Have you ever ended up with a game that has everything you want from it but for whatever reason you can't get into it at all?

For me, that pretty much describes the Ultima series. I've tried IV, VI, VIII and even IX (though people agree that's the worst of the bunch) and none of them have really grabbed me. I don't even know why, the description of Ultima IV basically reads like a game from my dreams, but in the end I only got about an hour or so in before getting horribly tired with it. Same goes for Ultima VI and VIII, though I was smart enough to borrow those after being so disappointed with my previous Ultima experience.

Same goes for Eve Online, though in that game I can actually tell what my problem with it is; I simply don't feel like I'm in control. Instead, I feel like I'm toggling various autopilots on and off. The community was amazingly helpful and a nice bunch to be around with, but I don't want to pay 15EUR/month just to chat with people.

Oh, and please keep those rants on how game X sucks to a minimum here.

That pretty much describes my expeirience with WAR. it promised so much to be a break from wow, everything was new and creative surprisingly well balenced (dont hurt me!) and all.... but i still crawled back to wow from my witch elf... couldent even be bothered to play it past the first month..

I tried playing World of Warcraft for a while to see what all the fanboys were talking about. I just couldn't get into it at all, which I thought was weird because I've played other MMO's like it and had a good time. WoW was just really boring for me.

Baby Tea:
Any Final Fantasy game.
Everyone get all crazy about them! Whether it's the first one, the 6th one, the 3rd one, the 7th one, the 12th one...I just don't like any of them. They aren't fun to me.

Also, now that I think about it, nearly every JRPG I've ever played.
Pretentious story lines, crazy predictable characters, over emotional characters in times where it isn't warranted, boring story lines, awful dialogue, a 'no fun' approach to combat and gameplay...ugh. I understand some people love 'em, and that's fine. Not me though...not me.

This. You've nailed JRPG's in the head with that description. People always say JRPGs have the best, most immersive storyline, but all of them are, "Its up to me to save this town/city/planet, and I have some secret power which I will learn to unlock on the way, whilst being overly-whiney/arrogant/not confident/etc which will all change due to a certain female companion I don't like at first but will come to love."

Every one is like that. Its annoying.

I gave Brawl a chance because I felt like I was expected too but with such a gameplay, I just couldn't get stuck into it! Sure it has more of this and that but it lacks in some very important areas. My favourite Nintendo game is Melee and I don't think thats going to change anytime soon.

Brawl to me is the perfect example of everything vs gameplay!

GTA IV. I'm a massive GTA fanboy and have loved it since III (the top down games left me cold) but as much as I wanted to love IV I could not shake the feeling that it was all, well, fur coat and no knickers.

Morrowind was another, I've tried it a few times and it sounds like my perfect game, free roaming olde worlde kind of backdrop, but it was just so slow I just gave up. I have no doubt I'll try it again soon, though.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Considering Melee was my favorite game of all time, I had very high expectations of Brawl, and they simply failed to meet them. I blame most of it on the new Havok physics as it adversely affected every aspect of the game to make it frustrating because all the characters, being much more floaty, are able to recovery much more easily.

Despite having so many arenas, nearly all the stages are rather small to offset this. There's a heavy amount of instant-kill items and Final Smashes to a point where it feels more like the game is based on luck rather than skill. The reason they do this is because now you pretty much HAVE to do an instant-kill move otherwise the enemy will always find ways to recover to the stage due to floatiness, diagonal knockback, and improved recovery abilities. This plays heavily in favor of heavy characters who can kill easily and have a large attack radius when the stages give speedy characters little room to run around.

Also while they added lots of new features, every feature that was with the series to begin with felt like it was a step down from its precedessor. Classic mode transformed from a series of completely randomized fights to a monotonous game mode that you had to beat over 40 times playing the same characters in the same sequence over and over again. They removed Mewtwo, one of the most uniquely played characters in the game, and nerfed the heck out of Mario, turning him from a good all-around fighter to medicore compared to every other character. Of course, this also undermines the epic Mario versus Sonic fights when one of them has been dumbed down.

While it's not a bad game, I am very disappointed. My disappointment is so great that I even considered doing a youtube series that outlines every bad game design choice in an attempt to point out to Sakurai how pathetic he was to rush it.

I felt like they paused in the middle of development and thought "Eh, let's just stop right there. It doesn't matter whether we make the game any better than this because it's still going to make a crapload of money." And so, they made the rest of the game sloppy and pushed it out the door.

Final Fantasy 7
Everyone says it's the greatest RPG ever, but I honestly have difficulty enjoying it. Most of the characters have little appeal to me. Throughout the whole plot, I had to keep asking "why should I care?" Not to mention they don't always tell me what I'm supposed to do so I end up wondering aimlessly doing pointless sidequests and random encounters just to find the place where the main story line progresses. Oh, and I hate the camera in battle mode. The camera constantly changes angles to make the battle more dramatic, but with the low resolution, it's hard for me to figure out exactly what I'm pointing my cursor on.

Resident Evil series. I know that people love it and supposed to be one of the greatest etc. but I just can't stand them because of control handling, gameplay, and dialogue. Well, the 4th one was good. I've sold the ones i've had and played 4 at a friend's house.

Morrowind.

Gears of war, Halo and bioshock.
I loved Bioshock but cant play it again, it jsut feels like a chore and didnt find it as deep as i thought it would be.
Halo just an average shooter to me - getting progressivly worse with each sequal.
Gears of war - all right but not worth the hype.

Pretty much every pay to play MMO, GTA IV and Uncharted.

AuntyEthel:

Baby Tea:
Any Final Fantasy game.
Everyone get all crazy about them! Whether it's the first one, the 6th one, the 3rd one, the 7th one, the 12th one...I just don't like any of them. They aren't fun to me.

Also, now that I think about it, nearly every JRPG I've ever played.
Pretentious story lines, crazy predictable characters, over emotional characters in times where it isn't warranted, boring story lines, awful dialogue, a 'no fun' approach to combat and gameplay...ugh. I understand some people love 'em, and that's fine. Not me though...not me.

This. You've nailed JRPG's in the head with that description. People always say JRPGs have the best, most immersive storyline, but all of them are, "Its up to me to save this town/city/planet, and I have some secret power which I will learn to unlock on the way, whilst being overly-whiney/arrogant/not confident/etc which will all change due to a certain female companion I don't like at first but will come to love."

Every one is like that. Its annoying.

You two beat me to it. JRPG's aren't fun. Maybe once, but not the (insert any numeric value) times. All are the same whether you like it or not.

people will hate my guts for this, but Half-Life. I played one and two all the way through and never loved it like others do. Don't get me wrong, I love valve and I thought both games were incredibly well polished and competent, but there was nothing exceptional about it.

Bioshock - I tried my very best to enjoy it...honest..

It's already been said, but both FF12 and the Resident Evil series.

I got FF12 thinking it was the second coming due to the reviews and it turned out generic with a main character that I couldn't connect with. There was nothing really immersible about it. I want to try to enjoy it, but there's something major missing that makes it non-enjoyable.

RE I really can't explain. I love shooting zombies and I love certain horror games, yet there's something about this series in particular that I can't get into. It's troubling considering my brother keeps buying me ResiEvil games. Yet I don't conclusively know what it is. If it was the camera and movement of the older games, I wouldn't have enjoyed Onimusha so much. Maybe the zombies are bland and uninteresting or it's the color tone.

Another game series I had trouble enjoying was MetalGearSolid. This is completely attributed to the cut scenes that, in at least one case, put me to sleep. I enjoyed the gameplay the second time I had a stab at it and I'm okay with Snake, but the plots threw me off and I didn't enjoy the cut scenes - which I guess were the largely important part of what made the game unique.

Both Resident Evil (the series overall) and Street Fighter.

I enjoy a good scary game, but finding a good one is hard. RE, Silent Hill and the like all don't scare me. A bit of shock factor but that is it.

I'm also a very competitive person, and fighting games are just that. I love Soul Caliber, Guilty Gear, and such, but I HATE Street Fighter and the King of Fighters stuff. Pretty much hate all the Capcom and SNK fighting titles except Darkstalkers.

Having first tripped over the ending in Fallout 3 I have trouble enjoying the game.

Very lame, Bethesda, very lame.

People rave about Half-Life, but I absolutely hated it.

PxDn Ninja:
Both Resident Evil (the series overall) and Street Fighter.

I enjoy a good scary game, but finding a good one is hard. RE, Silent Hill and the like all don't scare me. A bit of shock factor but that is it.

I'm also a very competitive person, and fighting games are just that. I love Soul Caliber, Guilty Gear, and such, but I HATE Street Fighter and the King of Fighters stuff. Pretty much hate all the Capcom and SNK fighting titles except Darkstalkers.

How about the Marvel vs. Capcom games?

Baby Tea:
Any Final Fantasy game.
Everyone get all crazy about them! Whether it's the first one, the 6th one, the 3rd one, the 7th one, the 12th one...I just don't like any of them. They aren't fun to me.

Also, now that I think about it, nearly every JRPG I've ever played.
Pretentious story lines, crazy predictable characters, over emotional characters in times where it isn't warranted, boring story lines, awful dialogue, a 'no fun' approach to combat and gameplay...ugh. I understand some people love 'em, and that's fine. Not me though...not me.

It's strange to write that but don't play any FF game if you want a good JRPG (Note: I don't say that every FF game is not good).

Crazybuddha56:
people will hate my guts for this, but Half-Life. I played one and two all the way through and never loved it like others do. Don't get me wrong, I love valve and I thought both games were incredibly well polished and competent, but there was nothing exceptional about it.

Yeah I'd probably second that. Haven't played the first one but I got the Orange Box and played the second, and it was ok. And that's it. The story is probably the game's strongest point, but it was the gunplay that I found a little irritating. The guns somehow just don't feel right, and when you're firing into enemies they don't even move until they're dead. Still a good game, but just not worth the hype.

Another game I'd mention would be Oblivion. On paper it sounded exactly like the kind of game I'd enjoy, but it just felt a little dull. The combat was god-awful, since it was basically: hit this until it dies. I've yet to see a game that makes first person swordplay fun really. Of course Oblivion's third person camera didn't help much...

Vlane:

Baby Tea:
Any Final Fantasy game.
Everyone get all crazy about them! Whether it's the first one, the 6th one, the 3rd one, the 7th one, the 12th one...I just don't like any of them. They aren't fun to me.

Also, now that I think about it, nearly every JRPG I've ever played.
Pretentious story lines, crazy predictable characters, over emotional characters in times where it isn't warranted, boring story lines, awful dialogue, a 'no fun' approach to combat and gameplay...ugh. I understand some people love 'em, and that's fine. Not me though...not me.

It's strange to write that but don't play any FF game if you want a good JRPG (Note: I don't say that every FF game is not good).

I'm no Final Fantasy fan, though I did enjoy 7, but ever since then my interest in JRPGs has just decreased.

Bioware makes much better games, in my opinion, than many Japanese RPG developers, and lately I can't even convince myself to finish playing Eternal Sonata...it's just so tedious and irritating.

As for action games, Half-Life 1 was quite fun, but I didn't feel the same way regarding HL2 and episode 1.

Crazybuddha56:
people will hate my guts for this, but Half-Life. I played one and two all the way through and never loved it like others do. Don't get me wrong, I love valve and I thought both games were incredibly well polished and competent, but there was nothing exceptional about it.

I second this. Though I haven't completed either game, namely because I found them to be too boring to persevere; the game just didn't have the right 'feel' to it.

Fallout 3 :(
I want so badly to love it, so much about it is cool...
But I just can't get into it. I don't know why, I just can't.

calelogan:

Vlane:

Baby Tea:
Any Final Fantasy game.
Everyone get all crazy about them! Whether it's the first one, the 6th one, the 3rd one, the 7th one, the 12th one...I just don't like any of them. They aren't fun to me.

Also, now that I think about it, nearly every JRPG I've ever played.
Pretentious story lines, crazy predictable characters, over emotional characters in times where it isn't warranted, boring story lines, awful dialogue, a 'no fun' approach to combat and gameplay...ugh. I understand some people love 'em, and that's fine. Not me though...not me.

It's strange to write that but don't play any FF game if you want a good JRPG (Note: I don't say that every FF game is not good).

I'm no Final Fantasy fan, though I did enjoy 7, but ever since then my interest in JRPGs has just decreased.

I don't know what JRPG's you've play since 7 so I can't recommend something.

I still think that there are far better JRPG's out there than most FF games. I mean the SMT series and Baten Kaitos. You will probably don't agree with that but it's okay.

Stop talking shit about JRPG's!!
I can't say they are perfect, but they have lot of things regular RPG's don't offer, such as great music, unique art style, and deep stories.
Let me just answer some criticism:

1."Crazy predictable characters"
I agree with you, that too many JRPG's have transvestite 15-year-olds as main characters, but good JRPG's make them mute or let you name them as someone you really really hate. (FFX, Persona series) Also, there are some real gems in voice-acting, like Auron from FFX, or Balthier from FFXII. I also can say there are some ancient stereotypes, which transcend all ages and styles ( smart-arse best friend, "The Boobs") But there are usually just as many hits as there are misses.

2."Pretentious story lines"
If you've only played FF's I don't blame you, only good story so far has been in 10, and that was only cos there was so damn much of it.
If you want good story, I suggest Persona series. The main story is the same shit as any JRPG, but there are side stories, that are actually more interesting than the main plot.

3."a 'no fun' approach to combat and game-play"
Can't do anything 'bout this, sorry. If you don't like turn-based combat, you don't like JRPG's. I like it though. Makes me use my brain.

Also, I was totally disappointed by Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. I liked all other FE games, but this was boring, hard, and no-matter how I tried, I didn't wanna finish it.

I've never cared for the GTA series. Everyone tells me I'm nuts but I just can't get into them at all.

GTA4.

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
Takes my Xbox360 controller for windows as default, the sensitivity adjuster does nothing and it still hardly scales according to the controller.
The car goes all over the place and is a nightmare sometimes.
The buttonmashing is terrible.

God of War, Gears of War, Halo, Devil May Cry.. as well as all of their related sequels. Gears of War, for example, is the pinnacle of mediocrity to me. It's not a horrible game, it's not a great game. It's just a game that is easily forgotten.