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The most polished games you've played

hahah wow at so many people getting angry over mentions of GTAV. i think it's by far the most polished game that i've played on my PS3. polished doesn't mean perfect though.. it's just that the game is so ridiculously ambitious and complex that IMO it's about as polished as it can be.

no idea about the online though, never tried it and never will.

here's another potentially unpopular answer: Final Fantasy XIII (on PS3 at least). that game ran so well with really beautiful visuals, never crashed or had any bugs, no issues at all for me. i played it right after Fallout New Vegas though... so in contrast it probably felt even more polished than it really is :P
 
I know a lot of you already mentioned this, but that's nothing but the truth. I have literally never connected a Nintendo console or hand-held to the internet, I've played a shit-load of Nintendo first and second party games, and I have never encountered a (game-killing) bug, glitch or whatnot, that needed additional patching. Kind of sad though, that developing and releasing a COMPLETE and FUNCTIONAL game is considered a competitive advantage these days.

Polish is Nintendo's middle name, not sure what its first name is though.
I think Robert.
 
MidBoss said:
Marvel vs Capcom 3
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Everything just feels right to me.
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No Megaman means not perfect game.
 
astroturfing said:
hahah wow at so many people getting angry over mentions of GTAV. i think it's by far the most polished game that i've played on my PS3. polished doesn't mean perfect though.. it's just that the game is so ridiculously ambitious and complex that IMO it's about as polished as it can be.

no idea about the online though, never tried it and never will.

here's another potentially unpopular answer: Final Fantasy XIII (on PS3 at least). that game ran so well with really beautiful visuals, never crashed or had any bugs, no issues at all for me. i played it right after Fallout New Vegas though... so in contrast it probably felt even more polished than it really is :P
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definitionwrong.jpg


dictionary.com said:
Polished- flawless; skillful; excellent:
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Most Nintendo games especially those by EAD Tokyo and Retro Studios

-Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2
-DKCR and DKCTF
-Metroid Prime 1-3

There really aren't any polished open-world games. The point of an Open-World game is to sacrifice polish for ambition and scope. Sure you could say X game is polished for a open-world game but since the standards for polish in open-world games are so low that doesn't really mean anything.

Not saying its a bad thing its just the way it is. A game as large as GTA V but as polished as DKCTF or Super Mario Galaxy would take 7-10 years to develop and truckloads of cash to make.
 
Metal Gear Solid 2
Uncharted 2
Ninja Gaiden (Black/Sigma)
Nintendo 1st party efforts
Half-life 2
Portal 2
Resident Evil 4
 
All games from Bizarre Creations were extremely solid: PGR 1/2/3/4, Geometry Wars, Boom Boom Rocket, The Club, Blur. Still a tragedy that this studio doesn't exist anymore.
 
For games with polished controls, Super Metroid's controls are perfect outside the grapple beam. I used to have trouble with wall jumping, but it becomes very easy and natural once you learn the timing. I always feel like I have complete control over Samus; at some times I almost feel I have too much control.

The game obviously has a bunch of glitches and mistakes, but they don't ever detract from the feel of controlling it.
 
ruitama said:
GTAV, no competition because of its scale.

Edit: Can't really agree with 2D platformers or hybrids like SM3DW because well ... they're a fraction of what GTA offers.
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Polish has nothing to do with scale. GTA is polished for it's size but also has shoddy gameplay mechanics and is quite buggy.
 
Grizzlyjin said:
The mainline Metal Gear Solid games would top my list. So many little extras and details that they don't need to include in the games. You think about all the optional Codec conversations across the series, and it really comes into focus how much work must go into the entire experience.
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was going to say this. especially MGS2.
 
Adam Prime said:
Kid Icarus Uprising on 3DS


I don't know if I have ever seen so much effort, time, and vast energy poured into a portable game. It's staggering that amount of work went into a game that doesn't appear on PC or console.

GAF will back me up on this.
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Its a portable game that obligatorily requires a mount for you to enjoy it properly. Regardless of the work put into the assets, voice-work, and visuals, if start your game's design by making it inadequate to the device it's going to be played on you're already breaking the very notion that it might be a polished product.
 
10k said:
Nintendo: The thread.
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yup. All the games that come up are Nintendo ones. 3D World. Super Mario Galaxy 1+2. Metroid Primes. Pikmin games. Endless Oceans (on Wii, where is ma Wii U version)

Well maybe I could also include Jak & Daxter, rock solid 60 fps. The output from Naughty Dog after that was "polished", but not polished. Jak 2 + Jak 3 had a shoddy framerate at least the PAL releases and the gameplay is meh. Uncharted 3 for example is bugs-galore, even after all those patches. I encountered so many bugs in coop, it's embarassing.

Oh yeah, Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 were polished as well.
 
Probably a Blizzard game. If I had to pick I would probably go with Starcraft 2. It is pretty much the only game I can think of where I never encountered a bug. Though if it came down to it I would rather take a rough game that tried new things over a highly polished game like Starcraft 2 that played it mostly safe.
 
Octavia said:
Final Fantasy XII (12)

It's the most polished game I've ever played.
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Finally someone has the right answer, though the Nintendo games listed in the thread are pretty darned good too. RIP Square JRPGs, number 13 hasn't been kind to you.
 
Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling together (PSP remake)
Zelda: Wind Waker
Resident Evil Remake
Ridge Racer Type 4
Metal Gear Solid
WipeOut HD
Dragon Quest VIII
Mario Kart 8
Fire Emblem Awakening
 
Evo X said:
The Last of Us is pretty damn detailed and polished. The whole package from audiovisual to game play and story is so well put together. There are a ton of small contextual things and dialogue you can miss out on if you just rush through.
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Last of Us had a pretty major bug on release that wouldn't allow you to save the game, a lot of people lost a lot of progress on that game.
 
Bumhat said:
This is a good choice, the gameplay variety is excellent and the story is tightly constructed. I also love all the little touches that tie the game's world together like the emails, news reports, and magazines you can find and read throughout the game.

With the above said it's worth noting that the Director's Cut is a must - the original boss fights are a slap in the face to the 'play however you want' mentality prevalent throughout the rest of the game.
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Great game but I wouldn't say it even remotely qualified unless it WAS the directors cut. On xbox it looked pretty bad and the AI was also quit suspect at times, with or without the terrible boss battles.
 
equippedwithtowel said:
Left handed and sunk 70 hours on the game including 8.0ing every mission.

Still goty 2012
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Hello, exception. You prove nothing.

Yes, I am a Southpaw. Yes I returned an otherwise fantastic game (Kid Icarus: Uprising) because its lack of a southpaw option rendered it a horrid, horrid failure of a game, game-play execution-wise for the overwhelming majority of the other 10%ers.
 
Creamium said:
It's rare when you play a game where every single aspect has been given the attention it deserves: art, design, animation, soundtrack, ... It's even more impressive when you find little touches throughout that show care and attention to detail.
The most recent game that just struck me with its insane polish was Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Not only is it an incredible platformer, but it has no rough edges. For example: every enemy has unique and quirky animations, and sometimes I find myself just watching them patrol or do their attacks. The tiki's in Returns got a weak reception, and you can tell Retro focused on the enemy design quite a bit in TF.
There's also a lot going on in the background of the levels, and the platform sections are integrated perfectly in the theme of the level (fruit themed world 5 is the culmination of this).

Each time I play this game I'm convinced everyone on the team had a blast making it, and loved what they were creating. There was so much care put into every single aspect. So many details in the visuals and animation...

Polish is a key word for Retro in general, all the way back to the first Metroid Prime. I remember playing it as a kid and I just couldn't get over all the details in the world.

So what are your picks? Games that not only excel in gameplay, design, etc. but go beyond that and are filled with attention to detail?
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I only recently bought a Wii U, and finished world 1 of Tropical Freeze yesterday. Yes, it is top notch, levels are a joy to watch as you go through them. However, the one thing that annoys me is the stuttering loading screens. It happens without fail on every single loading screen. It's not the type of thing I expect from an in-house Nintendo developer, and am surprised it hasn't been patched yet. The only real irksome thing from an otherwise, so far, top notch game.
 
3bdelilah said:
I know a lot of you already mentioned this, but that's nothing but the truth. I have literally never connected a Nintendo console or hand-held to the internet, I've played a shit-load of Nintendo first and second party games, and I have never encountered a (game-killing) bug, glitch or whatnot, that needed additional patching. Kind of sad though, that developing and releasing a COMPLETE and FUNCTIONAL game is considered a competitive advantage these days.
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Nintendo definitely aren't immune to it.

Twilight Princess and Other M both had game ending bugs that really needed patching out, but couldn't because of the system.

Laconic said:
Hello, exception. You prove nothing.

Yes, I am a Southpaw. Yes I returned an otherwise fantastic game (Kid Icarus: Uprising) because its lack of a southpaw option rendered it a horrid, horrid failure of a game, game-play execution-wise for the overwhelming majority of the other 10%ers.
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KI:U had leftie support if you used a circle pad pro. I don't see how else they could have gotten around it : they weren't going to give up stylus aiming, and people generally agree that 3d movement requires an analogue stick(circle pad).
Yes, it sucks that hte 3ds doesn't have a built in analogue on the right and it sucks that you'd have to buy an extra bit of hardware to play it with your natural hand, but the option was there.
 
Super surprised Dishonored isn't being mentioned more.

Played it on PC and was really impressed with the amount of options and just how much shine the game had. Everything, the menus and animations and combat mechanics.

Beautiful art style too. Really well made game from a technical standpoint.
 
Adam Prime said:
Kid Icarus Uprising on 3DS


I don't know if I have ever seen so much effort, time, and vast energy poured into a portable game. It's staggering that amount of work went into a game that doesn't appear on PC or console.

GAF will back me up on this.
Click to expand...

I'm gonna have to go with this. Also the game seems to seriously have the best netcode of any handheld game ever (seriously).
 
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