Titles you just can't get into
 

I'll start.

Valkyrie fucking Profile 1. The game has no direction once you beat the vampire and exit the cave. Giving weapons up to Lord Odin is basically pointless, because you can keep the majority of them and still have your evaluation level at a value which won't change the tides of war.

As you exit the cavern, Freya leaves and this fairy appears. After you exit, you're thrown into this world where you can visit any town and any dungeon you like, except you can only do it so many times before the world ends.

Like, what the fuck. I don't mind the time limit, although it's rather annoying. The fact is, the game has absolutely no direction. You visit a town, get to see a 15-20 minute drama between someone who's on the brink of death, watch as they join your party, and then you proceed to visit dungeons to collect treasures and kill monsters.

Of course none of this is explained in the actual game, I had to look it up. The first time I played it I ended up going back to Lenneth's mother's town, and nobody knew her. It just didn't make any sense. I've tried twice on PS1 to play through this game, once on PC (with an emulator) and managed to get to chapter 2, and once on PSP getting to the open world once again. But I just can't be bothered with it.

All in all I just couldn't get myself motivated to get through this game and for the most part, there's other RPGs which are much less confusing.

So, in this thread, we discuss games that we want to enjoy but just can't.

DDR was fun, but ultimately I don't play it too much anymore because I'm on the second floor with people beneath me, my coordination sucks and my cheap-ass pad has a left side that doesn't work all the time (and I'm not sure it's worth the expense of getting a new one). Most I could handle was up to Level 3 songs, though I still got killed by Smoke on the Water and was able to handle a couple of level 4's...Anything above that, forget it. I suck at DDR.

Most any 3D fighter, I just can't feel comfortable with. I like my jumping/air dashes/fireball motions from 2D fighters. Only one I still have is Soul Calibur 2 and that's because maybe one day, I'll "get" 3D fighters and get into it. Oh, and because it has almost zero trade value...

Xenosaga 2 and 3. XS2 just kinda threw me off, and I was turned away by too many bad things that outweighed the good stuff. XS3, however, just couldn't keep my attention once other games like Okami and Valkyrie Profile 2 were in my possession.

Wild Arms: Alter Code F and Wild Arms 4 is another duo. With WA: ACF, I was soo tired of playing a game that had so much text, and no voices. It's a petty reason, really, but something about it just....drove me up the wall. Plus, once I got near the endgame, it was becoming more and more reminiscent of the first Wild Arms--up until that point, the extra characters and modded storyline were enough of a deviation.

Wild Arms 4, on the other hand, isn't a bad game by any stretch. In fact, I enjoy it a lot. Unfortunately, I think I lost interest in it once I got my hands on Dirge of Cerberus or some other title.

I have trouble getting into the Onimusha series as well. Now, Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams was a lot of fun, and I really liked it, but again it just couldn't keep my attention. After 12 hours or so, I was pretty bored. :/ The additional characters with unique abilities was a great bonus though.

The only game that I really wanted to play and couldn't get into would probably be Earthbound. I tried Super Mario RPG, and that bored me to tears as well, but I wasn't as interested in that. Earthbound would be great if it wasn't chock full of terribly boring battles.

I tried out Dawn of War, but I just couldn't get into it. I tried quite a few times to force myself to like it, but I just don't. I like RTS games too, so I don't understand why this one is one of the few that I don't like.

Galatic Civilizations II is another game that I just can't seem to get into. Played it a few times, but it just couldn't hold my interest long enough.

I've always wanted to enjoy Xenogears more than I do. It just never happens. Each time I get involved in the game, another tedious dungeon or overly melodramatic/convoluted plot element throws me off. Not to mention the poor load times and sloppy presentation. I find myself thinking that maybe it could actually be one of the best RPGs ever made if Square would redo the game proper. As it is however, it's flawed and one of the most overrated RPGs ever made thanks to the numerous zealots who worship the game. So many things need to be touched up.

I also feel similarly about FFIX. I'd like to enjoy it more for the obvious fairy tale quality of the game, but there are too many shortcomings all over the place, from the sluggish combat system to the filler-plagued soundtrack.

Finally, I've never been a big Suikoden person. Beyond the 108 character gimmick and the soundtrack of the first game, they're some of the most generic and uninspired RPGs out there. More involved and progressive gameplay as well as better art direction might make them worthy of the praise they get.

Oh, I almost forgot. I also find many of Treasure's games to be a tad overrated. Namely Gunstar Heroes and Dynamite Headdy. Their games tend to focus on a central gimmick as well as constant boss fights. I prefer more deliberate and polished games. Games that feel complete and more deeply satisfying like DKC2 and SMB3. When I see Sega fans talking about how DKC is overrated because it borrows from Mario, I definitely feel that they're missing the point. I like for stages to be more than just intervals between boss fights. I like to be able to truly immerse myself in a game world. And at that, Treasure tends to be subpar. Give me Contra III or Metal Slug 2 over Gunstar Heroes any day.

Castlevania Symphony of the Night is another. I actually did get into it, and I even think that it's a good game, but by the end I took note of quite a few problems, from the artificial extension of gametime that is the inverted/rehash castle to the lack of practical applications for Alucard's various transformations. Not forgetting the shallow RPG elements and lack of traditional Castlevania platforming. SOTN is a jack of all trades and master of none. When it comes to Castlevania done right, Dracula's Curse is the better choice. And when it comes to Metroid done right, Super Metroid is clearly superior. Point is, SOTN is far from being "the best 2D sidecroller ever made".

For me, it would be MGS3: Subsistence. First, you watch this epic movie that is supposed to get you into the action, but when it's over you wait for the credits to roll and then go, "Oh, I'm playing a game, that's right." Then, you're running through this jungle that all looks the same and not really doing much of anything, and you can't figure out where to go. You have this radio doo-hicky but I can never remember how to even access it without RTFM'n. I found a radio station by accident, guess I'll sit in the forest and jam to tunes.

= formula for me to lose interest...

What? Dynamite Headdy is AWESOME!

Right now, I'm having trouble getting into FFXII. I played it for 2 hours, and then started playing Okami again, and I haven't picked up FFXII since. What should I do?

Fire Emblem. I loved Advance Wars, but the whole olden-days era just didn't click with me, perhaps I'm getting too old. The battles had good strategy, but again just didn't have that draw. Plus the fight scenes aren't as nice looking as AW by far. I'm talking about the first GBA one btw. And I felt this way in the period earlier this year when there was a serious drought of games. I thought hitting the books was actually more fun!

But I will finish it... eventually! I think I got up to chapter 12, so I'm probably missing out on the good stuff. I'm more of an action-gamer nowadays, maybe this is why it's just so hard for me to get into these slow-paced SRPGs these days.

PS. I'm getting Okami and FF12 next week. I'm compelled to finish one before I start another biggie and was planning to do FF12 after such the long wait. Bearing in mind your comment, I'll probably be thinking of playing Okami while grinding through the new-style battles!

valkrie profile 1,for the same reasons as the ones by elixir and metal gear solid because the only thing good about metal gear is the history

I haven't really gotten into the Suikoden series properly. I played the first 2 minutes or so of IV, and thought to myself that it was just average. The concept of 108 or so characters is really cool and should logically be something I like, but the presentation didn't catch my eye.

I also can't really get into Halo or anything FPS related since I just don't enjoy the genre, if that counts. Playing the same map with the tower thing in the middle whenever my friends want to play it doesn't help either.

Just as an aside...PLEASE don't let Suikoden IV affect your judgment of the series (especially the first couple of hours, which are torturous). That game was so poorly designed, it never should have happened. I didn't even bother finishing it or seeing how it tied in with the rest of the games.

That would be like me judging Street Fighter based on Street Fighter: The Movie (the game).

Well, it's not like the first game is all that thrilling either.

I merely waded through it in order to get to 2, which actually was great (despite the story turning into a huge letdown towards the end). Luckily the first game relatively fast to complete, making it a short but sweetish RPG, instead of "clumsy and dull with some great unfinished ideas" that it almost was.

But then that's another Street Fighter similarity, with the very first game not being very good at all.
Only difference is Suikoden IV is a part of the series canon, while SF: The Movie is obviously not part of the main series.

Gotcha. A couple other factors also made me stay away from it such as S1's cover art being terribly ugly, S2's Luca Blight fanboyism and the whole concept of tactical battles. One day, I'll give it a go, but right now it's just something I don't have the time or the will to get into.

I liked the original because it basically set a lot of things into motion for the series, which IV just seemed to turn a blind eye to (most notably, the 6-man parties and the close relationship your character builds with the people around him). I think it managed to cram plenty of twists and stuff into the short 20 hour playtime and I jumped at the chance to pick up Suikoden 2 later on because of it.

If someone played Suikoden 1 and didn't like it, I would say don't bother too much with the rest of the series, because it's basically the same style of story and gameplay, only far more developed. Suikoden IV is not an accurate representation of the other games around it at all and isn't even a good RPG on its' own to boot. Maybe Pocket Fighter-to-Street Fighter would be a better analogy.

Edit: Tactical battles are mostly to advance the storyline, as are the one-on-one duels. Most battles are normal, turn-based.

And heh...At least Luca earns his fanboyism and it still isn't anything compared to Sephiroth's following. ~_^

I can't get into the Ace Combat series... I borrowed the first one from my cousin and it's either: I don't get it, I don't get what to do, OR i'm too dizzy from all the damn barrel rolls.

It's a nice game, but I just can't see what's so amazing about it.

I'm sorry everyone, but I'll have to put down Vagrant Story. Now all the RPG fans will kill me. It's hard, complicated, and leaves me going WTF most of the time. I also find that this is probably one of the most dark, both emotional and physically speaking, games from Square that I've played.

I'm also not a fan of how you have to be absolute PRO at basically your timing skills with the combos. You've basically got to get your timing of the hits down to a science, or an art, to yield maximum damage before. I feel like I'm so underpowered, and that same boss is still wasting me like holy shit.

Another thing is the whole RISK factor, which I can understand, but I can't seem to master this. I do tend to button mash, which is probably why the risk keeps increasing, causing my damage to the enemies to decrease, while exposing myself for a counterattack.

I'm sure Vagrant Story is a great game. Hell, very few Square titles have disappointed me, and VS doesn't disappoint - it's just ... something I can't get into, and it's not newb friendly.

I bought Virtual On: MARZ for PS2 a while ago and its just terrible. I can't even play it. I don't know if it's so much I can't get into it than it's a terrible game. I loved Oratorio Tangram and I still play it sometimes. MARZ just doesn't do it for me.

Ironically, the Konami members responsible for Contra III are Treasure, for the most part. But I will agree that Treasure's output is wildly uneven.

No argument here. When I first bought VS, I was terrible at it but still worked through it out of sheer stubbornness and the burn of having wasted the $50. I beat it, deleted the save file and didn't touch it again for 3 years.
After a lack of other things to play, I was determined to do it the 'right way'. I studied FAQs, kept notes, restarted once or twice, and then finally got the hang of it, beating the last boss in all of 5 minutes. This is not to say I enjoyed myself. Matsuno games seem to preoccupy themselves with dedicated micromanagement, and severe penalties for not embracing it. He may oversee some of the most nuanced VG storytelling out there, but actually getting to those finely crafted nuggets of narrative usually turns out to be an attritive chore.

The big one would be...

Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter: I liked the Breath of Fire games, and so did my family - I-IV make up both my parents' favorite RPG series (besides these my mom also enjoys the Lufias and Earthbound while my dad is more about Wild Arms and Zelda...in case anyone was wondering). Then came along this one that pretty much wrecked the series for all of us. The press embraced it for all its new ideas without warning that none of the new ideas (forced restarting by design, proximity strategy in battles, coins needed to save) were any kind of fun at all. We played it for about 8 hours total and then shelved it forever.

Silent Hill and Resident Evil deserve mention for making "horror" as dull as dishwater. Also I've restarted Suikoden 1, Panzer Saga, and SaGa Frontier each three times over, convinced that getting hooked is just a matter of perseverence. As it turns out, not hardly.

I'd have to go with GTA. Never actually found the interest in stealing cars. Or escaping police. Or just running down innocent people.

And I almost couldn't quite get into Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. The First one was kick ass, but there was definitely something lacking in the GBA port, whether it's the more childlike look of the characters, childlike behaviors of the main characters, I dunno, but more than likely, it's the fact that no matter where I hit, the maximum hit percentage is 75%. Compared to the original where stuff was all mathematical.

Most sports games fall under this category, by the way. Stuff like FIFA and Madden, regardless of whatever iteration they're on, I can't stand to play but occasionally.

Finally, most fighting games I just can't get into. I'm talking about the normal fighting game like the iterations of Street Fighter, Soul Caliber, Dead or Alive, Mortal Kombat, Virtua Fighter, etc. Stuff like Marvel vs. Capcom and Smash Bros series, I can deal with and I Love, but the other stuff, No, I can't get into that.

It's not you, it's the game. I tried this game when I was in a shop in Ginza, Tokyo, and at that time I was like, what the hell is this game? Why isn't this fast pace and fresh as the original 2 character fighter? The controls were sluggish, the mechs slow, and it was like you're fighting in a giant jar of molasses.

So yeah, I don't blame you if you can't get into that piece of crap game.

Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy VIII.

Vagrant Story's battle system didn't do it for me, the beginning dungeon-thing was boring, and I just got tired of the game.

Final Fantasy VIII left me not caring about the game after leaving the school to go to Ifrit's cave. I mean, I did end up playing more of it, but unlike Final Fantasy VII (where I've beaten it multiple times, gotten Omnislash on the first disc, and beaten it in 16 hours) or Final Fantasy IX (where I got to disk 3 in a weekend), I just can't sit down and play the game and care enough to beat it.

Pikmin 2: I want to like the game, I really do, but I just can't seem to stick with the game for long before switching to other games.

Timesplitters 2: This one I think is because I'm too used to keyboard/mouse combo for FPS. Aside from Halo, I don't think I really enjoyed many other console FPS titles.

Need for Speed:Most wanted

I really loved the first 2 underground games, but I couldnt get into the cop chase scenarios in Most Wanted. I played it for a few hours trying to get into the gameplay, but It got old too quick.

Cannot for the life of me force myself to play Final Fantasy Tactics, or Morrowind, or Oblivion for that matter.

And I refuse, flat-out REFUSE, to get into World of Warcraft. I just say no.

After wanting to find out what this whole "FIFTY DRAGON KILL POINTS MINUS" dealy was that was floating around on the internet, I took it up upon myself to see that this was basically the 40 some member raid on the Dragon Onyxia, which from what I hear is one of the most difficult monsters to take on. I mean, 40 fricken people to take down 1 monster.

At any rate, I looked up some youtube links and watched some 12 minute video of them raiding it. EVEN GROUPS LEFT, ODD GROUPS RIGHT, DOTS VERY SLOWLY PLEASE. I have to say I was both confused and bored at the same time. So I see the guy cast like this magic at the thing, along with 39 other dudes doing the same thing. I was like okay. Then he said STOP. So everyone stops. I'm assuming you can't piss off the dragon too much or else it will dish out super attacks or something, and make the dragons aggro unbearable. So they sit there for like 1 minute just curing themselves or whatever, then he says START!

I don't think I could really bother with these kinds of things. I'm sure it takes a lot of coordination and skill to attack such a beast, but at the same time much of World of Warcraft looks a lot of "rinse and repeat" type stuff (which I could say the exact same thing for FFXII, but anyways).

Again I've actually never played 1 minute of WoW ever in my life, so perhaps I don't quite see what's so addicting about it, which turns to another point why I don't want to start, after hearing so many horror stories of people turning basically into computer potatos glued to this game.

I must admit something here.

I have played about 5-10 minutes of WoW. As one of my friend's characters. His phone rang and he asked me to take over so he wouldn't die. So I did. And it was boring. Boring enough watching, almost even more boring playing. This game seriously sucks. Sucks bad enough that it makes me regret they adopted kind of a MMORPG-for-single-player system for FF12 - but at least that's bearable. Diablo II definitely beats out WoW in terms of fun kill-monsters-level-up-get-equip-oh-no-here-comes-boss-gang-up playtime.

So like did you know what you were doing during those 5 - 10 minutes? I'd probably end up using some black magic spell against myself LOL. Oh what does this button do? :kills entire party:

Ha ha, yeah, he explained briefly. I managed to complete an entire quest in those 10 minutes. Still not very satisfying. Yuck.

FF Tactics, Suikoden V, and Oblivion are all games that I own but haven't been able to put more than 5 hours into... maybe someday (especially in the case of Suikoden V which I understand is very slow up until hour 15 or so, yikes).

Almost all "modern beat em up" games, i dont know why, but those titles bored me a lot when i playing it more than 10 minutes, im talking about games like Prince of Persia new saga, Devil May Cry, Onimusha 3, Bujingai and titles like that.

D':

I really didn't like Dragon Quarter when I first played it (I was young and stupid, and "strategy" really wasn't in my vocabulary), but once I got the hang of the battles and maps, I was able to really enjoy the storyline.

And, though it's definitely not my favorite Breath of Fire game (IV is my favorite <3), it's still a really interesting game that took a lot of chances, I think.

You should give it another try. Dragon Quarter is like a watered-down Vagrant Story in terms of its difficulty; it gives you some basic hints near the start the game, but after that, you're thrown into the wild.

Some games that I just, for the life of me, get into:

Dragon Quest VIII: I heard so many rave reviews for this game, I decided to buy it used for $45. I get maybe....ten hours in, and I'm nearly bored to tears by the battle system and plot. It probably gets better, but it was really difficult to start the PS2 when that game was in. I traded it for a measely $7, so maybe that's why I'm so bitter....

Suikoden IV: After I read some posts 'bout this game in this thread, I knew that my intense dislike for IV wasn't just me. Still, it kinda turned me away from the series, though I'll give the others a shot someday...

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and any of the Tomb Raider games. It's been a long time since I've played the latter, but I still remember clearing a few stages in the first game and never really wanting to continue after that. FFTA was interesting because of the battles, but the story lacked the drama I enjoyed from the first one.

FIFTY DKP MINUS. MORE DOTS. MORE DOTS.

Vagrant Story for starters. I got to weapon crafting and was all "o sweet :3" then checked a faq. It was like I was reading a god damn thesis on this stuff. I was hoping for a user-friendly faq, but NO DICE. I deleted my save data with no regrets after messing with it a bit longer. I was expecting a more RPG element to it, at least (ie: XP from monsters, etc).

Shadow Hearts 3. I love #1 and #2 is a damn masterpiece. But #3 fell flat on its face. Horrible characters. There is no focal main character (ie: Yuri in #1 and #2). Without a focal character, the protagonists are a bunch of clumped together weirdos. And Shania with her hot-pants and Injun-emo mode really got under my skin. Their portrayal of Capone as a handsome svelte good guy with a rough exterior was pretty lol. And they had Elliot Ness visiting him in prison wtf. But hey, #2 took its rights with European history, so I'll let those latter two instances slide.

Grandia 3. Holy christ, what is it with #3 in these recent series. This game was god-awful... Summed up best in a PennyArcade comic.

OMH!! Valkyrie Profile, never did liike this game. I wonder why I still have it, it's just collecting dust.

Another one is Saga Frontier 2!! So pathetic, a game with no fun factor.

Fable.

This is one of the worst games ever in my opinion. The fighting was very lackluster and the game should only be considered acceptable if hideous amounts of light bloom is what makes games good. Every battle in the game could be won by just wanking on the sword smash button and twirling around like a faggot until the enemy was dead and you got some lame skill points or something, I never got into it clearly. This was way too hyped over for how intensely retarded this game was.

I've heard that as well. There was a site (I don't think it's working anymore) which specificied which members of the development team would later become part of Treasure. I think it was maybe three at the most. (nothing is certain when it comes to what games ex-Konami Treasure staff might've worked on; it's all rather irrelvant anyways since I'm only talking about official Treasure games or known Treasure-developed games) Anyways, I generally like Treasure. I had fun with McDonald's Treasureland Adventure and Mischief Makers. Gradius V was also pretty cool. Alien Soldier doesn't pretend to have good level designs and instead focuses on Treasure's affinity for boss fights to great success. I just don't see Treasure as the end all and be all when it comes to sidescrollers. It's tough to have that view while everyone else is ready to proclaim Treasure's almost mythical status. And to make things worse, Treasure is perceived as underrated and overlooked by the casual gamer, which only strengthens the resolve of its fans as they strive to support their righteous cause.

I kind of agree with the above...Silhouette Mirage and Ikaruga are two games I can't get into (although more accurately, Ikaruga kicked my ass) when both should be right up my alley, though I've been meaning to pick up Bangai-O for awhile (I originally rented it). I also played both Gunstars on emulators, but didn't get very far...I need to go back to them sometime. Gradius V is probably the best Treasure game I've played (although...did they do Castlevania 3 when they were with Konami?).

But as far as side-scrollers go...I think I prefer Klonoa, early Megaman and basically every 2D Mario. Though I do wish I knew which games Treasure did before parting with Konami.

They didn't really do any games as a team before leaving Konami as much as a number of games just happened to have one or two future Treasure guys involved somewhere. Treasure fans would like to say that the influence of Treasure is obvious enough with some of those games, but I would probably only rarely agree. For example, Castlevania IV hardly has anything in common with most Treasure games. Treasure games tend to be on the manic side. Castlevania IV is a more deliberately paced and dare I say well-crafted experience. A Treasure fan might say that it lacks innovation (a very common criticism held against the original Donkey Kong Country), but are any of Treasure's gimmicks so innovative and richly rewarding so as to justify the lack of memorable areas and lack of an immersive atmosphere some of their games feature? DKC may be a deliberate kind of platformer in the vein of Mario, and it may not offer much that is particularly new in platform genre, but it created an entirely new and immersive world that made Donkey Kong a popular icon again. The barrels, kremlings, animal rides, and bonus games all became something uniquely Donkey Kong and uniquely memorable. I think that's important. Contra III has larger than life bosses a la Treasure, but the stages themselves are a bit longer and more involved than you'd find in Gunstar Heroes. And Metal Slug 2 (or 3 if you prefer that one; it recycles a lot of stuff from 2 anyways) is actually better than both when it comes to the various animations, obstacles, and area details.

2D Mario over Treasure's offerings? I agree. No Treasure game (out of those that I've played anyways) is as satisfying on the whole the likes of SMB3 and SMW 1/2.

I'm going to hate myself for saying this, but...Phantasy Star Universe.

I used to love the PS series so much. I still consider PS4 to be the penultimate RPG (Nocturne). After the letdown that was PSO, the announcement of a next-gen single-player PS adventure had my hopes raised so so high.

And then it smashed them to shit.

I remember PS having interesting, dynamic characters who grew and matured in believable ways, who responded realistically to the events around them, who seemed goddamn HUMAN.

They have given me the most predictable and cliched anime/J-game stereotypes imaginable.

A plucky youth who vies for his unrealistically-attractive teacher's attention, amidst having his ANIME-COCKY attitude shot down by his quirky elderly martial arts instructor and being badgered by his 10-year-old sister to go shopping with her.

His teacher, who acts like a goddamn doormat for everyone for no good reason, and who goes from almost-as-tough-as-nails-except-letting-people-walk-all-over-her-tough military woman to giggling school-bitch when her "sister," who isn't even her sister and who she apparently never speaks to, shows up out of the clear fucking blue.

Don't get me started on main character's kid sister.

Annoying bandit gangs who, true to form, HAVE YET TO DIE IN A FIRE OR OTHER EXCRUCIATINGLY PAINFUL CIRCUMSTANCES. Why do irritating and pathetic villains never give me satisfyingly cathartic death scenes? Fucking seriously. At least Atlus had the decency to kill off Bat in a huge-ass fireball. Oh, shit, I spoil. But then Bat was cooler than these fucktards.

So what happened to whiny characters who get emotionally gut-punched and turn out true heroes? What happened to arrogant and powerful wizards who are hiding deeper sides to themselves not just because the manual's character synopsis says so, but because they ACTUALLY SHOW US THAT SIDE OF THEMSELVES? Or one-year-old genetic constructs whose childish-wonder worldview is brutally ripped away and who somehow manage to retain hope?

I worship PS4 for very specific reasons, and this travesty does not do my memories justice.

Oh, yeah, one other thing. Three out of the four "core" PS games had castles, swords, caverns, dungeons, dragons, magic, and other medieval themes to go along with their spaceships and lasers. The odd one out, PS2, still felt primitive compared to the amount of technobabble I'm expected to endure in PSU. And mind you, I'm a fucking IT guy, I can take a lot of technobabble. Rewriting "Technique" as "TECHNIC" with no good reason to capitalize the whole word and even less reason to shift away from a perfectly adequate term? "Techniques" were a mainstay of PS. "TECHNIC" seems plain unnecessary. Please stop messing with (near-) perfection. Hell, they even made a point to differentiate between techniques and "real" magic in PS4. It was a minor plot element. It added to the mystique of Rune, Kyra, and the Espers. It seems like they changed it just to sound more sci-fi or hi-tek (because spelling "tech" with a K is also more sci-fi).

I'm sure PSU has redeeming factors. I just didn't expect to have to endure an excruciatingly generic sci-fi anime geared toward ten-year-olds in order to get to them.

P.S. Who is this robot-winged dickweed. Can Zio please come kick his ass.

I never used to get these kind of games, but if you are able to get together with a few friends on Teamspeak or vent and play, it's kind of a whole different ballgame. Of course, I've never stuck with an MMO beyond about level 20 or so thus far, so that may have something to do with it.

Earthbound never struck me as very fun. I tried a few times to get into it, but I could never stick with the plot long enough to care.

Just about any sports game that isn't NFL Quarterback Club '98 or Blitz always turns me off, too. I haven't tried any of the Mario Sports games, like Strikers or Tennis, but they look like they might be more interesting to play than sim sport. (blech)

The Silent Hill Series: I found it to be really boring and repetitive overall. The story and atmosphere of the game is what kept me going the small amount of time I did actually spend with the game.

Any 3D fighter for me also has the same affect. It seems as if any dummy with an idea of what a cheap move is can defeat you without fail. So the whole Tekkan, Soul Calibur, etc. series haven't pulled me in whatsoever.

And then there's your generic 3D Platforming game. They all seem the same with some twists and turns, but otherwise, it seems like you're always doing the same shit in them all. I think the last Platformer I enjoyed was probably Super Mario Sunshine about 4 years ago :/ And even then, it was faded. But I'm hoping that Super Mario Galaxy will bring it back to life. With the Wii-mote, I'm sure it'll actually open up a whole new avenue into the realm of 3D platformers. Perhaps a new standard, much like SM64 set.

Starcraft was something I never really got into. Age of Empires was the first RTS game I played, and it was a pretty slow paced one. Then I got Starcraft because all my friends had it. It was really fast, and I just never could get used to speed of it or the different strategies needed to set things up. So I stopped playing after a while and never bothered going back to it.

As a side note, considering how many people have said they own Valkyrie Profile and hated it, I'm trying to find a replacement for my friend, who lost his copy of the game, and I would be more than willing to purchase anyone's Valkyrie Profile from them. Any takers?

Skexis- Yeah, he had a few of his buddies there on teamspeak, but I'm sure having more than just a few would change the gameplay a bit. Still, I just don't think it'd be worth paying a monthly fee for.

In regards to Valkyrie Profile 1, I can totally see where the "non fans" of this game are coming from. After playing for about 2 or 3 hours on December 24, 2005 - which happened to be when this Ebay purchase came, I was already ready to go WHAT THE HELL DID I SPEND $100 USD FOR? I thought the pacing was weird, the story was somewhat lacking, and you're just following one place to the next according to your "Lenneth Spidey Sense goes tingling".

But then something in side me said, well this is just the beginning, there HAS to be something that the fans of this series like so much about it. So I decided to stick with it, and after beating my first dungeon, I was like okay, I got the hang of this. One thing I always feared was that I'd run out of periods, however, this wasn't the case. For the latter part of the game for chapters 5 to 8, I actually had MORE than enough periods to take care of business.

In short, despite a rocky start in the game, I'm glad I stuck with it and beat it. Maybe next year I might take a crack at this game again, this time on hard to get the flame jewels.

God games I hate with a passion, especially those ones that never end like sims or 'creatures?' I think another one was called? Although I think that franchise is dead and buried now. What pleasure can you get from a game that never ends, repeats the same dreary tasks and when it does end it's either because you stopped caring or you sucked too much and lost everything normally in a high drama death music fashion? :annoyed:

I tried to get into Metroid Prime after seeing it being critically acclaimed. Sorry fellas the 2D ones rock the 3D Metroids (unless Metroid Prime 3 can change my opinion).

And I could never get into the War type games. Medal of Honor, Battlefield etc. Or RTS games (YES YOU WARCRAFT).

Key thing to remember about VP: It's a stylized dungeon crawler. The period thing should never become an issue, unless you quickly enter/exit levels various times. I was a TAD disappointed VP2 dropped some of the more unique elements (namely the character meeting sequences, the feeling of non-linearity and the soul searching/periods) but the core gameplay was improved, so no worries. I can see where people wouldn't like it, but you also can't come into it with the same manner of thinking you would for a traditional story-based console RPG.

Agreed with the Metroid Prime response above...I played for about 2 hours and realized I wasn't getting into the 3D exploration bit. Then I got into some combat and realized I fell asleep during it. I have my hopes higher up for Prime 3, but I also admit the way they're using the controller for it is cool.

And anything survival horror. The popularity of every single one of those games astounds me for no other reason except for the controls. I think any survival horror fan loses the right to bitch about poor controls in a videogame.

You really can't judge a game like World of Warcraft after a raid video on Youtube or playing your friend's character for 10 minutes. The appeal to MMORPG's come from upgrading your character, so if you're playing a friends character and are expecting the fighting to be like...Devil May Cry...you're barking up the wrong tree. I'm not saying the game can't be boring, it really depends on your view of MMO's, but those aren't the right methods to go about it...at all.

The game is also much more fun if you get together on a VOIP program with a few friends, without that, I would have quit playing after level 20 myself.

Also, that hardcore raid shit is only one part of the game, which is pretty easily avoidable. And if you have any self-control whatsoever it's not hard to "tear yourself" away from the game. Most of the people I have seen getting hooked don't have things going in their favor at the time anyway and use it as a form of escapism. If you have a good reason/motivation to do something besides play WoW all day it isn't a problem.


As far as my own titles I didn't care for: VP1 is also a big one for me, I do plan on finishing it once I actually give it a chance (since I loved its sequel) but it'll be a long, boring day before I get the mentality for that.

I can't remember anything about Vagrant Story, other than that I was excited when I bought it, played it, and gradually lost interest.

Killer 7 was an interesting experience, but I just loathed the gameplay so much... I seriously feel it's one of the worst PS2 games I've tried when it comes to the fun factor of playing it. To bad since it was a different visual experience.

The Metal Gear series. I enjoy watching my friend play it (big MGS nut), and I love the whole idea of the extreme characters, ambitious story and all that. But the gameplay is just not for me.

A lot of Survival Horror titles. Fatal Frame 2 being the most recent one... Scary, yes. But again... I just hate the gameplay. So incredibly boring and clunky.
I think the Silent Hill series is the only one that I've really enjoyed (I'm a huge fan) because of the fantastic execution when it comes to the ambience. Still dislike the controls though.
It's to bad since I love horror in general.

GTA: San Andreas is a game that I did get into, but just lost interest in. It's a great game, but the whole setting isn't something that I particularly take interest in. GTA3 was great because it felt like a really fresh episode of the series. Vice City was great because it nailed the 80s atmosphere and added some cool things. Excellent characters as well.
San Andreas is fun, but the whole ghetto/gangsta thing going on isn't really my cup of tea. Looking forward to a new GTA game though.

I couldn't get into the Zelda series. I dunno why. I enjoyed playing the first Zelda game, but when I tried playing Ocarina of Time, I got sick of playing it. I didn't even get too far IIRC. I think I was at the part where I had to fight Dogongo or something. It wasn't very far into the game. I did like watching my cousin beat the game though. :)

I dunno, I'll eventually try and get my hands on that Legends of Zelda collection or whatever it was that's on the Game Cube...

I could never get into Vice City. Whole thing just felt flat, despite all the praise for its free form. But oddly enough, San Andreas hooked me; I think it's cos I have a thing for terrain undulations or something.

And Fire Emblem. Damn I play for a while, take a break for a few days, and then can't be arsed to get back into it's all talk premise. But I will finish Sacred Stones this holiday period. Oath.

I just cant get into Chromehounds,i mean i love mech games,but it was way to slow for me =\

Additional Spam:
And WoW,i love rpgs to death,but WoW just bored the hell out of me.

I can't handle turn based RPGs at all. Final Fantasy, Xenosaga, Dragon Quest, just not my kind of game. My dislike for them isn't in the amount of hype they receive or story, but in the actual game play. Shifting through menus is not really a game. If that's all I can do to advance a story, I will crack open a book and read instead.

Console-based FPS games feel terribly clunky. I don't like analogue sticks and really don't like being forced to use them. My lack of dexterity here usually results in me going out bird hunting. I'm always aiming toward the sky or ground because I just can't seem to get it down. Give me a keyboard and mouse and then I can play an FPS with some control.

I gave World of WarCraft about a month and had to stop. The game is just too fucking big. There's so much to do that I can't even figure out where to begin. Infinite replayability is great and all, but there's just way too much going on that I can't get a handle on it. If the game had a single player feature, that would be great because then I could play at my own pace rather then trying to get something out of the $15 a month.