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Gamin Shiters 2018

Started by The Boston Crab, November 15, 2018, 10:12:59 PM

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This has been a stellar year for games in my house and I've enjoyed the chat over the year and I'll look forward to the usual round ups . It's also been a year of some relative disappointments and purely because everyone loves a good moan, I'd like to invite you to share your stinkers and letdowns of the year (so far!).


Mario Tennis Aces

In a year of few Nintendo first party titles, after a legendary 2017, this was a very frustrating effort. While I appreciate that I might not have put the time in to truly understand the mechanics inside out, after a good ten hours or so, I'm still in the same place I ever really was with it. Dipping back in this evening after a good month away prompted me to start this thread. It feels good, it really does  but there are so many many fiddly disruptive mechanics which break the flow of rallies. I'm never-ending excited by the slowdown and motion control shot direction. I'm never anything but weary of it all. It also feels terribly balanced, even now. I understand that many of my criticisms come down to not being very good at the game but I really don't feel it encourages a variety of playstyles at all. There's one way to play and there are certain characters which are better at that style. It's far below the likes of ARMS and XC2 which were a good couple of tiers below Zelda and Mario last year. A real disappointment, not least because I feel there's a hell of a lot of potential here.


Anyone for any more? I have plenty to add.

Thursday



Thursday

Well I'm kind of trolling a bit, but at the same time, while I knew it was going to be a fairly lean year, but I expected a few more little things along the way to grab me.

Celeste was quite good, not the fucking knockout it was for some people.
Yoku's Island I just didn't really get into at all (embarrassingly... I got stuck somewhere early on, but even the core mechanics weren't really grabbing me, even though the idea did appeal)

It's been an odd year for me and games anyway though so I dunno.

Absolutely. Had I not got massively into shmups this year and adored Ikaruga and Psyvariar among many many others, ehhhh, there ain't too much there. Must sleep but will defo add more tomorrow.

madhair60

Spider-Man, ultimately. Shallow as absolute fuck.

Kelvin

Switch has definitely failed to wow this year. Bunch of good new indie games and ports of great old games, but nothing to get crazily excited about, except for Smash, which arrives at the very end of the year.

Not really played any stinkers, though, unless we count some of the trash on the NES online service. Hated tail end of Celeste, due to the shit direction the story took, but that's about it.

biggytitbo

Dark Souls. Boring and too easy.

madhair60

Quote from: Kelvin on November 16, 2018, 01:47:30 PM
Hated tail end of Celeste, due to the shit direction the story took, but that's about it.

God, yes. I dunno if I've talked about this before, but that game's story is shite. Insultingly fucking broad strokes and everyone praises it because it's BRAVE.

I have to be honest I'm SICK TO FUCKIN DEATH of games about depression and anxiety and shit.

Every cunt online going on about their fuckin depression and all that bollocks all the time. Yeah, we get it, honestly we REALLY fuckin do because EVERYONE is depressed for very good reasons. The whole race fucked up for hundreds of years and we're all exponentially fucked and our parents are mad and all that yeah yeah I know. Just shut the fuck about it for two minutes you boring bastards.

Maybe play some Street Fighter 2 instead of a fuckin visual novel about getting AIDS twice.

Bhazor

Pillars of Eternity 2. Backed Pillars of Eternity 1 on kickstarter and was very disappointed. Not bad exactly but incredibly bland with none of the philosophical depth or gameplay ambition I'd hoped to see from a Chris Avellone RPG. Unbalanced combat, terrible pacing, rubbish insipid writing. Turned out of course that Avellone had only wrote a couple characters (the only two memorable characters natch) and a bit of lore. This despite the Kickstarter being marketed with Avellone as the project lead. Anyway, 2017 came and I played their next game Tyranny. A great rpg, improved on POE1 in every way. Especially writing which took a much more poetic and philosophical turn being an elaborate parable about methods of power and oppression and the morality of leadership. Filled with side paths and branching stories.  So I went into POE2 with elevated hopes that maybe they'd got their groove back. Turned out to be gash.

Gash.

I think this is the year I stop bumming Obsidian. Especially when Avellone started talking about the behind the scenes shit they've been upto. https://techraptor.net/content/chris-avellone-talks-departure-obsidian-entertainment

Between the rise of euro developers like CD Projeckt Red, Owlcat and Larian Software along with the resurgance of Japanese developers Obsidian can't play their "We're the only true RPG developers in town" card.

madhair60

Quote from: The Boston Crab on November 16, 2018, 02:48:37 PMMaybe play some Street Fighter 2 instead of a fuckin visual novel about getting AIDS twice.

Getting AIDS twice actually gives your AIDS AIDS, which cures you. Don't tell anyone.

bgmnts

The Fall 2 was slightly disappointing, if i'm honest.

Kelvin

Quote from: madhair60 on November 16, 2018, 02:18:01 PM
God, yes. I dunno if I've talked about this before, but that game's story is shite. Insultingly fucking broad strokes and everyone praises it because it's BRAVE.

I talked about it in the dedicated thread, but I actually found the story quite offensive due to the glib way it tries to sell the idea that your insecurities and mental health problems can actually make you stronger and better. Surely the point should have been that kindness, support, patience and persistence can help you to succeed in spite of your mental health. I honestly don't think the game knows quite what it's trying to say with Evil Madeline. 

Thursday

Also it looks like anime even though it's made by Canadians. disgusting.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Quote from: madhair60 on November 16, 2018, 03:33:26 PM
Getting AIDS twice actually gives your AIDS AIDS, which cures you. Don't tell anyone.

I laughed but I am in a weakened state so this is probably just shit

Hollow Knight

I really really really really really tried with this but I have to conclude that I don't actually like 2D platformers. I've failed to make much progress with Rayman Legends, Shovel Knight, Shantae, Cave Story, Slime-san, Super Meat Boy and god knows what else because I find them pretty boring, really. I don't mind a ten second snippet in Mario Odyssey but I doubt I'll ever buy another. I also found the combat in this really frustrating. It takes ages waiting for openings, you have so few tools available, you're mostly backing off and then dashing in. I'm sure people feel that way about stuff I like but I just didn't find this mechanically fun or anything more than pretty boring and frustrating. I also imagine that it opens up and this and that but I've not heard any good reason to persist for another couple of hours until blah blah blah or been told that I'm doing it wrong, etc. I just think it's not for me and therefore gamin shiter.

Kirby Star Allies

It's literally a children's game  It's fine, it looks and sounds pleasant but no more so than you would expect at bare minimum from Nintendo. There are some mildly creative synergies between your little crew and some very mildly pleasing puzzles but it's very very simplistic for anyone over the age of about 7. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that or with an easy comforting game if you suffer from PTSD or an emotional developmental disorder or you're a bit hungover but I've finally just uninstalled it. I look at the lovely icon most days and think I should at least finish it. I paid full whack, you know, I really should at least finish it, I say to myself. Never again. Bad debt, write it off. Shitcanned. It's not Kirby, it's just not for me.

Kelvin

Really liked Hollow Knight. Despite not feeling this way at the time, I now think it might be my game of the year. It's certainly the game which left the biggest positive impression on me long after I had finished playing.

I actually found the combat harder and more satisfying than Dark Souls once I had unlocked extra moves, and more powerful blades, etc. Beat all three difficulty tiers of the colisseum, and it was great fun. Usually those kinds of enemy gauntlets are tedious and repetitive.

Edit: I think Dark Souls is probably better overall, but I prefer the melancholy atmosphere of Hollow Knight.


Thursday

Wait why are you posting those in this thread then?

Kelvin

Quote from: Thursday on November 17, 2018, 11:21:42 AM
Wait why are you posting those in this thread then?

Because Bosto was moaning about it, and I was trying to put off getting out of bed.

Thursday

As sorry missed Bosto's post for some reason

Penfold

Are we calling him Bosto now then?

Thursday

Now you question it, I'm not sure where it started, because in my mind he's always been called that.

Maybe he hates it, and has been too polite to complain.

Timothy

God of War
Very disappointing. It was a good game, but I expected a lot more.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Only good thing about this game were the tombs. The story was bad, the game is very buggy and short and just not fun.

Far Cry 5
The ending completely ruined the entire experience for me.

The Nintendo Switch
Almost no good games this year. A lot of the indie stuff is old. The biggest games right now (Diablo, Dark Souls) are old and much more expensive then on PS4. The Nintendo games of this year (Mario Tennis, Kirby etc) were mediocre. After a very strong start this was a really weak year. Which brings us to

Nintendo Online
Even if it's just 20 pounds, it's just massively overpriced. You pay for bad servers and old NES games. Cloud saves, but not for every game.
And top of it all it also killed a lot of the online community for games as Mario Tennis and Splatoon. Bad Nintendo. Very very bad Nintendo.

Octopath Traveler
Hey, you know what we should do? Call our game Octopath, give it eight separate characters, but don't give the story or them any reason to travel together, and call it a day!
Awful.

Fist of the North Star
When Yakuza meets boring.

PS VR
The only good games for PSVR this year were Astro and Tetris. Sony should just admit defeat and destroy every single one in store. Don't sell this crap to people.

Penfold

Quote from: Thursday on November 17, 2018, 12:51:36 PM
Maybe he hates it, and has been too polite to complain.

You must be thinking of someone else.

Quote from: Timothy on November 17, 2018, 12:53:13 PM
.Fist of the North Star
When Yakuza meets boring.

Fuck off.

I already know that's the limit of my critical capabilities which is why I mostly lurk but it's the best Fist of the North Star game.

I think that's a compliment?

Timothy

If thats the best fist of the northstar game I dont even want to think about playing the others.

The story is dull, the fighting system is the same as Yakuzas (great) but with stupid mini button mash minigames (dull) and the same tired gorey animations all over again and the racing wasnt fun either. In Yakuza you know youre basically doing the same all over again (fighting and fetch quests) but at least those games have a fascinating story and funny substories.

The story in FOTNS was imo so boring that it made the gameplay elements a drag.

The reviews and comments about the game are very conflicting. Its a love it or hate it game. Im in the latter camp. Completely agree with the Edge review.

Penfold

Yeah, that's fair.

It helps to like Fist of the North Star to begin with so the button mash fighting parts make you feel more like Kenshiro as well as being different from being just a Yakuza game.

I didn't give a shit about Yuria but enjoyed being a disco doctor.

Timbo, I agree with everything you said, except that the VR finally seems to be picking up a bit. For me, I've bought it for the one-off true belters (of which there are very few) and I can store it behind the TV out of sight. The V2 is also a lot less fiddly and cabley than the launch PSVR I promptly returned. Pro also makes a noticeable difference to IQ, it's definitely sharper which surprises me if I'm honest. From what Sony have said (and obviously they're going to say this) Astro Bot is effectively the start of their 'true' PSVR development. Might be bollocks but I'd say there are between six and ten games well worth owning which are unlike anything else. Add a few more next year of similar quality and that'll do me.

Penfold

Are we calling him Timbo now?