sirdanrhodes:
GTA4.

I agree. A game only has an open-world if you progress through it depends solely on your own unfettered choices. Why then did Rockstar burden the game with a stupid plot and restrict the number of buildings you can enter. Even if you accept that the best part is driving around the impressively weathered city you still don't get to look to check traffic at a junctions all that easily.

Despite its many, many, flaws, I have found Far Cry 2 to be much better.

Uncompetative:

sirdanrhodes:
GTA4.

I agree. A game only has an open-world if you progress through it depends solely on your own unfettered choices. Why then did Rockstar burden the game with a stupid plot and restrict the number of buildings you can enter. Even if you accept that the best part is driving around the impressively weathered city you still don't get to look to check traffic at a junctions all that easily.

Despite its many, many, flaws, I have found Far Cry 2 to be much better.

If you want the old GTA like you just described, Saints Row 2 is for you.

sirdanrhodes:

Uncompetative:

sirdanrhodes:
GTA4.

I agree. A game only has an open-world if you progress through it depends solely on your own unfettered choices. Why then did Rockstar burden the game with a stupid plot and restrict the number of buildings you can enter. Even if you accept that the best part is driving around the impressively weathered city you still don't get to look to check traffic at a junctions all that easily.

Despite its many, many, flaws, I have found Far Cry 2 to be much better.

If you want the old GTA like you just described, Saints Row 2 is for you.

Thanks for the tip. I've heard that there is a lot of wild character customization in it.

far cry2... it felt like the openworld FPS i was waiting for... it had a good story, it looked good, and the gameplay was solid... but i just couldn't get into it.

I don't like the Halo series so much. It's a FPS made for hardcore FPS fans by hardcore FPS fans. Yes, it does have amazing visuals and great mechanics, but unless youre absolutely awesome at it, there is no reason for you play it on Xbox live because you will get absolutely pwn'd every time.

I love the 3D-era Grand Theft Auto series. I wasted so much study time in my freshman year of highschool playing III. Vice City was even better. But San Andreas didn't click with me. I said that before, and fanboys were instantly on the soapbox cramming "you're closeminded" lectures down my throat, despite that my dislike for the game has nothing to do with the fact that the player character is black. I just don't enjoy the overly complex gameplay of having to feed your character and workout and deal with all kinds of RPG elements like driving skill, biking skill, shooting skill with all the weapons etc. If I wanted to play an RPG then I would play an RPG. I want a game which my shooting and driving skill rely just on my controller imput, not different algorithms on how sensitive and effectve my controller imput is based on how far i have progressed in the game or what cheat codes iv'e put in.

Finally, I'm sick of all the hardcore Xbox 360 players (fans and fanboys alike) calling me "fag" and "douche" because I have legitimate criticisms of Gears of War. I like it, but it's not the best game EVAR and is not perfect.

Bioshock. Almost everything except the atmospherics SUCKS in Bioshock, to my dismayed surprise; so once the charm of 'wow, it really feels like I'm in Rapture!' wears off, you're left with a repetitive, boring, and surprisingly generic FPS. Also, what the hell is wrong with the fact that towards the end I can kill a Big Daddy in 3 shots without breaking a sweat but the damn splicers are nigh invincible and much more of a threat. Oh wait, you *need* to take photos of everything with the camera because they get tougher throughout the game? You could've told me that when I picked the bloody thing up.

RTSs. Despite being a massive TTG nerd and general strategy lover, I just can't play 'em. Even Dawn of War, which is, well, 40K with moving parts. Watching the Avatar impale marines and let them slide down its swordblade never gets old, but the rest of the game does, and it does fast. It's the same with any RTS I've tried. One of three things happens: I decide I hate the control system after playing it for 10 minutes and the rest of the game hasn't grabbed me enough for me to get used to it; the game gets repetitive; or I get fed up with not being able to control everything at once and/or the lack of precision I get in making my troops do what I want. These three events have the same outcome: I give the game up, no matter how damn cool the units are. Even Starcraft - either it was the terrain or a crap pathfinding mechanic, but moving my marines around was such a chore that I got sick of it rapidly, and the resource management was a nightmare.

It's worth noting that I do have high hopes for the smaller-scale, more tactical Dawn of War II, although the game will have to wait until I get a new laptop because this one probably won't play it.

I also recently got hold of some RPGs and initial trial runs show them to be frustratingly obtruse. I tried out The Witcher and thought the combat was useless and unresponsive (this may have been related to my computer's low performance vis-a-vis the game, but same); I'll give KotOR II a go soon but from what I played of the intro mission it seems incredibly overcomplicated. Hellgate:London's alright, if you don't play it for too long, because it gets repetitive very quickly (short bursts of Hellgate are the way to go, really). I still haven't tried Deus Ex again after failing at the stealth tutorial 20 odd times and uninstalling (that was after I was already thinking 'wtf?' due to the 15 different ways to open a door bit). Complication is not something I normally have a problem with, except it seems when it comes to games, especially when they could be done far more simply...

As mentioned by Son of Makuta, Bioshock. I bought this game after hearing all the hype about it from my friends who had been fucking it sideways with an Xbox controller. Got it, installed it, did the usual thing of checking how it thinks it should be displayed on my pc and was pleased to see all settings maxed. So I start playing it, then 2 hours later i stopped because i was bored out of my mind. I'm no stranger to FPS but oh god I cant see where the hype is coming from, sure it looks pretty but nigh on every game does now so thats not really a selling point for me.

Oh, and I will NEVER understand the rave behind the sodding Halo series.

Son of Makuta:
Bioshock. Almost everything except the atmospherics SUCKS in Bioshock, to my dismayed surprise; so once the charm of 'wow, it really feels like I'm in Rapture!' wears off, you're left with a repetitive, boring, and surprisingly generic FPS.

I'm with you on that Makuta. Repetive is the key word. I've heard so many great things about the game, but the way it feels to me is they show you everything at the beginning, and then its just repetitive battles with one Big Daddy after another. And they take so much effort at first, in the early stages, that I just gave up.

I mean, its a beautiful game, but it lost me. And I'm a huge fan of Resident Evil, so I thought I'd like the story pieces left on tape recorders but those don't do it for me either.

Maybe I'm turning into a Little Sister.

- B

Fable 2, Morrowind(played oblivion first)

Rag Doll:
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.

Not all JRPG's have turned based combat, have you heard of the Tales of [insert name here] series?

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.

You've obviously haven't played Persona 4. The fighting is fun but I can understand if turn based isn't your thing. But as for the story, phenomenal. The voice acting is rock solid most times and if anything is overacted it's done on purpose in a way that fits the story. Great characters that will stick with you. I figured I'd just bring it up.

Edit: I didn't see the other post mentioning Persona. Although I agree with the side stories being interesting I disagree that the story is that same old JRPG story as always, at least for Persona 4 anyway.

The Witcher was another game that I just couldn't get into. A more mature RPG, aimed at the older gamers? I did get into the posh part of town, but that was with the heavy use of a walkthrough....I didn't much care for the combat, I thought it was too simple, and I found the whole sex side quest intruded into the main story. I sittin ghtere in a cave with the witch in the first area, and she's going 'oh Witcher, there is a crowd out there who misunderstands me, accuses me of wrongs I have not committed and calls for my blood! Please, help me.....so, you wanna have sex or what?' I think making collectables for each...conquest was a bad idea as well. Cause then you have to collect them, you know?

It didn't help that you can do quests horrendouly out of order. I started the detective quest as point three, before I even knew there was a detective quest. I spent several hours running about like a headless chicken trying to figure out what the hell I was supposed to be doing. Yeah, get into the cemetary when nobody will give you the key....

Well, the game changing decisions were cool, but I found the 'mature' aspect to be fart jokes and sex quests.

kyle0912:
Any game that forces me to play with racist americans when I go online.

Try not to judge all of us just because a few of us (them) need to have nails shoved up their uretha. That's all I ask.
And, Halo, for me. I downloaded the demo, played it, but it was just...bleh. So boring. I literally could not have any fun with the game, at all.
And since we're commenting on JRPGs...I could never get into any of them. Turn-based combat is just horrid. It doesn't feel fun at ALL, and having to use a controller to select options? That's a bitch. (I played a few Final Fantasy games on my friends' Playstation 2. Hate controllers so much. No matter what genre, mouse/keyboard always works better. For me.)

sirdanrhodes:
GTA4.

agreed. i played it at a friends house and was like "wow. another GTA game. I never though beating on some innocent person would get boring. can we play something worth while now?"

I'm really tired of this game series. I mean. as much as they upped the story in GTA4. i'm just not impressed. it's the same carp over and over in a different city with a different guy. it's like the Dynasty Warriors games. just with out the ridiculous amount of ass kicking

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.

Pretty much exactly what I was going to put in my post, so I won't bother now!

Other than that there's Fallout3, for me personally it wasn't that much of a game, more of a "i wonder how many crazed waste-land thugs, oversized mutant creatures or massive bugs are going to assault me around this corner"

I really got too annoyed by the seemingly non-stop battles that I just stopped playing it, not played it in about 6 weeks now, I can't see why most people are raving about it.

Street Fighter 2. I want to enjoy it...I really do...but I can't. That and F-Zero GX.

richasr:

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.

Pretty much exactly what I was going to put in my post, so I won't bother now!

Other than that there's Fallout3, for me personally it wasn't that much of a game, more of a "i wonder how many crazed waste-land thugs, oversized mutant creatures or massive bugs are going to assault me around this corner"

I really got too annoyed by the seemingly non-stop battles that I just stopped playing it, not played it in about 6 weeks now, I can't see why most people are raving about it.

... I like Final Fantasy Tactics.

For me it's the MGS series in general. I love MGS3: Subsistence, but I don't get the appeal of the others. The writing isn't all that good from a quality perspective, there's too much dialogue, some of the characters are annoying and the gameplay/camera system seems archaic and obtuse at best. I realize a lot of other people like the series, but I'd rather watch Ghost in the Shell to get my daily dose of close-to-home paranoia. When I play a game I want to have fun, and the only MGS games I had fun with were MGS3 and the GBC MGS game.

And yeah, I realize the MGS series became sort of a popular whipping boy after Yahtzee's review, but I disliked the series far before he reviewed MGS4.

Another one for me is the Jak series. I liked the original, but Jak 3 sucked, and I specifically avoided Jak 2 (because I heard it was like 3, only worse.)

Oh, and I can't stand the Street Fighter series. I've recently become a KoF convert, however.

Samurai Goomba:

richasr:

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.

Pretty much exactly what I was going to put in my post, so I won't bother now!

Other than that there's Fallout3, for me personally it wasn't that much of a game, more of a "i wonder how many crazed waste-land thugs, oversized mutant creatures or massive bugs are going to assault me around this corner"

I really got too annoyed by the seemingly non-stop battles that I just stopped playing it, not played it in about 6 weeks now, I can't see why most people are raving about it.

... I like Final Fantasy Tactics.

For me it's the MGS series in general. I love MGS3: Subsistence, but I don't get the appeal of the others. The writing isn't all that good from a quality perspective, there's too much dialogue, some of the characters are annoying and the gameplay/camera system seems archaic and obtuse at best. I realize a lot of other people like the series, but I'd rather watch Ghost in the Shell to get my daily dose of close-to-home paranoia. When I play a game I want to have fun, and the only MGS games I had fun with were MGS3 and the GBC MGS game.

And yeah, I realize the MGS series became sort of a popular whipping boy after Yahtzee's review, but I disliked the series far before he reviewed MGS4.

Another one for me is the Jak series. I liked the original, but Jak 3 sucked, and I specifically avoided Jak 2 (because I heard it was like 3, only worse.)

Oh, and I can't stand the Street Fighter series. I've recently become a KoF convert, however.

It's funny, there was a time where i'd say something like "what? you DONT enjoy the Metal Gear series?!" just goes to show you how hard it is for some of us to believe that other people don't share their opinions, and it's proven that such a thing can cause wars haha.

For example, the latest Sonic game, panned all around by critics and i've not spoken to a single person that's given it praise, yet I bet there are quite a few people who love it, it's seeing why they love it that's the difficult thing.

Nazulu:
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!

Definitely Smash Bros. I played quite a bit of the original, but after that I could never get into them, which got me constant heckling from my friends who I'd played the first with.

That, and Halflife. I tried really hard to like the game, too, but for some reason I just never did. I was big into Counterstrike for a while, and a couple other HL mods, but try as I may I could never find any interest in playing the original game.

*puts on flameshield*

Where to start...?

World of Warcraft: 2 months of my life I will never get back. Damn you, Blizzard. I spent 90% of my playing experience running to quests, trying to find quest areas, and trying to turn in quests to the douche who sent me out, if I could find said douche again. And any game in which your travel time takes more time than actual 'gameplay' time IS NOT FUN!

EverQuest 2: I really wanted to like this one, but once you leave the starting island, it's all rubbish and ass from there.

Dungeons and Dragons Online: Ladies and Gentlemen, I offer this as an example of how NOT to design an MMO. Dungeons and Dragons? Hardly. The title should have been 'Sewers and Kobolds', because that's all you do for your first 10 levels of gametime. By the time you reach that level, you're so burned out on it, you don't care if they give away real platinum pieces, you just want to take this game out behind the woodshed and give it the Old Yeller treatment.

Lineage II: The dark elves escaped from an S&M club, the human males look disturbingly feminine, and God help the person who makes a Orc... you won't make it from the newbie area because you'll have some fuckin' level 16 perched over your corpse like a child molester hiding in a Chuck E. Cheese bathroom stall. And you gotta love that deleveling system... yeah....

Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix. I cant enjoy it because the fucking 360 controller is just hand crippling.

Devil May Cry 4: Story was fair shit and well the 360 controller doesn't help the situation.

To be honest I didn't like fallout 3 at the start but after a few hours it had grown on me and now I'm currently enjoy it a lot =D

The combat in Fallout 3 sucked so I couldn't enjoy it, which was a pretty big dissapointment to me.

I also never really got into CoD4, even though it is considered so great I always thought it was crap in comparison to Halo 3.

I don't get why Half life 2 is considered the best shooter ever made, I walked away feeling pretty "meh" about the whole game.

SSBB was a dissapointment to me, I loved melee and could play it for hours but brawl I can't play for more than 20 minutes before feeling like I am wasting my time.

Unreal tournament 3, it has everything I want in a shooter variety, bots, large number of maps, and a fast pace but I just can't get into it.

Any Final Fantasy. Oh, and GTA4. Did not enjoy it as much as the previous games.

*GTA4, still haven't finished it.. Looks great, but there isn't that much to do really.
*Starcraft, I really really love the storyline of starcraft but the gameplay never really got to me. I tried playing it several times, but the whole gather resource build base thing is a little boring.
*Gears2, I loved gears1 for some reason but the new weapons in part 2 are meh.. the leveldesign isn't interesting, godawefull vehicle sections and Dom's lovestory that came right out of a bad romantic movie annoyed me. Still haven't finished this one yet either..
*Bioshock, reasons posted already in this thread. It's nice to look at, but that's about it.
*Company of heroes, just annoys the hell out of me after playing a couple of hours.
*HL2, not nearly as good as people say it is. Episode 2 was a big improvement though, can't wait for episode 3. And the black mesa source mod :)
*cod2, very poor compared to cod1+expansion. Way overly hyped imo.
*metal gear solid, just didn't appeal to me.

Woe Is You:

CptRumGuy:
I thought this thread was supposed to be about games you SHOULD like, but don't for some unknown reason.

Yeah, I wasn't really asking for games people find overrated (which is what quite a few have been posting), but games that are very much in line with what you're looking for in a game, yet they end up not entertaining you.

Ok then Mass Effect was one I should have liked since I'm a big RPG fan, but I felt it was lacking anything to make me give a poop about the characters. Sucked too cuz I was really waiting for that game. Not to mention Star Wars Galaxies should have been one I have loved. MMO+Star Wars should have ='ed Awesomeness....Bah!

Doom 3.
This game was meant to keep us up all night, terrify us and use our mind as a a pinky would a chew toy. Instead we got jump scares, and whenever it became easy to spot there and when an enemy would jump out and try and rip your nads off the game just introduced a new type of enemy. This got rather tiresome rather quickly. Except for the chainsaw part...

right....
bioshock
half life 2
portal

*prepares for hate*

Paper Mario for Gamecube. I want to love it so much... but I can't.

Also, GTA IV. I don't see the appeal. I just don't. I like sandbox games, I like shooting and blowing up things, but I just don't like this game.

Obviously GTA4... It sold many copies to many gamers, and then was sold back within the week. Now at any Gamestop there is a pile at least 30 used copies thick of this game.

Halo, Gears of War, and other "Mindless" shooters.

After playing a FPS with a well-written engaging storyline (Half-Life series) I just feel like these games' writers aren't even trying.

Yeah GTA4 fits that, no matter how hard I try I can't love the gameplay OR the story. I blame Brucie and Playboy myself, I hate roid monkeys and drug dealers and dislike the fact that the story requires me to interact with them. Also the goddamn driving physics piss me off.

Final Fantasy IV got an A- from 1UP but I have to say, that game is TERRIBLE!
I mean it's one hell of a shit poor game!

EDIT: And GTA IV. It's all right... but that is all.
Where is this GOTY gameplay that's all the rave?

They put crappy multiplayer in instead of a great single player.

Mass Effect. There's so much text to read, and so little going on, that it just fails to capture me. The story is slow and piddling (I feel like I've done nothing after 6 hours).

This might be the first game I run out of "activations" on, because every time I install it lately I get another half hour or hour into it, give up, and uninstall to make space for something awesome (like UT2004).

GTA IV, not the singleplayer part though... I loved that. But the multiplayer part. I was really looking forward to play with my friends, doing stunts and what not. But Games for Windows Live is just complete and utterly bullshit, I have never seen a game that so out of sync and just hard to connect to like GTA IV.

Whoever came up with the brilliant idea of Games for Windows Live and the guy at Rockstar or Take-Two who said that they should use GFWL in GTA IV should be put on an island and stay there until they have realized what morons they are.

Bioshock...
10€ holiday bargain at steam
"Choose difficulty"
I choose medium.
I played all night.
Haven't played since.

Any final fantasy game, and fallout 3