I highly doubt that would've changed anything.

I really wanted to like Baldur's Gate 3. I didn't play the prior games in the series, but I know a bunch of people who brim with excitement about it.

I've not really been involved in DnD in any form. I played the original Warcraft RTS as a kid, I've read everything from Tolkien, and I love some of the Elder Scrolls games, but that's about it. I'd always got the impression that a lot of it was a bit hammy and amateur on the writing side, but I assumed BG3 would buck the trend.

...I just didn't vibe with it at all. I found the combat exasperating, I didn't mesh with the character motivations, and I failed to really get immersed. Maybe I really needed more backstory than a couple of lore lessons over beers.

It's obviously a great game, but it was such a miss for me, and I wish that weren't the case.

It's really not even a survival game.

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.

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.

I love the devs previous game, Another Crab’s Treasure, for its tough but fair gameplay, and really well implemented progression. I was a little disappointed to discover that Peak leans more into the multiplayer, emergent gameplay, “eternal beta” feel of many indie games today. The concept seems fun, and it can apparently be played solo, but all of the gameplay footage I have seen from non-devs is people screaming frantically at each other about some new feature while nothing happens.

I might be a hypocrite though, because I am interested in the upcoming game Big Walk from House House.

Horizon series. Retried multiple times on horizon zero dawn, probably got close to 15 hours and just didn't care for the story. Gameplay was what kept me playing but after a while, I didn't feel compelled to continue if I had no interest in anything else that was happening. Heard Forbidden West is better but I couldn't care less

You right, you right.

Call of Duty. Yeah I liked the original modern warfare games but not enough to like the hype.

Dex/arcane bleed builds. Beautiful.

Souls like. There are literally situations you cannot win on the first try, like when you walk through a door and something stabs you from behind because it was leaned against a wall out of sight.

Also just don’t enjoy fighting gigantic things with ambiguous hitboxes.

Persona

I don't dislike the series, per se, I literally just find the number of games with similar titles confusing. I have no idea what's what.

Which is why limbus will always be the best game in the gacha genre, it rewards you beautifully for barely playing the game and ensures you can get almost everything for free if u work for it

Borderlands, I always found the art style a bit off-putting.

I can't even make the most explicit Gacha hating post without you guys saying how yours is the one, the special one that's good.

I hate the concept. They are designed to obfuscate how much money and time you spend on them with different currencies that don't feel like real money. They are dark pattern after dark pattern, trying to get you to look at the shop every time you boot up, and entice you with limited offers every chance they get. And this all is then defended by well meaning people like you and me with "Well, you can play for free if you grind hard".

And when I look up if the different in-game currency thing applies to this game, I find out I have heard of Limbus company as the Korean one that got a "radical feminist" artist fired because a swimsuit didn't reveal enough skin for the fanbase's liking.

You misunderstood my comment. Fuck off with your recommendation.

its mindless shoot shit get loot fun. if that aint your bag you just wont get much out of it. handsome jack is hilarious though

How deep and interesting the lore is.

Could the people telling you that have possibly been talking about the books? There's >20 books telling various storylines from the franchise and they go way deeper than the games.

I will agree that the games are pretty sparse for storytelling. They tend to go more "show, don't tell". The problem with that is that the lore of Halo needs to be told and can't really be shown

Agreed. I got about halfway through the first one before I quit

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.

You need a feeling of momentum, like spiderman swinging or the space battles in battle star galactica