Unpopular Opinions about Video Games

[ReasonablyRetarded]

I love the mechanics and party builder turn based combat idea of JRPGs but I can't fucking STAND gook art direction & shitty pixel art.
I'm not a graphicswhore zoomer, but I'm so fucking sick and tired of pixel art and the gooky 3d art direction.

Adding to that: Fuck your generic fantasy story and tropes.
Woah, drunk scottisch dwarves? Pointy eared snobby pricks that are also "more in tune with nature/the spirits"?
Violent and aggressive orcs that like to fight?
Yeah no thanks I was done with that 15 years ago can we do something new now?

 

[X Prime]

The problem is that virtually all modern medieval fantasy is straight up defined by Tolkien.

If it does something the same as Tolkien, it's because it's classic.

If it does something different than Tolkien, it's often because it intentionally and consciously goes against it and it shows.

 

[anustart76]

I love the mechanics and party builder turn based combat idea of JRPGs but I can't fucking STAND gook art direction & shitty pixel art.
I'm not a graphicswhore zoomer, but I'm so fucking sick and tired of pixel art and the gooky 3d art direction.

Adding to that: Fuck your generic fantasy story and tropes.
Woah, drunk scottisch dwarves? Pointy eared snobby pricks that are also "more in tune with nature/the spirits"?
Violent and aggressive orcs that like to fight?
Yeah no thanks I was done with that 15 years ago can we do something new now?

I like anime waifus but I don't like turn-based combat.
I do agree that I am actually also not very interested in the medieval fantasy setting.

Unpopular opinion: the vast majority of arcade games suck.

And I'm not just saying "durrrr they steal your quarters", I mean that most of them offer a really lackluster, bare-bones, and intentionally frustrating experience for the player that relied on spectacle rather than being fun. If my formative years had been spent in the arcade rather than with 8 and 16-bit consoles, I think I'd have concluded that video games are a shitty fad.

Oh they absolutely do. The whole point of those games was to be grindy and make you die so you spent more quarters. That's actually part of why video games back in the day had poor or no endings and were obnoxiously difficult; they were still following those design principles. RPGs were a big deal because the idea of rewarding the player with story was a novel one at a time when home console games were basically just arcade ports.

Mario Kart sits around wallowing in nostalgia.

Worse. It's not even nostalgia that it's stuck in; it's a "good enough" mentality. Mario Kart 8 debuted nearly a decade ago on Wii U, and the most they've really done is the "Deluxe" edition on Switch, which is mostly just characters and tracks, no real innovation involved. Nintendo has just been sitting on their laurels with it because it keeps selling. That's why we're probably not going to see a new Mario Kart game or any new mechanics any time soon, and why they refuse to make anything F-Zero despite how popular Captain Falcon has become through Super Smash Bros. They have their racing game and don't care to make anything new.
If they were wallowing in nostalgia, we'd have had a Double Dash remake by now.

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

like anime waifus but I don't like turn-based combat.

I always like to hear the reasoning people have when they say they don't like turn-based combat. There's a lot of variation, there's none you like?

 

[Judge Dredd]

If it does something different than Tolkien, it's often because it intentionally and consciously goes against it and it shows.

Not enough games borrow the 90s fantasy movie aesthetic. I think one board game did, but I never saw anything else even attempt it.

Dungeon and Dragons and other table top games also shows that you can do a lot within that fantasy setting. Dark Sun, RIFTs, Eberron, Planescape, Numeneria, but no. It's either generic tolkien or generic JRPG. At least Dark Souls and Bloodbourne tried to do something else with their setting.

I always like to hear the reasoning people have when they say they don't like turn-based combat.

In strategy games, great. In RPGs and especially JRPGs, 80% of turns is just choosing "attack", 15% of turns is choosing the elemental spell the monster is weak to, and 4.5% is choosing the heal spell/potion when you drop below a certain amount of health. That's 99.5% of the game just going through menus on auto pilot with basically no challenge.

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

In strategy games, great. In RPGs and especially JRPGs, 80% of turns is just choosing "attack", 15% of turns is choosing the elemental spell the monster is weak to, and 4.5% is choosing the heal spell/potion when you drop below a certain amount of health. That's 99.5% of the game just going through menus on auto pilot with basically no challenge.

But if you break down any game genre that's what you'll get. You could just as easily say for ARPGs that 80% of the time you just mash attack, 15% using effective magic, 4.5% healing/potion. It's more engaging because it is active and reflex based, sure, but it's really boiling down the the same simplicity.

At least a good turn-based system can make you think. ARPGs just get harder by making things more difficult to dodge and requiring even better dexterity. Playing Demon Souls wasn't any more strategically in-depth than playing Kingdom Hearts, I just died easier and needed better timing (Sephiroth aside).

Not trying to argue one is better than the other, though it seems that way. I prefer TB but like ARPGs a lot too.

 

[Calandrino]

there's something about fighting games in particular that makes people spout out the worst takes without knowing the first thing about them

Yeah, that's people for you, not really a fighting game player but iktf. I feel like the esport phenomenon has lead to compromises that leave all parties mutually dissatisfied, so the hardcore audience thinks they're dumbed down too much and casuals not enough.

"I'm making an exception to my usual policy of not saying anything to tell you that you're ignorant of what I know, but I'm not going to tell you what that is."

Well. Many fighting games have alternate streamlined control schemes with one-button specials and whatnot. Lengthy tutorial modes are commonplace. Fighting games in the 1990s were some of the most popular games in the world, not an inaccessible niche genre. SF6 just came out, and it is a big critical and commercial success. New MK coming soon, will probably be equally successful. Most Smash clones have bombed.

So did Shmups. Though at least they never a casual version to compare it too.

About the only shmups made in 30 years that are recognizable names are Ikaruga and Touhou. They have zero of the features that are usually suggested to fix shmups or make them more appealing to casuals. The secret ingredient is, they look cool. That's why Cuphead is a thing too.

I think it's mostly tech trends and audience interest etc that make genres rise and fall, not mean elitist gamers and dumb developers that don't want money. Point and clicks were biggest when PCs could display great looking static screens and couldn't scroll sprites for beans, they weren't going to big huge on PS2 and they were on borrowed time when the cat mustache puzzle came along.

Unpopular opinion: the vast majority of arcade games suck.

Yeah get down off the cross, you know perfectly well this is a normie take

 

[Matt Damon]

Fighting games in the 1990s were some of the most popular games in the world, not an inaccessible niche genre.

So were point-and-click adventure games. Audience expectations have changed and fighting games have actually gotten worse in terms of features (especially single-player modes) over time because, again, sales of fighting games have not kept up with development costs.

Lengthy tutorial modes are commonplace.

Like what? The only reasonably comprehensive fighting game tutorial I've ever seen was Virtua Fighter 4 (or maybe it was Evolution) and that was 20 years ago. Most games say "here's how to move, here's how to attack, here's how to throw, okay good luck!"

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole 2]

RTS games fucking suck, gittin' gud appears to be tied to clicking on things really fast and if a click is missed early on then it's time to throw in the towel. As an outside the competitive scene looks absolutely retarded. I'll use a clip to illustrate how I see it.

Remember laser tag? That was fun.
This is pro laser tag. It is played in a way that is so retarded it makes me think of RTS pro gamers.

 

[Matt Damon]

RTS games fucking suck, gittin' gud appears to be tied to clicking on things really fast and if a click is missed early on then it's time to throw in the towel. As an outside the competitive scene looks absolutely retarded. I'll use a clip to illustrate how I see it.

Remember laser tag? That was fun.
This is pro laser tag. It is played in a way that is so retarded it makes me think of RTS pro gamers.
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I'm starting to think the underlying problem here is that hyper-competitive autists ruin everything for everyone.

 

[Judge Dredd]

But if you break down any game genre that's what you'll get.

Yes, but the point isn't to be ultra reductive, it's that there's nothing there to stimulate for vast lengths of playtime.

Let's take a FPS, often mocked for being "point and click games". This is true, but there's lots to it. Which target do I shoot first, which weapon do I use, do I move, is it better to switch weapon or use this less effective one, do I have the health to tank damage enough for a kill, etc. All that in the space of a few seconds, if that.

For JRPGs to work, I have to deliberately make a dumb, sub optimal choice. And not in a fun challenge sense like playing Gran Turismo with stock cars or Resident Evil without first aid spray.

I'm starting to think the underlying problem here is that hyper-competitive autists ruin everything for everyone.

This is pro laser tag.

There was a Reddit thread a friend told me about a while ago. Things ruined by people being good at them. It listed things MMA and boxing being boiled down to a few styles.

 

[Matt Damon]

For JRPGs to work, I have to deliberately make a dumb, sub optimal choice. And not in a fun challenge sense like playing Gran Turismo with stock cars or Resident Evil without first aid spray.

Ultimately, complaining about the gameplay in JRPGs is like complaining about the story in porn movies - none of the degenerate weirdos who buy the product care about it.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole 2]

There was a Reddit thread a friend told me about a while ago. Things ruined by people being good at them. It listed things MMA and boxing being boiled down to a few styles.

That's a bit different but sure. That's why some female sports are more fun to watch.

 

[X Prime]

I'm starting to think the underlying problem here is that hyper-competitive autists and degenerate coomers ruin everything for everyone.

I have, as a service to my fellow Kiwi, made a much-needed addition to your post.

Like, someone earlier mentioned the secret to Touhou being a thing because it looks cool. Let's not kid ourselves here, we all know what is going on there.

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

I'm okay with people saying Starfield is shit, but I find it really confusing when people complain about gay reddit shit in Starfield and then point to Baldurs Gate III and praise it.

Baldurs Gate III, like almost all things I've seen from Dungeons and Dragons for the past decade or so, looks like the gayest, most reddit shit I've ever seen with it's cutsiepie amazon demon women, quippy tumblr dialog and bear fucking.

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

For JRPGs to work, I have to deliberately make a dumb, sub optimal choice. And not in a fun challenge sense like playing Gran Turismo with stock cars or Resident Evil without first aid spray.

I think it's down to a case-by-case basis. There's a lot of JRPGs like that, such as Pokemon (excluding multiplayer), but some of them require you to strategize more on the fly (albeit usually only on the first encounter, often once you learn the trick behind enemies' tactics it can devolve into just making the optimal choice each time thereafter, like in Earthbound).

 

[Drag-on Knight 91873]

I like games with janky graphics and goofy looking characters. I don't like realistic ultra HD graphics that set your computer on fire. Get that Unreal Engine shit outta here.

It's the lack of optimization that I don't like in modern AAA. 20 to 50 gig games is huge, especially when compared to the 360/PS3 era when games were like 4 or 5 gigs. Games back then fit the definition of "good enough."

All for what really? Open world? Less loading screens? Like fighting game autists, PC autists have removed the need for optimization by having 4 figure rigs and 8K monitors, so now AAA games have to build games around having the highest graphical fidelity to sort out those console peasants. And graphical fidelity only matters when making true-to-life art; it does dick all for anime art or cel-shaded art or anything that has some kind of style.

 

[Matt Damon]

I'm convinced the "Return to Castlevania" expansion for Dead Cells is just doubling-down on an elaborate troll game and further rubbing it in the face of anyone who likes Metroidvania games.

"Hey, check out our cool modern take on a Metroidvania game, guys. Yeah, it's got great pixel art, smooth animation, solid controls, a big map to explore, everything! Our new expansion even has an official crossover with the Castlevania series now. Oh, just one little, teensy little catch: IT'S A ROGUE-LIKE, MOTHERFUCKER!!! ENJOY NEVER MAKING ANY MEANINGFUL PROGRESS! BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

 

[Comfyman]

I liked Fallout 4. It was a fun looter shooter kind of game and I liked Cait as a companion.

 

[Dojima's Dragon]

I'm convinced the "Return to Castlevania" expansion for Dead Cells is just doubling-down on an elaborate troll game and further rubbing it in the face of anyone who likes Metroidvania games.

"Hey, check out our cool modern take on a Metroidvania game, guys. Yeah, it's got great pixel art, smooth animation, solid controls, a big map to explore, everything! Our new expansion even has an official crossover with the Castlevania series now. Oh, just one little, teensy little catch: IT'S A ROGUE-LIKE, MOTHERFUCKER!!! ENJOY NEVER MAKING ANY MEANINGFUL PROGRESS! BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Its such a shame since dead cells looks good