Games You Thought You'd Like, But Didn't

I've mentioned this before, but I tried to like Homefront since the graphics looked nice and it was a simple FPS. The big problem is, it looked like it tried too hard to be Call Of Duty or Battlefield. Absolutely nothing about that game was original or groundbreaking - it was all taken from other games before and didn't seem to try to differentiate itself from them in any way. All in all, it gave off a vibe of "been there, done that a thousand times." The multiplayer was OK (even the demo version), but still was the same old, same old. I didn't try out the campaign, although I watched some of it, and it also looked really boring (as well as laughable at times)

Then there's Brink. I actually do/did like this game. The main problem is it feels so... watered down compared to what was initially teased and promised. The gunplay is nothing new, and despite the parkour, you're not likely to be shooting while jumping about because your accuracy's gonna go to shit really quickly and you can't move that fast anyway, even as a light body type. Even though it's advertised as a run-&-gun shooter, you get the most points by staying in one area and shooting people who come by. Not to mention that the game has framerate problems on my PC due to my ATI graphics card, and the final nail in the coffin is the mostly dead online. For a game that's meant to be played online, this kinda sucks for Splash Damage.

edited 19th Jan '12 3:15:43 PM by MrPoly

Gothic and Stalker are the only ones that come to my mind.

People aren't as awful as the internet makes them out to be.

Saints Row 3 since I loved 2.

The old republic because I loved KOTOR.

Eve Online for me as well yeah. I love the premise but I have more fun just reading the stories than I do actually playing it.

If the combat was actually live ship piloting I'd play it.

I tried playing Fable on a friend's recommendation. I found the first game to be... tolerable. Everything after that I just found to be plain bad.

Mega Man fanatic extraordinaire

Zone Of The Enders. I bought the first game, not knowing too much about it beyond some magazine previews. The game itself wasn't bad, but I wasn't really satisfied with it. Unfortunately, the impression I was given from the first game persuaded me to NOT try out the sequel, which I hear is 9001 times better in terms of story and gameplay.

edited 19th Jan '12 2:15:13 PM by DRCEQ

The first Zone of the Enders was bad.
The second one was great.
Its true.

edited 19th Jan '12 2:16:07 PM by Zeromaeus

Mega Man fanatic extraordinaire

Order Of Ecclesia. I had just finished Portrait Of Ruin a few weeks before and loved it, and I figured that going back to the darker feel and artsyle of the earlier series + a cool looking protagonist + a neat sounding glyph system would amount to a day 1 buy(I ended up buying it on day 2). But the game was the first in a loooong time to seriously disappoint me. The glyph system, while neat was annoying to manage and the SP bar being used for EVERY attack really killed the combat IMO. The story was pretty drab and the plot twist I saw coming 5 minutes into starting the game. And Shanoa? Great design, but she's one of the most boring protags in Castlevania IMO character wise. She had no soul to her and felt like a walking plot device, which really irked me since this series is usually quite good with its lead characters. Albus was okay. The music was pretty decent but not on the other DS games' level. My problem was mainly the gameplay, which just wasn't that fun and tended to be more frustrating then enjoyably challenging. Shanoa herself oddly felt a bit sluggish, enemies simply took up too much room on the screen(Blackmore ugh), and due to the glyph/meter system, combat flow was awkward. I didn't really start enjoying the game until Dracula's castle, which to me is where it actually became enjoyable, but considering half of the game before that was pretty meh, overall it made for a disappointing experience. It's one of the few games I ever returned.

Seconding FF Tactics and I'll add FF 6 as well. Both were pretty boring to me and FF 6's combat I don't like(I dislike ATB system in general honestly) with its static enemy sprites seeming awfully dated even for an RPG of its time. And in comparison to how impressive the graphics for the overworld and maps were, this seemed especially jarring.

edited 19th Jan '12 2:43:05 PM by VertigoHigh

Disgaea. I'm quite fond of SRPGs, and it's sense of humour isn't that far from my own. But it just isn't that interesting to play

The Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced series. I loved the original, but the new ones seems pretty... soulless or something.

edited 19th Jan '12 4:07:29 PM by Clarste

I thought I'd like Wolfenstein since I thought that it would be like Return To Castle Wolfenstein, but it disappointed.

"Hipsters: the most dangerous gang in the US." - Pacific Mackerel

Ooh, there are just so many...

• Mount & Blade: Warband, loved mount and blade, thought warband would be more of the same, however in a typical case of They Changed It, Now It Sucks! the lance combat mechanics were changed. ( Multiplayer Balance Breaks Singleplayer and I'm usually immune to that ) objectively fixing the multiplayer balance, but subjectively ruining warband for me.

• Aion, tried it in the few open beta weekends. Gorgeous game, flight mechanic is fun for what I saw of it, yet the game just didn't 'click' with me. Perhaps a little too 'Korean', if that makes sense.

• Frozen Synapse, because I suck at this. Hard. I pretty much like everything about this game except for getting curbstomped, over and over. I'm still enamoured with the diceless mechanics and the simultaneous turn structure, but actually playing it isn't as rewarding.

• Oblivion, 125% chameleon and the game just fell over. Add the bullshit ending to that and I was done with it.

Most of the time it looks more like I like the game but the game doesn't like me. Games with a heavy focus on (co-op)multiplayer often are this.

I too will give a special mention to Eve Online, even though having played it (off and on) for a year. Actually flying your pretty, pretty ships through the eve universe and making your lasers go 'pewpewpew' is great fun. Everything else about the game is either archaic in terms of mechanics, to being downright antagonistic to its players (the horribad UI and bizarre aggression mechanics) or outright lies (the game is neither level-less nor grind-less, despite advertising itself as such.)

edited 19th Jan '12 4:10:18 PM by GreatLich

Assassins Creed.

A sandbox game where I play as an assassin? Sign me up!

Then I played it and... I really don't know. It bored me. I tried AC 2, and that also bored me. I don't know what it is about Assassins' Creed as a series, but I just could never get into the games.

Sonic Unleashed. I expected a really nice upgrade to Sonic The Hedgehog 2006. Instead, I got something that's about the same package.

All the day stages felt like watered-down mach speed sections.(not to mention the Homing Attack is even more annoying) All the Quicktime Events sucked majorly. The Werehog almost reminded me of Silver's area... but then I remembered that was more fun in itself(as in Silver's stuff).

I tried to like it, but I just couldn't. Was boring as hell. Sonic 2006? Great cutscenes, funny dialogue, memes, actual fun gameplay to me. Mixed bag really. Quality-wise, I'd still say Sonic Unleashed, but overall? 2006 all the way.

edited 19th Jan '12 5:21:21 PM by Hydronix

Quest 64 thread

Bucket List:

Go to Comicon

Play every Mega Man ever

Find a fan of Sonic 2006

Get biotics

Discover/use time travel

edited 19th Jan '12 5:25:13 PM by Zeromaeus

Mega Man fanatic extraordinaire

The MGS games.

If someone wants to accuse us of eating coconut shells, then that's their business. We know what we're doing. - Achaan Chah

Saga Frontier. Just...Saga Frontier

Don't you try anything, you baked good you.

Oh yeah, God of War. My friend told me it was like Devil May Cry so I was really psyched. I was disappointed.

Mega Man fanatic extraordinaire

LIST TIEM~

• Psychonauts: I kind of agree with whomever posted about this one. I like the writing, it's goofy and brilliant; but the gameplay just lacks the special something that the top games in its genre have.
• Zone Of The Enders 2: Never played the first one. My main thing with this game is how difficult it is. I haven't touched it in years (you'll probably hear that a lot from me in this thread...). If it weren't made by Hideo Kojima and had animu in it, I wouldn't have given it a second glance. In fact, I doubt anyone else would have, either. And that voice acting!
• Oddworld: Munch's Odyssey. I sort of liked Abe's Exodus, but it was impossible for me to get past a jump early on, so I haven't touched it since. 3D didn't seem to be this game's friend.
• Order of Ecclessia: I agree with you 100% that this game's difficulty is... less than tolerable. I finally got to Dracula, but I STILL need to grind more to beat his ass back into the crypt. Games like this are what make people dread grinding.

I liked it better when Questionable Casting was called WTH Casting Agency

Alice:Madness Returns is shaping up like this. The story seemed nice, the concept appealing and I really wanted to see what kind of High Octane Nightmare Fuel stuff it had.

However, now that I'm playing it, I find the combat system to be frustrating*

, it takes too much time before something happens*

The platforming is really easy, so the platforming part feels like a long walk to the next fight/encounter with an NPC. Wouldn't be so bad if the game wasn't so linear.

, the weapons are too limited *

basically a light/heavy melee weapon and a light/heavy ranged weapon.

, enemies can be annoying *

Fucking shark, you've been underground for 5 minutes! Get out already!

, the game is really repetitive, searching for hidden bottles and the likes in miniature form is annoying.

I really wanted to like it, the world design seemed great, the setting was interesting, etc. but the gameplay up until now is weak. I will finish it, if only to see the scenery/enemies/etc, but I doubt I'll come back to it for a moment.

About Psychonauts, I also agree. It seemed really nice, but the gameplay once again is...lacking something.

edited 19th Jan '12 7:42:42 PM by MisterC

Who's an angry moth? You are! Yes you are! You're the fuzziest and angriest moth! Original pic.

Have to second Saga Frontier. Played that a couple of hours and gave up.

Have you tried flying in the fight?

Rayman 3D. It was just a bad port, and generally boring. Not to mention, I ran into Guide Dang It! quite fast.

Skyrim wasn't nearly as fun as everyone said it would be. I don't even really see what's so amazing about it, although seeing a several loading errors when playing for the first time didn't help its case any.

Just Cause 2.

Every single thing in it was disappointing or controlled badly. Guns? Get a shotgun and never let go, because every other thing is an inaccurate pea-shooter. Cars? Hope you like crashing every time you want to turn (and don't get me started on the handbrake). Planes? No yaw and absolutely impossible to hit anything with the mounted guns. Helicopters were slow as hell... alright, I'll admit I liked the helicopters. Motorcycles, however, were never any good, easily the weakest aspect of the game.

The grappling hook was the best part of the game, but it was a bit too much of a one trick horse.

Frankly, by the end, I hated it.

Very big Daydream Believer. "That's not knowledge, that's a crapshoot!" -Al Murray "Welcome to QI" -Stephen Fry

I agree that Saga Frontier isn't very good, but I have to wonder why people thought they'd like it. I don't recall it getting much advertising or positive word of mouth.

It was a Squaresoft game. Back then, it was almost like they were physically incapable of fucking up.

For those who don't know what SF was like, lemme run it down for you. Your character travels between towns (and only between, there's nothing in the game but towns, and you don't physically travel to them), you wander around cluelessly for a bit, then a boss you weren't expecting comes out from nowhere and turns you into paste.

This is Saga Frontier

Don't you try anything, you baked good you.