I suppose the best response I can give is the example of Final Fantasy. It's not so much that I "just stopped" playing but that at some point around the release of FF9, the series got way too self-indulgent and self-referential for my tastes. Odd, too, considering that I didn't mind FF9 as a game all that much (dog-slow engine notwithstanding) but something about 10,000,000 in-jokes, series allusions and references, and other little tie-ins like that being presented with the expectation that I would think it to be unparalleled genius rubbed me the wrong way. Following up with the melodramatic FF10 didn't help either.

Haven't bothered with Crystal Chronicles, FFTA, FF11 or its expansion packs, any of the DS rereleases, or anything since, though I'll admit to trying FF12 and actually being somewhat impressed. Though it may have to do with 12 being developed by the Vagrant Story/FFT team and actually seeming to have a sense of humility and trying to tell its story as opposed to saying "ZOMG STORY!!!111!!!!" and glaring at fans until they respond "Yaaaaaaaay Squaresoft!" as they goddamn rightfully should.

Jaded? ME?

Otherwise, yeah, Sonic was it. I didn't buy a Dreamcast when it came out, so that hurt my involvement in the series, but I tried Sonic Rush and found the frustration factor to be a complete turnoff. Either I've gotten to be shit-bad at platformers or they made Sonic a LOT harder since I went away.

The Mana series. I made a thread about it a while back, but I can't stress it enough. They've completely massacred what was good about the games up to Seiken Densetsu 3, and I can't stand seeing new Mana games coming out one after one. Still, I always do try the games to see if they eventually have gotten better just in case, but alas, the more games that come out the more they seem to suck ass.

Okay so maybe I went overboard - but it is simply because people like you exist who pester me all the time for my opinions and others who just can't believe that a girl like me actually plays "games" that they used to play in grade 7.

I just got an infarction for being "clinically" insane LOLOLOL - that is the coolest thing I ever heard even though it's supposed to be warning. You know - I think I just may be "clinically" insane and I hope this summer returns me back to normal. Guess I offended you since I was reported - Sorry

Now for your second paragraph - let's see... without being sexist (let's face it less girls do videogaming than guys). FPS dominated insanely by guys, girls enjoy different fighting games than guys, "Harvest Moon" played mostly by gurls (had to through this in), GTA enjoyed more by guys

So no shit our opinions will differ insanely and a vagina does make a giant difference believe it or not - sorry can't find any double blinded randomized clinical trials since video gaming is not a big interest of "scientist" and in the long run won't pay for their bills - but behavioral studies DO exist and and as hardcore as a chick wants to be - a chick is still a chick and will react like a chick for the most part...

Anywayz what exactly did you mean by "Because I'd never heard that before." - have you ever played the Xenosaga series? If not I suggest you try it and GIVE IT A CHANCE UP TO XENOSAGA III. This is true especially if you have not played XENOGEARS because then you won't have much expectations.

And hmmm - the game is known for it's LONG CGs but if you live with them they are actually fun. I remember playing this game when it first came out and the long CGs were annoying but then I learned to sit back and enjoy it (the graphics for the time were pretty neat too). Also - you can skip PARTS in the CG so it's not as bad as kids complain "OMG I had to DIED against the boss so I ended up having to watch this long movie" - COMPLETELY UNTRUE!!! The first two games somewhat lack gameplay but Xeno III completely makes up for it and the story is amazing 'cause it's sooo full "stuff" (I seriously don't know what other word to use).

~The Truth of Xenosaga~ <--- lil sample of the story - but it's sooo much more fun to actually explore it yourself. The game is so under-rated really.


Now I have NOT played Xenogears and I'm pretty sure that game is better - I did buy a "mint" copy for $50 but when I get my ash-hole out of DDR (which is currently what I'm addicted to - and I am rather new at the game so I suck) then I may try it.


EDITING: OOPS it's infraction not infarction - I was thinking "clinically insane" that's why... lol I just finished a Module in Cardio <.....<

EDITING AGAIN: Xeno is not for all - Anime Haters = big no no... and people who are kinda religious may be offended too. Heck I'm quite religious but a game is a game to me... just thought I'd mention it since one of my friends passed this game on due to "God's" interpretation <......<

Stop making actual fans of the series look bad, please and thanks? I feel like cutting my own balls off by association.

I believe the Shadow Hearts series (expect the bullshit that is From the New World) is more interesting than say, Xenosaga. I just heard.

Topic-related: Sonic, definitely Sonic. Loved 2 and 3. Just going through the stages, getting emeralds, trying to get 50 rings and just mow everything down and earning up to 30 lives in one game is something I remembered fondly. And now it is gone (its simplicity and charm that is).

I've played III and IV also. Not my favorites in the series, but, by God, I want to know about those true runes! (This desire--among other things--makes Deni call me a Suikoden fangirl...)

Yes, there are gender-specific video games out there (Barbie!), but they are for younger children and are more than likely aimed at trying to bring more females into the video game arena. That's it. I'm 39, and I'm not going to play any Barbie games--give me a game where I can kill something....

True--nowhere in Suikoden V do they repair something in a "dream world" only for those repairs to exist in the real world. LOOPHOLE!

It wasn't disrespectful--it was shock. That's our Deni for you. And yes, we will argue with peoples' opinions. That is what is called a discussion. That's exactly what Deni was doing.

Now, for my answer to the topic...

I stopped playing the Tomb Raider series because it became the same thing over and over. Especially in II--or was it III--when you had to find the same objects in each area....Please--give me something new to do. I had more fun in the first game when I made her swan dive out of the music room and die in her mansion....:)

Yeeeeah. All right, let's get a few things out of the way.

Yes, I played Xenosaga. Yes I played III. Yes, I've played XenoGears, yes, Gears is better than Saga in my opinion.

I was not on your balls (figuratively) about XenoSaga, because I don't really care if you like it or not. If you'd come in here talking about how FF VIII had the best narrative in the history of video gaming, we might have had a problem.

However, you did come in yelling at me about how gender decides what games you like. Which would be brilliant if it wasn't BATSHIT crazy. I mean, I get that someone wrote a book called Men are From Mars, Women are from Venus, but I'm pretty sure that was complete bullshit, much like your argument is. I know tons of people, male and female, that play RPGs (my genre of choice, by the by), and it has little to do with whether or not they bleed once a month.

So, though I appreciate your argument that gender decides preference, you need to appreciate my argument that it's complete horse shit and you're coming off like a crazy person.


P.S.

What did I mean by "I've never heard someone say XenoSaga is their favourite game before."? Allow me for a moment, to use an approach to better explain my point that I once saw a brilliant young philosopher use:


I've never heard someone say XenoSaga is their favourite game before.




No it isn't. I played III, IV AND Tactics. I call you a fangirl because of the obsession, not the enjoyment, dear. You know that. And because I think you once tried to argue with me about how III was good. But I may have just been being a dick at that point.*



*protip: This is likely.

Exactly--desire can lead to obsession. Didn't you know that, love? <3 I remember saying I liked the Trinity Site system, Yuber and Little Viki, but did I say it was good, or did I say it was tolerable? I can't remember!

Anyway, Deni and I enjoy a lot of the same games--RPG is also my genre of choice--and we are opposite sexes.

There is ALWAYS a first time for everything... and I'm a pretty amazing and UNIQUE PERSON (slash out the first word).


Do you seriously believe that gender does not play roles in tastes, possible preferences and way one perceives things for the most part? I'll have you know - I'm NOT the gurl-ist gurl out there and most of my friends are guys. While I don't watch porn, I can openly talk about it. I go to the theatre to watch Saw IV (I don't feel the least bit "scared" or disgusted) just to so I can amuse myself watching other girls squeak... but still I do notice that my tastes somewhat differ from guys no matter how much I hang out with my brothers or guy-friends.


Denicalis Trick Question: If you had a choice to wear one of the following what would it be? Perfume or Cologne (think this over please!). Hint: I am referring to what you would put on yourself! NOT the smell you may get from hanging around someone - if you know what I'm saying.

I was unaware that Xenosaga gave off pheromones.

Rez, maybe, but not Xenosaga.

There's perfume for men and cologne for women. Is that the trick?

Sorry, Deni...

LOLOLOLOLOL Leknaat - Interesting catch <.....<

Okay - under NORMAL circumstances then... what would Denicalis wear?

If you notice men cologne (or the perfume which I haven't actually smelled) have a much more distinct and strong smell than female related smells. But that is just one example. There are many examples like clothing and others.

@RacinReaver... funny how people are putting words in my mouth... I don't remember saying that Xeno is liked by females only or even female directed... for one Shion and KOS-MOS tend to show more skin the more the series advances and to top things off a useless "beach" scene was there just for the sake "fan service"... but you're the mod so you're right and I'm wrong.

Geez all I was trying to say is "Our opinions are different. People have different opinions and the fact that we're not even from the same sex makes it even more UNLIKELY that our TASTES are are the same... tastes does not equal opinions necessarily.... so the "REALLY??" and the "WOW" struck me as huh? You don't believe that others have different tastes or enjoy different things

So, your argument is that because people tell women they should smell like flowers, and men like musk, that they must be different? I'm not getting into a nature vs nurture debate with you, and I'm definitely not getting into a debate about the concept of learned behaviour as it effects gender.

HOWEVER, I will say this: The concept that enjoyed games has anything to do with having an XX or an XY chromosome is idiotic, yes. Our opinions differ. I would use Elmo to point out how shocking that is, but I already played that card this week.

However, the only thing ridiculous about this thread so far is the sheer level of reaction you took to someone having an opinion that differed from yours. We're at about a four. You're up around an eleven. We need you around a five.

LOL!! Okay... after my INITIAL reaction didn't I apologize???? I admitted I'm crazy, I went overboard and that I was sorry for offending you RIGHT? And my new posts are all DISCUSSION based - Leknaat said we argue right? So I'm joining the team and discussing further what I initially in my crazy mood meant - not attacking anyone anymore right?. So what's eating you to the extend that you have to keep going on and on about how crazy and I am? I'm guessing it's hard to let go of things?

Now I'm not going to argue with nurture vs nature (there is to much controversial things going on for example a people who are gay = nature, suicide can be found on a gene etc... if we do take these as evidence then that's one thing. But I personally don't believe there is such a thing as a suicide gene. But this is all besides the point) - maybe another thread about this would be interesting...

But the shear fact that you said

is completely wack - I mean there ARE differences between men and women and those should be clear. Maybe not as strong as strongly in video gaming simply because video games are video games (not real life). However, there has to be some reason why much more men are into FPS as opposed to females (yes that is taking into consideration the amount of females to males that actually play games).... and why do males appreciate GTA more than females? Don't tell me those two points are not true...


Eitherway, Denicalis you managed to complain about everything I wrote... so u gonna tell me which you prefer of the two smells?


PS. I prefer it if guys didn't smell like musk...


EDITING: PS. I gotta go make dinner and then do some DDR which I suck at.

Got studies on that one? You think maybe it could be because the game is marketed to males? Or, hey, here's a crazy one, maybe there IS no correlation, and the percentage of female gamers who play GTA IV is pretty much right on par with the percentage of female gamers to male gamers.

You know why I can postulate that? There hasn't been a study on this. It's all conjecture, and horribly thought out conjecture at that.

And as for my saying that men and women aren't really all that different being "wack", well, I'm afraid not all that "wack". Women just aren't all that different from men. You're raised on different things, you're dealt with a different way, and that has more to do with the differences between the genders than any biological separation.


Oh, then you must not be female! Since that's what females prefer the smell of! Oh my, you don't fit the pattern. That's problematic.

Also, what do I prefer the smell of? Pussy. Well manicured pussy. The hell do I care about juniper berry smell?

But see, none of this has anything to do with the discussion at hand. According to you, all girls should play Horsez on the DS and nothing else. And I only dislike XenoSaga because I'm a man and should like FPS (I don't own a single FPS, by the way).

Buy Mass Effect and stop playing JRPGs, you goddamn weeaboo.

I'm going to start importing games so I can have the Japanese voices.

Just to piss you off.

Tsunade, please. You're just embarrasing yourself now. What with this and all:

It's just a thread on video games. Yes people have varying opinions, but there isn't a whole lot of SCIENCE behind it. Personal preference is what it's called. There's just really no need to sustain such a weak argument; it's stuff like this that makes certain Video Game threads at GFF unbearable.

AS FOR THE THREAD

I would say Suikoden, if it weren't for Suikoden V. Seriously if Suikoden V were along the same lines of III, IV and Tactics, then I would consider losing complete interest in the series. Those three games were pretty horrible (I actually want the time I spent playing Tactics back...it was that bad). Suikoden III's story was intriguing to a certain level, but the game mechanics and design was cringe-worth to say the least. It was as if Konami was trying to conform with the rest of the market, toying with the incredibly successful Suikoden formula. And I hate having to resort to the sailing factor for Suikoden IV, but DAMN THAT WAS ANNOYING! A much cleaner, more Suikoden-y game than III, but it still needed a lot of work. And all of that was fixed in Suikoden V, which is an amazing game. So in summary, I was on the edge with the Suikoden series, but it's all fine now, yeah~ (Suikoden II (and I) will remain my favourite game ever so it'll always be tough for installments to match that standard; V came fairly close, though.)

I've got a few series I could mention, but I guess the main one is Pokemon. I loved the first subseries (Red, Blue, Yellow), and the second was awesome too. My interest sort of waned a bit at Ruby etc, and almost completely dropped with Diamond and Pearl. Chances are that if they continue the same basic formula with hackneyed pokemon designs, then I'll just stop playing. What the series needs is a Wii installment with advanced use of the remote. (Also I dislike the people who complain about the GB-era pokemon noises; I think they're fantastic, and if they changed them I'd definitely lose interest!)

Final Fantasy almost creeps into this thread topic; I played XII but just couldn't get into it, even though it looks like a damn fine game on paper and in practice. =/ As lame as it sounds, I do have high expectations for XIII (I'm more skeptical about vsXIII actually). And I never got into XI. Damn Playonline kept charging me after I'd stopped playing the game for about 4 months. Shit service, that one.

I don't think anything in the series will reach the standards set by VI and VII. (VII IS A DAMN GOOD GAME AND YOU SUCK IF YOU SAY OTHERWISE...<-- this isn't fanboyism, it's just appreciation of an objectively good game.)

Tsunade, stop posting your ridiculous horseshit. Last warning.

Hmm...
The only thing I could think of, would be something of a reverse:
The first Resident Evil game I fully played and owned was 4. Then I tried playing 1 (remake), but ultimately stopped because it just wasn't my thing. Too much resource management and fiddlesticks-camera.
But I don't think that's valid in the sense of the thread. *_*

I really can't blame you for that. It's something I've been wanting to know since I first started the Suikoden series! I want to see the hero from the first game again too, damnit.

The last Mana game I played was Legend of Mana. The newer ones just seem like crap, but I really just need to try them out and quit being lazy about it. I absolutely adored LoM, but that game is extremely hit and miss with people. I don't blame you for hating the game since most do, but I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the game.

Yeah, I can totally understand why people like the game. The atmosphere of it is pretty nice, the 2D graphics give me a boner, but damn, I just can't stand the actual gaming and lack of story.

There was story there, it was just very fragmented and not well developed.

There were three or so large story blocks in the game though and then the rest were small ones with maybe one or two quests worth of stuff fleshing it out. I can see why people didn't like it, but it was a fun game with a nice soundtrack and "some" of the story was alright. I liked the Jumi stuff and the netherworld plot. Certainly a fuckton better than the games that came after it. :(

Legend of Mana is a great game. A truly misunderstood title because of its non-linearity and emphasis on tinkering with the colorful world it provides. The artistry of the game certainly elevates it beyond the petty complaints that I often see held against it.

After that I stayed away from the series, so I guess that's another one that I stopped playing.

Misunderstood? Really? I wouldn't say that.

It lacked a cohesive combat system. Gameplay itself was stilted and felt at times both too slow and too fast. The story issues have already been touched upon. There's a variety of very legit complaints one could level at the game, so "misunderstood" seems like a term that's either incorrect or being used to make yourself sound artsy for appreciating something that was inherently flawed.

To claim it's presentation more than makes up for it's vast multitude of problems is pretty bonkers, too. If we start going there, one could claim Unlimited SaGa was awesome because of it's "artistry". Are we gonna say that one's misunderstood too?

Don't get me wrong. I like it a lot, but misunderstood it is not. If anything, it's overly simple. It's difficult to misunderstand. You either forgive it for it's faults and enjoy what it does right, or you can't manage to get over them. There's little to no gray area here whatsoever. Misunderstood my ass.