Topic: Your gaming disappointments of 2023?

@kkslider5552000 Yeah, I understand that, and that's why I'm holding onto the game in case I get around to it again later (I usually sell games when I'm done with them). But I'd rather play one of the many games I've never played first.
Plus, does the gameplay drastically change on subsequent playthroughs, or is it just additional story? Because it's not the story that disappointed me. Maybe it does, I honestly don't know, but I'm assuming not.

@Croctopus Pikmin 4 is a bad showcase of the other Pikmin games tbh. Its basically like a watered down version of Pikmin 2, without any of the actual charm from 1 and 2.

In general: probably all the layoffs.
For the Switch: The Mario RPG remake. Just felt unnecessary to me.

@Eagly_lmtd_xmasskin Wait Nier has more then one ending? You mean I have more then enough reason to play through it more then once?

@Eagly_lmtd_xmasskin Really 27!? I know 22 or jokes but that a lot!

Oh and what do you mean by 2bd? Is it an extra forNier automata?

I know I kinda just joined the conversation so I’m a little confused, I don’t know much about Nier.

Also Nier automata had a sequel? Or do you mean just the first Nier game.

If I had to name one disappointment, it would be Air Twister.
The visuals and music are impressive, but the action in the game just feels so watered down and bland. I’d say it’s outclassed by its granddaddy, Space Harrier, from almost 40 years ago.

I guess my expectations were just set too high for what is basically a mobile game.

Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest The Adventures of Dai. Dull combat, with levels either being super small and short or just straight up boss fights and nothing more. Cutscenes are 99% just still images from the Anime instead of, you know, video footage from the anime. And if you by some miracle didn't stop playing, then the game ends half way into the story and given the reception to the game I doubt they'll do a sequel. The single worst dragon quest game I have ever played.

@Snatcher Both NieR games have multiple endings, yeah. If you play up to Ending A in Automata, you've barely played through it. Technically there's an Automata sequel, NieR Reincarnation, but it's an entirely different thing and is not a direct sequel to Automata. Automata is a sequel to Replicant, but same case there where Automata isn't directly connected. Drakengard 1's sequel is NieR Replicant, and Drakengard 3 is the prequel to Drakengard 1.

@FishyS Lol It could have been you because i saw it a while ago so who knows

The Legend of Zelda Oracle of Ages. I know it didn't come out this year but this is when I first played it.

I always heard great things about the Oracle games, so when they came to The Switch, I had to play it. I put about 4 hours into it and just couldn't do it anymore. The puzzles where just so mind numbing and just too much. It wasn't a bad game per say but the amount of puzzles there where just killed the pacing of the game for me.

I guess if you enjoy puzzles and such I can see why a person would enjoy this game but for me being a big Zelda fan it was just a disappointment and my biggest for 2023.

The only two games that I'd say even slightly disappointed me from this year were Fire Emblem Engage and Baten Kaitos Remastered. Overall, I still enjoyed them a lot but they both come with caveats.

In Engage's case, the story was just woeful. I know that melodrama and one-note characters aren't exactly rare in the series as whole, but they stick out like a sore thumb when every scene is fully animated and voiced. It's bumped up my appreciation for how Three Houses did things a lot. Gameplay wise though, it's really well honed. I spent a solid 60 hours on it and did all the side missions.

With Baten Kaitos the games were great and it was more about the quality of the remasters. Right out of the bat, losing the English dub wasn't a great sign. I'm fine with playing games in Japanese but it's a bit of a tell for the budget being tight and the game also had issues with slowdowns and bugs, although they got a patch out fairly quickly for the worst of the latter.

On the plus side, they've never looked better. The upscale on the backgrounds and the extra animated effects truly make the games shine, while their music and stories still hit the mark. I finally got to 100% the first game too, after leaving my Switch on overnight for a couple of weeks to get that final Magnus evolution.

@Xyphon22
What Eagly_lmtd_xmasskin says is completely true. If you've only played Nier Automata to ending A, you've only seen like half of the story, and the story is even better during the second half. Also, while you do essentially need to play through the game for a second time, it doesn't feel that boring because you're playing the story through a different character's perspective, which means you experience the story differently and see some completely different scenes, you get new powers which radically change the gameplay, and all of the sidequests you completed during the first playthrough remain completed (since you're not playing the same exact story twice rather than experiencing one story from the perspective of two different characters).

And then, after the second playthrough, you get to the final third of the game, which is all new content and pretty much the best part of it. Now that final third still has three differents endings, but you don't need to do much replaying to reach those, you just play one five-minute sequence twice, that's it.

I think the concept of NA having loads of joke endings and five "real" endings has many people (understandably) confused, and some seem to think you need to play through the exact same game many times, or that it has multiple equally valid endings, which is not really the case. The "real" endings are not alternate endings to the same events, they follow from each other, and if you want to reach the best, narratively most satisfying conclusion to the story, you need to play all the way to the last ending.

Personally, I think Nier Automata has one of the best stories, and absolutely the best true ending I've ever seen in a video game, but if I'd only played it until ending A and stopped there, I too would've been disappointed by the game, since ending A doesn't really conclude the whole narrative. So if you already liked the story of the game leading to ending A, I really would recommend playing it all the way to ending E, as it gets so much better.

Thirsty Suitors. So glad that game went to game pass. It’s a narrative based game, so disliking all the characters defeats the purpose no matter how good the gameplay is. The gameplay is fun but I wanted nothing to do with the people in game including the protag fairly quickly. My search continues.

Conscious this might constitute an unpopular opinion.... but for me it was Metroid Prime Remaster.

Context setting - I skipped entirely the Gamecube/Wii generation, and had only ever previously played Super Metroid in my younger years. (which I loved) Then fastrack to October 2021, I decided to get Dread to accompany my new OLED Switch.... and honestly thought it was a fantastic experience. I especially enjoyed the feeling that it was a Nintendo game with 'edge' and appreciated the tough boss fights, alongside the stealth areas. Looks-wise... beautiful, and absolutely made use of the new OLED screen.

February this year - I remember then the stealth-drop of the Prime remaster, and ordered via eShop pretty much immediately. However, I could not get into it.... and no matter how much I tried I just couldn't gel with it. It felt extremely repetitive and 'back-tracky', and the gameplay mechanics just didn't excite me. As I played it, I recall longing for s shorter & tighter experience like Dread.

I appreciate that back-tracking, exploration etc are part of the genre - but to me it felt like bloat. I accept I am in the minority, so I am less so dissapointed by the game itself & moreso dissapointed by my own ability to fall in love with it as others have.

NB. Objectively speaking though - Prime is a fantastic example of a 'remaster done right' and absolutely a level of quality and attention that all remastered games should embody.
If Demons Souls and THPS are the poster-boys for remakes, then Prime would be my benchmark for remasters

@CJD87 Yeah, while I do mostly enjoy the Metroid Prime games, all three of them have the same issue for me. There's always twelve 'macguffins', or what have you, you have to collect in order to open the final area, and they're always scattered throughout the previous areas which you're then required to revisit. At that point it just always feels like a chore to me. I'm with you in that I prefer the 2d Metroids, they're just tighter experiences overall.

@OldManHermit I thought I was the only one...(!)

A 'chore' would be exactly how I'd describe my time with Prime. I always remember there were some negative comments about Dread's relatively short play-time (my first run was ~11hrs IIRC) but I would always value a shorter, tighter experience vs excessive bloat/padding. FF7R is a good example of padding also, seems like that was a great 20hr game which instead got bloated to an average 40hr game!

I am glad that Prime Remaster sold well though, as it proves there is still appetite for the franchise. I suppose the masses are pushing more for Prime 4, but I would love to see Dread 2.

@CJD87 I honestly agree. I was hyped to play this critically acclaimed game but I just didn’t enjoy it. While I get that the lack of guidance was intentional, it made the game quite frustrating to play. And resorting back to the previous save when you die made certain sections really annoying. The remaster itself is phenomenal, but the game isn’t for me. Disappointing, especially considering how phenomenal I though Dread was

Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Great gameplay, zero cohesion. Tezuka thinks in the non-existent rivalry between 2D Mario and Mario Maker, this Wonder is just a collection of challenges instead of an adventure. Sad.

Atelier Ryza 3
One was great. Two was ok. But the third one is just a slog and non-sense.

@CJD87, I'm gonna kinda agree on this too.

Now, I liked it quite a bit more than you (and the last couple of commenters), and especially liked what it did with the Morph Ball sections, but I still think I very much prefer the tighter "stylish action game" direction the last couple of 2D games have been going in.

I can definitely "get" why it's so beloved, as I'll definitely agree that it successfully managed to translate the franchise into 3D in an era where that wasn't always the case (that, & the series only had 3 games up until it's release, and even an average game would have probably been more fun than the NES & GB games), but taken on it's own as a standalone experience in 2023 with no nostalgia it was a solid game, but probably not even in my top 5 for the year.

My biggest disappointment of the year gaming wise was when my one and only game save in Borderlands 3 got corrupted after 85 hours of gameplay.