Topic: Games you recently DROPPED

@teejee7 Xenoblade 2 gets amazing later on in terms of gameplay for me, I found it more fun than xenoblade 3 even though that one gets a lot more praise… and I couldn’t agree more that the beginning is just one big slog. The combat gets great later, but nothing about what makes it interesting can be found in the beginning chapters because it takes so long to get going and is explained so unclearly. Then the story is just kind of run-of-the-mill anime at the start too… I powered through it eventually but it took me multiple tries. I loved the rest of the ride, I even consider it better than 3 story-wise, but 3 is just a lot more playable while 2 is an uphill battle to even try and get to a point where it’s more enjoyable. I don’t think anyone can hold it against you for dropping it, especially with the time investment the entire game takes.

But as a fan of the series, if you still want to give xenoblade a try, 1(Definitive Edition) and 3 are way better with their start and how they handle tutorials, so yeah, might be worth a look. If you already played them, you can ignore my little fan ad, haha.

I've dropped Super Metroid.

A shame because I really liked Dread, and quite enjoyed Samus Returns.

While I appreciate it for what it did at the time, Super Metroid just felt like a chore to me. Everything just felt too cryptic and not as refined as Dread. By the time I had finished the Wrecked Ship, I realised I hadn't really enjoyed my last few play sessions so decided it wasn't worth seeing to the end.

I may give Fusion a go, but I think I need a bit of a Metroid break after this one.

@Buizel Zero Mission/Fusion/Dread all improved on the formula following Super Metroid.

It's an alright game, and I mostly liked it, but I do think there's a heavy amount of nostalgia bias among longtime fans who talk it up as the best entry in the series. It's super influential, but also far more basic than what came after.

Definitely give Fusion a shot at some point. The SA-X sections of the game feel very much like a prototype of what would be more fully realized in Dread's EMMI encounters, and it's easily the least cryptic of the 2D entries.

@Buizel pretty much what ralizah said. Super is ok, but it's inferior to all that came after it 2d wise. Even Samus returns which is kind of different than the others is still a greater experience than super. At least imo. I'd definitely give Fusion a shot. It was one of my favorites until I played zero mission which is just behind dread for me.

@NintendoByNature I'd say Zero Mission is still tops for me, since it's the perfect length to be played over the course of a lazy afternoon, making it much more replayable to me, and I really dig that section near the end of the game that's super unique. Also, while it's sort of like Super Metroid insofar as there's very little direction given to the player, the level design is so expertly crafted that I rarely felt like I was stuck, or that my progression was being halted, which was not uncommon for me in Super Metroid. It's my favorite Metroid, and, really, one of my favorite video games overall. No game is perfect, but Zero Mission comes close for me.

Which is funny, because it's a remake of the first Metroid, but I found the original version of that game on the NES to be almost unplayable. Ditto with Metroid II on the Game Boy, actually. Super Metroid might be a low-tier Metroid for me, but it's a gigantic step up from the first two games.

With that said, Dread is an easy #2. I loved the intricate bosses, amazing visual design, and, again, the sort of intuitive level design that mostly kept me from feeling lost. And the climax of the game is super cool.

@TheBigBlue Engage was the last game I couldn't even get 5 hours into without quitting.

@Ralizah fully agree with pretty much everything. Other than dread being my favorite of course. I think the visuals of dread and the bosses, coupled with the gameplay + free aim, put it in a different ballpark than the others. It's honestly one of the best looking switch games. And that sweet feeling when you get the hang of the EMMIs if just perfect.

@TheBigBlue I think it's safe to say you really didn't drop the game. You clearly put your dues in at 595hrs 😉

@NintendoByNature I'll say this much: MercurySteam has FULLY proven itself worthy of directing future entries in the Metroid franchise. They started with their admittedly solid work on Samus Returns as a foundation and created a masterful 2D action game. Hopefully Nintendo will continue kicking work their way.

@TheBigBlue Yeah, I'm not sure you can say you dropped a game you've pumped 600 hours into over multiple playthroughs.

Engage is a ton of fun. Once I was able to accept it what it was (namely, NOT a Three Houses successor), I was able to appreciate its gorgeous presentation, fun (if, yes, occasionally super cringe) character interactions, and slam-dunk gameplay.

That said, I stopped about a month ago after putting 70 or so hours into it. Really need to wrap that game up soon.

Personally i don't usually drop games, even the bad ones i feel like i gotta see through for some reason xD The only game i can recall, even though idk if 20 hours can be called giving up on the game, was Anima Crossing. It was very satisfying to do all those activities and the neighbors interactions and stuff and i really liked the colorful enviroments and the dialogs were cute, but for me after i built my house, the museum and "town hall" ? it's been a while...anyway it got really repetitive and monotonous, like i couldn't bring myself to enjoy it anymore, BUT it was awesome while it lasted! And one could argue that with the new dlc i could return to it again, BUT silly goose me traded it with a dude for Monster Hunter Rise, which i haveant yet played ;-;

I drop everything, only to forgot it was there and pick it up later! Yeah pretty much I don’t drop anything, I lose it!

@Ralizah @NintendoByNature Can't say I was much of a fan of Zero Mission either tbh. I managed to get through it all, but I remember the level design being more like Super and less like Dread - in particular, I remember it definitely feeling like it was based on an NES game, despite the extra bells and whistles. I can understand the appeal of the outro sequence, but I personally found it tedious.

@tseliot Very much agree with @TheBigBlue and @Ralizah on this one...as a big fan of Three Houses (see: avatar), I struggled to get into Engage at first, finding many of the elements (story, characters, side activities, even UI) to be vastly inferior to TH. But when I gave the game a chance and appreciated it for what it is (a mechanically strong TRPG, if you remove all the extraneous stuff), I began to like it a lot more. That's not to say that you should pick it up again - I don't blame you if you were put off by the story, characters or the Somniel.

I keep picking up and dropping Yokai Watch 4. It's a shame, since I love this series, but this game isn't really as fun for me. Partially, I will say it's because I don't know Japanese, and given JRPGs are very text-heavy games, it's impossible for me to understand what's going on. However, even outside of not understanding Japanese, I feel like the game itself falls flat upon it's own merits as well. Compared to the other Yokai Watch titles, this game has much smaller and far emptier areas. While in the first three titles, it felt like the world was actually bustling in some fashion, here it just feels like a severe downgrade. I get it's because they moved to full 3D and HD, but it just falls flat in my eyes. There's hardly any interiors you can go into either, and it feels like side content doesn't really exist.

On top of this all, there's also heavy performance issues with the switch version of 4. The FPS constantly drops, and it feels painful to play. It's more polished than something like Pokemon, but even then it's still horrible to actually attempt to enjoy the game itself.

For the core gameplay, it feels like most of the Yokai you obtain are through the story, especially given that the game's initial roster was extremely small compared to the others in the series, with the DLC adding more. The only issue with the DLC is that most of the Yokai obtained in the DLC are post-game, even if they're too weak by then. Battles are fun at least, but even then it's hard to remember what everything does when you can't really read the tutorials.

Maybe if this game actually gets released in English, or gets an English patch, I'll be able to enjoy it somewhat. However, for the foreseeable future, it doesn't feel like I'll get much enjoyment out of it, which is a shame.

Great that Three Houses is on topic now, because I keep dropping it after a few hours playtime. I'm annoyed by it, because I've played every FE up till Awakening with high amount of pleasure. Favorite franchise up till then.

But starting with Fates the games starting losing me. In my take the stories keep getting weaker and the emphasis on the social 'sim-life' is somehow also rubbing me the wrong way. I understand that Three Houses is perfectly playable by skipping the Sim-life parts, but then I feel that I will miss on a lot of content and possible items/upgrades and whatnot. Additionally I'm not caring much for the Character designs of the later games. They feel unnatural and overdesigned (looking at you Corrin, Sothis and Alear). Maybe I'm becoming an old fart, but I'm preferring the simpler more 'medieval' feeling that characters like Lynn, Ike and Chrom's bands of mercenaries gave me.

I'm sad, because I can't seem to enjoy one of my favorite franchises anymore, though motivation is high. Not sure if I should put my money on Engage now to resurrect the fan inside me. For the moment I'll just replay the previous games to scratch the itch.

@Bankaj I hear it's possible to play Three Houses while skipping the monastery stuff, but I think in doing so you're not getting the true experience of the game and you might as well be playing something else tbh.

Engage might be more up your street gameplay-wise, as it's more about the core TRPG gameplay than all the social / Persona-lite elements seen in Three Houses. That said, it's not without it's own amount of fluff in the Somniel --- but you can skip most of that without impacting the core gameplay. Unfortunately for you (based on your description) the game is very anime when it comes to characters and story tropes...but if you can overlook that, I'd say the game's worth a shot.

@Buizel thanks for the comments. I don't think I'll enjoy it as much, especially because it's hard to let go of the nostalgia (expectations, yay!)

Fortunately Switch is loaded with good strategical games, so I'll keep myself entertained. Massively enjoyed Triangle Strategy. Looking forward to Advanced Wars and Wargroove 2 for example

I recently dropped Klonoa: door to phantomile on ps3 vc. It was a tough decision because it was fun at first but the problems with the controls and some confusing game design choices made it hard to keep playing. Eventually I quit on the 2nd level of the final world, because level design kept getting harder and more frustrating, so I gave up and stopped playing it...

I recently dropped New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe. I'm not that into 2D platformers however I got it for free because it was accidentally sent to my brother when he ordered something completely different and he got that. It was way, way down my back log list but I said ah well I guess I'll bump it up to the top. I just couldn't get into it. I remember back in the DS era I was crazy over that "New SMB" game but this one isn't blowing my skirt up. I'm confident though what ruined the experience some was my not too long ago playthrough of Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze for Switch. That game for me personally raised the bar to insane heights for 2D platformers. Everything about it had me so stoked to play the next level and get all the hidden stuff. They perfectly made it challenging to where I was excited to try again and again, and again. The graphics, the music, and gameplay just kept me glued to it till I finally completed it to my satisfaction. Trying to play NSMBUD after that experience just felt like a huge comedown. Maybe if I played NSMBUD first I'd be more into it because it just felt like a 'going through the usual motions' experience and when I would die I had to convince myself to try again when I just didn't care to. After beating a few bosses I was like "I'm done with this" I need to get back to the back log. Now I finally cracked open Bayonetta 3 I've had sitting on the shelf since release and wow that game is sick.

@Ganner I can totally understand where you are coming from with the NSMB games. I played and beat NSMB on the DS years ago and loved it. Then I tried NSMBW and NSMB2 and could never finish them, they weren't bad per say, just played them too soon after the DS game. In fact I didn't even play NSMBU on the Wii U either, even though I got it for free with my Wii U. I got NSMBUD on Switch last year and was finally able to play and beat it, but I don't think I will play it again. Again not a bad game just felt like been there done that.

A game I dropped after a couple of hours was Metroid Dread.

It looked pretty and the performance was ok but man the game felt soulless to me, which is a shame as I love Metroid and was super hyped - even got the amiibo double pack to go with it.

I think that after playing recent 2d metroidvanias like Hollow Knight and Ori, Dread felt like a very basic by the numbers game that was massively overpriced by comparison.