• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Beautiful settings wasted on mediocre games

The 1st Mass Effect.

Love the series, love the story/characters, but I can't objectively call the 1st game anything more than mediocre, especially since I played it in consoles where the technical issues were more noticeable.

The setting was really good though.
 
Firewatch.

Christ, it was beautiful. Sooo goddamn beautiful. It's like 90% of the work went into making the game look so damn good, and then 5% went to plot-writing while the other 5% went to something they forgot about. It's not fair. :(

It would've been a great setting for a great story, although the environment lacked activity and life. Such a damn waste. Endless possibilities reduced to ashes.
 
The 1st Mass Effect.

Love the series, love the story/characters, but I can't objectively call the 1st game anything more than mediocre, especially since I played it in consoles where the technical issues were more noticeable.

The setting was really good though.

Soo many outrageously boring mako quests.

"This hilly planet is green!
This hilly planet is red!
This hilly planet is blue!"
 
disney fantasia for xbox one, I only got it for 5 dollars, so wasnt burnt but man the gameplay was off, sometimes you would make the worse sounding remixes.

One of the few times, I want to stop because its just unfun because the music is crap by random luck.
 
Crysis 3.
crysis-3-screenshot-1.jpg
Jungle in the city setting was really pretty at times. But the game was just disappointing.
 
The order 1886 for sure. playing it now for the first time and I have been using the share button more then actually playing the game. This game is a visual landmark!
 
Unreal Tournament and Quake exist if you are talking about momentum and movement.

I'm not gonna lie... I often see posts like this and wonder if people simply list Unreal Tournament instinctively when listing Quake... or if they simply have a very different idea of momentum. Titanfall is far, far more momentum based than UT. I'd compared UT more to something like Halo 5. You can gain speed, but it's just a quick burst before you practically stop on landing.
 
"Well, at least you're no longer pretending you like it while blatantly trolling the OT. :)"

Being critical of Guild Wars 2's many failings isn't trolling. Well, not to well adjusted people.

Yeah, GW2 is the first game I thought of when I saw this.

Never have I been more disappointed in an MMO. But man does it have some cool environments.
 
Yeah, GW2 is the first game I thought of when I saw this.

Never have I been more disappointed in an MMO. But man does it have some cool environments.

The bigger issue is that even if you like the game 80% of the zones become obsolete once you get to level 80. I guess that's a problem with MMOs in general.
 
Roman setting with Ryse. Although I would not go as far to call it mediocre, it was nothing truly special to me.
 
I'm not gonna lie... I often see posts like this and wonder if people simply list Unreal Tournament instinctively when listing Quake... or if they simply have a very different idea of momentum. Titanfall is far, far more momentum based than UT. I'd compared UT more to something like Halo 5. You can gain speed, but it's just a quick burst before you practically stop on landing.
If you think UT is closer to Halo than Quake then I don't know what to say.



Also momentum..again. In order for it to be momentum base it needs to do something with that momentum. Your character's weight needs to be felt...which doesn't happen in Titanfall since the momentum conservation in that game is just limited to carrying on to move forward with your wall run after a jump. I already gave examples of how momentum in a parlour base first person game would look like with my example of Dying Light and Mirror's Edge.
 
Epic Mickey and Epic Mickey 2.

The first one is mediocre with potential, the seuqel is outright shit.
I will never get a good adventure game set in Disneyland :( (And Disnyeland Kinect doesnt count becuase its sadly barely a game).
 
That would be a more fair/accurate thread title methinks. Then again, some people are putting reasonable arguments as to why they think the games are mediocre, so eh.

Personally, I cast my vote on Sonic and the Secret Rings and Sonic Unleashed.

The setting and artwork of Secret Rings is some truly nice stuff (especially by Wii standards), in anything I wish that visual inspiration for their art direction was used for future Sonic titles. But unfortunately the gameplay is just an awful waggle fest (because lolWii) and the general game design is too restrictive and limiting to me.



Unleashed is even more visually phenomenal with its real-life locations, but the Werehog segments, medal collecting, and to an small extent even the daytime segments (for the same reasons as Secret Rings) just drag the experience down for me.
Secret Rings is the best 3D Sonic. It values momentum, timing and platforming unlike any other 3D Sonic. It takes a while to get going, but once it does its pretty good. Tilting is not waggle.
 
Mario Sunshine.

large.jpg


I always found Sunshine to be the weakest 3D Mario game, but Isle Delfino is a pretty lovely location to jump around, especially the plaza.
 
Ff xiii

Seems like every other thread concerning some poorly done part of a game can relate to this.

Walked miles to gamestop the day of release, only to return it back thinking "why is such a pretty game filled with all of this much awfulness?"

The post trauma and Gaf complaining hasn't left my veins since.
1000% this
 
Two very different but equally boring games IMO:
El Shaddai
DA:Inquisition
Both beautiful in their own way.

I also went through Remember Me just because it looks so good.
 
I'm going to suggest Dead Island. Such a mediocre game with very interesting and varied locations.

That reminds me, what ever happened to Dead Island 2?
 
You know what? I think the original Xenoblade is a fantastic game but I agree with those who say it's quality was inconsistent all throughout.

If you want to label it as average, I wouldn't personally agree with you, but I do see where you're coming from.
 
Bioshock Infinite really is just the poster child for this. Easily the prettiest corridor based FPS. I'd give it the nod over The Order just because I find Columbia more interesting than London, but that's still another good choice.

I'm going to suggest Dead Island. Such a mediocre game with very interesting and varied locations.

That reminds me, what ever happened to Dead Island 2?

Wikipedia said:
In July 2015, Deep Silver announced that Yager has been dropped from developing the game and development will be moved to another unnamed developer.[13] The managing director of Yager Development, Timo Ullmann, later stated that the company's departure from the project is due to the massive differences in the respective vision for the game between the two companies, which according to him, had "fell out of alignment".[14] As a result, the game's separate development team, Yager Productions GmbH, filed for insolvency in July 2015.[15]
 
Mario Sunshine.

large.jpg


I always found Sunshine to be the weakest 3D Mario game, but Isle Delfino is a pretty lovely location to jump around, especially the plaza.

Mario sunshine is far from being mediocre. FLUDD was a great gameplay addition. It had some weak levels but to call it mediocre is hyperbole rofl.
 
Links below graciously provided by several GAF posters:

I'd love to know what part of my post is considered lying. At no point have I ever been shy about my problems with Guild Wars 2.

Indeed?
But I like GW2.

Let's provide a bit of context for that, though. You forcibly took over from Jira, Hawkian and Retro to make a self-admittedly troll OT (one of the posts below links to a quote of your original post, that you since edited).
Continued from: Here See original thread for info, it's too full of marketing BS to fit into this post, apparently.
"PS:Who's making OT2..."

Looks like it's me. No guarantees the title will be troll-free.

Which obviously pissed off Jira who had devoted a ton of time to make a beautiful and detailed OT:
I'm absolutely baffled that you didn't take two minutes to PM me and ask me to make the new OT

And Retro, which at last provides the context:
Retro: "Ah yes, GAF, where the moderators get to troll the shit out of games they don't like and no one can call them on it."

Teknopathetic: But I like GW2.

That was your entire justification and shield for all the trolling. "I hijacked your OT but it wasn't for the lulz because, see, I actually like this game!". It's not like the opposite wasn't transparent to anyone, but I was glad to see you admit as much at last.

To reiterate in case my point isn't clear, it's cool not to like games. It's debatably cool to lie about liking games. Constantly trolling about games you dislike and shielding yourself in "but I actually like the game (giggles)"? Very low in the coolness scale, in my humble opinion.

What exactly is the lie? It's also not an ad hominem attack, it is what it is. Examine your own behavior.

"I'm not really insulting you because you guys are all actually maladjusted". Beautiful defense, sir, just beautiful! Who needs actual arguments when ad hominems and impunity will suffice?

And I'm pretty sure I never said I loved the game, though I'd love to see posts where I did if you have them. There were aspects I enjoyed conceptually and wish were better (WvW), but that's about it. Seriously, I'd love to see these posts where I'm talking about how much I love Guild Wars 2 while "trolling" it. Links, please?

Well, fortunately your reply to Retro above just happens to contain one. Not like anyone was fooled by such transparent deflection, but hey.

But you know what? Fuck this. I know better than to pick a fight with a mod who's not above abusing his power, it's an argument I can't win. My point has been made, good day to you.
 
There were aspects of GW2 that I already mentioned I enjoyed though? (WvW) I didn't "love" the game or say I loved the game. I spent the bulk of the GW2 threads giving advice and information to other people in the thread, despite things like say Events in the last 4 zones being completely broken or launch dungeons being terrible or WvW having issues of its own. You gloss over those things because I dared criticize the game which, for some reason, really hurt your and whoever else was in your GW2 clique's feelings. Oh well?

Furthermore, you've spent the past few years taking pot shots at me over criticisms I made to a video game. Not really sure how many words there are to describe that.
 
Mario sunshine is far from being mediocre. FLUDD was a great gameplay addition. It had some weak levels but to call it mediocre is hyperbole rofl.

Its a horrible mario game and theres a big part of the audience that think is mediocre or worse. So no, he isnt actually alone thinking this. Deal with it.

The same I have to deal with people calling Bioshock Infinite mediocre or a bad game when I freaking love the game.
 
There were aspects of GW2 that I already mentioned I enjoyed though? (WvW) I didn't "love" the game or say I loved the game. I spent the bulk of the GW2 threads giving advice and information to other people in the thread

Ahahahahaha. Keep telling yourself that.

despite things like say Events in the last 4 zones being completely broken or launch dungeons being terrible or WvW having issues of its own. You gloss over those things because I dared criticize the game which, for some reason, really hurt your and whoever else was in your GW2 clique's feelings. Oh well?

I very clearly described how your behaviour, including literal OT hijacking, went well past common trolling. I have nothing more to say, the facts speak for themselves no matter how much you want to spin them.

Furthermore, you've spent the past few years taking pot shots at me over criticisms I made to a video game. Not really sure how many words there are to describe that.

"Past years taking potshots", what in the flying fuck? This is the very first time to my recollection I have even as much as addressed the matter at all with you, including back then. You laid the burden of the proof on me a few posts backs and I complied, now allow me to return the kindness and ask for these "continued potshots over the years".
 
If you think UT is closer to Halo than Quake then I don't know what to say.

Also momentum..again. In order for it to be momentum base it needs to do something with that momentum. Your character's weight needs to be felt...which doesn't happen in Titanfall since the momentum conservation in that game is just limited to carrying on to move forward with your wall run after a jump. I already gave examples of how momentum in a parlour base first person game would look like with my example of Dying Light and Mirror's Edge.

Well, you may not know what to say to me... but I definitely know what I want to say to you regarding this, and it isn't short... so get comfortable. :P

Saying that it's a case of weight needing to be felt is on its own pretty much meaningless and incredibly vague. That's basically just arguing that your character needs to feel "heavy" in or for a game to be momentum based. This description would honestly apply more to games like Halo 5 (or hell, Killzone), where the character's weight is extremely noticeable moreso than many games that extremely momentum focused, but the character feels a lot lighter (such as Quake when compared to Halo). How heavy the character feels doesn't matter... if we're simply using application of weight to determine a game to be based on momentum, then honestly pretty much every game in recent memory would apply.

I'm not familiar with Dying Light, so I'm going to ignore that one. I am however familiar with Mirrors Edge, so I can use this example to demonstrate how it's similar in execution to games like Quake, Titanfall, 2D Sonic etc, as opposed to games like Halo 5, Unreal Tournament or Megaman X.

So, let's say in Mirrors Edge your base running speed is 5. The game has a "sprint" ability, and if used you character then achieves a speed of 7. This is where momentum in many games end. However, this isn't the case in Mirrors Edge... not only are you able to hold this higher speed, but successive parkour will allow the player continue to gain momentum, and maintain it in a non-binary way. The game will never take this new speed away from you unless you as a player fail to maintain the momentum. You can see this to be true also in Quake by way of strafe jumps, rocket jumps, plasma climbs etc.. as long as the player successfully maintains their momentum, they will never be forced to move at the base speed of 5 ever again. This is also true for Titanfall as well by way of wallrunning, ramp jumps etc. It may have less tools at its disposal to maintain momentum than something like Quake, but it's just as successful in letting the player actually do so. On the 2D side of things, this applies to Sonic the Hedgehog too, who can maintain speeds higher than his base running speed by way of rolling and momentum transferal (such as jump at the top of a loop).

Now then... let's look at Unreal Tournament this way. You have your standard running at speed 5, you can then perform a dodge that moves you at speed 10.. but consider now what happens the moment your character lands from that dodge... you're back at speed 5. This is a hard limitation of the games design.. there is absolutely no way to maintain your momentum over time. You can prolong moving at speed 10 for a bit via dodge jump (or wall dodge jump), but that quick burst is all you're getting, is the fastest you're able to move (excluding a handful of special circumstances like getting hit with an impact hammer), and you will lose this momentum in short order, guaranteed. This should all actually be self evident when you consider that to even initiate the higher speed in the first place (and to top it back up each time after landing) you actually have to momentarily cease pressing the direction you intend to move in completely. This is all very well comparable to Halo 5, where you have your character's default run speed (let's say 3.5... UT would have it's walk in comparison at say about 2)), your sprint (let's say 7) and then you have that burst of speed you can obtain from the jetpack trust that actually functions almost identically to a dodge in UT (at let's say 8.5). Like UT you can combine the dodge with a jump in order to prolong the effect.. but once you land from it? Done. It's over. In regards to 2D gaming, you can apply pretty much all of this to Megaman X and how his dash works (wall dashing jumping included). It's all the same template, a momentary burst of speed, with a fixed cap, that the player loses after either a very short window of lateral movement, or once they hit the ground. The important thing to note about each of these examples is that despite a skilled player being able to minimise the downtime to move thorough the arena/stage faster than a lesser skilled player (which to be fair applies to basically any game in existence, as evidenced by all the speedruns), the highest speed the player can consistently maintain is actually the base run (or sprint) speed. The games by design give the player no way to consistently maintain, or build momentum... "momentum conservation" essentially doesn't exist. It's all start and stop, and the skill is simply in minimizing the window you spend at "stop". With Mirrors Edge, Quake, Titanfall and Sonic the "stop" only happens as a result of the player failing to use the provided tools to maintain or increase the momentum they've already built.

And that's why regardless of how great a game Unreal Tournament is, it should never be compared to Quake, Mirrors Edge, Sonic, Tribes, or yes, even Titanfall in regards to handling momentum.
 
""Past years taking potshots", what in the flying fuck? This is the very first time to my recollection I have even as much as addressed the matter at all with you, including back then. You laid the burden of the proof on me a few posts backs and I complied, now allow me to return the kindness and ask for these "continued potshots over the years"."

I mean, the post you gave as "proof," only proved you to be incorrect but:

Definitely not the "first" time


It's silly for someone to be upset over a thread title mocking the the very real and very significant problems Guild Wars 2 was experiencing with events. On the front page I see a Street Fighter 5 thread title directly taking the game to task for the state it launched in, no one's catching feelings because no one is that emotionally invested, especially when it's *true*.
 
The 1st Mass Effect.

Love the series, love the story/characters, but I can't objectively call the 1st game anything more than mediocre, especially since I played it in consoles where the technical issues were more noticeable.

The setting was really good though.

The worst part is that in my opinion 2 and 3 never really expanded upon the promise of the first game. They changed the tone of the setting pretty significantly and got rid of a lot of its gameplay elements instead of polishing them.
 
The worst part is that in my opinion 2 and 3 never really expanded upon the promise of the first game. They changed the tone of the setting pretty significantly and got rid of a lot of its gameplay elements instead of polishing them.

That's how Bioware tend to do things. The same happened with the Dragon Age series.
 
Top Bottom