I honestly never liked Steam that much. I could go for a Steam-lite I guess, with a lightweight UI and a store+library only functionality. It actually feels more bloated now than whole console OSes.
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Raise the flame shield: Your "controversial" gaming opinion.
- Thread starter Laughing Banana
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I honestly never liked Steam that much. I could go for a Steam-lite I guess, with a lightweight UI and a store+library only functionality. It actually feels more bloated now than whole console OSes.
Wenger'sBakedBaguettes
Member
FF X's story is just OK at most. People really shed tears over the ending?
Correctomundo
Member
I define a waste of time as anything where time is spent doing something other than what I'd rather be doing. So yes, going to work, no matter how "productive" you say it is, is a tremendous waste of time for me. Yeah, I get a paycheck and all that stuff, but I'm still exchanging some of finite time in my meager existence busting my ass to make some guy richer and to get me enough money to survive until the next check, and the entire time all I keep thinking is that I'd rather be spending it with my fiance, with my kids, watching movies, playing games, working up the nerve to get back into art, etc.
Work being a necessary evil, as it were, then means that my personal entertainment is never a waste of time, but becomes an important aspect of my existence and a key component required for me to experience life in the fullest and most enjoyable way before it ultimately ceases.
I'm certainly not going to lay on my deathbed regretting that I didn't work enough.
Masquerader
Member
Being a Nintendo gamer is far too pricey in the long run, and that's why I've never properly bought into a Nintendo generation: Because it was originally for well-off kids, really, and it still is. In addition to this, the fanbase is often unusually hostile, and very passive-aggressive, in almost every interaction I've ever had with self-professed members of it, which further makes me reluctant to properly get into Nintendo. A pity, given that the content that Nintendo and its fanbase gives out is often great. In addition, Nintendo's proven pretty incompetent in recent years, too.
That1BlackGuy
Member
Every brand has their fair share of loyalists and obviously your perception will depend on your personal interactions with said loyalists versus others, but I hear where you're coming from.
I notice a contingent of Nintendo fans seems to really dislike the PSP and PS Vita. Overall library preference is fine but it seems like their dislike stems from the devices existing to begin with. Also interestingly, Sony loyalists seem to hate the PSP/PSV as well unlike Nintendo fans who historically have embraced both home and portable platforms.
GoldenCrow
Member
Totally agreed. To be honest they aren't much different than any of the characters from any of the FF numbered games.
To be honest, I think the issues with weighted review scores were invented entirely by gamers. You'll see reviewers giving 7/10's to games they still think are fine experiences, such as Arkham Origins. People get mad that their favourite game didn't get a 9 so think of 7 as a bad score, which leads to people thinking reviewers think that 7 is a bad score.
Games get scored in the red all the time, but those games are shovelware and actual unplayable messes. The kind of games that internet forums pay no mind to and don't even discuss.
I don't think this is a Nintendo exclusive thing. Mention any great franchise that ended up getting a sub-par or bad sequel/reboot and you'll see similar reactions. Devil May Cry for instance.
Games get scored in the red all the time, but those games are shovelware and actual unplayable messes. The kind of games that internet forums pay no mind to and don't even discuss.
I don't think this is a Nintendo exclusive thing. Mention any great franchise that ended up getting a sub-par or bad sequel/reboot and you'll see similar reactions. Devil May Cry for instance.
I honestly don't think you're going to regret you didn't play enough games on your deathbed, either
The work thing might differ from person to person, though. I like my work, it brings me a lot of satisfaction and gives me an opportunity to meet great people, so I hardly see my work as a waste of time. I just wish it was six hours a day and not eight so I'd have more time for other stuff which inevitably ends up marginalized otherwise - but I wouldn't ditch my job entirely even in some dreamland "I won a sick fortune" scenario. But maybe I'm just lucky in that regard.
The reason I look at games as a waste of time is that I don't really think I'm benefitting from playing them. Like I said earlier, the hobby changed some things about my life, some for the better and some possibly for the worse, but the thought of how many hours total I must have put into them makes me question if they were worth all that time - like you said, the time of our existence is finite. And we spend it pressing buttons to no real effect instead of getting into art, or learning more of the real world, or meeting other people.
Maybe part of the reason I view it this way is because society kind of conditioned me to think of games as a somewhat inferior form of popculture, though.
Bottom line, I think this is an entirely subjective matter. All outlook on life really is.
These are both points that don't receive enough consideration. There is no objective success narrative in life, so a "waste of time" is completely relative.
And we've definitely been conditioned (maybe less and less nowadays, though) to believe games are inherently inferior, and for that reason they continue to fall short of their potential as a medium.
Correctomundo
Member
I honestly don't think you're going to regret you didn't play enough games on your deathbed, either
Sometimes I wonder if I might...
If "just pressing buttons" (a gross oversimplification) has brought me enjoyment in my life, and it most definitely has, then it was a contributing factor in my quality of life. Not a detriment.
But I agree otherwise wholeheartedly with you. I do think moderation and balance are important in life, though, and if you're playing games to the detriment of other aspects of life that you do enjoy, then maybe it is transforming not into a waste of time, but to an addiction that needs addressing.
Yep. I don't define success as how much money I have in the bank or the size of my house or car. My yardstick is a little more based on how I feel about my life. Which is why anyone calling games a waste of my time is pretty damned infuriating for me. I'm living my life to the best of my ability, and now someone wants to imply that what brings me pleasure and joy is somehow useless and that if I were only to spend it doing what they place value in, that I'd be a much better or happier person. Completely ridiculous.
Well I certainly haven't. I know others haven't, either. I think games are an amazing art form, and though they are yet young and still in the process of finding their legs, the potential isn't so much as falling short as attempting to stand on those wobbly legs for the first time.
There are great things coming for video games in the next century. Mind-blowing things that none of us here will live to see. We (the enthusiast community) just have to evolve out of this insipid obsession over technology and ludicrous brand loyalties for things to really take off.
Controversial opinion: Sticker Star is my favorite PM game, and I love them all. I don't think they all need to be RPGS. Sticker Star is fun, creative, and its soundtrack stomps all over SPM, TTYD and PM64. And I'm glad it outsold the other PM games (at least in Japan) so Nintendo / IS don't become afraid to push series in different directions.
This isn't controversial, it's fact
darkazcura
Member
Never really understood the argument by "non-Nintendo gamers" that the Wii U didn't get third party games is because of a low install base, yet the PS4 and One had promise of multiple third party games before they were even on the market making their selling appeal much higher in general. Seems like a chicken before the egg or egg before the chicken scenario yet Nintendo gets an unfair rap for it kind of.
I think Sony and Microsoft took the industry into very dangerous territory last generation and almost killed it (despite franchises selling at an all time high, developmental costs were not sustainable for anyone but the largest publishers). They didn't get enough flak for it, in my opinion, but they are rectifying their mistakes this generation a bit with more affordable hardware and developmental costs (as far as I know..). Upcoming releases still seem safe and boring to me, though. There just isn't anything interesting on the One or PS4 past a game or two over the last year and the upcoming year.
I think Sony and Microsoft took the industry into very dangerous territory last generation and almost killed it (despite franchises selling at an all time high, developmental costs were not sustainable for anyone but the largest publishers). They didn't get enough flak for it, in my opinion, but they are rectifying their mistakes this generation a bit with more affordable hardware and developmental costs (as far as I know..). Upcoming releases still seem safe and boring to me, though. There just isn't anything interesting on the One or PS4 past a game or two over the last year and the upcoming year.
Triggerhappytel
Member
While I don't necessarily disagree, if you're gonna generalise like this then probably 95% of light entertainment is a chronic waste of time.
But on the other hand, not every activity needs to be or should be intellectually stimulating.
Oh, absolutely. The story was nothing special; it was the storytelling and characters that made the journey worthwhile.
joeygreco1985
Member
I don't think games are any more of a waste of time than watching TV or movies though. I usually lump them all together.
Throw Web browsing in there too.
This isn't about games, but rather the gaming community.
Most gamers (or rather people) aren't smart enough to hold any serious conversations when it comes to racism, sexism or any kind of hateful acts, speech or discrimination in games or in the game industry. In fact, a lot of the discussion is blown way out of proportion. I cringe every single time I see a thread about something that is possibly misogynistic or homophobic. I barely know what gamer gate is. I don't care to know or to ever know. I simply don't give a rat's ass. Who gives a shit? To me, it's just more unnecessary internet drama. All those involved must have nothing else better to do besides talking out their asses and bitching on the internet over things that probably have zero effect on them anyway. Plus, it's not as if whatever nonsense they are saying will make any difference at all, assuming there is one to be made.
Honestly, I just wish all the self proclaimed social justice warriors, wannabe intellectuals and white knights would just shut the fuck up and do something worth more their while that won't suck up all the goddamn air. I'd rather read about console war bullshit and people pretending to be game devs than complete garbage by self righteous assholes. Just saying..
Most gamers (or rather people) aren't smart enough to hold any serious conversations when it comes to racism, sexism or any kind of hateful acts, speech or discrimination in games or in the game industry. In fact, a lot of the discussion is blown way out of proportion. I cringe every single time I see a thread about something that is possibly misogynistic or homophobic. I barely know what gamer gate is. I don't care to know or to ever know. I simply don't give a rat's ass. Who gives a shit? To me, it's just more unnecessary internet drama. All those involved must have nothing else better to do besides talking out their asses and bitching on the internet over things that probably have zero effect on them anyway. Plus, it's not as if whatever nonsense they are saying will make any difference at all, assuming there is one to be made.
Honestly, I just wish all the self proclaimed social justice warriors, wannabe intellectuals and white knights would just shut the fuck up and do something worth more their while that won't suck up all the goddamn air. I'd rather read about console war bullshit and people pretending to be game devs than complete garbage by self righteous assholes. Just saying..
If we're talking about posting now.
Saying "In my opinion" has to be one of the worst things you can do to your opinions. By backpedaling into arguing about subjectivity, it removes any authority your viewpoint has and transforms your statements into white noise. Game reviewers don't write "well, in my opinion" in their articles, Derrick01 never said "imo", Plinkett didn't say "well, to me" in his Star Wars reviews. People don't want to hear your opinions, they want to hear your truth.
Well, in my opinion that is.
Saying "In my opinion" has to be one of the worst things you can do to your opinions. By backpedaling into arguing about subjectivity, it removes any authority your viewpoint has and transforms your statements into white noise. Game reviewers don't write "well, in my opinion" in their articles, Derrick01 never said "imo", Plinkett didn't say "well, to me" in his Star Wars reviews. People don't want to hear your opinions, they want to hear your truth.
Well, in my opinion that is.
But it wasn't good. The patching system was really weak, it hardware locked saves (lost 40 hours of Fallout 3 progress thanks to this), and I always had trouble logging in due to random bugginess. It didn't offer anything all that interesting and couldn't justify its own existence, not even in a way that at least Origin can by offering your own games.
It was as long as the prior 2 gens, so I don't see how that's true.
I don't consider what I view as waste of time to be automatically detrimental to life - neutral, rather. And I agree completely on the importance of moderation and balance.
Just for the record (I'd hate to be misunderstood here), I'd never imply that you're living your life wrong or that I could tell you how to become a better person - not only because I don't even know you or what life you're living, but also because I believe exactly what you said - that what you feel about your life is what truly matters. If you feel that you have what is important for you and consider yourself a happy and succesful person, then it's nobody's business to say anything that would imply otherwise.
Like I said earlier, I consider the matter entirely subjective and think of certain forms of entertainment as a waste of time, yes, but within my personal outlook on my life and what I seek to achieve as a person - but my goals and what I demand from myself aren't things I'd ever try to impose on anyone else. Admittedly I didn't really stress this in my earlier posts on the matter - so if you felt offended or infuriated by anything I said, it was never my intent and I apologize.
LiquidNarwhal
Banned
The original Bioshock is the most beautiful game of all time, in concept, art, and execution. Not only that, but probably the most impactful story telling of any game I can remember.
You'd shit your pants if you played System Shock 2.
SatelliteOfLove
Member
If anything, that extra year or two of strong PS2 sales power was a brief reprieve from the Perfect Storm bearing down on them.
SaiyanRaoh
Member
Online multiplayer is the worst thing to happen to the games industry. I could look the other way if the single player campaign didn't suffer as a result of the devs decision to allow some immature asshole the opportunity to ruin my game play experience by sticking in co-op modes. Yes, there are some great single player experiences out there but imagine how better they would be if ALL resources were used in providing even better campaigns. (Mass Effect 3, I'm looking at you.) Also, the need to crowbar social media in my games is a cancer. I doubt anyone would care what I'm playing and I damn sure don't care what you are playing.
I base all of my buying decisions on whether multiplayer was the main focus during game development. I completely wrote off Shadow of Mordor in the beginning because it looked like co-op centric crap, then it was announced to have NO multiplayer. It became day one purchase after that.
I play MMOs for the gameplay/lore/world. I've never, ever grouped up.
I base all of my buying decisions on whether multiplayer was the main focus during game development. I completely wrote off Shadow of Mordor in the beginning because it looked like co-op centric crap, then it was announced to have NO multiplayer. It became day one purchase after that.
I play MMOs for the gameplay/lore/world. I've never, ever grouped up.
Elitist1945
Member
And I'm going to have to agree on this. I mean, it was fun during the PS2 days like with Call of Duty: Big Red One, but thats because it was so simple. I hate where multiplayer has gone and I wish more games would just be single player only.
Correctomundo
Member
I wasn't really aiming anything at you personally. When I get infuriated, it's more due to the general perception that exists. My father, for example, considers any activity that does not result in monetary compensation to be a waste of time and I've been at odds with him over the last four decades about this. He is my primary source of frustration on this matter. I have a distinctly smaller problem with people who, you know, actually play games having this opinion. At least they can understand the draw from the medium. Crusty old conservative white man who doesn't like things has an opinion about them. Pah.
But this is why I originally clarified my definition for 'waste of time'. It's 100% subjective, and it's actually pretty nice to see all of us on this topic agreeing about that. Our definitions may vary, but at least we don't have a "my truth is a universal truth" viewpoint - something that really gets my goat.
Good on us for having this discussion.
You rock, Rm88~!
Sticker Star isn't my favorite PM game but it's awesome and I love it and it has a great OST.
NO NO NO I WON'T HEAR THIS
To me, Sticker Star represents the homogenization of Paper Mario that New Super Mario Bros. brought to Mario platformers. Less personality, none of the oddball, original character designs that I dig the first two, and to an extent, the third for, and some serious design problems do not balance out when coupled with an admittedly amazing soundtrack. It's a game that feels remarkably empty.
Bonus controversy: Sonic CD is a bad game with bad level design.
Some Nobody
Junior Member
This isn't controversial. If it were a lot more people would be less tolerant of all these nostalgia throwback indies.
Efren is G.O.A.T.
Member
With the exception of Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (because in my opinion the competitive modes in those 2 games are the best online gaming experiences I have ever had....still to this day) I'm gonna have to agree with you to a big extent. Sometimes,It just feels like some developers think they have no choice but to implement some form of online multiplayer to sell their game to the detriment of the single player campaign, but when it was thought out from the beginning it can be quite an experience.
neurosisxeno
Member
I bought Pandora Tomorrow explicitly for the Multiplayer. It was god damn phenomenal...
Not sure how this is controversial. It's one of the more successful new IPs to come out of last gen.
Its sad how much I watch Twitch now. Mainly just Starcraft 2 and Hearthstone. I cant figure out why its so addictive. It makes me want to play, until I load up SC2 and cant do half the stuff I see Taeja do
I guess mine would be SC2 is more fun to watch than play. Sad, given that its my favorite universe, but i am terrible at it.
pantsonhead
Member
I think Spec Ops: The Line is overhyped trash. Double Whammy! I think Mass Effect turned to shit after ME1.
cooljeanius
Member
What I mean by the title is that, more specifically, I actually liked Untold's Story Mode, Floor Jump, and Grimoires, and didn't really mind the difficulty being easy at all. To elaborate:
Story Mode:
Many GAFers disliked how the pre-made characters had so much dialogue, and how they hampered their role-playing experience and took away from their use of their own imagination. However, only 4 of the 5 characters are like this. The 5th character, the Highlander that you get to name, remains a silent protagonist, and, in my view, being juxtaposed with 4 talkative teammates actually serves as a contrast that actually emphasizes the role-playing and imagination used when playing as the Highlander. Having 1 character be silent and the rest be talkative makes it clearer who I'm actually role-playing the character of, and makes it easier to focus on making decisions from this one point of view. Also it enables better dialogue trees than anything I've come across yet in EO IV, and I enjoy making choices in dialogue trees.
Floor Jump:
Many GAFers disliked how floor jump makes the game a lot easier and removes some of the risk from exploration. I can see this, but I still liked it anyways. I see this as coming from the different play styles behind why we choose to play the game. Many GAFers seem to play the Etrian Odyssey games as a game of "see how long I can survive fighting FOEs and other monsters", whereas I play it more as a game of "see how much of the floor I can map before my inventory fills up and I have to warp back to town", and coming from this play style, the addition of floor jumps just serves as a nice reward for completing my map. Or in other words, floor jumps are a good thing if you are only in it for the mapping and would prefer to ignore the combat, as is the case with me.
Grimoires:
Sure, the interface might be clunky and hard to pick up at first, but after getting used to it, I found I prefer the grimoire system to subclassing, for a number of reasons. First, it's available from practically the beginning of the game, and you're eased into it much more gradually, as opposed to subclassing, which is just kinda dumped on you in the middle of the game in EO IV. Also, grimoires provide a lot more flexibility than subclassing does, because you can mix-and-match things instead of being limited to just the abilities of that subclass. And if you mess up your grimoires, it's a lot easier to switch, because you just equip a different one, as opposed to subclasses, where you have to rest your character and lose some levels just to switch subclasses. And one final advantage of grimoires is that they provide that sort of satisfaction that comes from copying enemy abilities that is present in most Kirby games and Megaman games.
Difficulty:
While I agree that Picnic difficulty is a breeze and makes you way over-levelled for most things, there are still some parts of it that are hard. While enemy attack/defense seems like it's adjusted for Picnic, it seems like enemy evasion/agility remains the same, which means that evasion-focused enemies, like the bees in Gladsheim Area II, are still hard even on Picnic. Also I still had a hard time with the golem in that secret forest area that shows up when accepting that quest to find the fake treasure, and I still got wiped when I tried to fight that darn wyvern that was spitting lightning at me in the jungle when I first encountered him. So while I agree that Picnic makes the combat too easy, it still has its moments. And besides, I'm only in it for the mapping, anyways.
Story Mode:
Many GAFers disliked how the pre-made characters had so much dialogue, and how they hampered their role-playing experience and took away from their use of their own imagination. However, only 4 of the 5 characters are like this. The 5th character, the Highlander that you get to name, remains a silent protagonist, and, in my view, being juxtaposed with 4 talkative teammates actually serves as a contrast that actually emphasizes the role-playing and imagination used when playing as the Highlander. Having 1 character be silent and the rest be talkative makes it clearer who I'm actually role-playing the character of, and makes it easier to focus on making decisions from this one point of view. Also it enables better dialogue trees than anything I've come across yet in EO IV, and I enjoy making choices in dialogue trees.
Floor Jump:
Many GAFers disliked how floor jump makes the game a lot easier and removes some of the risk from exploration. I can see this, but I still liked it anyways. I see this as coming from the different play styles behind why we choose to play the game. Many GAFers seem to play the Etrian Odyssey games as a game of "see how long I can survive fighting FOEs and other monsters", whereas I play it more as a game of "see how much of the floor I can map before my inventory fills up and I have to warp back to town", and coming from this play style, the addition of floor jumps just serves as a nice reward for completing my map. Or in other words, floor jumps are a good thing if you are only in it for the mapping and would prefer to ignore the combat, as is the case with me.
Grimoires:
Sure, the interface might be clunky and hard to pick up at first, but after getting used to it, I found I prefer the grimoire system to subclassing, for a number of reasons. First, it's available from practically the beginning of the game, and you're eased into it much more gradually, as opposed to subclassing, which is just kinda dumped on you in the middle of the game in EO IV. Also, grimoires provide a lot more flexibility than subclassing does, because you can mix-and-match things instead of being limited to just the abilities of that subclass. And if you mess up your grimoires, it's a lot easier to switch, because you just equip a different one, as opposed to subclasses, where you have to rest your character and lose some levels just to switch subclasses. And one final advantage of grimoires is that they provide that sort of satisfaction that comes from copying enemy abilities that is present in most Kirby games and Megaman games.
Difficulty:
While I agree that Picnic difficulty is a breeze and makes you way over-levelled for most things, there are still some parts of it that are hard. While enemy attack/defense seems like it's adjusted for Picnic, it seems like enemy evasion/agility remains the same, which means that evasion-focused enemies, like the bees in Gladsheim Area II, are still hard even on Picnic. Also I still had a hard time with the golem in that secret forest area that shows up when accepting that quest to find the fake treasure, and I still got wiped when I tried to fight that darn wyvern that was spitting lightning at me in the jungle when I first encountered him. So while I agree that Picnic makes the combat too easy, it still has its moments. And besides, I'm only in it for the mapping, anyways.
nuttyevans
Member
With the exception of Psychonauts, I can't get into anything Double Fine has put out. I really would like to but I can't.
TheAdmiester
Member
I wish more games had GFWL. Mainly because it wasn't intrusive past the first startup and I like the fact that it brought achievements to PC.
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
Lately I've had a different take on this.
The problem isn't "too much HDs". Too much visual detail, or graphical elaborateness. It's art direction and ideas.
A great deal of the worlds painted by modern games are pretty safe and boring. They are the result of ideas chewed up by geeks who just want to recreate their favorite movies, books, comics, and animation without bringing anything new or interesting. When combined with high quality illustration and detailed visuals, it leaves nothing to the imagination and the viewer is stuck with whatever the creator visualized - and it's not all that much. Less defined and more abstract presentation, like pixel art, does allow the viewer more freedom to interpret and apply their own imagination.
But I find plenty of "discovery" in games like Ico. Even a "realistic" fantasy setting such as the Witcher series invites more engagement of the imagination than the more stock standard, dull worlds presented by most big games today. Even something like Portal invites the player's imagination to run wild (in dark directions).
Bear in mind that some of the greatest and most evocative fantasy art is rendered in a realistic style. It's just that too many big budget game productions regurgitate utterly photocopied settings without life to them and don't encourage the player's mind to gain traction and wonder what might be out there in the game's world.
orthodoxy1095
Banned
With all the recent Wii U posts, I feel like it has been cemented in my mind that the most obnoxious fans in the entire gaming community are Nintendo fans. I can take MS shills, Playstation defenders and PC Master Race-ers. I cannot take the incessant Nintendo stuff anymore.
Sorry.
Sorry.
Not sorry.