Unpopular Opinions about Video Games

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The problem with Atlus is that they tend to moralize in a safe way, and always have. It's why Law is Christian-themed despite supposedly being a criticism of Japanese society, it's a way of externalizing the criticism.

It's a criticism of zaibatsu and American imperialism. JRPGs in the 90s make a lot more sense if you keep that in mind.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

I think major corporate-made vidya peaked in the '90s or '00s, and indie games are a different and better story.

(maybe that's not an unpopular opinion)

 

[Friendly Primarina]

Ghost cars in racing games are irritating, distracting and don't give the player any information that split times don't. Idk why every racing game has to have them, and on by default, too. I'm playing TOCA RD3 atm and you have to disable the ghost car every time you load a track in TT mode.

 

[Matt Damon]

Say what you will about Oblivion's stilted NPC conversations and goofy behavior, but 17 years later I can't think of a video game with more sophisticated and independent AI.

It might be the only single-player game I've played that felt like things were always happening in the world (albeit very silly and/or boring things) even when I wasn't there to witness them.

 

[God of Nothing]

Say what you will about Oblivion's stilted NPC conversations and goofy behavior, but 17 years later I can't think of a video game with more sophisticated and independent AI.

It might be the only single-player game I've played that felt like things were always happening in the world (albeit very silly and/or boring things) even when I wasn't there to witness them.

that was part of the charm
oblivion npcs were adorably autistic

 

[Fools Idol]

I don't mind quips, it can help to add character.

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

Say what you will about Oblivion's stilted NPC conversations and goofy behavior, but 17 years later I can't think of a video game with more sophisticated and independent AI.

It might be the only single-player game I've played that felt like things were always happening in the world (albeit very silly and/or boring things) even when I wasn't there to witness them.

Somehow the repeated scripted NPC conversations of Skyrim take me out of the experience far more than the goofy ass radiant NPC conversations of Oblivion.

It is somehow far more retarded for me to hear the inn keeper in Ivarstead tell the wood elf that his boss is mean to him and he shouldn't take it every time I fucking walk in there than it is to here "Hello." "I hate mudcrabs" "Nasty things" "Goodbye"

 

[The Last Stand]

I believe that Elites not being playable in Halo after Reach is because of balance and lore reasons. It was a novelty in 2 and 3 because they were purely cosmetic in practice.

Reach gave Elites depth with the Invasion Playlist. Regenerating health, different load outs, evade, even a new UI. I would not trust 343i to try to implement playable Elites without something breaking in its foundation.

It's neither here or there for me.

 

[Gender: Xenomorph]

Say what you will about Oblivion's stilted NPC conversations and goofy behavior, but 17 years later I can't think of a video game with more sophisticated and independent AI.

Gothic 1 and 2 lol.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

I more brought that up because a very common criticism people tend to have is that these incidents are too unrealistic or overdramatic that they couldn't actually happen, when in this case they're almost one to one based on an actual event or story. The ones with Yusuke and Mokoto I know tend to get the most flack for being too over the top and improbable to happen, when those actually happened. Reality is stranger than fiction and all that.

I think the issue isn't a specific villain, but having all the extremely rare villains in a row. That's why you usually limit the amount of incredibly corrupt jerkasses to a minimum.

Although the "fuck you boomers" moral (if we can call it that) I'd say is actually a more novel lesson in Japan because as far as I understand outside of random forums like 2ch, you don't really see younger people really talk back to adults outside of complete outcasts like who Ryuji is meant to be based on. And Ryuji is by far the least liked character in Japan partially because he goes against social norms so extremely so he comes off as annoying and hard to listen to.

Idk, almost every Japanese media set in Japan has the main character going against the power hierarchy (usually corrupt corporations), it's not that novel. If anything needing the heroes to have superpowers to break the status quo sinks the message.

The other issue is that it's the same bullshit of "rich blacks are less privileged than homeless whites" - By making a classist argument age focused (which the game frequently does) it appears childish. The 50 year old salaryman that hates his life can't do shit to dictate society.

 

[BlaireWhitesBottom2]

I hate the transition that REsident Evil had from a survival horror to an action game. RE 4 was a good game but it wasnt a good Resident Evil game if that makes sense.

 

[Psyduck]

I can't stand the UI in P5, it looks cool, it's sharp and eye catching, but that shit gives me a headache everytime. It's the reason i haven't gone past the prologue yet.

Feel so bad about that cause my girl got me the Royal Ultimate version as a bday gift too... Im gonna get back to it at some point but there's a long backlog waiting

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

I’d like to play the good guy sometimes. I’d like to be the police/sheriff/navy instead of the gangster/pirate.

 

[Mayor Cody Travers]

I’d like to play the good guy sometimes. I’d like to be the police/sheriff/navy instead of the gangster/pirate.

That unfortunately won't happen in today's climate of middle-to-upper class kids and comfortable six-figure makers romanticizing themselves as underdog rebels and damning those positive roles that made their lives possible in the first place.

 

[Psyduck]

I’d like to play the good guy sometimes. I’d like to be the police/sheriff/navy instead of the gangster/pirate.

On the other hand, when i get set up as the bad guy, i wanna be the bad guy.

I'm deep into Tales of Berseria at the moment, and i really liked the idea of Velvet and her group being the ones that are "wrong", and are actively making everything worse for everyone around them in pursuit of their own goal, like villians usually do

They actually establish at some points that your party is very selfish, and doesn't care about hurting/killing/devouring innocents to get their way, which i kinda liked, it was a newish angle for an RPG to me, but yeah, 80+ hours in, and as the plot begins to unravel, i can see where it's going...

"Achsualleh! The churchey faction is the REAL bad gae!".

You just couldn't commit to it, could you Japan? Lemme guess, final boss is gonna be god again. He'll claim that genociding people or whatever is the right thing to do because strawman, and you'll even get a "We'll decide our own fate!" Speech from your party.

Don't get me wrong, im really enjoying this game, just hit that sweet spot in which ive grown to care for and like the characters, but come on... I went from not knowing and looking forward to how things would play out, to already knowing how it's gonna end.

Similar thing happened with Red Dead Redemption 2. Your gang in RDR1 was established as this scary, violent group of outlaws with a charismatic leader that brought havoc over the place... And then you meet them in RDR2 and no, it was actually a centenary and so ahead of it's time as a proggressive, multicultural and mellow pack that occassionally robbed banks and shit.

Low Honor is the canon choice in RDR2 if you ask me, but that's another story

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

On the other hand, when i get set up as the bad guy, i wanna be the bad guy.

I'm deep into Tales of Berseria at the moment, and i really liked the idea of Velvet and her group being the ones that are "wrong", and are actively making everything worse for everyone around them in pursuit of their own goal, like villians usually do

They actually establish at some points that your party is very selfish, and doesn't care about hurting/killing/devouring innocents to get their way, which i kinda liked, it was a newish angle for an RPG to me, but yeah, 80+ hours in, and as the plot begins to unravel, i can see where it's going...

"Achsualleh! The churchey faction is the REAL bad gae!".

You just couldn't commit to it, could you Japan? Lemme guess, final boss is gonna be god again. He'll claim that genociding people or whatever is the right thing to do because strawman, and you'll even get a "We'll decide our own fate!" Speech from your party.

Don't get me wrong, im really enjoying this game, just hit that sweet spot in which ive grown to care for and like the characters, but come on... I went from not knowing and looking forward to how things would play out, to already knowing how it's gonna end.

Similar thing happened with Red Dead Redemption 2. Your gang in RDR1 was established as this scary, violent group of outlaws with a charismatic leader that brought havoc over the place... And then you meet them in RDR2 and no, it was actually a centenary and so ahead of it's time as a proggressive, multicultural and mellow pack that occassionally robbed banks and shit.

Low Honor is the canon choice in RDR2 if you ask me, but that's another story

Red Dead Redemption 2 was the worst of both worlds because the game wasn't Robin Hood enough but the game's broken wanted system meant playing as a criminal was basically impossible (play as a frontiersman instead).

 

[Fount of BadSpeak]

I’d like to play the good guy sometimes. I’d like to be the police/sheriff/navy instead of the gangster/pirate.

I started listing out lots of games that let you play as the good guy, until I realized that all of them were a decade or more old... Yeah, it has become uncommon, hasn't it? It's always some morally gray shit, or you're just an outright fucking bandit or objectively evil.

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

I started listing out lots of games that let you play as the good guy, until I realized that all of them were a decade or more old... Yeah, it has become uncommon, hasn't it? It's always some morally gray shit, or you're just an outright fucking bandit or objectively evil.

If we include fantasy and such its probably common, but I can't think of any AAA games where you play law enforcement except for True Detective and its spin-offs (all very old), LA Noire, and Sleeping Dogs (a cheat, because youre undercover, its a crime game at its core).

There's no reason that a law enforcement GTA can't work (especially something where you're a plain-clothes detective, or in a Western setting a marshal), you don't have the incentive to rampage but many players are fine with role-playing and rampagers will rampage regardless.

 

[The Zekenator]

"Achsualleh! The churchey faction is the REAL bad gae!".

You just couldn't commit to it, could you Japan? Lemme guess, final boss is gonna be god again. He'll claim that genociding people or whatever is the right thing to do because strawman, and you'll even get a "We'll decide our own fate!" Speech from your party.

Actually no, that's not really what happens at all. Its a little more bizarre than that partially because this needs to set up Tales of Zesteria's whole world so it needs to do a bunch of weird shit that goes beyond typical "we slay God, story over" stuff.

Berseria is ultimately still a bunch of misfits, outcasts, and people of varying degrees of questionable character. Except for Eleanor and maybe Lapi I wouldn't really say anyone is a really traditional heroic JRPG character at all, unless you just want to count the edgy foil to the typical MC then that's about half the cast. While staying within a mostly normal JRPG framework, Berseria is quite different because most the party are just kind of bad (or would be considered bad people the hero would be forced kill) in any other context but this game. Rokurou and Velvet especially would likely be killed as a mid game bosses in any other JRPG story because they are selfish, bitter, and angry people who only really care about their own specific self interests over more or less anything else.

 

[Psyduck]

Actually no, that's not really what happens at all. Its a little more bizarre than that partially because this needs to set up Tales of Zesteria's whole world so it needs to do a bunch of weird shit that goes beyond typical "we slay God, story over" stuff.

Berseria is ultimately still a bunch of misfits, outcasts, and people of varying degrees of questionable character. Except for Eleanor and maybe Lapi I wouldn't really say anyone is a really traditional heroic JRPG character at all, unless you just want to count the edgy foil to the typical MC then that's about half the cast. While staying within a mostly normal JRPG framework, Berseria is quite different because most the party are just kind of bad (or would be considered bad people the hero would be forced kill) in any other context but this game. Rokurou and Velvet especially would likely be killed as a mid game bosses in any other JRPG story because they are selfish, bitter, and angry people who only really care about their own specific self interests over more or less anything else.

Well thats a relief at least, was gonna be really let down if the story went like i thought it would

Completely right on the character archetypes, think the fact that most of them arent the typical JRPG party members is what made me warm up to them