I think it’s worth having a decent selection of viable characters, but I also think there’s a lot of value in having some really bad characters too. Nothing in modern fighting games gives the feeling of beating MSP with like Sakura Chun-li and Sonson.
5 Likes
Modern fighting game players don’t know what it’s like to have a gentleman’s agreement not to play the good characters.
14 Likes
I like setting up emulators/modded handhelds etc more than I like playing games
16 Likes
Some interesting and fun opinions so far!
Some I agree with, some I disagree with.
My lukewarm takes:
- Halo is a bad series with terrible level design, I can’t extract any fun out of them whatsoever
- the most fun Final Fantasy game is Stranger of Paradise
- Secret of Mana is much much worse than you remember
- they will never make a new Phantasy Star Online that’s as good as the original
- if you ever buy a game with the intention of reselling it at a higher price later you are not invited to my birthday party
10 Likes
I do not like Symphony of the Night or the metroidvania/search-action genre in general. When I unlock a double jump and I start going through my mental catalog of high places I’ve seen that I can now reach, I feel manipulated, like I’m eating right out of the designer’s hand. It makes me feel so bored and dumb that it reminds me I could die at any time and I gotta go for a walk or read a book asap
Rhythm games have the same effect but the notes come so fast that I literally can’t think about it or I lose lol
20 Likes
Hard agree on Platinum. Maybe except Metal Gear Rising, that’s kinda alright (but not amazing).
8 Likes
What type of games don’t make you feel this way, for comparison?
disclaimer: this user has recommended environmental station alpha to me before
5 Likes
While I do love Symphony of the Night, I largely feel similar otherwise. It feels like the metroidvania trick only really worked once in my life, and there’s just never enough new in them to make it feel worth doing again
5 Likes
I’m not big on FPS games after Half-Life anyway, but man Halo is so tepid and flavorless. Kinda like if Blizzard had made an FPS series.
I guess maybe that could be my big contrarian opinion: The last interesting game Blizzard ever made was Warcraft (not “World of”), ever since they’ve been on a quest to become the creators of the blandest, most overproduced slop in the world, and each time something remotely appealing reared its head, it was crushed by their blandness filters (Warcraft Adventures, StarCraft: Ghost)
I gotta say Secret of Mana is exactly as bad as I remember it, though, and I still love it.
6 Likes
in any given moment secret of mana is more likely to be fun than link to the past
(this is a grade school argument i have never let go of i know they aren’t even trying to be the same thing)
9 Likes
Every Unreal Tournament game is dramatically worse than every Quake. All of the “cool” mechanics (altfire, dashing, whatever) are flashy bandaids on a horrible feeling core, both of which cheapen the experience that Quake had already perfected on release day. Games like Warsow, Nexuiz/Xonotic (which I personally don’t care for) or “even” Quake Champions do all these things infinitely better because they approached them with actual care. If you give me a choice between playing UT2k4 or Halo 3 on game night I will plug in a controller without hesitation [NOTE: I really, really do like Halo 3 multiplayer]. The bots are dope though I’ll give you that
Half-Life 2 is an extremely bland game, on the level of post-2005 Nintendo’s worst, for mostly the same reasons (too much playtesting, overreliance on “wow, isn’t it neat that we can do that?,” abject terror at the idea the player might get lost or frustrated). Viktor Antonov’s art direction is the only reason I was able to finish my last playthrough.
Only-contrarian-among-contrarians wildcard: Oblivion and Fallout 3 are good.
4 Likes
The only opinion so far that’s made me a little agitated! I think Secret of Mana is awesome. Not bad at all.
4 Likes
Actually, come to think of if, the Secret of Mana of my childhood memories was WORSE. Dunno if I had a faulty cartridge, but the game was glitchy as all hell for me.
Eventually I lent it to a classmate who had it stolen from him, so he got me a replacement, and ever since then it was more or less fine? (At least in comparison to my experience with my old copy.)
I don’t think there were multiple revisions in my country, at least going by the common ROM sets.
4 Likes
And Ridge Racer, and Daytona, and Sega Rally.
5 Likes
did you have this pre-typed? No judgement I have a text document with pre-written video game argument responses myself
7 Likes
its a fairly messy little game sooo
Love how three of the four games mentioned between you two are SEGA. Many discussions can be had regarding the best developers of RPGs, STG, fighting games, but the best at developing racing games is uncontested…
3 Likes
I like the Switch Pro controller!! Xbox stick layout with digital triggers+big chunky bumpers fills a nice niche when playing on PC.
4 Likes
Yup, Namco is the best 
4 Likes
Console gaming is superior to both PC and handheld.
9 Likes