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Critically acclaimed games that just do not click for you?

L

Lothar

Banned
Games that disappointed me and I didn't really like at all

Dark Souls - frustrating, no music, full of trial and error bs death traps
Skyrim - Boring story and got repetitive (I love Witcher 3 though)
Xenoblade - Dull story and characters, shopping system, quests, and gem crafting are tedious
Final Fantasy 9 - Painfully slow gameplay, easy battles that didn't require much strategy, and high encounter rate. I can't stand Zidane. Plot also drops off at the third CD.
Chrono Cross - Story is a disaster, most of time its aimless and a series of fetch quests, then when you get plot and explanations, it's so convoluted, so incomprehensible, so poorly told
Vagrant Story - Summed up perfectly by this review http://www.somethingawful.com/game-reviews/vagrant-story-psx/

Is Star Ocean 2 critical acclaimed? If so, that too.
 
I

IKizzLE

Member
Metal gear solid v
Red dead redemption
Grand theft auto 4

Hated all 3 for the same reason, repetitive mission designs. Ended up just being boring open world games with a ton of options all based around a repetitive gameplay loop.
 
Correctomundo

Correctomundo

Member
joms5 said:
Bioshock. Everyone who didn't play System Shock 2 adored it. While those who played System Shock 2 realized it was just a dumbed down ripoff.
Click to expand...

No True Scotsman likes Bioshock.

joms5 said:
Some of the posts in this thread are just ridiculous. I mean I can understand someone saying they didn't like The Last Of Us OR Uncharted OR God Of War OR Dark Souls.

But some of the posts where people are picking 5 or 6 games that include stuff like GTA(series), MGS, RDR, Souls series just seems silly. I would love to know what kind of games these people enjoy. I'm fine with some people not enjoying a "mainstream" or AAA game here and there. Hell i'm guilty of that.

I think what bothers me most is when people give these vague statements like "it's boring". This thread should be called, see who can dislike the game with the most critical acclaim.
Click to expand...

That does appear to be what it's devolved into.

I played each of the games I criticized to completion, except Dark Souls, which I admitted I'm still playing and awaiting that "click" the thread is originally about.

Though I think it's possible to dislike more than one - or even most - of the mainstream or AAA games. I just agree that it seems a lot of people are just taking it as an opportunity to shit on popular games.
 
K

keltickennedy

Member
Recently, The Nioh Alpha. I love Souls and love Ninja Gaiden. Really bummed I'm not digging it. I really like the combat...just everything leading up to the encounters is so slow.
 
C

chaosaeon

Member
GTA IV.
Halo 3.

Didn't enjoy either of them and neither one was particularly fun. And Halo 3 was a huge disappointment after how much I liked the first two.
 
N

Novocaine

Member
Call of Duty and basically everything by Rockstar. Not trying to be edgy just couldn't care any less about those games.
 
F

fluxanimator

Banned
Almost anything by Nintendo in the past 20 years. It's like I'm allergic or something. Baby graphics, old or way over thought gameplay. The definition of trying too hard to be different. The fans don't help either.
 
N

NightShift

Member
The Mass Effect series. I don't really know why since I love sci-fi drama and I liked Dragon Age Inquisition so it's not modern Bioware. The only things that I can point out is the lack of a unique artstyle and a cast of mostly nothing characters but I can usually ignore that.
 
T

The Albatross

Member
Souls games.
Really hate having to replay areas against goons only to get to a boss, die quickly, and replay the area against goons. Plenty of respect for the game but just not my cup of tea.
 
Bobs Big Boy

Bobs Big Boy

Member
The Grand Theft Auto games come across as bad parody although I've found them fun when they embrace their loose grip on social commentary and become over-the-top sandboxes to match their social aims. I like the 2D games, San Andreas a lot, and V sometimes.
 
Sanctuary

Sanctuary

Member
GTA IV
GTA V
Red Dead Redemption
Halo franchise
Gears of War franchise

Then there are these that I thought were okay, and were at least worth trying to put a dozen hour into, if not finishing at least once:

Uncharted 2 - fine for a single playthrough, but I won't touch it again.
The Last of Us - same as above.
The Witcher 3 - got burned out on cutscene/cutscene/awful combat/cutscene/garbage loot/cutscene.
Fallout 4 - it was fun until the halfway point, where your character literally becomes a god, and I can't treat games like this as a visiual novel where I'm just playing it for dialogue.

I'm also not sure if this even counts, since I did really enjoy it (for the most part), although I just can't understand the ridiculous praise it gets for just about every aspect--despite all of the things wrong with it--especially here: Bloodborne.
 
D

DieAntwoord

Banned
Dark Souls. Which is strange considering how much I LOVED Demons Souls and Blood borne with over 750 hours combined and less than 20 total between the first two Dark Souls. I dunno, maybe its the direction they we're under during development but the Dark Souls series just never hooked me.
 
M

MillionVolts

Member
Thorwaldsson said:
The Last of Us

Bland shooter with a unimaginative story. However VO and cinematic direction is world class.
Click to expand...

Yup.

GeeTeeCee said:
Pretty much any Platinum game.

I enjoy playing them, I just don't consider them god-tier status like some people do.
Click to expand...

This was Bayonetta 1 & 2 for me. Amazing presentation but the combat just never really clicked.

Also, the entire Legend of Zelda series. I love Nintendo and have given the series several chances across multiple games, but I've just never gotten into one enough to finish it. Except for Twilight Princess, but that was after owning it for like two years.
 
T

thebisonxrc

Member
Bloodborne did absolutely nothing for me. The world was semi-interesting, but the gameplay was slow and unnecessarily difficult. Already got rid of it.
 
K

Kyzon

Member
Tomb Raider (Reboot) I found it bland, generic, and the QTEs were dumb.

Oh, and just about all of assassin's creed.

Throw Gears of War into that pile as well.
 
S

Speely

Banned
Skyrim.

While Oblivion was dumbed down from Morrowind, I still appreciated it and thought it a flawed but enjoyable effort. Skyrim was lauded into infinity and I thought it was a top-to-bottom empty husk of gameplay and character building. Like a fast-food version of a series that began as a gourmet banquet (that you might find bones in yet still tasted delicious.)

I tried real hard to like the game, but even as an Elder Scrolls fan I just couldn't. It made me feel sad despite the great atmosphere and immersion. I was like "Cool, I feel like I am here, but I have no reason to want to be."
 
N

Nielm

Member
Shadow of Mordor too.

I thought the premise of the game was interesting at first, but it got boring incredibly quickly. The world was dull (there is another area that's better than the first, but it's still dull) and the story isn't worth mentioning. The Nemesis system was underwhelming and the entire game became repetitive.

Another issue that factored into my dislike for the game was the way Talion moved. It wasn't as bad as The Witcher 3, but Talion had a heavy feel to his animations that I couldn't stand.

Tomb Raider 2013.

It was a pretty forgettable game to me. No good characters in the game except for Lara, repetitive combat, an undeveloped survival system, pointless RPG mechanic upgrades, bad voice acting, extremely simple puzzles that seemed to only be there because the game is called 'Tomb Raider' and shallow setpieces. I'm looking forward to playing Rise of The Tomb Raider though.
 
P

Pancake Mix

Copied someone else's pancake recipe
Souls/Bloodborne

I simply cannot stand those games and hadn't been following DS3 at all until I found out (via GAF) that someone had modded the PC version of the game and was getting hundreds of people softbanned. It was bad obviously, but it was the first thing involving Souls that has interested me since I felt burned buying Bloodborne. I bought into the GAF hype but almost instantly regretted the purchase.

Final Fantasy VIII

This game is sometimes acclaimed and I don't know why. The combat is hilariously broken with 1 minute summons that essentially break the entire game. It also has horrific characters like Squall.

whatever-noscale.jpg


I love Final Fantasy VII and even more so IX, two classic Final Fantasy games there sandwiching this game which makes it even worse. I don't mind that VIII was different, I just didn't think it was interesting or had a functioning combat system.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

The bland visuals and 3+ hour intro tutorial permanently soured me on the game. It might have clicked otherwise because I love every other 3D Zelda. I didn't even bother with the remaster. I can't remember if they shortened the tutorial at all, but I just have no interest in TP at this point so I don't care.

New Super Mario Bros. series

I was so disinterested in touching a non-3D Mario that I didn't even buy the DS or Wii versions. I ultimately did get NSMB2 and a standalone copy of Luigi U, but only the latter sort of clicked. NSMBU was a Club Nintendo reward for me but I didn't like it much either. I'm not touching the NSMB series again.
 
V

valeo

Member
Basically any rogue-like-like-like or character action game

Spelunky
Enter the Gungeon
DMC
Bayonetta
Ninja Gaiden

etc. Find them very bland.
 
bitbydeath

bitbydeath

Member
FPS genre
Racing Sim genre
Fighting genre

Are genres I often find boring and repetitive. That said I am enjoying R6:Siege but this is due to the level of destruction which makes it feel less repetitive.
 
X

xevis

Banned
I'm pretty averse to mainstream sports games, gunporn games, shanking simulators and exploitative or over-sexualised games. Concretely that means I avoid any and all games on Xbox and probably 95% of the stuff on PS3. Don't get me wrong, I love games, just not usually the third party stuff that people seem to love lately.
 
A

Aomber

Member
Red Dead Redemption and the GTA games immediately come to mind. I like open world games but something about the way these are "expected" to be played doesn't click with me.
 
H

hao chi

Member
I played about 60-75% of the first God of War as well as the demo for GoW3, and I didn't really enjoy either.

I'm also not nearly as crazy about The Last of Us as many people are. It was still pretty enjoyable, but I don't think of it as a masterpiece like many people do. I also didn't think the Left Behind DLC was anything special.
 
N

nekonoko

Member
Well, the games I like the most are pretty niche. So its not that hard for me to do a list.

Anything from Rockstar.
Anything from Bethesda.
Almost anything from Kojima with the exception of Policenauts.
Anything directed or designed by Shinji Mikami.
Anything from Telltale.
Halo anything, Call of Anything, Battlefield Anything, most console FPS.
Any MMO.

I could go on and on.
 
J

jdstorm

Banned
The Last of Us,
Red Dead
Any Falout game.
Most shooters from pre 2010
Xenoblade Chronicles - I actively dislike Shulk.

And Any Stealth Game. But that's mostly because I suck at them
 
R

redcrayon

Member
joms5 said:
Some of the posts in this thread are just ridiculous. I mean I can understand someone saying they didn't like The Last Of Us OR Uncharted OR God Of War OR Dark Souls.

But some of the posts where people are picking 5 or 6 games that include stuff like GTA(series), MGS, RDR, Souls series just seems silly. I would love to know what kind of games these people enjoy. I'm fine with some people not enjoying a "mainstream" or AAA game here and there. Hell i'm guilty of that.

I think what bothers me most is when people give these vague statements like "it's boring". This thread should be called, see who can dislike the game with the most critical acclaim.
Click to expand...
I don't think it's ridiculous for someone to have disliked half a dozen out of hundreds of games that could be described as 'critically acclaimed', that seems like a poor understanding of the sheer numbers involved. You're somehow looking at it as them disliking everything popular, when really they are probably describing a tiny minority of the popular things they've played, and the entire premise of this thread is to point out the highly regarded stuff you don't get one with. Anyone who plays a lot of games, which describes a lot of Gaf, is going to have several from just the last decade, I don't see how that's unreasonable for someone playing half a dozen (or much more) highly regarded games a year.

To answer your question, I said I disliked Halo, Assassins Creed, Smash, Pokemon, GTA and TLOU (plus a couple of others) although to be fair I also pointed out the things I both disliked and thought was great about them. Off the top of my head I could easily list a hundred more 'critically acclaimed' games that I loved, but that wasn't the premise of this thread and would make a much longer post. I'd start with Xcom, Mario, Gears, Zelda, Killzone, Street Fighter, Total War, Valkyria Chronicles, Elder Scrolls, Dragon Age, Ys, Mario Kart, Xenoblade, Trails, PvZ, Guacamelee, Shovel Knight, Mass Effect, Monster Hunter, Uncharted, but could go on (and often with multiple titles in each series) even from just the last decade or so.

Agree with you on just describing stuff as 'boring', rather than being a bit more specific.
 
M

Mephala

Member
Tekken series. I play a lot of fighters including some pretty awful or odd ones but I just don't really find Tekken enjoyable.
 
O

Osahi

Member
Gears of War. The big, dumb muscular dudebros style puts me off. The melodrama it mixes trough it ads insult to injury.

Can't get trough these games, though i appreciate the gameplay.
 
A

Aters

Member
Actually, I got one that I just must shout out:
For God sake stop saying Dark Souls is hard. It only requires patience, not skills.

Fraxin said:
Fire emblem awakening.

The first and only fire emblem I tried. Was interested in trying a new tactics game after FF tactics and Front mission 3 ( the only tacical games I played).

What I got is a poorly written dialogue and some of the top cliche characters. I thought I could enjoy at first, since I do enjoy some tales of games characters. However the characters in this game are much worse. The gameplay seemed pretty interesting, but the idea of me staying with these characters for 50+ hours is so difficult for me to endure.
Click to expand...

Too bad you start with the worst FE games. Try some others in the franchise. Not every FE game is filled with cliche characters.
 
Correctomundo

Correctomundo

Member
fluxanimator said:
All of their bread and butter games (Mario, Kong, Star Fox, Kirby, blah blah) all look childish. They are no longer charming or cute. They are tired, grating, nostalgia moneygrabs. Not about gameplay though. More looks...which turns me off of them.
Click to expand...

I don't get what you mean by childish. Is it particularly art style? Would Mario wielding a chainsaw bayonet make it more acceptable, or is it that you simply don't like less realistic art styles? Like, is Okami also childish? The Binding of Isaac? Borderlands?

I'd think the family friendly look of their games is part of the point. They don't want Kirby with five o'clock shadow chomping on a cigar as he does his usual gameplay stuff.


xsive said:
Concretely that means I avoid any and all games on Xbox
Click to expand...

I don't believe that you've seen every single game on any of the three Xboxes to judge that they host not a single game you like.

Aters said:
Actually, I got one that I just must shout out:
For God sake stop saying Dark Souls is hard. It only requires patience, not skills.
Click to expand...

They are hard. You get better as you play, sure, but the margin for error is always minuscule, regardless of how much you know what to do.
 
M

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
-- Absolutely hate these:
FF8
David Cage games
999
AssCreed (all)
GTA (all)
Read Dead Redemption
Batman Arkham (all)
Shadow of Mordor
Xenoblade Chronicles
Tomb Raider 2013
(Hell most open-world AAA games really)
Anything by Platinum
MGS4
DmC
Transistor
Witcher 2 (never played 3, don't care to)

-- I don't hate these games but found them very underwhelming:
Uncharted 3 (loved 1 and 2 but 3 was disappointing as hell)
Most Zelda games (all the 3D ones bored me to death)

Shadow of the Colossus and ICO are also overrated, but did have some aspects I enjoyed.
 
U

ultraJosh

Member
Eternal Darkness

Never understood why everyone liked it so much. I didn't make it very far in before I took it back though.
 
X

Xanos

Neo Member
Uncharted 1-3.

Played and finished all three and never understood the widespread critical acclaim these games have. They're not bad games from a technical standpoint, but their 'cinematic' game play is so incredibly mediocre and shallow.

Repetitive, highly scripted, linear game play isn't for me but still I finished all three because the voice acting and their admittedly over the top stories kept me interested enough to want to see them through the end. One play through is all I'll ever need of these games.
 
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