I’m talking about games that you still like but you had no idea were criticized so much.
The perfect example for me is Sonic Unleashed.
I admit that the game has its bad things, but I would have never imagined that it was so hated at the time… Although, that could be extended to the entire Sonic franchise, since for many years I was not aware at all of that “Sonic was never good”, “Sonic had a rough transition to 3D” nonsense.
Shadow the Hedgehog
Megaman X7
Looking back, I know why. I was just so happy to play as Shadow/3D Zero, I really didn’t care about the many faults these games have.
Unironically ET on the Atari 2600
Had a lot of fun as a kid, sure it wasn’t Pitfall or F1 Racing but it was one of the few adventures on the 2600 and it wasn’t terrible
The first Deus Ex game I played was Deus Ex: Invisible War on the original Xbox, which I loved. It’s the first foray into cyberpunk for me and sparked a love of it I’ve had since. It was not well received, and considered a dumbed down version of the original game.
Still love it. The Arcology in Cairo was my favorite part.
RuneScape 😅
Battlefield 1, I liked its slower-paced combat and need for teamwork for things like ships and the heavy bomber (original, not the super heavy).
It was different than almost all contemporary shooters, and I really found that refreshing. It also had a strong art design and really looked the part for WW1, even if some of the weapons were prototypes or team weapons (which should have been cut, imo) or vehicles were tweaked for gameplay (understandable, the German tanks were extremely tippy, and the French tanks were slower IRL)
Dark Souls 2 was the first and only Soulslike game I played… Was a great experience and a good time killer during my summer break (when I still had one). Only later did I learn how poorly ppl thought of the game
they only hate on it because it wasn’t the exact same. DS2 is a great game but really should have been a stand alone title
Mass Effect Andromeda. I plaid it well after launch after the initial “problems” were fixed, and I think it’s a good game. I just wish we’d get a sequel.
Fallout 4. game was pretty decent but the pacing was weird. by pacing I mean the game seemed like it was set out in a way that you wouldn’t complete the game until you were many levels up from what I was, so many upgrades that took a lot of caps left unlockable, and by the time I felt I was really starting to get somewhere, the game ended with the Institute ending
Fallout 4 is a great game.
None. I couldn’t care less about people hating the games I enjoy.
Mass Effect: Andromeda - I knew 1 & 2 were held in high regard, but I hadn’t played them. Actually, I’d played about 10 minutes of one of them a couple years before and it just wasn’t what I was in the mood for at that time. So, I went into Andromeda without any expectations really and thought it was a perfectly fine game.
Just finishing about a new playthrough of Andromeda and I think it’s larger problem is that the good content doesn’t open up until a third of the way through the game. For the first third, you have very little to do except follow the Kett and the Angara storyline, and those are the absolute worst parts of the game.
It doesn’t actually get good until it opens up and you’re dealing with Outlaws, Collective, internal politics of the Nexus, the Krogan rebellion, etc… and your (admittedly pretty lame) companion quests. But at least it’s something more than just two new species that aren’t nearly as fleshed out or complete as what already existed.
By the time the game opens up and you can do more than just the main quest, you’re already friggin bored.
Digimon World 4.
Granted, I was a child when I played it, but it was fun.
Years later I found a few YouTubers shitting on it due to bugs, recycled assets, lack of digivolutions, shitty camera angles, spammy gameplay, etc etc.
I agree with all of these criticisms and in hindsight yea that game was really lazy. However, I still had a good time.
Watch Dogs 1. It was quite fun for me, but quite a lot of people expected it to create a spark like GTA 5 back in the day, so when it didn’t; they all criticized it to hell.
Same and for me watch dogs 2 wasn’t as fun anymore.
Same. I think “No Man’s Sky” syndrome turned people off, but I thought it was really innovative, and I liked the PC being broody and driven, but not dramatic.
The original iteration of no mans sky. Absolutely lied a shit ton about what was in the game but I really enjoyed my initial time with it.
There was something about the infinite emptiness that struck an emotional chord with me. That’s gone now, for the better overall, but I’m glad I experienced it.
Sonic Adventure 2
Breath of the Wild. It is such a good game and I really love it and I only have ever heard possitive things about… but than I met a bunch of old school Zelda fans and they don’t like the game that much. They say it’s a great game but not a Zelda game. Maybe they just wanted to be contrarian but I can also understand where they are comming from.
I ended up replaying Wind Waker and I still haven’t finished Breath of the Wild.
I think BotW is a spectacular game for kids who don’t have access to just about any game they want.
As a long time Zelda fan I never understood any of the hate for BOTW from other long time fans. That being said I haven’t been able to play it since TOTK came out because TOTK is what BOTW was missing for me.
From seeing discussions among those Zelda fans (which to be clear I am not one), the issue is that the mainline games are now a completely different genre, but treated as though it’s the natural progression of the series.
The classic zelda games are primarily puzzle games, with a little bit of combat and intricate hand-crafted exploration to spice it up a bit. The modern zelda games (BOTW & TOTK) are exploration games with puzzles to spice it up. If you were a classic zelda fan, the niche genre you loved used to have regular releases by a major developer and now doesn’t.
Plus, there’s a “all my homies hate skrillex” effect here; the series is massively more popular now, but the newcomers have a different idea of what makes a zelda game a zelda game. By sheer numbers they dominate a community that is now reshaped by their presence. In other words the zelda fan community is itself a different genre.
For what it’s worth, I haven’t played that much of the series. Link to the Past I didn’t care much for, Links Awakening (new one) I honestly hated, and BOTW I liked but had a couple issues with. All I’ve written above is based on passively seeing a bunch of discussion.
Plus, there’s a “all my homies hate skrillex” effect here; the series is massively more popular now, but the newcomers have a different idea of what makes a zelda game a zelda game.
This is wht I don’t play Warframe anymore. I started back when crowd control was crucial, and played Nyx almost constantly. But after Mesa was added, the game slowly shifted to being more focussed on killing enemies as fast as possible. I finally quit the game from a combination of the mods going crazy and newer players berating me in chat for playing as Nyx despite me dealing most of the damage in the mission we were playing.
Tears is better than Breath in every way, it’s true. It’s also more Zelda-like, in that you gradually expand your ability to explore the world.
Funnily enough, I heard a lot of people saying that they specifically liked it because it was a “return to classic, retro Zelda.” The difference being that their idea of retro Zelda was the original rather than Link to the Past or Ocarina of Time.
