Games you liked but everyone else despised

[Trash]

Betrayal in Antara is pretty much the only game that was universally disliked which I really enjoyed. Sure, it's a buggy and rushed version of Betrayal at Krondor while lacking the story, universe and rich gameworld of that one but it still has the same basic gameplay. Which rocked. So yeah, fuck the haters.

Otherwise I played a zillion games that either sold poorly or are bashed by the trying-too-hard crowd here. But to call those despised is silly.

 

[sea]

My secret shame is that I've had tons of fun playing Gears of War 1 and 2 on my fagbox. I'm probably getting the third on release as well.

Can't comment on Gears of War 2, but the first one was actually pretty fun for me - as the first true popamole cover shooter I played, it was a pretty novel style of gameplay, well-paced and surprisingly challenging at times. There's also a certain minimalism about the way the story is presented, and the idle banter between the squad, etc. is all fairly well done. It represents a lot of the worst in gaming today, but it's actually really not a terrible game in itself.

 

[mangsy]

VtM:Redemption

And now the morons call it a Diablo-clone

Tell me more. Been considering giving it a play for a while now, mainly because I'm a sucker for the setting.

Seconded

Fellow sucker for the setting. I thought Redemption was passable. It's quite different from Bloodlines: the first half the game is set in medieval Europe (you start in Prague). Also, you can't select which clan you belong to (per the story, you're automatically turned into a Brujah shortly after the game begins). The second half the game is set in modern times.

Redemption doesn't even come close to pulling off the amazing atmosphere/presentation of Bloodlines. At heart, it's a third person, real-time action RPG with a clunky interface, mediocre plot (a plodding romantic tale), and unmemorable characters. That said, for whatever reason, grinding through the different areas wasn't bad, IMO. The combat wasn't especially challenging, but I managed to enjoy it. TBH, it's probably a shit game, I just forced myself to like it because it is set in the WoD.

Games I like that the Codex (mostly) reviles:

Dreamfall - Yeah, it's a dumbed down adventure, but the cinematic experience was great. I like the story and the characters. Really immersive and captivating, IMO.
Indigo Prophecy - Same as Dreamfall, except absurd. Thankfully, the cheese was hilarious.
Mass Effect - I'm a sucker for sci-fi, even the campy variety. I actually think the Reapers were a kind of cool concept, even if they were derivative and Bioware didn't take them in a great direction.
KoTOR - I want to be a Jedi.
Deus Ex II - Wait, why do you guys hate this game? RPG elements were stripped down, but it's still good (granted, not nearly as good as the original).

Games I like that were panned by critics:

VtM: Bloodlines - Okay, not panned, but criminally unappreciated.
Arcanum - Same as VtM: B.
Silent Hill 2 - Same as VtM: B and Arcanum.
HOMM 4 - For some of the same reasons people have already mentioned ITT.
MM8 - Not as good as the rest of the series, but essentially delivered on the formula of the previous two games.
The Dig - Great music, atmosphere, etc. Puzzles were decent. I liked the story and characters too.
Dead Money - Great writing and characters. Loved the atmosphere. I can't understand why critics don't appreciate this DLC.

 

[ChristofferC]

VtM:Redemption

And now the morons call it a Diablo-clone

Tell me more. Been considering giving it a play for a while now, mainly because I'm a sucker for the setting.

Seconded

Fellow sucker for the setting. I thought Redemption was passable. It's quite different from Bloodlines: the first half the game is set in medieval Europe (you start in Prague). Also, you can't select which clan you belong to (per the story, you're automatically turned into a Brujah shortly after the game begins). The second half the game is set in modern times.

Redemption doesn't even come close to pulling off the amazing atmosphere/presentation of Bloodlines. At heart, it's a third person, real-time action RPG with a clunky interface, mediocre plot (a plodding romantic tale), and unmemorable characters. That said, for whatever reason, grinding through the different areas wasn't bad, IMO. The combat wasn't especially challenging, but I managed to enjoy it. TBH, it's probably a shit game, I just forced myself to like it because it is set in the WoD.

Games I like that the Codex (mostly) reviles:

Dreamfall - Yeah, it's a dumbed down adventure, but the cinematic experience was great. I like the story and the characters. Really immersive and captivating, IMO.
Indigo Prophecy - Same as Dreamfall, except absurd. Thankfully, the cheese was hilarious.
Mass Effect - I'm a sucker for sci-fi, even the campy variety. I actually think the Reapers were a kind of cool concept, even if they were derivative and Bioware didn't take them in a great direction.
KoTOR - I want to be a Jedi.
Deus Ex II - Wait, why do you guys hate this game? RPG elements were stripped down, but it's still good (granted, not nearly as good as the original).

Games I like that were panned by critics:

VtM: Bloodlines - Okay, not panned, but criminally unappreciated.
Arcanum - Same as VtM: B.
Silent Hill 2 - Same as VtM: B and Arcanum.
HOMM 4 - For some of the same reasons people have already mentioned ITT.
MM8 - Not as good as the rest of the series, but essentially delivered on the formula of the previous two games.
The Dig - Great music, atmosphere, etc. Puzzles were decent. I liked the story and characters too.
Dead Money - Great writing and characters. Loved the atmosphere. I can't understand why critics don't appreciate this DLC.

PC version got bad reviews for the bad controls but not the console versions.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Off the top of my head...

Alpha Protocol: I played it on a console so some of the controller complaints and glitchiness experienced by PC users didn't apply. Either way, I thought it was a great hybrid RPG with some interesting reactivity to your decisions. It kills me that this wasn't more appreciated by SEGA and gamers in general.

SoZ: Overland map, full party creation, decently controlled campaign with a story that cast you as adventurers in the right place at the right time instead of chosen ones. Good stuff.

Drakensang: I liked it, it had a nice old school feeling to it. Everything took place in rounds - even looting and picking plants had a round timer. The chargen was detailed and party banter was interesting without any of the Bioware sex me up time crap.


Games that were hated around here:

Oblivion: I liked loading it up with mods and running around the forests and ruins, etc. The game did start to feel a little bit empty, but I put in a LOT of hours into it, even when not considering time spent finding mods and getting everything to play nice together.

GTA IV: I liked the contemporary city and the American Dream turned on its head storyline. GTA games and their ilk are all basically the same, so its always about whether the setting appeals to me or not.

Mass Effect: Shooting still had some input based on your characters' stats, so it actually was a hybrid RPG (unlike ME2 where your stats are basically your inventory -- so retarded). At the time, I also liked the feeling of exploring a new galaxy which was helped by sections like driving the Mako.

KotOR: It's Star Wars! (And not the bizarro epic level Star Wars of KotOR2.)

 

[mangsy]

@ChristofferC: You're right. For some reason I remembered it getting worse reviews. My point still stands to some degree though: I thought it was far and away the best of the SH games, yet I notice it is rated about the same as SH1 and SH3.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Two Worlds, the first one. I'm not sure if the second one pleased gamers more, but I certainly didn't like it as much as the first one.
Lots of people hated NIER too, but I thought it came very close to being a master piece. Well, ok, maybe not a master piece, but still damn good.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

This thread has taken a bad turn. It's gone from kind of quirky, borderline game to people admitting to Oblivion, FO3, and Alpha Turdical. We should retardo this before it gets any worse.

 

[Erebus]

I was going to mention Betrayal in Antara, too. Putting aside the very annoying late-game bugs, it's a fairly entertaining game and deserves to be better-known. It doesn't really improve the BaK mechanics, but it doesn't make them worse either. Also, the setting is rather interesting and the minor encounters are often entertaining.

 

[Jaesun]

Storm of Zehir

Oh yeah, this one too.

I liked it as well. My party of 4 Bards owned ALL. Was awesome.

 

[MapMan]

From the more recent games:

Crysis - Because simply shooting stuff was fun and thats the main point of any FPS. Was it alien or korean soldier, it was fun to kill it. Also the maps were somewhat open and you could try different approaches and sometimes even skip some stuff. The nanosuit was good as well, allowed for different play styles.

Dead Space 2 - Big improvement over the first one. Good action shooter with horror elements and a story that a sci-fi fan can like. It was a joyous ride from start to finish. The game somehow reminded me of the movie Event Horizon. And thats a good thing.

World of Warcraft (vanilla and first expansion) - Say what you want but this game was fun for a while before all the derp started. Good times.

I cant think of anything else at the moment...

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

My secret shame is that I've had tons of fun playing Gears of War 1 and 2 on my fagbox. I'm probably getting the third on release as well.

Gears of War 2 is actually pretty damn good. It's popamole with enemies and encounters designed to make taking cover be something other than an "I Win" button. Gears 1 was kind of guilty of this, and did feel like popping moles, though, yeah, it was still kinda fun. If you want more popamole done decent, you might want to check out Vanquish. Fun game.

As for games I enjoyed that are despised? Well, the only one I can really think of is Castevania 64. People loathe that game, but I honestly didn't mind it. It's a old Castlevania game...in 3d. People go apeshit over "UGH THE JUMPS", but honestly, dealing with an unruly camera is better than dealing with the "fun" that is medusa heads or bats that fly over platforming areas and get you killed. Sad that it was so unsuccessful and universally hated. It pretty much doomed Castevania to be nothing but Metroid with vampires, complete with godawful visual style.

I guess if mainstream rejection plus a scant cult following counts, then Shinobi (PS2) would be on the list as well. People raged about the life-sucking sword and how chain kills could be hard to do. It also isn't the typical "modern" action game, going heavy on platforming and light on the character's moveset, making it a very different beast than the action games that draw from Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden; ones that define the genre today. At the least, it's an interesting game with a lot of unique design features, namely the soul-sucking sword that pushes you forward and gives massive damage multipliers as you rack up consecutive kills. This is what makes for what I think is the most unique facet; the fact that every boss can be killed in one sword slash, if played correctly. In fact, doing so is critical in the scoring system of the game, where the most amount of points are awarded for killing bosses in the least amount of sword slashes.

 

[Excidium]

Storm of Zehir

Oh yeah, this one too.

I liked it as well. My party of 4 Bards owned ALL. Was awesome.

Four bards? Was it a band or something?

 

[felipepepe]

Shinobi (PS2)

This game was AMAZING! I fucking love it! Hard as hell but really exciting, challenging but not frustrating as Ninja Gaiden. I remeber raging countless times for one of the end levels, that had no floor, so you had to run through walls and slay demons without falling and as fast as you could, while a giant tsunami approached! Those were good days....

 

[ArcturusXIV]

Gonna throw out Azrael's Tear, an obscuro.

Also, I'm curious about Menzoberranzan.

And I like Oblivion too, fuck you...

 

[deus101]

Far cry 2

 

[Sceptic]

Also, I'm curious about Menzoberranzan.

It really is not a good game... by the standards of the mid-90's. So we're comparing it to Dark Sun, Ravenloft (especially Stone Prophet), EOB2, UW, U7/SI, Wiz7, WOX and so on. My biggest gripe with it is that it's a boring dungeon crawler for about 3/4th of the game, then you get to the titular city, and instead of the marvelous web of intrigue that you're told to expect, you get a rigid and completely linear sequence of fetch quests culminating in a Kill Foozle ending. Most criminal underuse of source material in a CRPG of that time.

Oh and it has the obligatory Drizzt cameo too. He joins you party even!!!! then he promptly gets kidnapped like the loser he is. Which is not such a bad thing, as it means you don't have to put up with him afterwards.

Maybe I'm too harsh on the game. I may have to replay it and revise my opinion. Mmm, I wonder if it has a Roland mode...

Four bards? Was it a band or something?

I see awesome potential for a Beatles Yellow Submarine style extravagant LP...

 

[Reptilian Shapeshifter]

Also, I'm curious about Menzoberranzan.

Played it, though I can't remember if I actually finished it. I remember it being frustrating more than anything else, getting stuck in certain areas without any idea of how to progress.

 

[anus_pounder]

Alpha Popamole. Its a mix of genuine like and 'I bought it, so I should like it' . The latter feeling is especially strong in any game that I purchase. I would much rather pirate them, but the unfortunate truth is that internets can crap out and some decent games are console exclusives (Valkyrie Chronicles for example).

The Dynasty Warriors series. I don't crazy love it enough to unlock costumes and final weapons of everyone, but I certainly paid (against my better judgement, I should've known PS2 emulators would exist eventually) and enjoyed most of them. With the exception of DW4, which I found somewhat bland. I'm hoping the next game brings more middle aged and aging men instead of the homogays in DW7's Jin. (Guo Huai and Deng Ai are pretty cool though)

 

[Grunker]

Ah yes, Dreamfall. I love this "game," but certainly not because of its value as a game. They should have sold this one as a slightly interactive story instead.

 

[felipepepe]

The Dynasty Warriors series. I don't crazy love it enough to unlock costumes and final weapons of everyone, but I certainly paid (against my better judgement, I should've known PS2 emulators would exist eventually) and enjoyed most of them. With the exception of DW4, which I found somewhat bland. I'm hoping the next game brings more middle aged and aging men instead of the homogays in DW7's Jin. (Guo Huai and Deng Ai are pretty cool though)

DW 4 was nice for me, but DW 6 was fucked up with that Renbu System... DW 7 really had lot's of stupid gay kids, both in Jin and Shu, but I applaud the creation of Jin, the new Story Mode and the bazzilion weapons & characters. Clearly this one recieved a great deal of effort from the developers, one of the best in the series. And DW is still one of the greatest Co-op game series ever made.

PS: I unlocked all costumes and final weapons....in all games (incluiding the Samurai's, except the Legends/Empires ones).

 

[drunkpriest]

I always liked this, especially compared to Baldur's Gate.

 

[bgillisp]

Hmmm...I'd have to say three games in particular stand out to me.

Homm4: Sure, it had its problems, but I loved the idea of having to choose what direction to build our city (do I take this or this for my tier 2 creature), as well as the ability to have monsters move around freely without a hero was nice. The main problem was a lot of the concepts were broken or badly implemented. Still, did not stop me from having fun with it for a while.

Magic and Mayhem: This game got panned for poor AI of your followers, but I honestly had little problem with it. Sure sometimes my followers died and I lost the mission, but most ttimes they managed to get away and heal themselves, and if they did not, maybe I should have helped them. Only complant I had was some imbalanced spells (judgement spell is way too powerful in this game, always take it, as it can kill an entire stack and regenrate all your mana too!), but that only shows up in the last mission or two anyways.

FF8: Liked the story with this one, even though the level scaling of monsters in this game almost forced a restart when I was on disk 4 my first time in the game, as I was suddenly way underpowered compared to the monsters and bosses, and had little way to fix it at that point of the game. Only game I ever played where it is actually better to not level up! (and for the record I have not played Oblivion, though I hear it is similar in that regard).

 

[DaveO]

Silverfall. There can't be more than a handful that played the game and the expansion to completion. I don't know if it's good or bad that I actually came up with a walkthru for the Earth Awakening expansion.

I'm tempted to include Descent to Undermountain, but apparently it's no longer considered so bad any more.

 

[Erebus]

I refuse to believe anyone actually liked Pool of Radiance 2.


HoMM 4 had some good ideas and the music was very nice. It's not so much the balance issues that annoyed me as the fact that moving your non-flying units in combat was a huge pain in the ass.