[General Discussion] Games you regret buying.

Originally Posted by surasshu

I bought SSX Tricky for $5, but that was $5 I could've bought a bag of popcorn at the cinema for. That would've been a much better investment. I mostly bought it because a friend and colleague mentioned there is a form of interactive music in it. There is, but the game is so bad I don't really care.

I am so saddened by this. The first three SSX games were fantastic. (I haven't played the "On Tour" one yet, so I'm withholding judgement.) The storylines were almost nonexistent, which is something they could've wedged in, but otherwise, it was a fantastically creative snowboarding game. Even the controls were dead-on. The voice acting in Tricky was top-notch and the courses were infinite fun. I can't tell you how many hours I and a couple friends spent trying to master the Untracked course.

Crap? No, sir. I do not think so at all. For $5, you should've been extremely pleased with what you got. SSX Tricky was one of EA Big's flagship titles. They put so much effort into making that game awesome and here you go dismissing it for reasons you didn't even care to explain.

And what the hell are you even talking about with "interactive music"? You mean being able to select which audio track plays? Because that's the extent of interactive music in SSX.

I am sincerely wondering if maybe your brain got messed up and you meant to type in "FreQuency" instead? That'd make more sense, although I'd still have to smack you upside the skull because FreQuency (and Amplitude) were also great.


I'm pretty good about what I buy. Can't readily think of too many clunkers. I guess my biggest disappointment was SaGa Frontier II. Now, I loved Frontier 1, despite its obvious flaws, and I was hoping for more of the same over-the-top moves and spells. Yes, Frontier 2 had some, not as many, but some, but the manner in which the whole game was visually presented was an extreme letdown.

In SaGa Frontier 1, whenever, say, Red learned a new move, a nifty little light bulb would swirl over his head and make a cha-wing! sound. That was fucking brilliant. And the moves were amazingly creative, with awesome, respectable names. "TurbidCurrent", "RosarioImpale", "Lifesprinkler", "Goldfist", "Skytwister". It was worth going through each person's story just for the battle sequences. And the sprites were bright, colorful and reasonably sized. No complaints.

SaGa 2, however, had smaller sprites and a wimpy "watercolor" coating on all the graphics. It was supposed to look quaint and magical, but it just came off as dull. I paint with watercolors now and then, and they don't have to be that drab.
The battle formula was basically the same, but far less flashy. The light bulb looked like a little brown slab; I guess it was transformed into an exclamation point, maybe? Either way, it was uninteresting. The fight moves were also rather uninspired. Whereas in the first game, I'd be shooting enemies with Trickshot, or pummeling them with Fist, in Frontier 2, you just sorta ran up to the foe, smacked it on the nose once or twice and called that a fight. Fight, my ass.

The storyline was also problematic. It fragmented in the weirdest places and I never got a feel for any of the characters and their problems. In Frontier 1, when you chose Asellus, you got to be Asellus all the way to the end, until you concluded her story. You got allies, of course, but you could always rely upon having Asellus as your lead. In Frontier 2, you'd wind up with Prince X for a while, until you got to a certain point. Then you were "Thief Guy", or "Magical Protector Person". Why? No reason, they just felt like jumping around to confuse everyone. I was just getting used to fighting with Prince Kid and suddenly I'm in command of some pansy dweeb who requires a totally different approach. I can be versatile, but I don't like such inconsistency in my games.

No, SaGa Frontier 2 was pretty bad, in my opinion. Maybe you thought it was great. I'm sure someone out there did. I mean, Squaresoft made it, so there's bound to be someone with a copy of SaGa Frontier 2 shoved firmly up his anus. And if you did think it was a good game, that's fair, but let me reiterate, after SaGa Frontier 1, the sequel was a complete and utter disappointment.

Hell, I thought Legend of Mana was far more enjoyable, and that's saying something.

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Suikoden IV was a dissapointment. I only played a demo of the second game but could never find a full version. The Third game never came out in the UK, but I managed to play it on my cousin chipped playstation 2 and I loved it. Suikoden 4 was just slow - the most terrible thing was world map exploration, slow and full of tiresome battles.

Vandel Hearts 2. Again another slow one - never had chance to play the original (which is apparantly much better) Battles became difficult at one point, and then traded it for;

Grandia - completed the game, but I got sick and tired of the countless dungeons toward the end of the game

Vagrant Story - I have owned this since it came out in 1999 - and I still haven't completed it! I'm at the Final Dungeon, and I just can't bring myself to complete it even if I wanted to.

Magna Carta Crimson Stigmata - Terrible voice overs, terrible battle system, terrible story line, great music, great character designs; enough said.

Evergrace - Shit

Orphen Scoin of Sorcery - Impossible to play

Xenosaga 2 - it's criminal they didn't release the first one in the UK - instead they put the cutscenes on a dvd that lasted six to nine hours - the story didn't make sense without valuable gameplay :P You then play the game - don't mind the long cutscenes so much, it just the lack of shops, and battles are so long winded.

Resident Evil Dead Aim - Shit

Can't think of much else of the top of my head

I was speaking idiomatically.

The main one would have to be Majora's Mask. Zelda games are all about slow, careful exploration for me, and its RUN RUN HURRY HURRY approach was completely terrible. What made it worse was that I paid full price for it back in 2001, when I could've waited and gotten it for free (along with some other, far more enjoyable entries) in Nintendo's Collector's Edition giveaway.

Arc the Lad Collection was a big bust for me. I was confident that $70 for 3-and-a-half RPGs was quite a deal, but alas, not when don't like its game design at all. Incidentally, the only other person I know who has it tried to sell me his for much the same reason.

I also regret buying Snake Eater when I did. Not because I didn't enjoy it, far from it. I regret buying it for $35 exactly SIX DAYS before Konami announced Substance.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

All you people that hate on Vagrant Story so much need to send me an NTSC copy to replace mine, which has disappeared at some point. That game's story was lovely.

FELIPE NO

Crimson Sea for the Xbox =/ Godamn that game sucked a hell lot, absolutely boring. ARGH, get it away from me.

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I never ever buy a game without trying it first (except FF8, which I turned out to like!)

So I did have deceptions with exchanging (vagrant story, vandal heart 1-2, and a few others i can't even name), but never with buying

Jam it back in, in the dark.

always very ashamed i bought killzone. Very crapy fps and the multiplayer really let me and my friends down... sure it looked good but played like crap and the controls werent that great. overal something i'd rent only once.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Rayman 2: Revolution for PS2. Why? Because I loved and cherished the Dreamcast version, but didn't have a DC anymore, and found it used for $12 so I thought I'd give it a try. NOOOO!!! They "Americanized" the voices (which means they sucked) and they made a free-roaming "overworld." I don't know how, but they managed to suck the charm out of the game. I played it for an hour, then sold it back to the store for credit, then bought a Dreamcast and Rayman 2 on Ebay. That is how much that version of the game sucked: I had to cleanse my palate!

Most amazing jew boots

I regret Baten Kaitos. I hate card games. I hate getting wailed on and having to take it until I get an attack card. Everything else about the game was pretty good, nice graphics, nice music, story was okay, I liked the wings aspect, but I hate card games. On that note, I also regret buying Metal Gear Acid.

I also regret Magna Carta. I didn't really buy it, I got it for Christmas, but I regret even putting this steaming pile in my PS2. After watching the opening movie (which made me laugh because of the ridiculous song) I knew I was in for a craptacular time. I was only interested in the game becasue my cousin used to go on to art websites, and he found art for the game when it was a Korean PC game. I liked the art, and wanted to play the game. That was smart of me.

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Originally Posted by Crash Landon

SaGa 2, however, had smaller sprites and a wimpy "watercolor" coating on all the graphics. It was supposed to look quaint and magical, but it just came off as dull. I paint with watercolors now and then, and they don't have to be that drab.

I am so saddened by this. Particularly because you're an artist and it makes me feel like I have terrible taste over the fact that SF2's graphical style is the only reason I still own the game. It's a saving grace in my opinion. You're spot on about the rest of the game, though.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Quote:

Vagrant Story - I have owned this since it came out in 1999 - and I still haven't completed it! I'm at the Final Dungeon, and I just can't bring myself to complete it even if I wanted to.

Duuuude, you're almost at the best part of the game. The Truth scene makes the whole thing worth it. Very, very satisfying.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Crash Landon

I am so saddened by this.

I'm sorry.

Originally Posted by Crash Landon

The first three SSX games were fantastic. (I haven't played the "On Tour" one yet, so I'm withholding judgement.) The storylines were almost nonexistent, which is something they could've wedged in, but otherwise, it was a fantastically creative snowboarding game. Even the controls were dead-on. The voice acting in Tricky was top-notch and the courses were infinite fun. I can't tell you how many hours I and a couple friends spent trying to master the Untracked course.

Crap? No, sir. I do not think so at all. For $5, you should've been extremely pleased with what you got. SSX Tricky was one of EA Big's flagship titles. They put so much effort into making that game awesome and here you go dismissing it for reasons you didn't even care to explain.

And what the hell are you even talking about with "interactive music"? You mean being able to select which audio track plays? Because that's the extent of interactive music in SSX.

I am sincerely wondering if maybe your brain got messed up and you meant to type in "FreQuency" instead? That'd make more sense, although I'd still have to smack you upside the skull because FreQuency (and Amplitude) were also great.

Well, perhaps I was wrong but supposedly, the music filters out when you do a stunt or whatever thing, and when you land it comes back in with a fill/crash. It wasn't exactly spectacular but it was still mildly interesting, especially considering it's a sports title. Maybe it was a different game though, I mean, you're clearly more experienced with SSX titles than I will ever be. =D

And as for my feelings about the game itself, like I said in a later post it really isn't my type of game. I probably was unwise in buying it, like someone buying Battle Chess who doesn't like chess, because his friends told him it was a different take on the chess genre.

Regardless, I did buy it so I did give it a fair try. I wanted to like it, my liking it was worth $5. But it's just no fun to me at all. The stunt part of these games never appealed to me, and the racing part just feels like a poor racing game to me. I imagine it's a lot better in multiplayer, but I slaughtered the AI on the tracks that I played, which was also not so fun.

Clearly there are plenty of people who liked it, I'm not trying to argue that nobody should like that game. I think it was a pretty big hit, right? I can also see that they put a lot of effort into making this into something else than "just another" snowboard game, and anything that deviates from the "snowboard" genre is a good thing in my book. But I just wasn't entertained.

I don't know what you're talking about voice-acting wise, what I heard was pretty typically cringeworthy game-acting (not that I care much either way). Maybe it gets better in the later levels or something. =D

And Frequency/Amplitude was great.

Just to make this post not a complete derail, I'll add another bad buy: Wario Ware Party for the Gamecube. It is Wario Ware and everything, and it is fun to play the multiplayer games, but I still felt ripped off considering it's just a gutted version of the GBA game. $50 was a bit much for that.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by surasshu

I don't know what you're talking about voice-acting wise, what I heard was pretty typically cringeworthy game-acting (not that I care much either way). Maybe it gets better in the later levels or something. =D

I think the voices do change in the later levels, actually. I'm wondering if you gave this a fair go since the voice actors were in the "DVD content" section, which was on the title screen. It was pretty interesting, having an interview for each voice actor (Bif Naked <3) as well as the making of.

You had to complete the game once to unlock it, I think. I'm not sure if there was some requirement or whether it was just simply unlocked from the beginning. It definitely was more of a trick related game than some snowboarding racer.

SSX 3 looked interesting but I didn't touch it, but I'll just assume it's the last of the series.

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Originally Posted by Elixir

I think the voices do change in the later levels, actually. I'm wondering if you gave this a fair go since the voice actors were in the "DVD content" section, which was on the title screen. It was pretty interesting, having an interview for each voice actor (Bif Naked <3) as well as the making of.

You had to complete the game once to unlock it, I think. I'm not sure if there was some requirement or whether it was just simply unlocked from the beginning. It definitely was more of a trick related game than some snowboarding racer.

SSX 3 looked interesting but I didn't touch it, but I'll just assume it's the last of the series.

I remember some of the girl voices being pretty bad. "You're going DOWN. Geddit?", that kind of thing.

I certainly never finished the game, so I may have missed the good bits. But I know EA tends to put them in the first 5 minutes of the game (their research has shown that about 75% of the gamers only sees this amount of the game, so they have to hook them at that point). Overall, the presentation of SSX Tricky kicks ass, I can't deny that.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Xenogears. I loved the first disc to death but upon reaching the second disc, I was wishing I had just bought the Gamera Trilogy box set.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by PiccoloNamek

Duuuude, you're almost at the best part of the game. The Truth scene makes the whole thing worth it. Very, very satisfying.

It's a bit late for that at this point, I'm thinking. He probably hasn't played it for ages, so the scene would feel pretty indifferent unless he were to play over from the beginning

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

Yeah I suppose.



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1) F-Zero GX for the Gamecube. Some of the races are too hard. I think I only got three races into the story mode.

2) Sonic Mega Collection for the Gamecube. HUGE waste of money. I paid $35 for a used copy. Two weeks later it got marked down to $15. That made me mad. I really ended up not liking the games. I didn't complete any of the games.

xman25

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by xman25

2) Sonic Mega Collection for the Gamecube. HUGE waste of money. I paid $35 for a used copy. Two weeks later it got marked down to $15. That made me mad. I really ended up not liking the games. I didn't complete any of the games.

How is this even possible? It's the original Sonic games, the classics that defined the 16-bit era, the true essence of Sonic, long before all those extraneous characters like Rouge, Big and Amy Rose were added into the canon. Plus, you also get Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, Sonic Spinball, Flicky and, I think, Ristar.

Come on, dude. Ristar.

Unless you've got some irrational chip on your shoulder against older games, there's no reason to dislike the Sonic collection. They're the cream of the Sonic crop.

I think 99% of the Earth will back me up on this one.

How ya doing, buddy?

The Sonic games aren't bad, I just didn't like them. I like older games. I would like any game from any era, if I found them entertaining.

xman25

FELIPE NO

Anyone remember Buck Bumble, for the 64? Technically, it didn't get anything wrong, but it broke the cardinal rule of gaming stunningly: it had to have been the most average, homogeneous, wholly unfun title ever released on the console.

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

Originally Posted by Crash Landon

Unless you've got some irrational chip on your shoulder against older games, there's no reason to dislike the Sonic collection. They're the cream of the Sonic crop.

I think 99% of the Earth will back me up on this one.

If you can find it, Sonic Jam on the Saturn is much, much better for Sonicking. No need to unlock games or features therein, full sound tests, art, commercials and trailers, Spin Dash on Sonic 1...Mega Collection is completely tame after all that.
That said, I almost bought the Mega Collection for Ristar and Flicky (the other two I'd say are only just OK), but since they're going to be on the PS2 collection coming out shortly, I don't need Mega Collection anymore.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by SonicPanda

but since they're going to be on the PS2 collection coming out shortly, I don't need Mega Collection anymore.

You mean Sonic Mega Collection Plus? The PS2 game which was released a year and a half ago?

It has Flicky, Ristar, The Ooze, Comix Zone (<3) and Blue Sphere as unlockables.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

The worst game I ever bought was the first game of the .HACK series. I didn't like it at all. I tried to give it enough time to get interesting/fun, but I eventually traded it in for something that was much better (I don't know what that was, but there's nothing I own that is that bad).

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

Another one!
Fable - I will admit it was fun for a little while. I was doing well in the game, I found some of the extras mildly entertaining, and then about half way through the story(this is the extended one. Lost chapters) I manage to get time slow leveled up completely. Two words. I win!

I hate unbalanced games with a passion...

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