What's a popular game series that you just can't understand the hype for?
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The Total War series should theoretically be right up my alley, since I'm a history nerd and I put a LOT of time into Paradox games (EU4, CK2, HOI4, Stellaris, and Surviving Mars are all high on my hours played chart).
But for whatever reason, I've just never clicked with the Total War versions of the same thing. For old school, I played Empire and Medeival. For new school, I dipped into Atilla because it was on a sale. I figured old mechanics/new mechanics, maybe one will work better than the other. But while I did somewhat enjoy Empire, the Total War series in general just has never grabbed me.
I have the same issue with the Assassin's Creed series. History Nerd...should be right up my street. But just have never clicked with me despite trying multiple games. THOSE however are much more clearer to me as to why. It's the cut and paste gameplay loop that Ubisoft has in ALL of their series.
Unlock an area, do random missions based on a number system for difficulty, interspersed with main plot missions. Move to another area, repeat. Some missions encourage you to team up with other people and go online. Others can be bypassed by micro-transactions. They literally haven't changed their core loop in years, whether that's Assassins Creed, Watchdogs, Shadow of War/Mordor, The Division, Far Cry....the list goes on and on.
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Just looks like more indie-crap to me.
I'd wager a lot of the hollow knight fanboys haven't played anything classic like Megaman.
why would you wager that?
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Hollow Knight.
There's a couple of things the devs could have done to make things way more tolerable, like not putting the fucking shades in the middle of platforming challenges and giving health bars to bosses so you can tell when you should go somewhere else instead of face-tanking them for 3 hours.
But god forbid anyone says anything even remotely disparaging against the game, as they're quickly mobbed by fanboys and told to "git gud" because they treat masochistic games like HK as some perverse dick-measuring contest.
And unfortunately I can't away from hearing about it with everyone sperging out over the upcoming sequel.
i spent a couple of dozen hours with hollow knight as a fan of the metroidvania genre, but after a while the barriers to continuing were just too many. after a while, any traversal basically requires combat, and the grindy combat just slows the game to a crawl. add to that the corpse run mechanic, and at that point it's just not worth it.
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Everyone is going gaga for Peak rn (including my BF) and I don't see the appeal at all other than maybe the social aspect. The game itself looks boring AF.
I also haven't liked many AAA games since graduating high school. All these things that are cultural phenomena like The Last of Us just... Didnt like 'em. I feel like most of the AAA games that blow up in popularity are only applauded for the story and dialogue, because the game itself tends to be generic and mid and does nothing special, unique or interesting at all.
I want to see a shift from focusing on telling a story or trying to be High Art and just make a thing that is fun to play as a game that also isn't loaded with MTX and is only fun to play because it psychologically addicts you.
peak is definitely an interesting entry into the genre that the internet has dubbed "friendslop": games that sell shittons because you need friends to play them, and which are simple enough to have a conversation while playing. peak is very entertaining, but that entertainment value builds heavily on the social aspect. that's why there are so many items to sabotage players and add randomness. playing peak completely seriously is not fun, but fucking around is.
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FIFA and Madden NFL
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Halo is probably the biggest series that I never got into, because I didn't have an Xbox.
I have the MCC pirated on my PC, just waiting until I can get a full group to do the entire thing co-op.
Co-op is pretty cool, but be careful with playing co-op with friends who know the game well; they will absolutely rush ahead of everything.
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Yeah, I tried giving it a shot twice, but both times after 5-6 hours I just came to the conclusion that the game wasn't respecting my time, and was punishing me for exploring.
The worst part is that its popularity lead to other games copying it, meaning half of metroidvanias released after it have the same issues. I started to just filter out any game that had corpse runs as it was a good indicator of how much I'd hate it.
the conclusion that the game wasn't respecting my time
That's exactly why I quit too. You're smarter than me, since I spent over 30 hours on it before quitting.
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Imma just lump all souls like into this category tbh.
Pretty much. They need a different genre name, like "masochist" or "try-hard". A lot of these games are significantly more punishing than the original Dark Souls ever was
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Do you like God of War and/or The Legend of Zelda?
I've played a number of Zelda games, including the original and enjoyed pretty much all the ones I've tried.
I've only tried the first of the new God of War games and hated it. I dropped it after 3-4 hours. I was annoyed with how clunky the controls were and it was mainly set arenas for combat with boring hallways with slow running in between
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Yes, often books and movies are brought up when it comes to Halo, but I don't see the point at all. I have been shown a few "cool" or "epic" clips from the movies by Halo fans but... they looked pretty bad.
When I get interested in getting into the weeds of some lore, it's because the main-line (be it movies, or games) has made me interested to learn more. Halo never made me interested. Stuff just happened in cool alien environments, and it wouldn't be the first time I've played a shooter with little story in cool alien environments (even from the era Halo is from... probably especially in the era Halo is from).
Fair.
I think I was able to deep dive into the series' lore because I started with Halo 3, and because I was a teenager at the time. I eventually went back to play CE and 2 and they... are certainly products of their time
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That’s what I was wondering is should I play certain games and then skip others? I have a PS5, is it possible to play first at all?
You can watch the story on YouTube if you want. Other games did the formula better now. The "shadow of" games and horizon series are very similar gameplay loops done better.
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You might like Star Citizen when it comes out.
Just another 30 more years of development, and we'll finally have a space sim with retro graphics.
By that time we might have... Pffff... I dunno, X5, maybe even 6, that will have surpassed it on every front. Or Elite Dangerous will have all the features Star Citizen promised.
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Apart from the endless EA, Ubisoft and similar AAA copy/paste titles I never understood the hype around MOBA games.
I don't get it. Its not real time strategy, but not an ARPG either, you dont create a character, instead have an insane pool of unique characters with a few abilities each. Its just feels like someone wrote down some random game mechanics and choose 5 at random.
All levels are basically the same with mild variations and the whole gameplay loop boils down to optimised fast clicking on abilities and to get strong asap.
Its super boring for me and couldn't spend more than a couple hours with the games from the genre. Same goes for watching other people play.
Its just a cherry on top to have the biggest tournaments and cash prices, while the top players are celebrated as superstars. Also somehow the biggest MOBA communities are infamous for toxicity.
Definitely not my cup of tea.
MOBA started as RTS mods for people who liked micro and didn't like resource management. Add hypermonetization of everything for 20 years and here we are. I don't get it, either, but to each his own.
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Gacha.
For most anything else, I can simply chalk it up as a difference in tastes when I don't like the gameplay, or art style, or whatever. Even those shitty horror games for babies I despise are perhaps fun if you dive into the lore at the right age, who knows. I certainly have obsessed for less than mediocre games.
But no one likes gacha, or at least should like it. It's gambling marketed to kids, preying on the people without impulse control. No "you can spend 2 hours of your life every day on this and save up 2$ in currency" is changing that, in fact that is even worse.
And yet they give hoyoverse a pass for their series, because everything around it is so high quality. Open your fucking eyes! Games are not supposed to punish you for not playing!
But of course, no accusation without confession, I am quite fond of the yugioh simulator, and used to defend it the same way. I try to resolve this double standard by doing what I feel they should do: Never gush about it, only mention it in shame, and always warn people to not pick it up.
Gacha has gotten out of hand. I played one for a year or two a long time ago and don't regret it, but it was far more generous than anything today. It used to be a fun genre to download a game and play for a day or two with all the free stuff, but even that hasn't been true for a while with all the dark patterns they use in these games now.
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Most Bethesda games.
The quality is just so low, the issues so glaring, I can't. It's like reading a fine book riddled with so many typos you give up after 2 pages because you're so distracted.
Okay, to be fair, maybe the latest Skyrim iteration is better! I haven't tried. Wouldn't bet on it, though.
Mods are really the only thing keeping those games afloat. Modders end up doing half the work just to make the games halfway decent.
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“Souls-like” games - memorise attack patterns, the game. Not hard, just tedious.
“Tactics” style games, just don’t see the fun in that sort of game.
Sony’s bread and butter for the last 20 years, the ultra-linear handholding cinematic hold-forward-to-win games. Just watch a direct-to-digital movie if you want to watch a terrible D-grade tier movie.
Persona, Ace Attorney etc type games. Just literally do not see the appeal in these at all.
Ace Attorney is more of an interactive visual novel than a game and should be treated as such more than a normal video game. The appeal is the wonderful cast of characters that you get to know throughout the chapters and trials, and solving the cases for yourself.
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You might like Star Citizen when it comes out.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Star Citizen
when it comes out
Good one.
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I've played a number of Zelda games, including the original and enjoyed pretty much all the ones I've tried.
I've only tried the first of the new God of War games and hated it. I dropped it after 3-4 hours. I was annoyed with how clunky the controls were and it was mainly set arenas for combat with boring hallways with slow running in between
Darksiders is pretty much a mix of Legend of Zelda and God of War.
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Mass Effect and KotOR
Both have absolutely terrible gameplay. Fans tell me the story makes it worth it but if I want a good story I can read a book.
ME1 is playable if you pick a gun focused class. The caster classes are brutal to play. 2 is a bit better for casters, but ammo and cover mechanics get annoying. 3 is pretty good but has the weakest story and the space exploration is the most annoying.
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Assassin’s Creed
I think when I tried it originally I wasn’t into the controls and how they felt. I’m more forgiving these days so I wonder if I’d enjoy the series now? I love a good story.
Black Flag was the 1st I played and the only one I enjoyed. Tried others and they were just 'meh'.
(Why is a decent pirate/sailing game so hard to make? - almost 15 years later and still nothing seems to come close to what Black Flag offers)
