[General Discussion] Titles you just can't get into

Originally Posted by Ayos

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.

How ya doing, buddy?

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.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

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:

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

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

I was speaking idiomatically.

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).

How ya doing, buddy?

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.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by SonicPanda

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.

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...

How ya doing, buddy?

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.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Spatula

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.

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.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Elixir

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.

A.

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.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

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 am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by SonicPanda

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.

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 was speaking idiomatically.

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.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

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.

FELIPE NO

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.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Ayos

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

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)

Jam it back in, in the dark.

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.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

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.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate 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.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

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.

How ya doing, buddy?

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?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

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).

FELIPE NO

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.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

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.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

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.

There's nowhere I can't reach.