Games that are great...except for the game part.

[Dirty Hipsters]

There's a lot of games that have been recommended to me that I start playing, but then just can't stand because the actual gameplay of the game is terrible. This mostly happens with RPGs where tons of time is spent on the settings, the writing, and it's all very interesting, but then the moment I have to touch the controls I nope right out of there because the gameplay itself is a fucking slog.

Example: Kotor 1 and 2 - Interesting stories, but holy shit is the combat incredibly uninspired. Not a single one of the feats or abilities is in any way fun, nor do any of the abilities actually change the way you play the game. Sure, they change the animations and the damage numbers that pop up, but every encounter is just target thing, press attack button until thing dies. It's all just so binary and boring. The game might as well just play itself as a simulation based on your stats.

Game publishers were annoyed by lets plays because people would rather watch certain games be played than actually play them, but it makes perfect sense to me. If the gameplay of a game doesn't draw me in then what incentive do I have to actually play the game instead of watching the story online?

Are there any games should appeal to you, but don't because the gameplay part of them was poorly designed?

 

[Worgen]

I've gotta go with Spec Ops the Line. The story is really interesting and they did a fantastic job of making it work, but the game play is so bog standard it hurts.

 

[SilentPony]

The Amnesia games. The atmosphere is solid, tension spoopy, monsters unique and story gripping. But the gameplay is baby's first click and drag game.

 

[dreng3]

Basically every single d20 based video game, whether it be KotOR, Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate, or Pillars of eternity. Most games based on a tabletop system ends up sucking, a lot. The only exception is Divinity Original Sin (1 and 2), which managed to make turn based isometric games into something fun.

 

[BrawlMan]

Game publishers were annoyed by lets plays because people would rather watch certain games be played than actually play them, but it makes perfect sense to me. If the gameplay of a game doesn't draw me in then what incentive do I have to actually play the game instead of watching the story online?

That was definitely the case back in the late 2000s and partially the early 2010s. But by 2012/13 most publishers, on the Western side anyway, saw it as free marketing, publicity, or money. The Japanese, main Atlus & Bamco, still have their issues or just don't get it.

EDIT: Added two more games.

Gungrave Overdose - A good story with decent voice acting, but the gunplay only slightly better than the original. The problem with the sequel is that it drags on for too long with its levels, despite giving you three different characters to play as. And some really odd platforming added in a shooter with mostly long hallways or corridors. Hopefully, GG Gore won't have this, go back to the super arcade style of the first game.

Wolfenstein II: TNC - They barely improved the shooting, the stealth is longer, more tedious, and just not fun. The story and characters I do love. I love the fact it attacks racism head on, in a climate where Neo Nazi/KKK are on the rise in America. This game got political, just like its predecessor and kicked ass. Too bad the gameplay was not as fun, and less interesting.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories - It's a great re-imagining of the first game, but once you know the gameplay loop, nearly all tension is lost. The fact it strips out combat entirely and was the precursor for walking simulators does not help. SM still does it better those. Otherwise, the story, and the multiple scenarios, and multiple endings makes it one of the better post trilogy SH games.

Nier: Autoamata - The gameplay is not exactly bad, but compared to Platinum's other title it falls lower. 9S's combat being the worst because it is too simple. Playing on Very Hard is pointless because you get no checkpoints and are a one hit point wonder at Max 99 LVL.And there is a good amount of game design I just hate or felt was completely pointless. I love the story, the characters, and the multiple endings. Especially the final ending; it had me in tears.

 

[Dreiko]

Asura's Wrath is the quintessential example.

It's mainly an amazing interactive anime series with a ton of really epic QTEs but when it gets to the gameplay it's a really simplistic action game or space shooter. Thankfully all of those sections serve to lead you to more epic QTEs so they don't overstay their welcome.

 

[BrawlMan]

Asura's Wrath is the quintessential example.

It's mainly an amazing interactive anime series with a ton of really epic QTEs but when it gets to the gameplay it's a really simplistic action game or space shooter. Thankfully all of those sections serve to lead you to more epic QTEs so they don't overstay their welcome.

Asura's Wrath was hype as fuck! I really wish Capcom would just port the game to modern consoles and PC (with all of the DLC), so that way you don't have to worry about buying the DLC for the true ending (that is what really killed the game). I have not popped in a while, but if Capcom ever decided porting the game, I would buy it for $20 or less.

 

[Dreiko]

Asura's Wrath was hype as fuck! I really wish Capcom would just port the game to modern consoles and PC (with all of the DLC), so that way you don't have to worry about buying the DLC for the true ending (that is what really killed the game). I have not popped in a while, but if Capcom ever decided porting the game, I would buy it for $20 or less.

I loved the game so much that I was grateful to buy the dlc. It also was really good content too. Scummy practice, sure, but if you got content as good as that dlc for every extra 10 bucks I'd gladly pay for it every time.

Also it's not really Capcom's game, they're just the publisher, cyberconnect 2 made the game. (the .hack people, also they made a bunch of the naruto battle arena games, you can see the epic QTEs in those too during storymode)

 

[BrawlMan]

I loved the game so much that I was grateful to buy the dlc. It also was really good content too. Scummy practice, sure, but if you got content as good as that dlc for every extra 10 bucks I'd gladly pay for it every time.

I don't like games being held hostage like that. Especially if the story is balls to walls insane and great. I bought the game a year and a half after release used, and bought the DLC when it went briefly on sale. That's why the game failed in sales. You already playing a game with $60.00 with content cut out. When it is intergral to the story, you're in trouble. Just ask Ubisoft with Prince of Persia (2008). In that case. the ending that is DLC was much worse and made everything you did in that reboot pointless. Back on topic, that is why I want port, because sooner or later that DLC is going to disappear from XBLA or PSN. It most likely won't happen with the former considering the XONE & Series X are backwards compatible. It still happen and become vaporware.

Also it's not really Capcom's game, they're just the publisher, cyberconnect 2 made the game. (the .hack people, also they made a bunch of the naruto battle arena games, you can see the epic QTEs in those too during storymode)

I know that, but Capcom still holds the IP rights to the game. The same way Sega does with Bayonetta, even though Platinum made the title character.

 

[Worgen]

Wolfenstein II: TNC - They barely improved the shooting, the stealth is longer, more tedious, and just not fun. The story and characters I do love. I love the fact it attacks racism head on, in a climate where Neo Nazi/KKK are on the rise in America. This game got political, just like its predecessor and kicked ass. Too bad the gameplay was not as fun, and less interesting.

I found the most fun with Wolfenstein 2 when I just ignored stealth and cover all together and went more of a run and gun. It seems that enemies tend to aim where you were so it ends up being really effective even on hard.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Get ready to throw things at me:

Dark Souls.

A beautifully-desolate world, with ambiance and history oozing from every crack, fleshed-out characters and amazing architecture... but to see any of it you have to slog through combat that goes past punishing mistakes to punishing imperfection.

 

[Trunkage]

Get ready to throw things at me:

Dark Souls.

A beautifully-desolate world, with ambiance and history oozing from every crack, fleshed-out characters and amazing architecture... but to see any of it you have to slog through combat that goes past punishing mistakes to punishing imperfection.

I don't like how unfair some of the battles are. Despite everyone claiming it fair. There is too much cheesing by the bosses

Basically every single d20 based video game, whether it be KotOR, Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate, or Pillars of eternity. Most games based on a tabletop system ends up sucking, a lot. The only exception is Divinity Original Sin (1 and 2), which managed to make turn based isometric games into something fun.

The latter half of BG2 was fun. Mainly because you can actually hit something

I liked spell interactions with Pillars. Getting free spells made it more enjoyable. And the glance system made it feel like you were making some difference even if it wasn't a lot

But Divinity made warriors seem like they had cool powers too, rather than swing axe or swing axe to hit multiple people. And taunt

 

[BrawlMan]

I found the most fun with Wolfenstein 2 when I just ignored stealth and cover all together and went more of a run and gun. It seems that enemies tend to aim where you were so it ends up being really effective even on hard.

That's the problem. Some I could ignore, others I couldn't. Especially when there are multiple commanders on different floors that constantly respawn enemies if you don't kill them in advance. The fact there are way more of these encounters than the last game does not make it any less tedious and not fun. Thet give me too much trouble, but they were annoying and not worth doing certain missions again. I did not feel playing these chapters on higher difficulties other than Normal.

 

[Hawki]

A lot of these are stretching things, because as much as I harp on story, it's rare that good story can make up for poor gameplay, whereas the opposite is more readily true. But I guess I can nominate:

-Another World: I'll at least give this game brownie points in how it approached storytelling, but the actual gameplay is really obtuse. Lots of trial and error.

-Halo 2: Of the original Halo trilogy, Halo 2 has the best plot. However, it also has the weakest campaign. Half of the time you play as the Arbiter, and apart from his final levels, all of his stages are tedious. In the past, when replaying the game, I'd always skip them.

-Mass Effect: Much as I love this game, the actual moment to moment gameplay isn't that great. Shooting is balls, the Mako is balls, etc. One of those very rare occasions where a game is mostly carried on its story/world for me.

-Conker's Bad Fur Day: This is kind of a weird one, because when I played this game, there's a lot of it I didn't actually enjoy playing. It's kind of a linear platformer, where the really fun stuff (zombies/tediz/Matrix stuff) is towards the end, or in the multiplayer. That said, the game is arguably carried on its writing. And by writing, I mean profanity.

-Spyro the Dragon: A New Beginning: This probably extends to the rest of the LoS trilogy, but taking this as a microcosm, I like the story, but the gameplay is really basic. It's pretty much the inverse of the original Spyro games (light on story, good gameplay)

-World of Warcraft: So, on one hand, got into the Warcraft universe via the RTS games. On the other, don't like MMOs sans LOTRO. So I can respect WoW and try to follow its story (though I've kind of given up recently), while not wanting to actually play the game.

 

[Worgen]

That's the problem. Some I could ignore, others I couldn't. Especially when there are multiple commanders on different floors that constantly respawn enemies if you don't kill them in advance. The fact there are way more of these encounters than the last game does not make it any less tedious and not fun. Thet give me too much trouble, but they were annoying and not worth doing certain missions again. I did not feel playing these chapters on higher difficulties other than Normal.

I just ran around, killed one commander, dealt with reinforcements and run and gunned the other one.

 

[thebobmaster]

Basically every Telltale Games game. Love the stories, almost to a one, but the gameplay is rote QTE stuff and walking. The only exception is Game of Thrones, which was...maybe too successful at capturing the middle finger feel of the series.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

I adore Dwarf Fortress.
Specifically, hearing other people's stories about it.
Actually playing it? No, I don't think I will.

Same goes for most strategy/4x games

 

[Dalisclock]

A lot of these are stretching things, because as much as I harp on story, it's rare that good story can make up for poor gameplay, whereas the opposite is more readily true. But I guess I can nominate:

-Another World: I'll at least give this game brownie points in how it approached storytelling, but the actual gameplay is really obtuse. Lots of trial and error.

This is pretty much what I remember of Another world. Perhaps the first "Cinematic game" that was also a game(and not just a FMV movie with clickable bits, remember those?). It was also really difficult to know just what you were supposed to do by logically sussing it out and instead it was a lot of of "Die, avoid the thing that killed you(Hopefully) and probably die to something else 5 seconds later. Repeat for several hours". The opening was particularly emblematic of this where you could easily drown, get murdered by a tentacle thingy, get murdered by a slug and then get murdered by a giant beast all in the first 5 minutes, barely getting time to think. And then you get shot by a guy per the storyline and end up in a cage.

Limbo/INSIDE are basically the children of Another world.

 

[Hawki]

This is pretty much what I remember of Another world. Perhaps the first "Cinematic game" that was also a game(and not just a FMV movie with clickable bits, remember those?). It was also really difficult to know just what you were supposed to do by logically sussing it out and instead it was a lot of of "Die, avoid the thing that killed you(Hopefully) and probably die to something else 5 seconds later. Repeat for several hours". The opening was particularly emblematic of this where you could easily drown, get murdered by a tentacle thingy, get murdered by a slug and then get murdered by a giant beast all in the first 5 minutes, barely getting time to think. And then you get shot by a guy per the storyline and end up in a cage.

And that's only the start. There's a section later on where Lester is in shafts. You can't see anything, so you have to rely on blind luck. Literally a "you roll left, you live, you roll right, you die."

 

[Dreiko]

Get ready to throw things at me:

Dark Souls.

A beautifully-desolate world, with ambiance and history oozing from every crack, fleshed-out characters and amazing architecture... but to see any of it you have to slog through combat that goes past punishing mistakes to punishing imperfection.

I think that's fun because when you win you know you attained perfection and feel perfectly powerful due to that. Though you get such a feel more in Sekiro than in Souls imo because Souls still has a lot of valid gimmicky approaches with magic and so on whereas Sekiro you gotta learn to parry stuff or die a million times in each fight lol.