Unpopular Opinions about Video Games

[The handsome tard]

Visual novels should abandon the Telltale method of storytelling and improve upon the Quantic Dream formula. See Detroit: Beyond Human.

Im curious, whats the difference? They seem pretty similar.

Anytime I mention this though people just get mad cause lol David Cage is a weirdo. Like, yeah, he's a weirdo, but at least he puts some actual effort into visual novel/glorified movie games.

David Cage is one of those writers that work under a leash. If he is given total creative control like he seemed to have in Beyond Two Souls, we get that piece of shite. If he is under watch and given limitations, then we can have something decent coming out of it.

Beyond: Two Souls was wretched in writing and execution. Invisible walls, clunky controls, unnecessary screen borders. QD needs to remember that they are making video games. There's no need to be THAT restrictive in their gameplay.

Also Ellen Page was a thing in it. I recall a Projared review of the game that he concludes saying "At least you can see E.P in her underwear....*a bit disgusted* She looks like a boy..."

Man, that aged well

That should be enough to tell you its awful from the get go.

I never played that cause I have a natural revulsion to Ellen Page. Actually I didn't play Heavy Rain either but I think I watched someone play it. I know I played Indigo Prophecy but it was so long ago I don't remember shit.

I don't remember finding anything overly clunky in Detroit. I was just surprised they let me be like "fuck these robots, they're not people" and make them fuck up their rebellion at every opportunity which I thought was surprising. And then I saw all the different trees and variations that could happen and was surprised, but maybe that's just because most shit I played from Playstation and Telltale the past 10 years has been ball numbingly linear.

Also Detroit had, you know, themes about transhumanism, existentialism, free will and what makes an actual human (the flesh or "the soul").

It felt like it had something to say about man's ambitions and its consequences.

Unlike Beyond Two Souls where I legit was asking myself "What is this story trying to tell me? That everyone is awful? And Im not allowed to go all Carrie on their asses for it because the devs wont let me?". It was a nothing story.

Sega should remake Sonic the Hedgehog (2006.) It had a great premise with world building, they just needed more time. I think a remake would do wonders to fix their reputation.

Now you are going to say Capcom should remake RE 6 but make it "good" now.

For me its like that sock holes situation. How long until it ceases to be the original thing and something else altogether? Thats my problem with remaking these games, there is so much wrong that, if you fix it all, it will barely be tied to the original thing anymore.

Best Sega can do is make a Sonic game that isnt garbage (which hasnt happened in a fucking while, holy shit)

Bandai Namco now wants to expand the reach of elden ring including making a book series

written by GRRM

He apparently has something ready to go which means GOT was not being worked on.

However this isn't going to go over well. I mean the Soulsborne people on youtube already made videos praising the lore and quest design.

Then it turned out that the masterful quest design really was just broken quests and the lore was half done as well because the finishing lines of dialogue were not shown.

That kind of pisses me off because it confirms to me Martin will never finish the book series. He is literally blue balling his fans for god damn years and Im sure he takes a sick pleasure from it at this point.

I wasnt attached to GOT as many were but I know a lot were and it feels shitty for him to focus on ANOTHER book series when he still hasnt finished that one.

I legit think he will never conclude it, mostly because he knows there is no satisfying conclusion that can match the hype, especially after the stakes increased for him to deliever an actual good conclusion after the series adaptation shit the bed.

Its like HL 3, it will never happen because there will never be a satisfying conclusion that makes everyone happy and keeping people in the air feels preferable than to have people getting disappointed and him possibly losing a lot of his networth.

I can see between the lines, Martin.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

Anime Voices tend to be type cast and that's partially because of what genres are popular. But it's like instead of an individual actor being typecast, it's getting 100 guys to do an impersonation of a singular actor. Like you're not getting anyone delivering lines like Anthony Hopkins or Christopher Walken. It's them trying to fit the mold of a pre-established character.

Yes, that was my point. Then it bleeds over to vidya because they are the people with VA experience.

 

[Senator Armstrong]

All 4 saints row games are good

 

[Heavy Duty Boots]

All 4 saints row games are good

Yes, but the series peaked at 2, with 3 being a close second

 

[Senator Armstrong]

Yes, but the series peaked at 2, with 3 being a close second

2 is personally my favorite, the world was more alive and I liked the psychotic levels of attention to detail in everything

 

[LucasSomething]

As someone who started Yakuza series with a pirated copy of the first game in english on a ps2 ~15 years ago, i loved how the game was just dead serious and wasted no time from start to finish and i really dislike how the series eventually evolved into a joke with meme game reputation.

Yes, i know the later games still had serious combat and story with the funny sidecontent but this mentality paved way into yakuza 7 having "joke combat" where you have a dude so autistic he perceives reality as a dragon quest game. Now you have the dramatic boss fight ruined by W a C k Y bullshit like summoning a lobster rain.

This is not even getting into how they fucked the pacing of the games, to the point i got burned out so bad with yakuza 0 i dont even want to play kiwiami. Other issues include fucked power progression, locking fighting styles behind facebook minigames, completion points and rewards meaning the OPTIONAL STuff isnt that optional aymore, the fanbase turning majima into a joke, sidequests trying too hard, etc..

And the most unpopular opinion of all: I HATE the jokey atlus localization. Yeah the original english dub was thrashy and you got 30 fucks per minute but it was still better than killing the tension completely with shitty jokes. Majima's story was impossible to take seriously when he reacts to dark twists by saying "HOLY SHITBALLS!".

tl;dr: I liked yakuza more when it was edgy and just edgy.

 

[WULULULULU]

As someone who started Yakuza series with a pirated copy of the first game in english on a ps2 ~15 years ago, i loved how the game was just dead serious and wasted no time from start to finish and i really dislike how the series eventually evolved into a joke with meme game reputation.

Yes, i know the later games still had serious combat and story with the funny sidecontent but this mentality paved way into yakuza 7 having "joke combat" where you have a dude so autistic he perceives reality as a dragon quest game. Now you have the dramatic boss fight ruined by W a C k Y bullshit like summoning a lobster rain.

This is not even getting into how they fucked the pacing of the games, to the point i got burned out so bad with yakuza 0 i dont even want to play kiwiami. Other issues include fucked power progression, locking fighting styles behind facebook minigames, completion points and rewards meaning the OPTIONAL STuff isnt that optional aymore, the fanbase turning majima into a joke, sidequests trying too hard, etc..

And the most unpopular opinion of all: I HATE the jokey atlus localization. Yeah the original english dub was thrashy and you got 30 fucks per minute but it was still better than killing the tension completely with shitty jokes. Majima's story was impossible to take seriously when he reacts to dark twists by saying "HOLY SHITBALLS!".

tl;dr: I liked yakuza more when it was edgy and just edgy.

So basically Saints Row syndrome. Original entries were serious, then later sequels turned into memeland.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

As someone who started Yakuza series with a pirated copy of the first game in english on a ps2 ~15 years ago, i loved how the game was just dead serious and wasted no time from start to finish and i really dislike how the series eventually evolved into a joke with meme game reputation.

tl;dr: I liked yakuza more when it was edgy and just edgy.

I might be misremembering it, but wasn't the original Yakuza pretty controversial in Japan because of that?

 

[The Cunting Death]

Lets plays are gay and retarded and that dude who laughed at the nerds who were into them live on tv was 100% in the right

 

[The handsome tard]

The original Mortal Kombat timeline (the Midway timeline as some call it) is way more detailed and rich than NTR's new timeline

Also Half Life 3 will still never happen. I just want to remind fans that called me a moron for still saying after Half Life Alyx.

Its like the Winds of Winter, it will be teased for decades to come but Im VERY sure that Gabe never intends for HL 3 to ever exist. Its best to remain a mystery than getting an ending that will never live up to the expectations since Im very sure Gabe and crew probably wrote themselves into a corner.

When a writer takes too long to write, thats because of a few factors, sometimes motivation, sometimes personal life, but you will be shocked at how many times its because the writer LEGIT doesnt know how to finish the story in a satisfying manner, especially if they go with that method of coming up with the plot as he writes a long (not my personal pick but I digress). He realises there is no satisfying conclusion that will make everyone happy so he plays dumb and pretends that there is progress made.

They both make people live in "what if/when it comes" la la land because the harsh reality would hurt this bottom check.

I might be misremembering it, but wasn't the original Yakuza pretty controversial in Japan because of that?

Well, a lot of people think that the game series sells a VERY romanticized version of Yakuza.

There are two types of opinions of the Yakuza. One where they are these sophisticated crime syndicates with codes and standards. And the other where the Yakuza are just a bunch of stupid almost in-bred looking brute thugs that oppress anyone and everyone that isnt them, without any standard and lines they wont cross.

There was this movie director that made a movie mocking the SHIT out of them, showing them as a bunch of petty disloyal disorganized immature men children. The Yakuza didnt like that and nearly murdered him. He survived but he made it clear that this wouldnt discourage him to mock them even more and he intended to make another movie. Then he "coincidentally" commits "suicide" by jumping off the top of a building. Anyone with a brain knows that this reeks of "Clinton tactics" but the police, as usual, claims it was just a suicide and nothing more.

So the Yakuza series has a reputation with a lot of native japanese of making these monsters look "decent" and giving people, especially younger people, an idealized version of them that differs a lot from the real thing.

Im capable of distinguishing reality from fiction but I know a lot of impressionable young minds arent so there is that. So in a way, the series kind of started more akin to reality (but still very romanticized) to becoming more and more "out there".

Its like Saints Row, many claims it gives a false impression of being in a gang is like, perhaps it become more insane as a way to make sure its all fiction and parody and not comparable to real life.

 

[LucasSomething]

So basically Saints Row syndrome. Original entries were serious, then later sequels turned into memeland.

The main story still takes itself seriously but it would be disingenuous to say it's the sequels didnt change.

Yakuza 1 starts with kiryu beating a bunch of dudes for not paying mafia money.

Yakuza 7 starts with ichiban running after a dude who was tricking teenagers into buying his pornography without telling them it's actually animal sex. (makes just as much sense in context).

That sounds like a funny sidequest but it was on the main story. Even if you like yakuza for the duality and contrast, it's all gone now and i dont understand how fans like this. It's a completely different franchise.

I just hate how everything becomes "wacky". Even Watch dogs turned wacky because the internet whined about Aiden being too edgy so we cant have nice things.

I might be misremembering it, but wasn't the original Yakuza pretty controversial in Japan because of that?

Not really? Yakuza controversies include celebrity scandals and cut content, otherwise you get some complaints about the extreme lionization of awful criminals, to the point some people allege the actual yakuza secretly help fund the series.

Mass murderers, wife beaters, slave traders, etc.. If you're a honored badass then you get the the MC's respect and a sad song when you die.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

Not really? Yakuza controversies include celebrity scandals and cut content, otherwise you get some complaints about the extreme lionization of awful criminals, to the point some people allege the actual yakuza secretly help fund the series.

Mass murderers, wife beaters, slave traders, etc.. If you're a honored badass then you get the the MC's respect and a sad song when you die.

No no, there was some detail to it to fuel the flames like the director having a tattoo or something.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

So the Yakuza series has a reputation with a lot of native japanese of making these monsters look "decent" and giving people, especially younger people, an idealized version of them that differs a lot from the real thing.

To the series credit, it makes it pretty clear that Kiryu is an outlier and the Yakuza are almost entirely terrible people who wouldn't hesitate to destroy someone in their way (not to the point of the shit they do in reality, but that's true to basically every crime story. You rarely have a game show where the protagonist smuggles sex slaves for a living).
Also with Yakuza there's always the boomer shit of "in the past Yakuza were about honor and now it's only money", which is full of shit and is technically an alright message for both sides of the law.

 

[The handsome tard]

To the series credit, it makes it pretty clear that Kiryu is an outlier and the Yakuza are almost entirely terrible people who wouldn't hesitate to destroy someone in their way (not to the point of the shit they do in reality, but that's true to basically every crime story. You rarely have a game show where the protagonist smuggles sex slaves for a living).
Also with Yakuza there's always the boomer shit of "in the past Yakuza were about honor and now it's only money", which is full of shit and is technically an alright message for both sides of the law.

Thats the thing, the Yukaza was shown as an organization that used to be "better" but now resembles its IRL counterpart and that it simply needs a "Kiryu" so it can be back to how it used to be. When the most likely truth is that they were always like this from the get go. Its the same you get with mafia stories, you have the elders saying "Before we used to have honor and a code but now its all about fucking money and power"

But still, its all fiction, its people that need to realise that it doesnt reflect reality. People want to believe in these morally ambiguious criminal organizations that, while not good, arent without their standards and lines they wont cross and that they might be even more helpful to a community than the cops themselves. The games are great to play along with that fantasy but people need to know that, like with nearly everything virtual, real life is usually much fucking worse.

 

[Marissa Moira]

Thats the thing, the Yukaza was shown as an organization that used to be "better" but now resembles its IRL counterpart and that it simply needs a "Kiryu" so it can be back to how it used to be. When the most likely truth is that they were always like this from the get go. Its the same you get with mafia stories, you have the elders saying "Before we used to have honor and a code but now its all about fucking money and power"

But still, its all fiction, its people that need to realise that it doesnt reflect reality. People want to believe in these morally ambiguious criminal organizations that, while not good, arent without their standards and lines they wont cross and that they might be even more helpful to a community than the cops themselves. The games are great to play along with that fantasy but people need to know that, like with nearly everything virtual, real life is usually much fucking worse.

Dude it's literally no different than how people romanticize pirates.

People just find the bad boy with the heart of gold archtype appealing. It's similar to anti-heroes.

 

[Matt Damon]

All 4 saints row games are good

I do enjoy them overall, but the later ones have a bad case of Borderlands syndrome: characters that are intentionally annoying are still fucking annoying.

 

[Dojima's Dragon]

As someone who started Yakuza series with a pirated copy of the first game in english on a ps2 ~15 years ago, i loved how the game was just dead serious and wasted no time from start to finish and i really dislike how the series eventually evolved into a joke with meme game reputation.

Yes, i know the later games still had serious combat and story with the funny sidecontent but this mentality paved way into yakuza 7 having "joke combat" where you have a dude so autistic he perceives reality as a dragon quest game. Now you have the dramatic boss fight ruined by W a C k Y bullshit like summoning a lobster rain.

This is not even getting into how they fucked the pacing of the games, to the point i got burned out so bad with yakuza 0 i dont even want to play kiwiami. Other issues include fucked power progression, locking fighting styles behind facebook minigames, completion points and rewards meaning the OPTIONAL STuff isnt that optional aymore, the fanbase turning majima into a joke, sidequests trying too hard, etc..

And the most unpopular opinion of all: I HATE the jokey atlus localization. Yeah the original english dub was thrashy and you got 30 fucks per minute but it was still better than killing the tension completely with shitty jokes. Majima's story was impossible to take seriously when he reacts to dark twists by saying "HOLY SHITBALLS!".

tl;dr: I liked yakuza more when it was edgy and just edgy.

To be fair in regards to majima when your known as the fucking mad dog of shimano but dresses like a gay dude its not surprising people dont take him seriously though majima does become serious post-3 and lol at the yakuza 0 burnout given 5 exists cough cough haruka cough cough and in general the whole story of the series can either be tight like 2 or a complete shitshow like 4

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

Fusion Frenzy for the XBOX was an ambitious Mario Party ripoff, and I love it.

 

[The handsome tard]

ZombiU was amazing and deserved a sequel on the Switch

 

[Heavy Duty Boots]

This whole discussion about the romantization of criminals in Yakuza and Saints Row is basically Eric Hobsbawm's book on Primitive Rebels, read it if you have the chance. the pattern it studies is very interesting.
Now, to keep this post thread related:

• The Trails in the Sky games would be one of the best JRPGs ever if they didn't waste so much time with useless dialogue
• The Ys series is mostly trash, only the most recent titles look enjoyable
• Final Fantasy IX is the worst of the PS1 era of FF
• The only good Castlevania games are SOTN and its handheld clones