it on 3DS but the same feeling meant I never kept that long either.

The same with the AC Games; Liked it on DS (Lite) as it was like nothing I had ever played before. I tried the Switch version and just couldn't be bothered.

New Horizons was expected to propel itself purely through virtue of being an Animal Crossing title and it shows. I watched my fiancee play it and I was stunned when the credits rolled and she was given the island renovation tools. It's just kind of like, yup, here you go, do whatever you want now. But like...why? There's nothing to actually do once you've reshaped your island and got all the stores. It's a speck of content compared to New Leaf.

@LeighDapa The switch one has less content than games like New Leaf, so it’s understandable why people probably don’t like it.

@Maximumbeans Effectively yeah. The game itself is more like an early access game at full price than it was a full price animal crossing title. It’s shameful that this game was even 60 bucks to begin with, since the amount of content is about a month or two’s worth.

My biggest issue with New Horizons is that they've dumbed down the social simulation gameplay to the point where it's not even worth indefinitely keeping up with your town. You have no duties. Your neighbors have no real personalities and expect nothing of you. There's no endgame and no activities to do with friends. What's left? Buying stuff and customizing your island, I guess.

@Ralizah Exactly. They removed all the social sim stuff, which only left it being a designing game. The holidays are all the same as the last game, except they remove the stuff that actually made them complex. There's nothing to do with friends when you invite them over to your town, except show them around the new stuff you built. Most of the NPC's are still missing, and if they aren't, they're relegated to side roles that really mean nothing, like Katrina being trapped on the switch online mobile app.

It's shameful too when you see that fans have come up with ways to improve the game, and ideas that would give people something to work towards or unlock. Ideas for how to bring old characters back without giving them stupid jobs that mean nothing to the rest of the game. I came up with a list of what they could do with NPC's, and it's baffling that Nintendo can't..

I just.. don't get why New Horizons gets all of the praise it does, when the game has less to do than previous entries in the series.

@YusseiWarrior3000 I've yet to try 'Odyssey'.

I've bought it for my nephew but I'm not really a fan of 3-D Mario. I did like 'Sunshine' though.

Still, I prefer the 2-D ones and I liked 'New Deluxe' and 'SMM2' <---I preferred this one.

@Buizel Yes! Finally someone who get’s me!

Legend Of Zelda: Breath of The Wild. Don’t hate but it’s kinda boring.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Stardew Valley.