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pedrovay2003
Mar 17, 2013

Nothing says quality like a black eye and a moustache.
Fun Shoe
Inspired by the "Great games you just don't 'get'" thread, let's hear your gaming guilty pleasures. What game(s) do you love that was/were poorly received by the general public?

I'm going to go with Metroid: Other M. I've read all the reasons people hate the game, and I just can't make myself feel the same way. Sure, the soap opera-style story was a lot different of a style than previous games in the series, but I really did enjoy it, and the gameplay was great. It's also probably the single best-looking Wii game I've ever seen. Maybe it's just because I'm a huge Metroid fanboy, and I read the manga very shortly before playing Other M, and the two are undoubtedly related to an extent.

pedrovay2003 has a new favorite as of 01:23 on May 13, 2013

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Twat McTwatterson
May 31, 2011
Twilight Princess. Best Zelda game easily.

Observe Me
Jan 21, 2006

I know shits bad right now with all that starving bullshit and the dust storms and we are running out of french fries and burrito coverings. But I got a solution!
Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest

I can't not love that game. I play through it every 2 years or so I could feel like a kid again.

Nostalgia4ColdWar
May 7, 2007

Good people deserve good things.

Till someone lets the winter in and the dying begins, because Old Dark Places attract Old Dark Things.
More modern it's "The Secret World", which was trashed in reviews by reviewers who either didn't play it, played the months old Beta and then wrote a review on a version that didn't launch live, or just plain trashed it not understanding what the hell was going on. I still play it all the time and love it.

I also got a kick out of Duke Nukem Forever, which I took just as a terrible game with piss poor design decisions. I still had a blast playing it, although everyone constantly asked me how I could play such a terrible game.

But one of my favorite games, which everyone I knew that owned an Amiga or C-64 at the time absolutely hated was: It Came From the Desert.

Glitchy game-play, easy cheats during certain sections. But I loved shooting Giant fuckoff ANTS! in the desert.

I really really wish they'd redo it with modern technology.

Turncoat Mommy
Oct 3, 2010

I believe in you.
Fable and Dynasty Warriors I guess I like simple combat and being able to murderize tons of dudes.

pedrovay2003
Mar 17, 2013

Nothing says quality like a black eye and a moustache.
Fun Shoe

Twat McTwatterson posted:

Twilight Princess. Best Zelda game easily.

I agree with you completely -- I still think TP is the best Zelda. I'm curious -- Which do you prefer, GameCube or Wii?

StandardVC10
Feb 6, 2007

This avatar now 50% more dark mode compliant
FEAR: Perseus Mandate. It's not great. It was clearly rushed, their texture artist must have quit in a huff three weeks into the project without a replacement, the story is meaningless and forgettable. But they retained the excellent NPC AI and combat of the regular FEAR, and somewhat rejiggered the weapon distribution- to surprisingly good effect. FEAR 1 gave you some excellent weapons, but due to ammunition availability it was hard to use some of the more memorable ones for very long, including my two favorites- the dual pistols and the ASP rifle. In this expansion, though, these are much easier to find. And now that the story is just "bleeehhhh," you don't even need to worry about it, and can just get on with starring in your own over-the-top action film.

Twat McTwatterson
May 31, 2011

pedrovay2003 posted:

I agree with you completely -- I still think TP is the best Zelda. I'm curious -- Which do you prefer, GameCube or Wii?

I dunno to be honest. Played the GCN version back in 2006. Just recently started playing the Wii one, but haven't really made it that far. So my memory is too blurred to distinguish them.

Kimmalah
Nov 14, 2005

Basically just a baby in a trenchcoat.


Arcania: Gothic 4. It's really a crappy game that deserved the poo poo it got from people, but I loved playing it for some inexplicable reason.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. I didn't think this one was really that bad and I had fun with it, but it seems to get a lot of complaints from people.

Pick
Jul 19, 2009
Nap Ghost
Dragon Age II is my favorite video game and I'm still convinced a lot of people didn't "get" its (probably largely unintentional) genius. It's a blisteringly hilarious takedown of the entire genre. Your friends (with maybe two exceptions) are all blatant fuckups, helping them fucks up everything even more (to the point of... mass murder. Repeatedly.), and all your rewards and fame and reputation and whatnot are based entirely around solving problems that you and your friends DIRECTLY caused. You're guaranteed to get one of your siblings killed, often two, your mom killed, and start a war. And that's your baseline. Helping your friends and trying to get your countrymen employed will only add to the blood on your hands. Oh, and the only people you can become romantically entangled with are completely broken and your best friend will flat-out tell you that getting involved with any of them is a terrible decision. It's loving awesome and I don't get why other people don't revel in it like I do.

What I love most is the takeaway message to the player that your fantasy of being a hero is deluded and honestly if you were "transported" to a fantasy land like this you'd ruin everyone's lives.

Oh, and every time I find Torn Trousers or the Moth-Eaten Scarf in the very final areas of the game I just laugh and laugh and laugh. How hilarious is it that loot doesn't level? Honestly, I love it, because it's so annoyingly realistic.

Pick has a new favorite as of 04:51 on May 13, 2013

Der-Wreck
Feb 13, 2006
Friday nights are for Wapner!

50 Foot Ant posted:

But one of my favorite games, which everyone I knew that owned an Amiga or C-64 at the time absolutely hated was: It Came From the Desert.

Glitchy game-play, easy cheats during certain sections. But I loved shooting Giant fuckoff ANTS! in the desert.

I really really wish they'd redo it with modern technology.

Dude, have you heard of Earth Defense Force? That game would be right up your alley.

Mine would be Ignition Factor for the SNES. It's a firefighting game with lovely controls and odd gameplay. But you get to fight fires and rescue people in weird places! There's a level in a dinosaur museum and I think another at a robot factory. Such an odd game but I just love it for firefighting and some of its quirks are endearing. HURRY UP!

scary ghost dog
Aug 5, 2007
Yeah I'm quite fond of the original Fable. Another really good game is 2008's Prince of Persia.






Beautiful game.

Punished Chuck
Dec 27, 2010

I have to agree with Pick, I loved Dragon Age II. It was definitely rushed, and it did suffer for that, but I had a ton of fun with it. I'd still say DA:O was better, but only because of production values, since it didn't repeat areas and all the other little flaws like that. But in Dragon Age II, I liked the way combat felt more fast-paced and violent, I loved the way they tried to make a more personal story instead of the usual generic high-fantasy Tolkien-knockoff bullshit (although I wish they picked either the Qunari plot or the Mages vs. Templars plot and stuck with it instead of trying to do both), and I liked most of the companions better than the ones in DA:O. If it had a development cycle to match DA:O I think it would easily be the superior game.

Also, you didn't have to put up with loving Alistair the whole game, that's a huge plus in my book. gently caress that guy.

pedrovay2003
Mar 17, 2013

Nothing says quality like a black eye and a moustache.
Fun Shoe

Der-Wreck posted:

Mine would be Ignition Factor for the SNES. It's a firefighting game with lovely controls and odd gameplay. But you get to fight fires and rescue people in weird places! There's a level in a dinosaur museum and I think another at a robot factory. Such an odd game but I just love it for firefighting and some of its quirks are endearing. HURRY UP!

For some reason, this description really reminds me of Burning Rangers on the SEGA Saturn. I haven't played it, but quirky firefighting is definitely what drives that game.

Scrub-Niggurath
Nov 27, 2007

Twat McTwatterson posted:

Twilight Princess. Best Zelda game easily.

But twilight princess was incredibly well received?

Lord Lambeth
Dec 7, 2011


Requested_Username posted:

But twilight princess was incredibly well received?

Everyone I know seems to regard it as their least favorite.

Smoke_Max
Sep 7, 2011

Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero.

More specifically, I played the N64 version (no cheesy video cutscenes) when I was a kid. Man, that game was rad as hell, it was all I ever wanted, a RPG-ish (you gained experience to unlock new abilities as you progressed) cross with Mortal Kombat. I had so much fun just running around combo-ing dudes to death, double-freezing for an instant kill, fighting Scorpion, the elemental bosses, man, that was the poo poo. The only bad thing I can think about it is that the Default controls were completely different from Mortal Kombat Trilogy (the N64 one), so I had to change them every time I played it.

To this day, I still have no idea why so many people hate it.

Stevie Lee
Oct 8, 2007
Driv3r had some terrible parts (mostly the on-foot parts), and probably deserved the scores it got, but I had a lot of fun playing it back when it came out. The cities were pretty awesome to explore (Miami, Nice & Istanbul), and the graphics/physics were excellent for the PS2/Xbox era. It also had the movie recording/editing feature so you could make things like this (not mine):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sMTYfOkrJ0

edit: this is mesmerizing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq0ZBgt24kk

Stevie Lee has a new favorite as of 04:23 on May 13, 2013

Improbable Lobster
Jan 6, 2012

What is the Matrix 🌐? We just don't know 😎.


Buglord
Brink was a great game with a very cool art style, beautiful settings and intuitive teamwork. It's too bad that the game was so glitchy and poorly supported at launch.

BigBallChunkyTime
Nov 25, 2011

Kyle Schwarber: World Series hero, Beefy Lad, better than you.

Illegal Hen
I never knew another person who loved Aerobiz and the sequel Aerobiz:Supersonic for the SNES, but both games kicked 37 flavors of rear end.

Airline simulators! Woo!

scary ghost dog
Aug 5, 2007

Lord Lambeth posted:

Everyone I know seems to regard it as their least favorite.

A journalist got fired for giving it a less than stellar score on release. it was anything but "poorly-received."

Twat McTwatterson
May 31, 2011

Requested_Username posted:

But twilight princess was incredibly well received?

8.8 bro, 8.8.

Teavian
Oct 9, 2012


Maybe it is because it was the first Sonic game I played, but I rather enjoyed Shadow the Hedgehog. I think it's because people were comparing it to other Sonic games, when it made so many departures from the formula.

Also, I still believe the GBA port of Crystalis to be the superior version.

Camo Guitar
Jul 15, 2009
Auto Modellista for PS2 - No one I know has ever heard of it, the handling was terrible and if you drove badly the voice over bloke would tell you off "Why are you so bad?".

But you could modify the first generation RX7 and the game looked like a cartoon. I enjoyed those aspects of it.

SpazmasterX
Jul 13, 2006

Wrong about everything XIV related
~fartz~

Lord Lambeth posted:

Everyone I know seems to regard it as their least favorite.

I don't know how that's possible given the fact that Skyward Sword exists.

Alaois
Feb 7, 2012

scary ghost dog posted:

A journalist got fired for giving it a less than stellar score on release. it was anything but "poorly-received."

Actually he got fired for giving Kane & Lynch a bad review. The internet just flipped a collective shitfit over the TP review.

...of SCIENCE!
Apr 26, 2008

by Fluffdaddy
Devil May Cry 2013 was great. It's a game that opens with you flying through the air naked while your junk is strategically hidden by bits of debris, has you jump into a Fox News infographic to kill Bill O'Reilly, has the main character and a house-sized monster take turns flipping each other off and angrily yelling "gently caress YOU!" back and forth at each other, and yet people complained that it was gritty and serious :psyduck:. It did have its plot mis-steps but they were no worse than the mis-steps the original games made, if anything they were less severe simply by the virtue of not being so drat anime. The drama surrounding its development was pretty ridiculous and Tameem is an rear end, but it doesn't explain or excuse half the internet making up their own vision of how they thought the game was going to be and ignoring the actual game we ended up with.

The gameplay was pretty fun too but since I was never the kind of person who would spend hours counting frames and loving with the enemy AI by manipulating the camera that should go without saying.

Pick
Jul 19, 2009
Nap Ghost

WeaponGradeSadness posted:

I have to agree with Pick, I loved Dragon Age II. It was definitely rushed, and it did suffer for that, but I had a ton of fun with it. I'd still say DA:O was better, but only because of production values, since it didn't repeat areas and all the other little flaws like that.
The shame is, a lot of people saw these flaws and assumed there couldn't be any clever details either. Some of the best things in the game require you to trust that they did put those little touches in. I know a lot of people who complained about the short length of the game and the small scale of Kirkwall, yet never discovered half the things in it to begin with (e.g. the quest where you find a new family member).

Oh, and I love that about half the gifts are hated by their recipients. It's so in keeping with the entire theme of "you will gently caress up everything."

quote:

Also, you didn't have to put up with loving Alistair the whole game, that's a huge plus in my book. gently caress that guy.

If you play your cards right, he's a washed-up drunkard in the Hanged Man! :haw:

Blue On Blue
Nov 14, 2012

The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct

I played this in one sitting because I too love the zombie bandwagon.

Then I went back and played again, for achievements and 'perks' you can use when starting a new playthrough

And then played it again, just for a balls to the wall action movie style playthrough

For all the bad press it recieved, that netted me over 15-20 hours of solid playtime. Sounds like a good ratio in my books.

AAA games like Black Ops 2 managed a measly 3 hours before I put it down to never touch again

shock.wav
May 25, 2009
Freedom Fighters

I don't know exactly how this game fared. All I know is that I'd never heard of it, and no one I've recommended it to has either.

You control a group of mercenaries with different specialties (a game mechanic I've been in love with since The Lost Vikings) in a series of missions to take back control of America from an army of invading Soviet communist pigs.

I think they may blur the Russian-ness of the bad guys, but it's pretty clear who you're fighting against.

The combat is great, the squad control is great, the stealth sections are...stealthy. It's just great. If you ever spot it in a bargain bin, grab it.

LateToTheParty
Oct 13, 2012

The bane of my existence.
Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 : I know these games have aged really badly and caused Sonic to enter a period of stagnation that lasted a long time , but I can't hate them. They and Sonic in general were a huge part of my childhood and nothing is going to change that. Not even the large amount of glitches in the game's programming, a terrible camera, or even the the fact these game lead to the trend of introducing pointless characters in the series prevent me from loving these games. And yes I love the butt rock from these games as well. Hell, I even get choked up whenever I listen "It Doesn't Matter" because of stupid nostalgia.

Tardcore
Jan 24, 2011

Not cool enough for the Spider-man club.

LateToTheParty posted:

[b] Sonic Adventure 1

I still boot my copy up once in awhile, it's like The Room of video games.

Kaboom Dragoon
May 7, 2010

The greatest of feasts

Thinking about it, the thread title describes most of my PS2 library. Such a treasure trove for weird games that were decent, but flawed or criminally underrated or overlooked.

The one that springs instantly to mind, however, is Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. I was never as big a fanboy for the earlier games as others, so I just took the change of direction in my stride. It did, however, require a huge adjustment in how I handled the game: trying to equate the restarting as another form of level grinding was trickier than anticipated. At some point, it dawned on me that, in many ways (combat style, music, setting, theme and mood) it was essentially a spiritual sequel of sorts to Vagrant Story (one of my favourite games of all time) and once I realised that, it all clicked. It's since gone on to be my favourite in the series.

shock.wav posted:

Freedom Fighters

I don't know exactly how this game fared. All I know is that I'd never heard of it, and no one I've recommended it to has either.

You control a group of mercenaries with different specialties (a game mechanic I've been in love with since The Lost Vikings) in a series of missions to take back control of America from an army of invading Soviet communist pigs.

I think they may blur the Russian-ness of the bad guys, but it's pretty clear who you're fighting against.

The combat is great, the squad control is great, the stealth sections are...stealthy. It's just great. If you ever spot it in a bargain bin, grab it.

No, they're pretty up front about it being the Red Menace you have to fight. There's actually a good LP of it going on right now, if you missed it.

Kaboom Dragoon has a new favorite as of 05:38 on May 13, 2013

Accordion Man
Nov 7, 2012


Buglord

shock.wav posted:

Freedom Fighters
I think this is one is a cult classic because I've heard nothing but praise whenever its mentioned so I don't think it really applies.

Mine is Rule of Rose, it got burned critically and to be honest I don't fault them for it and anyone who couldn't stand playing it. It really isn't a game for everyone; its clunky as hell, glacially paced, and its means of storytelling can be rather obtuse at times but its still one of my favorites because despite its flaws I find its atmosphere and story to be among the finest around when it comes to video games. Very few games captured the same tone of haunting despair that Rule of Rose did.

Accordion Man has a new favorite as of 20:15 on May 13, 2013

Last Chance
Dec 31, 2004

Smoke_Max posted:

Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero.

More specifically, I played the N64 version (no cheesy video cutscenes) when I was a kid. Man, that game was rad as hell, it was all I ever wanted, a RPG-ish (you gained experience to unlock new abilities as you progressed) cross with Mortal Kombat. I had so much fun just running around combo-ing dudes to death, double-freezing for an instant kill, fighting Scorpion, the elemental bosses, man, that was the poo poo. The only bad thing I can think about it is that the Default controls were completely different from Mortal Kombat Trilogy (the N64 one), so I had to change them every time I played it.

To this day, I still have no idea why so many people hate it.

I liked this game, too. The cheesy cut scenes in the PS version only made it better. Except seeing this over and over during those weird platforming sequences in the sky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4E408jKNPs

Lil Swamp Booger Baby
Aug 1, 1981

Drakengard was an absurd game with some fairly mean-spirited themes of even the slightest good in people being consumed by their flaws and hatred. It was also designed by someone who really, really, hated the idea of birth and spent nearly the entire game doing the opposite of what most games do, belittling the ideals of fertility and propagation.
It was an ugly, noisy game, the gameplay was noisy, and it worked beautifully. Everything about the game was covered in a layer of rust and nothing in it was pleasant even in the slightest sense.
It was an exercise in negative emotion and I actually enjoyed that.

The Glumslinger
Sep 24, 2008

Coach Nagy, you want me to throw to WHAT side of the field?


Hair Elf

Tardcore posted:

I still boot my copy up once in awhile, it's like The Room of video games.

I still play Sonic adventure 2 on occasion. The camera scheme has not aged well in the least, but it can still be fun

pentyne
Nov 7, 2012
Evolution 1&2 for the Dreamcast.

I grew up without exposure to JRPGs past the SNES stage and they were the first 3-D JRPGs I played and I loved them to death. It had randomized dungeons and the whole "dig up ancient tech" theme along with the generic evil empire but something about it just won me over with the first one and I instantly bought the 2nd the day it was released.

Lord Lambeth
Dec 7, 2011


scary ghost dog posted:

A journalist got fired for giving it a less than stellar score on release. it was anything but "poorly-received."

Game journalists aren't real people. :colbert:

I'll second the Sonic Adventure 2 mention. I don't know how you could hate a game with chaos.

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Acebuckeye13
Nov 2, 2010


If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling
1-800-GAMBLER


Ultra Carp

shock.wav posted:

Freedom Fighters

I don't know exactly how this game fared. All I know is that I'd never heard of it, and no one I've recommended it to has either.

You control a group of mercenaries with different specialties (a game mechanic I've been in love with since The Lost Vikings) in a series of missions to take back control of America from an army of invading Soviet communist pigs.

I think they may blur the Russian-ness of the bad guys, but it's pretty clear who you're fighting against.

The combat is great, the squad control is great, the stealth sections are...stealthy. It's just great. If you ever spot it in a bargain bin, grab it.

Man, I remember playing that years and years ago and thinking it was a great game, but I don't think I've ever met anyone else who played it. One of these days I'll have to hunt down a used copy and see if it's as good as I remember it being.

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