Topic: Games you recently DROPPED

@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.

I tend to have issues completing big blockbuster games on PC, have done for a long while. I tend to just always fall back on games like Civ or Cities Skylines. I think a large part of that is that I don't have something like a Steam Deck, PC games are either on the TV or at a desk. With Nintendo the last console where you were locked to the TV was the Wii

So with Switch there really aren't that many games that I stopped playing. If you exclude the download only titles, some of which I got for $3-5, there are certainly a few. But for big titles the only ones I put down and didn't finish has been Luigi's Mansion 3. Across Wii U and 3DS there's only really The Wonderful 101 and Majora's Mask 3D that I didn't finish. Honestly, between Wii U, DS, 3DS and Switch there are less games I didn't finish than there are on Wii

On the PC? Horizon Zero Dawn I think is the latest victim. Put 5 hours into it, put it down and didn't play it for a couple of months. Spun it up again a couple of days ago for a bit and, TBH, I'm not feeling that compelled to finish it. I'd rather finish off Metroid Prime Remastered.....

Also that last post by @Chaotic_Neutral is amusing. Metroid Dread is probably my favourite game of the last 5 years. And somewhat ironically I have both of the Ori games on PC. Neither of which I finished. I also have Hollow Knight on both PC and Switch, got it on PC first in a bundle and never played it. Picked it up Switch in a sale thinking I might play it there. Played it for about an hour..... I think it's a tad overhyped TBH

@Tasuki Thanks for sharing and yeah I totally agree I'm not saying it's a bad by any means. I believe it just had a lot going against it from me. The DS NSMB game at the time really was something "new" and I was all over it. Fast forward to this NSMBUD and it just felt like very "been there done that" each time I played it. As I stated in my original post I'm also not really into 2D platformers but there are exceptions here and there. Like I said Tropical Freeze just took me for such a fun unexpected ride that I believe it may have set a new standard for me if I play anything in that genre. I'm sure if I never played DS NSMB and most definitely hadn't played Tropical Freeze before I'd be a lot more into NSMBUD. Oh well at least I know now.

@Colonel_Mustache I totally understand your ordeal with Sunshine. The first time I played it was also with the 3D All Stars collection. I actually owned it back in the GameCube era but my life at the time didn't allow much gaming so it just collected dust. The 3D All Stars really was a great opportunity for me to catch up on Galaxy and Sunshine. Anyways, to me Sunshine was a mixed bag of an experience. It was a solid mix of super fun, fun, kinda fun, kinda ehhh and straight up "wtf Nintendo???" of a time. Because of that during my time with it I could never figure out exactly what I was experiencing because overall fun was just all over the spectrum. I finally decided I'm going to just finish the game with as much fun as possible and give 2 middle fingers up a la Stone Cold Steve Austin style to those god forsaken blue coins. Never had I ever in gaming couldn't be more thrilled to hold a one man strike to collecting those. Also a big middle finger to some of those platforming levels. Some of them felt like they were designed to just troll me.

Hard disagree on the sequels improving on the Super Metroid formula, Super Metroid if anything is the benchmark for all Metroid style games going forward and the only thing that I can really fault it for is the floaty controls. I'll preface what I'm about to say by mentioning that the first Metroid game that I finished was Metroid Zero Mission back in 2017, so I don't suffer from the Super Metroid nostalgia bias that a lot of Metroid fans have.
I've played through all of the 2d entries, (except the original versions of 1 and 2) and Super Metroid still stands out on top in level design, world storytelling, music and atmosphere. The section on the research station where Ridley takes the Metroid, down to the quiet Crateria with the cameras watching your every move, then the enemies spawning when you go back up the elevator, still gives me goosebumps.
Now I'm not saying that the sequels are necessarily worse games in their own right:

• Zero Mission is the closest to Super Metroid in quality in my opinion, although some people are torn on the final section. The controls are tighter, the music is excellent and it has memorable bosses for the most part
• Fusion introduces spoken storytelling and I feel that this drags the game down sometimes, as it pauses the games momentum when it shows you where to go next, it's also very linear for a Metroid game which is a minus. But it can't be overstated how great the atmosphere is with SA-X and the lead up to the Nightmare fight especially.
• Samus Returns I enjoyed more than Fusion, but I wouldn't argue that it's a better game than Fusion. The fights with the Metroids can get a bit stale after a while, especially the Metroids that can switch rooms mid fight and the level design isn't the strongest in the series.
• Metroid Dread is phenomenal, but I personally wouldn't rank it higher than Zero Mission or Super Metroid. I agree with your point on the EMMI sections being an improvement on the SA-X sections and I can also see why these sections are a major turn off for some people. But while it moves the story along in a better fashion than Fusion and it's combat is excellent and fast paced, (which again, some people like it more than others due to the difficulty), the music and the map ultimately let it down. Other than the beeps of the EMMIs in the distance, I can't think of a single track/song in that game and this is disappointing considering some of the standout tracks in the series. I also feel that the map wasn't as easy to read as the standard blue template 'Metroidvania' map, I'm not really sure why they tried to fix what wasn't broken in the first place, not a fan.
  The SNES has some timeless classics and I'd put Super Metroid up there as essential even now. The lack of direction, while it can be frustrating, is part of the charm and I'd argue that Metroid Prime, even with the hints, can be more confusing than Super.

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World: The Game. I picked it up on sale on my Series X, I never played it until now. I only played it for two hours but I can say I won't be going back to this game. I don't see what they hype is for this game, don't get me wrong the graphics are nice, the story is ok and nods to pop culture stuff is great too, but the controls oh my God the controls are horrible. They are so stiff when compared to other beat em ups like Streets of Rage 4, River City Girls and Shredder's Revenge. Beat em ups should have very fluid controls not controls so stiff it feels like your moving in molasses. The consist blocking of enemies is annoying in that no matter what you do you can't break their defenses.

But yeah I don't see what all the hype is for this game, maybe if I was a Scott Pilgrim fan but even so the controls just make this game unenjoyable. There are so many better beat em ups I can play if I am in a beat em up mood.

I also will say that I am disappointed by this game after reading such glowing reviews.

You need to give it more of a chance, it has the perfect blend of exploration, challenging platform sections and rewarding boss fights (most of which are hidden and not required to finish the story).

Out of curiosity, what is your view on Darksoul type games? Hollow Knight definitely carries that influence throughout and is what makes it so fun.
Dread was far too easy in my opinion, even the encounters with the stupid robots were boring and needlessly dragged things out. Oh no, another robot that all you can do is just block slide and run with no risk of it killing you after the first few failed QTEs, repeating this until the game decides you can kill it and gives you the temporary ability to do so rather than requiring any skill or having to work out a better way to overcome the obstacles.

@Chaotic_Neutral
I don't really mind the "Dark Souls" gameplay loop. I'd argue some of my favourite games follow that "push forward, gain something, die, start again with a bit more" loop. Hades, Shovel Knight and Steam World Dig come to mind. My problem with Hollow Knight wasn't the difficulty or even the game mechanics, it was more that I didn't really dig the presentation. It just didn't give me any reason to care about it

Compare that to Metroid Dread which, IMO, is way over on the other end of the spectrum in that regard. I mean you say the EMMI was lame because you weren't punished heavily for failing and it was relatively easy to keep out of its way. I mean mechanically? Maybe you have a point. But.... you're also basically repeatedly re-enacting the final scene from Terminator in a game that borrows a lot from Alien. Which is pretty ****ing great

@Chaotic_Neutral @skywake I really enjoyed Hollow Knight but dropped it after about 14 hours because it outstayed its welcome. IMO no Metroidvania should last significantly longer than 10 hours.

@Buizel it is a long game, although I prefer longer games as I can game for several hours at a time and hate completing a game in a single playthrough or two.
My first HK playthrough took me 70+ hours without even finding half of the bosses or the White Palace - which took me a good few hours and hundreds of deaths alone on my subsequent playthrough (it's like Celeste on meth).
In fairness it has more in common with Elden Ring or BotW than a Metroidvania, especially with build potential from the charms and different load outs being more effective in different areas.

I also love how alive the world feels alive.
One of my all time favourite gaming moments came after rescuing Bretta and reading her diary to find out she has a massive crush on your guy - she literally blushes when you sit next to her 🤣

I appreciate the difficulty and lack of hand holding is for everyone, but it was the simplicity and linearity that killed my enjoyment of Dread - especially given it is 4 times more expensive for a quarter of the gameplay.

I recently dropped Pokemon Brilliant Diamond. It's fine. A really great recreation of a DS game. But that's just it. It's literally a reskin of the original with some quality-of-life improvements. I haven't been in the mood for anything similar to that, so I'm putting it down for now. Maybe I'll come back to it. I'm slightly more concerned with Bayonetta 2 at the moment. I picked up a copy of it when I got my Switch back in 2020, and I've only now gotten to it. It's so good so far, and it's the breath of fresh air that I desperately need after so many turn-based games.

Gargoyles Quest.
I heard it was amazing for years and years.

Sorry, thought it was awful

Breath of the Wild. I think I just got distracted with other games. This is my thing with games that can be potentially very long. At some point I'll lose focus and pick something else up. Nowadays I'm trying to play games around the 20 hour mark or less.

Then I picked up Hollow Knight without knowing how long that could be. I'm 60 hours in and I'm still not done with it. I like the game a lot but I wish it was a more condensed game in terms of length. I would have preferred if it were as long as Metroid dread, or the Ori games.

I think they did too much with the boss fights. There are lots of those. And having save points far away from bosses wasn't cool too. I'll probably continue playing because I've invested so much time. I'll keep playing until I see at least one ending.

It absolutely breaks my heart to say this, especially as all I've been doing is writing passionately about the series on here, even recommending it to others but... I dropped Atelier Ryza 3 Now I will never see how the trilogy ends.

I know its a me problem and how my brain works specifically and not the game's. but I hate that they have made it pretty much open world now. Those little segmented areas to explore in the previous games were so much less stressful to me, I could gather half of the maps materials, bring the basket back and then come back to do the other half but that's just not possible in Ryza 3. Maybe that's not how you're meant to play it, but that's how I enjoyed playing it, I never left any stone unturned, and I always had plenty of ingredients playing this way.

I actively sought out and beat every monster I could in the previous 2 games mainly because the combat is so fun, but now there seems to be so many of them all of a sudden and you can't seem to avoid them to gather like you could before. Not only that, they respawn when the time of day changes, I don't remember that happening, unless you left the map and came back or entered a cutscene.

Speaking of cutscenes... Where are they? even beelining from A to B which I did try to do there was no character interactions at all.

Everything I loved about this game is gone, it went from relaxing zen to stressful and anxiety enducing within 1 game.

The hardest thing is, that this will be the norm from now on. The overwhelming majority love open world games, I do too but it doesn't work in Atelier, at least to me, and as devs why would they take steps back, they will just go bigger. So yeah the Atelier franchise, I guess I'm out, the remake of the 1st game will be my last I think and that makes me so freaking sad.

This should be a hot take in the unpopular opinion thread too. Not every game has to be open world to be good, and I know everyone will disagree with what I said here but meh, onto Trails to Azure, at least it's gameplay wasn't drastically changed for the worst.

I also don’t like to drop games, or tv series, anime or manga really. But recently I’ve considered my backlog and thought I might try more things if I don’t grit my teeth and plough on. It’s liberating.

I suppose having a break from a game you tell yourself you’ll come back to is different? I did that with Persona 3 before, then finished it and I love that game. I do want to restart Digimon Cyber Sleuth. Yakuza Like A Dragon I would like to get back to someday. And Paper Mario TTYD.

Like @Ralizah I did drop Ni No Kuni due to the battle system. I love Ghibli and Level 5, I’d wanted to try it for ages. But after 25 hours I’m not going back.

@JoeDiddley It's a real pity. The presentation is phenomenal, and the story is cute, but I can't play a game that feels actively broken.