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"Such a waste of great music in a subpar game" thread.

While I really liked LAIR on PS3 it's considered mediocre or even bad by many people. Basically the The Order 1886 on the PS3. But even the biggest haters have to admit that the orchestral soundtrack was amazing.
 
Persona 5 soundtrack, for sure.

PSqueak said:
Undertale almost, ALMOST falls into this, if it wasnt for the fact that the Writing is also pretty fucking excellent.

But it's obvious how Toby Fox is a composer first and game design is secondary.
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Why does it have a 10/10 Steam rating and 92 meta then?
 
Undertale almost, ALMOST falls into this, if it wasnt for the fact that the Writing is also pretty fucking excellent.

But it's obvious how Toby Fox is a composer first and game design is secondary.
 
saska said:
Chrono Trigger - soundtrack is amazing while the game itself is super boring.
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Nier Automata, Xenoblade and now this.

It became a stealth "troll praised games" thread now.

PSqueak said:
Undertale almost, ALMOST falls into this, if it wasnt for the fact that the Writing is also pretty fucking excellent.

But it's obvious how Toby Fox is a composer first and game design is secondary.
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giphy.gif
 
The Hermit said:
Nier Automata, Xenoblade and now this.

It became a stealth "troll praised games" thread now.
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The OP didn't specify that the games couldn't be critically well-received, so that leaves things open for people to list games they didn't personally enjoy. I don't agree with a few choices, but it's still in line with the thread.
 
PSqueak said:
Undertale almost, ALMOST falls into this, if it wasnt for the fact that the Writing is also pretty fucking excellent.

But it's obvious how Toby Fox is a composer first and game design is secondary.
Click to expand...
This is an objectively wrong opinion. Now go sit in the corner so you can think about what you've done.
 
DorkLord54 said:
I actually thought it was just Chopin music until I listened to the OST and realised that it's used sparingly.
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Yeah, it's pretty disappointing that Chopin music is only used for those documentary-like segments and the fucking trailer.

The rest of the game's soundtrack is just plain boring imo.

That was the first disappointment I got while playing Eternal Sonata, then it was the lack of exploration a la FFXIII, then the fucking backtracking inside the dungeons and the final nail in the coffin was when the dev team decided that it was a good idea to randomize the actions you do by pressing the buttons in the middle of combat!!!! Fuck Eternal Sonata!
 
i think music is a huge part of games, particularly RPGs, and can single-handedly turn it from a subpar game into a great game. most old school RPGs were not very graphically impressive featuring overworlds where your only real options are to walk vertically or horizontally and if you want to do anything else you have to open a menu. but drop some amazing music in there and it's a transformative experience.
 
NieR is one of my favorite games ever, but I can recognize that if the gameplay itself could match what is possibly the greatest game soundtrack of all time, it would have been transcendent. The couple hours or so of NieR Automata that I've played seem to be fulfilling that potential, however.
 
Jawbreaker said:
The OP didn't specify that the games couldn't be critically well-received, so that leaves things open for people to list games they didn't personally enjoy. I don't agree with a few choices, but it's still in line with the thread.
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But not enjoying something and calling it subpar are very different things. You can play something that's clearly a great game and not have it click with you and still see its brilliance. A subpar game is a mediocre one, which often equals to bad.

PSqueak said:
Undertale almost, ALMOST falls into this, if it wasnt for the fact that the Writing is also pretty fucking excellent.

But it's obvious how Toby Fox is a composer first and game design is secondary.
Click to expand...

... But the game and its story were basically an afterthought because Toby simply wanted to make a game around the battle system he had created inspired by SMT negotiations. And the game is extremely inventive and battles are very fun and hilarious regardless of how you approach them? It's fine to not like things, but c'mon. It even has super bosses which are great challenges while also being entertaining.

That's not even touching on the insane number of dialogue variants depending on your choices or the consequences these entail either, which is all game design too. Undertale is goddamn brilliant in every sense.

The Horror the horror said:
Hotline Miami
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Jesus.
 
Quality is subjective, but generally when someone is talking about something being subpar there's a more objective or general slant. The OP even mentions games that aren't well received, so it's a little strange scrolling through to see so many games listed that were very well received.
 
emag said:
Already mentioned, but...



One of the very best soundtracks in all gaming

vs.



An mediocre game that would have been better without the half-assed ties to the GOAT Chrono Trigger (and without all the filler characters).

Chrono Cross remains my biggest gaming disappointment, nearly two decades years on.
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Doesn't count since having the best Soundtrack in videogame history already elevates Chrono Cross above "subpar"
 
Ray Down said:
Persona 3 is filled to the brim with annoying shit, so no it's not.
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Persona 3 is the game that created the basic mechanics of two of the best JRPGs ever made. It is also a pretty good game by itself that has some issues some people don't like; it is by no means a subpar game no matter how much you want to stretch that term to fit all the games you didn't like.
 
Opa-Pa said:
... But the game and its story were basically an afterthought because Toby simply wanted to make a game around the battle system he had created inspired by SMT negotiations. And the game is extremely inventive and battles are very fun and hilarious regardless of how you approach them? It's fine to not like things, but c'mon. It even has super bosses which are great challenges while also being entertaining.

That's not even touching on the insane number of dialogue variants depending on your choices or the consequences these entail either, which is all game design too. Undertale is goddamn brilliant in every sense.
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Disagree about the story being an after thought, the writing, concept and meta commentary on gaming in general was very well written, delivered and among the best in gaming in general, the battles are fun, but there is ton of stuff in undertale that was done with minimum effort, mostly the overworld gameplay, a shit ton of graphics and some bugs that made it to the final game.

Undertale is a great experience, but i stand by my words that the gameplay in undertale is at best in the 3rd place of importance and why the game is absolutely fantastic, and i also think the music is the best part.

MrS said:
Why does it have a 10/10 Steam rating and 92 meta then?
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Because it has an incredibly fucking good story and overall writing and the music is so godly that absolutely every flaw in the gameplay is forgiven because the experience is that good as a package.
 
Shatter. Thought the game was good but the soundtrack was truly a GOAT.

Also since this thread is full of hot takes I'll go with The World Ends With You. Marginal game carried by a great soundtrack.
 
PSqueak said:
Disagree about the story being an after thought, the writing, concept and meta commentary on gaming in general was very well written, delivered and among the best in gaming in general, the battles are fun, but there is ton of stuff in undertale that was done with minimum effort, mostly the overworld gameplay, a shit ton of graphics and some bugs that made it to the final game.

Undertale is a great experience, but i stand by my words that the gameplay in undertale is at best in the 3rd place of importance and why the game is absolutely fantastic, and i also think the music is the best part.
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I meant afterthought as in that the story wasn't the main motivation to make the game but the other way around. The story is fantastic and the game has some of the best writing I've experienced in the medium actually.

But I dunno I think the puzzles were fun enough and games being uneventful outside of combat is pretty par of the course for the genre so I didn't see it as an issue either way. And IMO the only subpar aspect of the game is how inconsistent the quality of the sprite work and animations is.
 
F0rneus said:
And yet you said just Persona 5, a game with 93 MC sucks.

Hypocrite
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I was referring to the poster saying Toby Fox is a musician first and game designer second when there is evidence to the contrary. P5 is decent but the soundtrack deserves a better game.
 
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